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Looper's Delight
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talking about the dirth of good musicians on the charts these days: I did a record a few years back with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. The depth of his musicality was truly astonishing and humbling. Literally, I saw him pick up almost everyone's instrument, from djembe drum to stand up bass to guitar to accordian during the session to demonstrate to the various musicians an idea he had for a tune. Each time, the person would take the suggestion and, VOILA!, the piece of music just began to gleam. This was a record with some true heavy hitters on it, too, like Okinawas' Sanchin master, Hiryasu Takashi and American National Steel phenom, Bob Brozman (who I'm about to record another CD with in a couple of weeks). There are so many fanastic musicians out there, both older and younger that it seems silly to me to rail about the current state of music. The industry itself is changing very quickly and the old paradigms are not working. I heard an industry insider talking about the label who has Green Day the other day. They were saying that Green Day was there biggest cash cow for the label and yet there own profits were only around $400,000 for each member. Compared to the music business of 10 and 15 years ago, that is nothing. The major labels have gotten so greedy and they've become so usurous that they are hated by everyone.....................the whole MP3 phenomenon is really taking a huge toll on CD sales. Unfortunately, it has also had a devastating impact on emerging artists. With the high costs of touring (gas, transport, hotels, et. al.), incredible decling profits by the majors and the major indepedents it has gotten to the point where NO new young bands can make any money anymore (with the possible exception of hip hop artists because there touring expenses are so low) but fantastic music is out there....................................there is more diversity and more plentifulness on online radio stations than ever in the history of the planet...............it's just no longer centralized as it was when some of the older musicians on this list were growing up. Sting in an interview talked about the fact that, growing up, the only time anyone in Britain could see live music on television was when an act went onto Top of the Pops on Friday evening. He said that for the rest of the weekend that everyone in all the pubs in England would talk about the Stones perormance on that show. There was a commonality to the musical experience of the whole country that has completely disappeared. I asked a young student today if he had ever heard of a certain album and the response I got was typical for almost all my students. "If you ask me if I"ve heard a certain song I might be able to tell you but I don't know any albums at all...............I download everything I listen to, one song at a time". Man, it's a new world, but as critically acclaimed singer songwriter Sam Phillips said once in a brilliant interview, "The label heads, A&R people and Lawyers for the record companies all come and go but the Artists never go away" "We've always been here and we will always be here." So , for you skeptics out there who think nothing good is coming out these days.......................you have to go looking for it and it might not be as convenient as finding it on the top of the charts. Remember that the system that brought you Jimi Hendrix also brought you the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Fifth Dimension at the very same time.