There’s more tributes and covers than ever now on Youtube, it seems. We’ll try to pick one every week and don’t judge, but merely present here…
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Due to Bud’s somewhat philosophical tendencies, he might throw in a little cosmic advice from time to time, depending on his mood and schedule. To kick off, he’s had some help from Carsten Jakobsen (Denmark), who sent us a link to the album Underdog, and Other Stories. Bud once dated a girl named Aja, back in the seventies when he still had long hair and shoes. And so he’d like to dedicate his first choice to her. You can click the album cover for more information.
If a musical career spans a period of thirty years, there’s bound to be ups and downs along the way. Rickie Lee Jones has always insisted on making her own choices, sometimes baffling her critics with yet another puzzle to work out. For her latest album “Balm in Gilead” The Duchess of Coolsville combines her multiple talents as an artist, songwriter and producer with a little help from musical friends like Jon Brion, Bill Frisell, Brian Swartz, Pete Thomas and Reggie McBride. Click here to continue reading at All About Jazz. If you’d like to hear samples and/or purchase the album, you can click here.
There’s irony in today’s lunar state of being, because the phrase Once in a Blue Moon will be used a lot in reference to what’s in the stars for New Year’s Eve. On behalf of Rumpus (host of our Mizar6 guestbook) and myself, i wish you a healthy and happy 2010!
“Sita Sings the Blues” is based on the Hindu epic “The Ramayana”. Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina Paley is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of torch singer Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.” It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley. “Sita Sings the Blues” was released in 2008 only after long negotiations with the copyright holders of the 80-year-old songs recorded by Annette Hanshaw. Following the experience of almost having her film blocked from distribution, Nina Paley released it freely under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and now devotes a significant portion of her time to free culture activism. She is Artist in Residence at the non-profit QuestionCopyright.org.
She sat behind the grand piano, the chords of Living It Up filled the room. Sal Bernardi and Rob Wasserman had joined RLJ on stage, awaiting their cues to step in. Most of the time she took the journey on her own, only allowing subtle input from her two musicians. And there was smoke and light effects. She liked the lights, but not the smoke. “It’s killing me, this smoke, it makes it hard for me to sing. If you don’t cut it, I’m gonna walk off stage,” she said with a clear warning to the guys who handled the effects. And she got up alright. But didn’t walk off. Instead she smiled and said she’d try the guitar first and come back to the piano later on. The audience just held its breath. And as soon as Rickie started to play the guitar and sing, all was well again. Remembering setlists and the order of the songs she played is not my thing, alas. There were no seats, so we all had to stand, the front row kind of leaned against the stage. Being that close, you just look at the performers, Rickie in particular, and follow her every move. Reel it all in. Danny’s All Star Joint, Running From Mercy… songs from her new album Balm In Gilead… her voice still sounds the same after so many years, even the high notes have remained within her reach. Her technique and savvy as in how to use the microphone was just as interesting to watch, given the dynamics of her range and volume and the way she interprets her music. There’s a huge difference in Rickie behind the piano and Rickie at the guitar. If she’s playing the piano, you can feel her strength and wide artistic palet as she plays the chords we’re all so familiar with, especially the songs we know from Pirates, her second album. If she’s at the guitar, she seems to tone down some and become more of a singer-songwriter, like one in the legion of many, albeit outstanding ones. Or maybe it’s just my own preference… I bought Balm In Gilead at the show and even though I’d already listened to it via the player at spinner.com, the tracks have most definitely gained body now that I’ve seen her perform live. The magic of Rickie Lee Jones is still there. She still taps into my soul, feed it with the same kind of energy and thrill she did when I was barely 16… (to be continued)
Nancy Elizabeth debuted in 2005 with the EP ‘The Wheel Turning King’, followed by a debut album ‘Battle and Victory’ (2007) that was classified as neo folk, perhaps equally unjust as being pinned down as a singer-songwriter. It’s true, she sings and she writes songs, but she’s also a multi-instrumentalist who plays the piano, guitar, harp, bouzouki, Indian harmonium, Appalachian dulcimer (zither), glockenspiel and an antique Dulcitone. Even her vocal chords are used as an instrument rather than to pose as the most conspicuous vessel carrying her provocative compositions. Every reviewer falls in the trap of seeking comparison when describing something authentic and original. Nancy Elizabeth has been compared to PJ Harvey, Nick Drake and Steve Reich, to name just a few. And yes, her music breathes minimalism and repetition. Her music may be tinged in a certain sadness, or contemplative solitude so you prefer. Without a doubt it’s compelling. There’s beauty in every quiet moment she evokes and hands to the listener, as a gesture of giving voice to silence, how paradoxal this may seem. And to add to the list of comparison, I’d say Simeon ten Holt (Dutch composer), or Sandy Denny. Maybe even some Suzanne Vega. But I will look no further! The album itself. It opens with Cairns, an instrumental tune that welcomes you as a visitor into Elizabeth’s world, kind of dreamy and on higher planes. Bring On The Hurricane excels in repetitive rhythm, melody and chords but builds to an outburst that disappears as quickly as it emerges. Elizabeth sings of life, survival and experiencing the energy of it all. The song is followed by Tow The Line which gives the impression that the first three tracks belong together, serving as an ouverture to Feet Of Courage (available as a single) that paints a different mood, leading the listener to another level of the introspective. Divining is a proclamation of autumn while Cat Bells allows the listener some time to wander off alone in the Avalon of Nancy Elizabeth. Because that’s what her music brings to mind. You’re a passenger on a small boat, surrounded by mist and at first nothing but the sound of water as the boat gently eases on. You can’t see a thing and never have when the journey ends and the boatsman returns you to the mainland. But you’ve heard and experienced a lot just the same. Perhaps it were the voices of mermaids, sirens or elves. Perhaps you were a witness to the cycles of life and nature that happens beyond our knowledge and sight. They nevertheless happen. Canopy, the seventh track on Wrought Iron continues on the path of repetition, but it ends with the sudden appearance of a trumpet that pictures a jazzclub in some back street alley after closing time. It offers a whole new palette for Elizabeth’s color scheme, one she also uses in the next song, Lay Low. The Act, Ruins and the final track Winter, Baby all three add to the belief that there’s power in the repetitive movement, stillness and narration such as conveyed by Nancy Elizabeth on her second album. Not that we’re impatient and have already had enough of Wrought Iron, but since she takes her craft to more matured levels whenever a new album is born, we can only wonder what comes next. So we enjoy the anticipation in advance, and let it add to the listening pleasure of a journey that is destined to always bring you more than you’ll expect… [click here for a session on Dutch radio]
(from the story “Kauai”, by Ezra Titus 2005) Ezra Titus (1966-2009) was an author who had made himself visible to the public eye fairly recently. Given his unusual background this is not such a surprise. He hosted www.ezratitus.com in which he exercised the birthright to express himself. It’s something he charmingly whisked with a fruitful pen and perhaps a daring noisy appearance, as dictated by his ruthless mind that seemed to capture life’s perpetual essentials, stripping it all to the core in a casual yet revealing manner. Ezra Titus distilled his writing from reality, mixed it with a pinch of fiction and a firm fix of idiosyncrasies, to finally serve things up with a flare of experiences we can all relate to or never even dared to dream about. Ezra Titus tells stories. Short stories, destined to make an unpredictable impact. Sometimes chilling, sometimes hopeful, but always from the inside out. Whether fact or fiction, the young author leaves nothing to the reader’s imagination. He tells it like it is. He’s from a musical, creative and successful family. His mother is Libby Titus, a singer-songwriter who is perhaps best known for her marriages to Levon Helm (The Band) and Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), with whom she is still married today. His father is Barry Titus, a musician and novelist who is a grandson of ‘the grand dame of cosmetics’, Helena Rubinstein (she was married to Barry’s grandfather Edward B. Titus, an American journalist who worked in Paris as a publisher/editor for the Black Manickin Press, in the era of philosophers, writers and artists like Andre Breton, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Anais Nin) and also related to pianist Arthur Rubinstein. Ezra has a younger sister, Amy Helm, she plays guitar and sings in the folk-, rock and gospel band Ollabelle. She can also be found on stage with her father Levon. It requires little or less imagination to visualize the early years of youngster Ezra: born in 1966, growing up in New York and Woodstock of the soaring seventies. He lived in a womb full of hippies, drugs, music, freedom and the mesmerizing greatness of the American Dream. Who assumes Ezra was writing about his famous relatives and their celebrity friends is in for a slight desillusion. What the reader is allowed to expect though, are a bundle of intense and introspective stories, set against the decor of society in the United States we know this day and age. Themes like individuality, loneliness, solitude, boredom, madness and the eternal quest for survival are the main ingredients. Strippers hate Flowers is Ezra’s most extensive project thus far. He wrote about his adventures and relationships with strippers, however not tied up in the world of sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll as most (think they) know. Ezra’s candor and humorous tone design a luscious boudoir for the eyes and mind, a place where you are guaranteed to endure extreme entertainment… Rest in peace, Ezra! (Ezra Titus passed away on July 30th in Tampa, Florida) [click here for an obituary and scroll to August 5] [click here for a memorial entry in Yellow by NYB] [click here for Fourth Checkraise from which we got the following comment made by Ezra]
[click here for an excerpt of the story 'It's Cold In Hell' published by Cold Drill from the Boise University] [click here for a blog about a Midnight Ramble with Levon Helm and a song played in honor of Ezra]
For Steely Dan fans it has been a blast so far. This year’s tour is different compared to the ones before. Different setlists. Input of the fans. Tunes they said they would not play finally showing up on setlists. Surprising guest musicians like Elliott Randall and… Larry Carlton. Royal Scam has been my first Steely Dan album. And as such it remains my favorite. Here’s a gorgeous photo album of the New York concert last week, the Royal Scam album featuring Larry Carlton. Thanks to Randy Reichardt for maintaining his Steely fever in such a great fashion! |
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She suddenly appeared from the dark and the audience, not prepared for a quiet entrance, applauded surprised or not at all. Not everyone realized Rickie had entered the stage already. So she made a remark about it with a wry sense of humor and introduced herself again. “Here is Rickie Lee Jones,” while the audience cheered much louder and Rickie’s face lit up with a smile, in the center of a spotlight.
Sometimes a chance meeting can provide for discovery after discovery. Such is the case with the music of Nancy Elizabeth. She is a young singer-songwriter from Manchester (UK), but to label her as just or mainly a ’singer-songwriter’ would not do her work justice. We’ll try to explain as we embark upon an unexpected journey, accompanied by her eleven self-penned songs on 
