The Art of Jazz and
the Saxophone is the topic of today. Bob
Kindred a veteran tenor saxophone performer in the tradition of Stan
Getz and
Ben Webster Plus. I have known Bob ever
since I came to
Bob is very unusual
player in that he combines the modern with the old styles.
One second he is in the 40s and the next
phrase could be in the year 2000 with a very unnoticeable transition. His sound is what really got to me when I was
at the Café Loup in
Today with
electronics the true sound of the instrument is lost in the microphones
and the
electric instruments. We seem to live in
a harder and colder world than in the past.
Now everything is about competition and marketing not about
sound,
harmony and musical development. After
all this is what makes a musician his ability to understand sound,
harmony and
musical development and where he is in his own development. This is something that Bob has down to a tee;
he knows exactly what he wants to sound like and changes this into love
and
warmth
You know I brought my
camera to the event at Care Loup on Sunday and I was listening so
intently to
the music I forgot to take out my camera and take some pictures. I came up with the conclusion that this music
was just so intimate. One could really
hear the guitar and the bass and the saxophone as a blend of
instruments and
not just musicians playing off on their own and pretending to be with
the
band. I went later to hear the Chico
O’Farill Band at Birdland and this is what I noticed that big band
Latin music
(and any big band really) covers up the sound of the intimate part of
the sound
of the horn and the sound becomes one big gigantic sound which is
another form
of music. As Mario Rivera said to me,
“it gives us more possibilities.”
So if you want to
hear the sound of the instruments in an intimate format one has to go
to a
small club where there is just acoustic music with no microphones so
one can
hear the sound of the real instrument and not the sound of a phony
instrument
that we get most of the time with computer generated music. Not to say some electronic music is not real
art because it can be too. Bob Kindred
creates the sound of the real saxophone. Is this not what music is all about?
Stan Getz called himself a saxophone player and I know this is
what Bob
Kindred is too. Bob is a real saxophone player with the greatest low
notes I
ever heard.
So folks out there in
music land if you like Stan Getz and Ben Webster you will love Bob
Kindred for
he projects warmth and love through his instrument.
So few musicians are able to reach this level
of musicianship! This takes a special
person to reach this level of music no matter what style or era it is
from for
all true music is about warmth and love.
“Thanks Bob for reminding me what music really is all about.”
Bob has a wonderful
CD Called Live at CAFÉ LOUP. You can buy
it at his web site at http://www.bobkindred.com
if you cannot make it
down to the club. You must have this CD
in your collection for it brings together the Dixieland tradition,
modern
tradition, Stan and Ben tradition in a blend all its own called the Bob
Kindred
Style.
The tunes on the CD
are Alone Together, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans,
Skylark,
Playin in the Yard, Tenderly, Dream Dancing, Doubletalk, In a
Mellowtone, Sweet
and Lovely and Memories of You.
Greg Henry Waters
http://www.greghenrywaters.com
Artist of Music