Let's talk music, no genre boundaries
This is an offshoot of the jazz thread. I and others found that we could not talk about jazz without discussing other musical genres, as well as the philosophy of music. So, this is a thread in which people can suggest good music of all genres, and spout off your feelings about music itself.
I was talking about artists who grew up in the church and then turned to secular styles, such as a Aretha or Ray Charles. They carried over a certain "spiritual" fervour/intensity into their "secular" music. The resulting "hybrid" blurs definitions and presumed dividing lines. |
I knew that's what you were talking about. I was trying to broaden that out, because I think that spiritual fervor is in so many types of music. It usually comes from people who have been repressed, though. Brazil had slavery. The Gypsies have been repressed in many societies and their music is known to have a fervor. (I don't know if it's religious, though.) I would like to draw the line all the way back to people living in caves, but I can't. Like Bill Mahr--"I can't prove it, but I know it's true." |
@simonmoon , I share your admiration of Allan Wordsworth. Amazing guitar player and highly individualistic and innovative musician. Personally, I would be tempted to temper your friend’s assertion about his influences somewhat. As you know, Jazz styles and their vocabulary are evolutionary. Players build on what came before. Influences are particularly difficult to detect across instrumental families, however. Interestingly, Holdsworth first wanted to play saxophone before settling on guitar. He cites the mighty Coltrane as a major influence; at least inasmuch as the quest for a totally individualistic style. He also credits the music of Stravinsky and Bartok as influences, You may find these comments from a JazzTimes interview interesting, Regards.
“He just kind of completely turned my life upside down,” Holdsworth says of Coltrane’s influence on him at the age of 18. “I remember when I first heard those Miles Davis records that had Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane on them. It was fascinating to me. Coltrane’s playing in particular was a major revelation. I loved Cannonball also, but when I listened to him I could hear where it came from, I could hear the path that he had taken. But when I heard Coltrane, I couldn’t hear connections with anything else. It was almost like he had found a way to get to the truth somehow, to bypass all of the things that as an improviser you have to deal with. He seemed to be actually improvising and playing over the same material but in a very different way. That was the thing that really changed my life, just realizing that that was possible. I realized then that what I needed to do was to try and find a way to improvise over chord sequences without playing any bebop or without having it sound like it came from somewhere else. And it’s been an ongoing, everlasting quest.” Holdsworth plays Coltrane:
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