Category: Music

Reggae pioneer Desmond Dekker dies, aged 64

Guardian Unlimited Arts | Arts news | Reggae pioneer Desmond Dekker dies, aged 64

Ska legend Desmond Dekker has died suddenly from a heart attack, his manager said today.

The 64-year-old Jamaican, best known for his 1969 smash hit Israelites, collapsed at his home in Surrey yesterday morning.

Some of my favorite Desmond Dekker tunes include 007 (Shanty Town), Licking Stick, and Nincompoop.

There is a great Dekker 2 CD Anthology that spans 1963-1999. You can hear the history of what became reggae in his work. The first cut “Honour Your Mother and Father” isn’t very far removed from New Orleans R&B. Think Shirley and Lee with added skank guitar. As the discs progress you can hear the development from ska to rock steady to modern reggae.

Desmond Dekker was one of the foundations of the great Jamaican music of the last half of the 20th century. RIP.

Martin Krusche’s Magnetic Ear

There is a new Tuesday night adventure jazz hang in New Orleans at King Bolden’s Bar, 820 N. Rampart St. On May 16, I caught the second set by Martin Krusche’s Magnetic Ear. Martin is a tenor saxophonist and composer, who is originally from Germany, but has lived in New Orleans for quite some time (with a Brooklyn detour in there).

The band Tuesday night was Martin on acoustic and electric tenor sax, Dan Oestricher on bari sax, John Gross on electric sousaphone, Endres Landsnes on drum set and Anthony Cuccia on percussion and sampler. It was slammin’. Original tunes mixed with jazz classics, all with interesting grooves and an open minded attitude. The electronic compents lended an ambient vibe, but solid grooves and reaching improvisations were the real heart of the music.

If you are in New Orleans on a Tuesday, check out King Bolden’s. My band will be there June 6, 2006, and the plan is to have some interesting jazz/improvising group there every Tuesday.

Stephen Flinn and hustle

I had the pleaure of sharing a show with Stephen Flinn this past Tuesday at The Big Top. He is a great guy as well as musician. After his solo set, he joined my Improvides Music Trio for a couple of episodes, and we had a blast.

Stephen also has his hustle totally together. He booked an entire San Fransisco to NY solo percussion tour, called it Bald Ambition (based on his chosen hair style, or lack of hair style), THEN got the whole thing sponsored by head shaving product company HeadBlade, of which he is a customer. Way to go Stephen! He got an open minded company to help get some open minded music made. Very cool.

Go here to see his HeadBlade wrapped Honda Element. (Stephen is the May 2006 user of the month).

Dragon’s Den

Good news on the New Orleans venue front! I heard from a fairly reliable source that the Dragon’s Den, once a central venue in the New Orleans adventurous music scene, will re-open in June sometime. The even better part of the rumor is that they fixed the A/C.

Hearing free jazz and improvisation

I had the pleasure of hearing a wonderful performance by Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Alvin Fielder last night in New Orleans at a club called King Bolden’s. The club is pretty small. It was fairly crowded and the acoustics were good. I could really hear what each musician was playing. I heard things in their music last night, that I had not heard before. I think that is due mainly to my growth as a listener.

In most contexts, I tend to listen in broad terms, hearing shapes and motion and ideas, more than specific notes or harmonies.While listening to free improvisations, my broad listening style does a good job of capturing the vibe and energy of a performance, but it can also let a perception of chaos take over. Last night I heard the interactions within the broader perceived chaos. I could hear melodic lines being passed back and forth between Kidd’s tenor and William’s bass. These lines were not the only notes Kidd or William were playing, but they were contained within all of the other notes that were happening. I could hear some part of Alvin’s set having a rhythmic conversation with some range of Kidd’s tenor. Again, each musiccian was also playing other material, but these parts were closely tied musically.

I equated it to seeing a large crowd, like at an outdoor concert or sporting event. When you look at the broad overview of the people, it could seem like chaos. Then imagine that someone starts a beachball bouncing through the crowd. You can follow the beachball as it passes around the people, eventhough there are many other things happening as well. Then, if you look closely at any given spot in the crowd, you realize that it is not chaos at all, but a seemingly endless number of small spontaneous personal interactions happening simultaneously. Now you can perceive the crowd in whatever fashion you’d like: as chaos, as single individual interactions, or as a collection of those interactions. It all depends of how you focus your sight.

Likewise with the performance last night, it all depened on how I focused my listening. I could hear chaos, singular specific musical interactions, and the collection of those interactions. Plus you can hear all of that at once if you let yourself.