I usually like to listen to a lot of music that I've heard before. A major part of that is that quite frankly I've heard a lot of music-perhaps too much. A lot of people my age wouldn't know most of the music I listen to. No, I'm not being condescending, I'm just stating the facts. There are people my age who don't even know Strawberry Fields by the Beatles. Sad, yes. But true. Anyways, let's talk about the music I've been listening to and perhaps provide a little insight on why I keep coming back to it and gravitating to it.
First off, Death. The brutal death metal band from Florida that came to popular acclaim in the 1990s. I was talking to an older musician co-worker earlier tonight and he said that the singer from Death (Chuck Schuldiner) was considered the great hope for metal back then. But then he suddenly died due to brain cancer. He's considered the Godfather of Death Metal and had this great voice that wasn't cookie monster vocals that you hear in pretty much every death metal group. Not only were his vocals great but his guitar playing was spot on. He could do great leads as well as phenomenal rhythm.
I've been feeling Death a lot lately because I've been feeling a little angry. I like to display my anger through my guitar playing (shredding fast neoclassical licks and playing jazz standards) but sometimes you just need that raw guttural death metal style growls to satisfy the beast within. Am I evil? Probably. Haha.
Right now I'm relaxing listening to Hendrix. Hendrix is an artist I will always respect, love, and admire until the day I die. He's literally the greatest guitar player that ever lived, one of the best songwriters, and one of the best rock and rollers. He was cooler than all the Beatles combined. His music is so bluesy and jazzy but he's also a true rock and roller. The Band of Gypsies album is the one I always listen to whenever I feel the need to listen to Hendrix. And I always like hearing Little Wing.
Hendrix's music soothes my soul. Every aspect of the music is spiritually uplifting-if you believe in that sort of thing. It's like how Hendrix described his music, as "electric church music". It's great! I've learned a lot from Hendrix about guitar playing and what it means to be a truly great musician. I'll continue to learn from him through his music.
Next up, I'd like to talk about John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. Too very different kinds of saxophonists. Trane is a tenor sax player who went on to become one of the greatest musicians of all time. The same for Parker except he played alto.
I dig a lot of Trane's music because of how uplifting and spiritual it is. The wide range of emotions displayed through musical techniques, style, and sound are baffling but rewarding. Towards the end of Trane's career he was booed and shunned because he wasn't playing bebop and My Favorite Things. The truth is that Trane took jazz to the furthest edge that it could go-further beyond. Jazz can't go further than that. Trane and Ornette Coleman were the last revolutionary changes to come to jazz. Quite remarkable. That's why he's my favorite musician.
With Charlie Parker it's a different sort of inspiration. I'm in awe of Parker's technique and sound more so than his compositions or emotional range. He played all the best songs-the jazz standards of the day that are still popular now. I can hum a lot of stuff he played and its pretty technical but it's always melodic and catchy. His influence was so vast on jazz musicians-even me, an electric guitarist in 2016. Who would've thought, right? I can see his influence on people like Trane and Eric Dolphy too, even though those guys are totally different jazz cats.
Different moods call for different music. Who knows, maybe I'll start listening to rap sometime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment