Party of Special Things to Do

The last time I had spoken with the now-retired classical producer Howard Scott (a local regular who comes into my store often) he was explaining to me how you can mark the precise moment that classical music took a turn for the worse in popular music when the recording industries that were previously run entirely by fellow musicians were systematically fired and quickly replaced with businessmen, bean-counters, and shrewd lawyers who spent more energy chasing the rock 'n roll fad dollar of the 1950's and pretty much nothing has ever been the same since. Scott, among many others, are mentioned in the book that I'm currently reading, The Life and Death of Classical Music: Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made by Norman Lebrecht, which details the early beginnings of recorded musical history with Caruso's first amazing recordings in 1902 and the halcyon days of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft's stamp of excellence. Then Capital vying for Elvis Presley on RCA prompting CBS to drop Mitch Miller in 1965 and hire contract lawyer Clive Davis who had no A&R training or an ear for music, but more importantly knew how to handle money. To the present day desperation act of watering down classical for mass pop consumption like Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, and... well, the less said about Il Divo the better. A pretty engaging read, and while Lebrecht's novelist prose is oftentimes witty there's the unmistakable air of sadness to the entire story as it unfolds. When the president of a major classical recording label throws a farewell dinner for the vice-president of another competing label, when tears flow heavily from both sides over the impending end of an era they once all shared together, it really hammers the severity of the situation home.

And while on the topic of the situation at home, EMI has cut back drastically and laid off a dozen or so of their field reps, including ours, Taneisha, who as a result came into our store about two weeks ago and sold off a large chunk of her Blue Note and other jazz promos for much needed survival cash. So yes, I'm in agony right now wanting all this stuff which is sitting in my hidden stash and will more than likely get trickled out over the coming weeks... or, months. Depending. But I did take advantage of our current Buy-3 Used-CD's-Get-1-Free and lugged four home with me this week. These four being...

Dinah '62, one of the latter era Dinah Washington albums where her voice is a wee bit rougher (read: booooozy) but still dynamic as ever.

Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, which Tracy foisted into my hands insistently. Got my man Tony Williams on the skins, with Ron Carter on bass, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and George Coleman on tenor sax. Released in 1965, it's my accessible straight jazz choice from the pile, whereas...

Cecil Taylor's Conquistador is my avant-garde palate cleanser. Features Bill Dixon on trumpet, altoist Jimmy Lyons, drummer Andrew Cyrill, and twin bassists Henry Grimes and Alan Silva. Recorded in 1966 as one of two albums Taylor did for Blue Note.

And at the risk of all this high-falutin' classical and jazz exposure raising my brow any higher, I brought myself back down to the filth and grime again with a purchase from another customer...

The collected works of Lydia Lunch's post-Teenage Jesus & the Jerks band 8 Eyed Spy, a somewhat more tuneful and musically competent endeavor than the Jerks' sessions, with covers of Beefheart's version of "Diddy Wah Diddy", CCR's "Run Through The Jungle" and a few others.

So it appears Joe's other is coming to visit next Tuesday instead of this Tuesday, due to sudden issues with Joe's work schedule. Ah, well. It's been awhile since I had a Tuesday off anyway.

*sigh* God help me. It's been a rough weekend.