RY COODER

Three Chords and the Truth !

Ry Cooder is a national treasure ! He's done it again with another fine release about as different and far from mainstream as you can get. Working from an all inclusive multi genre palette he has fashioned a kind of musical Grapes of Wrath complete with an illustrated story book and a fully developed cast of charactors. Faintly blurring the line between fact, fiction, animal, and human he draws out the commonality of the human condition and the struggles for justice including charactors from J. Edgar to Hank Williams, while the spirits of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King and many others loom large in the background.

Ry Cooder, like Paul Simon, is perhaps one of the few artists who can manage to take concepts based on reality and turn them into fully developed artistic projects in the 'pop music' arena with depth, clarity, and enough musical breadth to sustain a consistant and engaging performance over an entire record. Yes, he's done it again !

A TOAST !

Since I'm still trying to shake off the nostalgic jetlag of the previous post, I am reminded of a toast my father would give at almost any occasion he had te opportunity. It is simply a reminder to take advantage of the opportunities we are offered while we have the chance.

"Here's to it to do it. And if you don't get to it to do it, I hope you never get to it to do it again."


Thanks, dad - I'll try to keep that in mind.

Welcome back !

It's only been 17 years -

but who's counting - and who cares ? David Bromberg is back and life is good !

Blink your eyes and you're liable to find that 36 years have gone by, such is the mind bending reality when looking at David's first album cover (yes vinyl - 1971) and his new CD Try Me One More Time with its artwork mirroring his first release.

After starting out as a club performer, and much sought after master session musician, David built an extremely admirable reputation on his own with his legendary Review style performances featuring full bands including drums, fiddles, mandolins, guitars, horns and a wide range of musical styles from dixieland to blugrass and rock and roll. And his albums were equally diverse usually spanning the whole gamut of style on a single record. He did it all ! Then after a lot of albums and years on the road, he decided on a career change. He became a violin maker and broker currently owning his own shop in Delaware.

During his exile I was lucky enough to catch a couple of very rare appearances he did at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University. I am now equally happy to have some new Bromberg music to add to my musical experience.

Being of course older, and less concerned now with the commercial consequences associated with a new release, David has released a CD of 16 tunes, mostly traditional songs, with a more decidedly focused and laid back style than his previous recordings. While this collection is free from the forceful sometimes manic attack of his earlier work, it is rich with feeling and subtle tonal colorings and a quiet confidence that comes with mastering one's domain (forget the Seinfeld reference).

It is here where Bromberg works his magic, transforming the carnival barker persona (reference Sharon, his tour de force finale of past years> and becomes the side show slight of hand master. Drawing us into what at first seems to be one thing and then with further imperceptable examination becomes something a bit different.

All this is to say that David Bromberg has succeeded in delivering a masterful, memorable, and pleasurable long awaited collection of songs made all the more meaningful with the detailed liner notes outlining the origin, history, and personal anecdotes to each song. This feels like the album he didn't have time to make in his earlier years, and I'm thrilled that present circumstances have provided the time and motivation for its release now.

As other musicians of my generation continue to release music, with the exception of a few embarrassing "shoulda let sleeping dogs lie" moments, the comparison seems to be the energy and hubris of youth vs. the comfort and artistic maturity that comes with age. The trick is to maintain a certain measured level of the former in the product of the present. Artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen (to name a few), and now David Bromberg have proved that irons left in the embers of ancient fires needn't grow cold.

I finished my first round of listenings, by taking an unintended nostalgic time travel at 33 1/3 rpm, listening to his first album on the same turntable on which it was originally played when I was a much younger man. I guess all I can say is I'm thankful and happy we're still here to repeat the experience.




Visit David Bromberg's website