I started listening to music in the early sixties, and by 1967 I was recording music from American and Canadian Armed Forces radio stations on a Sanyo three inch reel to reel tape recorder. I was a "military brat" and lived in a valley in Deutschland where the two local television stations were received so poorly that our family never watched them. I entertained myself listening to music and reading "Stereo Review", "Hi-Fidelity" and "Audio" magazines. I was making mix tapes for twenty years before I ever heard the term. My equipment improved considerably within a few short years, and I listened to the recommended recordings featured in those magazines. I owned a few Beatles albums, but my father had a collection of big band and jazz recordings. In high school, I was fortunate to be selected for a work study program at the Armed Forces Radio station in Kaiserslautern, Germany. I read the sports scores for the local American High Schools, and played some music requests from students on a weekly program called "The Get It Together Show". (if someone has tapes of the show, get in touch with me as mine were lost in a burglary.)
I learned enough piano and guitar to know that I would never be their master. I can play along with dozens of songs from the sixties and seventies and I get invited to camp outs of middle aged couples as their Karaoke back up. I get more enjoyment listening to recordings of artists who have mastered expressing feelings through music. As Marvin Gaye once sang, "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing". He wasn't singing about Coca Cola. Artists like Miles Davis or Jascha Heifetz. Among singers...I realized, through Ken Burns' jazz documentary, that Louis Armstrong, though not necessarily the first to do so, pioneered expression through improvisation on the trumpet and was even more influential as a vocalist. There was a reason Bing, Frank, Dean, Nat Cole, Billie Holiday and countless others named him as a primary influence. I thank Ken Burns for bringing me to a greater appreciation of his music. Louis Armstrong's "Zat You, Santa Claus?" is now a part of my Christmas Mix C.D. I give to friends for the holidays.
I began listening to jazz while I was serving in the Army in the seventies, thanks to some brothers with a collection of jazz records. I had a great turntable by then, a Thorens , and we had recording parties where we hooked up multiple tape recorders and made mix tapes from our collective record collections. In 1977 they were turning me on to Weather Report, Bob James, and Earth Wind and Fire. Of my music, they liked Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and The Doobie Brothers. Listening to good jazz got me away from listening to primarily electric guitar music. It was as much a drug in the sixties and seventies as was marijuana.
Much of the new music I buy are what the industry call, "catalog product", albums that were released many years ago but are still available. Classical works, Klaus Doldinger's Passport, Miles Davis alumni and the occasional electric guitar rock and roll album account for most of my purchases. I have more albums that I haven't had a chance to listen to than most folks have in the entire collections, even in this digital download age. There is so much great music that doesn't get listened to because the media is promoting THE NEXT BIG THING. Much of it is just over- produced product.
As I write, I'm being held prisoner in my condo by the South by Southwest music festival. I live in downtown Austin and in the past have gone out to venues to hear the latest bands. Much of it is guitar based rock and roll. If they're on schedule, Cheap Trick is taking the stage about one mile away for a free concert on Auditorium Shore. I have decided not to brave the crowds there this year.
I have decided instead to listen again to the first newly released album I've bought in the last eight years, Sade's "Soldier of Love". Sade is no Louis Armstrong, but she might be the equal of Billie Holiday. Like both of them, she has a voice and style that are instantly recognizable. I wonder if those reviewers who have written that all of her albums sound alike also think that Picasso's paintings look the same. There is poetry in her lyrics and a palette of emotion in her voice. What I hear is not product, but artistry.
I began listening to jazz while I was serving in the Army in the seventies, thanks to some brothers with a collection of jazz records. I had a great turntable by then, a Thorens , and we had recording parties where we hooked up multiple tape recorders and made mix tapes from our collective record collections. In 1977 they were turning me on to Weather Report, Bob James, and Earth Wind and Fire. Of my music, they liked Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and The Doobie Brothers. Listening to good jazz got me away from listening to primarily electric guitar music. It was as much a drug in the sixties and seventies as was marijuana.
Much of the new music I buy are what the industry call, "catalog product", albums that were released many years ago but are still available. Classical works, Klaus Doldinger's Passport, Miles Davis alumni and the occasional electric guitar rock and roll album account for most of my purchases. I have more albums that I haven't had a chance to listen to than most folks have in the entire collections, even in this digital download age. There is so much great music that doesn't get listened to because the media is promoting THE NEXT BIG THING. Much of it is just over- produced product.
As I write, I'm being held prisoner in my condo by the South by Southwest music festival. I live in downtown Austin and in the past have gone out to venues to hear the latest bands. Much of it is guitar based rock and roll. If they're on schedule, Cheap Trick is taking the stage about one mile away for a free concert on Auditorium Shore. I have decided not to brave the crowds there this year.
I have decided instead to listen again to the first newly released album I've bought in the last eight years, Sade's "Soldier of Love". Sade is no Louis Armstrong, but she might be the equal of Billie Holiday. Like both of them, she has a voice and style that are instantly recognizable. I wonder if those reviewers who have written that all of her albums sound alike also think that Picasso's paintings look the same. There is poetry in her lyrics and a palette of emotion in her voice. What I hear is not product, but artistry.
Soldier of Love on Amazon.com
Sade's U.S. Web Site Videos of almost all of her most popular songs. Including Soldier of Love.
Sade's U.S. Web Site Videos of almost all of her most popular songs. Including Soldier of Love.
