Sometimes the most wonderful things crop up on YouTube as the result of me watching something else.
Recently, I was treated to a clip of an intimate 1983 gig by Randy Newman at the Odeon in NYC.
To help him out on Rider in the Rain, he is joined by Ry Cooder and Linda Ronstadt. Three great musicians clearly having a lot of fun together. That put a big smile on my face too.
And there are many more unexpected things out there. Tom Jones singing with C.S.N & Y. Rhianna live with Calvin Harris at the Brit Awards. Beth Orton and Terry Callier singing Dolphins on Later. Not to mention Rammstein feat Ken Dodd and the Diddymen plus Jools Holland on boogie woogie piano.
Scorchio! The list just goes on and on.
Anyway, all this got me thinking of putting together a dream evening of music for my own pleasure. And for yours too of course! We are in Dreamland so artists being dead is no obstacle. The Taybridge Bar would do very nicely as a venue. And as I have been listening to a lot of Shetland and Scottish stuff recently, there will be a Caledonian flavour to my selections.
I am kicking off with “Peerie” Willie Johnson together with Aly McBain. Bigstevie got me interested in Willie. Local hero in Shetland he had a remarkable life. A self-taught guitarist who brought jazz into folk music.
Next, I would like to welcome to the stage two great artists who are sorely missed here in Kärrtorp : Michael Marra and Jackie Leven. This week it struck me that there are similarities between them. Warmth, poetry, humour, and wild flights of the imagination. I never saw Marra live but I met Jackie a couple of times and can very easily imagine him chatting up Frida Kahlo.
Finally, to celebrate this evening of Scottish talent, it gives me great pleasure to introduce two very talented women.
Firstly from the Hebrides: Julie Fowlis. To paraphrase Dr Johnson “When a man is tired of Julie Fowlis, he is tired of life.” (Thanks Nigel!)
And finally, Karine Polwart singing songs from her new Scottish Songbook album.
”I saw the crescent. You saw the whole of the moon.” Indeed!
There you go. A few favourites of mine.
Anybody else fancy putting together a short programme of artists we might enjoy? Jazz, reggae, metal, indie, crooner. Wales, Bolivia, Iceland. Yorkshire, Tokyo, Paris,
Let your imagination go wild!
My only condition is that at least two of the artists mentioned should be alive, kicking and grateful when hordes of Afterworders come to their gigs and buy mountains of merch.
I leave you with Jackie Leven describing New York Pluggers. I miss the Big Man to this day.
Kaisfatdad says
This is Michael Marra talking about Peerie Willie and Rommel’s piano. Hilarious and rather moving.
Lando Cakes says
Only lacking his joke about when you buy a map of Shetland, the rest of the UK is in a box in the corner.
Kaisfatdad says
Marra was such a witty chap.
Enormous thanks to @bigstevie who has been really broadening my knowledge of the great man’s back catalogue. Here us a piece about Marra’s visit to the Shetlands in 2014.
https://www.musical1.com/michael-marra/blog/29/michael-marras-visit-to-the-shetland-isles
He wrote a song about another Shetlander: Thomas Fraser.
Here is a clip about the country singer from Burra.
Kaisfatdad says
Just read that Marra did an album with Mr McFall’s Chamber which is on Spotify.
They are an avant-garde chamber ensemble and well worth your time.
This biography also sounds very interesting-
https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/15596844.arrest-this-moment-by-james-robertson-about-the-life-of-michael-marra/
Lando Cakes says
Both are brilliant. James Robertson is a first-class author (And the Land Lay Still has a fair claim to be being the best English-language novel of the century so far) and was a friend of MM’s. His biography is an excellent (if slightly idiosyncratic) read.
The album with Mr McFall’s Chamber is the only widely available Marra live album on CD. It serves as a kind of ‘best of’, along with the intros to each song. It also features what i9s, hands down, the best musical saw solo, ever.
Kaisfatdad says
Well I ever. I have read and greatly enjoyed And the Land Lay Still with our book circle. So that bodes well.
And a quick listen to one track from the live album made me keen to hear more. McFall’s Chamber are a very interesting combo.
I have had Karine’s version of Whole of the moon on my mind all day. Better post it!
Kaisfatdad says
In the unlikely event, you don’t know the artists I mentioned…..
Karine Polwart
Julie Fowlis
“Peerie” Willie Johnson with Aly McBain
Jackie Leven
Yesterday, I stumbled across this 1983 clip of a gig by the Jackie even Band at the Greyhound! Who is that girl? They look like the Thomson Twins!
Lando Cakes says
I don’t think I recognise any of those Jackie songs (I was skipping though) aside from the Charisma single. Is this the album that got scrapped after he was attacked?
retropath2 says
Jings, no wonder he kept quiet about that period of his evolution……
thecheshirecat says
fRoots would ask their guest interviewees to put together a concert bill and, yes, resurrection was allowed. Inevitably, that got me thinking about my answer to that question and I have yet to flesh it out. But the venue would be Sidmouth Folk Festival. When you know that there are literally hundreds of shows, talks, sessions, workshops, dances crammed into the programme, you’ll realise that this gives me plenty of scope. I know who I want for my ceilidh bands, and who the callers will be; I now who I want for my up-for-it-big-noise-bagpiping Scottish bands; I know who I want for my intimate venue restrained English chamber folk. There would of course be a Breton band, prised away from the fest noz season across the water.
But the collaborations, both current and late lamented would be :
A rare appearance from the legendary partnership of two of my favourite musicians on the circuit, Chris Wood and Andy Cutting
Toumani Diabate and Ali Farka Toure (though they’d have to extend the curfew so they could just carry on playing until morning)
Sandy Denny and ? Who would it be? Who would Sandy have been playing with now? Thommo’s got to be the obvious choice, but how would her voice have survived?
Kaisfatdad says
I do like your chain of thought, Cheshire.
Do please continue to ruminate and share your thoughts with us!
In the meantime I am trying to work out the connection between the Terminator and Andy Stewart. This has to be one of the weirdest song choices ever for a TV soundtrack.
Personally, I’d be asking:
Arnie, where are your techno trousers?
el hombre malo says
We did a BBC Radio Scotland show one lunchtime with Michael Marra. 10am for soundcheck was not convenient for the great man. He sat and the piano, let his fingers gently roll along the keyboard, and hummed along.
The sound man appeared, tetchy, searching for the “weird rattle” that the mikes were picking up. That weird rattle was Mr Marra breathing
Kaisfatdad says
Brilliant! I can well imagine it, Hombre Malo. That really made me chuckle.
I can forgive him a very great deal.
Kaisfatdad says
Well, @thecheshirecat, you really pushed the boat out there.
Wood and Cutting are fairly new names to me. That track sounds so minimalistic and modern. I can imagine the Krons quartet doing a cover version
That Toumani and Ali Farka track is gorgeous too. I’ve seen Mr Diabate several times and I get the feeling that he is the kind of musician that can fit in in a whole variety of contexts. He has a generosity of spirit in his music making that he shares with Peerie Willie.
Here is a lovely memory of him from a fellow guitar slinger who he encouraged at an early stage in her career.
http://guitargirlsdigitaldiary.blogspot.com/2007/06/peerie-willie-johnson-guitar-world.html
And here is an impromptu duet in Lerwick.
Ry Cooder, Stan Getz, Bill Frisell: I have several favourite artists who have a wonderful skill to interact musically with others. Ry is virtually invisible on the Buena Vista Social album, bt it was he who made it happen. Here he is with Ali Farka Toure.
Ry’s comments are very illuminating.
This clip is typical pf the kind of gem that I stumble across on the Tube.
Come on! Lock the doors of the pub! Turn the lights down!
And let’s hope the boys in blue are too busy to notice..
Ry’s got his mandolin ready
thecheshirecat says
Ry & Ali’s Talking Timbuktu is truly one of the great one-off collaboration albums.
Going back to my ruminations on who Sandy Denny would be collaborating with now. It’s easy to suggest Thommo or any of the current generation of folk musicians – Sam Sweeney, John Dipper or indeed Andy Cutting – but I think she would bounce better of something a little less polite. The noisy Celtic bands like the Peatbog Faeries and Treacherous Orchestra would leave her no space for songs, so I’m thinking guitar bands with folk leanings; Graham Coxon would be a great foil, or Johnny Marr for that matter, or, whisper it soft, Justin Currie of Del Amitri.
Kaisfatdad says
That is a fascinating line of thought. Personally I would love to see her with Johny Marr. He is another wonderfully flexible player who allows space for others.
I was fascinated to know more about that Balaviris Festival. Not so easy to get info but this clip was useful. Anyone ever been there? It is very much a dance festival by the look of things.
Here is a bit more info.
https://pj6735.wixsite.com/bringuebalants
Back to Ry. All his collaborations have been top notch.
For a fantasy concert, I would be very chuffed with a selection of all of them played live, along with his film music of course.
Meeting by the river, Mambo Sinuendo, Talking Timbuktu, Buena Vista Social Club, San Patricio….etc. My mouth waters at the prospecrt.
According to Wiki, the very first of them was this project from 1967: The Ceyleib People – Tanjet.
thecheshirecat says
ooo look, there’s that Chris Wood fellah again in the frozen frame for the Festival Balaviris.
Well I’ve idled away this wet afternoon, dreaming dreamily of my dream line-up for next year’s Sidmouth Folkweek, and it’s a belter! Sadly, I have bankrupted the festival, but what a way to go! I didn’t even find space for Kathryn Tickell or Karine Polwart, which is saying something.
Along the way, I thought of two other outstanding collaborations of recent years. Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill have worked sympathetically together for years, but when they added hardanger fiddle, sean nos singing and the New York jazz of Thomas Bartlett, they went into orbit.
Meanwhile, when Martin Simpson and Dom Flemons met over the great Anglo-American songbook, in the library of Cecil Sharp House, the outcome was as professional as you’d expect from either of them, but was delivered with such joy in entertainment.
Kaisfatdad says
I suspect Sid mouth will be on the phone any moment to offer you the gig as festival curatot
What a fascinating NY door you opened there, Cheshire.
And you didn’t even mention Cassandra Wilson!
thecheshirecat says
Outstanding clip. Masterclass in leaving out everything unnecessary. Six people on stage, yet so much space to hear the music.
Mike_H says
Beautiful.
Sitheref2409 says
Frae the islands, I heartily commend Saltfish Forty. There’s nothing decent on Youtube, so I can’t give them all the publicity they deserve, but they’re rather wonderful – and nice people.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks a lot Si! They are on Spotify and there are some clips on the Tube to give us an idea. (Their name is on word not two).
Sound very promising.
thecheshirecat says
Oh yeah, Saltfishforty. Seen them a few times. There’s something like a 40% overlap with The Chair, who when they get to a twin fiddle wigout, the crowd goes mental. Great stuff.
Mike_H says
Twinfiddle Wigout.
Two more from them later.
Kaisfatdad says
The Orkney music scene sounds very lively. Here is their favourite stomp band: The Chair.
If ever I need a nom-de-plume, I am opting for Twinfiddle Wigout. Priceless!
Kaisfatdad says
Fascinated with my current interest in music from Scotland, my pal in Edinburgh has suggested U look at the jazz scene.
Glasgow bassist and composer Mark Hendry
Guitarist Ben MacDonald
Mike_H says
Polish/Ukranian harpist Alina Bzhezhinska is a tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow but also has a London-based jazz quartet which I will be going to see on Thursday evening.
Kaisfatdad says
A Polish/Ukranian jazz harpist who is based in Scotland! but has a band in London? They don’t grow on trees.
Rather good she is too! Good work, Mike!
Mike_H says
She gets some impressively un-harplike sounds there. Bending notes and all sorts.
Must have hands of iron to bash those strings like that.
retropath2 says
If only because this now seems a thread for promoting new scots talent to KFD, here is an act, relatively new to me, and who will be in my 2019 album of the year list:
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Retro. That really hit the spot.
Let’s have one from this above-average Whyte band.