There has been no updates or blog posts for a while. Sorry to those who have continued to drop by. Just to let everyone know that there will not be any posts for the next ten days or so.
In the hope of becoming a better person for myself and those that have to live and deal with me, I will be going for a vipassana meditation retreat run in the S.N. Goenka tradition from today till 26th Aug 07. No contact with the outside world is allowed and silence (among other things) is to be observed for the ten days of the retreat. I will have to live and deal with myself and God knows what hidden complexes in me. Unleashing myself on myself, so as to speak. I hope I can complete the course despite the strict code of discipline and daily routine.
Last moments before I leave for the retreat: Theolonius Monk’s Ruby My Dear and one cup of coffee.
I’m back. This time with MikeOldfield, an underrated guitarist who is best known for his composition Tubular Bells, which launched his career and that of Sir Richard Branson. Branson had just started his label “Virgin”, so-named to reflect his lack of experience in the recording industry and the first artiste he signed was Mike Oldfield, whose Tubular Bells had been repeatedly rejected by many record labels. The record went on to sell millions and achieved gold status in the US with Oldfield receiving a Grammy for best instrumental composition in 1975.
“Mike Oldfield played most of the instruments on the album … often recording them one at a time and layering the recordings to create the finished work. Many of his subsequent albums feature this technique. Though fairly common in the music industry now, at the time of the production of Tubular Bells not many musicians made use of it, preferring multi-musician “session” recordings.”
The opening theme of Tubular Bells also made it into the soundtrack of The Exorcist.
This is what Guitar Player had to say about Mike Oldfield:
“Oldfield’s prowess as a highly innovative guitarist is often overlooked. For example, he created a singular overdriven sound by routing his mid-50s Les Paul Junior through a convuluted signal chain that included a treble booster, a battery-powered Vox amp, a Teac reel-to-reel, and multiple graphic EQs, resulting in both super-mellow distortion and “feedback harmonics.” On his 1999 release, Guitars, Oldfield use the guitar as the course of all sounds – including percussion.”
My uncle gave me the Tubular Bells cd when I was 14. (What kind of uncle gives his nephew the soundtrack to the Exorcist???!!! A very cool uncle!) I couldn’t appreciate it then but I shared it with many of my friends, including the muser, who loved it so much that he became a Mike Oldfield fan and went on to buy several of his cds. At that time, I couldn’t understand what was the big deal and I eventually sold or gave away that cd after listening to it in its entirety several times.
They say it takes time to cook potatoes. Well, I’ve finally had an epiphany 16 years later. I love Tubular Bells!
Check out the videos below. I have only posted 3 videos from the entire series, which can be found at youtube. See also this excellent video.
Ryo Kawasaki has worked with Gil Evans, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams and Chico Hamilton. Besides playing jazz and fusion guitar, Kawasaki also has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Quantum Physics and worked as a sound engineer. From 1979 to 1990, he focussed on being a music software programmer before returning to jazz guitar playing in 1991.
Blending fingerstyle, funk and jazz ala Tuck Andress, James Brown, and Charlie Hunter, Ben Lacy from Lexington, Kentucky, is a one man groove machine on the Brian Moore guitar he endorses.
Besides the videos below, see also his myspace page and website for more music.
An interview with Brian Lacy is also available here.
Unknown, unsung and forgotten, the talented Hollywood Fats blazed on an ES-335 and apprenticed with Shakey Jake Harris, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, and Junior Wells, of which the last two gave him his nickname. After working with John Lee Hooker, J.B. Hutto, and Albert King (who forced Fats to quit for upstaging him), he joined Muddy Waters.
Hollywood Fats left little recorded material. Check out the rare videos of him playing with James Harman and the Smokey Wilson Band below. Really, jumping, jiving and upbeat rock and roll blues. You’ll need to turn up the volume.
