Old Music vs. New Music

Yep. Those super dominant pop vocalists remind me of guys who sit on the bus with their legs spread as though they were packing basketballs, leaving this tiny bit of a seat for others to squeeze into.
I think that if the artist is willing to to take chances with their music and hire players of a higher caliber, you can end up with some brilliant moments of playing with/against the complicated lyricism. Like an Elvin to a Coltrane, or Mitchell to a Hendrix.

If I could give you all one modern record to listen to with an open mind, it'd be Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. I've personally never been hit as hard by a record in all my life. The production, arrangement, composition, musicianship, rapping, lyricism, and album concept are something that I've never seen in any record before or since. He uses different vocal inflection led "characters" to display a narrative deep enough that there are entire podcast series and even collegiate creative writing lectures centered around it's dissection.

With respect to this response, I think that the album's first interlude, "For Free?" is a perfect example of what pop music could be if they encouraged the artists to play along and support the wild vocals. I'd also stamp a big bold Parental Advisory on this track, and entire album. It's written by a guy that was raised in Compton and the lyricism and profanity reflect that, so make sure you call home and check with your mom to make sure you're allowed to listen. I know that generally that can be a turn-off to listeners not accustomed to it's language, but just treat it as a really well regarded and artistic Rated-R film.


 
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Here’s a paragraph from Bill Schnee’s book:

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”The band” he’s referring to is Huey Lewis & the News. Boz is Boz Skaggs, Pablo is Pablo Cruise.

He has several anecdotes about A&R guys and managers being 100% wrong about a band’s recording and/or song writing and no one gets fired! 😤
 
I think that if the artist is willing to to take chances with their music and hire players of a higher caliber, you can end up with some brilliant moments of playing with/against the complicated lyricism. Like an Elvin to a Coltrane, or Mitchell to a Hendrix.

If I could give you all one modern record to listen to with an open mind, it'd be Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. I've personally never been hit as hard by a record in all my life. The production, arrangement, composition, musicianship, rapping, lyricism, and album concept are something that I've never seen in any record before or since. He uses different vocal inflection led "characters" to display a narrative deep enough that there are entire podcast series and even collegiate creative writing lectures centered around it's dissection.

With respect to this response, I think that the album's first interlude, "For Free?" is a perfect example of what pop music could be if they encouraged the artists to play along and support the wild vocals. I'd also stamp a big bold Parental Advisory on this track, and entire album. It's written by a guy that was raised in Compton and the lyricism and profanity reflect that, so make sure you call home and check with your mom to make sure you're allowed to listen. I know that generally that can be a turn-off to listeners not accustomed to it's language, but just treat it as a really well regarded and artistic Rated-R film.


Yup, that's happening, though pretty intense. The horns reminded me of Mingus or Nucleus.
 
Yup, that's happening, though pretty intense. The horns reminded me of Mingus or Nucleus.
Definitely intense. Apparently the band wanted to back off and support the vocals more and Kendrick instead requested that they comp to him as though he was a sax player.

I definitely see the Mingus connection. Maybe even some Max Roach It's Time influence with the choral pads. Sounds like Terrace Martin and Robert Glasper were specifically aiming for some Kenny Kirkland/Branford Marsalis type stuff when they first started talking about the instrumental.
 
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