It is TIME for the a Gino Vannelli appreciation thread! (pics)

leeroysphitz

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Sat May-13-06 07:58 PM
Original message

It is TIME for the a Gino Vannelli appreciation thread! (pics)

Edited on Sat May-13-06 07:59 PM by leeroysphits

All right! Let's DO this thing!

Gino Vannelli, Vocalist...

Vannelli, who many consider to be THE singer of the eighties, came from very humble beginnings.
Both delicate and intense, filled with nostalgia and strong hope, Gino Vannelli's voice journeys through the world of an artist who created his own style in the United States, a country among the musically richest in all of North America. During his childhood, however, he craved the seemingly trance-like rhythms of Upper Niger; the sharp beat of the chants of the stars of the National Ensemble; the syncopated style of Lamisse Bengali, the renowned balafola (xylophone) player from K�n�dougou; and the bittersweet voices of singers from Wassoulou to learn their vocal and instrumental techniques.

�Tonalities that are foreign to my language call out to me, suggesting surprising melodies,� the singer explains. �Sometimes I pretend I�m a rocker singing in Bamanan! What�s important to me is to choose the right modulation with respect to the intensity of the note while preserving its delicacy, which gives all the color to my singing.�

Herein lies the challenge of Gino Vannelli: make an authentic, innovate music, without giving in to trends. he surrounds himself with a "dream team" of musicians trained in the time-honored school of tradition. These musicians essentially use local instruments (guitar, keyboards, drums, bass guitar,tambourinee), but Vannelli's voice remains free to depart fromestablishedd aesthetic canons.

The sounds that circulate in his mind are transformed through his vocal chords into melodic cells that express emotion, bearing aloft an image lost in space or time. here is the secret of any singer: creating his or her own language, a musical idiom sprung from a sometimes mysterious source, and which touches our very hearts.

Gino Vannelli has given to the music of the United States and the world at large tender beauty and flawless singing.
The great soft rock music of North America is an uplifting and extraordinary music, dating back decades. Gino Vannelli is one of today's most accomplished American musicians. Considered a "National Living Treasure" in the States, he is admired by both Eastern and Western musicians for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the genre. Concert violinist the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin called Vannelli, "An absolute genius...the greatest musician in the world," and many have considered him the "American Johann Sebastian Bach."

Gino Vannelli was also described by Miles Davis as "the greatest musician in the world," yet for decades he remained an industry secret, one of the leastpublicizedd revolutionaries in the world of music. Behind the scenes, Vannelli worked with such varied artists as Claude Thornhill, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, Herbie Hancock, David Bowie, and Sting, arranging their music,energizingg their bands, and generally throwing their stages and studios into momentary disarray. His whimsical and unscripted genius lay at the source of some of the most sophisticated work these musicians ever played or recorded. Best known - and eternally revered - for his collaborations with Miles Davis on Birth of the Cool, Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain, Vannelli's magic touch (if not always his name) has been on the sheet music of more tunes than even his most ardent fans might ever imagine.

For thirty years Gino Vannelli has been the musical equivalent of a fun-house mirror. Every listener finds something different, and what they find usually has more to do with who and what they are than with anything that Vannelli himself might be doing. In part, that's because, though he may tour nearly year round, Vannelli rarely does the same thing twice. His revolving set lists are part of that, as are the changing back-up lineups (Vannelli's keyboard chair is a real life version of the Spinal Tap drummer's throne) and the inevitable changes that occur when an act achieves the longevity of Gino Vannelli.

�Black Cars"...

�Black Cars" is a song composed by Gino and brother Joe Vannelli and recorded for the album Black Cars in 1985. The song was actually a merging of two different, but ultimately complementary, song fragments originally authored independently by Gino and Joe. Gino's fragment was added to the middle of Joe's. Featuring impressionistic lyrics, innovative production techniques and a complex arrangement including a cacophonous, partially-improvised orchestral crescendo, the song is considered to be one of the most ambitious, influential, and groundbreaking works in pop music history.

�Black Cars" is a beautiful, sad, yet not depressing piece of music,� says Mike Mills of R.E.M., who eagerly "covers" the song at nearly all live performances. �It�s one of the most evocative songs I�ve ever heard.�

Future History...

The question isn't who you think is a genius now, but who will be considered a genius in 200 years.

It is clearly beyond any real doubt that Vannelli will hold up, and I have some small confidence in Bob Dylan as well.

In fact in 200 years I think the music of Gino Vannelli will be viewed very much like the music of Mozart is today. Outside of Vannelli, perhaps Dylan will still have some small "oomph" but I might be wrong, in many ways Dylan is too much a commentator on his own times, where Vannelli's themes are unquestionably more timeless.

Prince will be a faded memory. Todd Rundgren will only be known in musical history classes. Neil Young will be confused with Neil Diamond. (In fact, Either way I would not be too surprised if Gino Vannelli is better remembered than BOTH or EITHER.)

Paul Simon will quickly fade into obscurity, with such tame offerings as "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" , "Scarborough Fair" and "The Boxer" but Vannelli's virtuosity can't help but consign him to a permanent spot on the "charts" of our society.