From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #1560 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Thursday, December 4 2014 Volume 2014 : Number 1560 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Liner notes... ["Mark" ] Re: Liner notes... [Dave Blackburn ] Re: JMDL Digest V2014 #1546 Liner Notes. NJC [Bob.Muller@Fluor.com] Peter Erskine on drums throughout MINGUS [simon@icu.com] Re: JMDL Digest V2014 #1546 Liner Notes. NJC [Les Irvin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2014 08:23:13 -0800 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: Liner notes... My box set arrived on Tuesday and the first thing I did after looking over the presentation as a whole was to read the liner notes. A couple of things struck me. One was Joni's inventiveness and creativity in the recording process. The other was how she is so generous and complimentary of other musicians she has worked with. The same thing struck me in the Tavis Smiley interview. Joni says one of the main things that impressed her when going over her catalog to put these CDs together was how fortunate she has been to have worked with such great musicians with the same commitment t0 excellence that she has. I confess, I haven't had time to listen to the music yet. I think the way she describes the concept is fascinating. It's almost like musical collage. She's piecing her short stories together to make mini novels or essays. I'm eager to find out how everything flows and fits together. Mark in Seattle - -----Original Message----- From: Dave Blackburn Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2014 7:04 AM To: Bob.Muller@Fluor.com Cc: Les Irvin ; JMDL JMDL Subject: Re: Liner notes... Thanks for posting these liner notes Les, and thanks to whomever transcribed them. Lindsay, perhaps? I thought there were some fascinating revelations about Jonibs process, how she sees her music in relation to music by others, and about specific songs. To learn that Sweet Sucker Dance was a single take was pretty mind-blowing, considering it is a perfect vocal performance and a harmonic minefield. I loved the bit about the rental guitar having a fret poking out which made The Wolf that lives in Lindsay buzz so much! Why, I wonder, would she go into the studio without her guitar? But to see that she heard that bbuzzb as the perfect representation of the wolfpack and kept the take because of that, shows how, for her, everything is in service of the lyric; as she says, a producer would probably have nixed the idea and brought in a better guitar. Dave > > From: Les Irvin > To: Joni List , > Date: 12/03/2014 11:44 AM > Subject: Liner notes... > Sent by: owner-joni@smoe.org > > > > For those who may be interested, the liner notes from the new set are up > online now: > http://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=33 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2014 07:04:01 -0800 From: Dave Blackburn Subject: Re: Liner notes... Thanks for posting these liner notes Les, and thanks to whomever transcribed them. Lindsay, perhaps? I thought there were some fascinating revelations about Jonibs process, how she sees her music in relation to music by others, and about specific songs. To learn that Sweet Sucker Dance was a single take was pretty mind-blowing, considering it is a perfect vocal performance and a harmonic minefield. I loved the bit about the rental guitar having a fret poking out which made The Wolf that lives in Lindsay buzz so much! Why, I wonder, would she go into the studio without her guitar? But to see that she heard that bbuzzb as the perfect representation of the wolfpack and kept the take because of that, shows how, for her, everything is in service of the lyric; as she says, a producer would probably have nixed the idea and brought in a better guitar. Dave > > From: Les Irvin > To: Joni List , > Date: 12/03/2014 11:44 AM > Subject: Liner notes... > Sent by: owner-joni@smoe.org > > > > For those who may be interested, the liner notes from the new set are up > online now: > http://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=33 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2014 09:49:43 -0500 From: Bob.Muller@Fluor.com Subject: Re: JMDL Digest V2014 #1546 Liner Notes. NJC And it looks like Max Roach (the late jazz drummer) had one too, but after these two. Who'da thunk it? Bob NP: Drive-By Truckers, "Natural Light" From: Les Irvin To: Joni List , Date: 12/04/2014 09:44 AM Subject: Re: JMDL Digest V2014 #1546 Liner Notes. NJC Sent by: owner-joni@smoe.org John Prine got the jump on Todd 5 years earlier with a song titled "Onomatopoeia" on his Sweet Revenge album. On 12/3/2014 2:14 PM, Bob.Muller@Fluor.com wrote: > Every time I hear the word 'Onomatopoeia' I think of the Todd Rundgren > song from "Hermit of Mink Hollow", a classic Todd record. Only a minute > and a half but really creative. - ------------------------------------------------------------ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any and all computers and other devices. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of the company. - ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:16:45 -0500 From: simon@icu.com Subject: Peter Erskine on drums throughout MINGUS Dave Blackburn wrote > It's Peter Erskine on drums throughout Mingus, Sue. > The Tony Williams takes are still in the vault somewhere. Dave, I'm sure you know, but other JMDL members might want to read a chapter from Peter Erskine's recent book. NO BEETHOVEN An Autobiography & Chronicle of WEATHER REPORT B) 2013 Here's (below) is the text. AndSoItGoes, - - - - - - - - - simonM ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter Erskine has played the drums since age four and is known for his versatility and love of working in different musical contexts. He appears on 600 albums and film scores, and has won two Grammy Awards, plus an Honorary Doctorate from the Berk.lee School of Music. Thirty albums have been released under his own name or as co-leader. He has played with the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson Big Bands, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Kenny Wheeler, The Brecker Brothers, The Yelloajackets, Pat Metheny and Gary Burton, John Scofield, et al, and has appeared as a soloist with the London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt Radio, Scottish Chamber, Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Peter has been named 'Best Jazz Drummer of the Year' ten times by Modern Drummer magazine. Peter graduated from the Interlachen Arts Academy and studied at Indiana University under George Gaber. He is currently Professor of Practice and Director of Drumset Studies at USC. Peter is married with two children and lives in Santa Monica, California. LIVING IN CALIFORNIA Weather Report was definitely a door opener. Shortly after joining the band, I moved to Los Angeles from my temporary digs in Wewoka, Oklahoma (where my just-divorced Mom had moved in order to live close to her sister and niece. My parents wound up remarrying each other again a few years later!). By that time, I had already appeared on three recordings, thanks to Jaco and/or Wayne. When Joni Mitchell called Jaco to collaborate on the Charles Mingus project she had been working on and wrestling with, having recorded and re-recorded the same tunes with a number of different bands, Jaco insisted that I be the drummer. His insistence was good enough to get me on the album. I also played on Michel Colombier's eponymous album as well as on a Jon Lucien recording (my drum tracks did not make it to album release). With my relocating to L.A., renting a small house in Encino, I was all set to begin life as both a member of Weather Report and life apart from the band as a free-lance musician. Joni Mitchell's MINGUS album is memorable for many reasons, first and foremost because of Joni. She recounts our first meeting in a book, describing how Joe and Jaco were athletically tossing a Frisbee inside the confines of an S.I.R. rehearsal studio and that, when the high-velocity Frisbee would be directed at me, I would shrink away in fear so as not to possibly jam a finger (much like my basketball/gym class in high school) - mea culpa for being a wuss, but now might be a good opportunity to explain that during my Little League tryout I got hit in the forehead by a line drive and have forever since been ball-shy. But Frisbee-shy though I was, Joni took a chance on me drumming-wise. And I was, of course, a huge fan not only of HEJIRA but also of her earliest works, notably BLUE, and feeling grateful for all of the lonely nights that music got me through. Longtime producer and engineer Henry Lewy was at the helm in A&M Studio D. Add Jaco to this and I was in heaven. Wayne came in on the second day to play with us and to overdub on what we did on day one. We recorded everything in two afternoons. The pianist at the first day's session was British arranger Jeremy Lubbock. After we cut the first tune, "Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat,b Jaco came over to me and said, "Who is this guy? I'm going to call Herbie and see if he's in town.b So Jaco ran off to the telephone and called Herbie Hancock and essentially invited him to the session to take over. I seem to recall that Jaco got Joni's blessings before or during this whole process; it all happened very quickly. The take with Jeremy was good, and of course it was awkward when he found out that Herbie was on his way, but by then it was too late. So he left and Herbie entered and promptly replaced the piano on "Pork Pie" with Jaco smiling like crazy in the control room. We were all smiling and now all in on the conspiracy - no regrets and full steam ahead. We cut the rest of the album in fairly short order, a considerable achievement if not hasty, as the Mingus compositions are not the easiest songs to wrap one's head around - these were the longest song forms I'd ever encountered, and I'm still not sure that I was up to the task. My contribution, if any, was to be a good anchor for Jaco. I also came up, unwittingly, with the rhythmic solution for the blues tune "Dry Cleaner From Des Moines,b which was not enjoying much success in its previously recorded bebop form. Sitting at the drums between takes of another song, I started playing around with a beat that I first heard on a Gabor Szabo album that Bernard "Pretty" Purdie played drums on (an oddity titled Jazz Raga; the tune was "Walking On Nailsb), but I was using brushes instead of sticks, as Purdie had done. So I was just sitting there, amusing myself by playing and experimenting with this, when Henry Lewy came running out of the control room and yelled, "Keep playing that same beat!" Then he ran to get Jaco and we cut the basic track to "Dry Cleaner" in fairly short order - first take, as Jaco preferred - and the thorny question of how to record that blues was solved. Jaco wrote the horn chart and recorded it later at Tom Scott's Crimson Sound studio in Santa Monica (former home to the Beach Boys' studio, with lots of "hippie wiring" still extant by the time we were in there, according to engineer Hank Cicala). That triplet ending? Jaco played it, as he had done for the intro, and just gave me a wink to cue me for the end. However the album is judged artistically, I feel that it showed remarkable bravery on Joni's part to put her imprimatur on this music in the midst or arc of her pop album career. Joni has great artistic integrity. The album also marked an interesting point in the use of electric instruments to play jazz, the Mingus collaboration putting a spotlight on the musical sensibility and aesthetic choices made with electric bass and piano - and the success or failure of that - and put a spotlight on the whole jazz-meets-pop thing that still resonates today. It's not the easiest album to listen to, but I give Joni high marks for it. As far as I know, it began her musical relationship with Herbie Hancock and was also the starting point for the tour the following summer that would result in the "SHADOWS And Light" video. By the way, that was supposed to be Weather Report on that tour. Jaco had helped to set everything up, and Joni and her management agreed to have Weather Report open the concerts with a set, to be followed by our backing her on the Mingus and other material. Well, as I begin planning for this great news I get a telephone call from Joe Zawinul. "The Joni Mitchell tour thing is not happening. I told Jaco that he can do it because of his long association with her, but I don't want Wayne or you to do it." "What happened?" I asked. "I just told her we ain't no fucking L.A. Express." [click] Thanks, Joe. - - - - - - - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 07:27:24 -0700 From: Les Irvin Subject: Re: JMDL Digest V2014 #1546 Liner Notes. NJC John Prine got the jump on Todd 5 years earlier with a song titled "Onomatopoeia" on his Sweet Revenge album. On 12/3/2014 2:14 PM, Bob.Muller@Fluor.com wrote: > Every time I hear the word 'Onomatopoeia' I think of the Todd Rundgren > song from "Hermit of Mink Hollow", a classic Todd record. Only a minute > and a half but really creative. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 15:28:16 +0000 (UTC) From: Jeff Clark Subject: facebook joni Victor wrote, <>B I understand Victor. I feel bad for saying Joni was "crabby", who isn't crabby sometimes? I was thinking of an episode of The Golden Girls where they start an Elvis Presley fan club. At a get together, they pass around a half-eaten pork chop in a little glass case, purportedly eaten by "the King" and Dorothy says, "this can't possibly be real. Elvis never would have left this much meat on a pork chop." And she is immediately expelled from the club. No disparaging remarks are to be tolerated, B the meeting ends, etc. I'm thinking of getting out some paint brushes and canvases, cranking up the Debussey and being Joni for a day.Jeff ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #1560 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------