Concert Review: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at the Dakota

Last night I saw Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall at the Dakota jazz club. It was a great show! Lani Hall was one of the singers in Sergio Mendes's Brazil '66 group, and she and Herb have been married for 35 years. They finally did an album together, "Anything Goes," she sings jazz standards and he accompanies her on trumpet. When my Mom and I heard that they were coming to the Dakota, we knew we had to go. My Mom was a big fan of Herb's in the 1960's, and I've really liked his music since I was a teenager. (When I was in high school, I listened to a radio station that played a lot of his songs, so I would be hearing "A Taste of Honey" and "The Lonely Bull" as I got ready for school.)

I was blown away by how good Alpert still sounds on the trumpet. His tone is rich, clear and pure, and his playing is effortless. And he's 74 years old. I've heard that playing the trumpet gets more and more difficult as you get older, but Herb sure made it look easy last night. Lani Hall has a pure voice that is easy to listen to, and her phrasing is outstanding. It was fun to watch the back and forth between them, and to hear Herb respond to her singing on his trumpet. And it was fun to see the obvious affection between them, this is a couple still very much in love after 35 years of marriage! Some of the highlights for me were a beautiful version of Paul McCartney's "Blackbird," Herb's solo take on "Till There Was You," and a lovely medley of Antonio Carlos Jobim songs played as an encore. No, Herb didn't play any of his hits from the Tijuana Brass period, although he did quote from "This Guy's In Love With You," at the end of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," and he also offered brief quotes from "Spanish Flea" and "What Now My Love." When he played the little part of "What Now My Love," I got a shiver, he sounds just like he did 40 years ago!

There were also great versions of "Anything Goes," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "That Old Black Magic," and a re-arranged "Laura." What makes Herb Alpert a great arranger is that he is able to combine disparate elements and make them into a coherent whole. His version of "Till There Was You" featured groovy percussion and finger snapping, which wouldn't seem to fit, but it sounded fantastic. It reminded me of what he did with the Tijuana Brass, combining things together into new ways and creating something new and different that sounds great. Herb and Lani's band was great as well. The band is Bill Cantos on piano, Hussain Jiffry on bass and Michael Shapiro on drums. Jiffry and Shapiro really got to shine last night, handling tricky rhythms all night long with ease.

Alpert's stage presence really surprised me. I had no idea what he would be like, but he told everybody that he wanted a very "informal" show, and then he asked if anyone had any questions. And he was serious! Eventually some people raised their hands and Herb answered their questions with charm and wit. One woman told a story about how in 1968 she was studying to be a nun, but she kept hearing his music being played by other students outside her window. She quit her studies to be a nun and never regretted it! Herb and Lani found that story very hilarious.

I was thinking the other day about what made Herb Alpert such a star in the mid-60's. I think it's just a matter of great music actually becoming popular. Sure, scorn it as mere easy listening music, but take another listen, there's a lot more there. Herb was able to cross the generational divide of the 60's. That struck me when I realized that my Mom, a college student who loved folk music and the Beatles, had lots of his albums, so did my Dad, and so did my Grandma, who turned 50 in 1966, the peak year of Alpert's popularity. His music was really appealing to everyone. (At one point in 1966, Herb had 4 albums in the Top Ten! No one else has ever accomplished this.) I can't listen to his music without smiling, perhaps the highest compliment you can pay music.

Dave Brubeck at the Dakota

I saw 88 year-old Dave Brubeck at the Dakota Jazz Club on Wednesday night, it was an amazing show! Brubeck is still performing at the peak of his powers. I don't know how the guy does it. When he walks out on stage, he looks very much like a frail 88 year-old. But once he starts to play the piano, the years just melt away. He played 2 shows on Tuesday and Wednesday night, I was at the late show on Wednesday. He played for about an hour and ten minutes, and I sure got my money's worth.

Brubeck's group is great, they play so well together, they are a perfect example of the creative interplay that makes jazz so fantastic. Bobby Militello on alto sax and Randy Jones on drums have both played with Brubeck for more than 25 years, and Michael Moore on bass is the new kid, he's only played with Dave since 2000. Each member was given plenty of solo room to show their stuff, and they are all fantastic players.

Dave Brubeck is my favorite jazz musician, and I've been lucky enough to see him in concert 5 times now. I also got to intern for the journalist Hedrick Smith when he made a documentary about Dave. It's called "Rediscovering Dave Brubeck," and it was issued on DVD a few years ago, everyone should check it out. Every time I see Dave in concert, I kind of say to myself, "Okay, this could be the last time you see him, he's getting up there in years and he won't be touring forever." And yet, knock on wood, there's always been one more time. He's an incredible musician, and a great guy. He said at the end of the show, "I hope to be seeing you again very soon." I hope so too.

Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009

I know it's a little late for a tribute to Ted Kennedy, but I've been struggling to figure out what more I could add about him. Well, I'll add a little bit more, but I make no claim that what I have to add is anything brilliant. The Kennedy brothers have long been political heroes to me. Their public service added so much to the life of this country. Say what you will about Joe Kennedy, the father, but he instilled in all the members of his family the need to give something back, to not just make more money. He made the money so his children could do something of worth. And they did.

Ted was not as easy to stereotype as his brothers. There was pragmatic Jack and idealistic Bobby, so where did Ted fit in? He was really a mixture of them. He stayed true to his ideals, and yet was able to work w/ell with those he differed with. Ted seems to have been less remote and easier to know than either of his brothers.

Ted obviously had personal failings, which were well-documented. To understand the man, you have to dig deeper into his biography and see that there was more to Ted than just his mistakes and bad decisions, something Ted-haters will never do. Ted was more than just the catalogue of his failings. That being said, he made grave errors in judgement in dealing with the accident at Chappaquiddick. There are still unanswered questions about that night, and we will probably never know if Ted's version of the story was the truth. I think it's very likely that he was simply incredibly drunk, and maybe his friends told him to sleep it off before summoning help. For whatever reason, his delay in reporting the accident to the police was inexcusable.

Ted Kennedy had patience, something Jack and Bobby both lacked. It's as if Teddy knew from an early age that he would be granted the time that Jack and Bobby did not have. Sometime after Bobby joined Ted in the Senate in 1965, they were listening to an interminable speech and Bobby looked over at Ted and said, "Do we have to sit here and listen to this?" "Yes," Ted replied. Patience served Ted well in the Senate, and he became a great legislator, something that Jack and Bobby could never claim. Ted was more effective in the Senate than they were. Ted lost his best friend, his brother Bobby, in June of 1968, and Bobby's death devastated Ted, just as Jack's death had devastated Bobby. In the dark days of the summer of 1968, Ted seriously considered withdrawing from public life, and who could blame him had he done so? He had every right to step back from public life. But Teddy came back, and kept going to work in the Senate. I think that says a lot about the man, that he was willing to take the chance that staying in public life might endanger his safety.

Ted's personal life finally got happier after his 1992 marriage to Vicki Reggie, and he continued to be the leading liberal voice in the Senate until his death. To learn more about Teddy, two great books I would highly recommend are Adam Clymer's 1999 biography and Burton Hersh's "The Shadow President: Ted Kennedy in Opposition." Hersh's book chronicles Kennedy's Senate career from 1980 until the mid-1990's, and it drives home the fact that Ted was really one of the only people who stood up to Ronald Reagan during the 80's, as Reagan tried to dismantle the federal government. All in all, Ted Kennedy will be remembered not just as the last Kennedy brother, but as one of the most effective Senators in United States history.

Concert Review: Allen Toussaint

Last night I saw Allen Toussaint in concert at the Dakota jazz club in downtown Minneapolis. It was a terrific show. I have to confess, my knowledge of Allen Toussaint's music is not that large, but he's someone that keeps cropping up. In the last couple of years, I've listened to Harry Connick cover "Workin' in a Coalmine," Paul McCartney's "Venus and Mars," The Band's live album "Rock of Ages," and Allen Toussaint's album with Elvis Costello, "The River in Reverse." At some point, I realized how much this guy has done. He wrote "Workin' in a Coalmine," played piano on "Venus and Mars," and did the horn arrangements for "Rock of Ages," among many other accomplishments. (Like writing "Southern Nights," one of my Mom's all-time favorite songs.) So when I heard he was coming to the Dakota I thought, I should check this guy out.

Toussaint played for a hour and a half with his amazing backup band. His guitar player, Marc Ribot, was amazing, as was his tenor saxophonist, "Breeze." Breeze also played a mean clarinet. Toussaint is an amazing piano player, and a great singer as well. To hear him play his own songs was a treat, and he also played some songs from his latest record, "The Bright Mississippi." The band's version of "St. James Infirmary" brought the house down. Toussaint can play in pretty much any style, from ballads to rag-time and stride to rock-like funk. He also slipped in a couple of songs by other people, singing "Mama, You Been On My Mind," by Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon's "American Tune." It was a great show, it really felt like Allen could have stayed and played all night, but unfortunately, he didn't. He was clearly enjoying playing, and it's always fun to see people who look like they love what they are doing. Toussaint was dressed impeccably, as he is in every picture I've ever seen of him, wearing a beige suit with a check pattern, a striped dress shirt with a paisley collar, a green tie, and matching green handkerchief. Snazzy. The Dakota is one of the best places to see musicians, it's small and intimate, and the acoustics are great. Sadly, it was only about half full for the 9:30 show last night. If you ever get the chance to see this living legend in person, go see him, he puts on a terrific show!

The Beatles' Break-up

After reading Mojo magazine's latest issue about the recording of Abbey Road, and Mikal Gilmore's article "Why the Beatles Broke Up," in Rolling Stone, I've been thinking a lot more about the Beatles' break-up. Why exactly did it happen? Who or what was to blame? Business squabbles, Yoko, the group just growing apart, Paul being too bossy, Yoko, what was it? I can't claim to answer that question in one mere blog post, but I'm going to explore some of the issues that drove the band apart.

The roots of the Beatles break-up go back to 1967, and the death of their manager Brian Epstein. After Brian died, there was a leadership void within the band. (Obviously, Brian didn't order them around, but he was still an influence on the band.) Paul McCartney was the Beatle who started leading the group after Brian died, despite John Lennon being the oldest and the perceived leader. Paul was the one who came up with the concept for Sgt. Pepper and the Magical Mystery Tour TV special, which he basically directed. In time, I think that Lennon came to resent McCartney's "takeover" of the band, and he felt that Paul was usurping his own place in the band. The group's 1968 trip to India with the Maharishi was one time when George was able to assert his leadership and get all the others on board with him. But after the White Album, it was back to Paul being the leader, as he had the idea that the group should tour again and play some small club gigs. (This started out as the Get Back sessions, which became the movie and album Let It Be.)

Part of the reason that Paul seems to have gotten his way so much in the last few years of the group's life is that no one else seemed to have any alternatives. It wasn't as though John had a different idea that got shot down by everyone else, it really seems like Paul was the only one who was willing to articulate a vision for the band. Why was that? Were the other members just that apathetic? If John was frustrated by feeling like Paul was always getting his own way, why didn't John suggest some alternatives? For whatever reason, John essentially abdicated his own leadership role in the band, and Paul was willing to take on that role. Why did John back down from leading the band? Was it the burden of his drug addictions, (LSD in 1966-67, heroin in 1968-69) his problems at home-his failing marriage to Cynthia and emerging relationship with Yoko? We'll probably never know for sure.

When the Beatles started recording the White Album, things changed dramatically. These sessions, which lasted from May 30th to October 15th, 1968, were fraught with tension among the band members, and it was during these sessions that Ringo quit the band for two weeks. And not only did the Beatles' arguments reach new heights, they now had a new person attending all of their recording sessions: Yoko Ono, John's new girlfriend. John's decision to have Yoko continually by his side at Abbey Road must have rankled the other three members of the group. And, as far as I can tell, there was little discussion between John and the other three about their new addition. One day Yoko was simply there. By his actions, John was straining his relationship with the rest of the band. But somehow the group finished the White Album, which was released on November 22, 1968.

On January 2, 1969, the Beatles met at Twickenham film studios to start recording Get Back. The plan was to film the group rehearing new songs in preparation for a live concert. It was Paul's idea, as he thought they should "get back" to their roots by doing concerts in small clubs. Which wasn't a bad idea, and under different circumstances it might have worked. I've always thought that one of the problems with Get Back is that it followed so quickly on the heels of the White Album. Work finished on the White Album in mid-October, and just two and a half months later they were rehearsing and recording their new album! I think the group probably needed a longer break from each other, they probably should have taken six months off! But anyway, the Beatles were back, and Paul was excited, even if no one else was. So, if no one else was as excited as Paul, why did they agree to the project? Again, it simply seems to be that no one offered any alternative ideas. That's always been a paradox of the Beatles' break-up, the story is that Paul was "bossy," but no one else was standing up and offering alternative plans. What was Paul to do?

The Get Back sessions made the White Album sessions look like fun. On January 10th, just a week into the sessions, George Harrison quit the group. George came back, but on the condition that the concert idea be dropped. It's easy to understand why George was pissed off with the group. He was tired of only getting one song per album side, especially since he was writing songs that were just as good as John and Paul's. (On the White Album, George got exactly one song on each side.) George felt marginalized and neglected by both John and Paul. Although much is made of George's resentment of Paul's bossiness, (see the Let It Be clip where George tells Paul, "I'll play whatever it is you want me to play.") Harrison's relationship with John Lennon was also fracturing. According to the Rolling Stone article, on January 10th, the day George quit, "Harrison and Lennon got into a fight that they later had to deny came to blows." Clearly George's relationship with John had seriously deteriorated.

Somehow the band was able to put things aside long enough to play an impromptu concert on the roof of the Apple building on January 30th, their last live performance. The Get Back project was left not-quite finished, and the group kept recording new material throughout the spring. John and Paul recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" on their own during one mid-April session. In July they began intensive studio sessions for what was to become their final LP, Abbey Road. George Martin said, "Let It Be was a miserable experience and I never thought that we would get back together again." And somehow they managed to. Paul McCartney said in Mojo, "We'd had bad times, and the relief of just getting back together again and doing what we knew and not asking too many questions was quite a pleasure." No one walked out during the Abbey Road sessions, so they must have been relatively harmonious. Although, at one point, John wanted all of his songs on one side of the album and all of Paul's songs on the other! (Maybe this is why on side one John's songs open and close the side, and Paul's are in the middle, with George and Ringo's separating them.)

But just around the time Abbey Road was released in September, John Lennon dropped a bombshell on his bandmates: he was breaking up the group. Paul and Allen Klein were able to persuade him to not say anything publicly. So why did John say he was leaving? Why was he so fed up with the band? He had the latitude to release his experimental noodlings with Yoko as solo albums, so what more did he want? I don't know the answer to this question, and I'm not sure that John Lennon himself knew the answer. He just knew that he wanted something other than the Beatles. John was a very insecure person, and I think he felt threatened by Paul's continued leadership of the band. But even though John resented this, he didn't seem to be able to tell Paul this, so Paul just went on leading the group, or trying to.

Would the Beatles have been able to survive as a group if they had let members release solo works? Clearly George would have jumped at the chance to record his own album in 1969. But would everyone have just cherry-picked their best songs for their solo records and left the group with their leftovers? Who knows, but it might have placated John and George, at least for a while.

So for the next six months, nothing really happened with the Beatles. All the members concentrated on their solo work. It was only when Paul tried to release his solo album McCartney, and the date interfered with the scheduled release of Let It Be that things came out in public. John and George tried to get Paul to change his release date, to let Let It Be come out first, and they sent Ringo as their emissary to talk to Paul. Ringo went to Paul's house, and McCartney quickly became incensed, and threw Ringo out of his house. Paul drafted a Q&A to be included with advance copies of McCartney, and he made it clear that he had no plans to record with the Beatles in the future. Lennon was pissed off because Paul had preempted him, as it appeared at the time that Paul was leaving the group. Paul later said, "I was the last one to leave!" What would have happened had Paul not "left" the group in April of 1970? Would anyone have said anything? Would they have somehow recorded more music together? That seems pretty unlikely, as it had been 8 months since the last Beatles recording session, and there were no plans for them to record together again. Really, it was a strange and sad end for the group, but there you have it.

There are so many other issues I didn't even get to, like Allen Klein's attempt to manage the Beatles, and McCartney's battle against Klein, John and Paul losing control of their music publishing, the whole Apple business...there just isn't time right now, maybe in a future post.

DVD of the Day: David Bowie VH1 Storytellers

Okay, so there really won't always be a DVD of the Day every single day. But today's DVD is the recently released "David Bowie VH1 Storytellers." The show on the DVD comes from 1999, so don't get too excited, fellow Bowie fans. Why it took 10 years for it to come out, I have no idea. But since it's been nearly 6 long years since Bowie's last studio album, 2003's wonderful "Reality," I will take pretty much any leftover Bowie product! And this show is really great, Bowie has always been one of the most charismatic rock stars, and to watch him work a small venue is awesome. The stories he tells are interesting and funny, and he does many different funny voices as he talks. And he looks terrific, rocking a hooded sweatshirt in that way that only David Bowie can. My theory is that clothes that would look ridiculous on anyone else just look great on David Bowie. I think he made some kind of deal with the fashion gods.

So, how about the music? Well, he starts with a beautiful version of "Life of Mars?" surely one of his greatest songs. Although he leaves out the first verse and starts with the second. Bowie's voice has aged really well, in fact, it may have been the best it's ever been on his last few tours. He can still hit all those high notes on "Mars." Wow! Bowie plays two songs from his then-latest release, "Hours," the singles "Thursday's Child" and "Seven." These were two of the best songs from that album, and they're well-performed here. Bowie throws a curveball into the mix when he performs his very first solo single, from 1965, "Can't Help Thinking About Me." It sounds very much like an early Who song, and this odd choice actually points the way to where Bowie would go next. His next project after "Hours" was the unreleased "Toy" album, which saw Bowie re-recording some of his songs from the 1960's, along with a couple of new pieces written in a similar style. Some of the finished tracks trickled out as B-sides when "Heathen" was released in 2002, but sadly the full album never saw the light of day. "China Girl" gets a nice, moody opening here before Bowie launches into the more familiar arrangement. And the show ends with two fairly obscure songs from the 70's, "Drive-In Saturday" and "Word on a Wing." Lyrically, "Drive-In Saturday" continues the theme of "Life of Mars?" of people escaping from reality through movies. "Saturday" takes place sometime in the future, with the narrator looking back and trying to "get it on like once before/when people stared in Jagger's eyes and scored/like the video films we saw." "Word on a Wing" is from the "Station to Station" album, and it is a cry for help from Bowie's darkest days, as he was in the throes of a crippling cocaine addiction. Despite this, "Station to Station" is one of his best albums. It's a beautiful song, and it's very much like a prayer.

On the DVD, we also get four bonus performances, although sadly, no more stories from David. There are two more songs from "Hours," the lovely "Survive" and "If I'm Dreaming My Life." (The four songs he performs on the show are definitely the four strongest from "Hours.") There's also a stripped-down version of Tin Machine's "I Can't Read," which offers proof that Tin Machine could create things of beauty. (Also see "Amazing.") And finally, a track from "Low," one of my very favorite Bowie albums, "Always Crashing in the Same Car." It's given a different flavor here, with Bowie's acoustic guitar carrying the song along. It's fantastic.

David Bowie's music has meant a great deal to me over the last 10 years, and he's one of my all-time favorite musicians. The two Bowie shows I've seen in person are two of the best shows I've ever seen, and they will remain forever locked in my memory banks. I really wish that he would record another new album, as his last two, "Heathen" and "Reality" are two of the finest he's ever made. But until that time, I'll have to make do with what's already out there, which is a significant chunk of the greatest rock music ever.

Concert Review: Ramsey Lewis

Last night I saw Ramsey Lewis at Orchestra Hall with my Dad. It was a great show, Ramsey proved that, at age 74, his piano chops are as good as ever. The theme of the evening was "Singin' the Blues," but Lewis didn't play just straight blues. His music has always been filtered through many different influences. Obviously, blues is a huge part of jazz, but Lewis played piano at his church as a teenager, and has always loved classical music as well, so those influences are there to be heard as well. The centerpiece of the evening was a medley of gospel songs that lasted close to half an hour! Lewis's trio was in fine form, with Larry Gray on bass and Leon Joyce, Jr. on drums both getting ample room to solo. Joyce's propulsive drumming really fired the crowd up. Ramsey started off the concert with his version of "Wade in the Water," which was a big hit single for him in 1966. In Lewis's arrangement, it becomes a stomping soul-jazz number, similar to his biggest hit, "The In Crowd." Lewis played several newer pieces that he has written, including a song he wrote for the Joffrey Ballet. These pieces were beautiful and quite lovely, I hope Ramsey keeps writing more originals. His newest album, which is due out in September, features all original compositions, it's called "Songs From the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey."

The crowd at Orchestra Hall was enthusiastic, and very responsive. I've been a fan of Ramsey's music for the last 10 years, and I don't think he's ever played the Twin Cities, so I was pretty excited to see him. His trio recordings from the 50's and 60's are just brilliant, I wish more of them were reissued on CD. And my Dad has been a fan of Ramsey's since the 1960's, when he bought albums like, "Barefoot Sunday Blues," and "Live at the Bohemian Caverns." It was a real treat to see a jazz legend who is still performing at an extremely high level.