collisionwork | Entries tagged with ike turner

Two towering musical figures have passed away, one a week ago, one today, and I'd been meaning to mention the first, but probably wouldn't have got around to it were it not for the second. Both were magnificent composers in their own right, but their influence has been even greater and more magnificent.

Karlheinz Stockhausen left us on December 5, at the age of 79. George Hunka posted a fine appreciation HERE that contains a number of good links, including one to a recording of Klavierstück.

And since the music is what matters, you might also want to check out some additional Stockhausen MP3s (available for a limited time) HERE

I'm very fond of what little music of his that I know, but, honestly, it's primarily his influence on others that has come down to me. The second artist has affected me greatly both in influence and in his own work . . .

Dead today is Ike Turner, age 76. A complicated, unpleasant man with a complicated, unpleasant history that should not be forgot. The AP obit relayed by the Times is HERE.

However, he's also one of the creators of rock and roll music as a form, and goddamn but there should be SOME respect for that, for at least a moment.

A fine fine superfine single of his, and an good appreciation, can be found HERE.

Perhaps Ike's single most important act was as bandleader, writer, piano player, and producer of "Rocket 88," regarded by many (and yeah, I think I'm in this group) as the first real rock and roll record - recorded at Sam Phillips' studio in 1951. Don't know it? Here you go:

And for a synthesis/collision of both the Stockhausen and Turner traditions (the kind of bag I'm in), here's someone's home video accompanied by the "It Can't Happen Here" movement (dedicated to Elvis Presley) from Franz Zappa's "Help, I'm a Rock" on the Freak Out! album, 1966. Most of it is in a "classic" rock vocal tradition, with the middle section an admitted Stockhausen-influenced piano solo (performed by Zappa):

R.I.P.

UPDATE: The always-wonderful Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun has posted some good thoughts (and an account of a brief meeting with Ike) about Mr. Turner. Well worth a read.