“Name McKinley Morganfield, nickname Muddy Water, Stovall’s famous guitar picker,” Muddy clearly said in his first ever recording session, August 1941. McKinley “Muddy Water” Morganfield, of course, the father of modern Chicago Blues, and the only household Blues name – along with B.B. King. Note that “Water” is singular, and the beauty here is that … Continue reading Muddy Water[s] : Down on Stovall’s Plantation
Author: f. d. leone
Songwriter.
Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) : Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions
Perhaps the greatest Modern Italian composer after Puccini, Luigi Dallapiccola was born in Pisino, in the disputed territory of Istria, then under Austrian rule (it is now part of Croatia and Slovenia). His father, a teacher suspected of Italian nationalism, lost his job during World War I, and the Austrian government interned the entire family … Continue reading Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) : Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions
Miles Davis : Bitches Brew (1970)
Shortly before his death in 1991, Miles Davis remarked “You don’t change music, music changes you.” While that statement is unassailable regarding the vast majority of artists, no matter how influential, Miles Davis was definitely an exception. Indeed, the Man with the Horn was being uncharacteristically modest, and he knew it. He did, after all, actually … Continue reading Miles Davis : Bitches Brew (1970)
Charles Mingus : The Jazz Workshop Concerts: 1964-1965
When Sy Johnson, a jazz pianist and arranger, used to visit Charles Mingus at his apartment in the East Village in the 1960s, there was always a pot of soup on the stove, and Mingus—a gourmand who once interrupted a concert to eat a steak dinner on the bandstand—was constantly tasting it. “He would say—‘Needs … Continue reading Charles Mingus : The Jazz Workshop Concerts: 1964-1965
American Original : John Fahey (1939-2001)
“I consider myself a classical guitar player, but I’m categorized as a folk musician,” John Fahey says ruefully in the new documentary In Search of Blind Joe Death—The Saga of John Fahey. In true Fahey fashion, he speaks humbly while taking Occam’s Razor to his own complicated place in music history. One thing that Fahey … Continue reading American Original : John Fahey (1939-2001)
Abbey Lincoln : A Turtle’s Dream
Singer Abbey Lincoln has been persuasive in her recordings over the past few years, but in her latest release, "A Turtle's Dream," she attains a new expressive depth and ardor. Probably the best recording of her career, "A Turtle's Dream" documents an artist who has pared down her means and her message to their essence. … Continue reading Abbey Lincoln : A Turtle’s Dream
Three Birthdays Today : Mississippi Fred McDowell; Jay McShann; Morton Feldman
When Mississippi Fred McDowell proclaimed on one of his last albums, "I do not play no rock & roll," it was less a boast by an aging musician swept aside by the big beat than a mere statement of fact. As a stylist and purveyor of the original Delta blues, he was superb, equal parts Charley … Continue reading Three Birthdays Today : Mississippi Fred McDowell; Jay McShann; Morton Feldman
God Don’t Never Change : The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson
Seminal gospel-blues artist Blind Willie Johnson is regarded as one of the greatest bottleneck slide guitarists. Yet the Texas street-corner evangelist is known as much for the his powerful and fervent gruff voice as he is for his ability as a guitarist. He most often sang in a rough, bass voice (only occasionally delivering in … Continue reading God Don’t Never Change : The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson
Maurice Duruflé : The Last Impressionist
Maurice Duruflé (11 January 1902 – 16 June 1986) was a French composer, organist, and teacher. Although he was born in 1902 and died in 1986, Maurice Duruflé is not a typical 20th-century musician. Compared with other great composers of his day — Bernstein, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Britten — he seems strangely out of touch with … Continue reading Maurice Duruflé : The Last Impressionist
Composer Profile : Kate Soper
Kate Soper is a composer, performer, and writer whose work explores the integration of drama and rhetoric into musical structure, the slippery continuums of expressivity, intelligibility and sense, and the wonderfully treacherous landscape of the human voice. She has been hailed by the Boston Globe as “a composer of trenchant, sometimes discomfiting, power” and praised … Continue reading Composer Profile : Kate Soper
Musica Kaleidoskopea 