Record Rack: The Rolling Stones

Three from the Stones in White Vinyl

 Reissues of:

“Let It Bleed” “Beggars Banquet” and “Hot Rocks 1964-1971″ (ABKCO Music and Records))

By  Brian Arsenault

I almost don’t have to listen to any of these records.  Oh, not because I haven’t heard any of this — just a few tune titles stumped me for a moment — but  because they are all branded into my brain for years, nay, decades.  But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t or I won’t. I’m listening to “Factory Girls” right now.

First of all , the albums are reissued in glorious vinyl and sound like records, not sterile digital unfeeling CDs.  And it’s a clear vinyl to boot,  kinda weird when handling but just as good sound quality as the black vinyl version.  It’s just that the black vinyl always had that air of mystery, a dangerous black box about to be opened to the mind.

But enough of that, these are the Stones, man, long before they became geezers, back when their fans argued endlessly about which was the best of their many albums.

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The press piece announcing the release of the albums on May 28 says that “many,”  whoever they are, consider Let It Bleed the best of all.  Well, it does include the soaring “Gimme Shelter,” the deeply felt tribute song “Love In Vain” and the ever dangerous “Midnight Rambler,” which seems scarier today in these scarier times.

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Yet would you overlook Beggers Banquet with the slyly demonic “Sympathy for the Devil” — another song that seems somehow more fitting for the current era — along with the scorching “Street Fighting Man?”  It was also the last full album with the late Brian Jones.

Jones has long since fallen out of favor in the Stones’ legend, but he was the guy who ran the ad that led to the band’s formation and he could play just about any instrument given 15 minutes or so to learn it.  No, he couldn’t step back for Jagger’s prominence, but even longtime pal Keith Richards, especially Keith, knows what a pain Mick can be.

And I don’t want to argue too much about which album is best.  But for me it’s Exile on Main Street that is the most coherent object d’art. And Get Yer Ya Yas out is one fine “live” album.

Anyway, the third album of the trio about to be re-released, Hot Rocks 1964-1971, is a fine sampler of Stones stuff from early recordings up through Let It Bleed selections and a bit beyond.  The uninitiated and the young may benefit most from this compilation. Or, you could buy them all if coin of the realm isn’t in short supply these days. It’s all good.

Listening to much younger Stones on these albums almost makes me wish they’d stop touring.  That scary picture on the new Rolling Stone Magazine kinda tells you why.  Except every time I’ve seen them in concert in recent years, in person or on film, I’m struck by how good Keith and Charlie especially still are.

Mick jumping about is just a bit geriatric but he’s earned it, hasn’t he?  And he doesn’t have to use a walker yet.

Hey, as my son Kurt says, Richards was always an old guy, wasn’t he?  He seems better that way, even though we’re all rather surprised he made it this far.  Bet he is too.

Anyway, they didn’t end up like Elton playing night after night in Vegas.  Didn’t you always  figure that‘s where “Tiny Dancer“ was bound?

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To read more posts, reviews and columns by Brian Arsenault click HERE.

Books: Scott Yanow’s “The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide”

By Don Heckman

The jazz encyclopedist is at it again.  Scott Yanow, who must have reviewed every jazz recording released since 1975, when he turned 21, has published his eleventh jazz book. Not to mention the myriad of magazine and newspaper reviews, bios, press releases and more that he has written along the way.

Following in the pattern of  his previous books, The Great Jazz Guitarists:The Ultimate Guide is filled with detailed information.  But this tome is an even more remarkable accomplishment than such Yanow works as as his previous books on Swing, Bebop, Jazz Singers, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Trumpet Kings and Jazz on Film.

In it, Scott includes biographies, musical commentaries and comprehensive recording data about his subjects, managing to assemble an extraordinary amount of information about an equally extraordinary number of guitarists.

He opens with a thoughtful essay about the role of the guitar — and the banjo, as well — in the history of jazz.  Next up, he offers five far-reaching, all-inclusive guitar player segments:

- “The 342 Great Jazz Guitarists”

- “44 Other Historic Guitarists”

- “175 Other Jazz Guitarists on the Scene Today”

- “They Also Played Jazz Guitar” (including such multi-instrumentalists as Bobby Hackett and Bobby Sherword, and such genre-crossover players as Willie Nelson and Peter Frampton).

- “Jazz Guitarists On Film”

In total, it all adds up to just about everything one could ever want to know about the guitar in jazz — from its earliest role to the present, from the banjo to Pat Metheny’s Pikasso Guitar.  In short, like all of Scott Yanow’s previous books, The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide is a vital reference source, one that belongs in the library of every serious jazz fan.

An Appreciation: Ray Manzarek of The Doors

By Mike Finkelstein

Now that we are 13 years into the new millennium, the rock icons of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s are getting into their 60’s and 70’s.  It’s been nearly 46 years since the Summer of Love and while they aren’t dropping like flies, every few months or so, we seem to hear that yet another well known name has died on the younger side of old age.

It was sad but not shocking to hear of the passing of Ray Manzarek yesterday.  At age 74, he died in Germany of gall bladder cancer with his entire family by his side — not a bad run for a rock star who survived the most turbulent of times in a band that was a lightning rod for controversy.

Manzarek was the main musical architect of The Doors’ iconic sound.  It just wouldn’t have been remotely possible without his instantly recognizable, shimmering keyboard parts. His passing gives us pause to reflect upon the legacy of The Doors.

You always know it instantly when you’re hearing Ray Manzarek.  He played mostly a Vox Continental organ, which defined his sound, and a small Fender Rhodes bass keyboard.  His style was elegantly arpeggiated and colorful, working well on pop singles and expanded onstage. And, all those beautifully utilitarian bass parts in The Doors’ tunes were from his left hand!  This was a nifty detail for kids like me who were keen on how all this was done.

Ray Manzarek

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The Doors attracted controversy because they took artistic chances, which usually ended up sounding phenomenally memorable and meaningful. They pushed the envelope much more than most did, artistically. It’s good to remember that Manzarek’s and Morrison’s well chronicled pairing was based on a shared affinity for art, film, and poetry before they decided to play music together.  The group always sought to fuse their musical roots in classical, jazz, flamenco, blues and rock ‘n’ roll with Morrison’s unique poetic stance.

Their sound made Morrison’s dark thoughts, ramblings, rants and crooning appealing and seductive, wrapping them up in silver paper, for us.  Disturbing lyrics were delivered as temptation.  They lured us in with music so we would experience the lyrics on an expanded level.  Every A-side song they put out was one to get psyched for on 20/20 AM radio in the family car, and later the rest of the albums flourished on the FM dial.   Given the musical and poetic depth of so many of the B-side doors cuts, the Doors influence is undeniable.  They are still as important an American band as there will probably ever be.

Live, they were hardly a pop band.  Erratic, unpredictable and ready to lurch in any direction, they really had to react to each other onstage.  If you watch film of the band or just listen to their live tracks you can see and hear the three players locked into each other, spotting Morrison to push him and the audience higher and closer to the elusive “other side.”

There was little they wouldn’t try.  The results were utterly unique, and to so many who experienced the group in the present tense, they were indispensable to the times.  Taking the musical tension Manzarek established between guitar, organ and drums — and setting a personality like Morrison’s loose over it all in a pop format — mesmerized most young people at the time.  With the backdrop of the Vietnam war and the tensions of the generation gap, The Doors had the leverage to rip young minds wide open.  People wanted desperately to “break on through to the other side.” This was way beyond the Beach Boys.  This was dancing into the dark side.  That was the power of popular music in those pricelessly tragic times.

The Doors: John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison

There never has been a whole lot of middle ground with The Doors.  People seem to either passionately love them or hate them.  The folks that hate them are often too young to have grown up while they were current.  But their music also continues to appeal to the open ears and minds in any generation.

I grew up near where they rehearsed in Santa Monica, and I loved them as a kid.  I still love them.  On their way up, they used to play the lunch concert circuit for high school kids here in LA.  But they were finished before I even got to high school — hell, they were only together for about 6 years!  But they always sounded so mysterious and exciting!  The combination of Manzarek’s swirling keyboards, Robby Krieger’s slithering guitar, and John Densmore’s delicate jazz touch on drums under Jim Morrison’s voice was the greatest.  Every voice in the mix was so distinct, so clear, and so different.  It all worked phenomenally well for them as an ensemble.  Nobody sounded remotely like them.  Not even close.  Still.   Chemistry like that is as precious as it is volatile and dangerous.  Strong stuff indeed.

Robby Krieger reflected the other day that Ray Manzarek was a very smart guy to recognize in 1966 that Jim Morrison was a real talent … and not just the jerk that many who knew him felt he was.  Morrison’s legacy as an ugly drunk is well documented, but The Doors collective work with him is a treasure.  To have experienced it when it was current puts it into its true artistic perspective.  For those of us lucky enough to have been there, it is still no less than iconic.

And none of this would have been possible if Ray Manzarek hadn’t collaborated with the other three Doors.  He put the whole amazing thing in motion.   RIP, Ray.

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To read more reviews and posts by Mike Finkelstein click HERE.

Live Music: Bill Cantos, Mari Falcone, Alan Bergman and Lillias White in a Society of Singers Program at Café Cordial

By Don Heckman

When the Society of Singers  (often referred to with the appropriate abbreviation S.O.S.) has a performance program it can best be described as a win-win event.  A winner in the sense that it raises funds for the S.O.S programs providing financial support for singers in need.  And a winner in the sense that audiences at S.O.S. events always experience programs of appealing musicality.

Which was exactly what happened at Café Cordial Monday night, when an enthusiastic turnout of S.O.S. supporters was entertained by the stellar line up of Alan Bergman, Bill Cantos & Mari Falcone and Lillias White.

Bill Cantos

Pianist/singer/songwriter Cantos was the emcee, the primary accompanist, and a performer in his own right for most of the evening.  As humorously entertaining as he was musically versatile, he assembled and managed an evening filled with songs.

Many came from his own growing catalog of works, others were provided by the always engaging Alan Bergman.  And at least one tune –- the whimsical “Everybody’s On the Phone” – was co-written by Cantos with Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

The program kicked off with Cantos’ “Morning Coffee,” followed by his “Sensibility” and “Who Are You?” Each song was delivered with the convincing, story-telling qualities and delightful humor that Cantos brings to his performances.  Add to that his far-ranging musicality, often scatting in unison with his piano lines, sometimes humming back-up counterpoint lines to his melodies.

Alan Bergman

Up next, Bergman offered one of his typically irresistible performances.  Hearing a songwriter sing his/her own songs is always an insightful experience.  But never more so than with Bergman, who is, in addition to his songwriting partnership with his wife, Marilyn, also a convincing singer in his own right.

Before he started, he offered one of his familiar nuggets of background on the art of writing song lyrics, noting that “the words are on the tips of the notes, and we have to find them.”  And then he proceeded to prove his point with his versions of “The Windmills of Your Mind” and “You Must Believe in Spring” (both classics written with Michel Legrand) and  “That Face” (written by Alan as a successful marriage proposal to Marilyn).

Lillias White

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Tony Award-winning Broadway star Lillias White then joined the Cantos trio for a jaunty, soulful group of numbers.  Beginning with Canto’s “You Got Me” she followed with a hilariously rocking “I Want A Big Fat Daddy” and the lyrical “Love Wins.”

Mari Falcone and Bill Cantos

The evening was topped off by Cantos and his wife, pianist Mari Falcone.  Interacting musically, sharing the keyboard on their electric piano, they offered delightful renderings of Cantos’ “Perfect Day” and “Smoke and Mirrors,” along with a climactic “I’ve Got Plenty of Nothing.”

Call it a musical evening in which everything went right, from the quality of the performances to the support for the Society of Singers.  All of which provided plenty of good reasons – musical and otherwise — to show up for the next S.O.S. program.

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Photos by Faith Frenz.

Live Jazz: A Brief History Of The World (Piano Division) with Alan Pasqua and Tom Schnabel

By Michael Katz

Jazz on the Westside found a cozy nook to curl up in Monday night, as radio station KCRW presented an Up Close event with pianist Alan Pasqua and music host Tom Schnabel at the New Roads School in Santa Monica. The goal of the evening, a one hour tour of the history of jazz piano, was nothing if not ambitious – it takes Ken Burns an hour just to say hello. And unlike Burns, Messrs. Pasqua and Schnabel elected not to leave out everything after 1950. The idea was to focus on a dozen or so icons, and naturally there were a few interesting inclusions and omissions. Most enjoyably, there was some exquisite solo playing by Pasqua, particularly in celebration of a new CD dedicated to Bill Evans.

Pasqua began with a nod to Jellyroll Morton. Playing a brief version of “Tomcat Blues,” circa 1920, he gave the audience a demonstration of how Morton moved the music from its ragtime roots to the edge of stride and what would become the trademark sound of Louis Armstrong and others. Progressing to the era of Basie and Ellington, Pasqua discussed how Duke used his piano style to recreate the full sound of his orchestra, through brief interludes of “Take The A Train” and “Sophisticated Lady.”

Alan Pasqua

There are certain players who can’t be left out in a Tour De Jazz Piano: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Errol Garner. Their contributions are found in various combinations of brilliant compositions and technical and harmonic stylings. Monk, in particular, has a trove of compositions that invite contemporary interpretation. Given the relatively brief time of the show, it was nice that Pasqua chose to explore one Monk tune fully.  He filled in the opening bridge of “Round Midnight” with a flourish and extended the standard with his own lively adaptation. Whereas with Bud Powell, he discussed jazz contrafact, demonstrating how Powell took the chord changes from “How High The Moon” and converted them to his own dense style in Charlie Parker’s “Ornithology.”

The one name that most in the audience were unfamiliar with was Jaki Byard, best known for his work with Eric Dolphy and, through much of the sixties, Charles Mingus.  More significantly to this evening, he was a teacher and mentor to Alan Pasqua, so if his presence in this list seems slightly biased, that’s quite all right. “Tribute To The Ticklers” was a nod to Fats Waller and the stride pianists. It is noteworthy that in the turbulent sixties, when Byard wrote this piece, he was able to reach backwards and create something contemporary, a reminder that jazz is a living time machine, able to go in every direction in ways unlike most other musical forms.

Tom Schnabel

There were nods to others, including McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, and time constraints didn’t allow Pasqua to get to Dave McKenna and Keith Jarrett. Not surprisingly there were some notable omissions, most obviously Dave Brubeck. Pasqua allowed in the Q and A afterward that he didn’t think he could attempt to approach Brubeck without a rhythm section, though I don’t think you can leave him out of the conversation. Same with Oscar Peterson, ditto Mary Lou Williams. And the show’s format had such a resemblance to Marion McPartland’s Piano Jazz series, that she probably deserved a mention as well.

I’ve left Bill Evans for last, because he’s such a clear influence on Pasqua. There was a brief quote from “Green Dolphin Street,” followed by a lovely medley of Evans’ composition “Very Early,” and his classic interpretation of “Sleepin’ Bee.” Evans’ use of harmonics, his ability to sound almost lush and yet breathtakingly simple at the same time, challenge any type of written transposition. Pasqua’s new CD Two Piano Music is a nod to Evans’ Conversations With Myself, consisting of dual solo piano tracks. Pasqua’s composition “Grace” is on that CD, and that is how he concluded the hour long performance Monday night.

KCRW host Schnabel provided a bright counterpoint throughout the evening, offering a wealth of jazz knowledge to go along with Pasqua’s own musical history. He’s planning a similar evening focusing on Brazilian music later on this year, and that is good news for jazz fans in Santa Monica, and one assumes listeners of KCRW as well.

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To read more iRoM reviews and posts by Michael Katz click HERE.

Click HERE to visit Michael Katz’s personal blog, Katz of the Day.

CD Review: George Benson “Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole”

Inspiration: A Tribute To Nat King Cole (Concord Records)

By Brian Arsenault

Two versions of “Mona Lisa,” perhaps Nat King Cole’s most famous song, frame Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole.

The first, opening the album, was recorded by “Lil” George Benson in 1951 after he won a singing contest at the age of 8.  It seems a prophetic recording now that six decades later he has issued this remarkable tribute album, closing it out with an uncannily Nat-like version of the tune.

George Benson

Benson’s phrasing at the start of “new” version of “Mona Lisa” can’t be an accident.  It’s the highest tribute he could give to King Cole.  But there’s brilliance everywhere on the album.

Start with the big band sound of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra crashing us into Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things.” Wow factor very high.

Follow on with Wynton Marsalis leading us into “Unforgettable” wherein Benson accompanies his remarkable vocal with his equally distinctive guitar work.

And oh yeah, the late Nelson Riddle’s arrangements are all over this album.  Somewhere Ol’ Blue Eyes is smiling.

Want more?  Idina Menzel of Rent and Wicked fame joins Benson for an outstanding duet on “When I Fall in Love” and we’re only five songs into the album. This is the heart breaker/ tear jerker of the CD and Benson’s guitar is just right, as good as his harmonizing with Menzel.

Later, Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” may also bring a tear and Till Bronner’s trumpet is as perfect as Marsalis’ on “Unforgettable.” After tears, there’s a smile waiting on the album’s version of Cole’s own “Straighten Up and Fly Right” with its wry swing era arrangement.  Benson has his longest guitar solo here and I wouldn’t have minded more of that throughout but there’s nothing really to complain about.

Nat King Cole, like Louis Armstrong, understood that in the 1950s and ‘60s a black artist had to be absolutely non-threatening to fully appeal to white audiences.  But neither sacrificed artistry on that altar.  They just gave a smile and made America love ‘em.

And why not.  The version here of “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” has the orchestra playing just so good behind Benson’s smooth, smooth vocal. If it doesn’t bring a smile, you are probably terminally depressed. Benson’s gentle and accomplished approach makes him the perfect guy to do a tribute to Cole.

Riddle’s arrangements are perfect for the orchestra. The soloists like Marsalis and Bronner absolutely get it and fit like a well tailored suit.

There’s an ironic similarity between the career of Cole and Benson.  Cole first came to prominence as a jazz pianist and Benson as a jazz guitarist.  Their stunning vocal skills were hidden for a while but then the world received even greater gifts.

Any song not mentioned in this review is just as good as those that are.  The album’s as close to perfect as humans get.

Still, what I’ll carry with me forever is “Lil” George Benson singing his heart out it 1951.  Thank the musical gods the recording survived.  And that Benson stayed on the planet to give us this as he hit 70.

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Here’s an added  wrinkle:  Benson will be on QVC this evening (Tuesday, May 21)  at 10 p.m. (ET) to introduce the album and make a special offer.

Benson photo by Nanni Zedda courtesy of George Benson.

Picks of the Week: May 21 – 26

Dear Readers, Friends and Colleagues:

Because of recurring Internet problems, Picks of the Week will be on hiatus until next week. It will return on Monday, May 27 with its weekly selections of attractive events from around the world.