Lou Reed Took the A Train

[ATR]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

[Blue Train]

@ the very least he was into Albert Ayler, Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, etc.

Oh yeah.....


"When I started out I was inspired by people like Ornette Coleman. He has always been a great influence."

Lou Reed

P.S. Speaking of Ornette Coleman

Has anyone really listened to European Son?

P.P.S. The Bells (Albert Ayler reference, anyone?) with Don Cherry....back to Ornette Coleman.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Blue Train

[robertoart]

When Lou toured Australia in 74(?), an interviewer asked him if he was still doing Heroin!

"No" Lou said, "I haven't touched it in ten years".

"I meant the song", the interviewer explained.

"Oh" Lou said, "I don't do that anymore either".

[skeith]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

[Blue Train]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

Saw him @ the Stone a few times.

I find it interesting no one has reported on how like Steve Jobs he was able to game the transplant system by going to a different state with a shorter waiting list.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Blue Train

[Blue Train]

Just came across this.

http://www.loureed.com/guilty/

[sgcim]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

[Blue Train]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

Ronnie Ross on sax and Herbie Flowers on bass.

P.S. Maureen Tucker is also still above ground.

[B. Clugston]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

Ronnie Ross on sax and Herbie Flowers on bass.

P.S. Maureen Tucker is also still above ground.

And Doug Yule.

[erwbol]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

Ronnie Ross on sax and Herbie Flowers on bass.

P.S. Maureen Tucker is also still above ground.

And Doug Yule.

And apparently turned into an undead Tea Party nut!

[Blue Train]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

Ronnie Ross on sax and Herbie Flowers on bass.

P.S. Maureen Tucker is also still above ground.

And Doug Yule.

And apparently turned into an undead Tea Party nut!

Always have to laugh when people suddenly get "born again", or whatever....and then do the exact opposite of what they're supposed to believe in.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Blue Train

[king ubu]

good obit on the New Yorker site:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/10/lou-reed-gardenia-and-snowflake.html

[BFrank]

Never Back Down: Fresh Air Remembers Lou Reed

[Michael Weiss]

This quote (in the NYTimes obit) speaks volumes:

“I have never thought of music as a challenge"

[ATR]

I bet Lou Reed dug Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Then again, maybe not. I wonder what happened to that snotty music student.

I saw Lou Reed at several jazz gigs I have attended over the years in NYC. More than once I saw him at a Sonny Rollins gig... and he was a very enthusiastic audience member as I recall.

"Walk On the Wild Side" had some nice Tenor Sax and upright bass on it. Anyone know who the players were?

John Cale is still around...

Klaus Voorman also plays electric bass on Transformer. Somewhere I saw on the web that Herbie Flowers described how the bass sound was achieved by combining acoustic with a second electric part played with a delay. I think he played both parts on Walk on the Wild Side.

[Neal Pomea]

A tweet from Nora Guthrie of the Woody Guthrie Foundation links to this: http://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/The_Debt_I_Owe.htm

(Ah had no idear!)

[BFrank]

Nice piece by Lenny Kaye on eMusic: Lenny Kaye Remembers Lou Reed

I was lucky to see this: Video Spotlight: SXSW 2008 Keynote Lou Reed

I never saw him perform, though.

[mjzee]

Read Lou Reed’s Obituary, Placed By Laurie Anderson In Their Local Paper

[AllenLowe]

it's interesting to read Laurie Anderson's letter; heart felt, yet so strangely generic.

[Joe]

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

LIVE 1969 for me too. Important local connection to that music, and, whether you know anything about the history of live music in Dallas or not, the story behind those tapes is pretty interesting... the gig having been put together by local fans and the venue established, more or less, for the express purpose of establishing a brief residency for the VU...

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/03/for_your_weekend_listening_ple_85.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969:_The_Velvet_Underground_Live

Edited November 1, 2013 by Joe

[clifford_thornton]

Too busy to post this week but I will echo that it is sad news. I was never much into his work beyond the Velvets - or, to be more fair, I just didn't investigate it deeply as by the time I'd heard things like the self-titled VU record on MGM I was already way into free music. But it is sad news and I respected his later work from a cool distance. Hearing some of his Sire catalog cranked by a DJ at an art opening last night, I felt wistful and good for something I never really knew. So long, Mr. Reed, and my condolences to Laurie Anderson.

[P.L.M]

I was sitting next to him 4 years ago during a concert that Laurie Anderson gave at the "Belgie" in Hasselt (Belgium, in the flemish part of the country). He was taking pictures of his wife during the performance and joint her on stage for the last three songs of the concert. I've seen him performing twice before. In 1972, in Paris (Bataclan) with John Cale & Nico as The Velvet Underground Revival (I think a CD or a DVD of the free concert shot by French TV, have been publish some years ago). Didn't know a thing about the Velvet at the times and went to the concert because of Nico that I've heard in Philippe Garrel movie "Le lit de la vierge" ("The Virgin's Bed") with one song who stuck me at time ("The Falconer"). I enjoy the concert very much but wasn't able to say who was Lou reed from John Cale at the time. Then came "Walk On The Wild Side" and the discovering of the original records of the Velvet. I've seen him a second time in 1975 or 76 in Brussels when he was touring with a hard rock band, dressed in leather black (more or less the "Rock'n'roll Animal" look and music) with his blond hair. Didn't like much the concert because the music was playing so loud. Then I saw him a last time a year ago at the Middelheim Jazz festival in Antwerpen where he perform a set with his wife and John Zorn (he plays guitar, Laurie her violon and zorn its alto). Strange performance where Lou Reed improvise some singing at the end of the set.

I think he was one of the greatest rock singer of the last half of century (far better in my view than all his follower, including Bowie, Roxy Music and all) and a man of good taste who seems to have always admire Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and the modern jazz in general.

Well, RIP Lou. You died a bit to young.

Edited November 8, 2013 by P.L.M

[robertoart]

He was really more of an orator than a singer

[Blue Train]

A nice piece by Patti Smith in the New Yorker.

P.S. If you haven't read it....I highly recommend her book Just Kids.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2013/11/11/131111ta_talk_smith