I really enjoyed your Nyro series. It made me dig out her records and listen more deeply. I agree that Smile is a slower burn than her sixties glories, but I still like it. Where the songs from that record really pop is on the live Season of Lights album—been listening to that one a lot this past week. As I think you said, she really vibes well with that band. I’ll close by mentioning a song called “Triple Goddess Twilight” that is on Angel in the Dark. It was included on an Uncut monthly sampler disc about twenty five years ago. That was my introduction to Laura Nyro, and I was smitten from then on. Thanks again!
Thank you, Ken! Glad what I wrote inspired you to dig out your Laura Nyro records. I like 'Smile' a lot - the title track and 'I Am the Blues' especially, and over the course of writing about her, I got a lot deeper into the 'Seasons of Light' record (both the 1-LP version and the CD version which mirrors what she wanted to have released at the time) than I had previously. As you say, she vibes really well with the group.
Thanks as well for mentioning 'Triple Goddess Twilight' - that's a beautiful song and, I may be wrong here, it's the one time she wrote a song about her grandfather, whom she adored (the feeling was mutual).
A fine conclusion to a great series, Robert. You’ve convinced me to revisit some of the later albums. A big barrier for me, though, is the relatively dull sonic palette of the later stuff. You certainly make the case for a lot of fine lyrics. It was also nice to see a mention of Todd’s “Baby Let’s Swing” medley — maybe my favorite thing he’s ever recorded. And mentioning David Raksin hit a personal note — I studied film scoring with him when I was a teen at UCLA. (Talk about a man with stories! He remembered how at the premiere of “Laura,” he was approached by Otto Preminger’s wife, who said, “I admire the way your theme modulates to the subdominant” — which it does. There’s a great photo of Raksin posing with both his first Hollywood boss, Charles Chaplin, and his music teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, along with Frau Schoenberg.)
Oh wow - Raskin was a superb composer - his theme to Preminger's next picture, 'Fallen Angel' is just as good as is his theme to 'The Bad and the Beautiful.'
The sonic pallete of her later albums isn't as rich as her earlier stuff, to be sure, but I found a lot to love in them (it's only in the last two months that I heard them). What I especially enjoy is hearing Bernard Purdie with her - they lock tight on the groove such as on 'Louise's Church.'
It was truly a pleasure to take this journey of heartfelt appreciation in these three essays on Laura Nyro. Thanks to your immersive dive into her artistry, life, and work, I feel as if I’m meeting her for the first time. You’ve succeeded in passing what you see and feel in her music to me and to many others. Bravo, Robert! PS: Your night at the Blue Note sounds like heaven.
Thanks, Andrew. I tried to put the deep love I have for her music onto the page so I really appreciate your kind words. It's the most rewarding project I have done here.
That night at the Blue Note way back in 2003 was one of the best nights I've ever had in New York. I stayed for both sets and remember quite a bit of that night. The performance of 'Manteca' that I mention in the essay was unforgettable. Slide Hampton blew three choruses on the changes that dug so deep into the harmonies. I was floating on air.
Robert, how wonderful it was to read your Laura Nyro essays, so obviously born of love and respect for this amazing singer-songwriter. I’ve always loved her songs by way of the 5th Dimension, which was my first favorite vocal group. I’d made a lot of assumptions based on that, but never gotten familiar with her own versions of her own work, much less the whole breadth of it. Wow! I was floating in a recitative, then buoyed along on an energetic chorus, then taken down to the seeds and stems on a barely audible cry, then up to the rafters in a jubilant dance, then landing in the midst of a Miles Davisian slowly moving exploratory interlude, punctuated by a primal scream. She was no less than an actress as well as a singer-songwriter! The passion, the “experience” of her socked it to me, all right, but in a different way. Although a compressor would not be kind to her music, I found myself longing for it in places, as I strained to hear what was going on against the traveling horde around me. (And I will always love Howe’s versions, too. Florence and Marilyn and the guys did much honor to her work.) But I plan to spend more time exploring the songs in a quieter setting, and re-rereading your insightful comments. Thank you for this gift, and for reminding us all again of the magic of music. ❤️🎶🎹
Thank you, Doug. I love the 5th Dimension too and it was their covers that led me to want to hear Laura Nyro. There is definitely a theatricality to her music - especially the earlier records - that makes it very tangible and one of the elements that floored me the first time I really explored it. I was an instant fan!
I agree about the 5th Dimenson. I don't think anyone did more to honour her songs or bring people to her music and I was glad to really hit that point home in the second part of my essay.
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts on my writing on her. She's one of my musical heroes and I'm glad that came through in the writing.
Exemplary work, Robert. And definitely written with love as befits your closing line. Wishing you every success in getting your 33&1/3 book into everyone's hands to spread her gospel further!
Thanks, Emm! I hope my proposal gets the green light - won't know for a few months. Laura hasn't been pitched in the last two open calls so I take that, at the very least, as a small sign in my favour.
Such excellent work. Keeping my fingers crossed for your 33 1/3 proposal’s success. In addition to the Kort biography, your opus is the most enlightening writing on Laura that I’ve read, and believe me, I’ve read it all.
Also, my gratitude for the kind words about Billy’s (and Larry’s) Map To the Treasure. When they—and Billy’s manager Myles Weinstein, who was an important advocate for the project—first approached me about signing it, I was at the indie eOne Music in an A&R role, but about to transition to head a reinvigorated Sony Masterworks. Although I couldn’t at the time reveal where I was going, I asked Billy and Myles to trust that I’d be able to sign the project once I landed at the new gig, where we had the budget to do it justice. I feel that Billy continues to be one of the most underrated musicians in all of Jazz and contemporary music, and he and Larry Klein delivered an album beyond my highest hopes.
A quick additional story: Some time after the Laura Nyro project was released, I was in a meeting with Larry and another artist when Larry got a call from Don Was, a fan of the album who was in a Grammy Jazz committee meeting and having difficulty convincing some of his colleagues that it should be nominated for a best Jazz Vocal Album. Apparently the purer souls on the committee felt that having Renee Fleming and Shawn Colvin and Alison Krauss in the cast disqualified it. A not unreasonable position I guess. But Don went to bat for us and the album indeed was nominated in that category. Winning was a bridge too far, but Billy snared a statue for his arrangement of New York Tendaberry; and ironically, Alison Krauss and the great Jerry Douglas were nominated for Best American Roots Performance for And When I Die.
Thank you, Chuck - that means a lot to me. I also appreciate the well wishes about my 33 1/3 proposal.
Thank you as well for reminding me of the album. I'm really looking forward for the CD to arrive so I can hear it as it should be heard - on a good-sounding stereo system.
Very thorough and thoughtful analysis/celebration of Laura Nyro's oeuvre. Have you thought of compiling your writings about her career into a book? It's funny, while reading this installment and listening to the YouTube clips you included, it struck me how similar she and Jackson Browne are in approach and tone and feel. Then I read the part about them appearing at the same event... just as I was having that thought! They're both commercial in a way, but also deeper, more conscientious and politically aware and edgy than most mainstream artists. Great job!
Thank you, Peter. I absolutely have thought about a book and sent in a proposal as part of the 33 1/3 volume open call for submissions pitching on 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.' No one has pitched Nyro in the last two open calls so maybe that's a good sign.
She and Jackson Browne dated briefly about the time they appeared together in concerts. I definitely hear a connection between their music.
I really enjoyed your Nyro series. It made me dig out her records and listen more deeply. I agree that Smile is a slower burn than her sixties glories, but I still like it. Where the songs from that record really pop is on the live Season of Lights album—been listening to that one a lot this past week. As I think you said, she really vibes well with that band. I’ll close by mentioning a song called “Triple Goddess Twilight” that is on Angel in the Dark. It was included on an Uncut monthly sampler disc about twenty five years ago. That was my introduction to Laura Nyro, and I was smitten from then on. Thanks again!
Thank you, Ken! Glad what I wrote inspired you to dig out your Laura Nyro records. I like 'Smile' a lot - the title track and 'I Am the Blues' especially, and over the course of writing about her, I got a lot deeper into the 'Seasons of Light' record (both the 1-LP version and the CD version which mirrors what she wanted to have released at the time) than I had previously. As you say, she vibes really well with the group.
Thanks as well for mentioning 'Triple Goddess Twilight' - that's a beautiful song and, I may be wrong here, it's the one time she wrote a song about her grandfather, whom she adored (the feeling was mutual).
Yes, the lines about her grandfather always get to me. Upper level songwriting.
A fine conclusion to a great series, Robert. You’ve convinced me to revisit some of the later albums. A big barrier for me, though, is the relatively dull sonic palette of the later stuff. You certainly make the case for a lot of fine lyrics. It was also nice to see a mention of Todd’s “Baby Let’s Swing” medley — maybe my favorite thing he’s ever recorded. And mentioning David Raksin hit a personal note — I studied film scoring with him when I was a teen at UCLA. (Talk about a man with stories! He remembered how at the premiere of “Laura,” he was approached by Otto Preminger’s wife, who said, “I admire the way your theme modulates to the subdominant” — which it does. There’s a great photo of Raksin posing with both his first Hollywood boss, Charles Chaplin, and his music teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, along with Frau Schoenberg.)
Oh wow - Raskin was a superb composer - his theme to Preminger's next picture, 'Fallen Angel' is just as good as is his theme to 'The Bad and the Beautiful.'
The sonic pallete of her later albums isn't as rich as her earlier stuff, to be sure, but I found a lot to love in them (it's only in the last two months that I heard them). What I especially enjoy is hearing Bernard Purdie with her - they lock tight on the groove such as on 'Louise's Church.'
It was truly a pleasure to take this journey of heartfelt appreciation in these three essays on Laura Nyro. Thanks to your immersive dive into her artistry, life, and work, I feel as if I’m meeting her for the first time. You’ve succeeded in passing what you see and feel in her music to me and to many others. Bravo, Robert! PS: Your night at the Blue Note sounds like heaven.
Thanks, Andrew. I tried to put the deep love I have for her music onto the page so I really appreciate your kind words. It's the most rewarding project I have done here.
That night at the Blue Note way back in 2003 was one of the best nights I've ever had in New York. I stayed for both sets and remember quite a bit of that night. The performance of 'Manteca' that I mention in the essay was unforgettable. Slide Hampton blew three choruses on the changes that dug so deep into the harmonies. I was floating on air.
Robert, how wonderful it was to read your Laura Nyro essays, so obviously born of love and respect for this amazing singer-songwriter. I’ve always loved her songs by way of the 5th Dimension, which was my first favorite vocal group. I’d made a lot of assumptions based on that, but never gotten familiar with her own versions of her own work, much less the whole breadth of it. Wow! I was floating in a recitative, then buoyed along on an energetic chorus, then taken down to the seeds and stems on a barely audible cry, then up to the rafters in a jubilant dance, then landing in the midst of a Miles Davisian slowly moving exploratory interlude, punctuated by a primal scream. She was no less than an actress as well as a singer-songwriter! The passion, the “experience” of her socked it to me, all right, but in a different way. Although a compressor would not be kind to her music, I found myself longing for it in places, as I strained to hear what was going on against the traveling horde around me. (And I will always love Howe’s versions, too. Florence and Marilyn and the guys did much honor to her work.) But I plan to spend more time exploring the songs in a quieter setting, and re-rereading your insightful comments. Thank you for this gift, and for reminding us all again of the magic of music. ❤️🎶🎹
Thank you, Doug. I love the 5th Dimension too and it was their covers that led me to want to hear Laura Nyro. There is definitely a theatricality to her music - especially the earlier records - that makes it very tangible and one of the elements that floored me the first time I really explored it. I was an instant fan!
I agree about the 5th Dimenson. I don't think anyone did more to honour her songs or bring people to her music and I was glad to really hit that point home in the second part of my essay.
I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts on my writing on her. She's one of my musical heroes and I'm glad that came through in the writing.
Exemplary work, Robert. And definitely written with love as befits your closing line. Wishing you every success in getting your 33&1/3 book into everyone's hands to spread her gospel further!
Thanks, Emm! I hope my proposal gets the green light - won't know for a few months. Laura hasn't been pitched in the last two open calls so I take that, at the very least, as a small sign in my favour.
Such excellent work. Keeping my fingers crossed for your 33 1/3 proposal’s success. In addition to the Kort biography, your opus is the most enlightening writing on Laura that I’ve read, and believe me, I’ve read it all.
Also, my gratitude for the kind words about Billy’s (and Larry’s) Map To the Treasure. When they—and Billy’s manager Myles Weinstein, who was an important advocate for the project—first approached me about signing it, I was at the indie eOne Music in an A&R role, but about to transition to head a reinvigorated Sony Masterworks. Although I couldn’t at the time reveal where I was going, I asked Billy and Myles to trust that I’d be able to sign the project once I landed at the new gig, where we had the budget to do it justice. I feel that Billy continues to be one of the most underrated musicians in all of Jazz and contemporary music, and he and Larry Klein delivered an album beyond my highest hopes.
A quick additional story: Some time after the Laura Nyro project was released, I was in a meeting with Larry and another artist when Larry got a call from Don Was, a fan of the album who was in a Grammy Jazz committee meeting and having difficulty convincing some of his colleagues that it should be nominated for a best Jazz Vocal Album. Apparently the purer souls on the committee felt that having Renee Fleming and Shawn Colvin and Alison Krauss in the cast disqualified it. A not unreasonable position I guess. But Don went to bat for us and the album indeed was nominated in that category. Winning was a bridge too far, but Billy snared a statue for his arrangement of New York Tendaberry; and ironically, Alison Krauss and the great Jerry Douglas were nominated for Best American Roots Performance for And When I Die.
Laura’s music was truly beyond category. Cheers!
Thank you, Chuck - that means a lot to me. I also appreciate the well wishes about my 33 1/3 proposal.
Thank you as well for reminding me of the album. I'm really looking forward for the CD to arrive so I can hear it as it should be heard - on a good-sounding stereo system.
Very thorough and thoughtful analysis/celebration of Laura Nyro's oeuvre. Have you thought of compiling your writings about her career into a book? It's funny, while reading this installment and listening to the YouTube clips you included, it struck me how similar she and Jackson Browne are in approach and tone and feel. Then I read the part about them appearing at the same event... just as I was having that thought! They're both commercial in a way, but also deeper, more conscientious and politically aware and edgy than most mainstream artists. Great job!
Thank you, Peter. I absolutely have thought about a book and sent in a proposal as part of the 33 1/3 volume open call for submissions pitching on 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.' No one has pitched Nyro in the last two open calls so maybe that's a good sign.
She and Jackson Browne dated briefly about the time they appeared together in concerts. I definitely hear a connection between their music.
Good luck! I hope you have a positive response to your submission.
Thanks! I appreciate the well wishes.