It was bound to happen. 1001 albums and there was no way that I was going to love everyone of them. With apologies to any Jack Elliott fans out there, I just didn't get this. I can understand that he must have been an influential link between country/bluegrass music to contemporary folk, but I could barely listen to this album.
I started with an open mind. After all, the first track is titled "San Francisco Bay Blues." It opened with a very nice guitar intro, but then he started talking. At first, I thought this was a live recording because he began every song with an introduction. After the first song ended and there was no applause, I thought, "well that's awkward. They could at least give a polite applause." Then I realized that it was all recorded live in the studio.
There is one track featuring Woody Guthrie that was OK ("New York Town"), but I wouldn't make someone listen to the entire album for it. I can definitely hear how artists like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger were influenced by Jack Elliott, but I have to say I prefer them over Ramblin' Jack.
This was Billie Holiday's final recording. She died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959 at the age of 44. It was well known that she had a heroin addiction, and this album was to be her comeback. Instead it was received with mixed reviews. Some critics claimed that you could hear the vocal scars in each song and that her voice would never reach the upper range that fans were used to from her earlier recordings of the 1940s. Others argued that this was a brutally honest performance of heartbreaking jazz.
Instead of a normal jazz combo, Holiday sings over a full orchestral arrangement that reminded me of In The Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra. The album also had the same themes of brutally honest love. The opening track, "I'm A Fool To Want You," is a song about being in a dysfunctional relationship and sets the tone for the rest of the album.
It was very hard for me to listen to this without getting emotional. I've always loved the sound of her voice and to hear this, knowing that she was fighting a losing battle with addiction, was just heartbreaking. She died with $.70 in her bank account and $750 in her possession. I'm glad I listened to this, but I think I need to listen to Tito Puente again to cheer me up.
Favorite Tracks: "I'm A Fool To Want You," "I Get Along Without You Very Well" and "You've Changed"
I can't think of Tito Puente without thinking of the song "Señor Burns" fromThe Simpsons.
This was the third, and my favorite, Latin Jazz album I've listened to this weekend. I found myself wishing I was at Cha Cha Cha in the Mission having a pitcher of sangria and learning how to mambo or salsa or cha cha. I'll be in SF in a month, who's down?
Favorite Tracks: "El Cayuco," "Cuando Te Vea" and "Varsity Drag (Mambo)"
