Friday 17 December 2010

For the Record. Part 1

So i've already ranted about one aspect of my music taste but that's just the tip of the ice berg. I suppose your taste in music is heavily influenced to begin with by the people around you as i kinda mentioned in the last post. My Grandfather on my Dad's side is very into Jazz and plays the piano (he's getting pretty good at it now he's in his 70's). He owned a hotel in Perthshire called Auchterarder House. A pretty  amazing place in every sense,  architecturally too, which hosted a multitude of people in the 80's and early 90's from Ronald Reagan when he was president of the US to well known Jazz musicians such as Dave Brubeck. I spent much of my childhood there with lot's of  - sometimes mind bending- Jazz. This has resulted in me being the pretentious first year tosser who listens to Bill Evans, Stan Getz or Chick Corea whilst working in the studio, getting all sorts of ugly looks from 3rd and 4th year students - not fair !

The Above image is of Bill Evans, he has inspired and still is inspiring a never ending list of Jazz musicians. He loved what he did so much that even when crippled with arthritis he injected pain killers directly into each knuckle just to be able play the one thing that he loved. I like Miles Davis' music but I really do not like him for introducing this man to heroin. 


Ive also been really influenced by my Dad when it comes to music, with every family holiday having  an ELO , Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins or Genesis sound track, just to name a few, oh and cant forget the Lighthouse Family and Simply Red. My Mum  is to blame for me liking all the all the Cheesers like REO Speedwagon, George Michael, Billy Joel, Conway Twitty, Dr Hook and what have you. 

I always think Fleetwood Mac have the weirdest images for their albums, love it. 

Then it comes to my old slightly eccentric child minder who bought me albums from of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen and The Who (as well as pan pipe and African music , very chill but didn't really tickle my fancy). She even had me and my brother watching the movie of Woodstock, at that age I kinda saw past the fact everyone was on acid and just realised that the music was nothing other than spectacular. 


Woodstock, 3 days of Peace and Music, half a million people listening to legends such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, Janis Joplin, Canned Heat, Sly and the Family Stone, Credence Clearwater Revival and Jimi Hendrix. If I was there I would just have thought I'd died and gone to heaven. 


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