Anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing the film, despite the title song – “The Weary Kind”.   [...]]]> There’s a new picture coming out, with Jeff Bridges as a broken-down country singer seeking redemption and a reset of his derailed career.  (My attorney says I can’t discuss the similarites between the plot and my own life story until the lawsuit is settled.)

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing the film, despite the title song – “The Weary Kind”.   It’s really bad.

It’s supposed to be a hard core country song, but it sounds like more like a wussy folk-rock ballard, with droning fingerpicking, trite lyrics, and  a vague wandering melody.  T Bone Burnett co-wrote it, and he really knows country (he compiled the music for “O Brother”), but he sure missed the boat with this effort.  Have a listen and see what you think.
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/crazyheart/

And what’s with the tag line for the film – “The Harder the Life, the Sweeter the Song”?  Sounds like the sentiment for a Hallmark Card, and a bad one at that.

Here’s the release schedule for the film –  

Now Playing
Los Angeles (AMC Century City and Arclight Hollywood)
New York (AMC Loews Lincoln Square and Angelika Film Center)

Friday, December 25th
Chicago
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Phoenix
San Francisco

Friday, January 8th
Austin
Boston
San Diego
Seattle
Washington D.C.

Friday, January 15th
Atlanta
Baltimore
Denver
Detroit
Hartford/New Haven
Houston
Minneapolis
Philadelphia 
Portland
Toronto
Vancouver

Friday, January 22nd
Albany
Ann Arbor
Boca/W. Palm Beach
Buffalo
Columbus
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Madison
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
Milwaukee
Montreal
Orlando
Rochester
Sacramento
St. Louis

Friday, January 29th
Albuquerque
Calgary
Champagne/Decatur/Springfield
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Des Moines
Edmonton
Knoxville
Lansing
Louisville
Memphis
Nashville
New Orleans
Norfolk/Newport News
Northampton/Springfield
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Pittsburgh
Providence
Richmond
San Antonio
Tucson
Tulsa

Friday, February 5th
Anchorage
Asheville
Baton Rouge
Birmingham
Boise
Charlottesville
Colorado Springs
Corpus Christi
Dayton
Ft. Myers
Gainesville
Grand Rapids
Halifax
Harrisburg, PA
Ithaca
Jacksonville
Kitchener
Lexington
Ottawa
Portland, ME
Raleigh/Durham
Reno
Salt Lake
Santa Fe
Sarasota
Spokane
St. John
Syracuse
Tallahassee
Tampa/St. Petersburg
Victoria
Winnipeg

This is the card I’ll be handing out at my upcoming gigs and travels. It’s ultra-modern, with boomerangs, space-age fonts and subtle use of 1957 Fender Stratocaster Fiesta Red.

This is a limited edition card, so you’ll want to get yours soon and trade them with your friends, family and business associates.  [...]]]> You asked for it, and here it is!

This is the card I’ll be handing out at my upcoming gigs and travels.
It’s ultra-modern, with boomerangs, space-age fonts and subtle use of 1957 Fender Stratocaster Fiesta Red.

This is a limited edition card, so you’ll want to get yours soon and trade them with your friends, family and business associates.  Collect the whole set!

Update – apparently, these cards with a genuine Hank Sinatra signature are selling on eBay for twice the price of a card without a signature.  Wow.

In the picture, you can see the silhouettes of homes on the Salishan spit, and there’s someone digging clams since the tide has gone out in Siletz [...]]]> I was setting up for one of my regular Saturday gigs on the Bay House in Lincoln City.  The sun was going down, so a grabbed my camera for a quick snapshot.

In the picture, you can see the silhouettes of homes on the Salishan spit, and there’s someone digging clams since the tide has gone out in Siletz Bay.

What a wonderful place to play music and meet old friends, and make new ones.

Like me, you’ve probably heard Dizzy Gillispie’s “Hot Syrup” and Thelonious Monk’s far-out “Waffle Pants.”  Who knew that these avant-garde free-form compositions were inspired by the catchy song stylings of two Norwegian jazz legends?

They were a unlikely pair.  Bookish seagoing accountant Oscar Swensen teamed up with the [...]]]> It’s funny where the road of musical exploration leads.

Like me, you’ve probably heard Dizzy Gillispie’s “Hot Syrup” and Thelonious Monk’s far-out “Waffle Pants.”  Who knew that these avant-garde free-form compositions were inspired by the catchy song stylings of two Norwegian jazz legends?

They were a unlikely pair.  Bookish seagoing accountant Oscar Swensen teamed up with the flamboyant accordian salesman Gunnar Jensen in the late 1920’s and performed under the names “The Snappy Boys” and “The Rhythm Whiz-Bangs.”  For a short time, they billed themselves as the “Oslo Hula Rangers,” in a creative but ultimately misguided effort to capitalize on the twin trends of Western and Hawaiian music which were sweeping through Scandinavia in the early 1930’s.

Finally, their toil in the ‘melody mines’ paid off as they struck musical paydirt in 1934.  Released as the B side to their all-but-forgotten “I Have The Crazy Jazz In My Toes,” they took the nation by storm with their uptempo original “Hver Gang Spiser Jeg Min Waffle, Far Jeg Sirup Pa Min Bukser” (When I Eat My Waffle, I Get Syrup On My Pants.)

Dizzy Gillespie (right) in Oslo

The influence of this number, with its catchy syncopation and enigmatic lyrics, spread far beyond the borders of Norway, as far as Northern Denmark and parts of rural Finland.  American jazz legends like Monk and Gillespie were exposed to the tune (and infected, some might say) when they toured Norway in the 1950’s. 

 Swensen and Jensen were enjoying their new celebrity as the premier jazz duo in Norway, when their career was interrupted by the gathering clouds of war in Europe.  They were not alone.  As the Norwegian Jazz Archives notes, “For Norwegian jazz musicians, the outbreak of World War II came at a very inconvenient time.”

 During the German occupation, “Waffle” became an anthem of underground resistance when the lyrics were changed to “When I Kick a Nazi, I Get Dirty On My Shoes.”  After the war ended, post-war Norway was ready to look to the future; a future which sadly did not seem to include Swensen and Jensen.

Lack of bookings and long-festering issues contributed to the duo’s breakup in the mid-1950’s.  Swensen harbored resentment over changing his name from Swenson to Swensen, in order to rhyme with Jensen.  Jensen had always campaigned for the lyrics of their hit song to reflect his personal preference of jam and butter on waffles, rather than ‘elitist’ syrup.

They drifted apart.  Swensen would later find reknown as one of the nation’s most prominent beekeepers.  Jensen continued to seek the limelight, and would find it as the beloved Norwegian clown, “Tante Otto.”  A short-lived reunion tour in 1963 ended in bitterness and acrimony.

Oscar Swensen can still be found on the bandstand, occasionally sitting in for a guest appearance with “The Hot Club of Sarpsborg.”  Gunnar Jensen has retired to his workshop, seeking to perfect his “radical” design for a new type of whoopee cushion.

There are some real life-lessons here.  I’m just not sure what they are.

(We gratefully acknowledge the resources of the National Library of Norway and the Norwegian Jazz Archives.)

I’ve been working on a couple of cool tunes lately.

The first one is ‘Deed I Do, an old jazz [...]]]> Sometimes a new song is as easy as sitting down with the guitar and the lyrics.  Other times, I’ve got to search for the right chords and voicings.  And then there’s getting the vocal nuances just right.

I’ve been working on a couple of cool tunes lately.

The first one is ‘Deed I Do, an old jazz tune from the 1920’s.  I really like the way Blossom Dearie recorded it in the mid-50’s, light and swinging.

The other song is My Baby Just Cares For Me,  a Broadway show tune also from the Roaring 20’s.  Nat did a nice version in 1949, but I’m digging the classic Nina Simone version from 1958.  Very cool.

I ‘m having fun playing with these new tunes and getting to feel comfortable with my own versions.  You’ll probably hear one or both the next time you catch my show.

If you’ve got a favorite tune that you’d like to hear get the Hank treatment, leave a comment and email me.

I’m especially enjoying his work in the 1940’s, with Nat playing the piano, with an acoustic bass and a jazz guitar.  I was unfamiliar with Nat’s early career, but [...]]]> If Hank has a favorite singer right now, it’s got to be Nat ‘King’ Cole.  His voice, which is always cool, easy and hip, never sounds pushed.

I’m especially enjoying his work in the 1940’s, with Nat playing the piano, with an acoustic bass and a jazz guitar.  I was unfamiliar with Nat’s early career, but to get a couple of tunes, I had to buy an entire five-disc box set of the Nat King Cole Trio, and soon discovered a new appreciation for one tune after another.  The NKC Trio also showed Nat to be a monster pianist, whose skills are often overlooked.

As musician, the best thing is to be able to take apart some of my favorites, work them up, and add them to my repertoire.  Sometimes this can be a real challenge since some of the songs are pretty obscure and there doesn’t seem to be any charts to them anywhere (like “I Thought You Ought To Know”). Fortunately, I have my good friend Steve Prager to help.  Steve can listen to any song once through, and call all the changes; diminished, augmented, minor 7th flat 5 – no problem.  Amazing!

Being a late-comer to the jazz scene, I didn’t realize that a lot of these tunes were jazz classics that have done by everyone from Bessie Smith to Miles Davis to Chet Baker.  Thanks to YouTube, it’s interesting to hear their interpretations, but I keep coming back the bounce of Nat’s trio.  I guess I gotta have that cool swing.

In the mid-50’s, Nat recorded the “After Midnight” album, partly to counter accusations of jazz aficianados that he sold out to sing popular songs, and lost his jazz chops.  So in this album, Nat goes back to roots, recording with a couple of sidemen, and some guest musicians.  I’ve heard a couple of the tracks and they sound very solid, so I’m looking forward to getting the album to hear the rest.

These days, probably every fourth or fifth song I do is one that Nat did.  I hope you’ll stop by and catch a few.

I was at the Bay House restaurant last Saturday, October 10th. The sun was setting as I started my first set. The Bayside Lounge overlooks Siletz Bay, and I could see a Great Blue Heron flying by as I launched into the first song, Funny How Time Slips Away.

As several in [...]]]>

Lounge - Before the Show

I was at the Bay House restaurant last Saturday, October 10th.
The sun was setting as I started my first set. The Bayside Lounge overlooks Siletz Bay, and I could see a Great Blue Heron flying by as I launched into the first song, Funny How Time Slips Away.

As several in the audience commented, The Bay House is a perfect venue for Hank’s music. It’s intimate yet roomy, and allows the music to fully reach all corners of the space.

Dear Friends and Fans

It was great to see old friends who came by to catch the show, and make some new friends as well. There was a great write-up about Hank in the weekly Oregon Coast Today and several people came because of that.

For this performance, I added Walking After Midnight and Nite Life to the set list.  I had been playing ‘Walking’ for a long time but but put aside recently to retool some of the chords to get a jazzier sound.  And I’d been playing around with Nite Life for a couple of years before getting serious and finding the chord structure I wanted.

I’m already looking forward to being back at the Bay House on November 7th, and on December 5th and 19th.

I’m a big fan of his earlier work, from the 1960’s when he was trying to break [...]]]> I also thought Willie Nelson could have been even more popular as jazz or pop musician, than as a county icon.  His vocal phrasing and delivery are just amazing, and his chord structures (playing and composing) are totally sophisticated. 

I’m a big fan of his earlier work, from the 1960’s when he was trying to break into the Nashville scene (and before he gave up trying and headed for Austin.)  These are a couple of my favorite albums of his songs from that period.

Crazy: The Demo Sessions
Here are 18 original recordings made by Willie to help pitch his songs to singers like Patsy Cline.  Many of the cuts are just Willie and his guitar.  Most of tunes are, however, as Willie described them, “pretty sorrowful.”  (like  “Opportunity to Cry,” “I’ve Just Destroyed the World,” “Darkness on the Face of the Earth,” and “Half a Man.” – kinda grim.)

 Nite Life: Greatest Hits and Rare Tracks, 1959-1971
This is one of my favorite albums, with vintage tracks of “Nite Life,” “Hello Walls,” “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and “Crazy.”  Willie’s performing and songwriting genius shine through on these tunes and others, representing, in my mind, his best work.

Willie’s newest album was released in August, 2009, titled “American Classic.”  In this album, Willie revisits the classic American songbook, with songs like “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Ain’t Misbehaving,” “The Nearness of You,” and “On the Street Where You Live.”  Many were hoping for a repeat performance with the impact of his “Stardust” album, which is his best-selling album to date.

However, I was disappointed in “American Classic”, and I’ll get into more details in another post.

Later, Hank

Surely this is no surprise to most people.  But the author, Terry Teachout, makes a keen observation…

What does this [...]]]> There was a good opinion piece recently in the Wall Street Journal, titled “Can Jazz Be Saved?“  It quoted some statistics to drive home the point that jazz listening is down 30%, just in the past six years. 

Surely this is no surprise to most people.  But the author, Terry Teachout, makes a keen observation…

What does this tell us? I suspect it means, among other things, that the average American now sees jazz as a form of high art. Nor should this come as a surprise to anyone, since most of the jazz musicians that I know feel pretty much the same way. They regard themselves as artists, not entertainers, masters of a musical language that is comparable in seriousness to classical music—and just as off-putting to pop-loving listeners who have no more use for Wynton Marsalis than they do for Felix Mendelssohn.

Interesting thought.  Jazz changed from entertainment to “art”.  The jazz musician started caring less about pleasing the audience and more about pursuing their “vision”.  And if the audience is lucky, they get to watch.

As late as the early ’50s, jazz was still for the most part a genuinely popular music, a utilitarian, song-based idiom to which ordinary people could dance if they felt like it. But by the ’60s, it had evolved into a challenging concert music whose complexities repelled many of the same youngsters who were falling hard for rock and soul.

I guess that’s why I identify with the musicians and music of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.  To me, it’s all about communicating with the audience and having a good time together. 

Otherwise, I might as well stay home and play in my room, for myself.

Guitar My main axe these days is a Taylor 914CE flatop six-string.  It’s a really great guitar, but perhaps a little too bright for the Hank sound.  I haven’t found an [...]]]> Come to a Hank Sinatra show and this is what I’ll be using.
For a more complete descussion of the equipment, check out the “Gear” page under “About”.

Guitar
My main axe these days is a Taylor 914CE flatop six-string.  It’s a really great guitar, but perhaps a little too bright for the Hank sound.  I haven’t found an archtop yet that suits me, but I’ll keep looking. 

Amplifier/P.A.
The Hank sound is all about the vocals (described as “two parts Nat, one part Frank, with a dash of Willie”) so it was important to have an excellent P.A. system to deliver that sound to a room full of people in a small to mid-size venue.  I’ve been using a Fishman SoloAmp for about six months and it’s doing a great job.

The sound is good enough that other musicians often ask about the Fishman system, with the comment that they’ve got to check it out for their own use.   

Microphone
After a lot of searching, I ended up with the Neumann KMS-104.  This is a beautiful microphone, maybe the best in the world for vocal performance. The only downside may be that it’s a condenser mic, which requires 48v phantom power. 

Guitar strings
I use Extra Life Acoustic strings from DR Strings, in a medium-light gauge.

Guitar picks
 I used to use an ordinary medium nylon pick, but now I depend on a Dunlop 207 Jazztone, in a 2mm thickness. I modify my picks for extra grip and control, by drilling six or more large holes.  No kidding.

Cables
I’m using Lyric Evidence Audio cables for both guitar and vocal, and they are terrific.  The only downside is that they are pretty stiff, which makes them easy to trip on. 
I found a great resource at Lava Cable.  Check them out.

That’s it.  Now you know how to get that Hank sound.  (Oh, and just add Hank.)