Have you Heard?
Why writing about music is like dancing about architecture
By Doug Robinson 
October 31, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

The quote above has been attributed to everyone from Gertrude Stein to Frank Zappa, and it has always made me smile. I don’t even know if it’s really true, but it does shine some light on the potential problem of analyzing something as spiritual as music using the same basic tools we employ to write a grocery list.

Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of intrepid or misguided souls like myself still plug away, searching for new and creative ways to say “Hey, this album doesn’t suck!”

However, I just read a good book about music that attempts to inform and entertain without judging (too much, that is): Phil Ramone’s Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music. It’s an inside look at recording sessions from producer/engineer Ramone’s illustrious 50-year career. Ever since construction began on my new recording studio, I’ve been immersing myself in books about the technical aspects: wiring, soundproofing, microphone selection and so on. This book was different. If Making Records isn’t really detailed enough to tell you which mic to use when you’re recording Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim, Paul Simon, Chicago, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Stan Getz or Elton John (by now you’re getting the idea as to the scope of his career), it’s still an enormously interesting book that gives you a picture of what it’s like to create hit records for the most influential and successful artists of our time.

The book opens just as Frank Sinatra has walked out of the first recording session for his 1993 Duets album without singing a single note, leaving behind a studio filled with panicked engineers, record label executives and a 60-piece orchestra made up of top players who had been rehearsing for days. Ramone, the producer and the main architect of the Sinatra project, had already worked with him in the sixties and was well aware of Sinatra’s tendency to get nervous and blow off such a session if he was even the slightest bit uncomfortable with some aspect—in this case, the way his microphone had been positioned.

Eventually, Ramone gets him back, the record gets made and Sinatra ends his career with his biggest-selling album (although one I never really liked, given that Sinatra didn’t sing live in the studio with his guest artists—they literally sent their performances in over high-speed phone lines from around the world, giving new meaning to “phoning it in.”)

The Sinatra chapters allow you to be a fly on the wall as Ramone and his team hurriedly rethink the sessions before Sinatra comes back into the studio the next night. You can feel the excitement when his agent calls Ramone at 7:45pm to say “He’s left the hotel! I think he’s on his way!” There is yet another false start due to a sore throat, but when it all finally comes together and Frank nails most of his parts in a single take—something he was always famous for but since he hadn’t recorded in several years, was insecure about—I have to admit that I got chills.

That’s not to say that Ramone is a colorful writer. It’s all pretty straightforward stuff, but at least it’s straightforward stuff about really interesting events: helping Billy Joel write his biggest hits while Joel’s band members were playing pranks on each other in the studio; getting Ray Charles to turn in his best performances in years even though he was dying of liver disease; plotting with Paul McCartney in a men’s room about how to fire a violin player with a bad attitude without upsetting the rest of the orchestra. Ramone’s telling of the innovative way Barbra Streisand conducted the filming of the live concert segments for A Star is Born opened my eyes to how many risks she was willing to take in order to get the results she wanted. His account of setting up the never-before-tried live sound system for Simon and Garfunkel’s historic concert in Central Park for 500,000 people made me almost as nervous as he was.

This is not a kiss-and-tell book, with lurid tales of orgies in the drum booth (well, maybe one or two). Even though Ramone touches on a few ego-fueled encounters with certain superstars, there are very few moments where the artists come off as anything worse than pleasantly eccentric. There are great stories about the humble beginnings of Tony Bennett’s career, of Ray Charles making a star-struck Norah Jones feel comfortable in a duet performance, of Paul Simon recording a local percussion group late at midnight on the streets of Brazil and integrating those tracks into his album Rhythm of the Saints, and even of breaking up fights between Peter, Paul and Mary. If you’ve ever wondered what it is like to be there while Burt Bacharach, Kenny Loggins, Julian Lennon, Luciano Pavarotti, Rod Stewart and others struggle to record something worth sharing with their fans, this book might appeal to you.

Speaking of writing about music, here is a quick update on San Miguel’s XIV Festival Internacional de Jazz y Blues, November 28–December 4.

Cuban drum sensation Francisco Mela is coming back! Of all the acts from last year’s festival, Mela is the one whose name comes up the most often. Ask a friend who saw him with Bob Sheppard or his own band and they will tell you that he’s not only an amazing musician but also a warm and engaging performer. This year, he’ll be reuniting with his old friend and sanmiguelense Gabriel Hernández to open for blues artist Marcia Ball on November 30. I have it on good authority that he might even make a few surprise appearances around town that week.

Director Antonio Lozoya and the Festival Team (Glenda Robinson, Tere Urtusástegui and I) are trying to present music in cool new settings this year. In addition to the six Peralta concerts, there will be three free afternoon shows up at La Luciérnaga, a free evening concert in front of the Parroquia and two “Meet the Artists” celebrations hosted by festival sponsors Coates/Dolan up at Vista Antigua. The first of the Vista Antigua events, a catered champagne brunch, will be on Sunday, November 30. The second will be a Wednesday afternoon pre-concert cocktail party on December 3. Of course, there will be great live entertainment at each event. Keep your eye on Atención over the next few weeks for details and visit sanmigueljazz.com for the complete lineup.

And finally, we’re going to have big fun this year doing something everyone loves: giving stuff away. At every single Peralta concert, we will give away an iPod Shuffle to a lucky audience member. There will also be drawings for tickets to other festival events, artist CDs and more. Whether this is your 14th jazz festival or your first, we want to thank you for your support. Our vision is to make this the most important and entertaining jazz and blues festival in Latin America, and with the talent we’re presenting this year along with our iPod giveaways, educational clinics, free concerts and opportunities to hang out with the performers, we think we’re getting pretty darned close.

Doug Robinson will be appearing in the festival playing with Marcia Ball, Jimmy Dillon and during the finale, a jazz tribute to the Beatles, which he is producing.

Classical guitarist travels the world

Concert
Eduardo Pascual
Tue, Nov 4, 7pm 
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos, limited seating

Eduardo Pascual Diez is an active guitarist in the Spanish style and a teacher in the Conservatorio Música de Valladolid. He was born in Torrelavega, Spain, and studied in renowned conservatories in Madrid and with masters in Salamanca.

He is inspired by the Baroque and Renaissance and has played throughout the Americas and Europe.

Pascual has won top awards all over the world and has judged international contests in the US, Canada, Poland, Austria, Peru, Mexico and the Ukraine. He has given lectures and master classes in England, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and France. He has participated in guitar festivals in Bath and London, UK, and in Peru, Spain and Italy.

Tickets are available at the theater box office.

Multiple syncopated rhythms
By Sergio Basurto

Concert
Folklore harp and flamenco guitar
Sergio Basurto
Thu, Nov 6, 7:30pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos, limited seating

Sergio Basurto Valencia’s musical career started in Mexico City when, at 16, he studied the Andean flute known as quena. This expertise allowed him to join the most prestigious Latin American folklore group of the seventies. He learned to play the multiple syncopated rhythms of milongas, zamba, baladas, rumba, bossa nova and more. From this experience it wasn’t difficult for him to understand flamenco rhythms and interpret the most representative with mastery. Basurto belongs to the select musical community of San Miguel and has offered well received concerts in Teatro Santa Ana for the past five years.

On the harp, he performs Latin American folk themes from Venezuela, Paraguay and Mexico. On the Spanish guitar, he plays songs from Uruguay, Argentina and Cuba, and ends with a demonstration of his mastery of flamenco.

Gypsy music night

Concert 
Javier “Gitano” Estrada
Gypsy guitar and voice 
Fri, Nov 7, 7pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
100 pesos, limited seating

Friday evening, guitarist Javier Estrada sings and plays Noche de fiesta gitana, enchanting music from the south of Spain. His light touch across the strings and the melodies of the gypsies will set an intimate mood. Tickets are available at the theater box office.