If the only music you know from the Shaft soundtrack is the title song, you, my friend, are missing out on some really cool music.
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That sax solo is fire.
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I own that first one on vinyl. Cost me all of three bucks. I suppose someday I should actually watch the movie, too.
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Just, I just am listening to it right now.
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True fact: you need two strings on the guitar to play this one. But you need some mad skills to play it right.
Blues in Bb.
And the exciting conclusion. You know, it’s funny, because it’s in Db and also has the melody of DannyBoy in it.
(And, yes, you should actually play it in Db, as one does. It’s not like one plays “All About My Girl” in G instead of Ab, like some do. But we don’t have the stones to copy this classic tune note-for-note…that would be a bit brash.)
Actually, nothing funny about it. Our Scottish friend dear departed Jimmy McGriff unleashes the full fury of the Hammond electric organ, as he was wont to do.
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Yikes! This album is 48 years old now!
And I’m old enough to remember when it first came out!
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I learned about Elmo Hope by way of Frank Hewitt, a dearly departed veteran bop pianist (he played the piano role for a season or two of /* Shirley Jackson’s Jack Gelber wrote the play, and Shirley Clarke directed the very good film version */ The Connection on /* Broadway */ The Living Theater…dunno if it played on Broadway, or whatever…it was kind of a big deal at the time, though, from what I hear).
I love this particular tune…one hears everything essential about Elmo Hope’s idiosyncratic yet idiomatic style here. His beautiful, fearless use of the LH, his somewhat home-rolled chord voicings, and the marvelous sense of melody, way up top.
Truly, Mr. Hope used all the piano keyboard, and I can guarantee you unlike some dogma going around since the 1960s or so that “no, can’t play that low…bass play yell at you!”
Ain’t so.
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The guitar melody in this is purty.
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My intro to the band on MTV in 5th grade.
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And two sort of chestnuts, apparently, from the world of classical guitar.
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Sort of a cheat because I’m not listening to it yet, but… Mad "Twists" Rock 'N' Roll : Mike Russo : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
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Yeah, yeah, OK. Whatever, I still like it.
