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My Top Ten musical events, Part 1

8/27/2012

2 Comments

 
When I worked as the editor of a fishing magazine we had monthly “cover meetings” in which we tried to decide on a cover photo for the upcoming issue and also come up with “bullets,” those succinct little phrases that would make a person want to buy the magazine and read a story contained within. Those meeting were long, tedious affairs (for me, anyway) but there was one type of bullet that was a surefire winner: a list. “The 20 best striper lures!” “Six secrets of pro anglers!”   You get the idea. If you doubt me, scan the covers of magazines in your local drugstore or at the checkout counter of the supermarket.

Anyway, in the spirit of blatant pandering to the small but loyal group of readers who make the effort to follow my ramblings here from time to time, I’m going to offer a few blog entries based on lists. As always I invite comment, positive or otherwise. So here’s the first one.

 Top 10 Musical Events I’ve Witnessed (in no particular order). The first five:

1. The Byrds and Santana, 1970, Muhlenberg College

            With front row seats (thanks to my girlfriend/now wife Kathy’s membership in the college entertainment committee) – not that we sat down much – it was an absolute revelation to hear and watch the late, great Clarence White play spectacular solos on his Telecaster, equipped with his now-legendary String Bender. His 10 minute solo on “Eight Miles High” was indescribably brilliant. Only later did I figure out that he was the fantastic bluegrass guitarist in the White Family that I’d heard at Newport a couple years before. Santana, in their original line-up, was at the absolute peak of their power and they played with pulsating power and grace, while Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gene Clark and the drummer of the Byrds watched from the side, grinning like idiots, as we all were.

2. Richie Havens, 1965, Newport Folk Festival evening concert.

            I don’t think even 10% of the audience had any idea who the tall, thin black man was when he strode up to the microphone. Although Dylan’s famous “going electric” moment would also happen that night, believe it or not it was Havens who stunned and captivated the audience with his raw power and naked emotion, backed by only a man sitting cross-legged playing Indian tablas and another guitarist playing lead on an acoustic guitar. Havens ended his short segment (players were only allotted about 20 minutes each during the evening concerts at Newport in those days) pounding out “Run, Shaker Life” and I don’t think anyone had ever heard a singer like Richie whose aching, rasping, joyful voice absolutely stunned the audience as he continued strumming like a man possessed as he walked off the stage. There was a moment of stunned silence and then the crowd absolutely erupted. Many years later I heard Richie interviewed on a PBS radio station and he put that performance above his historic appearance at Woodstock as being his most transcendent and life-changing moment in music.

3. Wynton Marsalis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Boston, 1988

            I’ve seen and heard Wynton a couple of times since but that concert was my first exposure to his incredible talent. The entire second half of the concert was a 45-minute arrangement of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” Many soloists took their turns and all were great but then came Wynton. I can’t even begin to describe what or how he played except to say that it was one of only a couple times in my life I’ve been in the presence of true musical genius. My brother John attended the concert with us. John is the truly great musician in the Bourque family, presently the asst. principal trumpet with Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. We didn’t say much as we exited the hall. Finally John said, shaking his head, “You know, he plays things that have never been played before.” It took a while for that to sink in. But then I understood.

4. Andres Segovia, Symphony Hall, Boston, 1976

            Although I studied classical guitar for a while in my younger days I was never a huge fan of that music. I have come to appreciate it more in the last decade or so but back then all I knew was Segovia was a living legend. He was old and had to be helped onto the stage by an assistant who steadied him as he sat down and then handed him his guitar. I can’t remember which pieces he played but my guess is that they were not as challenging as ones he played in his youth. What was amazing however was what happened during the encores – three of them! Each time the Master would leave the stage with the help of his assistant and three times he would be helped back out. The three short pieces he played were quite wonderful, and finally after the third and final encore the Master finally looked up and smiled. The audience went wild and “bravos!” rained down. Only later when I read about his life and what he had accomplished – nothing short of making the guitar a truly legitimate instrument in the eyes of the “serious” music world – did I begin to be thankful that I had been in his presence.

5. Pat Martino, Falmouth Jazz Festival, 2009

            While I realize that Pat’s post-bop, modern jazz stylings aren’t for everyone, the night he played to the sadly under-attended Falmouth Jazz Festival under a tent as the rain beat down was for me another of those moments when I knew I was in the presence of musical genius. His solos reminded me of an abstract artist with a never ending canvas stretching out before him, dipping into an endless palette of colors. The night before I had played in one of the downtown shops for the “Jazz Stroll” and afterwards went to the library to view the award winning documentary about Pat’s amazing life, “Unstrung,” which one reviewer called “the greatest documentary of a jazz musician ever made.” There were only a couple dozen people there, and at the back of the room sat Pat himself. The movie was amazing, documenting Pat’s sometime turbulent life and relationships and most of all, his recovery from a brain aneurism and operation in the late 1980s that left him with almost total amnesia including very little knowledge of or ability to play the guitar. After the movie was over, Pat agreed to speak to the small crowd. What followed was almost Zen-like and the man’s honesty, humbleness and true love of music and its effect on himself and all of us was beyond inspirational. When he was done I approached him and said, “Mr. Martino, I just want to thank you for what you said and for the joy your music has brought me.”

He smiled and took my hand and shook it gently. “No,” he said. “Thank you.”  

More soon….

Peace & good music,

Gene

2 Comments

My perfect guitar

8/17/2012

2 Comments

 
Right now I have an awesome collection of Martins (all for sale of course. If you want to see me cry.) made up of a 000-40Q2GN, M-36, and custom D-28. All of them have their own personalities and beauty and all sound fantastic. In fact, I can’t recall ever having so many astonishingly great Martins at the same time. I went through a major flirtation with Taylors a couple years ago and owned a couple that were very nice, and I’ll probably buy more in the future, but I have resigned myself to the fact that I’ll always be a Martin guy. Taylors are terrific guitars and many are gorgeous in wood, play-ability and detail but their sound? It just doesn’t have that magic, alive, complex tonality that you find in almost all Martins. Why this is, I do not know. I also have my pretty workhorse, a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe that does everything I ask of it with power and grace.

One of my students recently purchased from me a very nice Martin dreadnaught, perhaps not in the class of the three I have now but not a slouch by any means. He loves it and I know why although neither of us can define the “it” that most Martins have. After one of his lessons we talked about the Martin sound and he asked me just what it was that I listen for in my quest for the ultimate acoustic guitar.

To be a bit crass and paraphrase a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice when asked his definition of pornography: I can’t tell you what that sound is, but I know it when I hear it! I guess I’d have to say, deep bass that you can feel right through the back of the guitar, well defined mid range notes that bridge that tonality between the wrapped bass strings and the unwrapped high B and E, and crisp, clean, clear “shimmer-y” treble. To find all these things in one guitar is rare, very rare. But that is just the starting point.

My perfect fantasy acoustic guitar needs to be responsive to the softer attack of finger tips – I don’t use finger picks or nails – but also be able to stand up to aggressive playing with a flat pick, both in single note passages and when strummed. What you usually find is one quality or the other. A guitar that is responsive to finger picking often “breaks up” in a confused, harsh sound when strummed with authority. A guitar that handles a flat pick without breaking up even when played hard almost never gives back much when finger picked. I’ve written about the overall tone quality of different types of wood in a pervious entry so I won’t rehash that but to my ear anyway, rosewood almost always beats out mahogany when it comes to complexity of sound (overtones, resonance). But those overtones can come into conflict with varying attack, which makes it that much harder to find that “perfect” guitar.

Now factor in other variables like humidity (or lack of) affecting the wood and changing the tone, the sound of the room you’re playing in (some rooms are very lively sounding but some can all but kill the sound of even a great guitar) and even things like how moist your finger tips are when you play, or the type and thickness of the pick you’re using. The type, gauge and age of the strings have a very significant effect on the sound. I have never heard a good sounding guitar at a Guitar Center store, including some very expensive Martins, for the simple reason that every guitar there has dead strings due to the amount of use they get by potential buyers. This is very sad!

What the nut and saddle are made of makes a huge difference in the sound. I am amazed that Martin still uses plastic nuts and saddles on some of their instruments when using bone would immediately improve the sound. All the Martins I have now have bone. Said it before and I’ll say it again: replacing plastic nuts and saddles with bone is the single easiest way to improve the sound of ANY guitar, expensive or not.

Complicated is my quest, indeed!

So what I’ve ended up doing over the decades I’ve been playing and buying dozens and dozens of guitars is … compromise. After taking into account all the variables I just listed I try to decide what I’m willing to do without. Sad but true.

Which is why I’m so thrilled to be able to play those three Martins that are living in my studio right now. As I said – they are all different. But all three come damn close to perfection, closer than almost any guitar I’ve ever played. My business is to play, teach, and yes, sell guitars. I wonder if Antonio Stradivarious felt remorse when a customer walked away with one of his creations? My guess is yes.

So I guess I just have to say: if you’re looking for a really, really special guitar, I have three. If anyone reading this does decide to buy one, BE NICE TO IT!!

Peace & good music,

Gene

2 Comments

Sing it!

8/9/2012

0 Comments

 
When you attend college and major in music or go to a conservatory you must declare a “major instrument.” Even if you intend to pursue a teaching degree (versus a degree in performance) you have to do this. I’m not sure if this is still the case in large university music major programs but it was back when I attended college at a small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania. You will be expected to take individual lessons on that instrument and also do a “senior recital,” which is something like a final exam before you can graduate. You would think that I declared guitar, but no. At that time and in that place guitar was not even considered a legitimate instrument! Amazing but true.

So that left me only one choice if I was going to pursue a degree in Music Education: my major instrument would be voice. Now, I am a decent singer, certainly not great but I can carry a tune and assuming I do everything right in terms of breathing, posture and opening my mouth (I know that sounds funny but many singers don’t, enough to project anyway) I have a decent range. So days are better than others depending on whether I’ve been talking a lot or even things like seasonal allergies. Regardless, I always sing with the songs I give my students, assuming there are words for the piece of music we’re working on. I do this because I want the students to know that no matter how bad they might think there own voice is, singing along with playing is vital to the entire process of making music with a guitar.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. Singing is a very “naked” thing. “I can’t carry a tune,” some say. Well, I don’t buy that. Singing is something EVERYONE can do and it’s important to realize that it is a skill that must be practiced. Sure, there are some people who have spectacular voices without any training or particular effort but most of us need to work on it.

So why are so many people reluctant to do it? Perhaps at some point in their lives a sibling or friend made fun of them for trying to sing. That can be very damaging to anyone’s self image and can make a person give up at a very early age. This is so sad. The fact is, learning to sing is really about learning to listen – to one’s self, to an accompanying instrument, to other singers around them. It is something that needs to be practiced.

The reason I encourage my students to sing is that is makes them depend on their hands to do what they’re supposed to do without intense focusing on the hands. Yes, when learning the elements of a piece of music it is vital to practice and conquer those elements on a part-by-part basis. But then it’s time to kind of let that go and try the music in its entirety. The best way I know to do that is by combining singing with playing. Sure, you will make mistakes and some sections will always be more difficult than others but the process of putting everything together will in some magical, indefinable way make those difficult passages less daunting.

So sing, hum, whistle, whatever. Don’t expect to sound like your favorite players and don’t be critical of your abilities. The payoff is so worth the effort. Don’t listen to negative comments about your singing. Just invite the critic to try it themselves! And you know what? In a short amount of time you may just find that its….. fun!

Peace & good music,
Gene

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Air Conditioned thoughts

8/2/2012

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Sorry I haven’t checked in here for while! With it being hot and humid on Olde Cape Cod right now I’m having difficulty constructing a lucid blog entry on just one subject so I think I’ll just throw out some random stuff.

A student of mine has a guitar of moderate value that needs a repair and he is not thrilled about the prospect. The problem is a quite common one: a lifting bridge. I told him that assuming the repair person doesn’t want to replace the bridge entirely it will most likely cost him at least $50 to have it re-glued. His first reaction was – wow, that seems like a lot. Can’t I just apply a little glue under there and clap in down myself? I told him that he could certainly try but there are risks involved, things like splitting the bridge when pressure is applied or not getting a good bond, which would mean trying to remove the old glue and starting all over, with even less likely positive results. He is going to opt for a professional repair, I think.

While re-gluing and leveling a bridge on an acoustic guitar is a common repair it is hardly the only bad thing that can occur. Probably the next most common annoyance is a loose brace inside the guitar. The most obvious symptom of this is a rattling sound when a certain note or notes are played. Unfortunately, this is definitely a job best performed by a professional who will have flat knife-like blades to probe the places where the braces are glued to the top or bottom of the guitar. A loose brace is hardly ever obvious but you can locate its approximate location by placing the fingers of one hand on top of the guitar in a variety of places while the offending tone is played. If you’re lucky you may actually feel the loose brace vibrating against the top. Then at least you have confirmed the source of that nasty sound and can give that information to your repair person. If a back brace is loose this feel-around method will probably not work as the wood of the back is slightly thicker and harder than the top so the vibration will not be as easily transmitted.

Those are just two of the many problems that can occur with acoustic guitars, regardless of their price or quality. After all, they are made of wood and wood moves! Good luck if you’re experiencing one of these things and my advice is of course to consult with a competent repair person.

Shifting gears now, I’ve been listening to Public Radio station WUMB in Boston quite a bit lately because they have changed their format somewhat and are featuring more modern singer-songwriters (as compared to the old war horses that used to dominate their play lists) and even some electric folk/Americana type stuff. I’ve heard some interesting music lately by groups like the Punch Brothers but the album that has impressed me the most is the latest by Bonnie Raitt. Yes, she could qualify as an older musician but Bonnie sounds better than ever and her slide guitar work just gets more and more inventive and interesting. The album has been out for about four months now and is called “Slipstream.” Her voice has the quality of a sip of a nice, smoky single malt Scotch; it’s almost like she’s finally grown into the being the singer she always was trying to be. My slightly nasty side kind of wants to say – hey, Susan Tedeschi – give this a listen. This is what a funky, sexy blues woman is SUPPOSED to sound like! But that wouldn’t be very nice, now would it?! Anyway, I highly, highly recommend this recording by Bonnie Raitt, her first new album in seven years. Rock on, Bonnie.

In a completely different musical vein, I was turned on to the wonderful Irish singer and songwriter Christy Moore by one of my students. Now, if you are a fan of Irish music this is not news to you but Christy is a simply an absolutely wonderful musician. My student is Irish himself and while he has little use for most of the pseudo-Irish music that’s heard in this country he went on and on about how genuine and well respected Christy is back in the Old Country and I could immediately hear why. While I love most instrumental Irish music by groups like The Chieftains and Planxty (Christy was once a member of that group) I have little tolerance for a guy in a local bar belting out “Me Mother She Was Orange and Me Father He Was Green” while pounding away on an out-of-tune Ovation 12-string. But I may have to open up my mind a lot more if Christy is any indication of what’s really out there. His song “Mary from Dungloe” is beautiful, sad and touching, and his most famous tune, “Ride On” features stark imagery that is the hallmark of a great songwriter. So if you’ve written off Irish vocal music as little more than trite drinking music by Irish American wannabe’s, give Christy Moore a listen. You’ll be amazed.

From all reports, last weekend’s annual Newport Folk Festival was a huge success with Saturday sold out and close to a sell-out on Sunday. I’ve listened to a few performances that have already appeared on You Tube and I am again very pleased to find so many younger performers stretching the boundaries of what we consider folk music, while still respecting what went before. I would have been especially interested in hearing the great Jackson Browne, who closed out the festival with a long acoustic set. He is another one who knows how present multi layered images in his songs without being obvious or too obtuse. Martin Guitars apparently had a very cool “performance tent” where attendees could try out many guitars and some of the performers stopped by for short impromptu sets. Next year, I swear….

Finally, this: Are you getting more than a little tired of your guitar sounding like someone stuffed it with pillows thanks to the hot, humid weather? Me too. Well, have faith. In a few short weeks the air will cool and dry out and your baby will sound just fine again. In the meantime, play some funky old blues tunes. They sound just fine on the thunky guitar!

As always, I welcome input and comments and I’ll be more than happy to bore you with my opinions! Just drop a line.

Peace & good music,
Gene

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