This week the music is about craft. All of the albums are from artists with a specific sound, who spent or are spending their time honing their sound and investing in integrating themselves their instruments and tools of choice.
We begin with Jonny “Hammond” Smith, who, no surprise, was a master with the Hammond B3 organ. The B3 was originally produced as a low-cost alternative to pipe organs, but took over in the jazz scene due to it’s malleability, affordability (organ players are cheaper than full bands) and a bunch of sound reasons that I won’t get into, but you can look into here. Smith was a multi-instrumentalist, but the Hammond B3 propelled him from jazz to jazz-funk to acid jazz. Gears is jazz, funk and groove at it’s finest, with a sound so big the album will stick with you and demand to be played again and again.
Ela Orleans keeps the spirit of growth and experimentation at the center of her first project, Lost. The lofi spirit of the album brings us back to the feelings of music in 2009 — pirated pop songs, distorted looping (The Disintegration Loops was released in 2003) and atmospheric, sweet, soft melodies. The swells of the album are so large, only a true talent could pull off such a feat.
We take a break from the heavy, complex music aforementioned for Melveen Leed, a Hawaiian singer that blends her native tongue and culture with country music. The Hawaiian Country Girl does not obscure it’s aim — it’s country music from a Hawaiian. It brings the bright twang of Nashville to the dreaminess and brio Waikiki. If you’re looking for easy listening, start here. (Many of us are thinking of Hawaii right now, if you can, donate money to Maui relief efforts).
We keep the dreaminess going with Anou Malane, a pivotal Tuareg guitar album from Abdallah Oumbadougou of Nigeria. Tuareg is a style of folk music popular in the contemporary Saharan region. “At its core, the music still relies on poetry to transmit a message, carried by the pentatonic solos of a guitar,” according to Sahel Sounds, a project that is focused on the culture in West African Sahel. Oumbadougou is an original Tuareg guitarist and begin to create his work when he was active in the Tuareg rebellion. The album was a true force in pushing the genre and rebellion into the public consciousness.
We end in Louisville, Kentucky with Sylvester Weaver, an pioneer of country blues in the 1920s. His recordings are the first ever recordings of country blues and the bottleneck-style slide guitar. The sounds are simple and nostalgic (at least for this Texan), evoking that sweet longing that is present in the air when it’s quiet out and blisteringly hot. Weaver died in the 50s, largely unknown. In the 90s, the Kentuckiana Blues Society installed a gravestone on his hitherto unmarked grave and since has presented the ‘Sylvester Weaver Award’ annually to those who have “rendered outstanding service to blues music.”
Enjoy.
The playlist is here.
Monday
Gears - Johnny “Hammond” Smith (1975)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Lost - Ela Orleans (2009)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
The Hawaiian Country Girl - Melveen Leed (1976)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Anou Malane - Abdallah Oumbadougou (1995)
Bandcamp / Spotify / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Presenting Sylvester Weaver - Sylvester Weaver (1924)
Spotify / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with:
Marcella Hazan’s pesto recipe. From the Queen of Italian cooking. This is probably a great farmer’s market recipe, since it’s a relatively simple so high quality ingredients are key.
Martha Stoumen Vermentino. A great, zesty white wine that pairs really well with pesto. Vermentino is perpetually a favorite wine of mine, mostly because it’s usually always good even if it’s kind of bad.
Whatever happened to having taste? This essay from the Washington post is great. I especially love the idea of “cognitive liberty.” But also a great thought experiment on what style is and how the internet has eroded personal style into something boring and uniform.
I Meant It Once by Kate Doyle. I’m reading this collection of short stories right now and so far I really like it. The stories are poignant and familiar.
“I always forget I mostly hate this bar, Christine says later, while she and Daisy stand in line for the bathroom. Daisy leans her head against Christine’s shoulder and says, What we like is the idea of it.”
- Kate Doyle, two pisces emote about the passage of time from I Meant It Once
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.