Epic musical moments.
This is where the players are played; where the music transcends what could be written; where it all comes together in extended, grooving, unexpectedly magical moments of bloom. The Who “Young Man Blues” off of Live at Leeds. Joe Cocker “A Little Help From My Friends” at Woodstock. Miles Davis and his group track “So What” from Kind of Blue – live, in one take. Major, major moments; the world of music is full of them, but even then some stand out. Here are four of those from my list – what are yours?
Led Zeppelin
Kashmir
Live – “Celebration Day” December, 2007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD-MdiUm1_Y
Zep “reunions” since drummer John Bonham’s death in 1980 had sucked – plain and simple. To be sloppy and raw is almost a blues authenticity meter – but it does not convey to big stages and tight rock riffs that don’t synch because you’re too stoned or strung out, unprepared, tired, unpracticed, or you really can’t sing it live. Admittedly, asking Zeppelin even at their best to cover what their brilliance created in the studio was like expecting Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel every time. Being real, Zep live… let’s be positive and say “Bonham and Jones rarely faltered.” THIS show is where, as weathered and wiser elders, with the son of their late drummer, they said, “We know. But watch this.” And the ceremony happened.
Key moment: Crowd’s shocked reaction to Plant channeling 30 years ago at 2:23.
***
Pearl Jam
Love Reign o’er Me
Live - VH1 Rock Honors The Who 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAeKLnbj2I8&ab_channel=NatalieS
Nobody saw this coming; I can promise that. Good? Sure. They were a seasoned band, a long time in even at this point. Even rocking the rock-solid drummer from peers Soundgarden at this point. But this? This is what it looks like when you nail it to the wall. Even putting the big production aside – itself absolutely amazing – and the fantastic mix – these guys NAILED it. Like all of these, this is, on its own, an emotional and hypnotic piece of music full of dynamics; it’s a whole lot easier to lose something in translation than it is to transcend the performance that made it a legendary piece in the first place.
Key Moment: Vedder, leading from the front, just when you thought it couldn’t build any more, leaving it all on stage at 4:25.
***
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Little Wing
Off the album The Sky is Crying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An4uDegHB8s&ab_channel=AmericanBluesScene
After sitting in the vaults unknown to the world for years, all through Stevie Ray’s rise to worldwide fame from a Texas guitar phenomenon, his AMAZING instrumental recitation of this Jimi Hendrix song was officially released posthumously in 1991. And I say “recitation” as the chord progression and embellishments are more poetry, more lyrical, than anything. Without Jimi’s kinda trippy words, it’s a poem; it’s a prayer. I heard this for the first time on a Cape Cod FM station while driving my ’72 Buick Riviera boattail. (I can’t explain how that happened in late 1990, but by ’91 the car was gone and I was in Texas…) I had to pull off the side of the road; losing SRV had been a tragedy, and then suddenly here was this, as if from the heavens. I simply couldn’t drive through the rain on that sunny day. It was like he was playing his own eulogy, a eulogy for Jimi, and a eulogy for all of our losses – a ritual of redemption through hurt. It welled up and out of me.
Key moment: The first time you ever hear it.
***
Sonny Rollins
G Man
Live - New York 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_2lAhpTgVI&ab_channel=EnriquePereiraOpazo
(I don’t know what the “56” is about in the title of this particular upload).
Part of a show recorded for a documentary. One of the greatest jazz performances ever. How to stretch and built it long form. How to channel the universe through brass. How to groove, swing, and push at the same time. How to follow your leader as a band, and how to lead from the front of the stage. Everything you can possibly do with 12 notes. Edgy and out at times, this is not safe easy jazz lite – this is driving, improvisational, alive art being painted in the moment in the air around you. This isn’t a song or a tune; this is a river that takes you somewhere, and that’s what it flows like. It’s not one gentle lovely caress after another – it’s a river, and you’re IN it. And it’s ROLLING. The man never ran dry on ideas or surprises the whole piece, never let up, never backed down. Later on in the show, he jumps off a wall and breaks his heel – and keeps playing. It’s legendary. I saw it at a jazz aficionado friend’s house years ago as “Concert in The Park” or something like that. If you can find this whole concert, I mean, it’s worth selling an organ for. I’m not suggesting that – but just letting you know that having it in your life is at least in the same level as that second kidney. G Man? G Man’s worth a good man’s nut all by itself.
Key Moment: Only the best would be on stage with Sonny Rollins, and even Trombone player Clifton Anderson glances at the other guys in disbelief.
***
Well kids, that’s it from the nest right now. It’s raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock, dark, and lightning – which usually means power is questionable. And I rely on daylight to get a lot of my work done here at the magic little shop anyway, so I’m headed in until this clears by. Have a great weekend, make some moments and make some music. Let them soothe you. It’s going to be OK.
Listening to: Bill Evans Moon Beams; Mississippi Fred McDowell Steakbone Slide Guitar; and a bit of my buddy Shawn Needham’s new stuff, though I just don’t have time to keep up with what everybody I’m connected with is doing these days. STAY CREATIVE you all! Paint this world and life with your sound and your song.