"Enjoy my old flute if you find one. I certainly did."
June 1, 2019 11:40 AM   Subscribe

Over the last 51 years I have played and owned many flutes... Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull tells about his flutes, and why you might find one for sale secondhand at regular market prices.
posted by LobsterMitten (19 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
What a coincidence! I was just listening to Thick as a Brick! Oh wait. I'm always listening to Thick as a Brick.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 11:48 AM on June 1, 2019 [12 favorites]


But, if you are looking to try to make a quick buck on eBay by re-selling “Ian Anderson’s flute”, then forget it. You will possibly have the pleasure of knowing it was once mine and that I may well have played it on some prominent Tull album or on various tours throughout the world. But I can’t give you written authentication document as I really would rather that these intruments go to a serious aspiring flautist at the regular market price – not to a memoribilia collector who would never play it.

You know it's authentic if it smells like locomotive breath.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:54 AM on June 1, 2019 [4 favorites]


The man has fired more people than Trump ever dreamed of
posted by thelonius at 12:21 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


I'm always listening to Thick as a Brick.

Isn't Gerald Bostock a Mefite?
posted by thelonius at 12:22 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]


The man has fired more people than Trump ever dreamed of

Tony Iommi was in Tull for a week.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:27 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]


I had a classmate in the woodwind section of my high school band in the '70s... a flutist who was a big fan of Ian Anderson, and as a result, played his flute just like him... 'very breathy', which the band director did not appreciate.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:30 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]


Wonderful stuff, love the Growth Mindset. And he sure has a way with words (not just when writing lyrics, obviously.) "Huff, puff and bluff. Story of my life."
posted by Coaticass at 4:56 PM on June 1, 2019


The man has fired more people than Trump ever dreamed of

Tony Iommi was in Tull for a week.


Almost a whole Scaramucci!
posted by snofoam at 7:18 PM on June 1, 2019 [4 favorites]


Makes sense to me, but of course, I'm geared toward the average rather than the exceptional.
posted by panglos at 2:12 AM on June 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


The man has fired more people than Trump ever dreamed of

Tony Iommi was in Tull for a week.


And apparently came back with a whole new work ethic. Perhaps without being fired, Black Sabbath would have faded away, and the history of heavy metal would have been very different.
posted by Grinder at 5:30 AM on June 2, 2019


The man has fired more people than Trump ever dreamed of

Tony Iommi was in Tull for a week.


he wasn't fired, I'm pretty sure. More as Grinder pointed out, he witnessed the work ethic and saw in it a way to get his first love (Black Sabbath) moving in a successful direction.
posted by philip-random at 7:20 AM on June 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


and I always liked the story of how Bouree came to be ...
posted by philip-random at 7:23 AM on June 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


I love it!
posted by Secretariat at 7:57 AM on June 2, 2019


Yeah, that's a really charming read. I have a much less broad and much less consequential relationship with the musical gear I've owned over the years but there's a real sense of resonance for me to the accumulated narrative that comes with all that.
posted by cortex at 8:23 AM on June 2, 2019


I love the basically accidental nature of what brought him to the flute, that he then learned it by trial and error, and called that good enough for *decades*. I'm not well acquainted with his music, but this was a charming read.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:53 PM on June 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


I think it's cool that, later in his career, he decided to work on mastering the fundamentals, started working with student flute books, and so on.

Anderson is also a very fine acoustic guitarist, and probably plays many other instruments (I know he recorded bass on one Tull album, after John Glascock fell ill). I can understand his music not being everyone's cup of tea, but, for a few years of my youth, I thought it was the greatest thing ever, and I still am fond of some of it.
posted by thelonius at 1:13 PM on June 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


I wouldn't call Jethro Tull my favorite band, but when it comes to the musical equivalent of comfort food, I can't seem to get enough. Particularly from the first decade ... everything up and including Heavy Horses, even chunks of Stormwatch.

Speaking of which, here's a gem that showed up in the 2017 special edition re-release of Songs From The Wood:

Jethro Tull Live at the Capital Centre 1977

(cued to later on in the show, because it's quite the climax)
posted by philip-random at 2:03 PM on June 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


I don't know a dang thing about Jethro Tull besides 1) I recognize the band name and 2) it was also some historical dude right? but I am amused and charmed by this interview. Queuelisting the band up on the streaming now like the kids do.
posted by away for regrooving at 1:11 AM on June 4, 2019 [1 favorite]


away for regrooving -- in case you're looking for a place to start with that queue, the band recently released a box set called 50 For 50, which amounts to a sort of career retrospective greatest hits.

Though as I suggested earlier, I find the first ten years of Tull are by far the best (1968-78). And please don't be shy of their two mega album long songs. Some feel (and I'm one of them) that these represent the very best of Tull.

Thick as a Brick
Passion Play
posted by philip-random at 11:55 AM on June 4, 2019


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