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Tim Niland
Blues and Jazz ExaminerTim Niland is a lifelong jazz and blues fan, who
began blogging about music five years ago. In real life, he is a
public librarian living in New Jersey.
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Blues and Jazz Examiner
Early Zappa
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
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While I have my favorite early Zappa albums (We're Only In It For the Money and Hot Rats) on compact disc, I still have several vinyl records from this period. What interests me about this music is that it sounds so different from much of the other rock 'n' roll music being made during this period. While much of the music in this period was blues based, Zappa drew upon classical, jazz and doo-wop among other influences and used a vast variety of instrumentation that was outside of the standard guitar/bass/drums lineup.
On the Freak Out LP, the use of different types of compositional techniques with improvisation and tape loops are groundbreaking. The Uncle Meat album is fascinating for the same reasons. It has large swaths of music sprawling over four sides originally means for a movie of the same name, so there are moments where jazz meets rock 'n' roll and cinematic music. His use of satire in his lyrics was also quite unusual, and while sometimes if flops, when it does work, particularly in terms of social mores and generational change in the late 1960's, it is very effective. The song "Ugly Freaks, Daddy" really makes this point of the young going in a different direction from their parents who came up tempered by depression and war.
Topics: rockandroll , frankzappa
More from Blues and Jazz Examiner
John Coltrane - The Major Works of John Coltrane (Impulse, 1992)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
This two CD set brings together some very intense and transitional music recorded by John Coltrane in 1965. This was a fascinating period in his career, as his longtime quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums... Read More
Topics: jazz , johncoltrane
Various Artists - Jook Joint Blues (JSP, 2007)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
For blues fans, the Juke or in this case Jook Joint has taken on the mystical place of a temple, where the Word of the blues is passed down from the musician-priests to the eager supplicants, who contort and speak in tongues on the dance floor. This... Read More
Topics: blues , variousartists
John Patton – Soul Connection (Just A Memory/Justin Time 1983, 2008)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
“Big” John Patton never quite achieved the fame of fellow organists Jimmy Smith or Brother Jack McDuff, but he was a potent and soulful force on the instrument in the 1960’s, cutting some well received albums for Blue Note before drifting... Read More
Topics: jazz , bigjohnpatton
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Vagrant, 2008)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
Anthemic sounding rock 'n' roll with the "big" sound like Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, et. al. The character studies are quite interesting, almost beat like in their studies of the underside of American youth. Musicians running from the... Read More
Topics: rockandroll , theholdsteady
Watermelon Slim and the Workers - No Paid Holidays (Northern Blues, 2008)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
Watermelon Slim and the Workers play the straight-up workingman's blues, for people who walk the hard road every day and are trying to make ends meet. Slim has been a soldier, truck driver and everything in between, and their latest album continues their... Read More
Topics: blues , watermelonslim
Earl Hooker - Blue Guitar (Paula, 1981)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
Like many of the legends of the blues, guitarist Earl Hooker moved to Chicago in the post-war years from his birthplace of Mississippi. Earning a place for himself in the pantheon with his unique slide guitar and his aversion to singing, Hooker never... Read More
Topics: blues , earlhooker
Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Party Intellectuals (Pi Recordings, 2008)
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
In some recent pictures, guitarist Marc Ribot looks like that professor you had in college… complete with scruffy salt and pepper hair and a wry smile. But this belies the heart of a radical musical polymath that still beats within him. Jumping... Read More
Topics: jazz , marcribot
Interesting posts
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
The Allmusic blog has anice post about the music of trumpeter Woody Shaw:"Although Shaw would continue to record for various labels up until his tragic death in 1989, he never quite achieved the commercial success he deserved. Nonetheless, he is... Read More
Topics: jazz , blues , woodyshaw
Short reviews
Tim Niland - Blues and Jazz Examiner
John Zorn - Filmworks XIX (Tzadik, 2008): For this release, John Zorn puts down his saxophone and picks up his composing pen, to write eleven short sketches for the animated short film, The Rain Horse which was directed by Russian animator Dimitri Geller.... Read More
Topics: jazz , johnzorn , larryochs
