Today’s SotW is one of the most
challenging I’ve ever posted. I know
it’s not for everybody, but the SotW wasn’t started to share hit songs that will
be liked by the greatest numbers of people.
It was created with the goal of bringing new and different music
(Ignored Obscured Restored), that I find worthwhile, to open-minded music lovers – that’s YOU!
So, what do I have up my sleeve? How about a 22-minute instrumental excursion
through Eastern and Western musical styles, by just a guitarist and a jazz drummer?
Today’s SotW is “Blend,” by Sandy Bull, from the 1963 album Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo.
This largely improvised piece covers a
range of genres, including classical, folk, jazz, raga and psychedelic rock. It has been reported that Steve Winwood has
given Bull some credit for leading Traffic toward its psychedelic roots. That also leaves me wondering if “Blend” may
have provided inspiration to Jimmy Page for Led Zeppelin compositions like
“Kashmir” or “In the Light.”
The drums were played by jazzman Billy
Higgins, whose best work was in collaboration with Ornette Coleman.
Did anyone make it through the full 22
minutes? If yes…
So, I heard about this song by watching a long interview with a fairly obscure Georgia band called Let’s Active where they said they liked this one.
And it’s pretty good. Well worth a listen.
You can listen to Louis Jordan every day and discover amazing music. This was a hit, not obscure, obviously. Roots of rock and roll, roots of rhythm and blues. This is scratching the surface of what Jordan created. More to come.
I was listening to the Who’s Live at Leeds the other day, and their cover of Mose’s Young Man Blues is very fine. Digging into the Mose catalog today while cooking (food), came upon this one, which swings and disarms in a single glance. Pure Mose.
February 28th brought Black
History Month 2019 to a close. Perhaps
it was fitting that last Sunday’s Academy Awards were amongst the most diverse
ever witnessed. Oscar nominations and
winners in many categories included films focused on African American
casts/themes such as Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, and If Beale Street Could Talk.
And in a surprise to most, Green
Book walked away with the award for Best Picture.
This is progress, though still more
needs to be done before we achieve a truly color-blind
society.
This subject caused me to reflect on the
work of Curtis Mayfield, a pioneer in
writing and recording songs that reflected the condition of Blacks in the
US. Long before Marvin Gaye (What’s
Going On, “Inner City Blues”) or Stevie Wonder (“Living for the City”) were
laying it out there, Mayfield was releasing gospel-tinged,
message songs like “Keep on Pushing” (1964), “People Get Ready” (1965),
“We’re a Winner” (1968), “Choice of Colors” (1969), and “We the People Who Are
Darker Than Blue” (1970). Some of these
may have even inspired James Brown to become more politically strident with
songs like “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1968).
I was tempted to select a song from Mayfield’s soundtrack to Super Fly, in keeping with the Academy Awards theme. But instead, I’ve chosen something you’re less likely to have heard, in keeping with the black history/political songs (and SotW) themes.
The consistency of Mayfield’s catalog is
impeccable. Despite the steady quality
of his releases, shortly after the success of Super Fly, his already modest audience began to wane.
In 1975, Mayfield released the terrific There’s No Place Like America Today. Even before you get to the music, the album cover conveys that you are about to hear something special. It is a variation on a famous photograph taken by Margaret Bourke-White called “At the Time of the Louisville Flood.”
Mayfield’s team colorized it and changed the wording to fit his album. But the1937 image still suited the status of Blacks in 1975 (and may still be relevant today).
There’s No Place Like America Today is a slow burn. This album is a single malt Scotch, nightcap – not a Cosmopolitan. It moves at a pace that reminds me of Sly’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On (though it’s not similarly as druggy or dark).
My first SotW is “Billy Jack,” the album’s lead track.
This is a funk workout with effective
use of congas and a stellar horn arrangement.
There’s a lot going on and a lot to like on this track. The lyrics deal with the issue of gun
violence in the ghetto (another situation that remains as common today as it
was in ’75):
There can’t be no fun, can’t be no fun
To be shot, shot with a handgun
Your body sprawled out, you without a doubt
Running people out, there on the floor
Sad bloody mess
Shot all up in his chest, shot in his chest
One-sided duel, gun and a fool, ah
What a way to go
As a change of pace, the next SotW is “So in Love.”
This song departs from the social
commentary of the rest of the album’s selections. It is a simple love song – nothing more,
nothing less – sung in Mayfield’s gentle falsetto that must have
influenced scores of soul singers, from Al Green to Prince, and beyond. It too has a fantastic horn arrangement and was
Mayfield’s last release to manage to reach the pop chart (#67) in the US.
The choice of Green Book as the Oscar winner for Best Picture has generated quite
a bit of controversy. One of the most
consistent complaints was that it followed the formula for “white savior”
films. Personally, I don’t see it that
way (though admittedly from a white guy’s POV).
To me, it was a story of two
people who started out from different worlds and grew to know and respect the
others’. Curtis Mayfield once said:
“Segregation will
only end when people get to know the people they think they hate. To start to know somebody is to respect
them.”
Drummer Buddy Miles is mostly recognized
because of his affiliation with Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys. Hendrix, Miles and Billy Cox released one
album together, recorded live at the Fillmore East on January 1, 1970, and it
holds up almost 50 years later.
But Miles’ career had much more to it
than the Hendrix connection. He was a
founding member of The Electric Flag, along with guitarist Mike Bloomfield and
vocalist Nick Gravenites, that released two albums in 1968.
In 1970, Miles released a couple of solo discs. The first came out a few months before Hendrix died and was titled after his signature song, “Them Changes” (which was also on the Band of Gypsys album).
“Them Changes” is a terrific, funk rock rave-up, fueled by the Memphis Horns (Stax
Records’ Steve Cropper produced the album).
Miles delivers a strong vocal too.
(For a goof, check out the Bobby
McFerrin a capella version recorded on
his Simple Pleasures album — the one
that also had the insipid “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.)
Them
Changes
is a very good album that included a few interesting covers of prominent
artists like The Allman Brothers (“Dreams”), Neil Young (“Down by the River”)
and Otis Redding (“Your Feeling is Mine”).
Written by Peter Tork, who passed away this week. He was a trained musician and was shocked he wasn’t allowed to play on the band’s first album. By the band’s third album they were recording their music and going out on tour (with Jimi Hendrix as an opening act).
