Dick Heckstall-Smith, what kind of music do you like?
"Blowing the Blues" is the title of a memoir I am reading by English sax player, Dick Heckstall-Smith. Who is Heckstall-Smith? Among many records, Heckstall-Smith plays on his old friend Jack Bruce's 1970 solo album, "things we like" - with guitarist Jon Mclaughlin, too. (See above)
In his book, Heckstall-Smith traces a journey from journeyman jazz blower to member of the Graham Bond Organization and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. He is an outspoken observer of character. He tells gritty stories about starting out in the music business in 1950s and 1960s England. Classic stories of drugs, sex, and early rock 'n' roll.
It is a great read. Heckstall-Smith is a great storyteller.
Until recently, I had never heard of Heckstall-Smith. But, the book called out to me at Half-Price Books as some books do and I took the orphan home. So glad I did. "Blowing the Blues" is a nice alternative to the usual histories of rock music and includes some fascinating stories about almost and once famous musicians.
When you are getting to know someone new, one of the first questions that comes up is often, "What kind of music do you like?" Your new friend's answer tells you alot. Nick Hornby famously considers this question in "High Fidelity."
Heckstall-Smith begins the third chapter of BTB with his consideration of this very same question:
"The kind of music I like is strong, pushy, forward, full-blooded, free of self-imposed restrictions. It takes risks. It is not the least afraid; it battles its way through to expression. It is full of mistakes, but couldn't care a jot about them because it knows that mistakes are its life-blood. It is unashamed, it can flow like a river over the rapids or a delta over the mud. When it senses unhealthy restraint it plants a bomb under it and trips the detonator. It shows no mercy for half measures. It doesn't care about good taste. But this is not to say it can't be beautiful. Its beauty is that of strength triumphing over ugliness."
So, what kind of music do you like?
And about that Jack Bruce record, Peter Marsh of the BBC has this to say:
"Things We Like was recorded a few monthsahead of Cream's demise in August 1968, though not released till 1970,when Jack Bruce's solo career was well underway. Since then it's becomerare as hen's teeth, yet hasn't been accorded the kind of mythic statusthat other Britjazz albums of the era seemed to have had bestowed onthem. It would be trite to suggest that jazz snobbery might be ineffect here...or would it? Maybe the fact that Jack wasn't tempted toenjoy the poverty and critical hostility that was the lot of theBritish jazzer on a permanent basis caught the attention of the JazzPolice. Who knows..?
Bruce wrote these tunes when he was 12; he must have spent a hugeamount of his childhood devouring industrial sized quantities of postbop jazz. These are vivacious, maybe even brash compositions, but theydon't sound like the work of a 12 year old (particularly the stalking,episodic "HCKHH Blues" or the hectic, tumbling "Over the Cliff"). Toplay them, Bruce returned to the double bass and enlisted former GrahamBond colleagues Dick Heckstall-Smith and John McLaughlin, plus drummerJon Hiseman of Colosseum. Like Bruce, all these musicians had grown upon a diet of R'n'B and rock as well as jazz, and were casually breakingdown the doors between them.
Heckstall-Smith's raspy tenor (and occasional soprano)is thedominant voice, stuffed with equal amounts of blues honk and post boptechnique. Occasional Roland Kirk inspired dual saxophone action livensthings up too. Mclaughlin is on fiery form, with his scrabbly,distorted Hendrix-plays-bebop runs at an early but satisfying stage.
Meanwhile Bruce and Hiseman power things along at a fair old lick.What they sometimes lack in sophistication they make up for in driveand splashy energy. Bruce's love of Mingus makes itself felt in hissolo spots, while his tangy melodies recall the warped Texas blues ofOrnette Coleman. A year or so later Mclaughlin had honed the firststirrings of electric jazz heard here into the sweet blast ofExtrapolation, rightly regarded as a classic. While Things We Likeisn't maybe on that level, it's definitely a forgotten gem, and fullmarks to Universal for digging it out of the vaults."
Sounds like a record I would like. You?
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