To a friend:
A few random but slightly overlapping thoughts from some random listening to the blues station on Sirius Radio, Channel 75, while driving.
1, The soundtrack to one of my go to movies, Devil In A Blue Dress, is really nice. It’s either jazzy blues or bluesy jazz. But either way it’s swanky, sexy, sometimes rollicking, music of the good times night.
2, In this order I heard today, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sunnyland Slim and Freddie King. The first two voices were compelling. In fact, before, I’d heard Sonny Boy Williamson (the original, Rice Miller) and his singing, all raggedy, is compelling too. But not Freddie King’s regardless how blazing is his guitar playing. So what makes a popular (not pop) voice compelling? I remember jazz critics talking about “swing” in a voice and saying while others may not have it, maybe surprisingly, Doris Day does. She does, to my ears. I remember a beloved English prof of mine, Warren Tallman, commenting on how lifeless is Joan Baez’s singing. Musically soaring granted, but dead in a way. I really can’t detect “swing” but I do have a sense of what?: buoyancy?: suppleness?; liveliness?; play? Not sure what word to use. Maybe, and this is the best I can come up with right now, it’s indefinable, a je ne sais pas quoi, an X factor. Freddie King, while listenable, doesn’t have it. Lightnin’ Hopkins is brimming over with it.
What can I tell you?
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