It's been said, "necessity is the mother of invention". No one knows exactly who said that but some site Mark Twain. That quote evolved from, of all people, Plato who said, "Our need will be the real creator".
I would like to further modify that and say limitation is the mother of invention or the real creator.
Often we think of limitations imposed on us by others (i.e. parents, authorities, governing bodies, social norms etc.) but there is another self imposed limitation and that is the direction I'm moving in with my image making. Before my camera work has always been shot in the 3:2/4:6 frame format and if I wanted something different I would crop that raw file before moving further in the editing phase.
I've decided to upend that by only shooting in 1:1 frame format. Yesterday and today were my first days limiting myself in this way. It's interesting how looking at the view screen and seeing only a square image changes how you think about seeing. In some ways it's changed my subject matter. In other ways it's changed how I photograph the same old subjects that I would photograph before in the more familiar landscape/portrait format. I'm still interested in the same things it's just that I am seeing them differently. And it's not like I see them one way and they deliberately change how I want to see them via cropping. I'm actually forcing myself to see them squared.
I don't know how long I'll do this but it will be for some length of time to see how this will change the way I see and perceive things over time as I get more used to this square format.
Todays images are of palms of my left and right hand. An abstract, inverted presentation that I find interesting. Again these images were shot square format /raw. Editing in Photoshop.
Today an acapella treat. One of my favorite acapella groups is, Grammy winning, Voces8. They are a rotating group of 8 voices who perform and record works by contemporary classical composers. But they also do some great covers that are lush - like walking barefoot on moss covered ground on a cool misty summer morning. Well that's what their music feels like to me.
For Your Eyes Only, originally recorded by Sheena Easton as the opening credits song for the 1981 James Bond film of the same title. While at times Sheena's voice seems a little "screechy", like broken glass, the Voces8 version is beautifully polished and sparkles.
And because I can't get enough of this vocal group I'll include a 2nd video of Voces8 performing alongside another vocal group known as Ringmasters. They cover the Jackson 5 classic I'll Be There. Enjoy.
So you probably never thought you'd hear U2 classic sung as a jazz piece. Well here's your chance. I've posted earlier another Kurt Elling cover of Stevie Wonder. This time he takes on U2's song Where The Streets Have No Name. And wow does he handle it beautifully and this live performance includes a really wonderful guitar solo by John McClean. Really amazing work. He originally recorded this song for his PASSION WORLD album in 2015. The video is a live performance from the Blue Note, Milan in 2015.
Of course, down below is a live U2 performance also from 2015 of their original song. The interpretations couldn't be more opposite. Simply Amazing. (oops I think I said that already. LOL)
Nina Simone will probably always be remembered as one of the finest interpreters of song. She has covered some of the biggest songs of her generation. But her songs are not mere covers. She completely re-interprets songs making them personal statements, protest anthems, consciousness raising art.
Today I'm posting her cover of Bob Dylan's, Just Like A Woman. In Dylan's original version he is merely making an observation but when Nina sings it, she OWNS it - she makes it all about her. She identifies with and personalizes it to depths that make it one of the most emotional renderings of this song.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Was there ever a name that wrought so many emotions and strong opinions? Todays selection is Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover of Ice Cream Man from his controversial album, Black Music For White People.
In many ways Screamin' Jay was just an ignored opera singer - that's what he really wanted to be in life but no one in the classical community were in a mood for another black opera singer after Paul Robeson so Screamin Jay took up night clubbin' and developed an act that was part voodoo, religious snake handler, and he always had a coffin on stage and a skull he affectionately named Henry. His music was bawdy, daring, even dangerous sounding. But boy did he have soul.
Ice Cream Man was originally written by John Brim. But was probably more recognizable by the cover version recorded on 1973's self titled album by Van Halen. So here are all three versions. Enjoy.
Can anyone beat Stevie Wonders delivery? Well probably not but Kurt Elling does a wonderful job on Golden Lady. Originally released in 1973 as part of the album INNERVISIONS, Golden Lady became one of Stevie’s (many) signature R&B/pop songs. The song, as recorded by Stevie Wonder, was heavily inspired by “Montuno” Cuban rhythms and syncopation (on the chorus).
Kurt Elling changes it up into more of a swing which is very cool. From his album THE GATE, Golden Lady was one of several pop and rock covers. Much smoother, very different, yet very cool.
Another cover that made me fall in love with a music artist I'd not heard previously. The year is 1995. I had been of Tom Waits for a couple of decades at this point. I could never have imagined someone doing his music justice as a cover.
Then along came Temptation by Holly Cole and her trio. An entire album of Tom Waits songs. In fact I'll have to post 2 videos from this album. She manages to maintain all the dreamy quirkiness of Tom Waits with a silky smooth breathy voice that will take you to another dimension if you close your eyes and let her. So enjoy this trip with a pair old back catalog classics.
Sting is probably one of the most often covered pop songwriters. Especially by jazz musicians. And FRAGILE is probably one of the most oft covered songs of Mr Sumners. Sting has always had a relationsihp with jazz. In fact his first couple of solo albums featured many jazz musicians that have come to to be seen as masters in their own right.
Here is a truly delightful cover of the FRAGILE by the Andrew McCormack Trio from 2022. I love how they start out as a smooth standard then break out in the improvisations touch base periodically on the melody. Really Enjoyable in my mind.
Probably one of the most popular songs by Metallica. Covered by many many people and bands. But few have taken this bold visceral vocal approach by Polish vocal group Tulia. Enjoy.
Philip Glass has long been a favorite composer. I've been following his work and career since his opera of Einstein on the Beach.
In 1977 David Bowie released "HEROES" the second in his Berlin Trilogy series (the first being LOW). It was a ground breaking album that was co-written by Brian Eno and featured some guitar work by King Crimson's Robert Fripp. An amazing conceptual work overall.
Here Philip Glass has covered that album or perhaps more accurately used those musical ideas to re-compose the music into a symphony as only Glass could do. Featuring many of Glass' signature motifs (repeating phrases etc). It really is a work of art in itself. And this is the way I like to see covers done - re-imagined with respect and reverence to the original. As I've said before faithful covers/copies are not of any interest to me as I suspect you've noticed by now.
Enjoy this title track from the "HEROES" Symphony by Philip Glass from the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno.
A bit of trivia: the live Bowie version below features guitar work of Ohio native and future (80's era) King Crimson Alumn Adrian Belew.
The image above is titled "Afterma[N]th" and is my impressions of the aftermath - what the world will look like after man unleashes the full fury of it's hate against each other and the world in general. An apocalyptic vision to be sure - bloodied, bruised, broken, eviscerated.
The soundtrack for this has to be an album recorded more than 30 years ago by the militaristic and industrial sounding techno group Laibach. Their album NATO (released 1994) features covers of songs with a theme of war. Today's post will be different due to the number of videos posted I will not include the original versions but you can find them on YouTube if you wish.
It opens, perhaps appropriately with Gustav Holst's MARS, BRINGER OF WAR. In the hands of Laibach this classical masterpiece is vivisected by a techno beat dragging it bloodied and screaming into the 21st Century.
History will remember 2025 as the year America abandoned democracy, first by waging economic war on its democractic allies (“I always say tariffs are the most beautiful words to me in the dictionary.” - blah blah blah). Secondly by literally siding with authoritarians (Russia) against a democratic nation (Ukraine) and literally abandoning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that it helped found after WWII.
WAR by the temptations is wonderfully re-invented here. Featuring the familiar "war chant" and goes on to list corporations and organizations that have helped prop up the US military machine. Obviously war is good for profits - the economic engine - even as it destroys humanity and the planet. The very antithesis of "values" and "morality". Capitalist claptrap.
Next we have a track that I have never liked in it's original form. Final Countdown by Europe. Here Laibach re-imagines it as the final countdown to human extinction - which feels more contemporary than the original ever did. Maybe because of the times we live in - with the world at large embracing - "strong man" far right politics. It just feels like we are in the final countdown to oblivion.
While the NATO album only has 9 tracks - the tracks form a concise document behind the theme. Track 5 is Pink Floyd's DOGS OF WAR from their Animals album. As mentioned earlier, the US and the world have lurched into an aggressive, militaristic stance. We should not be surprised.
"...Our currency is flesh and bone... one world and we will smash it down". Really describes what we are living through now. Our political leaders value military strength fomenting a dark misguided vision of masculinity that seeks control. Our political leaders were elected to "serve" but service is not part of their vocabulary of understanding. They only seek control. They court votes strictly for this purpose even though they mislead the electorate in their campaigns. The masses are deceived and because they are not able to discern or think long term they vote with their hearts instead of their minds.
“If man is still alive, if woman can survive….” Finally we look toward the future with Laibach’s cover of Zager & Evans 2525. Which looks at the future of humanity in light of what has happened, and is happening. Will humanity survive? is the question of the hour. My belief in “remnant theology” tells me that humanity will survive even if extremely diminished numbers and devolved back into a pre-industrial state of existence. Humanity will evolve. Technology may also survive in part but progress, as we know it, may be irreparably damaged. Can we stop it? I want to say “yes” but honestly have to say “no”. Those that would make a concerted effort to bring long term change will always be beat down by the dogs of war – strong men who value strength over service. They only care to press others into servitude to themselves and their cause.
I said earlier – we should not be surprised. Speaking specifically for America. We have been on this trend every since August 9, 1974 when Nixon resigned in disgrace on got on the helicopter to get the hell out of dodge. Politics was broken. It was at that time that people first started saying things like, “Our government needs to be run more like a business” which is exactly what happened. Business interests took over politics and the influence of wealthy and powerful businessmen gradually and slowly took over governing. Until now we have a president who is a business man with the wealthiest man at his side doing to government what they would do in their own businesses. And while A person may get away with being dictatorial in business it should NEVER be applied to government.
Wealth is worshipped in America. I know many that would argue that and say they “respect” wealth and wealthy people but that’s a disingenuous admission as they themselves wish to rub elbows with the wealth and see wealth as a means to get what they want. When we look at the billions of dollars poured into political campaigns and see so many options for that money to be used for the betterment of humanity – we can assert that something is very wrong with America.
The other thing is the electorate itself that have voted these people in charge and given them free reign to do what they will. The electorate is unwilling, and therefore incapable of making a good informed vote. Why is that? One thing I noted during the Reagan years, when I became of voting age, was that the vast majority of people voted with their feelings not their minds. They relied entirely on the media to provide them with information that turned out to be biased, and as election advertising gained exponential momentum, information became insurmountable. So people have, ever since, just voted with their hearts – their feelings. People have voted on the most surface of things, a candidates looks, the way he carries himself, his age, does he/she say things I want to hear? People have taken the narrowest of views and limited their thinking wanting easy decisions. Well we have what we voted for. I’m amazed to hear stories of people that voted for this are shocked by what has happened to their jobs, our country’s status in the world, individual rights and the economy.
Let’s face it we wanted it, we voted for it and we got what we deserve. Goodbye democracy.
On a final note. I mentioned earlier that the american electorate votes with it's heart instead of it's mind. This is something the Republicans have masterfully adapted to. They understand that they can tell as many lives, spew as much misinformation and mischaracterization of their opponents and it will not matter. What matters is how their voters feel. Unfortunately Democrats are on track to lose the midterms because they have completely failed to understand the american voter. Democrats are spending ALL their time playing defense trying to refute the lies, misinformation, character assassination (which they NEED to do - it cannot go unanswered) but they need to find a way to do that and still reach the hearts of the electorate. If they can do that they can win the midterms to wrestle back control of the senate and possibly the house of representatives. Right now they are talking impeachment (again) and honestly they need to let that go because If Donald Trump survived the two impeachments in his first term he will survive any impeachment attempt now when his actions are even more egregious than when he first took office after 2016. I fully believe he needs to be removed from office but it will not happen when he won the popular and the electoral vote. It's time to "get real" Democrats.
Is resistance futile? The way everything is set up currently - it is futile. But if Democrats, media and populace change their tact - resistance may pay off. Time will tell. LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE!!!!!
While I've been posting jazz or classical covers of rock/pop songs I want to do something different today. I've been following Rodrigo y Gabriela since 2009 release of their self titled album. Amazingly talented guitar players. They both have their origins in Mexican heavy metal but quickly grew tired of that scene. In 1999 they moved to Dublin in spite of the fact they spoke no English. They took their time to hone their sound by busking/playing live on the streets of Dublin, Ireland.
Here they cover LINGUS originally recorded by multi-award winning jazz group Snarky Puppy. The track was on Rodrigo y Gabriela's 3-song Jazz EP released in 2021. Snarky Puppy first released the song on their 2014 album We Like It Here. Both versions are really quite amazing. Enjoy.
Incidentally, Michael League of Snarky Puppy who composed LINGUS paid compliment to Rodrigo y Gabriela when he remixed their version of LINGUS for digital release.
I continue to be amazed at how Jazz musical artists seem to regularly find inspiration in the rock band Nirvana. I just have to post this excellent and delightful cover of Nirvana's COME AS YOU ARE from their breakthrough album Nevermind.
Charlie Hunter has become a staple on the jazz scene not only fronting his own ensembles but guesting with numerous others on the jazz vanguard. COME AS YOU ARE is the initial offering under the name Charlie Hunter Trio from their album bing, bing, bing!
Nirvana were from Seattle and were intricately interwoven with the grunge rock scene and their success helped make the descriptive "alternative rock" label a household phrase. Initially the alternative rock label was really just to say the grunge rock was an alternative to the heavy metal "hair" band that preceded them.
PAINT IT BLACK by The Rolling Stones is (I suspect) one of the most covered songs from their catalog of great music. It first showed up on their album AFTERMATH and it is a personal favorite of mine.
This version by Joe Pass from his recording THE STONES JAZZ is no exception when it comes to great cover versions. However, at the time this album was released (1966) it was savagely reviewed and ridiculed for being yet another jazz music great jumping on the pop music bandwagon. In fact as recent as 2015 a reviewer for the ALL MUSIC GUIDE said it is the most unlikely candidate to be released on CD.
In retrospect - I think early criticisms are unjust and this album deserves a second chance. The grooves are interesting and worth a shilling or two to download. Enjoy
And now the Stones version from 1966 from a television broadcast.
For classical music I find that classical covers of rock are either hit or miss. The Vitamin String Quartet, for me, hit's all the right "notes" in their covers. (in fact I'll be using them again on a future post.)
FREE BIRD is a song that has very special memories for me. I was 18 driving to school in the morning and the news came on the radio advising the plane carrying rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd had crashed killing several band members. At that time it was such a shock. FREE BIRD had long been a favorite song of mine but when the radio started playing it after the announcement it was just too much. It suddenly became too much for me - a symbolic metaphor for what had happened and how the band members that had died were now "free birds"/free spirits. It also was an anthem of life. I was overwhelmed and literally pulled off the road, stopped the car, and had a bit of a cry. This cover is a great tribute. Also enjoy the original version below.
***note - the video below is from 1976 nearly 1 year before the fateful plane crash on October 1977..
2 perfect additions to the imagined soundtrack for what it means to be human. Josephine is like the perfect blending or Tracy Chapman and Annie Lennox. 🙂
Like all images since the first of the year - this image can be found in the Museum of Malcontent.
ELO - Getting To The Point
How I feel about the country of my birth (USA) and the coming year: "It's out of control now... It's getting to the point when nobody can stop it now, it's getting to the point of no return, and all that I can do is stand it watch it now, watch it burn burn burn...."
... on being and becoming ... 