MetaFilter posts tagged with musician

Louis Armstrong's Collages

Joe Beese — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:28:35 -0800

When not pressing the valves on his trumpet or the record button on his tape recorder, Armstrong’s fingers found other arts with which to occupy themselves. One of them was collage, which became a visual outlet for his improvisational genius. ... These little stories, illuminating and entertaining syntheses of Armstrong’s passions, now reside in the Louis Armstrong Archives at Queens College in Flushing, New York. The collages are collected in Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong. You could look at them while listening to Armstrong's cover version of Pharaoh Sanders and eating his recipe for red beans and rice.

Asaf Avidan and the Mojos

alona — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:59:14 -0800

He was born in Israel, spent four years in Jamaica, studied cinema and worked as a voice actor. Now, at 29, he sings like Janis Joplin and is the first Israeli musician to sign a four-record label with Sony Columbia. Ladies and gentelmen, presenting Asaf Avidan[youtube]. His site is still under construction, but you can check his music out on myspace or last.fm.

Rory Block

Joe Beese — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:19:10 -0800

Aurora "Rory" Block has staked her claim to be one of America's top acoustic blues women, an interpreter of the great Delta blues singers, a slide guitarist par excellence, and also a talented songwriter on her own account. - AllMusic

Music is Math is Beauty

filthy light thief — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:52:24 -0800

Glenn Marshall is an Irish computer video artist and musician whose recent work has focused on audio visualization programed in the Processing language. Generally the program is left to its own devices, though his work-for-hire has more intentional design, as in his video for the Peter Gabriel song "The Nest that Sailed the Sky." Marshall has also been hired to create video for Guinness for Sky TV and the Rugby Six Nations Tournament, and a looping animation for Hermes of Paris. Marshall discusses his works with some detail on his blog. (More videos inside) The tree-like visuals employ his ZenO process, as seen in following videos: Music Is Math (unfinished) (3:15) first animation in Processing. Inspired by the Boards of Canada track 'Music is Math' from Geogaddi (blog post) The 'Mandela' Variation (3:45) variation of 'Music is Math,' using Nelson Mandela's prison number as the seed value (blog post) Music is Math (final version) (5:24) "I just let the program run till the end of the music" (blog post) Metamorphosis (2:49) based on Boards of Canada's 'Corsair,' also from Geogaddi (blog post) Radiohead - 'Bodysnatchers' (4:11) song from In Rainbows. Marshall's first attempt at music visualization (blog post) Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake suite (5:45) entirely generative/audio reactive animation, i.e. no keyframing or manual input or editing (blog post) The Nest That Sailed The Sky (test) (5:06) Music by Peter Gabriel, from his album OVO – The Millennium Show (Millennium Dome, London) (blog post) The Nest That Sailed The Sky (final) (5:07) with three extra visual ideas from photos from the original album shoot: single cells, an empty nest, trails of red berries (blog post) Hermes window display animation (1:06) the first of a couple of commercial projects that employed Marshall's 'zeno' animation system (blog post) Other videos: Marbles (1:29) an early study/realism piece - a nostalgic homage to classic computer raytracing (blog post) Landscapes (4:49) a test made with Terragen, music by Ligeti; inspired by Kubrick and Koyaanisqatsi cinematography (blog post) Latte-mation (1:15) a test done with 3ds Max and After Effects (blog post) Butterfly (10:00) Marshall's first short film, commissioned by the Irish Film Board in 2002, which made rounds at film fests (blog post) The Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus (4:45) a short animated guide to Buddhist breath meditation, with narration adapted from a talk given by Ajahn Brahm (blog post) Animated Guinness from Fractals (1:26) "One of my few minor claims in life is the first to animate Guinness for TV, and all using math" (blog post) The Red Rose of Newcastle (2:58) a short film commissioned for a regional BBC series called Days Like This (blog post) Work with Peter Gabriel: The Drop (3:08) first music video, for Peter Gabriel, made in 2003 - made on his own time, but eventually included on an official DVD, and paid for his time. The song is from the album Up (blog post) Quiet Steam (6:27) second video for Peter Gabriel, a b-side track from Digging In The Dirt (blog post) Visuals for 'No Self Control' (live recording) (4:38) which consists lots of Processing work (procedural animation) and sequences from some of ‘Butterfly’ (blog post) Glenn Marshall is now working on two projects: a Graphic Synthesizer program that uses the same principles of wave synthesis but to generate changing images, (blog posts 1, 2, 3 and Graphic Synthesiser Demo (3:51), 4, 5) and an iPhone App (blog post 1, 2 and iPhone App Test #1 video (1:06))

A Master Musician Has Departed

rdone — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:10:18 -0800

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan passed into his next incarnation on June 18. He was unquestionably the greatest sarod player in the world. A sample of his artistry is on display here and here..

suffer no more

ms.jones — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:15:20 -0800

Ted Hawkins. The hidden gem that is the man, the music, his story.

Palestinian musician expelled from West Bank

Joe in Australia — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:04:16 -0800

Wafa Younis is an Arab Israeli musician who organised a youth orchestra in the Jenin refugee camp. She recently brought her orchestra to play for Holocaust survivors at an Israeli old age home. The performance was strongly criticised by Palestinians as a hostile political act. Now the orchestra has been disbanded, its performance space sealed, and Ms Younis has been expelled from the West Bank. This is really depressing. What chance can there be for peace if people react this way?

You can almost hear 'em...

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:32:10 -0800

There's the fascinating autistic musical savant Blind Tom Wiggins. There are musical clowns and minstrels, and poignant images of child musicians. There are tantalizing and truly exotic images of musicians from far-flung corners of the world: India, Persia, China, Japan... all this and more at the Vintage Musicians Flickr group. Oh, and who's that critter with the banjo? Why, that may just be the ORIGINAL LOL CAT.

She was a BIG FREAK!!

Joe Beese — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:31:14 -0800

"A wildly flamboyant funk diva with few equals even three decades after her debut, Betty Davis combined the gritty emotional realism of Tina Turner, the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the trendsetting flair of Miles Davis, her husband for a year. ... she turned Miles on to Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone (providing the spark that led to his musical reinvention on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew), then proved her own talents with a trio of sizzling mid-'70s solo LPs." - All Music Guide (many links nsfw-ish)

Music Is the Weapon: Fela documentary from 1982

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:57:57 -0800

Fela: Music is the Weapon is a documentary film from 1982 featuring a wealth of live concert footage (from his club in Lagos, "The Shrine") as well as interviews with the legendary Nigerian singer, bandleader and social critic. Here's part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Here's a snooty and poorly written New York Times review of the film, which aired on PBS in 1985. Not especially worth reading, necessarily, but included here for historical purposes. The film is available for purchase as part of this 2-CD, 1 DVD set, or from Netflix.

Jimmy Carl Black, RIP

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:44:39 -0800

Drummer and vocalist Jimmy Carl Black, "the Indian of the group", who appeared on more Mothers of Invention records than you could shake a stick at, has passed away. Here's Jimmy drumming with The Mothers of Invention live on French TV 1968, live on BBC TV 1968, singing with The Muffin Men, 2002, and on one of his last gigs, singing Capt. Beefheart's Dropout Boogie in June 2008, in his duo with mad banjo wizard Eugene Chadbourne which they called The Jack and Jim Show. There had been a benefit concert planned for November 9, in London, to help raise funds for the cancer operation in Germany that Jimmy Carl had recently had. I'd imagine this will go ahead as planned, but as a memorial concert. You London-based MeFiers might wanna check it out. Here's another Jimmy Carl Black discography, from a Captain Beefheart site. Fun quote from Jimmy Carl on that page: "... in 1975, I did a tour with Captain Beefheart.The difference between his music and Frank's was like night and day. Frank was avant garde, but Beefheart was the real thing, totally left-field. We rehearsed seven days a week, and maybe we'd play our instruments one hour in twelve. The rest of the time, we'd listen to him bullshit."

Dock Boggs, 1966

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:15:05 -0800

As a young man in the 1920s, Dock Boggs [previously] recorded some songs that were released as 78s, and they are wonderful treasures of southern Americana, but I was always even more fond of his recordings from the 1960s, when, as an old man, he was rediscovered during the folk boom. So I was delighted to find that three of his 60s-period performances have recently shown up on YouTube. Here's Pretty Polly, Country Blues and I Hope I Live, all from 1966. Just one more thing here, for the [more inside]... I came across this clip from a YouTuber called banjochris, and his rendition of Dock Bogg's "Drunkard's Lone Child" is really beautiful. Check it out.

Kazuhira Takeshita and his songs from Amami

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:23:46 -0800

In case you've never heard him, I'd like to introduce you to the sublimely soulful music of Kazuhira Takeshita, from Amami. I discovered Kazuhira Takeshita about 10 years ago via this release, and I can't recommend it highly enough. The record reviewer on this page, however, incorrectly indicates that Takeshita plays the shamisen. Wrong. Takeshita's instrument is is the sanshin, the same as that used throughout the Okinawan archipelago. It is the predecessor of the Japanese shamisen. There's something rather unique about the folk music (called "shimauta") of Amami: unlike virtually all other Okinawan and Japanese folk music, Amami singing involves the use of falsetto voice. Wikipedia page on the Amami Islands.

Martha Copeland, 20s-era blues singer

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:06:20 -0800

Though Bessie Smith is regarded as the queen of the early blues singers, Martha Copeland was singing the blues and its variants (and doing a fine job of it) back in the 20s as well. Head over to Internet Archive to hear Martha sing her versions of two of the tunes that made Bessie so famous: I Ain't Got Nobody and St. Louis Blues, the latter with backing vocal chorus from the Hall Johnson Choir. Check out her Dying Crap Shooter's Blues and Sorrow Valley Blues. And there's plenty of Martha Copeland goodness for your ears (RealPlayer) here and here. I've only been able to find one photograph of Martha Copeland: it graces the jacket of this Document Records release. The Internet Archive links to "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "St. Louis Blues" in this post are originally from a radio show, year 1928, which you can hear at the 20 minute point of this WFMU "Thomas Edison's Attic" broadcast of The Eveready Hour. From the excellent Honey Where You Been So Long (prewarblues.org): "Martha Copeland was a highly successful artist, whose talents were mismanged and wasted by Columbia. Copeland’s wonderful voice was often used to record substandard sides and copies of current hits by Bessie Smith and others rather than promoting her own work. Copeland became famous - but never of the level that her talent would have allowed. Copeland’s body of work is also lessened by the choices others made for her, but on her stand out tracks you can see how much talent and skill she possessed." Meanwhile, here's more great Bessie Smith for your listening pleasure: Gimme a Pigfoot, Yellowdog Blues, Mountaintop Blues, Downhearted Blues and A Good Man is Hard To Find.

Dee Dee Warwick, RIP

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:04:20 -0800

Dee Dee Warwick, sister of Dionne and a fine soul singer in her own right, recently passed on to that other shore. This blog entry on Dee Dee features mp3 links to her wonderful cover of the Elvis Presley hit Suspicious Minds and the heartrending She Didn't Know. More: I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, Monday Monday and Foolish Fool.

Don Helms, steel guitar master, passes on.

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:56:42 -0800

Don Helms, the steel guitarist in Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys band, died on August 11. He was 81. Don provided the smooth-as-silk string stylings for over 100 of Hank's tunes, including Hey Good Lookin' and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. See Don demonstrate some of that steel guitar goodness in a snazzy version of Blues Stay Away From Me, or this instrumental rendition of Hank's Cold Cold Heart, or this sprightly little number, Fireball Mail. Also, don't miss this dusty old relic from the early days of TV, the Kate Smith Evening Hour, presented by new Wonder-Sudsing BAB-O! There's a great live version of Cold Cold Heart, and the duet with Hank Williams and Anita Carter that closes the clip is lovely: a rare chance to see Hank in duet with a female singer. Check it out. And just for good measure, let's give the bass player some, eh? Drifting Cowboy Lum York.

Earl Palmer, thanks for the rhythm.

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:42:50 -0800

A musician passed away just the other day. In all likelihood you never knew his name. But you've probably heard him, no exaggeration, on thousands of occasions. He was drummer Earl Palmer, and some of the thousands of songs he propelled with his versatile grooves and masterful sense of time include Tutti Frutti and Lucille, La Bamba, Let's Go Get Stoned, I Don't Need No Doctor, Unchained Melody, You've Lost That Loving Feeling... the list goes on and on. Oh, and there's the TV themes he drummed on, like say, Mission Impossible. And here you can see New Orleans native Earl demonstrating how he put the beat under Professor Longhair's classic Tipitina and on Fats Domino's I'm Walkin'. He was one superb rhythmist. Au revoir, Earl Palmer. And before all y'all start chiming in with the inevitable "what, no _______?" comments, keep in mind that I've limited myself to the original versions of all song recordings. That is, the versions that Earl Palmer himself can be heard drumming on. Even when the video images were sometimes stupid, this is about the audio, about hearing Earl Palmer. There are no doubt more clips and audio files out there featuring Earl's drumming, and hopefully there'll be some links here in the comments to more tunes that feature his solid stick work. Coincidentally, Palmer is also credited with session work for the film soundtrack to Hud, which, of course, starred another great artist who also just passed away, at the same age of 83, Paul Newman.

King Curtis

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:35:22 -0800

So, there was this little rock band from England, and they got pretty famous and all, so famous that they initiated the era of stadium concerts, back in '65, at a little place in Queens called Shea. But there was an opening act that night, led by a sax-blowin' fellow name of King Curtis, and he kicked total muhfukkin ass, and it wasn't even with his baddest band! You can hear them here. Jump Back! Opening their show with a appropriately energetic version of the Ray Charles chestnut What'd I Say, Curtis and his band turned in a fine performance that evening, for the sweaty young throngs packed into Shea Stadium to see the most famous band in the world. Although the audio quality is less than sterling, here is their short set in its entirety (audio only). From the same live TV studio performance as "Memphis Soul Stew" (under the here link of this FPP), here's Ridin' Thumb and Soul Serenade, albeit with weirdly squashed video. But let's go back a few years, to the tune where Curtis first really made his mark: as the saxophonist on the Coaster's infectious Yakety Yak, which, by the way, was the inspirstion for Boots Randolph's famous Yakety Sax. Here's a soulful little number called Foot Pattin'. Video is another one of those that just shows the record spinning. Nice. Like Booker T and the MGs, Curtis and his band recorded instrumental versions of lots of 60s R&B hits, as well as rock numbers made famous by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Procol Harum, etc. Here are three: I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Whole Lotta Love (with absurdly unrelated video here), A Whiter Shade of Pale (Again, what's with the video? Stupid...). And here's Champion Jack Dupree with a slow blues, joined by King Curtis. And look who's there in the front row, at the beginning of the clip: that's Aretha! Which brings us to another point: King Curtis was Aretha's musical director and backing band leader in 1971, the year he was tragically murdered in the hallway of his apartment building on the Upper West Side of New York City. And, finally, hey, let's give the drummer some. The man who put the seriously funky percussive underpinning to much of King Curtis' work: the great Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. While we're talking Kingpins, let's not forget the great guitarist Cornell Dupree, either, eh?

Gilberto Gil

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:56:16 -0800

Brazil's Gilberto Gil, now 66 years of age, is stepping down from his position as Minister of Culture to concentrate, once again, on his music career. That's good news for his fans, and here's some more good news: a huge chunk of his recorded work is available as streaming audio for your listening pleasure. Here's a vintage clip of Gilberto with mondo-Brazil-rock trailblazers Os Mutantes. More Os Mutantes.

Wait, this Nicol guy played with the SPOTNICKS? Oh, and that other little outfit from Liverpool, who were they again?

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:56:57 -0800

These Beatles clips from a 1965 NME show are straight off the mixing desk, so the voices are way up front. Man, those vocals are so loud you can hardly hear Ringo! But let's back it up just a year, to Holland in 1964, and catch one of the rare performances without Ringo. Aside from his brief stint as a Beatle, session drummer Jimmy Nicol also played with zany Swedish instrumental surf rock band The Spotnicks. So, there you have it: Jimmy Nicol, a lucky fella who got to play with two of the greatest bands in the world! [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions] The Spotnicks also had a few vocal numbers in their repertoire, such as Please Say Yes, complete with awkward lyrics typical of non-native speakers. Then there was their curiously unexpected version of Ol' Man River. Here's the Spotnicks playing just last year, and sounding great. But, whaddaya say, a little more Beatles? These clips from a 1964 Melbourne, Australia show (Ringo had recovered from illness and rejoined the band after their first few Oz gigs with Nicol) also feature some pretty up-front vocals, and they're a bit more hi-fi, as well. Must be those Sennheiser mics. You Can't Do That, Twist and Shout, She Loves You and Long Tall Sally. And finally, it should be noted that the Spotnicks were mentioned here previously. The Beatles, on the other hand, have never until now been featured on MetaFilter, and I'm just pleased as punch to have the opportunity to introduce them to everyone here.

Johnny Temple

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:29:06 -0800

Those familiar with the plaintive falsetto of Delta blues great Skip James will surely hear Skip's influence in the much lesser-known Johnny Temple's Evil Devil Blues, recorded in 1935, which features some delightfully unexpected melodic twists. And though Johnny Temple "never achieved stardom", he does have a Wikipedia page. The Johnny Temple YT clip is from PreWarMusic, who's posted several clips well worth your time and attention from early American music figures who aren't exactly household names. I really like this one, for example: Bed Spring Poker. Skip James, of course, has been featured in a number of previous MeFi posts.

I have to be a star like another man has to breathe.

miss lynnster — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:56:22 -0800

Sammy Davis Jr—entertainer , photographer... camwhore... SATANIST!!!??? Did hanging out with this guy make Sammy bad? Or was he just selling his soul to be groovy? Here are a plethora of links featuring the insanely talented, always popular, often controversial Sammy Davis Jr.. Can you dig it? Aaaand... okay, here's a little info on the Church of Satan.

Erkin Koray, Turkey's psychedelic minstrel.

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:54:31 -0800

Erkin Koray's long career as a major rock star in his native Turkey has seen him cover all sorts of musical territory. His songs are often a curious (some might say bizarre) hodgepodge of musical influences, and one thing's for sure: you couldn't call the man unadventurous! Here's a sampling of some of his psych-Turk-rock from decades past: Krallar - Gel Bak Ne Söylicem - Cemalim - Allahaşkına - Aşka Inanmıyorum - Yanlizlar rihtimi - Gönül Salıncağı - Anma Arkadaş - Aşk Oyunu - Gün Doğmuyor - There are two MySpace Music pages for Erkin Koray. At this one you can hear snippets (not whole tunes, unfortunately) but I recommend listening to them simply to get a further idea of the breadth of his output. Some great Turkish psychedelia to whet your appetite here. And at this one there are three tunes you can hear in their entirety.

Hey, one string's all you really need.

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:09:09 -0800

One fine old day in old LA, in the year of nineteen and sixty, one Frederick Usher met Eddie "One String" Jones, heard him lay down some deep blues on his diddley bow, and was so taken with Jones' monochord masterpieces that he ran home, grabbed his tape recorder and recorded Jones in the alley. One other recording session ensued soon thereafter, which was released as an LP in 1964. By that time, however, the mysterious Eddie Jones (if that was even his real name) was long gone, and was never heard from again. [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions] In case you didn't read the hoverover accompanying the released link in the FPP, I'd like to reiterate here: the Amazon.com page is linked to because of the reader comments, and one in particular, that includes a wealth of diddley bow-related links. And yes, those links are also to Amazon pages, but anyone really interested in this stuff will appreciate the pointers, I think. Eddie "One String" Jones also appears on this compilation. Here's a blog from a fellow who put the liner notes from the release One String Blues at the top position in his list of the Greatest Liner Notes Of All Time. A monochord player is part of this charming junk-instrument band in Malawi. In this clip, Alan Lomax makes mention of the African origins of the diddley bow, and takes a look at bluesman Lonnie Pitchford, another one-string plucker. Here's a fellow calls himself Seasick Steve, playing an instrument virtually identical to that of Eddie "One String" Jones, except that Steve has his running through an amp. And here you'll find One String Willie's replica of Eddie Jones' diddley bow. Here's his instructions on building a BIG diddley bow, like that made famous by Joe Willie Duncan. Finally, I should note that the man who purportedly recorded Eddie Jones, that is Mr. Frederick Usher, is shrouded in even more mystery than Jones himself. I could find absolutely nothing about him. I think he might've been a fictional character...

Eck Robertson drew a mean bow.

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:35:54 -0800

Alexander "Eck" Robertson (1886 - 1975) was one hell of a fine fiddler, friend. He made, in 1922, what many country music historians consider the first commercial recording of country music. And now some kind soul has made ol' Eck a MySpace page where you can get a taste (five tastes, actually) of some of that bodacious bowing. Then head over to Ragtime Annie's place. What? She's Done Gone? She must've run off with the Arkansaw Traveler. Guess you'll have to make do with that Turkey In The Straw. Three tunes from Eck at the Internet Archive. This page has a capsule bio and a great photo of Eck in later life, with a cool goatee and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. While fiddling, of course. This article goes into some detail in analyzing Eck's style and old-time fiddling in general. Eck's Wikipedia page. Eck's "Sally Gooden" was included in y2karl's FPP on Folktunes.org last year, which is where I first heard him. Thanks, y2karl!