In January 2013 I received an e-mail from a guy named Lee. Here's his message:
Why did Joe walsh join the Eagles? From James Gang music to Peaceful Easy Feeling? Thanks, Lee.
I started writing him an e-mail back, but then I thought it might be more fun to answer his question by making a video.
You can watch the video below:
Why Joe Walsh Joined The Eagles
A couple years ago I was living in LA and I caught a set by Rozzi Crane at The House of Blues. She was participating in one of those battle of the bands competitions. Anyway, her performance was so good that during every other act's showcase, I couldn't help but think "If Rozzi Crane doesn't win, these judges don't know what's good." To my great relief, Rozzi won—and damn, did she deserve it. Will she become a star? Well, obviously I don't know. But I'll say this—she has one of those voices that is so good, it will be impossible for her to not have a career as a singer. And I'm not talking about Holiday Inns. At the very least, she will be singing backing for superstars.
Which she has done, by the way. Crane has toured as a backing singer with Don Henley and Sergio Mendes. And as a singer/songwriter, she has opened for acts as varied as The Steve Miller Band and Esperanza Spalding.
Last year was a pretty good year for Rozzi Crane. She sang vocals on "Come Away To The Water," a Maroon 5 song which appears on The Hunger Games soundtrack. Incidentally, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was so impressed that he made Crane his first signing for his 222 Record Label. According to Levine, "The first time I heard Rozzi sing I knew I had to find a way to be a part of it. I didn't have to think about it. She's THAT incredible."
One of the hipster-reasons I am writing this post is to have bragging rights of discovering Rozzi Crane early if she ever gets big. I should add that as good as her voice is, she's also a pretty good songwriter, too. Now, if for some reason she has a GREAT song inside her, there's no question that she'll find a large, dedicated audience.
Here's two songs. One is an original cut called "The City." The other is a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On."
"The City" and "Let's Get It On" by Rozzi Crane
Charles Mingus (1922-1979)
Today's "Movie Night" is Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog. As a die-hard Mingus fan, I found this documentary to be incredibly enchanting and insightful. Below are some of my reflections on the man's genius.
Though Mingus loved music, he despised two things with a violent passion—the tendency to label things and the perceived limitations of instruments. In the case of labels, he hated it when people categorized music into arbitrary divisions, differentiating R&B from Swing or Classical from Jazz. To Mingus, it was all just music. Well, if you thought he was a great bass player, you would be correct. But that would be missing the point. Mingus was, first and foremost, a great composer. He didn't want people to overanalyze what the instruments were playing. Surely, it's rewarding to hone in and study his compositions. However, his music was only meant to be experienced and loved on the same level as Duke Ellington's, Mingus's biggest inspiration.
Mingus had a difficult time finding musicians to play with him. Part of this was because he needed someone who was both technically great on their instrument and incredibly open-minded—a quality most other musicians didn't have. Even if you were open-minded, you didn't necessarily have the the sort of unrestrictive mind that Charles Mingus needed to perform his music. It wasn't uncommon for players to take their sheet music back home with them, inspect it and think "huh? You want a trumpet to hit THAT note?" Or "wait, a sax can't do that." Mingus called bullshit on those attitudes. Incidentally, many of the musicians interviewed in this documentary comment that Mingus's compositions were some of the hardest they ever played.
And then there were the actual limitations—the inability for people in his band to understand what the music was supposed to sound like. Mingus went crazy composing his magnum opus, a piece called "Epitaph," much in the same way Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys did when he was trying to make Smile, the follow up to Pet Sounds. That his musicians couldn't enter his head and figure out exactly what he wanted made Charles Mingus furious. When he attempted to perform "Epitaph" live, he thought it was an epic failure and it depressed him.
Part of the pleasure of watching Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog is listening to Charles Mingus speak. You learn that he wasn't just a genius composer and musician, he was also a genius thinker and was able to convey what was in his mind with a beautiful—and often hilarious—elegance. Enjoy the movie. I've also included some of his best albums which serves as a great introduction to this fantastic artist. There's A LOT of music, but all of it is essential listening.
Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog
Blues and Roots
Mingus Ah-Um
The Black Saint And Sinner Lady
Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
Town Hall Concert
Mingus At Antibes
Let My Children Hear Music
Pithecanthropus Erectus
Oh Yeah
A Blog About The Music I'm Discovering and What I'm Discovering About Music
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