Joshua, Joshua
‘Have You Heard?’ has been up and running for two weeks. Apparently it has received nearly 500 page views to date and there are seven registered followers based in five different countries. I have also received a dozen or more personal emails. My thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement.
Early feedback was keen to establish whether all of the blogs would be about the 60’s and 70’s. Those enquiring could have been excused for thinking that might be the case. However, as the last two or three entries prove, to me at least, there is much else yet to write about to reference 3,000 records acquired over nearly 50 years. Before you start counting, and I am keeping a running tally, thus far I have managed 25 albums and 15 singles; so, still a long way to go to meet my challenge. In any event, it was never my intention to write something chronological – either by reference to the times at which particular music was first acquired nor to the eras from which pieces originate. I neither listen to nor think about music in that way. Often I will select an album at random or even on the basis of ‘hey, I haven’t heard that for a while’ whereafter one selection may naturally suggest another.
Other feedback suggests that I should write more about the music itself and not just the memories and anecdotes that I associate with it. I can certainly try though I rather think that I have more music to mention than there are adjectives in my vocabulary to describe it!
As much as my musical tastes were first shaped by growing up when I did, many of the pop and rock records that I accumulated in my teens and early twenties are not now played as frequently as they once were. There are honourable exceptions for the likes of the Allman Brothers and, of course, the Grateful Dead and some of the other West Coast bands whose finest hours straddled the turn of those two previously mentioned decades. Nowadays, I rarely buy current or recent rock or pop records. I don’t personally find there is much being presently produced that adds musically to what was innovative or original in the 60’s or 70’s. And, being honest about it, lyrically, it is not that easy for a cynical Baby Boomer to relate to a twenty-something bemoaning the end of a love affair or the dearth of the availability of his street drug of choice. Having said that, I own and play both of Amy Winehouse’s albums. I am probably as much drawn to her music by the jazzy feel of her vocal inflections as to her original approach to expressing the meaning of a lyric. Radiohead are undoubtedly innovators and it is to my shame that it took me an embarrassingly long time to appreciate just how excellent they are.
Over the past decade, the music that most often satisfies me has been accumulated during my adult life. In addition to jazz, I listen to classical, movie soundtracks and so-called ‘world music’ particularly that which comes from Mali and Senegal
New experiences spawn new memories, new anecdotes and, inevitably, new musical associations. Regularly attending gigs, as I still do, and hearing amazing musicians play live – especially for the first time – are the most potent catalysts for buying new records.
A couple of weeks back, I heard – and experienced - the extraordinary Joshua Bell playing live on the South Bank. I am waiting for his recording of the Brahms’ Violin Concerto to arrive in the post. Outstanding tenor sax player Joshua Redman brought his James Farm project to perform in Tel Aviv when I was visiting there last summer. I bought their album on the way out of the venue and haven’t stopped playing it since, also enabling me to discover the remarkable – and original - talent of pianist Aaron Parks.
Any overseas artist visiting Israel Israel Bell
So, it doesn’t have to be 60’ or 70’s to meet the criteria for this blog. My passion for music continues to live and breathe and so do the associations and recollections it engenders.
Radiohead. Music to kill yourself to.
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