Born on this day ...

[Ruby]

Happy Birthday to Roger Dean, who was born in Kent, England, in 1944. His name is synonymous with album cover artworks, primarily those of Yes and Asia although there are plenty more besides. 

He hit upon a highly successful fantasy-based formula for painting organic landscapes, especially, which was very well suited to the bands of the day, and which has endured, in more ways than one, as I have found, to my bewilderment. I usually go and look at the website of whoever it is and landed on Roger Dean’s home page only to find it dominated by a YouTube video of a Valentino men’s catwalk fashion show https://www.rogerdean.com/. I thought perhaps this was not the Roger Dean I was looking for, but nooo – it’s him alright. Now there is no way to say it other than this; there are some utterly embarrassing men’s clothing lines being paraded at these things – honestly – call me a pleb but I find them very silly, mostly – what few examples have crossed my line of vision, that is. Curiosity got the better of me though, as it usually does, so I watched a bit to see what on earth was going on. Turns out they’re using his paintings/designs on the fabric of some of the clothing and accessories. I don’t know what to say. Oh well – his work is absolutely distinguishable from anyone else’s I’ll give him that (even if James Cameron won’t!).   

I chose to listen to David Greenslade’s Cactus Choir as I’d never heard it before despite sharing a flat with some friends, what now seems like a lifetime ago, who had a poster of this album artwork on the wall … huh – not a bad album, at all although I totally fail to grasp the connection between the painting and the album concept which is about the wild west – most puzzling!! Anyway … interestingly Simon Jeffes of Penguin Café Orchestra does some of the arrangement and none other than Simon Phillips is on drums … I particularly like the track at 16.37 and the one after that, the title track, if anyone wants to get a feel and cut to the chase …

[JeromeD]

I remember seeing this album cover in various houses over the years but never actually ever listened to it. Will give it a whirl later on tonight. Is there a record that Simon Phillips has not played on??!!??

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i would be pretty positive that Mr Phillips would not have played on a Megan Thee Stallion album J-man...

[Ruby]

Lars Danielsson was born on this day in 1958, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is a jazz bassist and also plays the cello as well as producing. Thought I’d take a listen to his newly released collaborative album with Jan Lundgren (pianist) and Emile Parisien (sax) – it’s from a concert at a Jazz Festival that was held in Ystad fairly recently, the first time the three of them have performed together (after one rehearsal), and is called Into the Night. A fortuitous coming together after the drummer who was meant to have joined Lundgren and Danielsson had to bow out for Covid related reasons. The unlikely substitute of saxophonist for sticks man has led to something quite charmed IMHO. Funny how that happens sometimes. 

As far as jazz is concerned, I get along far better with the contemporary European artists than any others. Generally speaking, their work seems more melodic, and they appear to have less rigid confines – there’s only so much highbrow improvisation I can stand - doesn’t compute well in my brain! Sunday afternoon music in a good way - soul food. I have to say, they are superb musicians and it's a real treat to hear playing that is so clean, clear and intuitive. The saxophonist is quite dazzling – he plays with a whole lot of feeling and very little bombast; there is nothing amiss with Lundgren either – fabulous keys, and Mr Danielsson, the subject of today’s birthday mention, holds it all down with admirable ease and flow. I particularly enjoyed this track – “Asta” … something about it tugged at my heartstrings …

[Ruby]

Adam Cohen was born on this day in 1972, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’d never listened to anything of his before but it’s abundantly clear, from the opening bars of the very first song I heard, that this particular apple must’ve landed squarely at the foot of the family tree! Remarkable – I’d have known whose son he was in an instant, had I not had the remotest inkling before the fact.
 
However, that is purely due to the sound of his voice, intonation, etc. Being the son of the mighty Leonard is no mean ask, musically and poetically speaking, at least. He might’ve done a whole lot better, in terms of the biz, had he come to it alone, before LC existed, which of course is impossible, but you know what I mean (or Stephen J Hawking would, lol!). Another time, another place and things may have been different. Mind you, he is the first to concede that Cohen Snr was absolutely disciplined and meticulous when it came to his craft – an impeccable work ethic. Following that father act is nigh impossible.

He was raised by his mother, Suzanne, spending most of his formative years in Europe and he considers Greece his primary home. His last recording was in 2014. What may be perceived as the privilege of his heritage, seems to have been a bit of a stumbling block in reality – it certainly has not earned him the personal artistic success he seeks because he has struggled to find his own voice while enjoying to the fullest the many and varied favours society has offered him along the way due to his association. Spoiling doesn’t do any favours, ultimately.

Cohen currently semi-curates his father’s artworks, acting as the ambassador for the family at exhibition openings and so on.

[Ruby]

Happy Birthday to Andreas Vollenweider, electro/acoustic harpist extraordinaire. He was born in Zurich, Switzerland on this day in 1953. He is a pacifist and gets involved in projects for the greater good, such as developing music to be played to prematurely born children. Another one who marches along merrily to the beat of his own drum, and it seems to work out just fine. He’s world renowned as a new age musician and he’s been at it since 1975 when he first took up the harp which he modified to sound more interesting – et voila!
 
I listened to Cosmopoly which is an album I haven’t heard before. A few interesting collaborations on this, including Bobby McFerrin who can do pretty amazing things with his vocal chords! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USTsgMSgTyg – huh! I didn’t know. Carly Simon also makes an appearance – he’s worked with her on several occasions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9O3ujecaco.

Of the sung tracks the one that stands out for me is with Djivan Gasparyan who was a duduk player, from Armenia - he died in July this year, aged 92 ...

[Ruby]

Happy 57th Birthday to Jesse Arnaud Cook who was born on this day in 1964, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

He is a virtuoso guitarist who blends elements from several genres, Flamenco being the most prevalent (his music is also referred to as smooth jazz, which I don’t get at all, but since he seems to have won awards in that category, I guess I’m wrong! I get the additional ‘folk’ and ‘world’ labels – some lovely exotic instruments). He’s the first to admit that what he does would not be called Flamenco, by any stretch of the imagination, by anyone in Spain, however, despite that, in 2009 he was Acoustic Guitar's Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco category while the gold went to Paco de Lucia, so there’s definitely something there! And losing only to Paco de Lucia is not exactly disheartening, I’d say. 

I had never heard of him before today which is a bit of an oversight - so much music, so little time! Anyway - I listened to his Juno award winning Free Fall and most enjoyable it was too. There’s a joie de vivre and passion about gypsy music that really is infectious, IMHO, and I like the sounds of the more modern Rumba Flamenco.

The title track from Free Fall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ARxEzrxh58

And another fab one – “On Walks The Night” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s117YZsHWTA

I think this might be the only video from the album – made by himself - 



Aaand - there’s new album just around the corner which I’m going to look out for now – Libre … nice live acoustic clip of the title track … (album version here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JviPNc5XYhk) …



And yet another cool video, for fun … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9srZFMhCZU

[Ruby]

Happy Birthday to Weldon Dean Parks (or more often, just plain Dean Parks) who was born on this day 1946, in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to playing as a regular on albums by 19 diverse artists, from America and Gordon Lightfoot to Chris Botti and Steely Dan, and everything in between, he’s also done session work on more than 317 albums (that I counted), including Michael Jackson's Thriller. He is seriously prolific - pops up all over the place! Love his website, lol! http://www.deanparks.com/ - says nothing, and a lot! There is very little info about Mr Parks anywhere to be found, which is fair enough – in fact up until quite recently, there wasn't even a Wiki entry for him (I could never find his birthday  )  but there are a coupla YouTube clips, interviews, etc. - one such here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6uzl-CKrxc. He plays all sorts of stringed things – mainly guitars but other instruments too, and he has been involved in production as well.

Of all the gazillion tracks he's ever played on, the two that specifically come to mind when I see his name …

CS&N - "Delta" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXCWHAP6WI

“Haitian Divorce” - 

[Ruby]

One for the obscure annals – Jack Sonni was born on this day in 1954, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA. His is the guitar synthesizer on “The Man’s Too Strong” - Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms. He also toured with them for that one and appeared at Wembley with the band. He joined after David Knopfler had left – ironically, since it was David he met first while working at a luthier’s that the brothers K frequented. He moved on in other marketing and literary directions shortly after the BIA tour, due mostly to family commitments, but he seems to have maintained his connections to the biz in his roles in those fields. 

There is some conjecture as to who this song references – MK had this to say in an interview with Bill Flanagan for the book Written in My Soul: Conversations with Rock's Great Songwriters

"On “The Man’s Too Strong” [Brothers in Arms], I tried to do a study in guilt and hatred and fear. On some levels, you can almost see a Hess-like figure, in the depths of Spandau. You might see somebody who’s just not at peace with himself. It’s always interesting to me that any kind of heavy censorship, like book burnings, has always failed in the long run. That kind of suppression. I was just trying to get in the mind of somebody who’s lived his life that way. There’s nothing very heavy about it, it’s just an experiment in character and playwriting. That song is absolutely not me. It’s like Randy Newman talking about being a closet gay truck driver."

[Music Head]

Ted Nugent (73)