Month: February 2020

Crazy Race – The RH Factor

~ Poetic Reverb ~ Leave a comment

Here is the song. And live.

What inner-drive compels musicians to produce music? For some, to make money (it is a profession after all). For others, to acquire social status. For others, to express the complex feelings inside themselves. For others, to make “statements”. Yet for others, simply to make the listener happy.

All of these reasons are legitimate, but I am most grateful for the last group of musicians who make music to increase the barometer of human happiness. No other artist represented this group better than Roy Hargrove. I feel joy when listening to Roy Hargrove and The RH Factor. The music short-circuits every modern neuroticism and sceptical impulse. Its like an unexpected gift – we simply weren’t expecting to be this happy listening to Roy, and we weren’t expecting him to want us, personally, to be happy. I picked up on a different intent in his music when listening to his other tracks, such as his rendition of September in the Rain. But then he states his musical mission in no uncertain terms in a documentary about his life around 7:55.

“I just want people to remember that I always wanted to make them feel good when they heard me play.”

You can choose to believe a waiter is showing you extra TLC because they want a tip. But the best waiters do things that are so meaningful and inspired, so above and beyond what you would expect a waiter who was trying to get a tip would do, that you end up enjoying the food even more. And so it is listening to Roy Hargrove and The RH Factor. Simply put, me, along with millions of people across the world, enjoy our lives more when we listen to their music. But don’t just take my word for it…

We Here – Joey Alexander

~ Poetic Reverb ~ Leave a comment

Here is the song.

I listened to this song three times before I decided to write about it. This prompted me think about why we relisten to songs. Do we pick songs we know to match and reinforce our current mood? Or do we pick songs to alter our mood towards a more desirable one that we recall during our previous listen?

When I first heard this song, I liked the way it made me feel. Then afterwards, I wanted to listen to it again to emulate those same feelings in subtle variations. Like feeling the wind blowing from slightly different directions. Like a tap dancer touching a different spot within the same circle. I find no two listening journeys are ever the same; we start listening in one mental state and end up somewhere else.

And so, I have clarified my understanding of the metaphor of ‘the song’. The song is not the destination, the song is the compass, and we follow it’s direction from wherever we find ourselves. With every listen, we go further in the direction the artist established. We started there, now we here.

Joey’s compass leads us by the scenic route, by the place where we can dote upon and imagine beautiful things. Beautiful things such as the flutist Anne Drummond’s melody. Joey models this through his own piano performance. There is some kind of meta-dance within his playing in that he is both observer and participant. Joey’s vibrant style and reflective phrasings are bursting with expression and is instructive of a delightful way to approach life.

Then you realise that it is the Kendrick Scott on drums. Within the opening 14 seconds, Scott manages to communicate everything we ever need to know about musical rhythm, style and grace.