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What's new. What's hot. What they're saying. |
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PROFILES: Cassandra Wilson, Neil Young, Les Paul, Sam Miltich Of the many artists profiled in recent print and web sources, some stand out: jazz guitar pioneer Les Paul, sultry singer Cassandra Wilson, crusty rocker Neil Young, and rising jazz guitarist Sam Miltich.
Listen to the interview with Wilson on the NPR site (which includes links to other interviews in the series: Poncho Sanchez, Dave Brubeck, Jerry Douglas, Gillian Welch, Joseph Shambala, Regina Carter, and more), or visit her on her own site
The Wall Street Journal featured an article by Chris Gay on the "electrifying influence" of pioneering guitarist Les Paul. The inventor and musician changed the sound of the instrument, and Paul's recording studio gadgetry led to techniques of multi-tracking that changed the way every recording since has been made. In fact, according to Gay, "popular music would not exist as we know it if not for Les Paul," although Paul's story is one of "unintended consequences and slippery slopes." He enjoyed widespread fame only for a short while in the 1950s, as he backed up his then wife and vocalist Mary Ford. His inventions essentially opened the door wide to the playing and recording of music, inevitably leading to a deluge of musical amateurs dominating the popular musical scene. Nonetheless, Paul admires much of what his inventions have wrought. Especially a fan of how the Beatles advanced the art of recording, he also points out that today's rock music is harmonically much more sophisticated than, [Gay's words] "say, the childish compositions of Buddy Holly." The Wall Street Journal article (Feb. 19, 2004) is not available without subscription. Instead, learn more about Les Paul at Voices from Smithsonian (audio archives) or from his Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee profile
WIRED magazine recently visited with Neil Young. "The folk-country-grunge dinosaur is reborn (again) as an Internet-friendly, biodiesel-driven, multimedia machine," they tell us. Young has gone from country rock to orchestral dabblings to 80s techno to garage grunge and back again. According the the article, Young "flips genres so often that his record company once sued him for failing to release 'Neil Young music.'" His latest project is an album-film combination, "Greendale," that tells a cautionary tale of a family's run-in with the modern media. Young himself is a fan of the Internet -- "it's the new radio" -- and has integrated the opera into his web site. Read the interview with Neil Young in WIRED, or visit "Greendale" on Neil Young's site
Eighteen-year-old Sam Miltich is an heir to the gypsy jazz guitar throne of Django Reinhardt. He was profiled by National Public Radio's Weekend Edition. Miltich lives "in the Minnesota woods," far from the European jazz club scene that spawned Reinhardt's "hot jazz" genius in the mid-20th century. But he practiced "nine hours a day to become good enough to play in Amsterdam with one of Europe's hottest swing guitar groups.' Listen to Sam Miltich on NPR's Weekend Edition (Feb. 7, 2004), or visit Miltich's site, the Clearwater Hot Club |
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