An Appreciation Of The Songwriting And Music Of John Arthur Martinez - Page 3

Now, while I realize that pop music and performance art is not high art, the way literature, painting, or even classical music, is, the fact that this was an excellent artist moved me. A comparison to prior musicians only made Martinez stand out more, but an example was provided within the set, itself. First, the two other members of Martinez’s band, called Tejas, were also capable musicians. The lead guitar was well played by a portly thirtyish musician called Chris Reeves, and the bass played by B.B Morse (a large bearded man who did a hilariously infectious ditty called Chicks Dig Me); there was no percussion, but Morse’s excellent bass showed how utterly superfluous drums are in most modern pop music.

Then, late in the second set, Martinez took a breather, and a few songs were sung by a guest musician, a guitarist named Andre Bouvier. Bouvier was from New Orleans, and was also a large man, with a typical bluesy N’Awlins singing voice. His tunes were slow, bluesy, and good. However, they were generic. In all my years in cafes for poetry readings, I’ve heard men like Bouvier come and go. This is not to say that he was in any way a bad musician nor singer, but, had he been the featured singer, my wife and I definitely would have spent only the obligatory fifteen or so minutes listening.

He simply was like many other blues singers — the older male equivalent of a Carrie Underwood’s voice, or that of any obese black female gospel singer. His voice was interchangeable, as were his songs — lyrically and in their performance. And this is the point about Martinez. He stood out, not because he was merely good and competent, but because he had something different, and that difference was excellence, perhaps songwriting greatness.

Furthermore, Bouvier would have been seen as a better musician than he portrayed had one not been exposed to Martinez. Too often, in these days, critics praise or overpraise mere competence or solidity as goodness, excellence, or greatness, and then can go no further when they encounter a better artist like Martinez. Thus, the critics box themselves in, refuse to reevaluate (especially downward), and end up with a pantheon of artists who are mostly solid, thus effectively making the praise they offer to truly exceptional artists or works of art meaningless, for it is indistinguishable from that offered to the merely solid.

Article Author: Dan Schneider

Dan Schneider is the founder and webmaster of Cosmoetica: the best in poetica.

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