|
because I'm not interested in that... I only care about you answer questions directly posed to you without shifting the frame of reference 15 times.
>really?? is that how you read that? how abt the fact that >coming up in an era where playing an instrument wasn't a >common thing due to certain socio-political reasons and him >being naturally inclined to play several instruments as a >adolescent is indicative of his genius as opposed to you >taking this view that it is abt coming up "in an age of >lowered expectations."
I'm still waiting for you to tell me exactly what instruments he played, though... Why have you continuously avoided doing that?
I posted the Brown Sugar credits... They showed that despite saying "All instruments by D'Angelo," many of the instruments were in fact played by others. And there's no real indication that he played anything other than keys (if you want to call drum programming and hand-clapping "playing instruments," I guess there's that too)
So what instruments did he play?
>And the fact of the matter HE WASN'T SOME BIG FISH IN A VERY >SMALL POND, he was simply the artist that continued the >movement that artist like Stevie, Al, Curtis, Marvin, and >others started in the 70s. And he was singled out not by just >this fandom of ppl who were longing for that more traditional >soul sound, but he was also singled out by his peers, too, who >heard the same thing the listeners heard, something you and >others seem to conveniently ignore.
Very well... But none of what you've written in the paragraph above justifies the application of the "genius" tag. He continued the soul music movement of the 70s? Great! How does that make one a genius?
>smh - 1st off all, all the aforementioned jazz musicians play >ONE instrument
...and I'm stil waiting for you to tell me how many D played on Brown Sugar.
I mean... It's quite a simple (and reasonable) question, isn't it?
and yes, most of them have gone to school to >learn and master their craft which again is quite different >than being self taught...and secondly, you know why no one has >called them geniuses, sherlock? because in the eye's of many >who love jazz music, today's crop of new jazz artists haven't >advanced the artform and brought it to a new generation of >listeners. In fact, some consider Jazz to still be in decline.
That's only partially true. Jazz has obviously not won back its spot in the center of the mainstream (and it probably never will) but if you look at where jazz was before 1981/82 when Wynton Marsalis blew up and where it is now after 30 years of his efforts to make jazz hip again, it's clear that there IS a new audience for the music.
And where you in the 1990s when there was that huge explosion centered around "Jazz's New Generation"?)
Besides, what does bringing music to a new generation have to do with genius? Bruno Mars brought doo-wop stylings to a new generation... does that make him a genius? Are you suggesting that the new generation of jazz players' supposed failure to bring jazz back to the top of the pop charts means they suck?
>Now, you can say what you want abt D and Brown Sugar but it >was seen as something NEW AND ORIGINAL (so was 'Voodoo') when >it dropped and it was viewed as coming from the same musical >DNA of the past soul greats....and lastly, unlike Hargrove and >McBride, HE MADE THE MUSIC TO WHERE IT COULD BE EMBRACED BY >THE HIPHOP GENERATION who may not have been familiar w/or >grown up listening to a lot of the music of the 70s by >incorporating not only gospel, traditional r&b, jazz >influences, but HipHop.
Not that I think it's relevant, but just for the record: Both Hargrove & McBride made music that was embraced by the hip-hop generation. Again, I have to ask where you were in the 90s, but during that decade there was a big acid jazz/hip-hop + jazz fusion craze that both were part of... Out of that craze, we got a certain hip-hop band from Philly you might have heard of. And McBride in particular apparently played with that band at some point.
>Well, actually, I have heard other musicians say he's a genius >when it comes to his base playing and his production so that's >not true, maybe you haven't heard ppl beat that drum for him >as loud as they have for others but it has been said abt >him...so that's not a good example
I sure as shit have not heard anybody beat that drum and I'm gonna have to ask you to throw up a couple of links to support it.
>I guess you forgot abt me also citing the music he put out as >well along w/being a multi instrumentalist. smh
I didnt forget. Just waiting for you to tell me what instruments D played on Brown Sugar.
(SUCH a simple question!)
>you know why? because you sound stupid trying to argue >something that the average person knows abt him. > >"Production, instrumentation, arrangements, and songwriting >were primarily handled by D'Angelo on 'Brown Sugar." > >"In contrast to the production style of contemporary R&B at >the time, which featured predominant casting of well-known >record producers for an artist's project, D'Angelo handled >most of the album's production, as well as contributing all of >the vocals" > >"D'Angelo's expertise and ability to play such instruments as >drums, saxophone, guitar, bass, and keyboards aided him in the >recording of Brown Sugar, as most of the album's >instrumentation and production was credited to his name"
LOL so now we're using a press release to support claims? Because, you know, a record label PR team would never stretch the truth in order to promote an artist, right?
So let's say this flak is true... D played drums, sax, guitar, bass and keyboards.
I don't think anybody has seen him playing sax... have you seen that? Probaby doesn;t matter anyway since there is no sax ANYWHERE on Brown Sugar... or on Voodoo either.
Guitar... I think the videos we've seen of his 2012 answer the question about D's guitar-playing abilities. Unless he *forgot* to play over the past 17 years.
The live drums on Brown Sugar are credited to others and I've never actually SEEN any evidence to support D's mastery of the drums... I doubt you have either.
Bass... I actually believe he might play a little bass. A LITTLE, though... nowhere near virtuosity on the instrument.
>"In a 1995 interview, he discussed the influence that musician >Prince had on his approach to recording, stating "I was one of >those guys who read the album credits and I realized that >Prince was a true artist. He wrote, produced, and performed, >and that's the way I wanted to do it."
Yeah, and I looked at magazines and saw that Leon Isaac was fucking Jayne Kennedy and I wanted to do that too... don't mean I actually did it, though.
>Now, whether he played ALL the intruments on EVERY song is >really moot because the larger point is he can and does play >many instruments and is considered to be a MULTI >INSTRUMENTALIST, period.
It's not moot at all... You made comparisons to Prince (someone who actually DID play all the instruments on his debut) and now you're saying it's not about whether or not D actually did play the instruments as long as he *could have* if he had wanted to?
_____________________
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/287/6/c/the_wire_lineup__huge_download_by_dennisculver-d30s7vl.jpg The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali
|