R.I.P.

The Five Foot Assassin, The Funky Diabetic…R.I.P., Phife Dawg

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)

Damn! 2016 has been one sucky year. So far, we’ve lost-

–Pierre Boulez

–David Bowie

–George Martin

…and now Malik Taylor, aka the one and only Phife Dawg, of a band I love like few others- A Tribe Called Quest, who passed, today, at the tragically young age of 45, due to complications from the diabetes he’s had since 1990. The 4 of these lost Artists equal a sizable part of my musical listening life. As for Phife, who immortalized himself in one line-

“When was the last time you heard a funky diabetic?”#

Answer- Never. He speaks best for himself.

“Yo, microphone check one two what is this
The five foot assassin with the ruffneck business
I float like gravity, never had a cavity
Got more rhymes than the Winans got family

No need to sweat Arsenio to gain some type of fame
No shame in my game cause I’ll always be the same
Styles upon styles upon styles is what I have
You want to diss the Phifer but you still don’t know the half

I sport New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow path
Messing round with this you catch the sizing of em?
I never half step cause I’m not a half stepper
Drink a lot of soda so they call me Dr. Pepper

Refuse to compete with BS competition
Your name ain’t Special Ed so won’t you Seckle With the Mission
I never walk the streets, think it’s all about me
Even though deep in my heart, it really could be

I just try my best to like go all out
Some might even say yo shorty black you’re buggin’ out”*

I saw A Tribe Called Quest 4 indelible times in the 90’s, including once on New Year’s Eve at the Palladium, as I mentioned earlier, and one time when I drove all the way to Asbury Park, NJ with a friend who had never heard of them, to see them in a bar/small club. We stood up on the top of the booths along the wall to try and see them, the place was so packed. Seeing them in such a small room (it was closer to a bar than a club, size-wise. A small bar.) was a completely different thing than seeing them in a show at the large halls they would play thereafter.

Tribe Source 9.1998P2NH

Can I Kick It? (L-R)Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip & Phife Dawg. On Point. All The Time. The Source, Sept, 1996. From my collection.

For most, Tribe defines what’s called “Old School” today. I hate labels, as I’ve said. For me, Tribe represented, and will always represent good music.Their music that has stood up for the test of 25 years, and counting, so far. Well, you can stop counting. It’s here to stay. They’ve never left my iPod/iPhone and are still among the most played when I look at my song count totals, even after all these years. Why? In spite of some dated references here and there (“Mr. Dinkins will you please be my Mayor?”Classic!), it’s GOOD MUSIC, and it’s as fresh as anything happening right now. Tribe was many things to many people, and still are (including a big influence to quite a few, like him.). I loved how Tribe melded jazz elements, (including the great Ron Carter on bass on “Verses From The Abstract”) into the mix, and so were a big part of the continuum of the music that goes back to the bebop era jazz Q-Tip raps about his dad listening to.

“My pops used to say, it reminded him of be-bop
I said, well daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles”+

Thay had the jazz, to paraphrase a title.

"We bounce off each other like Yin & Yang, nice and smooth, you know?" Phife said last year. Great groups have a chemistry I've never been able to define. From some unknown magazine, circa 2000, after "the Love Movement" came out. From my collection.

“We bounce off each other like Yin & Yang, nice and smooth, you know?” Phife said last year. Great groups have a chemistry I’ve never been able to define. From some unknown magazine, circa 2000, after “the Love Movement” came out. From my collection.

In “The Source” article, above, Phife says, he doesn’t think they’ll ever break up(p. 110), but, sadly, that didn’t come to pass, and they did after “The Love Movement,” in 1998. A must see documentary, “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest” came out in 2011 and ever since I lived in hope they’d reunite to record and tour, especially since Q-Tip has continued to grow as an Artist with his terrific solo albums, along with Phife’s own excellent solo album, “Ventilation, Da LP,” in 2000. There was so much individual growth, the next Tribe album HAD to be another classic and put them right back on top. Alas, the only time I got to see or hear of them since was what turned out to be their final performance, on “The Tonite Show” last November.

And now, like The Beatles and The Smiths, that dream is over.

“You on point Phife?
All the time, Tip”@

What I love most about Phife is that he had the gift of bringing you into his life and let you walk around in it. His style sounded so fresh it was impossible to tell if he had written it or if he was freestyling as you listened to him. While Chuck D saw the big picture, and Tip brought that timeless “Miles Davis-NYC Cool” to Hip Hop, Phife was holding it down in ways the rest of us could relate to.

“When this kid tried to tell me I didn’t deserve my occupation
He said I wasn’t shit that I was soon to fall
I looked him up and down, grab my crotch and said balls
Of course he tried to bring it on the battling tip
Ay, you know me, you know I had to come out my shit
Trying to lounge at the mall, meet Skef and Mr Walton
Finally I banged his ass wit the verbal assault
He said a rhyme about his .45 and his nickelbags of weed
That’s when I preceeded to give him what he needed
Talking ’bout I need a Phillie right before I get loose
Poor excuse, money please, I get loose off of orange juice
Preferly Minute Maid cuz that’s exactly what it takes
To write a rhyme, huh, to school your nickels and your dimes
Because an MC like me be on TV
Don’t mean I can’t hold my shit down in NYC”%

Peace out, Phife.

Soundtracks for this Post are- *- “Buggin’ Out”  +- “Excursions,” #-“Oh My God,” @- “Check The Rhime” and %-“Phony Rappers” by Ali Shaheed Jones-Muhammad, Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, & Malik Izaak Taylor, immortalized on record by A Tribe Called Quest.

Phife, on point, from 1;49-

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

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The 20th Century Is Officially Over- R.I.P. Pierre Boulez

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)

That was my first thought on hearing that the composer and incomparable interpreter of 20th Century Music, Pierre Boulez, former Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, from 1971-77,  had passed earlier today, only months after his 90th Birthday celebration. He took a ton of grief for programming 20th Century Music at the NY Phil back in the 70’s but he opened up the ears and minds of countless listeners who became lifelong fans, like me. If you were struggling with the “extended tonality” of, or looking to get a toehold into, the Music of modern composers like Varese, Messiaen (who he studied with), Bartok, Schoenberg, Berg or even Stravinsky, Boulez’ interpretations were often the ones that, finally, opened their doors for you. He brought more pure excitement to these works than anyone had. He seemed to also have uncanny insights into them, perhaps because he knew some of these composers personally, and perhaps because he grew up in Europe after the First and during the Second World War, he understood what those other European Composers had experienced first hand.

The Hammer of The Master takes up parts of 2 of my shelves. He may be gone, his legacy will endure.

More than anyone else I can think of, including Glenn Gould, he forged my love of 20th Century Music, and I will always be grateful to him for that. His recordings- ALL of them- sit on my shelves and are continually rotated on my listening devices.

But, there is more to his legacy than his state of the art recordings of 20th Century Music. Much more.

His recordings of the 19th Century French literature- especially Debussy, Ravel & Berlioz, remain benchmarks. As time went on, he added a number of non-Frenchmen, like Mahler, to them, in what are don’t-miss performances. His choice as conductor for the annual Wagner-fest at Bayreuth in 1976, the Centennial of Wagner’s birth, caused a storm of protest, but resulted in, perhaps, the greatest and most memorable modern Cycle of “The Ring” Operas we have. I think as time goes on his recordings of all of these 19th Century works will be regarded the way his 20th Century performances are. After all, there aren’t many conductors who were also great composers who conducted as much in the Stereo & Digital ages as Pierre Boulez, and Leonard Bernstein. Hearing composers conduct the work of others has, and will continue to have, lasting historical importance.

Beyond conducting, Pierre Boulez was also one of the most important composers of the post Second World War era. His Music has already made inroads on to concert programs around the world, even without him being personally involved in the program (he basically “retired” a few years back as health issues kept him from conducting). His “Le marteau sans maitre” (The Hammer without a Master) is, perhaps, his most well known work. You can hear in its entirety here. His Piano Sonatas are regularly performed and recorded. They are parts of a legacy that appear likely to continue and endure, especially given the countless students and younger Musicians he taught or directly influenced.

In some ways, it’s tempting to think of him as Contemporary Music’s European Leonard Bernstein, who I’m sure he knew personally, and who he followed at the New York Phil as Music Director. Their own Music couldn’t be more different, though, Lenny’s work seem to get a bit “darker” later. Perhaps, Boulez had a subtle influence on him as well? Probably not.

Even beyond all of this, Boulez founded the French Music organization, IRCAM, which includes a wonderful group for performances of contemporary Music called the Ensemble InterContemporain (a chamber sized ensemble), and personally conducted them in many memorable performances and recordings. They continue their unique and important mission. IRCAM was a founding part of the renowned Pompidou Center in Paris.

Surely, France will honor Boulez as one of their Musical giants. Along with Berlioz, Debussy & Ravel, he has earned a place right along side his Master, the brilliant Olivier Messiaen, in French Musical history.

For the rest of the world, though, when people look back and want to hear the Music of any 20th Century composer who’s work he recorded, and want to hear it in definitive performances 1, as they say, they will need look no further than the recordings of Pierre Boulez. When you think about it, that’s a monumental thing to say.

And so I say, 20th Century Music is now, Officially, over.

Long may it be played.

*-Soundtrack for this post is “Le marteau sans maitre,” The Hammer without a Master, by Pierre Boulez. I am, however, posting the following performance of what is my favorite classical work, Bela Bartok’s “Concerto For Orchestra,” conducted by Pierre Boulez in concert in 2003, in Memorium, and to say “Thank you” for turning me on to it, and countless other masterpieces-

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You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

  1. Stravinsky, fortunately, recorded extensively conducting his own Music, and those recordings are certainly essential as well. ↩

Why I’m Not Going To See “Steve Jobs”

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)

Back cover of MacWorld UK for it’s Steve Jobs tribute after he passed in 2011. I’ve never been able to find out if it was a real Apple Ad or not.

One. Mrs. Steve Jobs calls it “fiction.”

Two. Walt Mossberg says the Jobs he knew “isn’t in the film.”

Three. As people who know me know, I’ve been an Apple guy since 1990, so I lived through much of this by watching the Apple Keynotes & Media events (which you can still watch free on iTunes), by following Apple, and yes, through the media. The real danger in the film “Steve Jobs” I fear, even as a hard core supporter of artistic license and free speech, is that people who don’t know anything about Steve Jobs will make their minds up solely on the basis of this, and other Jobs films, the way Oliver Stone’s “JFK” has influenced the minds of so many that Oswald didn’t act alone. (Sorry. I think he did.) I was hoping “Steve Jobs” would be a kind of outright fantasy like the wonderful “I’m Not There” is “about” Bob Dylan. It gives a sense of him without attempting the impossible and trying to recreate him. For me, that is the best course to take. Even the “documentaries” released on Jobs thus far strike me as being messes.

It’s a real shame. Jobs though, by his own admission, was not a perfect human being, is an important enough one to deserve much better. Society, especially the young who may become “the next Steve Jobs,” deserves much better. If you really want to read something that catches the real Steve better, read “Becoming Steve Jobs,” by Brent Schlender & Rick Tetzeli. No less than Apple guru John Gruber calls it “remarkable,” and says it is “the book about Steve Jobs the world deserves.”

When you start seeing really mild mannered people like Tim Cook, who offered Mr. Jobs his own liver, get his dander up, you know it’s taken a lot. I feel for him, Mrs. Jobs, and those who actually knew Steve Jobs. I can’t even imagine their frustration.

“Yes, she’s gone like the rainbow that shined yesterday
But now she’s home beside me and I’d like her here to stay
She’s a lone forsaken beauty and it’s don’t trust anyone
I wish I was beside her but I’m not there, I’m gone”*

Cast your vote with your wallet and STAY AWAY.

*Soundtrack for this post is “I’m Not There” by Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs favorite musician, which appears on the “Basement Tapes” (Bootleg Series, Vol  11), and was written by Bob Dylan and published by Dwarf Music.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.