Cover to Richman’s lp “SA” 2019
In the ongoing evidence of the pandemic, live voyages to experience music have been few and far between. Additionally, if one were to go, what venue might enhance the visit? And what about the audience? Too many self-absorbed knuckleheads shouting out inappropriate requests? Nearby food and drink accompaniment? Better perhaps, to stay at home and listen to the record! Last Thursday however, we ventured to Keene, N.H. to an unknown venue to see a Jonathan Richman, an original individualist whose unusual star enervated the rock world in the late sixties. Having seen him 30 years ago I was curious what he might be up to. At that time, I was particularly surprised to discover what an accomplished guitarist he was. The wild stab to attend was richly rewarded. It could have been one of the most gripping performances I have ever experienced. Balancing tenderness, and an at times goofy party, he persistently played on the verge of near quiet. Selections from his most recent 2019 record, SA comprised most of the show. It boasts his current preoccupation with Ramakrishna the Indian mystic coagulated with whoops of acoustic guitar runs and mercy laden vocals made to underscore the delicate gift delivered in our lives. His confessional pop psychology monologues, mambo dance steps and percussive tunes were accompanied by drummer Tommy Larkin. As Jonathan is still in the midst of a current tour of small New England concert halls, you would be strongly advised to make a cosmic leap to go see him. Mr. Richman is at ease surfing the audience into the high climes of performance art!
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Catharsis is defined by Merriam-Webster as a purification or purgation that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension.
Sunny Murray began his performance at a furious level and then proceeded to increase the intensity of his playing to the point where some thirty to forty minutes into his first set, the entire audience (of about 35 people) was standing and screaming in what I felt to be a cathartic moment. I’ve been to many concerts and have never witnessed anything quite like it.
I picked up Sunny at Union Station in Worcester. He did not travel with a drum kit. Murray often scoffed at drummers who crowded themselves behind massive, tricked-out kits. In this case a local drummer was kind enough to lend his very basic set and Sunny was fine with that.
As Shaun Brady wrote in an obituary in 2017, “As one of the leading figures of the free-jazz movement in the 1960s, Murray forged a revolutionary style that freed him from the drummer’s traditional timekeeping role. Instead, he supplied a turbulent undercurrent and combustive volatility that made him an equal voice in any pathfinding ensemble. His playing discovers intricate textures within a tempestuous deluge, both overwhelming and richly detailed.”
Val Wilmer said a similar thing, “Murray’s aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick-work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock-cymbal (hi-hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses... His playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted.”
Sunny recorded many albums as a leader, but perhaps is best known for his work in the bands led by Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp.
He was born on 9/21/1936 and died on 12/7/2017 from multiple organ failure.”
Title composition of the 1976 record of Tom Russell and Patricia Hardin