If this keeps up, I will need to start another blog just to wallow in music. Brother Dennis sent me another round of some of his favorites and/or new discoveries today, so I sent him a few of mine back. In one, he introduced me to a band whose lead singer is Levon Helm's (you remember The Band, I'm sure) daughter. That led me to look up another singer-family daughter, Martha Wainwright (check out her "Traitor to Love" cover -- of the Leonard Cohen classic -- sometime) then I went from there to seeking out Lizzie West, who has the hands-down best cover of Leonard Cohen's "I'm Your Man" that I have ever heard. While I couldn't find any online performance of the piece -- I have had it in my CD collection for quite a while, so you can hear it if you visit -- but I did find her , "Rope Me In and Smoke Me", "Time To Cry" and "Sometime". Something about this triggered memories of (Little) Jimmy Scott, whom I first heard in the early 90s on that great old PBS late night program, Sessions at West 54th Street. So I checked YouTube and sure enough ...
(crank it; this clip's volume is down)
Little Jimmy Scott was probably becoming famous about the time I was born. He started as a singer with Lionel Hampton's band, and, as far as I know, is still living. He has an unforgettable voice (in part because of a genetic condition that stunted his growth and left him with a high-pitched sound).
Another fine performance (excepting the trailing David Byrne interview):
They may roll their eyes now, but I am hoping that someday my kids will come to wonder what interests their dad and whether some of his notions might be worth exploring after all.
I sure as heck don't know much about music or art or culture, but I do increasingly find that music, especially, is almost as important as eating and sleeping in how I get through each day. I just want to share this with Nik and Ivi, and if anyone else wants to listen in, welcome! (And one of these days, I might get my photo blog and sites reworked for more of this kind of thing.)
So there you have it -- a highly-biased (mostly) music appreciation course for my kids.
(btw ... most of the snippets of music presented herein are lo-fi, found wherever, often recorded under very unfavorable circumstances and may be almost unlistenable. However, we hope that your interest will be sharpened just enough to seek out proper recordings or performances for the Real Deal ...)
Little Jimmy Scott was probably becoming famous about the time I was born. He started as a singer with Lionel Hampton's band, and, as far as I know, is still living. He has an unforgettable voice (in part because of a genetic condition that stunted his growth and left him with a high-pitched sound).
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