Here’s a gift for the holiday - something rare,
warm and beautiful. You may have never heard of Kenny Rankin - he was never a
top ten artist, he garnered little airplay, and he barely penetrated public
consciousness. However, if you were among those lucky enough to have discovered
this artist of uncommon gifts during his heyday in the 1970’s, (although his
career stretched from the mid-60’s to ’07) you were given a mighty respite from
tumultuous times. Kenny Rankin’s magic was very simple for me. His music evokes
a state of calm. His voice is a magnificent instrument of sooth and healing,
and his music is inviting and approachable. My favorite album by Kenny is
1974’s wondrous Silver Morning, because it so beautifully balances his
own compositions with world class covers and exudes the gauzy comfort of
happier times. While clearly of another time, there is paradoxically, a
timeless quality about this album. It always seems to make emotional sense.
Kenny Rankin’s greatest gift was his angelic
voice. One of the great interpreters of song in the rock era, his versions of
Beatles songs endeared him greatly to the authors, with his version of “While
My Guitar Gently Weeps” being played
at George Harrison’s memorial service. On Silver
Morning he takes on both “Blackbird” and “Penny Lane” to amazing effect, turning them into patented jazzy vocal swingers.
He reimagines complex arrangements into equally complex different arrangements
which replace many instruments with the power of his own voice. But Kenny
Rankin did not skimp on musical muscle. The performances are lush and full
featuring the cream of 70’s jazz and rock session cats. Rankin has a way of
getting inside the most iconic songs’ melodic core and adding his own cool
sensibility to it, giving it life outside of its classic original. Take his
amazing version of Curtis Mayfield’s undeniable “People Get Ready.” Rankin takes the song to a place of
folk-soul bliss, mellower than Mayfield’s, yet with a new sheen of beauty
driven by John Sebastian’s beautiful harmonica playing and Rankin’s own
nylon-string guitar strumming. Also covered on this album are Baden Powell’s
lovely “Berimbau,” Gordon Lightfoot’s
“Pussywillows Cattails” and a sublime
version of Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”
However, my greatest affection is for the Rankin
originals on this album. The title track “Silver Morning” is an orchestral ballad that never fails to lift my spirits. It is
the musical equivalent of a warm patch of sunlight on a Persian rug during the
dead of winter. It is a welcome and comforting presence in the room. Equally
beautiful is “Killed A Cat,” a
downbeat memoir of his youth growing up in New York City. And no song on this
album has thrilled me more over the years than the exhiliratng “In The Name Of
Love.” The first time I heard this
song, shortly after getting my first acoustic guitar, I just about lost my
mind. This guy was doing everything I could have aspired to accomplish in the
cultural open-wound that was the early 1970’s; he played like a demon (Dylan
had used him on some mid-60’s sessions), he had a voice that was like mercury
coated with honey: controlled yet liquid, and his arranging sensibilities were
both honoring the past and totally forward-looking. This song was really something,
and it still feels that way when I listen to it 43 years later. Nothing else is
quite like this, and very few albums have had such a consistently tranquil
effect on my psyche as Silver Morning has. Need a remedy for today’s political nightmare? Take Kenny Rankin
and call me in the morning.
-
Paul
Epstein
No comments:
Post a Comment