February, 1996
By Manuela Cerri Goren
Submitted by Ana and Ananula
Translated by me and Sol
Being a child of art can be a double-edged sword, if your father is a legendary figure, an artist who has become almost a cult, his professional life can become decidedly complicated. Jeff Buckley knows this better than anyone else. At the age of 29 this singer-songwriter must compete with the memory of Tim Buckley, a folk-jazz-blues musician who in the '60s and' 70s inspired millions of fans with his music. At best, Jeff is ambivalent towards his father's music, which he has practically never known, but, ironically, he made his debut in a concert held four years ago in Brooklyn, a tribute to the memory of Tim Buckley. "I sacrificed," explains Jeff, "something of my personality in memory of my father, it saddened me that I had not gone to his funeral and could never really talk to him, so, in this way, I managed myself to pay tribute to his memory. I sang one of his songs and I even broke a guitar string towards the end...I did not sing it very well, but I did my best." During almost a decade and with nine albums, Tim Buckley, who died in 1975 of an overdose, has left his mark on the world of music with his folk sound influenced by psychedelic and soul arrays.
At best, Buckley resembles Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, with decidedly eccentric and versatile results. Jeff Buckley began to attract the attention of the New York audience and the recorders about three years ago with solo shows, with his guitar, in the bars of Manhattan, in particular at "Sin-e", a local famous for alternative music. His performances were rather theatrical, a mixture of original songs written by him, of known motifs by other authors, interspersed with some chat with the audience and, of course, the fact that Jeff is definitely pleasant in appearance did not hurt. The most important thing, however, was undoubtedly his voice, a virtuous voice, with the ability to draw attention to even the most distracted of the bar's patrons, a warm and sensual voice, different from the strident sound of many of the singers of the groups of today. "In my first shows," explains Jeff, "I wanted to relive my childhood, disintegrate my identity to re-emerge with a new, more real personality. I was a human jukebox, I played all the songs I knew trying to discover the basic elements of my profession. The essential act of singing was like a catharsis for me, and I discovered that music is like an elixir, it's like flirting, courting, having sex."
With the release, about a year ago, of his CD "Grace", Jeff Buckley has promised himself not to play anymore compositions of others. "Grace" marks the closing of a period of memories, the end of an education, and Jeff from now on has decided to record only original material. There are many memories that Jeff Buckley would prefer to leave in the past, especially those related to his sad, nomadic childhood.
Born in 1966 from his mother's, Mary, short marriage with Tim Buckley, Jeff had a painful, rootless childhood, with a brief one-week interlude, at eight, spent with his father before he died a couple of months later. Of his early years, Jeff remembers the continuous movements above all, how he even stopped packing his bags, simply carrying his belongings in supermarket paper bags, the alternative lifestyle that he and his mother led, and the first record of his life, "Physical Graffiti" by Led Zeppelin, given to him by his stepfather.
At the age of 12 Jeff decided that he was going to be a musician like his father and when he finished high school he started working at a hotel and enrolled in the Institute of musicians in Los Angeles, an institution famous for having started a guitarist like Eddie Van Halen. and many others. "I wanted to learn to be a good musician," Buckley says, "but that school turned out to be a big waste of time, so I decided to try the streets of New York." In 1990 Jeff Buckley moved to New York, but his musical career was not yet destined to take off, so he returned to earn a living working as a salesman in "Banana Republic", and as a telephone operator for a message company. An offer from his father's former manager to finance a few hours in a recording room brought Jeff Buckley back to the West Coast where, feeling alone and isolated, he decided to meet in some way with his father's family. After a rather severe meeting with his paternal grandmother, Jeff concluded that he was going to live again on his own, and now he is alone, although his name has recently been related to that of Courtney Love, returning to the old nomadic life. "At the moment I do not belong to any family," says Jeff, "I started moving again from city to city, unattached, playing with my band. I live as a vagabond, I work and I interact with people and then I leave immediately, so I end up keeping in touch only with those friends I do not want to lose." Jeff does not make friends easily, he has had difficulties in bringing together a group of musicians with whom he would really like to work, and his parameters of choice did not include virtuosity and almost everyone who has played in "Grace" and in his tour are novices. For him the most important thing is the freshness of the sound, the innovation, and for that reason he prefers not to work with mature musicians who have already seen and heard everything but lack the enthusiasm that for Jeff is fundamental. "I usually go to Tower Records," says Buckley, "and I see all these famous names, for me it's a very exciting experience. I spend a lot of time in record stores, I would have liked to work there, but I could never do it and now I'm with my name on a shelf next to my father. It is truly ironic: we have been separated all our lives and now our destiny is to divide the same space in a record store. I only hope, in the not too distant future, to be able to feel that I really won that space with honor."
By Manuela Cerri Goren
Submitted by Ana and Ananula
Translated by me and Sol
Being a child of art can be a double-edged sword, if your father is a legendary figure, an artist who has become almost a cult, his professional life can become decidedly complicated. Jeff Buckley knows this better than anyone else. At the age of 29 this singer-songwriter must compete with the memory of Tim Buckley, a folk-jazz-blues musician who in the '60s and' 70s inspired millions of fans with his music. At best, Jeff is ambivalent towards his father's music, which he has practically never known, but, ironically, he made his debut in a concert held four years ago in Brooklyn, a tribute to the memory of Tim Buckley. "I sacrificed," explains Jeff, "something of my personality in memory of my father, it saddened me that I had not gone to his funeral and could never really talk to him, so, in this way, I managed myself to pay tribute to his memory. I sang one of his songs and I even broke a guitar string towards the end...I did not sing it very well, but I did my best." During almost a decade and with nine albums, Tim Buckley, who died in 1975 of an overdose, has left his mark on the world of music with his folk sound influenced by psychedelic and soul arrays.
At best, Buckley resembles Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, with decidedly eccentric and versatile results. Jeff Buckley began to attract the attention of the New York audience and the recorders about three years ago with solo shows, with his guitar, in the bars of Manhattan, in particular at "Sin-e", a local famous for alternative music. His performances were rather theatrical, a mixture of original songs written by him, of known motifs by other authors, interspersed with some chat with the audience and, of course, the fact that Jeff is definitely pleasant in appearance did not hurt. The most important thing, however, was undoubtedly his voice, a virtuous voice, with the ability to draw attention to even the most distracted of the bar's patrons, a warm and sensual voice, different from the strident sound of many of the singers of the groups of today. "In my first shows," explains Jeff, "I wanted to relive my childhood, disintegrate my identity to re-emerge with a new, more real personality. I was a human jukebox, I played all the songs I knew trying to discover the basic elements of my profession. The essential act of singing was like a catharsis for me, and I discovered that music is like an elixir, it's like flirting, courting, having sex."
With the release, about a year ago, of his CD "Grace", Jeff Buckley has promised himself not to play anymore compositions of others. "Grace" marks the closing of a period of memories, the end of an education, and Jeff from now on has decided to record only original material. There are many memories that Jeff Buckley would prefer to leave in the past, especially those related to his sad, nomadic childhood.
Born in 1966 from his mother's, Mary, short marriage with Tim Buckley, Jeff had a painful, rootless childhood, with a brief one-week interlude, at eight, spent with his father before he died a couple of months later. Of his early years, Jeff remembers the continuous movements above all, how he even stopped packing his bags, simply carrying his belongings in supermarket paper bags, the alternative lifestyle that he and his mother led, and the first record of his life, "Physical Graffiti" by Led Zeppelin, given to him by his stepfather.
At the age of 12 Jeff decided that he was going to be a musician like his father and when he finished high school he started working at a hotel and enrolled in the Institute of musicians in Los Angeles, an institution famous for having started a guitarist like Eddie Van Halen. and many others. "I wanted to learn to be a good musician," Buckley says, "but that school turned out to be a big waste of time, so I decided to try the streets of New York." In 1990 Jeff Buckley moved to New York, but his musical career was not yet destined to take off, so he returned to earn a living working as a salesman in "Banana Republic", and as a telephone operator for a message company. An offer from his father's former manager to finance a few hours in a recording room brought Jeff Buckley back to the West Coast where, feeling alone and isolated, he decided to meet in some way with his father's family. After a rather severe meeting with his paternal grandmother, Jeff concluded that he was going to live again on his own, and now he is alone, although his name has recently been related to that of Courtney Love, returning to the old nomadic life. "At the moment I do not belong to any family," says Jeff, "I started moving again from city to city, unattached, playing with my band. I live as a vagabond, I work and I interact with people and then I leave immediately, so I end up keeping in touch only with those friends I do not want to lose." Jeff does not make friends easily, he has had difficulties in bringing together a group of musicians with whom he would really like to work, and his parameters of choice did not include virtuosity and almost everyone who has played in "Grace" and in his tour are novices. For him the most important thing is the freshness of the sound, the innovation, and for that reason he prefers not to work with mature musicians who have already seen and heard everything but lack the enthusiasm that for Jeff is fundamental. "I usually go to Tower Records," says Buckley, "and I see all these famous names, for me it's a very exciting experience. I spend a lot of time in record stores, I would have liked to work there, but I could never do it and now I'm with my name on a shelf next to my father. It is truly ironic: we have been separated all our lives and now our destiny is to divide the same space in a record store. I only hope, in the not too distant future, to be able to feel that I really won that space with honor."
