Summer just walked in - but I didn't realize it, because the weather is very strange in Hungary. But if I glance at the calendar I can remember that in one simple moment the 31st of May turned to the 1st of June and yes, that was the first day of summer. It's always an important day to me: the first and last days of each season. Now I just slipped into the summer. I regret.
But we don't have to wait long, summer will be here in its whole reality, and I can't help proposing albums which are connected to this season in my mind.
A few days ago I realized something. Something which is maybe my own imagination, and the result of my adoration towards the season: autumn.
The colour of sunshine has changed. It's more pale than earlier.
There are more and more leaves on the ground, which is also very dry.
Maybe there was a thin cloud on the sky - like a veil, that's for the colour.
Maybe there wasn't any rain for a long time, that's for the leaves.
Maybe. Or maybe not.
So I felt that I must choose a last album for this summer, because it's gone. I need something with which I say goodbye.
The turning point is also an album which I got to know by a casette in that mentioned weekend house. It's a live performance, recorded in 1969 and a great album. Mayall's guitar and harmonica melodies are perfect for a later summer day. A lot of emotions mix between the tracks, from joy to contemplative parts, that's what I like in music, and here - in blues. And if we are at blues, it's the moderner blues. The tracks aren't only another interpretations of the blues-circles, these sometimes exit the genre, especially where there's a progressive feeling in them. For example, in my favourite song on this album: California. With its 9:31 minutes length it's something which builds up as we go on, as we are leaded into the song: first the cool bass-pattern (which stays until the end, and always repeates), and the immediately appering melancholic, fascinating guitar sounds (4:39!)... plus Mayall's singing voice, matching perfectly to this mood. So hard to share or Thoughts about Roxanne are also good examples for this longer, evolving type of blues.
Goin' back to California So many good things around Don't wanna leave California The sun seems to never go down.
One of my reading matters for summer is going to be Blues people: Negro music in white America by Leroi Jones (his original name is Amiri Baraka). He's an afro-american writer and music criticist, his main field of interest were jazz and blues. He even stands against (besides of many things) the white jazz. This book is focused on the same topic mentioned below, the birth of blues and its circumstances, and not only the blues but also the less known styles from that era.
If you want to know more about him, visit wikipedia:
This post is pretty actual for this weather in Hungary. During my walk in the afternoon the rain made me think "It must be God who's spraying it."... it wasn't really rain, it was a fog-curtain full of water, moving as it would live, sometimes horizontally, and after that starting meandering strangely again... so with an umbrella you didn't get too much drier.
But it didn't steal my mood. I was listening to a blues album, the Country blues by Lightnin' Hopkins. Perfect choice for this weather, the title of this post is also a quotation from a lyrics of a track in which he asks: "What am I gonna do on these rainy days?" No drums, just guitars, and an elder, hoarse voice. A report from a time when world wasn't as running as nowadays.
And if we are at this topic, the blues, let's talk about it for a few moments. I think it's important to know its history, the circumstances of its birth to understand its meaning. Musically, the songs can be very similar, but only for the first time. I first get really interested when I read this a few years ago: the main topics are always these: the questions of freedom, "I wanna go home" - homesickness, "Our life is hard", "My love left me..." Straightly human and simple feelings, the same which I wrote about the old swing-standards: because of the simplicity, it's purely honest. Comes from the heart. From a blue heart, to use this meaning of the word. And one of the best things about it is that blues is very old and has a long history. Starting with the slaves from Africa, through work-songs and many other genres, spirituals, ballads, etc. - these all played a role in the evolution of blues (and seem to be very similar but there are important differences in the topics and time, it's woth to check it up).
Their circumstances were very bad, so the birth of blues was almost statutory.
Some days ago, I read a comment on YouTube, that blues can express human emotions the best way in music. There's something in it, and sometimes I feel it, too. And the summer is often connected with blues in my mind, especially on those days when the weather is hot and dry for a long time - that's the perfect time for listening to it. Even all the day in the background... the blues...
The picture above is from the same book I mentioned in "The cat" post, titled as "City folklore".
To know more about Lightnin' Hopkins, visit wikipedia:
Now it's just a short thing: I found this funny video yesterday. It's the early Willie Dixon, a video which is half music, half acting. That's cool if someone is a professional in something, he can make joke of it, it won't make the quality worse.
5 minutes before lying down... just enough time to discover something new from this world. This is a blog of music reviews and commendatories. Amongst the labels you find mostly record labels, genres and there are some posts which match to one of the seasons - these are the labels which start with the word "season". I won't help you in downloading.
Followers
Choose a season
There are music of course which can be connected not only to one, but two adjacent seasons, and music which is "out of these categories". This classification is mostly based on my mind, my experiences, lyrics and song titles.
THE CALENDAR is a long project by me: a 365 day - 365 album review calendar where every day has an album to listen to. It will be ready in a few years' time. Until that time I make year-calendars. The first one is coming at the end of February, 2010.
Music is a very elusive media, which goes around you, above you, and under you. First you get to know it by hearing, you just draw to it. This meeting is very pleasant, then you'll live your whole life by chasing the melody. Soometimes you think you've just got it, you reach out your hands, but you only grab a little part of it. The others hear it, and say: Yes, this is the end. Well, you know, this is the end for sure, but not the total end. So you continue it, because you want more of this thing. So you chase the melody again. You lie down and wake up with it. You're always on the track of something.
About music (Kraftwerk)
- What kind of music do you hear? - We hear only Sounds.
About music (John Coltrane)
I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he'd be broke, I'd bring out a different song and immediately he'd receive all the money he needed.
5MBLD's top5 jazz standards
1. Summertime
2. Good morning heartache
3. Autumn leaves
4. Autumn in New York
5. Lil' darlin'
