Singer/Songwriter Adam Levy: The Craft of Conviction

As a teenager first learning to play the guitar, Adam Levy wasn’t bent on mastering the signature riff to “Purple Haze” or the chord sequence in “Stairway to Heaven.” Instead he practiced stuff like Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Junior’s Farm,” or “China Grove” by the Doobie Brothers. “I wasn’t really interested in the things that people often turn to,” Levy recalls. “I still can’t play ‘Purple Haze’ or ‘Little Wing’ or any of that.”

His six-string instincts and musical curiosities have served him well over the years as a sideman and session player—Levy’s credentials include studio work with the likes of Amos Lee, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob, and, most notably, Norah Jones, on whose first three albums he performed as a member of her Handsome Band—as well as a singer/songwriter.

Composing with and for other artists—Jones recorded his track, “In the Morning,” on her sophomore LP Feels Like Home—Levy has also produced a string of solo efforts, the most recent being The Heart Collector (Lost Wax Music). Cozy and mostly acoustic, the album evokes the character of a classic short-story anthology chock full of picturesque imagery and humble, endearing emotion. His voice soft yet dusky—think Keb Mo mixed with a bit of Lyle Lovett—Levy renders each narrative like a seasoned storyteller or, perhaps, an old friend.

“The whole point of songwriting is to tap into some universal thing,” he says, and just as an author embellishes within a plot, Levy doesn't necessarily base his songs on personal experience. “It’s not like you found my journal and you’re reading my innermost thoughts,” he explains. “They’re in there, but most of the songs come from other places. Anything that’s really confessional would go by really quickly. I wouldn’t ask you to listen to my confessions for three-and-a-half minutes… I would never write a song that says, ‘I woke up today at 7:20 and ate some leftover mac and cheese.’ That’s what I really did, but I wouldn’t put that in a song.”

Of greater importance, Levy says, is that his conviction be sincere.

Take, for instance, one of The Heart Collector's most charming songs, "Painting by Numbers," which was inspired by Edvard Munch's Self Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed. “So I started off with what was there," Levy explains. "The first line is, ‘I made up the bed the way that she likes it / Then I polished the floor ‘til it shined so bright / Then I oiled the gears in the grandfather clock / And put on my best suit of blue and green.’ In the first verse I’ve just described the entire painting.”

Levy employed a bit of poetic license to craft the song’s chorus and remaining two verses, filling out a narrative whose protagonist is neither directly informed by the portrait nor his own conscious thoughts. "And yet,” he maintains, “at the same time, that character is really sympathetic to me. I could see myself in him.”

That his songs in turn resonate with listeners is for Levy not only rewarding, but encouraging as well.

“That’s part of the challenge of being an artist if you want to have any kind of longevity,” he says, “writing songs that will have some staying power, of course, and also finding ways to keep your own self amused, entertained, bemused, whatever. Because as soon as you get bored, as soon as you tune out, I don’t think you can expect anyone else to tune in.”

(First published at Blinded By Sound.)

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Album Review: The Little Willies - For The Good Times

The Little Willies never set out to be a big deal. If anything they’ve aspired to maintain a low profile, perhaps as an antidote to the mainstream attention their most conspicuous member, Norah Jones, tends to attract with her solo releases. They reflected as much on their laid-back 2006 eponymous debut and, in its assortment of covers and well-suited originals, an earnest affinity for classic country music.

The group’s latest, For The Good Times (EMI/Milking Bull Records), is even more steeped in country, and it's all the better for it. Traditional honky-tonk along the lines of Lefty Frizzell (“If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time”) and Hank Williams (“Lovesick Blues”) complement moments that are at turns sentimental (“Remember Me”) and contentious (“Wide Open Road,” “Fist City”) in respectful, refreshing performances.

A seasoned, playful chemistry exists among these musicians—Jones (vocals, piano), along with Jim Campilongo (guitar), Lee Alexander (bass), Richard Julian (guitar, vocals), and Dan Rieser (drums)—invigorating some of these old gems, especially the obscure ones. “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves,” in particular, finds Julian behind the wheel singing lead as Jones accentuates its sensuous subtext, her voice an echo conjuring images not of some perilous highway but rather of far more risky, erogenous terrain.

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Tony Bennett, Timeless and On Top of the World

Tony Bennett (photo courtesy of Josh Cheuse)

Tony Bennett doesn’t like to talk about his legacy. Maybe it’s just the humility in his character, but even after 60 years in the music business he continues to look ahead. “You’re only as good as your next show,” he likes to say.

In other words, the best is yet to come.

Truth be told, Bennett, 85, is too busy these days for any such reflection. He’s got a hit on his hands, Duets II, the first Number One album of his prolific career.

It’s also one of the few unqualified blockbusters of 2011… and maybe 2012, as the all-star collection—which features collaborations with the likes of Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, Lady Gaga, Norah Jones, and Amy Winehouse in what turned out to be her last recording—has garnered three nominations for the upcoming 54th Annual GRAMMY® Awards, including Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Such achievements and accolades are but the latest testaments to Tony Bennett’s timeless, seemingly universal appeal.

“It’s always about growing with your audience,” says Danny Bennett, son of Tony and, in matters pertinent to his father’s career, his manager. “We don’t feel like we’re cranking out toothpaste,” he quips about the notion of marketing one of popular music’s all-time greats. “We’re helping propagate the art.”

And yet even a legend as renowned as Tony Bennett needs a game plan when it comes time to release an album. For Duets II, Danny explains, “We started [planning] in February 2010, strategically thinking, How do we make this different from Duets I? [Who] are the artists that we’re going to [use]? What does the marketplace look like? How is it different from when we were successful with that first record so we’re not just sitting on our laurels?”

Danny Bennett (photo courtesy of Kelsey Bennett)

Indeed, a host of factors and circumstances were considered—and as he recounts some of them in detail Danny makes his father’s offer 30 years ago to handle his business affairs seem like the wisest move in the world—but of most importance was that the album complement the current musical landscape without compromising the integrity of its artist. “It’s a balance between art and commerce,” he adds, affirming a philosophy he's found truth in despite musical trends and, on occasion, because of them.

In the mid-‘90s, an era in music which is often most associated with the propagation of grunge, Tony Bennett gained perhaps unlikely favor among Generation X, which embraced him as an elder statesman of hip. He was on MTV, appearing at the Video Music Awards and recording a performance with his quartet on MTV Unplugged; his LP of the latter won the GRAMMY© for Album of the Year in 1994. “If you think about it,” Danny says, “Tony in the ‘90s heralded in the iPod generation by presenting music and saying, ‘Guys, it’s okay. You can listen to Nirvana and Alice in Chains, but also Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday and Tony Bennett.’”

Such inclusive musical appreciation is not only supported by the diversity of artists on Duets II, but specifically, Danny maintains, by those who “grew up with hearing about Tony Bennett and learning about him through MTV Unplugged, not through the ‘50s or the ‘60s. So there are artists, like John Mayer and Carrie Underwood and Lady Gaga, who [have] looked at him as a role model.”

Duets II remains a bestseller over three months now after its release, which just goes to show that great music will never go out of style. Then again, neither will Tony Bennett. “How many artists, their greatest accomplishments are towards the end of their career as opposed to the beginning?” Danny reflects, sounding less like a business executive and more like a proud son. “I mean, that’s a pretty huge accomplishment.”

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Norah Jones Rocks. Seriously.

If by chance you work for a mass retail conglomerate that contains an obligatory music department, please refrain from shooting customers dumbfounded stares when they ask where you’ve stashed the eponymous debut album by El Madmo.

By the time the album hits stores on May 20, those in the know will already understand that El Madmo – “El” on bass and vocals, “Maddie” on electric guitar and vocals, and “Mo” on drums and vocals – is a wacky-punk-rock band that includes, most notably, Norah Jones.

Under the guise of Maddie, Jones sheds her chanteuse aura to slip into something more uninhibited, rough-edged, and refreshingly (and often comically) raunchy. “In my fantasy, you and me, we screw like bunnies,” she coos in “Fantasy Guy,” one girl’s tale of pining for a man whose wife poses an annoying impediment. On “GGW” – the acronym for Girls Gone Wild – she’s endured enough pick-up lines for one night, warning her drunken suitor, “Don’t you puke on my dress!”

El Madmo sets such frank sentiments to music that is at times shamelessly basic, rhythmically heavy, and downright absurd. What the album lacks in cohesion, though, it makes up for with beguiling songs crammed with their own idiosyncrasies and acerbic charms. From the simmering blues stomp of “Head In A Vise” to the feisty kick of “Carlo!” – “I stare at his ass/He smokes the good grass” – to the naughty innuendo pulsing through “I Like It Low,” the songs are like characters in an adorably deranged and bawdy ensemble stage show.

While the Norah Jones association will no doubt attract curiosity (and perhaps bewilderment), it’s El Madmo’s music that will ultimately assure continued listening. Once you get past the inevitable, initial reaction – “Did she just say that?” – you’ll accept and enjoy this album for what it is: a bizarre little batch of rock and roll that’ll have you grinning and grooving from start to finish.

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Do It Again: Top Cover Songs of 2007

Something intriguing occurs when an artist or band takes on someone else’s song. The interpreter may cover that song by adhering to hallmarks of the original version, but hopefully enough distinctiveness shines through to make it a worthwhile performance and not merely a facsimile. Here are ten of the best cover songs from this past year.

10) “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” – Velvet Revolver
Album: Libertad

One of ELO’s sweetest brews gets spiked with something a bit more virulent. Velvet Revolver plays in hard-rock mode yet preserves the original track’s melodic sensibilities. Slash stirs in a beguiling guitar performance, and the song sounds intoxicating in a whole new light.

9) “Paper Moon” – Erin McKeown
Album: Sing You Sinners

Ms. McKeown plays it cute and sassy, turning this swingin’ old song into a bouncy little ditty that would’ve made Sinatra blush.

8) “Goin’ Out West” – Queens of the Stone Age
Album: Sick, Sick, Sick [EP]

One of Tom Waits’ most fuel-injected tracks shifts into high-octane overdrive with QOTST behind the wheel. One can almost picture Waits and QOTST racing cross-country, barreling toward the same squalid destination.

7) “Stuck Inside Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”: Cat Power
Album: I’m Not There OST

At times it seems like she’s trying to inject Bob Dylan’s inflections on this, but Cat Power can’t escape the viscous essence of her own voice. For a woman known for delivering remarkable covers, this one ranks as one her finest.

6) “Court And Spark” – Herbie Hancock featuring Norah Jones
Album: River: The Joni Letters

Norah Jones slips into this song with sophisticated ease, her sultry voice wafting above Hancock’s sparse and measured arrangement. Joni Mitchell’s songs pose a certain amount of complexity for any interpreter, but Norah Jones consummately succeeds.

5) “Longer” – Babyface
Album: Playlist

Babyface’s tender rendition of this timeless love song would have made this list by its own merit anyway, but now it holds added poignancy in light of Dan Fogelberg’s untimely passing.

4) “You Sexy Thing” – Stereophonics
Album: Radio 1 Established 1967 [UK import]

To start, Kelley Jones wails his raspy voice over a crude guitar and it almost feels like we’re in for a slow, folksy rendition of this Hot Chocolate gem. Then, at the 25-second mark, Stereophonics lay down the proverbial funk and proceed to get their ever-loving groove on.

3) “I Am The Walrus” – Bono & Secret Machines
Album: Across The Universe OST

Chaotic music and trippy effects swirl and scrape as Bono brings an unbridled ferocity to one of The Beatles most psychedelic compositions. Goo goo g’joob.

2) “Gimme Shelter” – Patti Smith
Album: Twelve

The Rolling Stones made an ominous apocalypse sound erotic and eerie. Patti Smith, with her unembellished yet poetic gravitas, makes such a prospect seem unnervingly imminent.

1) "(Just Like) Starting Over" – The Flaming Lips
Album: Instant Karma! The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur

By distilling John Lennon’s original to its quintessence, the Flaming Lips impart this song with ethereal tenderness. Wayne Coyne sings it almost with a lump in his throat. His vulnerable sincerity will surely put a lump in yours.

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Picture Postcard Charms: Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters

One could trace Joni Mitchell’s jazz sensibilities perhaps as far back as Court and Spark, certainly by the time of The Hissing of Summer Lawns. In the mid-to-late 1970s, many of Mitchell’s compositions utilized jazz musicians due, in large part, to the instrumental dexterity required to play them. One such musician, Herbie Hancock, now leads a brilliant tribute to Mitchell on his latest release, River: The Joni Letters.

The album features an impressive guest list, including Leonard Cohen, Luciana Souza, Norah Jones, and Corinne Bailey Rae. Also involved is saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who, in addition to having played with Hancock as far back as in the Miles Davis Quintet, has also lent his talents to some of Mitchell’s recordings. Mitchell herself even makes an appearance, reinterpreting one her past works, “The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms).”

Rather than presenting literal translations, Hancock takes liberties in spacing out the sound of each song, giving the musicians license to improvise or perhaps to allow a vocalist to slip into a groove. A prime example of this occurs on “Court and Spark,” during which Norah Jones sings in a sparing yet sultry manner while the music sprawls on for nearly eight minutes.

Another facet of this album is how the music, even in its more liberal variations, arcs to the sonic contours of Mitchell’s lyrics. On “Amelia,” for instance, Luciana Souza’s voice, which sounds eerily like Mitchell’s on the original track, serves as a through line for Shorter, particularly, to play around. As well, Tina Turner’s refined performance on “Edith and the Kingpin” is the centerpiece of the song, while the musicians deftly compliment its sophisticated phrasings.

No one song on this album signifies Mitchell’s command with language better than “The Jungle Line.” Lyrics once buried by Burundi drums now resonate in lucid and striking fashion, as Hancock’s lone piano accompanies Leonard Cohen’s cadenced recitation.

Lyrical in their own right by way of their musical structure and sound, four instrumentals fill out the album. Although not written by Mitchell, two of those compositions, Duke Ellington’s “Solitude” and Miles Davis’ “Nefertiti,” were included because they influenced her as an artist. Incidentally, Hancock and Shorter played on the Miles Davis original, from the album of the same name.

On each song, Herbie Hancock conducts a compelling rendering of Joni Mitchell’s music and muse. River: The Joni Letters not only represents an exceptional album, but also an appropriate tribute to the most influential female singer/songwriter of the 20th century, the quintessential Lady of the Canyon.

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Peaceful Uneasy Feeling: Not Too Late by Norah Jones

Do you remember how you felt upon discovering that a familiar Disney fairy tale had a darker counterpart by the Brothers Grimm?

That is what it’s like to listen to Not Too Late, the third and by far the most peculiar album by Norah Jones. While its predecessors Come Away With Me and Feels Like Home could soothe you to sleep with a smile on your face, Not Too Late compels you to keep one suspicious eye open at all times.

A stark guitar, not Jones’ accustomed piano playing, begins the album on “Wish I Could,” the first of several songs with an ominous subtext. Jones wrote or co-wrote every track this time around, so perhaps she’s confessing her innermost thoughts (or premonitions). Perhaps she’s experimenting deeper within the framework of her own musical talent. Maybe she’s just kookier than anybody thought.

Whatever the case, Not Too Late holds up as an album. Yet while the chanteuse still sounds sultry, what she’s singing about may not exactly put you at ease.

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