Jimmy Winokur
Fleetwood Mac (Bob Welch era)
Symphonic Composers:High Romantic /20th Century
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Russian Masters
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The British
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American Composers
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Other Nationals
Jackson Browne
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Other Singers of Standards:
Sinatra, Cole, Four Freshman
Israeli Favorites:
Dudaim, Artzi, Einstein
My Favorite
Musicians
Page 2
and some personal background
The man that hath
no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted....
William Shakespeare
Fleetwood Mac
~1970-75, the 'Bob
Welch
era,'
pre-Buckingham-Nicks
Not to be confused with the far more famous Lindsay Buckingham & Stevie Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac, this earlier Bob Welch-focused aggregation was the 2nd incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, following the original edition -- a classic blues band fronted by the literally insane Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer in the 60s. Mick Fleetwood (drums) and John McVie ("Mac" -- on bass) then took on, one after another, three musicians who became the group's singer/songwriters: the young Christine Perfect, who married McVie and took his name, Danny Kirwan ,and Bob Welch, around whom the band coalesced after a chaotic time in the late 60s.
Common to both of these first bands, and the current incarnation too, has been the exceptional rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie -- whose signature lush 'carpet' of relentless, steady rhythm and bass support and enrich every song genre . In concert they -- especially gangly Mick Fleetwood -- are amazing to behold. Of all women pianists I've seen Christine McVie by far commands the keyboard most completely and assuredly -- and is thus by far the sexiest for me. I was sad to see that she has currently left the band for a more relaxing lifestyle.
Welch's persona and
music were compelling , laced with pervasive intimations of a dark,
mystical netherworld of ominous, psychedelic ambiguity. His music's
dark side is and punctuated, though, by
sudden, transcendent rays of sacred light. Great examples, and personal favorites of
mine are songs like "Night Watch," "Revelation," "Mystery to Me," "Emerald Eyes" and
"Future Games." Lyrics for these songs are found in the
Song Lyrics section of this website.
Throughout these albums, the hypnotic, Welch tunes are soothed
and balanced by the straightforward,
infectiously tuneful Christine McVie love songs, loaded with melodic hooks
Eventually
Welch's maniacal intensity became increasingly dominant, and by
the mid-70s the band parted ways with him -- and
Danny Kirwan, who'd penned numbers like
"Sands of Time" and
"Woman of A Thousand Years"
Welch recently released
an odd album of
be-bop for rock-style
electric guitar!
Bob Welch
Christine McVie's powerful keyboards, husky voice and great writing has continued
well into the early 90s, but she has declined to tour with Fleetwood Mac in
2003. The more popular, better known group known widely
today is far more confined in its vision and musical concept.
The Buckingham Nicks version of 'the Mac' -- by far the best known band -- is fine by me. Nothing special, though.
Russian Masters --
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Serge Prokofiev
Igor Stravinsky
Alexander Borodin
Nicolai
Rimsky-Korsakov
The British --
Sir Edward Elgar
Ralph Vaughn Williams
Sir William Walton
American Composers
--
Charles Ives
Howard Hanson
Samuel Barber
Paul Hindemith
Walter Piston
Alan Hovhaness
Other
'nationals':
Carl Nielsen
Bela Bartok
Jean Sibelius
Jackson Browne is often characterized as the quintessential introspective, sensitive singer-songwriter of the 1970s. This sort of musician is seen as an embodiment of the oft-ridiculed, so-called "me generation" -- the supposed fall from the countercultural visions of the '60s.
I have always rejected this undervaluation of the turn toward personal growth in the '70s . Rather than a self-absorbed retreat from social commitment, I see the '70s as a time for regrouping and refueling after a first, frustrated 'assault on the citadel' of mainstream culture; time for a necessary reality check, and reorientation toward social issues -- building inner personal strength from which to exert more thoughtful influence from within mainstream culture. This healthy maturation of our generation is beautifully depicted in the wonderful documentary, Berkeley in the Sixties , in which powerful imagery of that era is interspersed with retrospective commentary by "The Movements' "alumni, speaking from later, prominent leadership roles in mainstream society.
Dramatic social changes, the attributed hallmark sof "the '60s" were really even more fully manifest in the 70s : "all you need is love" & "flower power", unbounded sexual expression, popular use of marijuana and other psychedelics, erosion of governmental authority and lionizing of the news media (most obvious in Watergate )and the cultural cohesion we experienced via "The Music" we all lived by.
Jackson Browne's greatest fame actually came after he changed the focus of his music from "sensitive" introspection to political. agendas. (Only recently has he returned to a more introspective focus, and his more recent music is, again, beautiful in ways promise d by his first recordings)
Because his personal songs nonetheless resonated so universally throughout the counterculture, Jackson Browne sang uniquely for several years -- in my own experience, as almost a 'prophet' of the magical, creative times in which I felt I was coming of age. He epitomized "The Music".
Other than Ella Fitzgerald,
"Lady Day" is foremost among women jazz vocalists. In retrospect, it's
hard to imagine that it was the controversial Diana Ross portrayal of her in
"Lady Sings the Blues" that really attracted my attention. At that
point, her music had begun being re-mastered and reissued on CD, eliminating
much of the noise which had earlier plagued her LPs .
Without
doubt, Ella was
always -- through a very, very long career --
The First
Lady of Song.
Her voice is unparalleled in all of jazz and pop, and it was said of her phrasing, "she could be singing the telephone directory, and it would be compelling!" Ella was one of the early singers who popularized 'scat' singing, and I loved her from my first encounters with her in my teens, listening to the five volume Gershwin Songbooks (yes, with the original Bernard Buffet covers).
During Spring Break of 1966, my senior year in college, I attended Ella's opening night at New York's Basin Street East with some former fraternity brothers.
As huge Ella fans, we
decided we would somehow honor her. We sent back a note to her, saying
she'd been elected (!)
the Phi Sigma Delta
"Sweetheart of the Year"!
To our happy surprise, Ella promptly invited us back for 45 minutes to her dressing room, shared hors d'ouvres while in her dressing gown (but with a giant wig!), called in the club photographer to make a souvenir for us, and then thanked us during the show. 15 years later, when she was touring Denver, I sent her a follow up note, saying one of those guys was in the audience -- and she again dedicated a song to the boys at Phi Sigma Delta !
Other Singers of
Standards
from 50s-60s
The Original
Four Freshmen
Frank Sinatra
Nat 'King'
Cole
Israeli favorites:
I first heard The Dudaim as a teen in the late '50s, when I was at Camp Ramah, and Israel was largely an idealistic society of pioneers who "made the desert bloom" -- which this joyful music reflects. I recall thinking ahead back then: If Israel remains beset by hostile neighbors, the focus on military defense will necessarily change the culture. Sometime after 1973, this evolution became manifest.
<
Shlomo Artzi
I first encountered these great musicians -- singer-songwriters reminiscent of ours, but with Israeli sensibility -- on my first visit to Israel in 1985. As I share their music here, they are often taken for French artists. Their lyrics express the complex emotional spectrum of Israeli life -- filled with passionate personal and religious themes, always under the specter of terrorism and military aggression by neighboring Arab states.
Bruce Cockburn's music of 1979-80 was specially important to me, serving to accompany and sometimes propel my own spirtual awakening during those wondrous years. See parts of my spiritual journey and Cosmic Revelations: Taos, 1980. The two important albums for me were Dancing in The Dragon's Jaws and Humans -- both combining a spiritual perspective (Wondering Where The Lions Are, Rumors of Glory, What About the Bond, No Footprints) with a gritty sort of urban folk/political sensibility (Fascist Architecture, Humans, Tokyo). Cockburn's spiritual perspective seems to have a base in Christianity, yet his lyrics are not so explicitly Christian to have put me off. Through most of the past few decades, Cockburn's music has become far more heavily political, sometimes bitterly so. Even during these years, there have been some wonderful songs: Pacing the Cage, Southland of the Heart, Coldest Night of the Year
Pink Floyd Classics:
Dark Side of
the Moon
Wish You Were Here
These guys were my personal "land bridge" back over from the world of rock to jazz. Therein lies their special meaning for me. Fagen and Becker always enlist the finest studio musicians, and the engineering on their albums is superb. The early 'Dan albums were musically and lyrically unlike anything I'd ever heard, and Fagen's 'The Nightfly' carried on that tradition.
My only live and in person encounters with them live were in 2007 -- at Denver's Paramount Theater and again at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Unfortunately, my seat at the Paramount was poor and, at North Sea, there were no seats -- only a large, flat screen monitor to watch from behind a milling crowd...
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