Well, dear readers, what is it about music that can just transport you to such heavenly places and make you feel emotions (happy, sad, romantic, tragic) and conjure up imagery and people and adventures and life? The most amazing thing is that the same music will do different things for people – some may not respond to a piece of music at all (I’m that way with Mozart, Beethoven – I admire from afar, but the music does not transport me, touch me, or bring emotion to me), while others will find the same music magical. Different people will conjure up different feelings and emotions from the same piece of music. I can never remember a time when music wasn’t paramount in my life, whether collecting the discards from my father’s jukebox machines in his restaurants and bars, or hearing songs on the radio, or playing the albums my parents had in the house (from 78s to those new-fangled LPs). And from a really early age I became aware that I responded to certain types of musical language, certain harmonics, certain chords, certain types of orchestration, certain instruments, certain types of singers. As those who’ve read the Kritzer books know, I began buying records when I was about six and I was voracious about it. I’d hear a song on the radio and would run out and buy it. I’d hear a theme from a movie, same thing. Later, in junior high my music appreciation teacher taught me how to close my eyes and let music wash over me and transport me – the first piece he did that with was Smetana’s brilliant The Moldau.
From his earliest songs I knew that I’d found a musical friend in Burt Bacharach – the rhythms, the harmonics, the orchestrations, everything about his songs appealed to me. I remember being eight or nine and even though I didn’t know what a major seventh chord was, when I heard one it was just nirvana to me – and that has never changed. There weren’t many of them back in the mid to late 1950s – and Bacharach helped usher them into pop music – not saying they weren’t there, but he really brought that style to the forefront. I responded instantly to the symphonic Americana style of Copland and later Robert Ward. I fell in love with Ralph Vaughn-Williams thanks to Fantasia on Greensleeves, and I couldn’t get enough of his music. And he led me to Arnold Bax, William Alwyn, Malcolm Arnold, William Walton, and others. And then there were the shows. I always liked Rodgers and Hammerstein (of course my parents had South Pacific, like everyone had back then), but my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein song became Love, Look Away (guess why – yes, the opening major seventh chord). Then I discovered Jule Styne and that was a love affair. I was head over heels in love with The Music Man, too and then the first real Broadway musical I saw was Willson’s The Unsinkable Molly Brown and I loved that, too. And then Sondheim’s music (via Anyone Can Whistle) and Leonard Bernstein and Frank Loesser and on and on. I discovered jazz and that took me to whole new places – especially Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans. And so it went and so it continues to go. For me, there is nothing that makes me happier than hearing some new piece of music that moves me or delights me and it happens constantly. I’m always discovering classical composers I had no knowledge of, I’m always discovering jazz albums I missed over the years, always discovering songwriters whose work had somehow passed me by or film composers whose work I wasn’t familiar with. And I can still sit in a dark room and let music wash over me and take me to amazing places – the power of it never stops and, for me, it is perhaps the most powerful art of them all.
All that by way of saying that last night I listened to the next Kritzerland release – I’d just viewed the motion picture from whence it came, but there it was mixed very low, truncated, and accompanied specific scenes and images. Listening apart from the film was a whole other deal – it’s just wonderfully melodic and gorgeous music and I just sat here, brain fuzzy, letting it work its magic on me, and boy did it.
Well, that was a tangent, wasn’t it. Not a tangential tangent mind you, but a tangent tangent. I had a mostly nice day, but with a lot of running around. I got up and had to drive to the SAG offices and deliver paperwork. Then I had to rush home so I could do the four-mile jog before my lunch meeting. The lunch meeting was at the Eclectic Café and was fun. Then I moseyed on over to my storage facility to find two charts – one I found easily, but the other wasn’t there. I know I have the piano/vocal here, but the orchestration folder isn’t there. And I have this memory that I pulled it so someone could use it, and I vaguely remember seeing it somewhere around here – where I might have put it is anyone’s guess, but I’ll continue looking for it. Then I picked up several packages, including a new wallet, which is RIFD-protected so people cannot scan anything through it. I don’t like the wallet all that much but I’ll feel safer using it.
Then I wrote the liner notes for our new release and got all that stuff to the Kritzerland designer, after which I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a delightfully delightful motion picture on Blu and Ray (a region B import) entitled The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-San, a French film from France, directed by Luc Besson and based on a comic book series. It’s kind of a female Indiana Jones at times, and its humor is fun and the whole thing moves along at a steady clip – the lead gal is great and the rest of the cast is quirky and fun. The score by Eric Serra is terrific, the look of the film is wonderful, and I just enjoyed it thoroughly. I know it wasn’t that well thought of by the kiddies who go see movies these days, and that figures.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because we’ll be shipping CDs first thing in the morning and I must get some semblance of beauty sleep.
Today, I shall be shipping CDs with the helper. Then I have a lunch meeting with Juliana Hansen and her beau. Then we have a work session with Vicki and Joan, after which I shall be ready to sit on the couch like so much fish.
Tomorrow is yet another lunch meeting and a lot of running around and hopefully picking up some packages and an important envelope. The weekend dance card has filled up a little. And yes, Virginia, we’re STILL looking for camera and sound. Unbelievable.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, ship CDs, do the four-mile jog, have a lunch meeting, have a work session, eat, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When you were young, what music had the ability to work its magic on you – of any type? And why did it? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, with beautiful music still rolling around in my head.