MALCOLM MCLAREN

I just read on the Internet that impresario Malcolm McLaren died aged just 64. It was cancer. I am now genuinely very sad; I always admired him.

He has been massively important in helping to form the world we all inhabit.  I always kept my radar out for what he was up to next, so I’ll miss that.

I grew up with eccentrics like Ken Russell, Magnus Pike, Patrick Moore, David Bellamy, Viv Stanshall  and loads more. McLaren and Westwood were eccentric — our generation’s eccentrics.  There’s nothing wrong with being crazy if you have the talent behind it — and Malcolm did.

I met him once in London a zillion years ago.  When I say that, I mean that I was near him, nearby.  We didn’t chat or anything, but I was close enough for quite a while to see him talk and gesture and think aloud and direct — and I could see what it was about the man. It was like meeting Oscar Wilde or something! Very Theatrical, Very fabulous and Very very!

I think what shocked me tonight more than anything is that he struck me as full of zest and vim, brim full of ideas and grand schemes. He had opinions and expressed them in a certain way — and that is to be admired in itself for we live in a world of political correctness and spin, and so rarely see anything quite so eccentric as personal truth, ridicule (in the classic French sense), and sheer wit.

Everyone will be reading of the Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, Vivienne Westwood, Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants, Double Dutch, Vogue, Buffalo Gals, blah, blah, blah. But McLaren was smart, he was talented, image-wise, market-savvy and had a special sixth sense of where the envelope and boundaries were (and where they ought to be moved to).

I would say that with the whole punk thing, McLaren was as Ché and you can get.  The man changed the world in a few months. Clothes, politics, attitude, music.  He allowed the poor, the working class, the unemployed, the lower orders  some expression, a real voice — not fantasy, not drugs, not hippy love opt outs, not buy-in to the establishment that was failing us all.

I’m serious about this. McLaren really did change the entire world.  I didn’t mind punk and the Sex Pistols, I was OK about techno and vogue stuff, I rather liked Waltz Darling (starting with Flaming June on the cover) and Paris (the Jazz of it all – and I do love Paris), but really, most of all I saw the sheer impact he made, I appreciated what he was doing, what he did, how he did it — how he had to do it, and I really do hope that someday he is recognised (along with Westwood).

What he did, he did in a different era — he did the impossible, and that is something difficult to appreciate with the comfiness of the here and now and hindsight.

I admit that I personally know a lot of people who have not liked him, but secretly, that is a big plus for the man in my view; love him or hate him, he did more than most with his life.  I would say he kicked the eggs out of the status quo, the normal, the establishment.  There is before-McLaren and after-McLaren. Simple as that!

RIP Malcolm McLaren.

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TAL WILKENFELD

The buzz about Tal Wilkenfeld is that she is (a) a bassist; (b) young; (c) female; (d) good looking; and (e) Australian.

I find all that a bit silly to be frank. That she is such a talent is enough — it is merely a matter of secondary interest that she is a girl.

Maybe the surprise is not that she’s a girl, but that a girl got the breaks and made it to the top.

Is she Good-looking? Well, I think she is — and so do loads of commenters on YouTube and forums — but I don’t think she thinks she is good-looking — and I like that even more. She does not dress up, she’s no Candy Dulfer, no high heels, no split skirt. No, Tal wears trainers or boots, jeans and a tee shirt. No make-up. No need. And she makes goofy faces and just generally seems not very self-aware.

In short, she reminds me a LOT of my bass-playing wife!

I had heard there was a buzz in the scene, and I went to see her play with Jeff Beck in Glasgow — and she was superb. I must say, though, that I have been more “blown Away” with stuff I have seen her play on YouTube.

embedded video from Youtube

For example, I have two recordings of Angel’s Footsteps on Jeff Beck albums, and they are both live — one is 22 July 2006 in Japan, the other is the Official USA Bootleg version also from 2006 — and I’m afraid that Tal’s version on YouTube kicks both of them out of the park. After hearing how Tal connects with Vinnie and the rest of the band, Pino Palladino’s work pales considerably — and that is no mean feat; Pino was in Jools Holland’s band and is the bassist with The Who, so he’s no fool.

I was discussing this recently, and it seems that Jeff Beck’s band was mostly British, despite what the names sound like; Jason Rebello is an English keyboard wiz., Pino Palladino is Welsh!

Having an American Rhythm section would change the band too much (the drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta, is American), so Tal, being Australian, could therefore be the perfect fit — enough American, but still a bit British somehow, still slightly on the outside of the native scene.

But all that speculation aside, she has talent — and more to the point she blends perfectly into the band. Pino — IMHO — just did not connect as well as Tal. Listen to the dropped beats, the missed timings, the misunderstandings — they are all there on record.

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How delicious is THAT clip? (I already linked to it on my Jeff Beck post) — her licks, her connection to the Jeff on entering the bridge, the serious connection with Vinnie’s ticking rolls, the build-up, paradiddles, she’s so instinctive in support, and also in fills in the gaps and push-pulls with the timing — and she seems to add chemistry, fun, to the band! And that brings out the best in them.

Can I just say that I cannot get enough of this video, I must listen to it once every day or so, and I appreciate it more each time.

So while I can see why her being Australian works with the band, I don’t see it as important out of that context. In other words, it should only be mentioned when others’ nationalities/ backgrounds/ cultures are mentioned; in itself it’s nothing.

There are plenty of female bass players — Carol Kaye, Suzi Quatro, Jackie Fox, Tina Weymouth, Julie Slick, etc., but what makes Tal different is that she’s exceptionally talented as a jazz bassist; she has her own voice.

Now, a lot of people compare her to Jaco Pastorius, and that’s daft; Jaco invented stuff, played fretless and so on. But it’s something to be mentioned in that kind of company, it’s enough to have debates about that — no one in their right mind would do that with Julie Slick or Tina Weymouth.

• To me, Tal does Jeff Berlin better than Jeff Berlin; she’s got a better sensitivity to the overall work and to the band.

If she wants she can sometimes evoke Jaco’s phrasing such as at the beginning of this  Live Freeway Jam with Jeff Beck:

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‘Transformation‘ is the name of Tal’s debut album. It is fabulous — just go and get a copy; you will wear it out listening to it. I love it! Tal is amazing and Wayne Krantz’s guitar is superbly “out of the box”.

Regarding her age — I find that part really annoying. What age was Jaco Pastorius, Hendrix, Clapton et al when they  were at their peaks? That’s right – in their early 2os. So give her a break!

Tal is a great bassist, definitely the world’s best ever female bass-player, the best bass player produced by Oz, and one of the world’s best bass players around today.

She’s also not hard on the eye.

Go Tal!

Embedded Video from YouTube:

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JEFF BECK

What a brilliant gig tonight.  Last time I saw Jeff Beck it was at the Glasgow Apollo a zillion years ago.  That gig stayed with me; it was just astounding!

Back then I used to go to a lot of gigs, particularly at the Apollo.  I had got used to the whole thing, y’know, and then I was in my seat waiting for the Jeff Beck gig to start when I noticed that there was not all the usual massive columns of loudspeakers at each side of the stage.  It was very sparse looking.  I came away utterly amazed at the clarity of Beck’s sound that night; it was true High Fidelity.  Top notch quality, and that gig has always remained for me the benchmark ever since.  Quite simply the best sounding gig I have ever been too. It was even in stereo — the engineers would pan the guitar notes right round the place, especially on “The Final Peace”.

The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is mince in comparison.  Beck still sounded really good, but it wasn’t quite as mind-blowing as the old Apollo that night back in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

The Concert Hall has no atmosphere at all.  Honestly, anywhere else and everyone would have been up boogying and dancing in the aisles, and surrounding the front of the stage. But, not tonight; everyone sat nice and clapped at the right bits. Gawd!

There were a few surprises in the set list — although he did “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, it was just a wee bit — it merged into “Brush with the Blues”. He also did a version of Billy Cobham’s “Stratus” (a bass riff which I heard knicked sampled a few years back for some Ibiza dance trance crap). They also did a version of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”, which was a crowd pleaser.

Ever since I bought Beck’s “Blow by Blow” LP back in the late 1970s, I have loved Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” — that was a massive influence on my playing style at the time (I was playing a Les Paul back then).  It was simply gorgeous tonight, what a virtuoso!

I am a fan of Nitin Sawney, and have all his albums, so I know “Nadia” intimately — and, I recently happened to be searching YouTube for Sawney’s stuff when we came across Beck’s astonishing version.  Played live was fantastic.  A real worth-it moment.

Teenie-tiny-wee Tal Wilkenfeld got herself going on the cheeky bass line start to “You Never Know”.  She’s a real find — reminds me of my Ruthie when she plays — same daft facial expressions and surprising licks. She was really solid on “Stratus” and “The Pump” and “Big Block” — those tracks are murder for a rhythm section, and far from being showy, just robotic power riffs… and bespectacled Vinnie Colaiuta was pretty amazing on these tracks in particular too — a big fat full drum sound. The rhythm section was tight and very solid (much needed for Beck’s style), and that included the supporting figure in the shadows, Jason Rebello.

Tal and Vinnie did solo spots, and they were “nice”.

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I was disappointed to be honest, because I wanted Tal to blow my socks off, but then it was Glasgow Concert Hall, and everyone was just sitting there like plums.

The night was about Jeff Beck.  He’s the man. At one point he joined Tal, and together they played her bass at the same time, he played at the nut and she played up the neck!  A 4-hander, that was the fun (and show-offy) bit.

They also did “Blue Wind” and the reggae-ish “Behind The Veil”, and I was again reminded that in the old days and places, there would have been dancing!

They did a couple of encores, and I queued at the toilet, exchanging banter with loads burstin’ middle-aged rockers before heading home to check out Tal’s website and listen to all the stuff he didn’t do.

Now, Beck played a Les Paul on “Blow by Blow” in 1975 and switched to a Stratocaster for the next album, “Wired“.  It’s the tremolo that makes the difference.  He’s played a Strat ever since — a nice white one. He gargles the tremolo, plays without a plectrum (he uses his thumbnail), fades using the pot (rather than a pedal), and really, really, takes risks.

For example, on “Blow by Blow”, years ago, he played a note, then pitched it up, bending the string — but in stages, precise intervals up and down on one pluck, note clear and pitch perfect.

Tonight, he did that, and a tremolo version of it, whereby he would strike the note, and play a melody using the lever of the whammy bar alone — again, precise intervals, small movements of the trem arm down and up – genius and virtuosity, and huge balls to take the chance.

He also did weird things with the glass slide — playing right up at the bridge (where a couple of millimetres is a big margin of error).  Honestly, from slides, pull-offs, tapping, fake harmonics, fake-harmonic-tremolo-pitched and heaven-knows what-else, Beck showed that the guitar is a part of him, that it grows out of him, that he communicates with it — it’s his voice. Angel (Footsteps) was mind-blowing, seriously:

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There’s no shredding or lead solos, but there’s no chord work, riffs or seriously fancy effects.  And he isn’t playing like a Spanish, classical or Jazz guitarist, either.  It’s just odd — he’s just Jeff Beck — a genre of his own, I guess.

Apparently he was ranked the 14th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. That doesn’t show what a massive influence on guitarists over the years, Jimmy Page was his bass player at one time, and when he left the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton took over — and when Eric left, that’s when Page took up the guitar!  They all had to learn Beck’s parts.

“Blow by Blow” and “Wired” created a new genre for the electric guitar, a sort of blues-jazz thing that was sort of rock — a genre for Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton, Steve Khan and loads more to develop.  I really do think Beck is underrated and that he deserves Hall of Fame, knighthoods and everything else.

Oh, and a big happy birthday to ya, Mr. Beck — 65 a few days ago!

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