TWO AMATEUR’S MUSICAL NOTES: ONE ON REGINA CARTER AND ONE ON NINA SIMONE

To a friend:

On Regina Carter’s Motor City Moments, it’s just my opinion, but I’m underwhelmed even with the great guest players. “Don’t Mess With Mr. t’, a Marvin Gaye tune if I remember rightly, hooked me and I bought the record. That tune has R&B bounce. So it made me think that maybe, contrary to my expectations, jazz violin can be satisfying enough for me. But the rest of the tracks, while certainly not to be panned, left me with an overall feeling of “they’re ok”. And they put me back to what I expect from the jazz violin—nothing really compelling, which is strange because I really enjoy some country and bluegrass fiddlin’ and I can feel the awesome beauty of such great classical violin as I occasionally hear.

On another point, as I listened to Nina Simone singing a few ballads on her Nina Simone Sings the Blues, I started to wonder if her phrasing on them lacks nuance as opposed to maybe, what to say?, mechanical shifts in her dynamics. I think she’s a tremendous singer especially when belting is called for, and her strong singing then is packed with great emotion. But on the ballads I heard today I began to think twice about her on them. Maybe it was the mood I was in or I was being overly critical or I was overthinking it. And maybe the next time I hear her on slow things, I’ll thinks she’s just fine. Which I usually do.

A Few Musical Notes

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?