Head Down, Plowing Through

I've started another recording project, this time with vocalist Erika Lloyd, who fronts an indie rock band called Little Grey Girlfriend. We're doing a set of cover songs. While we haven't scheduled a formal release date, I think we're on pace to finish recording by the end of May, so it may be available by early July.

Erika and I met in Bloomington, Indiana. We were in the same music theory class at IU. She also lived down the street from me, just off campus. We got to be pretty good friends, and then she moved to NYC shortly and me. Her boyfriend also happens to be Brad Whiteley, who plays in my trio and appears on a couple of my albums. It sometimes makes me feel old to think about having "couple friends," but Brad and Erika are definitely one of Jill and my best couple friends. It's nice to have such talented friends, and even nicer to be able to work with them.

So far we've tracked for six songs:

"Creep" by Radiohead
"Heart of Glass" by Blondie
"Hey" by The Pixies
"Nobody Home" by Pink Floyd
"One Caress" by Depeche Mode
"The Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles

On deck we have:

"Everything Means Nothing To Me" by Elliot Smith
"Faith" by George Michael
"Soul Love" by David Bowie
"Alabama Song" by The Doors
"Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" by Stevie Wonder
"All I Want" by Joni Mitchell
"Cherry Coloured Funk" by Cocteau Twins

Once we get into the mixing phase I'll start posting the works in progress for preview. But so far things are sounding pretty good and we're having a great time in the process.

Sequence

Today I've been listening to some music that I recently added to my iTunes library. Conveniently, all I have to do is click on the Recently Added smart playlist and hit play. But after a few tracks I realized the albums were playing in reverse order, because the last tracks are imported more recently. A couple of the albums were compilations of blues musicians. These are typically sequenced in chronological order, so I found myself hearing the newest cuts first, and then moved back in time to earlier material. I don't think I've ever listened in this manner, and it grabbed my attention.

While many pop oriented artists are starting to release digital singles and EPs in place of full albums, I find myself scratching my head a little. Is the idea to only offer the good songs and do away with the filler tracks? Do you still play the filler tracks live? Sure, nobody wants to be forced to buy filler material to get the good songs, but I've got a great solution: Don't write it. If you write a bunch of great music, package it together as an album, and sell it for a decent price, your fans will feel like they're getting a deal when they buy 14 songs on iTunes for $9.99.

One of the albums I listened to today, in reverse order was Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever. You'd fight an uphill battle to say that album has filler tracks. They're not all hits, but they're all very good.

I think full albums with a well thought out sequence are absolutely still valid today. The problem is not the buying patterns of consumers, but the artistic vacuum known as the bottom line. We know CD sales plummetted in part because they were overpriced and full of crappy music. But what made the sales surge in the first place, for this and every format?

Not well constructed business plans. Not brilliant marketing people. Not innovations in distribution or production.

I'm pretty sure it was simply a matter of good music.

Recommended Jazz Albums for New Listeners

It's hard to remember a time I didn't listen to jazz. Maybe it was because of what I was listening to, I don't know... but my point is, the music is simply a part of who I am. That's not to say I don't listen to many other kinds of music. People are always referring to bands or songs I don't know, but I still think I've got a fairly eclectic taste. In fact, I think most everyone has eclectic tastes. Given access to a wide variety of music, they'll listen. But for some reason the genre of jazz is hit or miss for most people. Why is that?

My theory is simply that jazz, as a genre, is about as eclectic within itself as one can get. There are so many subgenres it's hard to know what's out there. Plus, most people's exposure to jazz is limited to the commercial, crossover, or nostalgic subgenres. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that type of jazz, but it often carries that lowest common demoninator of taste found in any popular music.

Smooth jazz is possibly the most commonly heard form of jazz, though it's arguably not even jazz and is now often called "Adult Urban Contemporary" or something like that. Some popular artists include Dave Koz, Kenny G, and Chris Botti. I've heard a lot of smooth jazz in my time, but it's not really my cup of tea, so I'm not a good person to make any recommendations.

Another oft-heard style is crossover vocal jazz. This is the stuff that sets the atmosphere for wine and cheese parties in the suburbs (that's a gross over simplification). Norah Jones' first album is a great example, along with Diana Krall's entire catalog. There's also a handful of crooners, like Michael Buble or, well, Michael Buble. This style is pretty self explanatory and easy accessible.

Finally, there's the nostalgic styles you'll hear in a jazz documentary. This includes anything from early jazz like Louis Armstrong to big band like Benny Goodman, and bebop like Charlie Parker. This is where I think things start to really get interesting. Following various progressions stemming from these artists lead you to a wealth of music.

So here is a list of some of my favorites, in no particular order. I purposefully avoided popular titles and anything that would be considered a must have, such as Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue because I'm going to assume someone else has already told you to go buy it.

I should note that Kind Of Blue was one of my first jazz albums, and I started my collection exploring albums by each of the sidemen on that album. That's a great way to go once you find something you like.

Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come (1961)

Looking for some great straight ahead jazz? This is it. If I could choose the music that plays as I die, it would be the title track from this album. Specifically, during Coltrane's solo. You see, 'Trane wasn't in Miles' band when this was recorded. Hank Mobley was holding down the tenor sax chair at the time. So the album starts out as one would expect, playing through the melody and solos as a quintent, then restating the melody. But after Miles' plays a shortened statement of the melody, an old, familiar voice is heard. Coltrane proceeds to play an out of this world solo. Very brief by his standards, but it leaves me floored every time.

John Scofield (w/ Medeski Martin & Wood) - A Go Go (1996)

If you want something with a little more edge to it, try out this album. Sco is one of those immediately recognizable jazz guitarists who could do no wrong by me. This album, with MMW, is all about the groove. But what I love so much is that it's NOT SMOOTH. Most artists that play jazz over a funk groove end up sounding too smooth for my taste. I want something organic, and this album delivers. I often use it as a yardstick to make sure my songs don't cross that line.

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1964)

Pretty much considered his masterpiece, this album was more than just music--it was 'Trane's tribute/prayer to the God. Not necessarily the God of Christianity, but more of the supreme being or creator. Honestly, it doesn't matter that much, you need to experience this music start to finish, repeatedly. I've heard it dozens of times and continue to find inspiration.

Herbie Hancock - Man-Child (1975)

Looking for some true jazz/funk? Herbie Hancock and his Headhunters group released several albums, the most popular being Head Hunters in '73, but this one is my favorite. I have yet to hear another group convincingly play in this style as well as this band.


Bill Frisell - Good Dog Happy Man (1999)

This album is a mash up of jazz, Americana, folk, and blues, often called Neo-Americana. It's difficult to describe because no one makes music like guitarist Bill Frisell. He has definitely been a huge influence of mine as of late, and this album introduced me to his playing.

The Quintet (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Ray Brown, Max Roach) - Jazz At Massey Hall (1953)

One of the greatest bebop recordings of all time, played by the cats that invented the style and consequently reinvented jazz. Perhaps one of the reasons it's such an outstanding performance is the slight tension on the bandstand--Charlie Parker and Dizzy were late because they had to find a saxophone for Bird, who had pawned his off for drug money. The rhythm section performed a set as a trio before being joined by the horns.

Brad Mehldau - Largo (2002)

Largo is a great album for those turned off by the notion of traditional jazz. Mehldau is openly influenced by a wide variety of music, including the Beatles and Radiohead, and covers songs by both groups here. I sort of think of Mehldau's groups as the indie rock band in jazz. You never know exactly what he's going to do, but it's always hip and bound to set some new precedent.

Dexter Gordon - Our Man In Paris (1963)

Another immediately recognizable voice in jazz, Gordon was simply one of the greatest stylists of all time. This album swings HARD from start to finish, and every line Gordon plays on his sax is played like that is it. The master has spoken. One of the great lessons I learned from this album--playing time. Listen to how he starts most of his solos by sitting on one note and just swinging it. Try it, it's not as easy as it sounds!

The New Singles World

We're not talking about the dating scene.

One of the major reasons Napster and subsequent file sharing services became so popular is that they allowed people to cherry pick hit singles. If you think about it, that is probably the root of file sharing. Give me just what I want and not the other baggage (now this is starting to sound like dating). Up to roughly 1999, you had to buy an $18 CD to get the one song you really wanted. So file sharing was never solely about getting that song for free, it was just about not spending all of your beer money to get that one song. If it had been easier to buy that song for $.99, or even half that, I bet a substantial amount of tracks would have been sold. It would still be eclipsed by the free downloads on P2P's, but a lot of people will pay a little for some convenience. I'm one of those people. Enter iTunes.

iTunes is a huge force in music retail. I believe it makes up about 30% of total US music revenues, and according to at least one source, is the top music retailer in the US. One reason is the deep catalog and long tail economics of selling less of more. From personal experience, I can report over 80% of my revenue from music sales is from iTunes, with the rest being physical albums and all the other digital service providers.

Ok, I've said nothing new so far, so let me get to my point.

There are still holdouts at iTunes, perhaps the most notable being The Beatles. Here's a Wall Street Journal article that does a decent job discussing "why" bands do this. In short, these artists want to stick to selling their music in the album format and avoid letting people choose one or two tracks. Even so, their music is easily found across torrent and P2P services for free.

Holding out seems like a noble thing to do and all, but come on guys, you're missing the point. For starters, your real fans are still going to buy the whole album. While your tracks will still be traded freely on the internet, you might pick up a few sales from people willing to pay for the convenience of iTunes.

More importantly, there's the artistic debate. The artist wants you to buy the whole album and listen to it start to finish, in order. Well, here's where it gets tricky. I see albums in three categories.

First, there will always be pop acts that play the singles game, and those singles usually get released on an album with eight or nine "filler" tracks. Filler, in this case, means phoned in pieces of crap that should be an embarrassment to all those involved. These are usually the kinds of acts major labels got in the habit of using to support themselves. Once there was an option to avoid the filler, the focus was shifted back to the single. Only today you can exploit it with with mobile products, videos, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum there's the concept album. The first band that comes to mind is Pink Floyd. Sure, they had some great songs, but in the context of the whole album, holy shit, it was a whole new experience. Why would you want to miss out on it? Fact is, most people don't. Go look at The Wall on iTunes. It's $24.99. Originally released as a double LP, it's now just 26 tracks (you can tell it's on two CDs because it's numbered 1-13 twice). A bunch of the tracks are under two minutes, and there are maybe just two or three songs people would actually listen to outside of the whole album. Yet the "filler" tracks here are functional pieces to a larger concept, and to get the whole picture you gotta buy the whole thing. If you look at that graph in the WSJ article, you'll see that people are buying as many Pink Floyd albums as they are digital tracks.

Finally, somewhere between the pop acts and the concept albums are simply great albums. The Beatles would be a great example here. So many of their albums are loaded with songs you want, you just buy the whole thing. One of my favorite albums by an independent musician is The Hill by Mike Stocksdale (you can get it for free on his site but I STRONGLY encourage you to go buy it and support this guy). Mike just wrote a bunch of great, tasty songs. A few of these could be singles, but quite frankly, you're missing out if you don't get the whole thing and listen start to finish.

The bottom line is either your album is either good start to finish or it's not. Not selling your tracks as singles makes no sense to me. Your fans are allowed an opinion, and in today's climate they expect to be able to buy a track or two first before deciding your new masterpiece is worth their time and attention to listen start to finish. Look, I understand that many tracks are Album Only on a variety of services based on length (see any jazz album), licensing (see any soundtrack), and occasionally publishing (which makes little sense to me), but those are not artistic decisions. If you think your album so great that it MUST be listened to start to finish, which ought to be the way we all make albums anyhow, then throw it out there and let the fans figure it out. Everybody wins.

Duhnam Van Durham

Speaking of harmonica, I highly recommend the album Simpler Times by Dunham Van Durham. It's got a nice use of blues harmonica in Americana music. Top notch compositions to boot.

Click the album cover, it'll take you to album on iTunes:

I'll never tire of this album.