New Paintings

John Cage/David Skidmore (Third Coast Percussion)

I took some time deliberating what image to use for John Cage's portrait and who to pair him with. I had access to photos of Cage not readily available on line, and listened to some suggestions of a friend who's a big fan of everything Cage. For the Cage portrait I opted for the same photo as author Kay Larsen used for the cover of Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. She obviously chose the image, a reversal of traditional portraiture, with great purpose. And I chose to adopt this purpose: We, the audience, have the same vantage point as Cage has, we are looking at the same shade of orange as he does. We are invited to see the world as Cage does as it were. For the pairing I opted for the most obvious: the performer of The Works for Percussion 2, the work in the top 100 list. The performers are Third Coast Percussion, a Grammy winning ensemble from Chicago. Of the four members Davis Skidmore, the most prolific in composing materials for the group. The other members are Sean Collins, Robert Dillon, and Peter Martin. Once I selected the two images I planned the painting process in great detail. In good Cagean fashion I had the computer select at random the four customary base colors I have been starting most paintings with lately. 

Budai Ilona/Péter Éri

Kék ibolya, ha leszakajtanálak is a lyrical song fromthe album Hungarian Folk Music [Hungaraton, 1964.] No performer or recorder are listed on the album but the location is: Great Plain. The liner notes tell us that the song belongs to the traditional style. The notes further reark that the old songs are hardly remembered. Perhaps because of this important LP the song Kék ibolya, ha leszakajtanálak (which translates as Blue Violet, if I picked You) is remembered as recordings of it are plentiful on YouTube. Thirteen years after the release of the LP by the communist government, the ethnographer Péter Éri recorded it for an album called Élö Népzene II, in a series called Living Hungarian Folk Music. The singer on this album is the well known Hungarian singer Budai Lilona. The vocal version of Kék ibolya on Hungarian Folk Music is followed by short instrumental versions of it, first on a zither, then on a hurdy gurdy.

Eddie Kirkland/John Lee Hooker

Tsitano Muburunyara/Ton van der Lee

Nanang Marin, Dumagat representative/David Blair Stiffler

 

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker
12" x 7"
oil on wood, 2011

Another Top 100, another John Lee Hooker painting. I hardly select to listen to any of my old favorite musicians anymore but sometimes they are selected for you. I was watching Basquiat, the Radiant Child when One of These Days by John Lee Hooker, unexpectedly and sudden, was heard in the background of the film. It has a great soundtrack, that movie, One of These Days is a great song. I have quit a few John Lee Hooker records but That's My Story: John Lee Hooker Sings the Blues (on which One of These Days is to be found) is not one of these. No matter how many John Lee Hooker records you collect there always will be some important work missing. You think you have enough of his work collected until you hear another one. John Lee Hooker is full of surprises. When John Lee Hooker entered the Top 100 last year the story that went along with it was a similar one: 

His output is such that to collect all his recordings is a task so epic that it isn't even worth a consideration. I have no ambition towards such an achievement but I will occasionally add to my substantial representation of John Lee Hooker in my record collection.

–Dec 26, 2010: The Stars of My Top 100

 

The Stars of the Top 100

John Lee Hooker
25" x 14"
oil on wood, 2010

Just when I congratulated myself earlier this month for my oblivion towards musical stars, a few more established names enter the fray. Both John Lee Hooker and Rahsaan Roland Kirk are legends of American music and mainstays in my Top 100. With respectively the purchase of another album and the viewing of a film both make once again the yearly list of one hundred. In my archive over 28 years Hooker and Kirk are #27 and #28 when it comes to points gathered by musicians; 434 for John Lee Hooker, 432 for Roland Kirk. Those ranks make Hooker the highest ranked blues musician but Kirk only the fifth jazz artist. With a bit of free time around the holidays I primed a few surfaces a little bigger than usual and the biggest stars of the Top 100 can now be painted on appropriate sizes. First up is John Lee Hooker, the Mississippi blues man who died a decade ago at age 88. His output is such that to collect all his recordings is a task so epic that it isn't even worth a consideration. I have no ambition towards such an achievement but I will occasionally add to my substantial representation of John Lee Hooker in my record collection. The latest addition is a handsome original LP on a label from Los Angeles called The Great Blues Sounds of John Lee Hooker and my song of choice from it is She Left Me.