About Jukebox School of MusicIncluded in National Public Radio's Top Twenty Albums of 1988 Review from MIX--The Recording Industry Magazine, June 1989 A NEW KIND OF "JUKEBOX": THE RETURN OF SANDY BULL --By Blair Jackson Few instrumentalists carry their musical life around with them quite the way Sandy Bull does. After hearing Indian musicians in the '60s, he started playing raga-like forms on guitar. When he learned the oud, he incorporated it into his live shows. Same with pedal steel, which he took up in the early '70s. He loves soul music and salsa with nearly equal fervor, so he plays both, maybe tossing in a classical guitar piece in between. This sort of eclecticism has enchanted Bull's audiences for years--and made his records a little hard to get a handle on. The title of his latest disc, Jukebox School of Music, aptly explains his approach. There are smatterings of a dozen or more styles on this all-instrumental project, each of them reflecting a different side of Bull's musical personality. Bull was one of the most highly regarded players to come out of the early '60s folk scene, an unabashed eclectic whose early interest in ethnic music foreshadowed the burgeoning youth culture's fascination with the world beyond America. He made a number of records for Vanguard between 1962 and 1972, but hadn't released a record since. Jukebox School of Music started out as a humble cassette-only project to satisfy the demands of fans who see him play in clubs and concerts across the country, but it eventually fell into the hands of Keith Holzman, head of the new ROM label, who signed Bull to his roster. Within a few months of it's release last summer, Jukebox School of Music was being played on some 350 radio stations, an amazing feat for any artist, and sales had surpassed the company's and Bull's modest expectations. Bull has long been a solo performer, with a capital "S." Not content to just play his stringed instruments, he also has used a MIDI system for a few years, enabling him to pit his various axes against rich, fully textured parts. The new album reflects this approach; with the exception of one exquisite track featuring his longtime musical ally Billy Higgins on drums, all the parts were played by Bull. "I like them to be simple so they don't conflict with the tonalities of the main instrument I'm using." Bull recorded Jukebox at his Trolley Barn Studio in Venice, CA, using a Sony F1 and his trusty 10-channel Neve Broadcast mixer that travels on the road with him. If this wasn't exactly a big-budget project using the latest and greatest recording gear, you'd never know it from listening to the resulting CD. This melange of styles and textures, which takes the listener from the barrio to a C&W bar to the Middle East to the inner city, is dripping with soul and spirit. Bull, for one, makes no apologies for his eclecticism: "Basically, I like anything that swings, and that includes Bach, Indian music, salsa--the whole nine yards." Click Here For Music Fragments 1.Moodswing Salsa 3:29 JAZZIS Nov. '88 Perhaps the most dramatic moments on this highly eclectic project happen on "Truth," a duet for oud and traps set performed with the great jazz drummer Billy Higgins, who anchored the Ornette Coleman groups of the early 60s. The sensitivity level is high here, making for some extraordinary dialogue between the two musicians.
|