I am quite content to wear, among various others, the label of musician. (For those unaware, the name of this blog, Jack's Guide, .....etc., refers to the namesake "Jack of all trades, master of none". You will also find the epithet Renaissance Man , or something like it, in there, somewhere.) The nature of the blog itself is loosely configured around finding ways for people like me to be productive, by way of whatever creative gifts we have been given, and to be happy doing so. And I do find myself happy with my involvement with things musical.
Today is Barbershop Quartet Day, and my dad Fred was an avid fan, mostly of the participatory type. I have near-photographic recall of him and his buddies grouped around the upright piano in our living room, picking out their individual parts and singing them in four-part harmony. This picture often flashes before my eyes when rehearsing with my own band-mates, and makes me grin. Dad and Mom both sang in the church choir, as well, for as far back as I can remember, but somehow those memories aren't charged with the same level of emotion. Probably because usually when I was listening to the latter, I'd just got my butt kicked by Newt Kellett and Mack McCallum, two bad-asses with whom I somehow ended up in Sunday School. True evil lurks in the strangest places.
As much lip-serivce as I give to the belief that music really does make the world a better place, one might expect more in the way of musical commentary from this blog. Experience has taught me that there are few people I can expect to accurately predict what musical selections will appeal to me. I have to assume that everyone else has similarly discriminating taste (even though I probably disagree with most of them), so I do not feel particularly compelled to make recommendations. I have been accused of having pretty good taste in music, though, and since music doubtless meets the criteria for creativity and productivity (the bywords of this blog), I guess it's about time I went out on a limb with a recommendation.
I have to admit that my buddy Clay is quite often right on the money in this respect, despite the fact that he is fond of dealing in superlatives. (I'm sure you have a friend of this ilk; who is so absolutely and genuinely enthused about every new thing he encounters that it is espoused as the "best I've ever seen in my whole life!" I think I'm sometimes just jealous of the ecstatic abandon with which he enjoys stuff.) Anyway, Clay recommended to me some time back that I give a listen to Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. If the name doesn't ring a bell, Bill Wyman was the original, long-time bass player for the Rolling Stones. He and the Rhythm Kings have put out a number of recordings; collections of mostly cover versions of all kinds of stuff. So far, I have heard little that didn't make me smile and want to get up and move. Here's a YouTube clip of them doing JJ Cale's Any Way the Wind Blows.
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