Blame It On My Youth

A jazz ballad should be poignant and elegant. It has to be beautiful without getting cloying. It has to show restraint yet be vulnerable. It often requires a musician to play softly, and this is no easy feat -- it's hard to play passionately yet quietly at the same time.

Art Farmer was a truly great practitioner of the jazz ballad, and Blame It On My Youth is Exhibit A. blame it on my youth This cut is from the album of the same name released in 1988 on Contemporary and available on  iTunes. 

Farmer begins playing without an intro. He opens the door and plays from his heart. Immediately. He gives you no time to settle in; he has something to tell you. When some jazz musicians play standards, you know immediately that the selection has got nothing to do with the original lyrics. I love Coltrane's iconic Favorite Things, and I know Coltrane is thinking about the melody only; and thank God! The lyrics are saccharine and shallow. But Blame It is about an adult whose heart is broken, and Farmer breaks my heart by expressing the lyrics with the perfect wounded sound. His muted flugelhorn tells the story -- and more.

Farmer and his quintet:Clifford Jordan (tenor and soprano sax), James Williams (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Victor Lewis (drums), all seasoned jazz men, follow Farmer with sensitivity and skill (Jordan sits this one out). Rufus Reid is particularly brilliant: his bass line is fluid and so much more than keeping rhythm. Farmer plays with such emotional depth here that it actually hurts. When he stops and lets James Williams play a solo at 4:25 we breathe a little. Williams ups the tempo but doesn't lose the blues Farmer's laid down.

We've all had a romance like this one: caught up so much in the relationship that we don't realize until way, way too late that our passion, our obsession is not reciprocal. It's humiliating. It's heartbreaking. We never forget it. Art Farmer's horn will remind you. This is a 5 star ballad that will move you just like a good ballad should. Enjoy.

 If I expected love when first we kissed

Blame it on my youth

If only just for you did I exist

Blame it on my youth

I believed in everything

Like a child at three

You meant more than everything

All the world to me

If you were on my mind all night and day

Blame it on my youth

If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray

Blame it on my youth

If I cried a little bit

When first I learned the truth

Don't blame it on my heart

Blame it on my youth

If you were on my mind all night and day

Blame it on my youth

If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray

Blame it on my youth

If I cried a little bit

When first I learned the truth

Don't blame it on my heart

Blame it on my youth

A Prolegomenon to My Future Writing or Your Future Reading

I often promise myself that I will write more, that I will expand my horizons a bit. I want  to write about my deep love of jazz and my belief in its power and artistry. But instead I sit on my hands, with the same dreary, predictable results: I lose circulation in my hands and get nothing done.

But no more!!

I will be sharing with you, novice or jazz maven, the musings of a man utterly smitten by jazz. I listen to it all of the time, both new and early-ish (I'm not a big swing, pre-bop, New Orleans, early jazz guy -- it doesn't much move me).

I don't know how to speak about music in a very professional way. That is, I can't talk the technology of scales or specific musical technique. But I can tell you what I like and why I like it. I will always link to Spotify so you can hear each piece for yourself and then share with me your thoughts.

I will also use this blog as an occasional venting place to talk politics, domestic and foreign. In this blog I speak only for myself,  a man with an opinion and a desire to write about it and what I see in the world.

Please leave me your thoughts and musical suggestions and so forth.