Here are the Mamas and the Papas singing that old favorite “California Dreaming” on one of my favorite old TV showsk, Hullabaloo. And for those of you still waiting for spring, the high today in LA will be 81 degrees.
I watched “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” last night, and noted that the score was composed by Jack Nitzsche. This was a name I first saw in the dreamy cut, “Expecting to Fly” from the Buffalo Springfield’s second album, AGAIN. Jack’s orchestral accompaniment alone brought a magical sophistication to the group that outdid the Moody Blues pseudo-orchestral sound. It didn’t sound “classical,” nor easy listening. It was an original sound. After that, I discovered his poignant Americana string quartet interlude on Neil Young’s first album, “String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill.”
Nitzche’s discography is stunning. He has produced, arranged, composed, or performed for The Rolling Stones, Tim Buckley, Captain Beefheart, Crazy Horse, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Dino, Desi and Billy (!! anyone remember them?), The Everly Bros, Leslie Gore, Rod McKuen (sic), Tom Petty, Mamas and the Papas, The Ronettes, David Rose, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Soupy Sales, Ringo Starr, Barbra Streisand, The Tubes, The Turtles, and Neil Young to list a portion of them.
Jack Nitzche’s film credits are equally impressive. Films I know include PERFORMANCE, THE EXORCIST, CRUISING, CUTTER’S WAY, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, PERSONAL BEST, BREATHLESS, STARMAN, STREETS OF GOLD, STAND BY ME, and THE INDIAN RUNNER.
There are currently two CD compilations of his work available.
I’m impressed by this man, he had an amazingly rich career. To think of an aesthetic that spans The Ronettes to the scoring motion pictures. He seemed out of the limelight considering the the wild times he lived through. The impression I get is that he was happy to be out of that light. He was really a kind of a George Martin figure, but on a smaller scale and mostly in Los Angeles.
I wish more bands and pop artists would hire people like Nitzche or Martin [or ME!] and take their sound to musical places they might never discover on their own.
Jack died of a heart attack in 2000 at the age of 63. I look forward to discovering more of his music and influence.
Stravinsky fans who know his original recordings will likely know the name of Adrienne Albert. She was famous to me for being the voice that sang Stravinsky’s last work “The Owl and the Pussycat” as well as many other of his late works. I found her voice refreshing, more popish and not so much of the wobbly operatic voice that most professional singers aspire to. She confessed to the maestro upon her audition that she had never had voice lessons, and he emphatically urged her to never do so.
I ran into Ms. Albert maybe 10 years ago and asked whether she was THE Adrienne Albert and she said yes. Although I know she has to be older than 50-something, she still has a marvelous little girl aura, and is a completely likable, warm and friendly human being. Adrienne is a composer these days. No, she hasn’t picked up where Igor left off, she has carved out her own path. Last night, I heard her recently commissioned work “Between the dark and daylight” premiered by Mark Carlson’s award winning chamber ensemble Pacific Serenades. in three movements, the work is filled with modal Brownian motion that almost evokes an Americana tone. The last movement quotes a variety of children’s tunes and was, for this listener, the most engaging. The quotation techniques did not evoke Ives at all, but was rather completely her own. The emotional feel of it was kaleidoscopic and a bit like a musical roller coaster. It was peculiar that the most chromatic moment of the entire piece was her harmonization of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” but the sold-out audience didn’t particularly mind, and offered her a resounding ovation at the end.
Mark Carlson has to be thanked for being an important part of Los Angeles’s musical culture. No, it’s not the Monday Evening Concert series or the LA Phil’s Green Umbrella. It prides itself on presenting a new work every concert, (Adrienne’s was the 85th) right along side music from the common practice repertoire. ASCAP has already given Pacific Serenades an award for “Adventurous Programming.” Don’t expect to read about it in the LA Times or the LA Weekly as the series is regularly ignored by our local crickets. Like me, and other tonal composers, Pacific Serenades has developed a thick skin knowing it will likely be ignored by our Los Angeles tonality-only-on-my-terms music critics.
David Ocker offers up his own brand of frustration on his blog about the history of many other ignored composers in our city. Adrienne seems to harbor no resentment as David, Mark, and I do from time to time. Her personality is as sunny as her music. I hope you get a chance to hear some of her music sometime, as she is a talent and a great gal as well.
In 1977 I began thinking about writing a piece that musically captured the personalities of four friends, and was to have been called “Four People.” In 1978 Phoebe Carrai and Ed Barker asked me to write a work for cello and bass in solo tuning (meaning the bass is tuned UP a step so as to give the instrument a more brilliant, soloistic sonority) for them. I immediately envisioned a virtuosic piece and began sketching under the working title of “Duo Concertante” a la Stravinsky and Leon Kirchner. What resulted was an amalgamation of the two ideas, but rather than basing the work on specific people, I strove for capturing elements of universal personality types, or “personae.” As a visual embodiment of the four personae, I chose four paintings by Pollock, Rembrandt, Magritte, and Rothko as an inspirational springboard for sonic impressions.
In the first movement, “The War Goddess,” I focused on the wild, violent, Dionysian side of man. The physical, bellicose, and irrational side of man is musically represented through dissonance, abrupt shifts of register, and dramatic change in timbral color. The second movement, “St Peter in Prison,” deals with the emotional, passionate side of man and is in two parts: the suffering, and then the transcendence of suffering toward cosmic optimism. The third movement, “The Reckless Sleeper” flows back and forth between sonic hallucinations of “wind chimes on Jupiter” and long, sustained dream-like flights, climaxed with a nightmare. The last movement, “Music for Rothko Chapel” reflects a spiritual, mystical persona. The shimmering chords of harmonics, continually varying in volume, manifest a magical spirit.
The piece was first written in 1979 and revised in 1981 for this performance. The performers here are Jules Eskin and Edwin Barker, and the concert is from a BSO Chamber Players in Symphony Hall (Boston).
I was studying with Earl Kim at the time. I know he was not amused that I had a piece performed by this group before he did. I brought the piece into my composition seminar and Earl gave me grief about the ending. It was a soft, ethereal ending rather than a strong, macho, purposeful ending. You WILL notice the piece ends on a perfect 5th, foreshadowing my return to tonality.
PERSONAE (1979; rev.1981) by Roger Bourland
Jackson Pollock: The War Goddess
MP3: Play audio file (personae1.pollock.mp3)
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn: St Peter in Prison
MP3: Play audio file (personae2.rembrandt.mp3)
Rene Magritte: The Reckless Sleeper
MP3: Play audio file (personae3.magritte.mp3)
Mark Rothko: Music for Rothko Chapel
MP3: Play audio file (personae4.rothko.mp3)
[Painting: "The Reckless Sleeper" by Rene Magritte]
Many of us go through life living our lives following policies and opinions made up by 6 year olds, or 10 year olds, or 13 year olds, or 20 year olds, or… Meaning, WE have made up our minds that something is true, or true for us, and that is the end of it. Case closed. When it comes to things like: be careful around sharp knives, or don’t hit other people, or don’t eat those red berries, or drive carefully, we are certain these opinions become policies and will last for our entire lives.
But opinions like: I don’t like ochra, or I don’t like seafood, or I don’t like modern music, or I don’t like such and such person, are opinions that have usually come about through an unpleasant experience like having ochra prepared poorly, or smelling a rotting fish and deciding all seafood is bad, or hearing a piece of boring music, learning that it is “modern music” and come to the conclusion that I don’t like modern music, or that so-and-so said something icky about me 30 years ago, so it’s over: forever.
Most of us have personal opinions and policies for ourselves that we came up with when we were children, and grade schoolers, and high schoolers and sometimes college students. I have to kick myself to be reminded that I need to take out those old, limp trophies and polish them off, make sure that they are still valid, and update my opinions.
I HATE RAW OYSTERS.
I now love raw oysters
I DON’T EAT JELLYFISH OR TRIPE
That used to be true until I had both last year served as dim sum and yummy: opinion changed.
MY FAVORITE GROUP OF ALL TIME?
Who knows, but it’s interesting to go back and listen to what you listened to, say, in high school, listen to it again and realize it wasn’t really that great of a song, it was just in the air during a fun time, and brings back those memories.
I LOVE GIN.
I have lately developed an indifference for gin and have much less of it. I’m crazy about Syrah and Shiraz.
I LOVE KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN
From 1975-7 I wanted to go to Germany and study with Stockhausen. He was my god. I studied every note he wrote and every word he uttered. The thrill is gone these days. I rarely listen to his music but do pull out his scores to illustrate some musical point for my graduate students from time to time.
I LOVE STRAVINKSY
I still love Stravinsky, but THRENI and THE FLOOD and ABRAHAM AND ISAAC not so much.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG’S MUSIC IS BORING
I’m liking it more and more, the more better performances come out. But don’t make me listen to it all the time, and don’t expect the world to embrace it either. No need to over-estimate his importance in the music world.
PK called me a musical terrorist the other day for supplying infective songs to unsuspecting listeners. Well, here is another one, “Dominique” sung by Sister Anne and introduced by Ed Sullivan. If you don’t know this song, don’t worry, it will enter your brain and never leave for the rest of your life. Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!
I have a fond memory of being in a rock band in 1968 with some guys that were two grades ahead of me. Russ Beverstein played drums, Jeff Nichols played bass, I played rhythm guitar, and Bruce Nelson played lead guitar. When I joined they were trying to decide what to call themselves. The first name was JAMES MORTIMER CARVER AND THE STIFFERINO BAND — a sophomoric and funny name that didn’t stick. This WAS the 60s, and we liked the name THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK and so we decided to go with THE RASPBERRY STEAMBOAT — I blush thinking about it, but it was good fun. After a few months we changed the name again to COBBLESTONE ROAD. We played music by the Doors, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, and other 60s groups. Russ was the lead singer, I sang the high parts and taught Bruce and Jeff the harmonies. We played for a couple of proms, high school dances, church dances, YMCA dances, and at some night clubs. We were based in Green Bay Wisconsin and in the summers we played in Door County (the “thumb” of the state that has Green Bay one one side and Lake Michigan on the other). We were never “famous” in a national sense — we never put out a record or played original material. We were just famous in northern Wisconsin for a couple of years.
Joining this band corresponded with my girlfriend’s (sic) departure to Cincinnati. It also was the same time I started realizing I was gay and was terrified of that possibility. I was able to throw my energies into the band for the rest of my time in high school. I eventually became a Theory and Composition major at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1971. For five more years I avoided the gay thing and put all of my energy into my music studies and writing music. In retrospect I’m sooo glad that I was celibate through my undergraduate time, and would advise students to try to do the same if they can bear it. I came out when I began my graduate studies in Boston. The challenge of being at a cool school, combined with the excitement of being in a cool city, and the new life of being a sexual person all worked together to NOT ruin my scholastic momentum.
Half way through my graduate studies I came out again — this time as a tonal composer. I was tired of trying to be Elliott Carter or Luciano Berio, I had to figure out who I was. So, around 1978 I started writing tonal music and have ever since. I could give a rat’s ass what the musical establishment would prefer that I write, the rewards of being one’s self is far greater. Moving to Los Angeles freed me from the tyranny of the East Coast music mafia, but soon discovered the West Coast music mafia was just as icky. Well, the “I’ve gotta be me” hormone kicked in and I am living happily ever after.
So this morning I smile and recall how the Raspberry Steamboat launched my musical life and also provided an effective distraction from truly “facing the music” of my own musical and sexual nature.
[Illustration © Estate of Keith Haring]
Sheryl Crow
Jeff Buckley
Leonard Cohen
Alison Crowe
kd lang
Rufus Wainwright
John Cale
I guess Rufus is tired of America. Hmm, well I say people act like people no matter where you go.
Rufus Wainwright debuts his new single “Going To A Town” from his new CD “Release The Stars” at the launch of Robert Redford’s environmental awareness project “The Green” (on the Sundance Channel) at ABC Home, Manhattan, NYC.
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