Thursday, July 10, 2008


Take Note, Martinez July 10, 2008

People of the Sound, Part II

The last time I weighed in here, we talked about People of the Sound, those wonderful men and women (though mostly men, for some reason) who toil tirelessly and invisibly behind the mixing board at live performances. Now, there was some talk that I was a little, um, harsh on the People of the Sound, that perhaps the column was seen as an attack on sound people. Well, hardly. No, my point was only that sometimes the elaborate and oh-so-precise adjustments some of these folks make in what are, after all, small and funky rooms, seems a little silly to me sometimes. But gas prices, real estate and the present administration also seem silly to me, so what the heck do I know? I'm a guitar player, not a sound scholar. And I have nothing but appreciation for the folks who run sound at any of my gigs. And I thank them.

Now, while we're on the subject of sound, there are folks around here who do tremendous work with sound, and often do it for free. When an event happens, and music or speeches are involved, you need a sound person. And most of the time, when that happens in Martinez, that sound person is photographer extraordinaire Robert Perry. This guy is selfless to a fault. When he was in my band, I used to lecture him about not taking every benefit gig that came our way, because unlike Robert, I am not selfless and giving to an extreme. He so believes in this town and its people that he thinks nothing of setting up and running sound for just about any major (or minor) event, for gratis. I don't know that he ever gets the proper recognition for that, so I'd like to thank him for the countless times he's done that for my band.

Now, let's take a look at People of the Sound on a global basis. If you have Nexfilx (and if you don't, you should), there are a couple of documentaries about music and sound and their pioneers that you should see.

The first is 'Tom Dowd and the Language of Music.' Odds are you've never heard of Tom Dowd, but you have heard what Tom Dowd has done, of that there is no question. This gentleman was originally involved in developing the atomic bomb, and when he saw what his work had done, he dropped it and became instead a sound engineer. But to call him that is to hardly give him the credit he so justly deserves. Tom Dowd was the engineer for generations of musical legends, and he helped them shape their sound and their legacies. Let's give a 'for instance'; in the movie "Ray," which is about Ray Charles and definitely a movie you should see at least three times, Ray is a young man recording in a small studio for Atlantic Records. There is a young guy in the studio named Tom who is telling Ray about the latest thing in recording -- eight separate tracks that you can record on individually, one at a time, allowing for the ability to sing harmony with yourself, or whatever else you can imagine. That Tom character referred to is none other than Tom Dowd, who in fact did record much of the Ray Charles Atlantic period, which is, for my money, his finest work. Tom talks about that in his documentary, as well as recording Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gilespie, Thelonious Monk, Lynryd Skynryd, Booker T and the MGs and the Allman Brothers. He produced a lot of those sessions. But what brings the tears to my particular eyes are the sections in which he describes recording a new band named Cream, with a very young Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. In this three piece band, the musicians are trying to figure out how to get the rhythm right for a tune called "Sunshine of Your Love." Despite the fact that none of the three stars really care what a lowly engineer has to say about music, he suggests trying a Native American tom-tom feel. It's a ridiculous suggestion, but if you listen to the recording, that's what you'll hear. A lot of the documentary is devoted to Tom's production of an album that I personally feel is one of the finest albums ever made by anyone, anywhere -- Layla, by Derek and the Dominos. Derek, by the way, was also Eric Clapton. He was making his love offering to Patty Boyd Harrison, Beatle George Harrison's wife, with whom he had fallen in love. The double album features searing vocals, lead guitar work the likes of which has never been replicated, and some amazing slide from Dwayne Allman. Tom Down produced it, a feat of strength and focus, given the fact that the entire band was well on its way to serious heroin addiction. A must-see for music lovers.

The other film is "Les Paul, Chasing Sound." It's about another innovator, a man who not only invented the eight-track tape recorder, but overdubbing, solid body guitars, and music that startled a lot of people in the 1950s. The film is short on clips from the old days, and features a lot of modern talking heads saying how much they love Les Paul and his music, but there is enough archival material in there to give you a sense of just how important this man was to the way we listen to and enjoy music today. One part that is missing is the fact that he created the finest solid body guitar ever made, which still bears his name, and one of which you will see me play at most of my gigs.

Ok, that's it for this week. Next week, we go into the field and see who's playing where.