The 18th Christmas Concert come and gone—SO much gratitude–Thinking about artists today-what makes them great-Why is Radiohead so satisfying regularly and why are artists like Sting so rare and U2 and Joni Mitchell?? Where are they now?? Or are they here but we just don’t realize it?

Well, I got off the stage last night and we had played three hours of music. It was an odd mix and because I have had the great fortune (received the great gift) of working with some of the greatest artists in the world recently from Sting to Springsteen I often find myself wondering what they’d think of the music we’re making. This inquiry often leads to disastrous conclusions because some of my Christmas music is just so loaded with endless Major chord romps full of Sugar Plum joy and hope that I am almost certain at some point Sting would take me aside and say, “Rob, it is all getting a little banal. Cut back on the repeats and add a little darkness here and you’ll be ok.” The good news is that at other points during the event I had a feeling they’d be proud of me. There were some of what Sting would call “bathetic” moments (I adore that man’s vocabulary—I follow him around with a notebook), moments where I gild the damn lily so much the poor flower is begging for its dear life!!! That said there were moments like the title track of the Evening Train sequel “Wheelbarrow” and my arrangement of the “Dreidel Song” which I call “Strayhorn’s Dreidel”. It is a tribute to a record the Duke Ellington band recorded almost as an afterthought one night at midnight at the 30th Street Studio in Manhattan in 1959. It was called Blues In Orbit and the title track alone is one of the most sublime pieces of music I have ever heard. Two minutes and thirty seconds of perfection. Unbelievable. My Ellingtonian Dreidel Song was swinging I must admit. If Wynton Marsalis had been there he would have taken me aside and slapped me upside the head for a few things but it was damn good I think. We tore up William The Angel and “When The Baby Grew Up” and the Chanukah Song “Light In The Window” written for Rabbi Mark Golub is now an essential part of the concert, channeling Bruce Cockburn through Noel Paul Stookey if that’s possible and can be downloaded from the home page of the site. I’m proud of it.

The concert really is at this point like a Mom and Pop store. It contains some absolutely superb musicianship with literally one of the finest Bass Players the world has ever known holding down the Bass Chair, Will Lee from the David Letterman show and countless legendary recordings. We had extraordinary Horn Players just blazing this year, Tim Ries and Mike Davis from The Rolling Stones horn section both on fire, Aaron Heick on Alto Sax who has played so many solos for me on the last two Sting records (an incredible Bass Clarinet solo on “Never Coming Home” off the Best of 25 Years record—download that sucker!!), George Flynn on Bass Bone who is New York’s finest Bass Bone player, top call and Jeff Kievit and Don Harris on Trumpet, both having played collectively with Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Tower Of Power, James Taylor, The Who, Chic, The Bee Gees, Billy Joel etc etc etc. Just extraordinary. Joe Bonadio, who created all the original drum parts on the music that makes up this concert, the guy who made the original records with me, William The Angel and Heart Of Hearts, was back playing drums because our long time drummer Shawn Pelton is now doing Saturday Night Live right up until the holiday. He never had to do the show but they made him musical contractor which is quite a raise and an important position so he cannot leave and play my show. We love and miss Shawn but to have Joe back is magnificent and Joe just KILLED IT!!!!!

The Friday night crowd was just over half full as opposed to Saturday and Sunday which were essentially sold out and yet they were hungry for music. We played almost three hours and a half and they made us play more encores than any of the audiences. They wouldn’t let us go. That last encore I know even BRUCE (the boss) would have dug. A strong version of Maggie’s Farm as if it was done by The Meters. 10 minutes long with D Train singing his BUTT off.

Thanks to all who come. I talked, as usual, way too much about myself and my inspirations musically, partially because of all the new arrangements, the almost Thom Yorkian “We Three Kings” and the other things like “O Holy Night”. Music is such an absolute obsession and I have spent the year studying Stravinsky’s Agon and Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite (Strayhorn’s actually). I have been working with Sting around the clock. It has been remarkable. To come home and get to do MY MUSIC is such a rush that I end up almost in a trance and the concert becomes like a large family gathering. I described it to someone as almost like a salon gathering of friends getting together to hear chamber music. Almost a kind of “Hey, meet us at the church cafeteria Friday, you bring the egg nog, I’ll bring the arrangements and we’ll make music and sing.” Only with this group it absolutely the best musicians you can find in the metropolitan area. I was comforted by the fact that a fairly objective voice told me “We know you’re in kind of trance and losing your mind and we love watching you spin out and listening to it at the same time.” That’s a good thing because by the end it is like waking up and saying “What happened and what did I do???!” Almost like sleepwalking.

Enough about that!!!!!!!

What is it about the great artists? Sting. Springsteen. Joni Mitchell. Bodies of work that seem extraordinary by any standard you use as a measurement. Do we have artists like that now? I know young people who would put Jay Z and Kanye West in that category and many other hip hop artists, Beyonce perhaps??? I am not so sure. Radiohead? Eventually sure but Radiohead’s work always feels to me like Stravinsky’s Neo-Classical period, remarkable in every way but still as much of a response to something as an artistic statement in and of itself. Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring and Agon, the late and early periods to me feel like they come out of nowhere and are indelibly Stravinsky and just him and no one else which is, of course, nonsense. Someone comes from someone else. Radiohead is remarkable and the closest thing we have right now to a truly timeless artistic presence in the rock scene. I love some of Coldplay’s stuff. At their best they have the ability to write moving and anthemic melodies that are impossible not to sing along to and vibe with. “Viva La Vida” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”. These are big NUMBERS. Christmas Lights? Big NUMBER but after 10 listenings it is like eating a bit too much cremé brulee. (Look who’s talking though. Some of my Christmas music is like being force fed an entire Chocolate mousse cake in one sitting :0) Great dessert though and what a voice Chris has. Wonderful.

The radio no longer supports songwriter songwriters and the singer-songwriters like the yesteryear models, the James Taylors and Jackson Brownes and Carly Simons of todays live in Ghettos of coffee shops that don’t even really exist anymore. I guess it is almost like being a Big Band musician in the 60′s. I saw that on one of Duke Ellington’s recordings in the 60′s he recorded “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the BEATLES!!!!!!!!!! I adore the Beatles. The Beatles gave me a life in music but this version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is absolutely God awful. It’s sad to see Duke trying to chase the trends but I am sure that is what even the great ones had to do when faced with the forces of that time and commercial realities. Anyone who loved and lived for great Big Band music in the 50′s and lamented the death of it in the 60′s probably feels like I do about the lack of new Stings and Joni Mitchells, these miraculous writers able to create these 4 to 5 minute gems, worlds that open up an emotional space and musical space that takes you somewhere and brings you back like nothing else. The great Pop song, in their case also the DEEP pop song. We Work The Black Seam, When The Angel’s Fall, Why Should I Cry For You, Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot, Island Of Souls, in Joni’s case—Hejira, Black Crow, AMELIA!!!, Both Sides Now, The Circle Game, Cherokee Louise, Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Miraculous.

The new Springsteen album will be out next year and it has songs on this level. All of them I heard were of this extraordinary level and also on a level where you can imagine them sung by Gospel choirs and young women and old men for all eternity in my opinion. It’s one of those. I’ve said enough. There are extraordinarily gifted artists out there. I have worked with some of them and just listened to others. Listen to Adele. Listen to the Punch Brothers. Listen to Bon Iver and listen to Anthony Hamilton and The Roots when they’re not on Jimmy Fallon phoning it in and sounding like a particularly bad ass wedding band. D’Angelo, who could probably release more if he had slightly more discipline, is an absolute giant. They’re out there. Talent is abounding. It is great to be alive to see it but these great artists from the past are also wonderful to use as models for what to aim for, what to shoot for when you have the musical ball in your hand.

I am now listening to two extraordinarily beautiful, yet fairly rare compositions by Vaughan Williams–Two Hymns–Tune Preludes–track 1 is Eventide and track 2 is Dominus Regit Me. They are off the record Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams on EMI Classics. So beautiful. Have a great holiday. I am going to go listen to Separator by Radiohead off King of Limbs. I just got my DVD of their King Of Limbs LIVE From The Basement. I cannot wait. I do love those guys. They point the way also. Have to keep on walking that musical mile towards Strayhorn, Duke, Gil Evans, Igor, Gustav, Anton, Benjamin, Ralph, Edward, Miles, Leonard B, John L, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Terry, Ludwig….Endless. Not worthy. So inspiring though. Damnit!!! God bless you all. Anyone who is reading this drivel. Lots of love. Rob