Lou Reed Took the A Train

[Teasing the Korean]

Sad.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lou-reed-velvet-underground-leader-and-rock-pioneer-dead-at-71-20131027

Edited October 27, 2013 by Teasing the Korean

[ghost of miles]

Up to Lexington, 125...

[Blue Train]

Yeah, but an amazing run considering his history.


http://youtu.be/dKo3nbOSx9o http://youtu.be/FwDZT8XXkFw



Be well.....

[erwbol]

R.I.P.

http://youtu.be/upb-c0GnsLo

[7/4]

When I saw Almost Famous with a friend, Lou and Laurie Anderson were sitting a few rows away. I passed him in the hallway at the premiere of Bang on a Can's Music for Airports too. More of an icon than musically interesting for me, this makes me feel old.

[B. Goren.]

Very sad news.

[Hardbopjazz]

RIP Lou

[J.A.W.]

Sad news. I was not a fan, but did like some of his stuff.

Edited October 27, 2013 by J.A.W.

[mjzee]

RIP. I remember playing Metal Machine Music on my college radio show, really just to tick people off. Saw him live around 1984 with the band with Robert Quine; one of the loudest concerts I ever attended.

[danasgoodstuff]

Loved the Velvets, back when they were still together, less a fan of the solo work, but still an interesting dude, to say the least.

[mjzee]

Here's a good obit from the AP. I liked this line: "(He) was as essential a New York artist as Martin Scorsese or Woody Allen."

NY Post

[jlhoots]

I liked most of his music.

I remember when he "inducted" Leonard Cohen into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

Leonard will be 80 in 2014 & Lou's gone.

R.I.P.

[king ubu]

Wow, that's a hard one ... really shocked by this news!

[page]

Sad. Thank you for the great songs Lou!

[medjuck]

Lou's left town. I saw him with 3 acoustic bassists. Wondered if he was influenced by Ornette. I didn't really get the Velvets while they

were i existence, but I was so much older then.

[Teasing the Korean]

Since this is a jazz list - and in recognition of Lou's passing - I will tell a personal story that has to do with Lou Reed and jazz:

In the early 1980s, I was a freshman majoring in jazz at a university that, at the time, had a reputation for being one of the best universities for jazz in the U.S.

As a part of my music scholarship, I had to work two hours a week at a desk dispensing keys to practice rooms. I chose a Saturday or Sunday morning slot, probably 10am to noon. I would typically bring my boom box with me. This was not only for listening to music, but - more importantly - to drown out the cacophony of 50 simultaneous readings of 50 different Charlie Parker Omnibook solos creeping through the cracks of 50 practice rooms.

One morning only a couple of weeks into the semester, I brought a cassette with "The Velvet Underground and Nico" on one side and "White Light/White Heat" on the other. A student I knew stumbled through the front doors. He was an older student - a junior or senior - who had been assigned something of a leadership role in the freshman/sophomore ensemble in which I was enrolled. He comes to the desk to get a practice room key, and he stops and listens for a minute. He asks, "What is this shit?" I reply, "The Velvet Underground." He listens for a few more seconds, then he says, "Man, you shouldn't be listening to one-chord crap like this, you need to be listening to Wynton Kelly and Red Garland, so you can get that swing feel, not this shit! Why are you listening to this?!?" I just looked at him.

This kind of got the semester off to a bad start for me, and became emblematic of everything I hated about the university jazz experience. I ended up leaving and majoring in English at a different university. It was probably four or five years before I could ever listen to a jazz record again, it was that bad.

Thank you, Lou Reed.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Teasing the Korean

[Jazzmoose]

I still say Rock 'n' Roll Animal is the best live rock album ever recorded. I realize that no one agrees with me, but you're all wrong.

[JohnJ]

I still say Rock 'n' Roll Animal is the best live rock album ever recorded. I realize that no one agrees with me, but you're all wrong.

I kind of agree. Lou to me was one of the true giants, up there with Dylan. Good appreciation from the Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/27/lou-reed-velvet-underground-rock-music

Very sad day.

[imeanyou]

Satellite's gone.... R.I.P. Lou.

[mjzee]

I liked this line: "Don’t rest in peace, Lou. Wherever you are now, I hope you’re giving ’em hell."

NY Post

[robertoart]

Lou and Bowie.

Pretentious.......moi

[l p]

The only non-hendrix rock music that i have is Lou Reed's 1978 u.s. tour.

Maybe now rca will finally release the complete live sessions for the May 1978 bottom line, nyc "Live: Take No Prisoners" album. I've been wating for years.

[Blue Train]

Considering how few records the VU sold (even to this day)....just how influential they became.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Blue Train

[mjazzg]

Considering how few records the VU sold (even to this day)....just how influential they became.

The "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band" quote attributed to Brian Eno about the first VU album has been wheeled out a few times today

Velvet Undreground Live 1969 was the album that did it for me....thanks Lou

Edited October 28, 2013 by mjazzg

[Blue Train]

Considering how few records the VU sold (even to this day)....just how influential they became.

The "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band" quote attributed to Brian Eno about the first VU album has been wheeled out a few times today

Velvet Undreground Live 1969 was the album that did it for me....thanks Lou

The Punk equivalent to that would be everyone (there was like 40 people in attendance) that saw the Sex Pistols @ the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976 started a band.

P.S. Same place the Judas incident happened with Dylan years earlier.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Blue Train