Why does free jazz/Chabad soprano saxophonist Daniel Zamir draw materials from an old Israeli song glorifying a watchman from the 1930s? Why is today’s Israeli jazz a natural, organic expression of early Zionist settlement? Why is Jeff calling a 21-year old drummer a genius? The answer to these and many more questions in Song of The Week.
Continue reading...Song Of the week
126: Bob Dylan, ‘Tears of Rage’ (The Basement Tapes)
‘Tears of Rage’ is Dylan’s “King Lear”, a brutally painful description of a daughter’s love denied. The Basement Tapes, recorded in 1967 as he convalesced from his motorpsycho accident, lay underground for decades. But their impact on the way we perceive the world is greater than any other pop music, including “Sgt Pepper”.
Continue reading...132: James Taylor, ‘Enough To Be On Your Way’
Twelve years ago this week my sister Madelaine passed away, long before there was a Sibling’s Day. James Taylor wrote the moving song ‘Enough To Be On Your Way’ as a lamentation for his late brother, Alex. My love for my sister is bigger than any pop song. But in the real world, what comes through the car radio is the soundtrack of our lives.
Continue reading...040: Lennie Tristano Quintet, ‘317 East 32nd’ (Live in Toronto 1952)
Desert Island music. Ice also burns.
Continue reading...153: Pete Christlieb & Warne Marsh, ‘Magna-Tism’
Pete Christlieb (Steely Dan/Tonight Show ) teams up with the legendary Warne Marsh, 1978. Listen to two tenor saxophonists set the studio on fire.
Continue reading...155: Buddy Holly, ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’
When the weather’s right, this song can still make me cry.
Continue reading...152: Sam Cooke, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’
Sam Cooke wrote ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ as a black response to ‘Blowing in the Wind’. It was only released a week after he was killed by a motel manager, and has become the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Second in a series of three death-premonition songs.
Continue reading...151: Otis Redding, ‘(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay’
You might not think that “Spookily Existential Posthumous Hits” is a genre unto itself, but here’s the first of three which are memorable, moving and eerily prophetic. Otis recorded this song two months before he died, aged 26.
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