Thursday, August 16, 2007
Max Roach, 1924 - 2007
Madscribe:
Another one of my all-time favorites has left this plane. As a teen, I wanted to be a drummer like Max Roach or Art Blakely. Alas, my folks thought the kits too expensive and I was stuck with guitar and bass. Every once in awhile, even at my age, I still daydream about hitting the skins. Then I hear a real master like Roach on CD and tell myself "fuhgeddaboutit!"
Since most of today's pop music is propelled by the electronic or small-kit version of troglodytes banging on boulders with animal bones, it's hard for many modern ears and brains to understand the drum set as actual musical instrument; a constructive and essential member of the jazz combo and composition, as opposed to the glorified metronomic background bashing of talentless pop acts.
A listen to any classic album with Max Roach is definitely a musical education that will make you look at puerile rock "drum solos" with crossed-eyes.
Alas, another great one has moved on and we're left with American Idol simpletons. Sigh ...
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Another one of my all-time favorites has left this plane. As a teen, I wanted to be a drummer like Max Roach or Art Blakely. Alas, my folks thought the kits too expensive and I was stuck with guitar and bass. Every once in awhile, even at my age, I still daydream about hitting the skins. Then I hear a real master like Roach on CD and tell myself "fuhgeddaboutit!"
Since most of today's pop music is propelled by the electronic or small-kit version of troglodytes banging on boulders with animal bones, it's hard for many modern ears and brains to understand the drum set as actual musical instrument; a constructive and essential member of the jazz combo and composition, as opposed to the glorified metronomic background bashing of talentless pop acts.
A listen to any classic album with Max Roach is definitely a musical education that will make you look at puerile rock "drum solos" with crossed-eyes.
Alas, another great one has moved on and we're left with American Idol simpletons. Sigh ...
Labels: Jazz, Max Roach, Today's Popular Music Sucks
Friday, March 23, 2007
Retro Record Moment
And now from crazy black women (see below) to beautiful, talented and intelligent ones. Straight out of Compton, Port-au-Prince, comes this week's musical flashback, Hazel Scott. Like our gracious blog host, Ms. Scott was born in Trinidad and moved to New York City at a young age.
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Though little known today among the listeners of monotonously repetitive tonic pop chords and shrill American Idol warblers, Ms. Scott was an accomplished jazz and classical pianist who was married to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. at one time. Contrary to popular belief, Nat King Cole was NOT the first African-American entertainer with a national TV show, Ms. Scott was. Sit back and enjoy a woman of real talent, class, and multilingual ability from this 1955 clip. She's accompanied by some young bass fella that may have made a name for himself and Joni Mitchell in later years ...
Labels: Classical Music, Dignified Black Culture, Hazel Scott, Jazz
