Comments (People Who See Sound
91.5 FM WUEV’s Paul Mattingly
joins us this month to contribute notes on jazz. In an effort to show both new,
old and in between, here he chimes in on an essential record for fans of the
genre and its many forms.
Johnny Cash – American VI:
Ain’t No Grave
(American Recordings/Lost
Highway)
5
The last installment of the American…
series, set to be released on February 26 – which would have been the Man in
Black’s 78th birthday – begins with a line that somehow conjures every emotion:
“Well there ain’t no grave that can hold my body down/When I hear that trumpet
sound, I’m gonna rise right outta the ground/Ain’t no grave that can hold my
body down.” Every syllable is, of course, pushed from the lungs of a man facing
his own death; each line delivered with the real bodily pain of an artist in
the very real twilight of his long, storybook life.
Recording sessions for Ain’t No Grave, under the gentle
production of Rick Rubin, occurred during May 2003, less than four months
before he passed and after his wife, June Carter Cash had died. “Johnny said
that recording was his main reason for being alive,” said Rubin. “I think it
was the only thing that kept him going.”
This time period has been well-documented. “There was a
lot of stopping and starting, based on his health,” said Rubin. “But he always
wanted to work. The doctors in the hospital kind of lectured me, saying, ‘He’s
not going to stop, so you have to make sure he doesn’t work too much.’”
But work he did, and here, as with others of the American
series, which began in 1994, Cash recorded cover songs that fit in perfectly
with the themes, flow and overall narrative of the album. Kris Kristofferson’s
“For the Good Times” is both melancholy and uplifting, reflective and
forward-looking. “Redemption Day,” penned by Cheryl Crow, is a multi-shaded,
minor-chord-verse to major-chord chorus that includes the lines, “There’s a
train that’s heading straight to heaven’s gate/And on the way, child and man
and woman wait, watch and wait/For redemption day.”
“Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream,” a song by Ed
McCurdy, is a recollection – happy, in its own way – of a hopeful dream of
impossibility. Impossible odds met with grit and optimism – something that can
easily be said of Cash’s life and music, too.
Sung with that wavering, achingly elegiac voice “Oh
death, where is thy sting?” on the never-before-heard Cash original “I
Corinthians: 15:55,” the tone turns hopeful, arms open, spiritual: “Oh life,
you are a shining path/And hope springs eternal just over the rise/When I see
my redeemer beckoning me.”
I feel small trying to do justice to this work. All I
know is what I feel, and listening to this makes me feel much the same way
after listening to American IV: The Man Comes Around, which is simply that I felt
it to my very marrow. The sadness and joy, and bravery and sorrow – sometimes
all at once. This is what art is; this album is when art succeeds.
Various Artists – 2010 Grammy
Nominees
(Capitol)
4.5
Ignoring, for a moment, the
fact that the Grammy Awards are kind of a joke anymore, this CD isn’t
necessarily a bad compilation. Whoever put the tracks in order made the right
decision in placing Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” first. It’s arguably
this year’s “party” anthem. Hell, I sometimes listen to it when I’m getting
ready to go out with friends. It’s fun, ridiculous, and
Along with that track, there are quite a few serviceable
hits from Colbie Caillat (“Fallin’ for You”), Green Day (“21 Guns”), and Lady
GaGa. “Poker Face,” which hasn’t recently received the near-constant play that
“Bad Romance” has, is still a good contribution.
Country isn’t left out either, with solid outings from
Zac Brown Band (“Chicken Fried”) and Lady Antebellum (“I Run to You”). The
latter is one of my favorite bands from last year. I’m glad to see them
represented on this compilation.
There is a surprise, however. I expected to see
Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” on this one, instead of “Life in Techinicolor II.”
Likewise, I was shocked to see a cut from Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton. I
caught their performance on PBS a few weeks ago, and was really impressed.
In short, if you like popular music and haven’t picked up
the singles/albums represented on this disc, it wouldn’t be a bad purchase.
Herbie Hancock & the
Headhunters – Headhunters
(
5
I love all music. But it seems
I have gravitated to jazz as I have become more chronologically-challenged.
This transition came with the prominence of jazz fusion in the 1970s. Jazz-rock,
also called fusion, combines jazz improvisation and chord progressions with the
rhythms of rock. It is usually more electronic than acoustic, featuring
synthesizer, electric bass, electric guitar, electronically-processed woodwind
and brass instruments, and a great deal of percussion. This is probably as much
of a definition as you’ll ever need.
I was into AOR, Southern Rock, 50’s rock, the Beatles… you
name it, and I liked it. Well, maybe not Sonny and
If you want to get a good vision on the history of
fusion, you won’t get it here. Not today, anyway. That is what search engines
are for. But I do want to talk about one of the first albums (gawd, is he that
old) I ever really enjoyed. It was Headhunters by Herbie Hancock.
This was Hancock’s twelfth studio release in a career
that was already heading him into the Hall of Fame. Released in October 1973 on
The album was also the name of the sextet that Hancock
fronted throughout most of the seventies. It included Bernie Maupin (Saxes,
etc.), Paul Jackson (bass), Harvey Mason (drums), and Bill Summers
(percussion). While they added Dewayne McKnight (guitar) on later releases, all
the “guitar” parts on this project were done by Hancock with synthesizers.
Of the four tracks, the only one previously heard was the
one that is probably the most famous, “
After its initial release, it was remastered and released
in Quadraphonic, 4 channel sound. I am not an engineer so I won’t try to make
you believe I really know what that was. But, it sounded great.
If you are starting a jazz collection, or adding those
“classics” that round out a great set, then Headhunters is a must. And, even
though it’s a “classic,” give it a listen; it sounds as fresh and vibrant as it
did the day it was released. And then the next time you’re out at one of the
local venues and you hear “Watermelon Man” or “Chameleon,” your music brain
will cause you to jump into that river I like to call “Jazz and All Will be Fine.”
Will Kimbrough – Wings
(Daphne Records)
4
Most of the time I’d avoid
something like this—even though Wilco’s one of my favorite bands, I can only
handle some of their folksy stuff for so long—but Will Kimbrough’s Wings is a
pretty impressive, solid album. It gives me this sort of Bob Dylan vibe, but
not in a bad way. The first three tracks (“Three Angels,” “You Can’t Go Home,”
and “Wings”) are a particularly strong opener, and the rest of the album
follows through nicely.
The ishmaeLites – Comin’ Home
to
(Weirdo Records)
2
From its opening strains
(which detail a brief Biblical history from Adam to Ishmael), this interesting
album sells itself as an “alternative epic of
