At the time of writing, there is a lot of attention being paid online and in the printed media, to the ebb and flow in status of celebrities (who are accredited with few meaningful achievements themselves) regarding their skill at judging amateur musical acts and dancing dogs. Here are a few thoughts about talented musicians and longevity.
A few weeks ago, a friend told me that he was re-reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. We both read it in 1970 while hitch-hiking in Europe, and earnestly training to be hippies. He mentioned the reference to Slim Gaillard in the book.
My old man was a fan of Slim Gaillard (and the equally entertaining wordsmith and rock and roll routemaster, Louis Jordan) and would often burst into a refrain from "Cement Mixer,Putti Putti" or "Flat Foot Floogie With a Floy-Floy". Gaillard invented a cool language called Vout, or Voutie. I discovered last year, that Sarah (my eldest daughter) remembers her Grandad singing these songs, but assumed that he made up the crazy lyrics himself. So she has clearly not heard the songs elsewhere.
As a pianist, singer and guitarist, Gaillard had several hits in the 1930's, and a big hit in the USA in 1946, with a song called Dunkin' Bagel. In some ways his songs were a precursor to rap, and he utilised gimmicks to entertain his audience. He could play piano with the back of his hands or - with fruit, Yes -fruit. Fruit.
His daughter married Marvin Gaye, and he can apparently be heard on hand claps, on a track on the album Sexual Healing. Slim migrated to England, and continued to play music until his death in 1991. You can see some wonderful online footage of him,including a number with Jools holland, and the awesome Omar Hakim (ex-Weather Report) on drums.
My point? Slim Gaillard enjoyed a career spanning almost sixty years. Will it be possible for musicians to have such longevity in future? I doubt it. Living in the here and now is fine and dandy, but looking in the rear view mirror can often pay a rewarding bonus. The musicians with something new to say who are popular now, all show signs of having listened well.
May 2011 was the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Robert Johnson, who died in 1938. He died aged 27, leaving only material from two recording sessions, but bequething a great slab of the bedrock of blues and rock music. Longevity.
Bob Dylan clocked up seventy years on our planet in May this year. It is incredible to think that he turned the popular music world upside-down in 1965 at Newport. Recently, I watched a concert from 1985, and it is as powerful and urgent as the stuff from the sixties - and this was not considered to be his hot period. I imagine that he still writes and plays music as part of his five a day. Even now, he nods to Blind Lemon, Blind Willie, Leadbelly and Mr. Guthrie. Longevity for them all.
I recently watched two TV programmes - which I rate as promotional films, about the actor Hugh Laurie, making a blues album. He is now an international TV star, and gauged by the programmes I watched, he has a genuine love of the blues. My gripe, is that the programmes did not introduce newcomers to the music of Dr. John or Professor Longhair, or the generic music of New Orleans. Nor did it satisfy confirmed blues lovers, by showing classic footage or recent performances by New Orleans musicians. In sixty years time Hugh Laurie will not be seen as an innovator. He could have done something more enlightening with his time, other than to satisfy his blues lust. Jools Holland acknowledges the past masters of his chosen idiom, as does the excellent Ben Waters. Then they take it forward.....
During the 1960's blues boom in England, we heard John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, Cream, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack and others, playing their versions of American blues. I for one, sought out the source of their material, and still do. One of my favourite clips on youtube - Son House playing his song Death Letter, has one million less hits than the version by The White Stripes. It is amazing that we can watch Son House on our computers, when I never saw him on TV when he was alive. I know that Jack White is a fan of Son House (see the film It Might Get Loud) but will he have a sixty year career? I hope sob if that is what he wants, because I like his music. Will he ever invent a cool language, and play guitar / drums with fruit? Fruit.
I have gone on for too long. Don't Look Back. I did, and look where it got me to: A state of fruity voutie longevity. Who wants that? Maybe, my generation?
Another slant on this is the small group of artists who re-invent their repertoire. Most just repeat the old favourites, perhaps the guitar solo lasts another three bars, but if you saw them in 69 they'll probably sound very much the same in 2011 even if they've new personnel.
ReplyDeleteRock & Pop artists who surprise you are few and far between. Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan (when he can be bothered) and notably Joe Jackson. Jazz musicians shoal, theoretically, be better at this, but it generally just consists of untidy waves of 'noodling'.
Mr Richards make short work of longevity in this thought-provoking piece. Surely the best artists draw inspiration from their heritage and extend it further. The White Stripes are a fine example - when I listen to their music I can hear the blues, for sure, but also T-Rex, Little Richard, the Mamas and the Papas, the Dave Clarke Five and a myriad of other influences, and this fusion becomes something new - the music of The White Stripes, no less. Jack and Meg have impeccable musical taste combined with remarkable original talent. They are not afraid to cover songs by Dolly Parton ('Jolene'), Dusty Springfield ('I just don't know what to do with myself') and Dylan ('One more cup of coffee') and these cover versions are affectionate tributes to brilliantly-crafted songs which show real respect for the skill of the original composers and performers whilst transforming each piece into something new. This, as Mr Richards, suggests is the secret of longevity.
ReplyDeleteThe Breton band Manau (who combine traditional Breton music with rap) wrote a song called 'L'avenir est un long passé' (literally 'The future is a long past'). I think the true meaning of this is something like "to ensure the future, we have to have a full appreciation of our heritage". That's the long and the short of it.