MacFormat 1996 July/macformat-039.iso/DATABASE/SHARED.DIR/01512_43.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 4.8 KB | 310 lines

@
In his long career,
from 1944 to
1991, Davis
created a series
of jazz styles,
from the classic
'cool' quintet and
the orchestral
collaborations
with Gil Evans in
the Fifties to the
jazz-rock 'fusion'
of the Seventies.
His distinctive
trumpet style,
using the mute
to create a
mournful, wistful
sound, endured
throughout
#
Davis came from
an affluent
Illinois family. He
received private
musical tuition
before turning to
jazz. His first
recordings, in the
era of hard, fast
'be-bop' jazz,
were with Charlie
Parker and Dizzy
Gillespie; and by
1948 he was
leading his
own band
#
In the Sixties, Davis began to experiment with a cooler, less emotive
style of playing, trying out more complex compositions and electric
keyboards. In these later quintets Davis introduced young talents
such as saxophonist Wayne Shorter (right)
#
With albums such
as Bitches Brew
Davis established
a frenzied fusion
of rock and jazz.
This new style,
with electronic
effects to distort
the sound of his
trumpet, brought
him a new
generation of
fans. But the
further Davis
went towards
rock music, the
less his jazz
audience liked it
#
Davis's records
in the Seventies,
notably the
heavy-rock
Tribute to Jack
Johnson, a tour de
force by guitarist
John McLaughlin,
and the musically
bare but
rhythmically
ornate On The
Corner, were not
well received.
Misunderstood,
and suffering
from various
health problems,
Davis stopped
playing for
six years
#
When he
returned to
playing, Davis
had lost his
strength and his
musical edge. But
his character, and
his playing tone,
survived. He also
continued to
behave with a
cool arrogance;
and he still
sounded like
Miles Davis, and
no one else
@
Surrealism
emerged from
Dada, an anti-art
movement which
challenged the
accepted
conventions of
art. One of Dada's
earliest
exponents was
Marcel Duchamp
who worked on
the principle that
anything could be
labelled art,
Duchamp
exhibited a
'signed' series of
'ready-mades'
designed to pose
the question "Is it
art?"
#
The Surrealist
movement
encompassed
many artists and
many trends.
Among them
were the Belgian
artist Rene
Magritte, whose
visual puns and
understated jokes
were a world
away from the
outrageous antics
of Dali
#
Dali was
indifferent to the
political
preoccupations of
his surrealist
colleagues and of
his countrymen.
"What do you
think of
communist
growth during
the last hundred
years?" he was
asked for this
photograph.
"From the point
of view of hair on
the face," he said,
"there has been a
steady decline."
#
In 1951 Dali
announced "For
me Surrealism is
over". Shaken by
Hiroshima, he
proclaimed
himself the "First
Painter of the
Atomic Age". His
work now
combined his two
preoccupations:
science and
religion. In this
carefully staged
photo,
"Atomicus", each
object appears to
be suspended like
an atom in space
#
Dali's religious
works of the
Fifties and Sixties
brought his work
to a wider public.
This painting, the
subject of
controversy when
it was bought by
Glasgow Art
Gallery in 1952,
was inspired by a
drawing of Christ
attributed to the
16th century
Spanish mystic, St
John of the Cross
@
The Beatles split
was blamed by
many on Yoko
Ono. John doted
on her, and Paul
was deeply
distrustful of her,
But the two
songwriters'
paths had already
diverged, and the
worst that can be
said of Yoko is
that she hastened
the group's
demise
#
The once happy
and fruitful
Beatles
partnership slid
after the break-
up into personal
sniping and legal
bickering. Lennon
released a very
poor song, How
Do You Sleep,
which was a
bitter and vicious
attack on Paul
#
After the Beatles
fell apart the
members moved
on to other
projects. Lennon
moved to New
York, Ringo Starr
got interested in
film, Harrison
made some
respectable
albums in Britain
, and McCartney,
after a period of
peace and quiet,
re-emerged with
what he called a
working skiffle
band - Wings
#
John Lennon was
killed outside his
home in New
York. He had
done little in the
previous five
years, but had
just re-emerged
with a new
album. His death
put paid to the
perennial
rumours that the
Beatles were
about to get back
together
#
If prophetic
photographs are
anything to go by,
it seems Lennon
knew he would
be the first Beatle
to die. Sales in
Beatles records
naturally
rocketed after his
death, and with
his corpus of
work now
complete, the
appraisal of his
legacy, with the
Beatles and
without them,
could begin
#
Paul McCartney's
solo output has
remained
impressive, but
as with Lennon,
the quality
varied. Though
both men strived
to create a
separate musical
identity for
themselves after
the Beatles,
neither could
quite ever escape
the shadow of
their youthful
moptopped selves