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i'm only sleeping

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    Von Freeman - 1923-2012

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    An obituary in the main Spanish newspaper:

    Von Freeman, the long shadow of jazz. Saxophonist Dean of the Chicago music scene

     

    http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/08/24/actualidad/1345845066_821281.html

     

    a google translation below:

     

    Fame and fortune are concepts away from the natural path of jazzman. There are those who can squeeze its resources, move the fringes of fashion regarding gender or be an eternal tightrope between the popular and the intellectual to stay near the public. Others simply want to play music.

    In the narrow and crowded highways of jazz, the hero is not that striking, but it stays true to himself and his art, one that only looks ahead in their constant struggle with the untamed world of improvisation. The eternal impulse to reach beyond always something intimate and personal. The real jazz musician knows that goals puts oneself, and that these should be moving. In this game, is losing reach, and win, always stay on the road.

    Von Freeman (Chicago, 1923), saxophonist Dean of the Chicago scene, represents better than anyone that figure, almost mythical, the jazzman free of impurities. His sax sounded for generations, alongside big names and simple workers of music. Anyone willing to go on stage in the Windy City may have run into him, "Chicago is a hard city to leave," he said on more than one occasion. And yes, it is.

    Freeman, like many others, refused to admit the undisputed hegemony of New York jazz and decided to remain sheltered from his native Chicago. His ambition went beyond making records and touring the world, but could have done on many occasions. "There are more great musicians around here. They live and die here and nobody knows outside the city, but no more than anywhere else. "

    Saxophonist began his career in the early forties with Horace Henderson (brother, in turn, the great Fletcher Henderson). In the second half of the decade played regularly with his brothers George and Bruz in the Pershing Lounge, accompanying soloists big step among which were three of the mainstays of his style: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker. The mixture Hawkins muscular tone, elasticity of phrasing and fluency Young Parker narrative was the basis on which Freeman developed one of the most original styles of the time, terribly advanced and modern.

    Why then your name is not featured in encyclopedias? Again, because Freeman just wanted to play, record was not a priority for him.

    It was the great saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk who was commissioned to encourage you to record your first album, Doin 'it right now, in 1972. Freeman already had 50 years, which did not prevent the album, produced by Kirk himself, was a little gem hidden in jazz. It was difficult to consider him a precursor to that point, but their improvisations angular, his whimsical sense of timing and intonation that sometimes bordered on detuning the world discovered a very personal solo.

    Throughout his life, Freeman played with everyone from Sun Ra to Otis Rush, Jason Moran and Steve Coleman (who always mentioned as a major influence). He debutantes pianists work they were meant to be very large (Ahmad Jamal, Andrew Hill, Muhal Richard Abrams ...) and had a son, Chico Freeman, who emerged in the late seventies as one of the great saxophonists of the era. And all he did, as it were, without leaving Chicago and while playing live at least five nights a week.

    Von Freeman died on August 11, with 88 years in his beloved city. Today, it remains an original and influential voice, an example of purity, commitment and freedom. "I do not care about money or fame, because I do not win anything and I'm almost famous. I am free.

    Song requests for concerts

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    In the new web page, there seems to be no way that I can effectively request they play 'Far Far Away', or anything else, when they come Spain this autumn, the request keeps 'frozen' ad aeternum. Wilco webmaster, please fix that.

    Scott McKenzie, 1939-2012

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Hmmm. That site says Scott was born on Jan. 10, 1939, not the year 1030. He was a remarkable guy, but not, uh....(doing the math)...932 years old! I'll correct the topic title for you, i'm only sleeping. :)

     

    Rest in peace, Scott. I'll always remember the summer of '67, when your song was all over the airwaves, and my family moved up to northern California. We stopped near the Golden Gate bridge as we traveled through San Francisco, and as we took in the view, my brother Steve tucked a flower into his hair, crooning "San Francisco". Good memories.

    Thank you for the correction, kidsmoke. Good memories, indeed.

    Beatles Songs You Actually Dislike

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Yellow Submarine I can kinda see, as it's really a kids' song.

     

    But "Michelle"?!? For that bass solo, alone it is transcendent.

    And "Yesterday"?

    That must be a product of overexposure.

     

    Yeah, sure, hearing them since 48 years back, maybe sometime I enjoyed some of them, though I doubt it. And I would apply them the same adjectives used by lost highway for TLAWR (bear in mind i'm not a native English speaker not lyrics are/were so important for me in my teens)

    Now Playing: August, 2012

    in Someone Else's Song

    Wilco in Rochester, NY

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    Thanks for all the info. Friday is my 50th birthday, and my wife and I will be at the show, but I know next to nothing about Rochester. This is helpful. We'll be there, and really looking forward to it.

     

    BTW, I am in the process of stuffing the request box with "When You Wake Up Feeling Old". Feel free to contribute... :)

     

    tas

    Congrats! Your prayers were answered (again)!

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