singemonkey wrote
Well I'm sold.
I love his voice. That Southern American black accent from the beginning of the 20th century adds to the style of the music. While you don't need to adopt the accent itself, a lot of the techniques in the singing are derived from that accent, imo - like the trailing off at the end of words instead of pronouncing the final syllable clearly.
To me it sounds like he's trying to integrate the voice into the greater fabric of the music. He's all about grooves and textures, and whilst he's a fab guitar player guitar playing was never the end for him, just a means. He's a musician who just happened to have voice and guitar as the tools at his disposal.
I'd listen to a live jazz more often if it was like this - some of the smoke and whisky put back in and some of the white bread taken out. It's funny how it's left to the "folkies" to do that - perhaps because they love the vibe, not just the skill or the notes. This song would be nice with a full band - maybe with a trumpet player. Not that it isn't great as is.
The original had sax and fender rhodes on it. The album is called "Solid Air". Many hail it as Martyn's master piece. Danny Thompson was on most cuts of that record too and his playing is just marvellous.
Danny Thompson's style is so distinctive. I don't think these guys need fear destitution because of music piracy. They could fill the house every single night.
Danny's a busy guy these days. He's such a fine player, and such a versatile player, and such a distinctive player (as you say). Nobody sounds like Danny Thompson.
He quit the music biz for a while in the late 70s. When he came back Martyn had moved on (as he had to) so they didn't play together as regularly as they once did. Danny's been working with Richard Thompson a lot since about '93 or so, but these days he's so busy that Richard can't always get him when he wants him.
I saw the Richard Thompson band in Wolverhampton a couple of years ago. I came away from that show with a very small amount of guilt because I'm such a big RT fan, but I couldn't stop myself paying lots of attention to Danny. Such a fabulous player. In fact I found it hard to compute because his two main concerns seemed to be trying to corpse the drummer and blowing kisses at the girls and yet he played a tremendous show. He's old now, and he's had a stroke and has a pacemaker, so he's not as strong as he once was, but his playing is absolutely unimpaired.
Another thing I remember about that show is that we got there real early so we could be in the front of the line and get good spots inside the venue. We met American friends of ours - Pam and Rob. We'd all booked via credit card. I got my tickets no problem but there was a problem with Pam's. They could see she'd paid, but she hadn't checked the box that said "hold tickets at box office" and her tickets were in Washington DC. They wouldn't budge, even though they could see that she was there and had paid. Danny's walking in for the soundcheck. He stops at the counter and says "You got tickets with my name on them?"
"Yes Mr Thompson sir."
"Good! Give them to that lady."
