Showing posts with label Tom Waits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Waits. Show all posts

December 10, 2020

Marcel Duchamp articles/mentions

   ~     

     
     
      

mentions:      
Gavin Bryars & Tom Waits ‎~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet   
     
     
     
photo by Irving Penn  


      
   
     
     
        














Samuel Becket articles/mentions

 ~     
Waiting for Godot        
      
      
mentions:
Gavin Bryars & Tom Waits ‎~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet       
Mario Lanza ~ For the First Time    
Théâtre de Babylone ~ Paris     
     
     
     
     
Samuel Beckett - 1920's
photographer unknown






















December 7, 2020

1,000,001 CDs 18: Gavin Bryars With Tom Waits ‎~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

~      

Two things happened on a December 7th; the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1941 and the birth of Tom Waits in Pomona, California in 1949. Both changed my life forever and we would never see the world the same way again.          
           
I first became aware of Waits when I was dancing on Broadway at the hungry i in San Francisco (link below). Janice, one of the girls who danced there, loved his songs and used them regularly. Then one night he actually came into the club; Janice was in heaven and I got to meet him. He is an easy going, down-to-earth guy and I liked him a lot.    

In 1971, Gavin Bryars composed a work based on a loop of an unknown homeless man in a Lambeth church in London, England, in 1975, singing a brief improvised stanza. The loop was the singer's recollection of the chorus of a Gospel hymn, by James M Black, published in 1911.      
 
 
 
 Lambeth church - 1975
homeless man - London
Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images
 
 
Bryars made a loop of 13 bars; he was by that time teaching at Leicester Polytechnic and was able to make use of a small sound studio there. To preserve the delicate original, he recorded it on to a second machine, leaving the loop running while he went to fetch a coffee. When he returned, he found that the painting students in the various rooms around the studio had fallen silent and were listening sombrely to the old man’s voice. Someone was weeping in a corner. It’s an effect that audiences have been experiencing ever since.        
 
Recognizing that his piano was in tune with the singer, began to work on harmonization. He made a simple chordal arrangement, which in later versions has developed into a rich ensemble sound with strings and brass, weighted to the low end of the harmonic scale. There have been several versions of the work from 1972 to 2019. This is the 1993 version and the CD has Tom Waits singing the hymn.  
              
Bryars was deeply interested in using “found material”. He spent significant time away from composition, studying the work of Marcel Duchamp, whose “readymades” are key works of high modernism, and he had already experimented with found material in the 1969 indeterminate piece The Sinking of the Titanic (link below).        
 
 

CD front & back 
Design – David Lau 
cover photos by Nick White 
photo of CD cover by Styrous®

 
 
The piece was first recorded for use in a documentary which chronicles street life in and around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo, in London. When later listening to the recordings, Bryars noticed the clip was in tune with his piano and that it conveniently looped into 13 bars. For the first LP recording, he was limited to a duration of 25 minutes; later he completed a 60-minute version of the piece for cassette tape; and with the advent of the CD, this is a 74-minute version.       


  

This is a very strange recording in so many ways, which is not unusual for neither Bryars nor Waits. I have a favorite track on any album; I don't on this one because although there are six tracks, the music runs from one track to the next. The tape loop of the homeless man (called The Tramp) plays with orchestral variations on the first four tracks but Waits doesn't actually come in until the fifth track when he accompanies the tape loop of "The Tramp". Waits then takes over on the sixth track which is VERY quiet and dreamy but his whiskey-and-cigarette flavored voice is unmistakable.       


       

Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.           


    

Tom Waits is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres.        


 
 
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act created by Jon Webster. The prize when to Suede for their self-titled album.   
    

          
          
           
Tracklist:

1 - Tramp With Orchestra I (String Quartet) - 27:05
2 - Tramp With Orchestra II (Low Strings) - 15:16
3 - Tramp With Orchestra III (No Strings) - 4:48
4 - Tramp With Orchestra IV (Full Strings) 6:06
5 - Tramp And Tom Waits With Full Orchestra - 19:38
6 - Coda: Tom Waits With High Strings - 1:47

Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Point Music
    Copyright (c) – GB Records (2)
    Copyright (c) – Mnemonic Records
    Copyright (c) – Point Music-
    Produced For – Euphorbia Productions Ltd.
    Produced For – Philips Classics Productions
    Manufactured By – PolyGram Classics & Jazz
    Marketed By – PolyGram Classics & Jazz
    Made By – UML
    Recorded At – Prairie Sun Recording Studios
    Engineered At – The Looking Glass Studios
    Mixed At – The Looking Glass Studios
    Produced At – Dave Hunt Studio
    Produced At – Cedar
    Published By – Island Records Inc.

Credits:

    Alto Vocals [Chorus] – Elsa Higby, Katie Geissinger, Margo Grib*
    Art Direction – Margery Greenspan
    Baritone Vocals [Chorus] – Gregory Purnhagen, Jeffrey Kensmoe*, Peter Stewart (2)
    Bassoon [Orchestra] – Kim Laskowski
    Cello [Hampton String Quartet] – John Reed (3)
    Cello [Orchestra] – Beverly Lauridsen, Clay Ruede, Jeanne LeBlanc, Jesse Levy, Mark Shuman, Semyon Fridman
    Clarinet [Orchestra] – Allen Blustine, Steven Hartman
    Composed By [Music] – Gavin Bryars
    Conductor, Producer – Michael Riesman
    Contrabassoon [Orchestra] – Jeffrey Marchand
    Design – David Lau (2)
    Double Bass [Bass] [Orchestra] – Barbara Wilson (2), Homer Mensch, John Beal
    Engineer, Mixed By – Chris Ekers, Dante DeSole
    Executive-Producer – Kurt Munkacsi, Philip Glass, Rory Johnston
    Flute [Orchestra] – Michael Parloff
    French Horn [Orchestra] – Ann Yarborough*, Ron Sell, Sharon Moe, Tony Miranda
    Guitar [Orchestra] – Brian Koonin
    Harp [Orchestra] – Karen Lindquist, Nina Kellman
    Oboe [Orchestra] – Dorothy Darlington
    Organ [Orchestra] – Michael Riesman
    Percussion [Orchestra] – Frank Cassara
    Photography By [Cover Photo] – Nick White (4)
    Photography By [Photos (Inlay Card & Inside) Except Tom Waits] – Alastair Thain
    Recorded By [Tom Waits' Vocals] – Mark "Mooka" Rennick*
    Soprano Vocals [Chorus] – Kristin Norderval, Lisa Bielawa, Marion Beckenstein, Michele Eaton
    Tenor Vocals [Chorus] – Eric Lamp*, Jeffrey Johnson, John Koch
    Trombone [Orchestra] – James Pugh*, Keith O'Quinn
    Trumpet [Orchestra] – Neil Balm, Wilmer Wise
    Tuba [Orchestra] – Alan Ralph*
    Viola [Hampton String Quartet] – Richard Maximoff
    Viola [Orchestra] – Alfred Brown, Juliet Haffner, Olivia Koppel*, Paul Peabody
    Violin [1st] [Hampton String Quartet] – Regis Iandiorio
    Violin [2nd] [Hampton String Quartet] – Richard Henrickson
    Violin [Orchestra] – Dale Stuckenbruck, David Nadien, Donna Tecco, Elena Barere, Eriko Sato-Oei*, Jan Mullen, Jean Ingraham, Laura Seaton, Matthew Raimondi, Max Ellen, Mayuki Fukuhara, Nancy McAlhany, Richard Sortomme, Sanford Allen
    Vocals [Additional] – Tom Waits

Notes:

Original version © 1971 Gavin Bryars.
Current version © 1993 Mnemonic/(MCPS/PRS).
℗ © 1993 Point Music / a joint venture of Euphorbia Productions, Ltd. and Philips Classics Productions.

Manufactured and marketed by PolyGram Classics and jazz, a division of PolyGram Records, Inc., New York, NY.
Printed in the U.S.A.

Engineered and mixed at The Looking Glass Studios, NYC.
Tom Waits' vocals recorded at Prairie Sun Recording, Cotatti, CA.
Pre-Production/Tape Preparation: Dave Hunt Studio, London; Cedar Audio, Cambridge; Nick Gilpin, Autograph.

Tom Waits appears courtesy of Island Records, Inc.

Total Time - 74:43

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode (Scanned): 028943882323
    Barcode (Text): 0 289-438823-2 3Tom Waits
    Matrix / Runout (Burned on Master): 438 823-2 02@
    Matrix / Runout (Pressed on Stamper - Variant 1): E
    Matrix / Runout (Pressed on Stamper - Variant 2): D
    Label Code: LC 6042
    Rights Society: MCPS/PRS
    Other: PG 925
    Other: PTH
    Matrix / Runout (Pressed on Stamper - Variant 3): G

Gavin Bryars With Tom Waits ‎– Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Label: Point Music ‎– 438 823-2
Format: CD, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 
Genre: Electronic, Classical
Style: Abstract, Contemporary, Minimal          
 
 
          
Viewfinder links:        
         
Samuel Becket        
Gavin Bryars        
Philip Glass         
Hungry i articles        
Kurt Munkacsi        
      
Net links:        
         
The Cross-Eyed Pianist ~ A mesmerising musical experience     
The Guardian ~ Anthem for the homeless         
Opuszine ~ Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet        
Pitchfork ~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet        
Gramophone ~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet                 
      
YouTube links:        
        
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1 hr., 14 mins., 43 sec.)       
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (edit w/Tom Waits)       
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (interview)       
        
        
         
         
“ . . . the tears of the world are a constant quality. 
For each one who begins to weep, 
someone somewhere else stops.”
            ~ Samuel Beckett
 
 
Tom Waits (front), Gavin Bryars (rear) 

         
        
        
         
Styrous® ~ Monday, December 7, 2020     
    
















Michael Riesman artiocles/mentions

    ~  
     
     
Bryars & Waits ~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet      
Philip Glass ~ Mishima     
     
     
      
     
      
     
date & photographer unknown
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Kurt Munkacsi articles/mentions

   ~  
     
     
Bryars & Waits ~ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet     
Philip Glass ~ Mishima     
Carl Orff ~ Carmina Burana á la Manzarek     
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
Kurt Munkacsi      
date & photographer unknown     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
     
      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Tom Waits articles/mentions

  ~  
      
mentions:          
     
        
      
     
     
     
      
     
Tom Waits - 2006    
photo by Rob Verhorst
      
     
     
      
     
      
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

July 8, 2017

Herb Cohen articles/mentions

Herbert "Herb" Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, George Duke and many other Los Angeles-based musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.         

       
          
Viewfinder links:        
         
Fred Neil ~ A Midnight Cowboy    
The Mothers Of Invention        
          
        
photograpner unknown

December 26, 2013

101 Reel-To-Reel Tapes 30: Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band ~ ~ See Reverse Side for Title

See Reverse Side for Title  .
detail of album cover             .
detail photo by Styrous®              .

In addition to my vinyl collection I'm selling, I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes I'm selling (see link below). This is an entry about the Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title. I have the vinyl LP version as well. Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

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Jug band music is a unique American musical style that developed in Louisville and Memphis at the turn of the 20th century. Jug bands consist of instruments like harmonica, kazoo, banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, washboard, washtub bass, and the jug (of glass or stoneware). The jug player blows across the aperture often providing a bass ostinato.

 (click on any image for slideshow)
circa 1926
photographer unknown
from San Francisco Public Library





1980's




Now, there are post-modern jug bands with new, exciting and experimental sounds that aim to stretch the limits of our experiences. 5-Cent Coffee of the San Francisco Bay Area and some of the songs by Tom Waits fall into this category. 

 The jug band, 5-Cent Coffee
performing at the San Francisco Jug Band Festival
on 16 August, 2009
 photo by 5-Cent Coffee


 ~ ~ ~


Jim Kweskin was born on July 18, 1940, in Stamford, Connecticut. He is the founder of the Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band, which was active in Boston in the 1960s. Kweskin adapted the ragtime fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt but incorporated more sophisticated jazz and and blues stylings.


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover
album cover photographer unknown
photo by Styrous®



The Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band was formed in the early 1960s in Cambridge, MA. They played a combination of old time folk, jazz and blues tunes with a special emphasis on the material of the jug band of the 1920s. Jim Kweskin was the leader of the band, though Geoff Muldaur was usually heard on lead guitar and vocals. The band also included Bill Keith on banjo, Mel Lyman on harmonica, Fritz Richmond on jug and washboard bass, Richard Greene on fiddle and Maria D'Amato on vocals and kazoo.

 Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back detail
detail photo by Styrous®




As is the case with most jug band music, the songs are folk-sounding and performed with great, earthy feeling. My very favorite song on this album is, Chevrolet; the vocals by Maria D'Amato (Muldaur) and Geoff Muldaur on it are dynamite. They do a call and response that is sweet (links to music on YouTube below).



Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back
album photographer unknown
photo by Styrous®



Maria D'Amato married Geoff and went on to a solo career under her married name (Maria Muldaur). Fiddle virtuoso Richard Greene joined Blues Project and then Seatrain; Mel Lyman formed his own authoritarian religion and Kweskin became one of his converts.


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®



Kweskin recorded Over Seas Stomp (also known as The Lindy and The Lindberg Hop), Minglewood and Viola Lee Blues. Most of their albums are out of print and some are rather hard to find.

 

Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel
photo by Styrous®



Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel label detail
photo by Styrous®


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band released six albums and two greatest hits compilations on Vanguard Records between 1963 and 1970. Kweskin produced, Jim Kweskin's America, on Reprise Records in 1971; and four albums on Mountain Railroad Records between 1978 and 1987.


Tracklist:

Side 1:

1 - Blues In The Bottle        
2 - Chevrolet        
3 - Christopher Columbus        
4 - Never Swat A Fly        
5 - Richland Woman        
6 - Downtown Blues        
7 - Turn The Record Over    

Side 2:

1 - Fishing Blues        
2 - Storybook Ball        
3 - That's When I'll Come Back To You        
4 - Viola Lee        
5 - Papa's On The Housetop   
6 - Onyx Hop
       
Credits:

Jim Kweskin - lead guitar and vocals
Geoff Muldaur - guitar and vocals
Maria D'Amato (Muldaur) - vocals


Music links:
Chevrolet on YouTube
Blues In The Bottle on YouTube
Papa's On The Housetop on YouTube
Jug Band Music on YouTube

other music links:
Tom Waits - Chocolate Jesus on YouTube
5-Cent Coffee - Guns and Balloons on YouTube



reel-to-reel listings on eBay

more reel-to-reel tapes on the Styrous® Viewfinder:
                                             reel-to-reel tape archive


The is a great album that is earthy, musically exciting and just what the 'doctor' ordered for get-down music. Thanks, Guys.


Styrous® ~ Thursday, December 26, 2013
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