..And one of my great loves is classical mandolin, its last "golden era" coinciding with the dawn of the pre-electric recording industry. Note the performances of composed, virtuosic art music by Raffaele Calace, Giovanni Giovale, Samuel Siegel, Valentine Abt, Bernado de Pace, et al. to cylinders and 78s. Similarly delicious to those pioneers of jazz and similarly less edited.
Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On > Behalf Of Ron Andrico > Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 12:48 PM > To: dwinh...@comcast.net; lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > Subject: [LUTE] Re: The End of the Golden Age > > Dan: > I'm pleased that you made mention of this. One of my great loves is > jazz guitar from the 30s, Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Carl Kress, > George van Eps and Teddy Bunn. These guys were playing a style known > as chord melody, which is really improvising in three or four parts > with good voice leading. I feel that their mode of improvisation, > creating instrumentally brilliant settings of popular songs, makes them > direct decendents of 16th century lutenists with their intabulations of > chansons and motets. > While it is true that the performance on a 78 record was not edited, in > most cases multiple takes were played. They just kept and issued the > best one. > I'll add my two cents worth on the other thread. In a Guitar Player > magazine interview from the 80s, when asked what kind of pick he used, > George Thorogood's response was, "If you can't think of something more > interesting to talk about, this interview is over." I guess we're not > discussing the same genre but amusing anyway. > Ron Andrico > www.mingarda.com > > > Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:26:08 -0700 > > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > > From: dwinh...@comcast.net > > Subject: [LUTE] Re: The End of the Golden Age > > > > Very well put indeed. To realize the unforced, unedited perfection > > that IS attainable- albeit by nearly superhumanly talented > > performers- just go back to earlier "Golden Ages" of recording, like > > the old 78 rpm days. Studio recordings as well as live recordings > > done in one take. At the moment I am recalling the likes of Django > > Reinhardt and Art Tatum (who at least were taped- earlier recordings > > were not only uneditable but the performers also had to tailer the > > movements to the time constraints of what could fit on one side of a > > 78 record surface. Without sacrificing performance standards!) > > > > Dan > > > > Unfortunately, this exceptional cleanliness is produced via a > > huge number of digital edits which will be undetectable and therefore > > in a sense, "natural." The problem with this is that the edits where > > never conceived of or performed as an organic whole so that finished > > product, while smooth, often lacks life. Imagine if Martin Luther > > King Jr. would have recorded his "I have a dream" speech by reciting > > it 50 times, re-saying certain problem clauses or stumbled words, > > then having some audio engineer piece the various takes (some perhaps > > comprising a single syllable) together with 900 edits. Yes, his > > voice as an object might technically sound "better" once the quivers > > and explosions were taken out, but would it have the same sense of > > outrage and urgency? What would be the point? > > > > Chris > > > > -- > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > __________________________________________________________________ > > Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. [1]Sign up now. > -- > > References > > 1. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/
