Amos Milburn
Soms heb je zo’n moment van onverklaarbare sentimentaliteit. Vroeger was alles beter, toch? In zo’n vlaag van verstandsverbijstering ging ik weer eens door mijn LP collectie, althans dat gedeelte dat niet hermetisch afgesloten is van de buitenwereld achter knieschotten en dat soort verstopplaatsen.
In de loop der tijd heb ik de meeste LP’s vervangen door exemplaren op CD. U weet wel, in die tijd dat platenmaatschappijen nog niet klaagden en dankbaar de consument een tweede keer rechten liet betalen voor dezelfde muziek omdat die toevallig op een ander medium stond. Maar lang niet alle LPs zijn vervangen en vandaag kwam ik er zo een tegen. Een volledig kapot gedraaide plaat van Amos Milburn die ik vermoedelijk, ik was amper 8 denk ik, van mijn vader heb gekregen. Ik heb geen platenspeler meer aangesloten staan dus de plaat opzetten was geen optie. Dan maar naar YouTube, stelt nooit teleur: Amos Milburn. Wacht maar tot hij echt piano gaat spelen (bij 02:16 ongeveer).
Amos Milburn - Bad, bad whiskey
Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack
May 23rd, 2008 at 0:21
Yup, YouTube rocks!! You can find all kinds of stuffs, as long as they’re not removed due to copyright violations. I have my share of music on there as well. Remember, you can download the videos with youtube-dl, so get them while they’re still there!
“Wacht maar tot hij echt piano gaat spelen (bij 02:16 ongeveer).”
Wait ’till he really starts playing, eh? He plays just fine, but I would have to give two video responses to that… First Jack Gibbons playing an Alkan study (YouTube rocks!! They’ve got it all, even the most obscure composers of ‘em all!!). Playing Alkan is just plain sick. Anyone playing Alkan is just plain sick as well (or stupid, whichever one you prefer, Gibbons does kinda look goofy playing that, eh?). This study is very very sick indeed. Although a bit boring musically (hey, it’s a study right?), it is one of those pieces you can play to show off any skills you may (or may not) have
Sick, sick, very sick!!
Second response, Mariangela Vacatello playing Scarbo of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit in the Elizabeth Piano Competition of 2007. It is quite a modern piece that tries to depict anxiety, agitation and paranoia, so although I encourage you to watch this masterpiece of Ravel in full, you may want to skip to some highlights: 1:10, 2:50, 4:10, 7:50.
She started playing piano when she was 4 years old (oh, them prodigies!). By now, she has tremendous speed and dexterity, seamless play, always where she has to be on the keyboard in time. She has incredible proper strength, easily matching, if not surpassing, that of her male competition. She has a wonderful interpretation of the piece, the best I have seen and heard so far! She plays this piece fearlessly and very elegantly (although she could improve her posture).
This piece is also considered to be one of the most difficult piano pieces in existence. I just love to listen to all this stuff via YouTube. Did I already mention that YouTube rocks!?!?
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:48
Surely the people you mention (and many more) have better piano technique than those old Blues singers. Centuries of knowledge is passed on to those who get a classical education. What I like about the old blues pianists is that they learned playing themselves. They have their own (very limited) technique but excel in that little area they “invented” themselves. They really express what they feel inside not what is on the written on a sheet of music. I have the same thing with Mose Allison. In think you can’t even compare both kind of musicians. I’m convinced that Vacatello and Gibbons can play boogie woogie but will it sound the same? I have this also with Wibi Soerjadi. He can play the right notes at the right time still it lacks feeling. There’s no warmth or feeling in his play, at least in my opinion. I prefer a limited self-taught pianist who plays with feeling over someone who is highly skilled but fails to set the mood. So it largely boils down to the musical affinity of the artist. He or she probably plays best what he or she likes best.
For those interested: here are the video’s BOFH mentions:
Jack Gibbons playing an Alkan study
Mariangela Vacatello playing Scarbo of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit
Oh well.. a little Mose Allison