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Welcome to my website. This is the place to find out about the musical
happenings of me, Steve West. You may also find some random thoughts that I've posted from time to time.
Relax, take a load off, and look around.
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Defining
moments in musical taste...
Evolution is usually pretty
slow. Drastic changes aren't all that common. Such is the way with personal musical tastes. You don't just
decide one day that you're going to like jazz or country or gregorian chants. Musical styles sneak into your consciousness
subtlely and slowly, and without even realizing it has happened, you're an ABBA fan.
Still, there are moments you can point to if you really think
about it that drastically change the way you think about things. You'll often hear musicians of a certain age talk about
seeing The Beatles on TV in the early sixties and having their whole perspective on music change at once.
I just rediscovered one of those moments, thanks to YouTube.com.
Some time in the 80's, there was a show on called Night Music. I don't remember the details of when it was on,
but I think it ran opposite Saturday Night Live during one of their sucky periods. It was hosted by saxophonist
David Sanborne. The show would pair up musicians who wouldn't normally play together for a set and see what they
could do together. I remember seeing bluesman Robert Cray play with a singer/songwriter I had never
heard of before named John Hiatt. They did the old Sam and Dave soul classic "When Something is Wrong With My
Baby." I vividly remember at the time feeling goosebumps. It opened the doors to blues,
soul, and the way a singer/songwriter can interpret someone elses song all at once for me. John Hiatt is
one of my favorite songwriters. Robert Cray is a staple in my music collection, and that Memphis horn sound is
never far from my mind as I try to interpret songs. Along with the first time my sister snuck
me into a club to see B.B. King when I was underage, and my trip through rural Mississippi many years later,
I think that four or five minutes of one show really shaped my entire taste in music. It was nice to run
across the clip and find that it lived up to my memories of it.
BLOG/Past Front Page Ramblings
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