This week I'll pair tracks from archives that work well together.
Daniel Blummin played "I Just Don't Know How To Say Goodbye." by Sandy Salisbury from 1969. The track was produced by Gary Usher, and mixes late-60's California pop with a cosmic cowboy, late Byrds feel. Listen to this next to Phil Ochs' "Pleasures of the Harbor" played by Irwin. Ochs' sad voice separates the track from Salisbury's--and is part of what made Ochs' a fixture on early FM radio. But both tracks combine the rustic with the baroque.
Lanie Lane's cover of Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man," made famous by Muddy Waters, was played on 100% Whatever by Mary Wing. Lane's performance, done only on a hollow-body guitar, is music stripped to essentials. "Radio," by Nick Drake, played on Shrunken Planet by Jeffrey Davison, has more dexterous picking, making the track almost jazzy, but has the same bare bones texture.
Here's a texture you rarely hear in jazz: Bagpipes!-- played by Rufus Harley on "Scotch And Soda," selected by Monica. You may think the static, nasal tone of the pipes wouldn't work in jazz, but Harley's soloing swings as hard as that of John Coltrane, Bud Powell, or Don Ellis. Now, listen to Harley's sandpaper texture next to the steely guitars of The Monk's "Love Came Tumblin Down", played by Scott Williams.-
On Mudd Up! DJ/Rupture played the Curtis Mayfield produced "Hard Times" by Baby Huey, which Rupture comments has been "sampled to death." True, but independently, it is fantastic soul blues. The tension it sets up can be relieved by a melodic track, such as Astrud Gilberto's take on Chicago Transit Authority's "Beginnings," recorded on September 17 1969, and played by Therese.
Thanks for letting me know about other good stuff!
Posted by: Alice | April 20, 2012 at 09:01 AM