Nesta segunda playlist de ALTOeCLARO no SPOTIFY, o ponto de partida é o rhythm & blues palhaço (e completamente histérico) do fabuloso Louis Jordan e seus implacáveis Tympany Five. Depois disso, passeamos por algumas vertentes modernas do rhythm & blues, até desembocarmos no britpop de Paul Weller e dos Irmãos Liam e Noel Gallagher. E isso nos leva aos Beatles da psicodélica "She Said She Said", que, por sua vez, nos fornece uma passagem sem volta para San Francisco, California, em plena Era Psicodélica, em pleno Verão do Amor. Vá na fé, sem sustos, pois não há a menor chance de embarcar numa bad trip. Boa sexta e sejam bem-vindos a mais esta viagem musical de ALTOeCLARO. (Chico Marques)
Gostem ou não, concordem ou não, o sucesso estrondoso
de Stevie Ray Vaughan no início dos Anos 80 foi, ao mesmo tempo, uma bênção e
uma maldição para os guitarristas de blues. Foi uma bênção porque desde meados dos Anos 70, guitarristas de blues não
conseguiam mais contratos com gravadoras grandes e buscavam refúgio em selos
independentes com pouca visibilidade e má distribuição. De repente, com a chegada de Stevie Ray, as regras do mercado mudaram, e todos os guitarristas virtuosos
que se dispusessem a tocar pisando no acelerador (como Stevie Ray) ganharam, de uma hora para outra, contratos polpudos e um lugar ao sol no mainstream. Veteranos como Johnny
Winter e Alvin Lee, por exemplo, tiveram suas carreiras reativadas do dia para
a noite. E novatos como Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Charlie Sexton e Doyle Bramhall II
passaram a ser considerados por crítica e público como “the next best thing”.
Mas
então Stevie Ray morreu, e veio a maldição. O desinteresse por guitarristas de blues voltou a
tomar conta das grandes gravadoras, e todos esses guitarrristas órfãos de gravadora foram buscar refúgio na
cena independente. Só que agora os selos independentes
com mais projeção no mercado, que antes apostavam na pluralidade musical de
seus contratados, passaram a aceitar em seus elencos apenas artistas de blues que se limitassem a agradar setores mais conservadores de público. Ou seja: novidades ou abordagens musicais desalinhadas não eram mais bem-vindos. Com isso, a cena de blues, passou a ser tomada por uma mesmice musical que por pouco não matou o futuro do gênero. Por sorte, alguns poucos selos independentes conscientes de seu papel nesse
universo musical não embarcaram nessa barca furada. Delmark Records, de
Chicago, é um desses selos. Se continua vivo e atuante desde 1953, sempre lançando
no mercado o que surge de mais relevante na cena de Chicago, é porque soube fazer as
escolhas artísticas certas nos momentos certos, e continua olhando para a frente com carinho e atenção.
O que nos leva a Dave Specter: um
guitarrista extraordinário de 56 anos de idade nascido em Chicago, dono de um toque limpo e elegante na guitarra, sempre com um pé no jazz
e outro no rhythm & blues, capaz de estabelecer diálogos num tom extremamente cool com seus companheiros de banda -- e que, apesar de não ser um neo-tradicionalista, demonstra com frequência um
carinho enorme pelo legado musical de grandes band-leaders como T-Bone Walker,
Johnny Guitar Watson e Philip Walker. Aos 35 anos de carreira e 15 LPs como líder (todos na Delmark), Specter sempre teve um problema: assim como seu
amigo e também guitarrista Anson Funderburgh, achava que não sabia cantar. Daí, quando não gravava
discos instrumentais, convocava cantores amigos seus da noite de Chicago para a linha de frente de sua banda The Bluesbirds. Com isso, ajudou a divulgar para a América e para vários cantos do mundo cantores de blues excepcionais da Windy City, como Lenny Lynn e Barkin' Bill Smith.
Pois não é que, para surpresa geral (inclusive de seu terapeuta), Specter tomou coragem, fez muitas aulas de canto, e agora estreia como cantor nesse seu novo LP, “Blues
From The Inside Out” (Delmark Records), onde passeia por 12 números originais com uma voz pequena mas expressiva, além de bem colocada e eficaz. O LP conta com participações especialíssimas
de seu amigo e professor Jorma Kaukonen e da Liquid Soul Horns, além da cozinha
de Martin Binder (bateria) e Harlam Tenson (baixo) e do suporte luxuoso do
tecladista Brother John Kattke e do percussionista Ruben Alvarez. Specter está muito feliz com o resultado dessa nova aventura: “Trabalhei
minha vida inteira na arte de dar suporte a cantores e de escrever números para
que eles cantassem, e só recentemente veio essa vontade de começar a cantar meu
próprio material. Então me preparei para isso, e o resultado está aí. A ótima
receptividade que tenho recebido me anima ainda mais a continuar compondo para
minha própria voz.”
“Blues From The Inside
Out” não é um disco para quem gosta de guitarristas espalhafatosos. Também não
é um disco para quem tem uma visão estreita do blues. Trata-se de uma salada musical delicada e muito bem combinada, com doses certas de suingue e delicadeza, feita por gente que tem estofo de sobra para experimentar o que bem entender em termos musicais. Às vezes, o som da banda de Specter é bem Chicago. Outras vezes, ganha contornos mais West Coast. E vez ou outra desce em direção ao sul do Mississippi, com ecos dos Meters e dos
Neville Brothers permeando os arranjos e performances de sua
banda. São doze canções que funcionam como um passeio musical pelas regiões culturais mais vitais da América. Quase todas na voz dele -- a excessão é "March Through The Darkness", homenagem à veteraníssima cantora e amiga Mavis Staples, que é cantada por Brother John Kattke. É o único momento do disco em que Specter não achou sua voz soulful o suficiente e optou por recorrer a um cantor mais aparelhado do que ele. Independente disso, não há nada que não funccione bem em "Blues From The Inside Out". É seu disco mais aventuresco até agora, quiçá o melhor disco de sua carreira. Ouçam com prazer e alguma reverência. Dave Specter merece.
DAVE SPECTER É ENTREVISTADO PELO WEBSITE MAKING A SCENE! AQUI
Chico Marques nasceu em 1960 e devorou música diariamente ao longo desses quase 60 anos. Trabalhou como produtor, apresentador e programador musical na Enseada FM e na Litoral FM, ambas no Litoral Paulista.
Nesta
primeira playlist de ALTOeCLARO, procurei resgatar em 13 canções o espírito das
clássicas programações da madrugada da Enseada FM, de Santos SP, que eu, com
muito prazer, tive a honra de conduzir ao longo da década de 1990 até 2002 --
quando a emissora “ajoelhou e rezou” e passou a fazer parte da Rede Gospel Aleluia
FM. É um passeio musical sem fronteiras, começando por um blues à moda de New
Orleans onde os Rolling Stones e Billy Preston dão uma aula de safadeza
musical, passando por branquelos nada azedos reinventando clássicos da Motown e
da Stax-Volt, seguindo em direção ao rock and roll rasgado das roadhouses
americanas e tomando o caminho de volta guiado por alguns dos maiores ícones da
música popular em todos os tempos. Seja bem-vindo a esta viagem musical. (Chico Marques)
Chico Marques nasceu em 1960 e devorou música diariamente ao longo desses quase 60 anos. Trabalhou como produtor, apresentador e programador musical na Enseada FM e na Litoral FM, ambas no Litoral Paulista.
Serge
Gainsbourg, nome artístico de Lucien Ginzburg foi um músico, cantor, ator,
diretor, pintor, poeta e compositor francês. Famoso por ser uma das figuras
mais importantes da música popular francesa, ele era frequentemente famoso
pelos seus trabalhos provocativos e escandalosos. Também era conhecido por ser
um artista talentoso que trabalhou com diversos gêneros da música, tais como
jazz, mambo, rock and roll, reggae, disco, new wave, pop e yé-yé e funk.
Gainsbourg tinha um estilo musical único e individualista difícil de
categorizar. Escreveu canções para diversos intérpretes, dentre os quais
destacam-se Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, France Gall, Brigitte Bardot,
Jacques Dutronc, Catherine Deneuve, Alain Chamfort, Alain Bashung, Anna Karina,
Isabelle Adjani, Vanessa Paradis e para sua esposa Jane Birkin, mãe da sua
filha Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Nascido
em Paris, França, Gainsbourg era filho de migrantes judeus-ucranianos, que
fugiram para Paris após a revolução russa de 1917. Joseph Ginsburg, seu pai,
era músico de formação clássica, cujo trabalho era tocar piano em cassinos e
cabarés da cidade luz. Este ensinou seus filhos a tocaram piano, Gainsbourg e
sua irmã gêmea Liliane.
A
infância de Gainsbourg foi profundamente afetada pela ocupação da Alemanha
Nazista sob a França na segunda guerra mundial. A estrela amarela, usada como
símbolo para identificar judeus, assombrou o jovem Gainsbourg, somente anos
mais tarde ele foi capaz de usar o símbolo e as experiências vividas como
inspiração criativa para sua obra.
Durante
a ocupação alemã, a família judia foi capaz mover se de Paris para Limoges,
viajando com documentos falsos. Limoges estava na zona livre sob a
administração do governo Vichy, porém a mesma era ainda um refúgio perigoso
para os judeus. Após a guerra, Gainsbourg conseguiu trabalho ensinando música e
pintando em uma escola fora de Páris, em Mesnil-Le-Roi. A escola foi criada sob
supervisão dos rabinos locais, para as crianças órfãs de deportados
assassinados. Aqui Gainsbourg escutou relatos nazistas sobre perseguição e
genocídio. Antes dos 30 anos de idade, Gainsbourg foi um pintor desiludido, mas
que ganhava a vida tocando piano em bares.
Fumante
inveterado, alcoólatra assumido, Gainsboug previu, numa entrevista ao jornal
francês Libération, que morreria do coração em 1990. Errou por pouco, em 2 de
março de 1991, morreu de ataque cardíaco. Foi sepultado na seção judaica do
cemitério Montparnasse em Paris. O presidente francês, François Mitterrand
disse sobre ele na ocasião "Ele foi nosso Baudelaire, nosso Apollinaire...
Ele elevou a música ao nível de arte". Sua casa é um endereço bem
conhecido, frequentemente é coberta por grafitis e poemas.
Desde
sua morte, a música de Gainsbourg tem alcançado status de lendária na França, e
ganhado seguidores no mundo da língua inglesa, com inúmeros artistas
influenciados pelo seus arranjos.(da Wikipedia)
STUDIO
ALBUMS
1958 Du chant à la une
1959 N°2
1961 L'Étonnant
1962 Serge Gainsbourg N°4
1963 Gainsbourg Confidentiel
1964 Gainsbourg Percussions
1968 Bonnie & Clyde (with Brigitte Bardot)
1968 Initials B.B.
1969 Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg
1971 Histoire de Melody Nelson
1973 Vu de l'extérieur
1975 Rock around the bunker
1976 L'Homme à tête de chou 85
1979 Aux armes et cætera
1981 Mauvaises nouvelles des étoiles
1984 Love on the Beat
1987 You're Under Arrest
LIVE
ALBUMS
1980:
Enregistrement public au Théâtre Le Palace
1986:
Gainsbourg Live (Casino de Paris)
1989: Le
Zénith de Gainsbourg
2009: 1963
Théâtre des Capucines
SELECTED
FILM SCORES
1967: Anna
1968: Le Pacha
1969: Slogan
1970: Cannabis
(instrumental)
1976: Je
t'aime moi non plus – Ballade de Johnny-Jane (instrumental)
1977: Madame
Claude (instrumental)
1977: Goodbye
Emmanuelle (instrumental)
1980: Je vous
aime (only three pieces sung by Gainsbourg)
Ronnie
Lane nasceu no East End de Londres. Após deixar a escola aos 16 anos, conheceu
Kenney Jones em um pub, e eles formaram um grupo chamado "The Outcasts".
Inicialmente guitarrista-base, não demorou muito para que decidisse passar para
o baixo. Em 1965, durante uma visita ao J60 Music Bar em Manor Park, Londres,
procurando por um baixo novo, Lane conheceu Steve Marriott, um funcionário do
lugar. Ele comprou o baixo, e foi para a casa de Marriott ouvir alguns discos;
foi então que Marriott o apresentou à sua coleção de álbuns da Motown e da
Stax. Os dois decidiram formar uma banda, convidando seus amigos Jones
(bateria) e Jimmy Winston (que passou da guitarra para o órgão). Marriott foi
escolhido para ser o vocalista.
Os
Small Faces logo progrediram dos ensaios para apresentações em bares, passando
para shows profissionais. A banda lançou vários singles de sucesso, como
"Tin Soldier, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" e "Itchkoo Park", mas
terminou em 1969 com a saída de Marriott. Para seu lugar foi convidado Rod
Stewart, e o grupo então passou a se chamar The Faces.
Lane
deixou os Faces em 1973 e montou sua própria banda, Slim Chance, gravando o
álbum Anymore For Anymore, demonstrando influências de rock britânico, folk e
country. Depois de um sucesso inicial com os compactos "How Come" e
"The Poacher", ele assinou contrato com a Island Records, lançando
Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance e One For The Road. Gravou um álbum com Pete
Townshend, Rough Mix, e um último disco solo, See Me.
Ronnie
foi diagnosticado com esclerose múltipla no final dos anos 70 (sua mãe também
sofria da mesma doença), e em 1983 passou a utilizar cadeira de rodas. Devido
ao alto custo financeiro de seu tratamento, seus amigos organizaram um show de
caridade no Royal Albert Hall, o A.R.M.S. Concert, apresentando Eric Clapton,
Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts e Kenney Jones, entre
outros.
Lane
se mudou para o Texas em 1984, onde o clima era mais benéfico à sua saúde, e se
esforçou para continuar tocando, se apresentando pela última vez em 1992 em um
show de Ron Wood. Rod Stewart continuava a fazer doações para o tratamento de
Ronnie, pois os ex-integrantes do The Small Faces não recebiam os royalities
por seu trabalho (resultado de um contrato com a gravadora Immediate). Graças
aos esforços do baterista Kenney Jones, os dois integrantes sobreviventes
eventualmente conseguiram receber seus direitos nos anos 90.
Um
álbum de gravações ao vivo para a BBC estava prestes a ser lançado para
arrecadar fundos para seu tratamento quando Lane morreu de pneumonia em 4 de
junho de 1997. Encontra-se sepultado no Cemitério Maçônico, Trinidad, Colorado
nos Estados Unidos.(da Wikipedia)
STUDIO
ALBUMS
1974 - Anymore
for Anymore
1974 - Ronnie
Lane's Slim Chance
1976 - One for
the Road
1979 - See Me
LIVE
ALBUMS
1997 - You
Never Can Tell (The BBC Sessions)
2000 - Live in
Austin
2001 - Rocket
69 (ao vivo na TV alemã)
ANTOLOGIES
1997 - Kuschty
Rye (The Singles 1973-1980)
1999 - Tin and
Tambourine
1999 - April
Fool
2001 - How
Come
2003 - Ain't
No One Like
2006 - Just
For a Moment
COLLABORATIONS
1970 - Happy
Birthday (com Pete Townshend)
1972 - I Am
(com Pete Townshend)
1976 -
Mahoney's Last Stand (com Ronnie Wood)
1976 - With
Love (com Pete Townshend)
1977 - Rough
Mix (com Pete Townshend)
1980 - The
Legendary Majik Mijits (com Steve Marriott)
John Sebastian
has had a varied career as a singer, songwriter, and musician. As the leader of
the folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful, he was responsible for a string of Top
Ten hits in 1965-1967 that included the chart-toppers "Daydream" and "Summer
in the City," and he returned to number one in 1976 as a solo artist with
"Welcome Back." He wrote or co-wrote those hits as well as many
others, along with songs used on Broadway and in the movies. And as an
instrumentalist, primarily playing harmonica, he has accompanied a wide range
of artists including Judy Collins, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Doors, Bob
Dylan, the Everly Brothers, Art Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, Laura Nyro, Graham
Parker, Dolly Parton, Peter, Paul & Mary, John Prine, and Bonnie Raitt.
Sebastian's
father was a classical harmonica player, his mother a writer of radio shows. He
grew up in Greenwich Village, where he applied the knowledge of the harmonica
he gleaned from his father to the music of the folk revival that was taking
place in his neighborhood in the late '50s and early '60s. By the age of 16, he
was stepping onto the stages of coffeehouses and folk clubs, and by the age of
18 he was appearing as a sideman on recordings. In 1964, he joined the Even
Dozen Jug Band, which made a self-titled album for Elektra Records before
splitting up. He was also briefly in the Mugwumps, along with future Lovin'
Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky and future members of the Mamas and the Papas
Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. In the winter of 1964-1965, he and Yanovsky
began assembling the quartet that would become the Lovin' Spoonful, eventually
adding bass player Steve Boone and drummer Joe Butler. In the meantime, he
continued his session work, including playing bass on Bob Dylan's first
electric album, Bringing It All Back Home.
The Lovin'
Spoonful signed to Kama Sutra Records (an offshoot of MGM Records) and in the
summer of 1965 released their first single, "Do You Believe in
Magic," on which he sang lead vocals (as he did on all the group's singles
while he was a member, in addition to writing or co-writing all their hits). It
peaked in the Top Ten, and so did its follow-up, "You Didn't Have to Be So
Nice," while a Do You Believe in Magic album, released in the fall, spent
eight months in the charts. The third Lovin' Spoonful single,
"Daydream," was a number one hit, accompanied by a Daydream LP that
reached the Top Ten. The group's fourth single, "Did You Ever Have to Make
Up Your Mind?," had already appeared on Do You Believe in Magic, but that
didn't keep it from reaching the Top Five, and the fifth single, the timely
"Summer in the City," became a gold-selling number one hit upon its
release in the summer of 1966. The next Lovin' Spoonful release was a soundtrack
album for the Woody Allen film What's Up, Tiger Lily?, released in September.
Then came their sixth consecutive Top Ten hit, "Rain on the Roof,"
followed by their seventh, "Nashville Cats," which reached its peak
in January 1967, simultaneous with a Top 20 showing for the band's third album,
Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, which spent six months in the charts. In the
spring, the Lovin' Spoonful scored a second motion picture, Francis Ford
Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now, from which came their next single, the Top 20
hit "Darling, Be Home Soon." "Six O'Clock" gave them
another Top 20 hit by June.
That summer,
the band ran into difficulties. Yanovsky and Boone were arrested on drug
charges, resulting in Yanovsky's departure from the group; his replacement was
Jerry Yester. They also parted ways with their producer, Erik Jacobsen.
"She's Still a Mystery" became their eleventh consecutive Top 20 hit
in November, but Sebastian was becoming dissatisfied, and after completing a fourth
LP, Everything Playing (which produced a minor chart entry in
"Money"), released at the end of the year, he quit the band. During
1968, he began working on solo material, considering, but ultimately rejecting,
an offer to join a trio of his friends who went on to become Crosby, Stills
& Nash. He also wrote some songs used in a Broadway play, Jimmy Shine,
starring Dustin Hoffman; among them was "She's a Lady," a minor chart
entry for him at the end of 1968. That single was released on Kama Sutra, but
Sebastian had determined to leave the label and he signed to Warner Bros.
Records' Reprise subsidiary. Kama Sutra, however, felt he still owed them an
album, and a legal battle ensued which delayed the release of his debut solo
album for a year. Although Reprise won the right to release John B. Sebastian,
and did so in January 1970, Kama Sutra's parent company, MGM, using
second-generation tapes of the record in its possession, also put out its own
version of the LP, which was then withdrawn.
In the
meantime, Sebastian had made an inadvertent but memorable appearance at the
Woodstock Festival in August 1969. Not scheduled to appear, but nevertheless
present backstage (and somewhat the worse for wear due to recreational drug
use), he was pressed into service during a set change and gave a brief,
well-received performance. Hobbled by the MGM counterfeit, John B. Sebastian
nevertheless managed to make the Top 20 in the spring of 1970 and Sebastian's
solo career really took off when he was featured on the chart-topping Woodstock
soundtrack album in May and in the documentary film that opened in August.
Unfortunately, MGM wasn't through harassing him. The label obtained a tape of a
concert he performed in July 1970 and released it under the title John
Sebastian Live. Another legal battle ensued, and this album too was withdrawn.
But Sebastian was determined to put out a competing album as well, and the
result was Cheapo-Cheapo Productions Presents Real Live John Sebastian,
released in March 1971. Both albums took advantage of the singer's iconic
status as a rock festival favorite, brandishing his acoustic guitar, wearing a
tie-dyed denim suit, and pleasing giant crowds at such Woodstock-like events as
the Atlanta Pop Festival, the Isle of Wight Festival, and the Festival of Life
in 1970-1971.
Sebastian
released his second studio album, The Four of Us, in August 1971, featuring the
ambitious title track, which took up all of side two; it sold disappointingly.
Tarzana Kid, which followed in September 1974, missed the charts entirely, and
Sebastian's recording career was virtually moribund when he was asked to write
a theme song for a new television series, Welcome Back, Kotter, which premiered
in September 1975. Sebastian was also heard singing his song, "Welcome
Back," over the credits each week. Welcome Back, Kotter became a success,
and Reprise released a single version of the song, which topped the charts in
May 1976 and went gold. A Welcome Back LP also returned Sebastian to the album
charts. But that disc completed his recording contract, and "Welcome
Back" proved to be a one-off success rather than a real commercial
comeback.
For the next
17 years, Sebastian performed concerts, made guest appearances on other
artists' records, and did occasional soundtrack work. In 1993, the independent
Shanachie Records label finally put out his fifth studio album, Tar Beach. He
then teamed up with a group of old friends and returned to playing the jug band
music he had started with back in Greenwich Village more than 30 years before,
forming a group he called John Sebastian and the J-Band and issuing I Want My
Roots (1996) and Chasin' Gus' Ghost (1999). As part of the Lovin' Spoonful, he
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Whether
serving as a session musician, solo artist, or soundtrack composer, Ry Cooder's
chameleon-like fretted instrument virtuosity, songwriting, and choice of
material encompass an incredibly eclectic range of North American musical
styles, including rock & roll, blues, reggae, Tex-Mex, Hawaiian, Dixieland
jazz, country, folk, R&B, gospel, and vaudeville. In addition to his
American music bona fides, Cooder is an unofficial American cultural
ambassador: He was partially responsible for bringing together the Cuban
musicians known globally as the Buena Vista Social Club, recording with Ali
Farka Toure, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Manuel Galban, to name scant few. During
the '80s and '90s he was a celebrated film composer, scoring works such as
Walter Hill's The Long Riders, Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas and The End of
Violence, and Tony Richardson's The Border. Since 1989, he has won six Grammy
Awards and been nominated for many more in genres ranging from children's music
and folk, to Latin (pop and traditional), Americana, and world music. Among his
most notable albums in the 21st century were the conceptual albums Chavez
Ravine, about an LA neighborhood bulldozed to make way for bringing the Dodgers
baseball team to Los Angeles, and San Patricio with the Chieftains, about a
band of immigrant Irish soldiers that deserted the American Army during the
Mexican-American War to fight for the other side.
The
16-year-old Cooder began his career in 1963 in a blues band with Jackie
DeShannon and then formed the short-lived Rising Sons in 1965 with Taj Mahal
and Spirit drummer Ed Cassidy. Cooder met producer Terry Melcher through the
Rising Sons and was invited to perform at several sessions with Paul Revere
& the Raiders. During his subsequent career as a session musician, Cooder's
trademark slide guitar work graced the recordings of such artists as Captain
Beefheart (Safe as Milk), Randy Newman, Little Feat, Van Dyke Parks, the Rolling
Stones (Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers), Taj Mahal, and Gordon Lightfoot. He also
appeared on the soundtracks of Candy and Performance.
Cooder
made his debut as a solo artist in 1970 with a self-titled album featuring
songs by Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson, Sleepy John Estes, and Woody Guthrie.
The follow-up, Into the Purple Valley, introduced longtime cohorts Jim Keltner
on drums and Jim Dickinson on bass, and it and Boomer's Story largely repeated
and refined the syncopated style and mood of the first. In 1974, Cooder
produced what is generally regarded as his best album, Paradise and Lunch, and
its follow-up, Chicken Skin Music, showcased a potent blend of Tex-Mex,
Hawaiian, gospel, and soul, and featured contributions from Flaco Jimenez and
Gabby Pahinui. In 1979, Bop til You Drop was the first major-label album to be
recorded digitally. In the early '80s, Cooder began to augment his solo output
with soundtrack work on such films as Blue Collar, The Long Riders, and The Border;
he has gone on to compose music for films such as Paris, Texas, Streets of
Fire, Alamo Bay, Blue City, Crossroads, Cocktail, Johnny Handsome, and Steel
Magnolias, among others. Music by Ry Cooder (1995) compiled two discs' worth of
highlights from Cooder's film work.
In
1992, Cooder joined Keltner, John Hiatt, and renowned British tunesmith Nick
Lowe, all of whom had played on Hiatt's Bring the Family, to form Little
Village, which toured and recorded one album. Cooder turned his attention to
world music, recording the album A Meeting by the River with Indian musician
V.M. Bhatt. Cooder's next project, a duet album with renowned African guitarist
Ali Farka Touré titled Talking Timbuktu, won the 1994 Grammy for Best World
Music Recording.
His
next world crossover would become one of the most popular musical rediscoveries
of the 20th century. In 1997, Cooder traveled to Cuba to produce and play with
a group of son musicians who had little exposure outside of their homeland. The
resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, was a platinum-selling international
success that made stars of Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, and Rubén González,
and earned Cooder another Grammy. He continued to work on projects with his
Buena Vista bandmates, including a collaboration with Manuel Galbán in 2003
titled Mambo Sinuendo. His other work in the 2000s included sessions with James
Taylor, Aaron Neville, Warren Zevon, and Spanish diva Luz Casal.
In
2005, Cooder released Chavez Ravine, his first solo album since 1987's Get
Rhythm; the album was the first entry in a trilogy of recordings about the
disappearance of Los Angeles' cultural history as a result of gentrification.
Chavez Ravine was followed by My Name Is Buddy in 2007, and the final chapter
in the saga I, Flathead in 2009. In 2010, Cooder was approached by Paddy
Moloney of the Chieftains to produce an album. Moloney had been obsessed with
an historical account of the San Patricios, a band of immigrant Irish soldiers
who deserted the American Army during the Mexican-American War in 1846 to fight
for the other side, against the Manifest Destiny ideology of James Polk's
America. Cooder agreed and the result was San Patricio, which brings this
fascinatingly complex tale to life. In early 2011, Cooder was taken by a
headline about bankers and other moneyed citizens who'd actually profited from
the bank bailouts and resulting mortgage and economic crisis, and wrote the
song "No Banker Left Behind," which became the first song on 2011's
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, an album that reached all the way back to his
earliest recordings for musical inspiration while telling topical stories about
corruption -- political and social -- the erasure and the rewriting of American
history, and an emerging class war. A month after its release, Beat poet
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's fabled City Lights publishing house issued Cooder's
first collection of short fiction entitled Los Angeles Stories. He continued to
follow his socio-political muse with Election Special, released in the summer
of 2012, and in 2013 released Live in San Francisco, his first live album in 35
years, with Corridos Famosos (son Joachim on percussion, Flaco Jimenez on
accordion, Robert Francis on bass, and vocalists Terry Evans, Arnold McCuller,
and Juliette Commagere). The ten-piece Mexican brass band La Banda Juvenil also
guested. In 2014, Rhino Records offered an epic-scale look at Cooder's work in
film scoring with Soundtracks, a seven-disc box set compiled from his movie
music of the '80s and '90s.
After
playing mainly bluegrass and country gospel songs with Ricky Skaggs in 2017,
Cooder's percussionist son Joachim convinced his dad to cut an album of country
and blues-gospel songs. The younger Cooder arranged the 11-song set and the
guitarist fleshed them out for a band. Entitled The Prodigal Son, it comprising
eight covers including songs by the Pilgrim Travelers, Blind Willie Johnson,
Carter Stanley, and three originals. In late March, Cooder released a preview video
of an arrangement of the title track recorded live in studio. The Prodigal Son
was issued in May 2018 and followed by his first American tour in 15 years; he
was backed by his own band (with Joachim on drums and percussion) with backing
vocals by the Hamiltones.
Discografia
Rising
Sons featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
(gravado em 1965/1966, lançado em 1992)
Ry
Cooder (1970)
Into
the Purple Valley (1971)
Boomer's
Story (1972)
Paradise
and Lunch (1974)
Chicken
Skin Music (1976)
Showtime (1976)
Jazz (1978)
Bop
Till You Drop (1979)
The
Long Riders (1980)
Borderline (1980)
The
Slide Area (1982)
Paris,
Texas (1984)
Music
from Alamo Bay (1985)
Blue
City (1986)
Crossroads
(1986)
Why
Don't You Try Me Tonight (1986)
Get
Rhythm (1987)
Johnny
Handsome (1989)
Little
Village (1991)
Trespass (1992)
A
Meeting By The River (1993)
(com VM Bhatt)
Geronimo,
An American Legend (1993)
King
Cake Party (1994)
(com a The Zydeco Party Band)
Talking
Timbuktu (1994)
(com Ali Farka Touré)
Music
by Ry Cooder (1995)
Last
Man Standing (1996)
Buena
Vista Social Club (1997)
The
End of Violence (1997)
Mambo
Sinuendo (2003)
Chávez
Ravine (2005)
My
Name Is Buddy (2007)
I,
Flathead (2008)
San
Patricio (2010)
Pull
Up Some Dust and Sit Down (2011)
Election
Special (2012)
Delta
Time (2012)
Live
at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco (2013)
