Blues, Jazz, Music Calendar, Soul

October 1: The late Donny Hathaway was born in 1945

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Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American jazz, blues, soul, and gospel vocalist and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, “The Ghetto, Part I” in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine “marked him as a major new force in soul music.” His collaborations with Roberta Flack scored high on the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the duet, “Where Is the Love” in 1973. At the height of his career Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. On January 13, 1979, Hathaway’s body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.

He was a tremendous singer.

These are my 5 favorite Donny Hathaway songs:

The Ghetto
Flying Easy
Someday we’ll all be free
A Song for you (Leon Russel)
“I (Who Have Nothing)” (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Carlo Donida) with Roberta Flack

All his studio albums are good, but his live album, Live is fantastic!

Spotify Don Hathaway – Live:

Hallgeir

Blues, Music Calendar

October 1: Albert Collins was born in 1932

 
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Photo: Kirk West – www.kirkwestphotography.com

I was told when I started to play that simple music is the hardest music in the world to play. And blues is simple music.
~Albert Collins

Most of the time I hum what I’m playing so sometimes it bleeds through on the track. That’s why I get hoarse sometimes when I try to sing, I’ll be humming my notes, and I’m not always aware of how hard I’m doing it. That’s really how I started playing, just with my mouth.
~Albert Collins

If trouble was money, I’d swear I’d be a millionaire
If trouble was money, babe, I’d swear I’d be a millionaire
~Albert Collins (If Trouble Was Money)

If Trouble Was Money (Live 1990):

Continue reading October 1: Albert Collins was born in 1932 →

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts, Bob Dylan video

Bob Dylan: Great 2015 Concerts – part 5/5
bob dylan locarno 2015
PHOTO BY ANDREA ORLANDI

This is my last post in a 5 post series with great 2015 concerts.

Earlier posts:

–

And then.. in the 4 last concerts of the summer tour the setlist exploded.

Locarno was a great concert & a location with historical significance:

Then, in October 1987, playing Locarno. Switzerland, with Tom Petty’s band and the female singers he now says he used to hide behind, Dylan had his breakthrough. It was an outdoor show – he remembers the fog and the wind – and as he stepped to the mike, a line came into his head. “It’s almost like I heard it as a voice. It wasn’t like it was even me thinking it. I’m determined to stand, whether God will deliver me or not. And all of a sudden everything just exploded. It exploded every which way. And I noticed that all the people out there – I was used to them looking at the girl singers, they were good-looking girls, you know? And like I say, I had them up there so I wouldn’t feel so bad. But when that happened, nobody was looking at the girls anymore. They were looking at the main mike. After that is when I sort of knew: I’ve got to go out and play these songs. That’s just what I must do …
~from 1997 Newsweek cover story “Dylan Lives”

Piazza Grande
Locarno, Switzerland
15 July 2015
Moon & Stars Festival 

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, grand piano & keyboard)
  • Stu Kimball (guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Donnie Herron (violin, mandolin, steel guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Recile (drums & percussion)

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Great 2015 Concerts – part 5/5 →

Bob Dylan, Cover versions, The White Stripes

3 good and 3 great versions of Bob Dylan’s Love Sick

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3 good and 3 great versions of Bob Dylan’s Love Sick

“I’m sick of love but I’m in the thick of it”
– Bob Dylan (Love Sick)

Love Sick is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind in 1997 and released as the second single from the album on June 1, 1998.

He sounds like he will but can not give up on love. It has a hard , dark rhythm that pounds through the song, hammering the ominous lyrics into our ears. It’s a deceptively simple structure, the more you listen to it the better it gets. It is not easy making things simple and naked. The melody is perfect for the lyrics, the narrator is hesitant in his quest, but he have no choice. He must give in to love. Well, that’s my take on it.

I love the melody, I love the song. It is a masterpiece.

Let us start with the 3 good ones.

The White Stripes :

Continue reading 3 good and 3 great versions of Bob Dylan’s Love Sick →

Great albums, Tom Waits

September 30: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs was released in 1985

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“We are all just monkeys with money and guns.”
~Tom Waits

If you get far enough away you’ll be on your way back home.
~Tom Waiys – “Blind Love”

Tango till they’re sore @ Letterman 1986 + interview:

Continue reading September 30: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs was released in 1985 →