Tag Archives: mth-v

MTH-V: Michael Brecker

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This past Friday (01.13) marked the fifth anniversary of Michael Brecker‘s death. His music and musicianship definitely touches me still. Not only was he one of the tenor saxophone’s greatest technicians, but he played with a deep intensity and emotional to match.

Of the many reasons to love Michael’s playing and ethic, one that particularly stands out to me is his stylistic versatility, having attained a great degree of commercial success in pop music while maintaining a career as a heavy, widely-respected jazz musician. His funk and fusion work with his brother Randy in the Brecker Brothers is of course widely known to most musicians, but his work with James Taylor, Joni Mitchell (if you aren’t familiar with Shadows and Light, go buy it right now), and Paul Simon exposed his name and playing to a much wider audience. (His solo on James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” is classic.) And then of course his more straight ahead and avant-garde jazz roots shone brightly in his solo work and that with his longtime collaborators in Saxophone Summit. (His playing was evidence of his deep love for Coltrane’s late period. In fact, it made his passing the day after Alice Coltrane‘s death that much more eerie.)

While there are hundreds of videos I could choose from, I’ve chosen only a few. This first video is from a Vienna performance of Herbie’s “The Sorcerer” with Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Willie Jones III. I saw Michael Brecker live with a variation of this band (with bassist Scott Colley and the always intense Terri Lyne Carrington on drums) a couple months before his disease was made public. Brecker was quite pale, and, though he spent much of the night sitting on a stool or offstage when not playing, he absolutely destroyed Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. Enjoy Herbie ripping it up at the top; Brecker’s solo starts at 3:55.

Just when you thought Brecker had no need for improvements, here’s an excerpt of a 1996 interview with Jazz’s web documentarian Bret Primack:

And what post remembering Michael would be complete with Brecker Brothers’ “Some Skunk Funk”? (With Mike Stern, drummer Dennis Chambers [whom you should recognize from the Stern/Berg post], bassist James Genus, and keyboardist George Whitty.) This is BURNIN’!

MTH-V: Elton John Live

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I’m surprised it took me this long to feature a video of Sir Elton. (Though I did write a glowing article about 2010’s The Union here.) I’ve made many mentions of my Top 5 in this blog. However, if I were to come up with an iron-clad Top 10, I’m sure it would include Mr. Dwight. I have about half of his studio output, and have had the pleasure of seeing him live a few times (including a signed shirt… 🙂 ). And, considering he’s one of my favorite musicians to listen to during long drives, he makes up almost half of my iTunes Top 25 Most Played playlist. Elton is one of those artists that I never tire of, no matter how much I listen to him.

Unfortunately, Elton’s celebrity and wardrobe tend to eclipse his actual music, and many people, especially “serious musicians,” tend to write him off as a cheesy, Top 40 has-been. But as someone who dives deep into his catalogue, I can tell you that he (often along with lyricist Bernie Taupin) has written some of the best songs of the last century. (Go listen to Tumbleweed Connection – his third album that produced zero singles – in its entirety if you don’t believe me.) And to top it all off, he and his band still get an arena of fans to their feet. The last time I saw him was almost two years ago, and the 63-yr. old Elton led his band through a three-hour, high-octane set that had everyone dancing all night.

The first video is from his 1980 Central Park Concert, and of “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.” (I’ve set the video to start at the second half, “Love Lies Bleeding.”) This pair of tunes opens his legendary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973). While the original studio recording is an energetic, sonic experience unto itself, this live performance definitely kicks it into high gear. This performance features original band members drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. (This same concert also features his legendary Daffy Duck costume.)

This second video is rare footage of a recent, complete performance of “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,” the opening title-track of one of my favorite EJ albums. (Opt for the deluxe edition; it’s quite worth it.) In 2005, he performed the album in its entirety throughout that tour to celebrate its 30th anniversary. This particular video has been missing from YouTube the last few years, but it was thankfully reposted in October. This performance features Olsson, guitarist Davey Johnstone (a mostly regular member since 1971), and longtime bassist (and Detroit native!) Bob Birch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFvDyQO6osI&feature=youtu.be&t=1m29s

MTH-V: Tricky Live

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Holiday and family obligations delayed this week’s video, but better late than never!

I’ve had Tricky on my mind throughout the last week. While not as active or as deep of a fan of his as some of the other artists I’ve discussed in this series, I really dig him nonetheless. I was peripherally aware of him in the mid-90s, but was quite blown away when I saw him and his band perform at Lollapalooza ’97 (that performance included both songs featured below). Part of the reason I was so struck by his performance was that I hadn’t seen (or heard!) anything like that before, and rarely have I seen something comparable in concert since. I still smile thinking of it all these years later.

Though Tricky’s music evidences a variety of influences, it is largely classified as trip hop. And while I can sympathize with those who may raise an eyebrow at suspect labels/categories, this one is an actual “thing.” (If you’re curious, read this for more context.) If you listen to enough of his music, you’ll notice some similarities with a few of his fellow Brits who also started in the early 90s, notably Portishead and some Radiohead.

This first video is a live performance of “Christiansands” (from 1996’s Pre-Millennium Tension). This is perhaps my favorite Tricky video on YouTube, likely because it’s the same band I saw 15 years ago. 🙂

This performance of “Vent” (from the same album) is more recent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRszjBUn3BE

MTH-V: Trio Mediæval’s “Gjendine’s Lullaby”

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Regular readers should be at least passively familiar with Trio Mediæval. I’ve mentioned them in a few posts, as well as writing a “New Listen” on their most recent album, A Worcester Ladymass. Their informed, artful renditions of Medieval, traditional, and contemporary works – both sacred and secular – are irresistible. Couple that with their partnership with ECM, far and away my favorite record label (as also frequently mentioned here), and you have a consistent recipe for success.

This week’s video is of a performance “Gjendine’s Lullaby” from 2007’s Folk Songs, the first album of theirs I purchased. I was hooked upon first listen – enough to acquire all of their albums over the next year. Subtitled “Ballads, Hymns and Lullabies,” the album description is: “Traditional songs from Norway arranged for voices and percussion.” This particular song is an arrangement of a traditional lullaby that was, as mentioned in the liner notes, “written down by Edvard Grieg after Kaia Gjendine Slaalien, Jotunheimen.”

Trio Mediæval:
Anna Maria Friman
Linn Andrea Fuglseth
Torunn Østrem Ossum
w. Birger Mistereggen, percussion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpoge9tEK9o

Text (translation by Andrew Smith):
The child is laid in its cradle, sometimes crying, sometimes smiling.
The child is laid in its cradle, sometimes crying, sometimes smiling
Sleep, now sleep in Jesus’ name; Jesus, watch over this child.
Sleep, now sleep in Jesus’ name; Jesus, watch over this child
Mother lifts me to her lap, dances with me to and fro.
Mother lifts me to her lap, dances with me to and fro
Dance then, dance with your children, dance, and your child will dance.
Dance then, dance with your children, dance, and your child will dance.

MTH-V: Lydia Kaboesj

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Honoring the eclectic nature of this series, this week’s video is a sharp turn from Evan Parker. 🙂 Actually, without this being the intention, it ties loosely ties together a number of previous posts.

In early 2007, when I first stumbled upon those Marcus Miller videos I posted a while back, I came across another version of “Run for Cover” by Lydia Kaboesj. Lydia is a real solid Dutch bassist who posted a series of homemade solo videos to YouTube in 2006-07. (She’s a professional musician in Europe, but this series is how I came to know her.)

Although there are a number to choose from, my favorite of the “Lydia On Bass” video series is her cover of Musiq Soulchild‘s “Just Friends (Sunny),” itself a play on Bobby Hebb’s iconic pop hit “Sunny.” (The lyrics are by no means deep or profound, but the overall song is catchy.) She’s definitely a one-woman band featuring bass guitar, voice, and beatbox. Despite a vocal hiccup, this is an impressive little performance. Below Lydia’s performance I’ll also post a nice live performance of the same song by Musiq Soulchild, a video I immediately tracked down after finding Lydia’s. One thing I really enjoy about Musiq’s performance is his use of a full soul band, unfortunately a rarity nowadays.

For fun, here are some traits this post has in common with some of its predecessors, making it the rug that (kind of) ties the room together thus far.
1. I found Lydia via Marcus Miller’s “Run For Cover,” which was featured here.
2. “Just Friends” is a contrafact of “Sunny.” Though that’s a term generally applied to jazz, it’s suitable here. The Liebman performance I posted here features one of his own contrafacts.
3. Musiq Soulchild’s performance comes from his appearance on Later…with Jools Holland. Bon Iver’s performances, posted here, came from the same program.
4. Lydia’s performance is solo, the only other solo performance I’ve featured thus far is last week’s Evan Parker post.

Lydia Keboesj:

Musiq Soulchild: