JaZzArt en València

Enjoying a Chat with Gary Gautier by Francisco Bravo Cabrera

Please follow the link to the article/interview.

CHEERS

Now this was one of my faves back in the day, and still is. Their iconic song «Smoke on the Water» (1973) is a super-classic of rock music and really catapulted this band into the realm of legend… In 1970 Deep Purple released their seminal album In Rock and laid the groundwork for what was to be «heavy metal», with the renewed band made up of: Ian Gillan (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (lead guitar); Roger Glover (bass); John Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice on the drums…

Deep Purple came into being in 1968 and in Hertford, UK… They were a super-group. Their music included just about all the rock styles, from hard/heavy to Britpop to symphonic rock. They were the main influence of later bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others both in the US, the UK and Europe. Just so you know, throughout their musical journey the band sold over 150 million records…

The band has gone through various changes called Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV, and in my humble opinion their best era was Mark II, but you pick yours. And that is not to say that all the other eras were not as good. Because Deep Purple is (because they are still active) and still is a phenomenal band… Planet Rock (UK), after conducting a survey in 2013, placed Deep Purple in 5th place of the most influential bands in rock history…

In 2021 Deep Purple announced the release of their new album titled Turning to Crime, which is an album of covers. They also released the song «7 and 7 Is», as their new single complete with a video clip of the band in studio playing the song. Their second single was «Oh Well«, also with a video. The third single, also with a video, was «Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu«. The album also included songs like: «Let the Good Times Roll» and «White Room«.

So… I have decided to feature one of those songs from the band’s latest (all covers) album Turning to Crime. Tell me what you think…

CHEERS

Adiós Francisco y gracias por tantas verdades. En el ordenador se encuentran muchas cosas pero no la vida …

¿Estáis de acuerdo?

I rise, as do curling arabesques of smoke,

until I reach the vaulty halls of ears and permeate through skin and membrane to satisfy, to please and make calloused, tired feet, dance.

‘Cause I am the bass, I am the bottom, I am the power…

C.2025, Francisco Bravo Cabrera – 21 APR 2025

No fotis! Mès clar l’aigua, no?

Now this was one of my faves back in the day, and still is. Their iconic song «Smoke on the Water» (1973) is a super-classic of rock music and really catapulted this band into the realm of legend… In 1970 Deep Purple released their seminal album In Rock and laid the groundwork for what was to be «heavy metal», with the renewed band made up of: Ian Gillan (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (lead guitar); Roger Glover (bass); John Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice on the drums…

Deep Purple came into being in 1968 and in Hertford, UK… They were a super-group. Their music included just about all the rock styles, from hard/heavy to Britpop to symphonic rock. They were the main influence of later bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others both in the US, the UK and Europe. Just so you know, throughout their musical journey the band sold over 150 million records…

The band has gone through various changes called Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV, and in my humble opinion their best era was Mark II, but you pick yours. And that is not to say that all the other eras were not as good. Because Deep Purple is (because they are still active) and still is a phenomenal band… Planet Rock (UK), after conducting a survey in 2013, placed Deep Purple in 5th place of the most influential bands in rock history…

In 2021 Deep Purple announced the release of their new album titled Turning to Crime, which is an album of covers. They also released the song «7 and 7 Is», as their new single complete with a video clip of the band in studio playing the song. Their second single was «Oh Well«, also with a video. The third single, also with a video, was «Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu«. The album also included songs like: «Let the Good Times Roll» and «White Room«.

So… I have decided to feature one of those songs from the band’s latest (all covers) album Turning to Crime. Tell me what you think…

CHEERS

¿Para que sirve un cuadro? Venga, quiero que me lo digáis… Bueno, si no me lo decís, yo si, yo os lo voy a decir. Un cuadro…una obra de arte, una pintura, escultura o un dibujo…sirve para decorar un salón, una oficina, las calles u otros espacios públicos y también, claro que si, para transmitir emociones. No me voy a meter mucho en la filosofía…porque un cuadro también es un tratado filosófico, creédmelo o no…pero os diré que el pintor serio usa su arte como si fuera un lenguaje y a través de sus cuadros transmite ideas que la mente, directamente y sin el filtro de la consciencia, capta íntegramente y la asimila, la deglute y la interpreta. La mente es partidaria, y muy afín, a los símbolos y los cuadros estan llenos de esas alimañas arquetípicas. Si te interesan los arqutipos debes leer lo que ha escrito Carl Jung sobre el tema. No creo que un cuadro que no tenga tema, que sea sobre nada, sea un buen cuadro. Así que ojo, el arte abstracto también tiene que ofreceros algo espiritual, comunicaros algo. Y creedme, lo vais a notar cuando vayáis a una exposición, o a un museo y encontréis un cuadro abstracto y por supuesto también uno figurativo, que os maraville de tal manera que os hara desmallar. ¿Acaso no sabéis lo que es el síndrome de Stendhal? Inmediatamente, sin dudas, os daréis cuenta si es una pintura que transmite emociones, o sea, bien hecha, y a la que se le nota la espiritualidad de su época, o una mierda que no vale ni lo que costó la pintura y la tela. Os garantizo.

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What is the purpose of a painting? What is art for? Go ahead, tell me… Well, I will tell you. A painting… a work of art, a sculpture, or drawing… is useful for decorating your salon, your office, the streets of the city, or other public spaces and also, of course, art is made to convey emotions. I’m not going to delve too much into philosophy… because a painting is also a philosophical treatise, believe it or not… but I will tell you that a serious painter uses art as if it were a language, and through paintings, as well as drawings and sculpture, he convey ideas. Our minds capture these abstract, unconscious messages in their entirety. And directly, and without the filter of consciousness, the mind assimilates, digests, and interprets them and you get the feeling that something from without has touched you from within. The mind is partial and very inclined towards symbols, and paintings are filled with those archetypal creatures. If you are interested you should read Carl Jung. I don’t believe that a painting without a theme, one that is about nothing, can be a good painting. So be careful, abstract art, as well as figurative art, has to offer you something spiritual, and communicate something to you. A super masterpiece work of art, be it abstract or figurative, can make you cry, laugh, or even faint (Stendhal syndrome). And believe me, you will notice it when you go to an exhibition and encounter an abstract or figurative painting. Immediately, without a doubt, you will realize whether it is a painting that conveys emotions, meaning it is well done and has captured the spirituality of its time, or a piece of junk that isn’t worth even the cost of the paint and canvas. I guarantee it.

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GRACIAS – CHEERS

No es lo que se ve, o lo que está delante del artista lo que pinta el artista expresionista. No importan los colores auténticos del sujeto. No importa por donde viene o va la luz, ni la perspectiva clásica. Lo único que importa es lo que está dentro del pintor; eso es lo que va a plasmar sobre la tela. El arte del pintor expresionista no tiene mucho que ver con la realidad objetiva, si no con lo que piensa el pintor de ella. Tampoco tiene mucho, o nada que ver con la realidad. O sea, la realidad como la ven los demás. El pintor expresionista crea su propia realidad. Que carajo, no importa el raciocinio ni la lógica! Lo único que importa es plasmar sobre la tela lo que el pintor ve desde dentro y la emoción que busca transmitir.

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It is not what is visible, or what is in front of him that the expressionist artist paints. The true colours of the subject do not matter. It doesn’t matter where the light comes from or goes, nor classical perspective. The only thing that matters is what is inside the painter; that is what he will transcribe onto the canvas. The art of the expressionist painter is not closely related to objective reality, but rather to what the painter thinks of it. It also has little, or nothing, to do with reality as others see it. The expressionist painter creates his own reality. Frankly, reasoning and logic do not matter! The only thing that matters is to capture on the canvas what the painter sees from within and the emotion he seeks to convey.

GRACIAS – CHEERS

«Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite»

Well, it is a song from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, (1967), one of the best, if not THE best album in rock/pop history. Sgt. Pepper ended an era and started another one. And of course, it is The Beatles, who did it all in popular music. They studied all the sounds, melodies, styles and played them all, grouped them all together put them in a helium balloon and let them float throughout the universe and we are still fascinated.

«Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite» may not be the best song from the album, but it is an intriguing one with a bit of interesting history. First it is a song with «found lyrics». In other words, John Lennon took the idea from a poster that he saw and created the song around what the poster said. He did this several more times, especially in the «White Album» (Actually titled The Beatles).

Well, it seems like almost everybody participated in the recording of the track. You have John on vocals, organ, and bass harmonica; George on tambourine, backing vocals, and bass harmonica; Paul on bass, lead guitar, piano and backing vocals; Ringo on drums; George Martin on harmonium, organ, mellotron and glockenspiel; Mal Evans on harmonica and organ and finally Neil Aspinall on bass harmonica.

The poster, that served as inspiration for John’s lyrics was actually a Victorian circus poster for Pablo Fanque’s Circus Royal from 1843 that John found strolling through an antique shop in Kent while The Beatles were filming the video for «Strawberry Fields Forever«.

Another fun fact, that speaks of censorship for stupid reasons, was that it was one of three songs from Sgt. Pepper’s that was banned from playing on the BBC because of the line «Henry the Horse».

The poster is in John’s home at the Dakota building in Manhattan, now Yoko’s residence.

And finally, it is said that this was one of the most difficult songs to recorded, being that the arrangements were rather complicated. But done majestically by The Beatles and their phenomenal studio team.

Enjoy! And then tell me what you think of this song.

CHEERS

¿Estáis de acuerdo?