Doug Livingston: A Caged Beast?

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 31 May 2005 11:09 pm

I bought this CD off of Ebay in the pedal steel section by Sasha Matson called "Steel Chords ~ I-5: Works for Pedal Steel Guitar, Harp and Strings." It's modern chamber orchestra music. It's reasonably pleasant sounding, but all the steel guitar does is swoop around in the background, while the violins get to play the zippy parts, what few of them there actually are. Given what I infer of Mr. Livingston's talents from reading this forum, I think it might've been a more interesting album if the steel guitar had gotten to play the fun stuff, while the violins did the swooping about. Better yet, maybe all of the musicians could've been given something interesting to play. I even read a review of it by a certain "Bobby Lee" at Amazon.com, which politely points out that maybe Sasha Matson didn't know what steel guitars are here for. Since Stravinsky and Bach and Charlie Parker and Ennio Morricone have all written songs for the pedal steel guitar, maybe ol' Sasha can kick it up a notch (or two) for her next effort.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 1 Jun 2005 4:31 am

Please pardon my naivete, but could you name these 'songs for pedal steel' by Stravinsky, Bach, Charlie Parker, and Morricone? [This message was edited by Barry Blackwood on 01 June 2005 at 05:32 AM.]

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 1 Jun 2005 6:02 am

Ennio Morricone wrote the song used as the theme song to "Once Upon A Time In The West" and (I doubt that he knew it at the time) that song is likely to go down in history as the most hauntingly beautiful songs ever played on the steel guitar by Buddy Emmons.

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 1 Jun 2005 6:11 am

are you sure it was Buddy??????

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 1 Jun 2005 7:03 am

I love critics.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 1 Jun 2005 8:40 am

Stravinsky wrote the "Firebird Suite" for Mike Perlowin, available here on the forum on the CD called, not surprisingly, "Firebird Suite"; Ennio Morricone wrote "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" for Dave Ristrim, available here on the CD called "Crisis at the Theme Park"; Charlie Parker wrote "Dexterity" for Doug Jernigan, available here on the CD called "Jazz by Jernigan." J.S. Bach wrote "The Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin" for me to fiddle with, though he neglected to include a note explaining just how friggin' hard they were to play. Lucky for me they sound O.K. really, really, really slow too. He inadvertently included some extra notes in there that you don't need either.

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 1 Jun 2005 11:00 am

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Drew Howard - website - Fessenden D-10 8/8, Fessenden SD-12 5/5 (Ext E9), Magnatone S-8, N400's, BOSS RV-3

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 1 Jun 2005 11:12 am

??

How old was Doug Jernigan when Charlie Parker died in 1955 ?

-John

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 1 Jun 2005 11:26 am

Trust me, John. He was already a monster.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 1 Jun 2005 11:52 am

John--Bird & Doug were tight--like, they were this close. But that day when Doug called Bird his worthy constituent---major rift. Bird never forgave him. But he never forgot the phrase either, as history has well recorded.
You know how come you can trust that my story is true? 'cause you are reading it on the internet so it must be.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 1 Jun 2005 12:18 pm

Dave M. FOTF LOL

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 1 Jun 2005 1:39 pm

Thanks for the info. I had laboured under the misconception that Bird wrote Dexterity as a tribute to his mentor TeeTot, the itinerate street musician who played intermission piano at Minton's, opposite Stravinsky.
-John

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 1 Jun 2005 1:43 pm

Doug is more of a bird in a gilded cage...

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 1 Jun 2005 3:24 pm

OK Dave, if you say so ....

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 1 Jun 2005 5:55 pm

Dave Mason wrote:

J.S. Bach wrote "The Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin" for me to fiddle with, though he neglected to include a note explaining just how friggin' hard they were to play. Lucky for me they sound O.K. really, really, really slow too. He inadvertently included some extra notes in there that you don't need either.

Laughed Out Loud!

Isn't it amazing that music written so long ago can still challenge the best musicians in the world? I'm sitting here listening to Schubert's Quintet in C Major and I can't help wanting to play it on steel. I know I never will, but it would be so great to hear...

I want Doug to do a Bach album, I really do! Okay, so maybe it'll only sell a few hundred copies, but someone is going to do it someday and I'd rather hear it from him than anyone else I know. Unless Dave beats him to it.

By the way folks, this Schubert recording by the Emerson String Quartet + Rostropovich kicks some serious butt!

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Jeff A. Smith · Post by **Jeff A. Smith** » 1 Jun 2005 9:01 pm

I want Doug to do a Bach album

Yeah!

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 1 Jun 2005 9:37 pm

OK, but I need 10 or 20 years more to practice.