Bass Players

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Victor Wooten is one of the great living bass players. If you’ve never heard of him, or have only listened to only a few of his extensive recordings, I suggest you delve in. You will not be disappointed. In addition to his solo career, Victor Wooten is well known for playing with the incomparable Bela Fleck, and for his collaborations with two other premier bass players of today, Marcus Miler and Stanley Clarke – the three perform together as S.M.V. Give this band a listen if you are into heavy, excellent bass.

What is prompting this post is my recent introduction to a song by Victor Wooten from his album Soul Circus called Bass Tribute. In this song he gives a nod to fellow bass players, or masters of the low end as they are referred to in the song, both those that came before him and a few contemporaries. Some of the major bass players he acknowledges in the song include Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins, James Jamerson, Paul McCartney, and the afore mentioned Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller. He also mentions by name bass players from some well known bands, like The O’Jays’ Anthony Jackson and the Gap Band’s Robert Wilson, who’s bass lines you definitely recognize, though you may have neglected to remember who played them.

What I find really impressive about this song is the way Wooten imitates the styles of each of these players when he mentions them. Not only can he play in his own unique way, which often sounds like he’s playing with an extra set of hands, but he can also play in the various styles of the world’s greatest bass players past and present. I’ve included the song above, so have a listen.

2014 Top 40 Songs

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Now that 2014 is over, we can look at the top 40 songs of the year. The list from which I will be discussing this topic will be the official most streamed list complied by Official Charts Company. Looking at the Top 5, I see three songs that I definitely dig – Happy by Pharrell, All of Me by John Legend, and Stay With Me by Sam Smith. These songs were a big part of the soundtrack to the past year. The great thing about these songs is that I would describe the people who sing them as genuinely talented people, unlike the people who sing some of the songs a bit further down on this list (read: Iggy Azalea).

One of the things I like to do with lists like these is look at the singers/performers, and see which ones I think no one will remember in 10 years, like the group O Town or 3LW 10 years ago. in this age of short attention spans and blink-and-you-miss-them fads, my gut tells me that several people on the Top 40 list fall into this category. I’m going to guess that on of them will be Meghan Trainor. Though I’m not a fan of Iggy Azalea, I think people will still know who she is in ten years, because she will probably be on one of those celebrity reality shows like Big Brother or The Surreal Life.

One singer who really came out big this year was Ariana Grande. Though her music too is representative of the times – highly produced (some would say over produced) and often very electronic – she seems also to be a genuinely talented singer. She is also everywhere right now, on all kinds of talk shows and public public performances, so she is obviously willing to put in the work to transcend many singers who will find themselves being just another fad.

 

2015 May Be a ‘Vinyl Wonderland’ for Millennial Music Lovers

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Saranga huja

A Skyline College student writes in The Skyline View campus newspaper,

“First was vinyl. Then cassette. Then 8-Track, CD and MP3. Next is … vinyl? … Vinyl is doing better than it has in over a decade.”

A Louisiana State University student, Justin Stafford, is a vinyl enthusiast with a collection of more than 100 records. He says “Those black shiny discs are back in style and sounding better than ever,”, he mentions in The Daily Reveille student newspaper. “Vinyl record sales are making a comeback after the market took a nosedive in the ‘90s, and music shops resembling those of yesteryear are popping up again in cities around the country.”

4 million LPs have been sold this year in the United States alone. According to the statistics shared by Nielson Soundscan, there has been a 30 percent increase from 2013 to 2014.

Interestingly enough, nostalgia isn’t as big a factor as you’d imagine. Geoff Taylor, chief executive of British music industry group BPI says in an interview,

“We’re witnessing a renaissance for records — they’re no longer retromania and are becoming the format of choice for more music fans.”

Bloomberg’s Suddath explains that the resurgence of LPs can be largely attributed to the type of people who place a premium on tradition recording types and the overall experience of listening.

It is a fact that Vinyl never actually died, but bands stopped putting out LP records as soon as music consumers switched to tapes, CDs, and now digital files. Collectors continued to curate old records and secondhand stores and record shops. The LP developed enough of a chalet that current bands have started pressing vinyl discs once again as well as charging a premium for the LP version of their albums.

As vinyl is now a luxury item and a sign of high fidelity to the artist’s album you are buying. It is a strange phenomenon and it may not last, however right now it is great news for music makers and music lovers alike.

Sam Cooke

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Sarang Ahuja Sam CookeOf all soul singers, from the early days of recorded music right up to the present, one of my favorites has to be Sam Cooke. I might even be able to say he is my overall favorite. There are a couple of reason.

First, of course, is his voice. It is very unique because you could describe it in two ways that would seem to oppose each other – it is both smooth and raspy. It has texture. This is something that you miss when you hear all of the over recorded pop music that is so prevalent today. A lot of times it almost sounds too perfect, as if the voices were computer generated. This is not, of course, the case with Sam Cooke. The fact that his voice has both of these qualities also means that his voice can express a wide range of emotion, from soft sentimental sweet nothings to pain and yearning.

Next, I love Sam Cooke’s lyrics. Again, when you look at the list of songs that he wrote they show this same wide range that his voice expresses. You can see this if you listen to a song like Cupid, which is fun and playful if tinged with a touch of desire, and then listen to a song like A Change is Gonna Come in which you hear real and conscious lyrics, and a voice that perfectly expresses the longing in them.

The tragedy with Sam Cooke, as is the tragedy with so many talented singers and artists of various types, is that he died too soon. This is first and foremost tragic because he was a young man. Further though, I have a friend who pointed out to me that he died just before the Beatles really took off. I imagine that he could have given some pretty amazing renditions of some of the songs in the Lennon/McCartney songbook.

Larry’s Country Diner

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There is a diner like no other.  This one takes place on television screens across the country.  Larry’s Country Diner has all the typical things you’d expect, blue and white checkered table cloths, a neon red “OPEN” sign, signs with mashed potatoes, sundaes, sarangahuja_larrysand fried chicken cover the walls, and folks get to enjoy live music from the comfort of their booth while they scarf down a freshly cooked meal.  However, don’t expect to get into Larry’s anytime soon—they have a waiting list of two years.  The show is four years old and works in a live studio audience setting on RFD-TV. 

While guests get to eat a freshly cooked meal they certainly don’t have the option of what they want.  One of the servers on the show, Renae Johnson, said that people often just come to meet the cast and they don’t fully realize that they are getting a full cooked meal with it.  Johnson mentions though that this isn’t Burger King.  People don’t “have it their way” so they can’t be picky but they get the privilege of listening to great music in a unique environment.

Behind the scenes, in the kitchen, Ingrid Reed cooks a variety of things for the guests like chicken, potato salad, pies, sundaes and more.  The performers get an even more specialized menu which includes: barbecue ribs, poached salmon, Mexican entrees, steak, and many more.  Reed has been catering to the show since its beginning in 2009.  At first she did typical diner food like burgers, fries, chicken tenders, and more but when Springer Mountain Farms came on as a sponsor of the show she began creating the same meal for each episode—36 baskets of chicken and four shows a day.  To learn more about Larry’s Country Diner and how the show is doing be sure to click here for more details.