Sorry to hear that Les Paul just passed away at the age of 94. He was an amazing musician and innovator. I saw him live with Chet Atkins at the Bottom Line in New York City back in 1975, and it was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen.
A guitar player extraordinaire, and a major influence on the development of the electric guitar, Paul was responsible for the Gibson Les Paul and countless amplification devices. Les Paul succumbed to severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York, surrounded by family and loved ones.
The classic Gibson "Les Paul"
Les Paul-Chasing Sound! is a feature-length documentary on an American legend. For more info check out www.lespaulfilm.com.
In the Old West, they used to say there was always a gunslinger better than you somewhere. The analogy is imperfect, since guitar-playing requires more than just speed and accuracy--it demands taste, musicality, timbre, rhythm--and when things go well nobody is left lying dead in the ditch. Still, with those caveats, Leo Kottke is the better gunslinger. Watch the fingers. There was a time any self-respecting music fan played Greenhouse incessantly, or 6- and 12-String Guitar (the one with the armadillo on the cover). Many a sunny morning was filled with Leo's phenomenal fingerpicking as the coffee brewed and someone made blueberry pancakes in the next room. Many a night's revelries ended with Leo's distinctive tones, his own impossible compositions or wonderful covers of "Tiny Island" or "Eight Miles High" or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." On the whole, he probably inspired more guitar players to play than to bash their instruments into kindling, and for that we salute him. Leo Kottke!
Medley: Part Two/June Bug/Train And The Gate (from German TV, early 80s)
Listen. Once in a while he even sings, though he doesn't much care for his voice and on one occasion compared it to the sound of a goose farting on a muggy day. Even so, it's an expressive counterpoint to his lyrical, syncopated guitar playing. On this second piece, he sings the blues--in his own unique style--about the passing of time and how you can't go back because things have changed--a cold sharp feeling for most of us now and then--but what is surprising in this clip is how he smiles when he performs it. Like any good bluesman, he takes this painful realization and makes it bearable, if not joyful. Watch his face when he sings the second verse, the part that begins with "You can't go back." Priceless.
"Hear the Wind Howl"
Some cloudy day the sun won't shine my blues away And all I've lived for seems far away Some cloudy day
Hear the wind howl Hear the wind howl
You can't go back, it's not the same Things have changed While I counted hours and you remained And you remained
Sometimes, you have to return to the titans, the behemoths, the Godzillas of Classic Rock to find a fighting rebel spirit when fey indie pop won't get the job done. Here are two numbers for the politicians.
The first--appropriately enough--is "Politician" performed by supergroup Cream at Royal Albert Hall, London, 1968. Yup, that's Eric Clapton, along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
The second clip, equally classic and appropriate, is "Won't Get Fooled Again" performed by the Who. Roger Daltrey swings the Divine Hammer, and guitar player Pete Townshend dances a little jig between windmilling power chords.
This is a video from 1965, featuring Buddy and Stacey performing "Shotgun" on Nashville's WLAC-TV. The rendition is pretty generic, but the guitar player is a young Jimi Hendrix.
This is the oldest known film of Hendrix performing -- paying his dues in a back-up band. Check out the young avatar a full two years before his fiery debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967!
I saw an amazing show last night: guitar wizard Bill Frisell, playing with violinist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston. Frisell masterfully led the trio through an incredible range of music, touching upon folk, jazz, country, avant garde, classical, soul, surf, bluegrass, blues, and some unnamed music from an undiscovered planet accessible only to Frisell. The trio turned on a dime from be-bop and experimental composition to Americana such as "Shenandoah," all expertly played, switching gears effortlessly. One highlight among many was a heartbreaking version of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" that turned into Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and had the house cheering.
It's easy to see why Bill Frisell was named Best Guitarist for the fourth year in a row (and seventh in 10 years) in the latest Downbeat Critics Poll, and a three time Downbeat Readers Poll winner for Best Guitarist. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, filmmakers and legendary musicians, a list that includes filmmaker Gus Van Sant, cartoonists Gary Larsen and Jim Woodring, and musicians ranging from Brian Eno to Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello to Norah Jones.
Bill Frisell has a brand new record out called "History, Mystery," a two disc record, one of which was composed for a multimedia collaboration - Mysterio Sympatico - with artist Jim Woodring, whose work has graced Frisell's albums. Also includes compositions by Thelonius Monk, Lee Konitz, and Sam Cooke, including the aforementioned "A Change is Gonna Come."
Thirty five years later, they've finally gotten a conviction for Victor Jara's murder.
Songwriter Victor Jara
When dictator Augusto Pinochet staged a coup in 1973, with the help of the CIA and the Nixon administration, many Chileans that were considered a threat by the new regime -- students, teachers, playwrights, activists, union organizers, so-called "subversivos," and many who weren't political at all, but rounded up by mistake -- were arrested and detained at the country's largest football stadium. The locker rooms became torture chambers, and many were killed and "disappeared" by the military police and the army.
Dictator Augusto Pinochet
Victor Jara was arrested at the university where he worked, and dragged to the stadium. He was kept in a group of "special interest" prisoners. Jara was a popular singer, the Bob Dylan of Chile, it has been said, and he sang openly of justice and freedom. He knew he would never survive, given his special status.
The military tortured Victor Jara for three days. They broke both his hands, mocking him to play guitar now. He did an amazing thing. Even with broken fingers and hands, he defied his captors and sang. Witnesses have said his voice could be heard from deep in the locker rooms that were now torture chambers. They heard him in the crowded stadium, and they joined the singer. Jara was machine-gunned shortly afterward, and dropped into a mass grave, but he remains a hero to Chileans, and people around the world who believe in peace and justice.
Victor Jara sings "Te Recuerdo Amanda" (I Remember You, Amanda)
A rough translation of the lyrics shows you the power of his words:
I remember you, Amanda the wet street running to the factory where Manuel worked. Your wide smile, the rain in your hair nothing else mattered, you were going to meet him.
Only five minutes life is eternal in five minutes the siren sounds to go back to work and as you walk you light up everything those five minutes have made you flower.
he took to the mountains to fight he who had never hurt anyone he took to the mountains to fight and in five minutes it was all destroyed the siren sounds time to go back to work many will not return neither Manuel.
I remember you Amanda the wet street running to the factory where Manuel worked.
Leo Kottke is a master of the acoustic guitar who plays a unique, idiosyncratic, syncopated, finger-picking style that boggles the mind. John Fahey signed him to his label, Takoma Records, and there is a similarity in their styles, which some call American Primitivism. Primitive, perhaps, but bright as a new penny.
An affable, self-deprecating man who once compared his voice to the sound of a gaseous goose, Kottke can knock a buzzard off a shitwagon with the sheer beauty of his playing. His voice is a foghorn, but helpful in a storm. Listen. Play this song early in the morning or late at night. Learn it by heart. Sing it to yourself some cloudy day. Hear the wind howl.
For extra credit, listen to Greenhouse (1972) or 6- and 12- String Guitar (1969).
Andres Segovia performing "Leyenda" by Asturias de Albèniz. There are many great guitar players, but few match the beauty and precision of this Spanish classical master who is considered the father of modern classical guitar. Born Andrés Torres Segovia, Marqués de Salobreña, in Linares, Spain in 1893, Segovia died in Madrid in 1987.
Mississippi John Hurt (1892-1966) was a legendary country blues guitar player. He learned to play guitar as a child of nine in Avalon, Mississippi. By today's standards, his musical style may seem simple or even crude, but he is a master fingerpicker, a wry storyteller, and I wouldn't trade him for a hundred current pop stars. Here he plays "Spike Driver Blues," a song he first recorded in 1928 for Okeh records, for Pete Seeger.
The Vincent Black Lightning was the world's fastest motorcycle. Only thirty were ever built, between 1949 and 1952.
Vincent, a British manufacturer, built the bikes for speed, stripping off unessentials and using lightweight alloy rims and racing tires, magnesium alloy brake backing plates, and aluminum fenders. With a 70hp engine, the Lightning remained the world's fastest bike twenty years after the last one was built.
This is 1949. Racing a Vincent Black Lightning at the Bonneville Salt Flats wearing full leathers, Rollie Free could only get up to 147 mph. At that point his leathers flapped so violently they tore. Free thought for a moment, then stripped down to helmet, shoes, and a Speedo bathing suit, and was clocked at 150.313 mph!
The Vincent Black Lightning -- A rare gem, a beautiful machine, the holy grail of high performance motorcycles, and something special to put on your Christmas list.
Guitar hero Richard Thompson, formerly of Fairport Convention, wrote this love song about James, Red Molly, and a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.
The classic Gibson "Les Paul"
