The Good Musician » Blues http://www.thegoodmusician.com Be a successful musician, one note at a time. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:11:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Mose Allison, come back to Austin. http://www.thegoodmusician.com/2008/07/mose-allison-come-back-to-austin/ http://www.thegoodmusician.com/2008/07/mose-allison-come-back-to-austin/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:55:18 +0000 http://www.thegoodmusician.com/mose-allison-come-back-to-austin/ Post from: The Good Musician

]]> The last time I heard Mose Allison live was at the Continental Club in ‘85 or so. I discovered Mose at college in ‘63, and the first time I heard him on 33-1/3 vinyl I could have sworn he was black. I was astonished when my friend showed me the cover. As I listened more closely, I was amazed at his unusual piano style, a fusion of jazz and blues. He hums and grunts along with his piano solos, kinda like Glenn Gould does in his definitive Bach recordings.

It’s a distinctive style that no one has been able to copy. But greats like Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, Eric Clapton, The Who, The Clash, and Van Morrison love to cover his songs as much for the wry, quirky lyrics as the music. With titles like Your Molecular Structure, Middle Class White Boy, Your Mind is on Vacation, Parchman Farm, Seventh Son, Certified Senior Citizen, Everybody’s Crying Mercy, it isn’t difficult to figure out why. He is famous for his razor-sharp hooks and realismo humor.

Do yourself a favor and check out this remarkable musician. He is the best thing to come out of the Deep South since William Faulkner. I wrote that last line, then checked out some sites. I found two citations that referred to him as “the William Faulkner of jazz.” Guess they heard the same thing I did.

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]]> http://www.thegoodmusician.com/2008/07/mose-allison-come-back-to-austin/feed/ 2 Top five film soundtracks from The Good Musician http://www.thegoodmusician.com/2008/07/top-five-film-soundtracks-from-the-good-musician/ http://www.thegoodmusician.com/2008/07/top-five-film-soundtracks-from-the-good-musician/#comments Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:08:41 +0000 http://www.thegoodmusician.com/top-five-film-soundtracks-from-the-good-musician/ Post from: The Good Musician

]]> The Good Musician loves great film music. Growing up with 50’s musical extravaganzas through the evolution to electronic and digital of today, I’m aware that what I hear in the movies is just as affecting as what I see. A great music and sound staff can pull a mediocre movie up to a decent one. Even though I have more than five favorites, I’ll try to be the Good Blogger and keep it short and sweet.

1. Kiss Me Kate (1953) Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson look fabulous and really wail on the Cole Porter score.

2. Psycho (1960) Pretty much the exemplar, taking strings to the edge, presaging the era of electronic film music

3. One Eyed Jacks (1961) Brando directs Brando, Karl Malden, and Katy Jurado to a score as searingly gorgeous as the Big Sur setting

4. A tie, for obvious reasons The Big Chill (1983) and
Forrest Gump (1994) All-time Boomer favorites–for good reason!

5. Stop Loss (2008) Kimberly Pierce’s laser precise film is a must see and hear. It’s an epiphanic anthem for the current generation of young men and women at war abroad who can’t turn it off when they come home, and the critical role of music in helping tell the real story of tens of thousands of severely wounded young men and women–body, heart, soul, and psyche–and the catastrophic consequences of this practice for America.

“Aha!” the alert reader will exclaim, “that’s six faves!” Technically, yes…but I never excluded a tie :) And that doesn’t include any favorite foreign flicks, animation, manga…so expect to see more Top Five Music lists coming up!

What are your top five film soundtracks? Send me a post, or a link to your list.

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