Playing Ketchup

Since this is my first blog, it would seem obvious that I've got some ground to make up. This will mean that some of the videos are old news to some of you, but perhaps some won't be. Either way, I'm posting them (in no meaningful order), 'cause I likes 'em.

First off, Tommy Johnson - Canned Heat Blues. So titled after the somewhat popular Prohibition-era "drink" made from straining alcohol from Sterno (cooking fuel). Tommy's one of those bluesmen who's rumored to have sold his sold his soul to the Devil - this song is an excellent argument in support of the legend. The falsetto notes he hits certainly sound like a man possessed by something. The Devil, or dangerously raw alcohol? You decide.

While we're on blues, I feel obligated to post this'un. It's a bit "notey," but the guy plays from his heart, that's for damn sure. If you don't feel how expressive his soloing is, you should probably see a doctor. Very raw, very powerful. Reminds me of some of Jimi Hendrix's more passionate moments.

Now for something completely different - Paul Young. Say what you will about the '80s, but there's no denying that some amazing music came out of it, just like any other era. Paul knew what he was doing making the music that he did. He combined Joni Mitchell's vocal dialog with an expressive fretless bass player (Pino Palladino, in this case; a genius in his own right) with a more approachable, commercially viable approach to songwriting.

Due to my complete lack of focus and prior planning for this first blog, there's precious little continuity to speak of. Case and point: the next bit, Israel Zohar. Clarinet player for the Israel Philharmonic, and even more successful on his own, playing klezmer music, as he is here. Just an enormously talented player in general, and the music is the sort of thing where if you love it, you just love it, and if you don't...well, you just don't. But hey, nobody's ever forcing you to listen to any music, and if they are, you should probably look into picking up a concealed weapons permit and a small-ish caliber handgun.

And to wrap it up, Mr. Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. (Yes, that is his name, und yes, it's all German und fahny, und yes, he vast ein brilliant composer, certainly brilliant enough that his name deserves some damn recognition, even from some two-bit spellcheck program. Rabble rabble.) Considering the fact that he played the *violin*, it aught to come as some surprise that he wrote more (and better) concertos for bass than he did for violin. Of course, he wrote twice as many concertos for oboe than for bass, four times as many as he did for violin, but that's beside the point. The point is that he was a self-hating violin player, for good reason (obviously), and for reasons unbeknownst to the general musical snob hierarchy, had a strange fetish for small double reeds. Actually, that's probably not true at all, but it makes for a good story. For fun, listen for Bach and Vivaldi in there and see what you can pick out. This is my late Easter celebration. Instead of eggs, I go looking for obscure Classical quotes of mainstream Baroque composers. What? Like that's any less relevant to the story of Jesus' resurrection than a giant bunny leaving chocolate eggs everywhere? Bah.

I'll probably make this a two-parter, just to get all the stuff out there that I've had safely tucked away in my YouTube favorites for the past year or so. More on the way sometime in the next week.

Generic farewell until I come up with something more personal and original!