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Record executives will tell you they only put out the garbage they do 'cause the people buy it, "Don't blame me, the kids are eating it up." But what they fail to say, and in some cases to even see, is that the kids have no choice but to eat it up, because it's all that's being put on their plate. There is alotta good music being made today, it's coming from all over the world, but you do have to be a friggin' Columbo to find it.
Capitalism made the music business grow, made it large, gave it the power of numbers, just as it did in most of the other businesses in America, just as it did America herself; but when it becomes the only thing that matters, when it is not only the first thought you have and the last thought you have but the only thought you ever need to have, then you will get that disease...
You don't have to be Colombo to find good music any more. I remember the days when I'd spend hours in basement used record stores in London or driving miles in California to a store that I'd hear about looking for stuff the wasn't on Billboard. Now we have P2P, You Tube, My Space and it's all there for us to devour.
You don't have to be Colombo to find good music any more. I remember the days when I'd spend hours in basement used record stores in London or driving miles in California to a store that I'd hear about looking for stuff the wasn't on Billboard. Now we have P2P, You Tube, My Space and it's all there for us to devour.
I hear ya, Raggy, but myself, I'm a bit of a Neanderthal meets 21st century technology, and I at the moment, have no sound on my computer. But I've got hundreds of great CD's, and two kids that do know there way around the internet, so I'm in good shape.
Yikes no sound on your computer? You gotta change that and you gotta start discovering new stuff on line. It's not all about record lables and what they think we should be listening to, there are people coming up with new stuff every day independently.
PS I corrected the url on the Lefsetz link.
Last edited by Raggy dee Ann; 10-31-2008 at 03:33 PM..
The Sinatra effect, is a chapter in a book by musician, historian Gene Lees', "The Singer and the Song". In this chapter, Lees talks about the problem that the dawning of a Frank Sinatra presented especially to the male singers of his genre that followed. His basic premise was that Sinatra did it so well, and in particular so uniquely good, right was his phrasing, that you were finally hearing the way that many songs he covered were supposed to sound in the first place. A songwriter's greatest ally, Sinatra was happening to a song, and so much so that anybody who came after him either sounded as if he were copying Frank, or he was just singing it wrong. Lees mentioned that Tony Bennett had an easier go of it because of his range, quite a bit higher than Frank's, and his distinctive gravelly voice, that Lees also points out occurs most often in people of Italian heritage.
Tony, in some ways was as good or even better than Frank in my opinion. Sacrilege I know, but that voice, besides the ambience of its texture, can be acrobatic in its super human feats. Tony recorded a tribute album called "Perfectly Frank," and being the wise, instinctive artist/merchant that he is did trademark Sinatra songs such as, "I'll Be Seeing You," and, "The Lady is a Tramp," "You go to my Head," and even "Nancy", all accompanied by not the big band backup Frank was so famous for, but instead with only a trio, piano, bass and drums, the delectable and sadly and ill-advisedly now exiled Ralph Sharon on the piano. In most cases, he did these Sinatra standards in a different tempo all together. Now Frank had a few things Tony never has, namely that rich voice quality and that Sinatra excitement, add to this the depth of the Sinatra melancholy, but Tony's not only the last man standing, he's now as he has always been to my ears, one of the best at what he does, and that's anywhere and at anytime.
Frank of course was a superstar and his timing couldn't have been better. 4F, because of believe it or not, a punctured eardrum, he filled a void in the millions of American women left stranded stateside by their deployed GI boyfriends and husbands during WWII. And then, there was that voice, The Voice, they called him then, one that began as a pure, bell-shaped tenor, but then aged and grew in strength and range to the rough and tumble, gravelly baritone that took him into his iconic status. His never before success gave him reach, made available to him the best composers and lyricists, the best arrangers and musicians; Frank was the best, and so he could demand the best, surround himself by the best, plus his musical taste in songs and choices within these songs further set him apart. When they asked Bing Crosby just what it was about Frank Sinatra that made him so great, Bing said simply, "Oh, his taste, he has great taste." Another quote attributed to Bing during Frank's heyday was, "A singer like Frank Sinatra comes along once in a lifetime ... Why did it have to be in mine?"
Frank Sinatra was a phenomenon, an overused word in these days of one upsmanship marketology, but Frank truly was; first as a consummate artist then as a bigger than life personality that only fed the legend. His go **** yourself style, his loyalty to friends above all else right from the get go, before he had any real juice. If I'm not mistaken it was on his very first movie, his first stint with Hollywood, and when they were in the process of hiring the lyricist for the original songs that would be in the movie. I can't tell you for sure what established, no-risk wordsmith they had in mind, had waiting at the ready to sign to the deal when Frank said, "No. I want Sammy Cahn."
"Who!?" Was the unanimous response.
"You heard me. Sammy Cahn. If he's not on this picture, I'm not on this picture." What stones! His first picture!
Even Sammy tried to dissuade him. "Frank, there'll be others. We'll have our shot. Wait till you have more clout."
But Frank stood firm, and now of course Sammy Cahn is arguably the most prolific, successful, celebrated lyricist in the history of American song. Frank Sinatra truly was a unique character and talent, folklore that when you see it up close, as I have through mutual friends, was everything they ever said and a whole lot more. We do have his music, we always will have his music, but still, what a loss. Ten years now, and the world just ain't as hip a place.
I have to agree--the Great American Songbook was largely penned in that relatively short period beginning at the end of the ragtime era, and ending (for the most part) with the ascendance of rock and roll in the 1950's. I remember hearing Linda Ronstadt comment to Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show about her appreciation of the music of that era (this was right after she had recorded her albums of standards with Nelson Riddle). She said the songs of that period were "so well-crafted." They were, but that was not all. One also has to listen to the beautiful orchestrations and arrangements that accompanied the great melodies and lyrics. I have always believed that the arrangers have gotten far too little recognition.
One can not dismiss the tremendous musical talent that came to fruition in that period. Their influence is felt in American music yet today. Most of today's music listeners do not understand the continuum stretching from that era to today. An example: A wonderful band of the swing era, hardly known today, was led by a gentleman by the name of Claude Thornhill. He employed a brilliant arranger by the name of Gil Evans. Evans later went on to arrange some of Miles Davis' most influential work--including the Birth of the Cool. In the 1970's, the Allman Brothers Band listed Miles Davis as one of their biggest influences--and the Allman Bros. are a model for many of today's rock bands. Continuum.
I think one of the saddest losses is simply that the romantic beauty that permeates so much of the American Songbook has largely been forgotten in today's music. We could use some of that beauty in our music today--the rest of the world can be ugly enough. Maybe that is why the American Songbook did contain so much beauty--much of the music was written in some of America's darkest days of Depression and War--music could be one thing of true beauty in a time when ugliness was rampant.
Fortunately for us, many of the great performers of that era were still performing at the top of their game when the high-fidelity recording technology of the 1950's came along. Those recordings, many being re-mastered and re-released today, are acquainting a whole new generation to the American Songbook. And a new generation of very talented performers is discovering that "craftsmanship" of the American Songbook of which Linda Ronstadt spoke.
It's a good point to see it as a continuum, though we do tend to separate the standards from rock 'n roll, as if they are different art forms altogether. Elvis Presley for example, was such a big Dean Martin fan that when he first spent some time in Hollywood he would drive past Dean's Beverly Hills house at all times of the night, hoping for a chance meeting. I'm not a big fan of either, though I did see Elvis live in one of his last concerts when I was a kid, and now when I hear Elvis I can't help notice the influence that Dean had on him, especially evident in his ballad numbers. Paul McCartney was on I think it was Larry King a couple years back and was talking about how when he was starting out, when they all were starting out it was seen as the ultimate prize for an aspiring songwriter to someday be good enough to have Sinatra record one of your songs; which he eventually did, I know, record McCartney's classic, "Yesterday."
And that would have to be true. Every artist learns from those that came before him. But rock 'n roll of course has its roots in the blues, the music that was more of the backwoods and the bayous than it was of the hustle of New York City, and the old guard of American music was duly resentful of the new sound, racket they would have called it. I read somewhere of a time when Sinatra was at a house party and someone pointed out a record producer who had gone headfirst into the rock business, and Frank, after I am sure more than a few Jack Daniels on the rocks, cornered him for over an hour and chastised him mercilessly for his role in what Frank saw as the downfall of American music. And speaking of Dean Martin, I saw a rerun of his variety TV show not to long ago when he had as his guests the Rolling Stones. Dean didn't even try to conceal his ridicule and disdain for his long haired guests, actually raised his eyebrows and winked when he introduced them saying, "Yeah, and they're really good too."
Eventually they came around, saw the truly talented ones for what they were, even recorded their songs and not surprisingly often put a good spin on them. Tony Bennett did a nice version of McCartney's, "The Long and Winding Road," and Frank did real justice to George Harrison's, "Something," even cited it as, "The greatest love song written in the twentieth century," though when he did it live as he often did, always credited its composition to Lennon and McCartney. But at least at first they were threatened by these guys that tried to do it all, guys who if they had it their way would end the age of "specialists" in the music business, and now of course, all these years later we see that they were only right, that as it turned out, it was indeed a justifiable fear, based more on simple economics than on any knee-jerk generational chauvinism. Frank says it best on his 1965 album, "A Man and his Music," a recording to commemorate his fiftieth birthday, one in which he speaks segues and introductions, and at one point thanks all the disc jockeys out there for being brave enough to give him, "Equal time in Beatleland." Little did he know that he had nothing to worry about, and that over forty years later we would still be celebrating his contributions along with the many others who created The Great American Songbook.
Never was a Frank fan although dad loved 'em. My ears and heart geared more towards the soothing voices of Nat, The Ink Spots, Doris Day, Judy Garland in her prime, etc.
Never was a Frank fan although dad loved 'em. My ears and heart geared more towards the soothing voices of Nat, The Ink Spots, Doris Day, Judy Garland in her prime, etc.
Never was a Frank fan although dad loved 'em. My ears and heart geared more towards the soothing voices of Nat, The Ink Spots, Doris Day, Judy Garland in her prime, etc.
Keep this thread going!!!!!
Judy Garland! Just re-bought her "Live at Carnegie Hall" milestone album. Judy had so much heart it was liable to bust right out of her chest. Put everything she had into a song. So much passion, and of course the vocal chops to pull it off. I'd heard that the movie studios had her on diet pills from her "Wizard of Oz" days, then of course she'd need some downers at the end of a long day, later washed down by hard liquor, Judy lived hard, loved hard, hated hard and it took its toll. Sad when what your passion requires is gonna kill you sooner or later. Loved Judy for everything she was. Thanks for reminding me.
Great post! Last night my better half and I watched the old Marilyn Monroe/Jane Russell classic "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." They just dont write songs like that anymore! Broadway sure attracted alot of talented composers and lyricists!
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