The Friday Morning Listen

Try And Stop Me - Leo Kottke

Whooboy! This man is just full of ideas. It's fun & refreshing to listen to an artist who's both masterful and humble.

And funny. It's interesting (to me anyway) to hear the stories of where this music comes from. Check out his description of "Gewerbegebiet":

My father's parents, August and Augusta, spoke German as their native language. But not if I was around. I was small enough (so I thought) to hide behind the plants, the conch shell, the summer sausage, and listen to these mysteries. I was hearing Silesia where they'd both grown up. Later I'd hear it again when my father sang at Christmas. I learned that the Garmans have done for the consonant what the Hawaiians have done for the vowel. To an English speaking monoglot like me, "gewerbegebiet" is a masterpiece of the language. Mahalo.

OK, so what does that have to do with the actual music? I guess that'll have to remain a mystery much like Kottke's experience of his grandparents' conversations. This much I can tell you: for all of its intricacies and seeming musical recursion, it retains its folk/Americana roots.

Oh, "gewerbegebiet" means "industrial estate". Those crazy Germans!

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He is an editor and writer for Jazz.com. He also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org and produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

Visit Mark Saleski's author page — Mark Saleski's Blog