Marianne Faithfull - Howard County Times

When reminded that she recently told a journalist on the CBS Sunday Morning program that she finally, “gets it,” singer Marianne Faithfull confesses that she’s not sure what she meant by that statement.

 “Oh man, what the hell was I talking about?” she says with a laugh by phone from her home in Paris.

 “I suppose it must have been about life in general,” she continues. “I understand the rules now. They’re pretty simple really. Behave well, and don’t drink and take drugs!”

 Faithfull’s dramatic tale has been well documented.

 At 17, she became a pop star with her version of “As Tears Go By,” written by The Rolling Stones. As the girlfriend of Mick Jagger, Faithfull was the crown princess of swinging London, until a notorious drug bust at the home of Keith Richards set off a long downward spiral into addiction and homelessness.

“It destroyed me,” the musician now recalls.

By the end of the seventies, Marianne Faithfull had all but disappeared from public consciousness until her triumphant comeback album, 1979’s “Broken English.” Even though years of abuse had rendered her once angelic voice into something cracked and weathered, it had somehow become even more stunning in its imperfection.

“It’s a good instrument,” Faithfull proclaims. “It’s got something it can do that no one else can.”

Indeed, hers is a voice that’s lived, and if any more evidence is needed it is found on the musician’s new CD, “Easy Come, Easy Go.”

“It’s really long term this career I’ve had,” Faithfull says of her 22nd release. “I hope I’m not sounding too smug, but I am rather pleased about that.”

 On Monday, local fans can catch up with the iconic songstress when she performs at Ram’s Head on Stage in Annapolis. Although she could easily fill up bigger concert halls, Faithfull is purposely opting to play small venues on this current tour.

 “I want to see people,” she says. “I think my audience is very much like me; they’re people I can talk to. We are very much connected.”

“Easy Come Easy Go” reunites Faithfull with Hal Willner, the producer of her critically acclaimed 1987 release, “Strange Weather.” That album first revealed Faithfull’s talent as a masterful interpreter with a unique ability to make any song her own. The CD’s highlight was an updated version of “As Tears Go By” which was now filled with all the disillusionment and regret befitting Faithfull at 40 years old.

“When I did “Strange Weather” I had just come out of treatment and I was in early recovery,” the singer recalls. “It was a hard time.”

With its jazzy cabaret sound, “Easy Come, Easy Go” is perfectly suited to Faithfull’s distinctive and dramatic voice. Also notable is the CD’s stylistic sprawl. From Dolly Parton to The Decemberists, Billie Holiday to Brian Eno, “Easy Come Easy Go” is an effortless mix of classic and contemporary.

“The only real concept for this record was to work with great songs,” Faithfull says.

The disc features guest appearances by a few of her famous friends including Keith Richards, who appears on the Merle Haggard cover, “Sing Me Back Home.”

“I first heard that song in the sixties when Keith and Gram Parsons used to sing it” says Faithfull. “I wanted it to be as good as their version. With ours, Keith is singing a low harmony which is very beautiful.”

When she was recording the new CD, Faithfull was in the midst of ending a twelve year relationship. The sense of loss is palpable on her version of “Solitude,” first made famous by Billie Holiday.

“It’s very personal for me, and I knew I could put that across,” she says. “I think it’s beautiful. It makes me want to cry.”

“Easy Come, Easy Go” was recorded in just nine days, and Faithfull says that gives the album, “a real freshness and a certain sort of edge.” With typical candor, the musician also admits that the project had to move quickly due to budget concerns.

“This was terribly expensive,” she explains. “I always have to have the best, from the artwork to the band. I’m happy to do it, but it costs me.”

The musician says she’s eager to perform these new songs, and while it may seem that life on the road would prove too rigorous for the now 62 year old singer, Faithfull says that she finds her greatest joy in performing.

“Literally all your depression and anything that’s keeping you earthbound are gone by the end of a concert. All your aches and pains just disappear.”

 

Bringing some G. Love to Merriweather- Howard County Times

Last summer when G. Love & Special Sauce performed at the Pier 6 Pavilion in Baltimore, it was very much against doctor’s orders.

 “They wanted me to cancel my tour, but I just kind of plowed through and maybe that was stupid,” admits the band’s singer, guitarist and harmonica player, Garrett Dutton- better known as G. Love.

In 2008, the musician was diagnosed with an acute vocal hemorrhage.

 “The injury that I had for a singer was equivalent to an NFL player having a torn ACL,” he explains by phone from his home in Boston. “When I wasn’t on stage, I was on complete vocal rest.”

 Fifteen years of singing his signature growling blues had taken its toll, so last November the 36 year old musician underwent surgery to repair his torn vocal cords.

 “I think I’m sounding better than ever,” he says.

 Local fans can judge for themselves on Saturday  when G. Love & Special Sauce plays the Merriweather Post Pavilion with singer/songwriter’s Jason Mraz and Eric Hutchinson.

G. Love & Special Sauce, which also includes bassist Timo Shanko, keyboardist Mark Boyce, and drummer Houseman, were one of the first acts to mix hip-hop with the blues. On their self-titled 1994 debut, the band managed to channel both the Beastie Boys and B.B. King. Their single “Cold Beverage,” became a staple on MTV and college radio.

 “I call it the hip-hop blues,” G. Love says of the band’s sound. “That’s the cornerstone of what we do, but we also have rock and roll, reggae, and even country. It’s basically a big soup of American and world music.”

Over the course of ten albums, G. Love & Special Sauce has found new ways to enliven that formula. From the horn laden hooks of “City Livin” to the acoustic sweetness of “Crumble,” the band seems invigorated on their newest release, “Superhero Brother.”

“I write all different kinds of songs,” G. Love says. “They are heavy and light and funny and sad and everything in between.”

 Still, the musician will admit that it’s the band’s upbeat tunes that fans respond to best. “People like the fun party vibe songs,” he acknowledges. “When people come to a G.Love & Special Sauce show they want to have a funky good time.”

 If their mantra is to give the people what they want then “Superhero Brother” delivers, but the band has not always been so successful.

 After releasing 1999’s critically acclaimed “Philadelphonic” CD, G. Love & Special Sauce saw their profile diminish. Their next album was met with tepid response and the band was dropped by their record label.

Ironically, the group’s decline coincided with the rapid ascension of Jack Johnson, a singer/songwriter first introduced to the music world by G. Love & Special Sauce.

“I met Jack when he was this surfer kid fresh out of college,” G. Love explains. “He played me his demo and I thought it was really good.”

 The band covered Johnson’s “Rodeo Clowns” on the “Philadelphonic” release, and invited the younger musician to share vocals on the track. The song became a hit, and Jack Johnson soon released his own album, the platinum selling “Brushfire Fairytales.”

 “It’s been really awesome to see him blow up,” G. Love remarks.

 Still, it couldn’t have been easy to watch his younger pal eclipse him.

“It was interesting to say the least,” G. Love says with a laugh.

 He can afford to find the situation amusing now. When Jack Johnson formed his own record label, G. Love was one of the first artists signed, and in 2004 Brushfire Records released his first solo album, “The Hustle.” “Lemonade” followed, and in 2008 the full band was back with “Superhero Brother.” They might not be platinum sellers, but G. Love says the band is happy to make their living as working musicians.

“Sure everyone would love to sell a million records but the fact is that it’s harder and harder to do that now,” he says of the current state of the music business.

 With so many ways to access free music, artists today can’t rely on album sales alone to expand their fan base. Getting people to fill the seats is what’s most important in the new paradigm. Fortunately, performing live has always been the band’s strong suit.

 

“Every night before a show we come together for a hug and take a minute to let the rest of the day go so we can go there and give it to the people,” G. Love says. “We put everything we have into the music. I can honestly say that I never take it for granted.”

 

California Guitar Trio Feature: Howard County Times

"It's fun to see the surprise on people's faces when we play something in a completely different style than they expect," says Paul Richards, a founding member of the California Guitar Trio.

 The group brings its solid 18 years of challenging expectations to the Columbia Festival of the Arts June 18 at the Belmont Conference Center.

"I think our diversity is one of the things that makes our performances special," he adds by telephone from his Salt Lake City home. "The cover songs bring people into the performance and make them more receptive to the music that may not be familiar to them."

A typical set finds the trio mixing original songs with inventive covers of music by J.S Bach, the Ventures and even the group Queen. Their version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," in fact, has become one of the trio's concert staples.

 "That's one of our signature pieces," Richards acknowledges. "People are disappointed if we don't include that one."

 More often, audiences are delighted to discover the variety of music that can be produced by just three guys with guitars.

 So how did all that creativity become unleashed?

Back in 1986, while he was studying at the University of Utah, Richards had a music teacher suggest he travel to England for an intensive guitar workshop led by Robert Fripp, best known for his work as lead guitarist with the progressive rock band King Crimson.

It was while he was in attendance at that workshop that Richards met his future band mates. Belgian Bert Lams was a graduate of the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, while Hideyo Moriya of Japan was studying at the time at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Students at Fripp's Guitar Craft seminars received unique lessons not only in technique, butalso in the art of performing, Richards recalls.

"To teach us how to play in front of an audience, Robert would actually book a concert somewhere. Then we would play live with him."

After several courses, Richards, Lams, and Moriya toured for some years with Fripp's organized "League of Crafty Guitarists." When the league ran its course, the three friends discovered they all wanted to go on playing together.

"We had hit it off really well, so when Bert told us he was moving to L.A., he suggested we join him there," Richards says.

The California Guitar Trio was formed in 1991 and was quickly recognized for the principles picked up under Fripp.

 "One of the things we learned was a technique called circulation," Richards explains. "What we do is divide the melody notes between the three of us. "For example, there's a Bach prelude that we play where Bert plays the first note, I play the second, Hideyeo plays the third, and on and on in rapid succession. That creates a very unique sound. I've seen other guitar groups where they just exchange solos and take turns kind of showing off what they can do individually. Our strength has always been in what we can do as a group."

The California Guitar Trio has released 12 albums so far -- seven studio CDs of original songs and their interpretations of classical works like Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, plus four live albums and a Christmas collection.

 On its new CD "Echoes," the band takes on such classics as the Queen tune, along with similarly inspired covers of songs by Pink Floyd and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The players have expanded their sound to include electric guitar, bass, keys and even the occasional guest vocal.

 "We like to keep things interesting for ourselves, because we really believe that our excitement in the music translates to the audience," says Richards.

 Later this year, the trio will begin work on a new collection of original material. In the meantime, they are happy doing what they love most, which is performing live. there are some nights where I feel that everything comes together, between the audience and the music, in such a way that we are all united in a deeper way," Richards notes. "An audience doesn't fully realize how much they contribute to a performance," he adds. "When the three of us are on stage and the people at the venue are in tune with us, it gives everybody a very special energy. Some nights, I get such a buzz that it's hard for me to go to sleep afterwards. It's such a rush."

 

Al Jarreau: Helping the Capital Jazz Fest redefine its future

It's afternoon in California’s San Fernando Valley but Al Jarreau isn’t enjoying the lovely spring weather. Instead, the 69 year old singer is indoors sipping tea and nursing a pesky bout of the flu.

“Such are the hazards of the profession,” Jarreau sighs into the telephone. “You work hard, get exhausted and that leaves the door open to getting sick.”

Sniffles aside, Jarreau is in good spirits.

He has just returned from a successful European tour and is looking forward to his upcoming performance next weekend at the Capital Jazz Fest June 5 through 7 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. Celebrating its 17th year, the 3 day marathon is well-known for highlighting the biggest names in contemporary jazz and R&B.

This year’s line-up includes such heavyweights as George Duke, Kirk Whalum, and jazz “supergroup” SMV, featuring Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten. Seven time Grammy award winner Al Jarreau is slated to close out the festivities with Sunday night’s headlining spot.

“I’m going to have fun,” he predicts.

The singer, famous for his velvet smooth voice, promises that his most requested hits like “We’re in This Love Together,” and “Take Five,” will not be ignored. But he also plans to include songs from a 2004 CD “Accentuate the Positive”- a mix of classic jazz standards that are among his personal favorites.

“I have such a passion for jazz and its legacy,” the musician declares. “I think it’s important to give the audience a listen to things they may have not have heard yet. I owe that to them.”

While Jarreau is the only singer in history to win Grammy Awards in three different categories-jazz, pop and R&B, it is jazz music that has been his main source of inspiration.

“There is an essential element that is cornerstone to the music that I do, and that is improvisation,” he says. “That is part of the ten commandments of jazz; that you be open to the moment.”

The musician began his career in the fertile 1970’s West Coast music scene. He spent a few years gigging in Los Angeles before becoming the singer in a jazz quartet led by George Duke. For four years, they were the headliners at a San Francisco hotspot called the Half Note.

Then Jarreau teamed up with guitarist Julio Martinez to explore a new found love for the beat of Brazilian rhythms. It freed Jarreau to experiment with various forms of percussion.

“I discovered that the base of the microphone stand was sensitive to the foot, so if you took your foot and tapped on the base, you got a rhythmic sound,” he explains.

Next, the musician began using his voice to imitate the sound of instruments, and incorporating body thumps and finger snaps into the mix. Today’s hip hop culture owes a debt to Al Jarreau’s inventive spirit.

“I was doing it way back when, but now they call it beat boxing,” he says with a smile.

Over 30 years later, the artist shows no signs of slowing down. Last year, he released both a Christmas album and a love song compilation. This fall, a greatest hits collection is scheduled for release.

Just a year shy of celebrating his 70th birthday, Jarreau continues to remain passionate about his craft, and credits any success he has had to his “old school” work ethic.

“Suppose I’m scheduled to be on stage at eight o’clock at night,” he says. “At 1:30, I’m doing my vocal stretches and warm-ups. Before I head to sound check I’ll have done about 180 pushups. While I’m doing them, I also do my creative visualization. I see myself on stage with a wonderful voice and an audience that is happy. I’m creating my future.”

With a jam-packed calendar of touring and recording ahead, it’s no surprise to learn that when the musician has some much deserved down time, he enjoys a media fast.

“I like being alone with my thoughts,” he admits. “Sometimes I feel myself in the middle of saturation and just needing a break from all that stimulation. Just yesterday I went shopping for a new tea kettle, and as I was walking the aisle, the music was blaring at me. I don’t want to get desensitized by mindless music being forced into my sensory experience. I’m just trying to be a teakettle,” he ends with a laugh.