2020 Hindsight

Chuck Niles, Jazz DJ

When I heard the news on the radio yesterday that Chuck Niles died, my mind flashed on hot, fresh, buttermilk bars. From a certain donut shop at the corner of Hill and Washington in Pasadena. I'd just moved to Pasadena, post-college. One of my early discoveries was a place that made these huge, killer buttermilk bars. I'd go there at night to buy them fresh. After having spun the dial in exploration, my car radio had landed on a station called KKGO. Jazz. My nighttime buttermilk bar trips were accompanied by Chuck Niles' voice, that amazing voice, on the radio.

I don't know how to describe his voice. Low. Distinct. Sassy, like a saxaphone is sassy. Cool, hep, and with an attitude that told you "I'm an insider in a great music scene. So coooooool. So fiiiiine." But his voice had a levelness, an evenness to it--a kind of jazz deadpan that was, at the same time, inviting. He shared the cool.

That was some 22 years ago, Chuck Niles and the buttermilk bars, joined together in New Town Early Impressions. On KKJZ, his most recent home, they say that he's been a fixture on the LA jazz airwaves for 50 years.

Rest in peace, Chuck. Thanks for the cool.

[read condolences from the KKJZ site; the AP obituary ]

Rest in peace, Johnny Cunningham

Scottish fiddler, member of the former band Silly Wizard. I saw them play back when at McCabe's in Santa Monica; he and his brother, accordionist Phil Cunningham were jaw-dropping. Saw the news over on Garret's site. More obits: The Scotsman (read it for a story of a truant young Cunningham on the radio), NYT, which mentions other bands he was in (and where in my music collection I'll dig today to listen): Relativity (two sets of siblings, with his brother Phil and with Triona ni Dhomhnail and Micheal O Domhnail), and Celtic Fiddle Festival (with fellow-fiddlers Kevin Burke and Christian Lemaitre). Also a story from New Bedford Standard; Johnny lived in New Bedford and his last gig was there.

There's a page with condolescences (and stories) at the Johnny Cunningham site (has frames, click News, then click the memorial guestbook link). If you're a celtic music lover and you're in New York, there'll be a viewing today from 4-8 and music and drinks to celebrate his life tonight.

Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview

on iTunes and iPod and the Apple Music Store

Oh, can that woman play!

Went to see Natalie MacMaster at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood last night. First stop on her 3-week North American tour. (if she's coming to your town, GO!!!)

She's from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, niece of Buddy MacMaster (I heard him play lots at a Scottish Fiddle Camp some time back). Wow, she's got the chops!

Last night was the first time where I've recognized family musical resemblance. Scary. Thrilling. I got a glimpse how the Scottish fiddle tradition survived a few centuries in Nova Scotia by hearing fiddle style passed from uncle to niece. I don't know that I'm that much of a fiddle or Cape Breton aficianado to say much more than that. But I heard some of Buddy in Natalie. She's much more dynamic a showperson than he is, but I think she's also gotten his stamina (Buddy was known at Fiddle Camp for staying up all night and playing and playing and playing). She kept dancing and moving while she played. She even did some Highland Dance: the Sailor's Hornpipe. (Her brother, cousin and old neighbor from home were in the house and all took turns on the stage wowing us with step dancing)

Whether it's uncle-to-niece influence or Just Another Excellent Cape Breton Fiddler, I glimpsed how a musical tradition survived the Scottish cultural wipeout of the 18th/19th century by being passed down in isolated Nova Scotia. Here's a snippet from the liner notes of Alasdair Fraser/Jody Stecher's album, The Driven Bow, in which Alasdair plays Cape Breton-style:

Much of the older Highland style of playing for dances disappeared in Scotland, along with many of the dances themselves. Fortunately the fiddle and dance traditions on Cape Breton Island in the canadian Maritmies provide us with a window which sheds light on the way 18th and 19th century dance fiddlers... used to play in the Highlands of Scotland. ...A very distinctive feature of the Cape Breton fiddle style is the way in which the bow is driven.

Natalie and her band played music "in the tradition" and expanded way beyond it too. Some tunes began with little unassuming duets that lead the unsuspecting to think, "Oh look at the nice little fiddler and pianist playing those sweet old traditional fiddle tunes." Then a shift. New tune with that unstoppable driven strathspey that builds to frenzy, helped as the rest of the band (guitar, bass, pipes, drums) joins toward the wild cresendo. Driven is the right term for it. It's so the right word.

She mentioned her uncle Buddy in the introduction of Blue Bonnets over the Border (we're going to slow things down with a tune I've heard all my life from my Uncle Buddy... it's a good 350 years old). Then she transformed it with a blend of old and new in an arrangement that was, well, amazing.

She plays in San Francisco tonight, Santa Cruz soon after that and so on up the Pacific Coast. If you've any appreciation for Celtic or traditional music, drop everything and GO to her concert.