Thelonious Monk Creates a List of Tips for Playing a Gig: “Don’t Listen to Me, I Am Supposed to Be Accompanying You!”

monk

(via Open Culture)

We’re fascinated by lists. Other people’s lists. Even the ones left behind in shopping carts are interesting (Jarlsburg, Gruyere and Swiss? Must be making fondue.) But it’s the lists made by famous people that are the really good stuff.

It’s fun to peek into the private musings of people we admire. Johnny Cash’s “To Do” list sold for $6,400 at auction a couple of years ago and inspired the launch of Lists of Note, an affectionate repository of personal reminders, commandments and advice jotted by celebrities and other notables.

Most of the site’s best lists are in the “memo to self” category, some with tongue in cheek and others in earnest. But a few offer advice to others. Transcribed by soprano sax player Steve Lacy in a spiral-bound notebook, Thelonious Monk created a primer of do’s and don’ts for club musicians. For the greenhorns, Monk presented a syllabus for Band Etiquette 101 titled “1. Monk’s Advice (1960).” For the rest of us, it’s a view into one of the greatest, quirkiest minds of American music…

Read more: http://www.openculture.com/2012/09/thelonious_monk_scribbles_a_list_of_tips_for_playing_a_gig.html

Wedding Speeches 101

wedding-speeches-101

Credit for graphic to: http://www.sheratonathlonehotel.com/weddings-at-sheraton

Recommended Albums #70

phos

Phosphorescent: Here’s to Taking it Easy (2010)

While listening to the perfectly-titled Here’s to Taking it Easy by Matthew Houck, who records under the nom de plume of Phosphorescent, I can’t shake the feeling that this guy could be headed for Elliott Smith status someday.

houck

With lilting, haunting melodies and simple, evocative lyrics sprawling lazily across relaxed, country-tinged arrangements, his songs have the effortless feel of Lucinda Williams’ best work.

When the layered harmonies join in on “Nothing Was Stolen” and “Mermaid Parade”, perfect unison is eschewed in favored of a sloppier, singalong feel that evokes The Band. This isn’t about perfect takes or instrumental virtuosity. It’s all about the feel, and the feel is reflective, forlorn, world-weary and somehow soothing at the same time.

The London Evening Standard praised Houck as “the most significant American in his field since Kurt Cobain.” And one Amazon reviewer observed:

“Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck is probably one of those American writers and singers who knows that in ten years time a coterie of very hip young bands will record a huge tribute to his songs…and they will name check him as an influence”

If you wander through a Pro-Tools world with a 70’s vinyl heart, songs like “Mermaid Parade” will break that heart–in a good way.

Listen to: “Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)”

Listen to: “We’ll Be Here Soon”

Listen to: “The Mermaid Parade”

Listen to: “Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)”

Listen to: “Heaven, Sittin Down”

Video of the Week: How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain

The Heart of Rock and Roll: 30 definitive quotes from music legends ranging from Little Richard to Keith Richards

keith

(via Purple Clover)

Keith Richards

“Everyone talks about rock these days. The problem is, they forget about the roll.”

Elvis Presley

“Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it.”

Bob Dylan

“When I first heard Elvis’ voice, I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss. Hearing him was like busting out of jail.”

Read more: http://www.purpleclover.com/entertainment/5057-heart-rock-and-roll/

Songs You May Have Missed #592

eggs-frying

Eggs Over Easy: “Nonnie Nookie No” (1981)

From their 1981 Fear of Frying LP. Eggs Over Easy were the overlooked American band who essentially invented what is known as pub rock in the early ’70’s and influenced acts who would achieve greater prominence working the formula.

Their 1972 Link Wray-produced Good ‘N’ Cheap album and their Monday night residency at a London club called Tally Ho gave birth to the pub rock movement and influenced the punk scene that followed.

The band had subverted the club’s jazz-only policy by convincing management that they were a jazz band and asking to play on the club’s slowest night. Soon they were playing three nights a week at Tally Ho and attracting capacity crowds that included artists such as Nick Lowe, Graham Parker and Elvis Costello. Huey Lewis and the News were also greatly influenced by the Eggs.

Having returned to the US, they ended up touring in support of arena rock acts such as Eagles and Yes, ironic since the pub and punk rock movements in England they’d helped create were directly antithetical to the music of the megarock bands.

Eggs Over Easy’s legacy and music are getting a justified reappraisal thanks to a newly-released compilation.

eggs-pic

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries