Pop & Jazz - December 1996

DECEMBER 1996
THE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PREVIEW
Pop and Jazz | By Bob Blumenthal and Charles M. Young

HAUNTED BY LOSS

The wise one
Photo: Gregory Heisler

Someday Joni Mitchell will release an indispensable boxed set. Until then we can buy either her back catalogue or Hits and Misses (Reprise), two CDs that visit, respectively, the high points of her three-decade recording career and some equally high but lesser-known points. Mitchell seems to have been born an old soul, possessed of a Zen-like knowledge that everything changes with perspective and time, and all we can do is hold on to our memories until they change too. That she arrived at this insight as a full participant in the Dionysian frenzy of the sixties probably explains why her album sales have never quite lived up to her considerable reputation. She was haunted by loss and mortality when everyone else in her generation was grabbing for the gusto. Now that all the other Baby Boomers are haunted by loss and mortality, her songs take on an almost unbearable poignance. If you haven't listened to "Woodstock" for a while, try turning out the lights and putting on the headphones. It's just Joni and her electric piano and the idealism of a generation in all its courage and naiveté. Chills and misty eyes are guaranteed. Mitchell's other great talent as a lyricist is her wonderful knack for weaving in political themes without coming off as didactic or overly earnest. When she sings a line like "They paved paradise/And put up a parking lot" in the upbeat "Big Yellow Taxi," you want to sing along and tap your foot. Only afterward, upon reflection, are you blasted by that old loss and mortality. Finally, Mitchell has always had the musical imagination to frame her lyrics. Whether accompanying herself with her idiosyncratic guitar picking or working with the best jazz musicians in the world, she has never gone for the obvious note. Just the right one. --C.M.Y.

Hear clips ("Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock") from Joni Mitchell's Hits in RealAudio 28.8 format. Or, you may also download "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock" in .AU format.
Hear a clip ("Harry's House/Centerpiece" from Joni Mitchell's Misses in RealAudio 28.8 format. Or, you may also download "Harry's House/Centerpiece" in .AU format. (For help, see a note about the audio.)

SPIRITUAL AND SECULAR

Cyrus Chestnut
Photo: David Katzenstein

It is nice to come upon seasonal music that was not simply thrown together for quick December sales. Blessed Quietness: A Collection of Hymns, Spirituals and Carols (Atlantic), the first solo collection from Cyrus Chestnut, is far from the usual jazz versions of sacred tunes. Chestnut's style is grounded in the Baptist Church, so the material here is as basic to him as "I Got Rhythm." When he eases "Jesus Loves Me" into stride, or adds a pastel interlude to "Silent Night," he is working from the heart rather than straining for variation.
More-secular musical Christmas presents often come in boxed sets, like Dexter Gordon: The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions (Blue Note). The tenor saxophonist Gordon (1923-1990) was a jazzman with several lives, including bebop innovator in the 1940s, leader of the expatriate renaissance in the 1970s, and unlikely Oscar nominee (for the film 'Round Midnight) in the 1980s. His most creative playing, however, took place in 1961 following a decade of obscurity. This six-CD set, which covers 1961-1965, is filled with Gordon's commanding tenor in such classic sessions as Go (with the pianist Sonny Clark) and Our Man in Paris (with Bud Powell). The accompanying booklet contains extensive correspondence between Gordon and the Blue Note office, and provides a portrait of a hip charmer which, like the music, is far more representative than the dissipated has-been captured in Gordon's cinema triumph. --B.B.

Hear clips ("Amazing Grace" and "What A Friend We Have In Jesus") from Cyrus Chestnut's Blessed Quietness in RealAudio 28.8 format. Or, you may also download "Amazing Grace" and "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" in .AU format.
Hear clips ("Our Love Is Here To Stay" and "Three O'Clock In The Morning") from Dexter Gordon: The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions in RealAudio 28.8 format. Or, you may also download "Our Love Is Here To Stay" and "Three O'Clock In The Morning" in .AU format. (For help, see a note about the audio.)

HINDU ROCK

Kula Shaker
Photo: Joshua Kessler

From the Beatles to the Police, England produced an amazingly high percentage of the best rock-and-roll bands in the world. Since the early eighties, however, the country has produced almost no one great. Oasis has generated a huge following there and a respectable one here by combining derivative melodies with vocals that fall halfway between John Lennon and Johnny Rotten, but no one would accuse them of having anything to say. Kula Shaker may be just the band to put England--and India--back on the musical map. Deeply influenced by Hindu mythology, they create tightly constructed songs out of trancy whirlwinds of psychedelia and tribal drumming. Their lyrics are about the nature of illusion and reality, some of them sung in Sanskrit--certainly a rare occurrence in pop music. Also rare among new English bands in these days of rave: they can play their instruments and keep the special effects in the service of the song. The juxtaposition of eerie Indian scales with the drive of rock-and-roll seems far more integrated than when it was first tried, in the sixties. --C.M.Y.

Hear clips ("Temple of Everlasting Light" and "Govinda") from Kula Shaker's K in RealAudio 28.8 format. Or, you may also download "Temple of Everlasting Light" and "Govinda" in .AU format. (For help, see a note about the audio.)

Bob Blumenthal is a jazz critic for The Boston Globe.
Charles M. Young reviews popular music for Playboy, Musician, and other publications.

Discuss this feature in the Arts & Literature conference of Post & Riposte (First-time users enter here).

| December 1996 Cover Page | Pop and Jazz | Dance and Theater |