August 6, 1993
Submitted by Ananula
Profile: JEFF BUCKLEY
Submitted by Ananula
Profile: JEFF BUCKLEY
Monday nights Jeff Buckley can be found on New York's Lower East Side, in a tiny, but esteemed, Irish bar called Sin-é, where he's been playing guitar and singing for the last year or so. For two hours every Monday, he holds the audience spellbound with originals and riveting interpretations of songs by Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, and others as diverse.
These covers are so passionate, it's as if they're his own, while his new songs about love and relationships can stand proudly beside the classics. And he delivers them in a pure and beautiful voice you have to hear to believe, with inflection ranging from Steve Forbert to Janis Joplin to Robert Plant, sounding one moment he's from the Mississippi Delta, like a folk singer the next, or even like a Parisian torch singer.
Praise Pours In
Accolades have poured in from fellow musicians like Sugar's Bob Mould: "Jeff is so talented, he should be looked for in '93 and for many years to come. When you hear him sing, you will understand."
Everyone who's heard this major talent has been powerfully affected. Word of mouth spread quickly about his amazingly eclectic performances that mixed together unique arrangements of Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, and Led Zeppelin, and soon Jeff was performing at Sin-é before SRO crowds packed with celebrities. "It was getting really good, and everybody was having a total blast," Jeff remembered. And then, in a decidedly unstar-like move, he decided to pull the plug. "I said, 'man, if it went downhill from here, I'd feel so stupid.' So I cut it off, and when I come back, hopefully it will be something completely different."
His personal history provides some glimpses as to how he brought together this dizzying array of influences and attitudes. From his childhood "all around crappy desert towns in California," through his teenage gigs in LA rock bands, to his newly adopted home of New York, Jeff concedes that he's never had any teachers since he first started teaching himself to make a guitar sing at the age of five. "I just mainly learned from listening, and from completely idealizing people and wanting to be them."
Forms Duo With Ex-Beefheart Guitarist
Just over a year ago, when Jeff was performing around Manhattan in Gods & Monsters, a group he formed with former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas, the duo was picked by Roling Stone as a hot "New Face." Then, a reviewer from The New York Times heard Buckley and fell under his influence, stating in print that Jeff was "almost surreally gifted. When he sings, it's as if his voice and the melodies that come with it, were emanating from a far older person, somebody who has had the time to do all the studying it takes to learn as much as he has."
Despite the praise, the duo disbanded before releasing a note. "It was beneficial in a lot of ways, but we're very different," Jeff explained about his partnership with Lucas. "I felt I needed to get down to this one voice around which everything else would be built."
So Jeff got down to it, and after a sojourn as a solo artist, feels ready to make his foray into the studio."So far, I've been making moves to get a band together. What it will sound like, I don't know. If I could describe it, I'd say the music is going to encompass all the things I've ever loved about music, and the people whom I've always loved. I'd like to go as far to say that what I do is soul music, because everybody's is. It's my soul."
Rich Diversity of Inspiration
Considering the music he's into: "Bad Brains, Cocteau Twins, Robert Johnson, Lou Reed, Sun Ra, anything with soul," he says, the prognosis is that Jeff Buckley's debut Columbia LP, which he will begin recording in August, will live up to his high standards. "It's going to be something that nobody's ever heard before, and hopefully something I've never heard before." To hold us all over, we will be releasing a live EP in the Fall that was recorded during a recent performance in Sin-é.
It seems evident to all who've followed his career that this next important chapter in the musical odyssey of Jeff Buckley could very well become an equally important chapter in American popular music.
These covers are so passionate, it's as if they're his own, while his new songs about love and relationships can stand proudly beside the classics. And he delivers them in a pure and beautiful voice you have to hear to believe, with inflection ranging from Steve Forbert to Janis Joplin to Robert Plant, sounding one moment he's from the Mississippi Delta, like a folk singer the next, or even like a Parisian torch singer.
Praise Pours In
Accolades have poured in from fellow musicians like Sugar's Bob Mould: "Jeff is so talented, he should be looked for in '93 and for many years to come. When you hear him sing, you will understand."
Everyone who's heard this major talent has been powerfully affected. Word of mouth spread quickly about his amazingly eclectic performances that mixed together unique arrangements of Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, and Led Zeppelin, and soon Jeff was performing at Sin-é before SRO crowds packed with celebrities. "It was getting really good, and everybody was having a total blast," Jeff remembered. And then, in a decidedly unstar-like move, he decided to pull the plug. "I said, 'man, if it went downhill from here, I'd feel so stupid.' So I cut it off, and when I come back, hopefully it will be something completely different."
His personal history provides some glimpses as to how he brought together this dizzying array of influences and attitudes. From his childhood "all around crappy desert towns in California," through his teenage gigs in LA rock bands, to his newly adopted home of New York, Jeff concedes that he's never had any teachers since he first started teaching himself to make a guitar sing at the age of five. "I just mainly learned from listening, and from completely idealizing people and wanting to be them."
Forms Duo With Ex-Beefheart Guitarist
Just over a year ago, when Jeff was performing around Manhattan in Gods & Monsters, a group he formed with former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas, the duo was picked by Roling Stone as a hot "New Face." Then, a reviewer from The New York Times heard Buckley and fell under his influence, stating in print that Jeff was "almost surreally gifted. When he sings, it's as if his voice and the melodies that come with it, were emanating from a far older person, somebody who has had the time to do all the studying it takes to learn as much as he has."
Despite the praise, the duo disbanded before releasing a note. "It was beneficial in a lot of ways, but we're very different," Jeff explained about his partnership with Lucas. "I felt I needed to get down to this one voice around which everything else would be built."
So Jeff got down to it, and after a sojourn as a solo artist, feels ready to make his foray into the studio."So far, I've been making moves to get a band together. What it will sound like, I don't know. If I could describe it, I'd say the music is going to encompass all the things I've ever loved about music, and the people whom I've always loved. I'd like to go as far to say that what I do is soul music, because everybody's is. It's my soul."
Rich Diversity of Inspiration
Considering the music he's into: "Bad Brains, Cocteau Twins, Robert Johnson, Lou Reed, Sun Ra, anything with soul," he says, the prognosis is that Jeff Buckley's debut Columbia LP, which he will begin recording in August, will live up to his high standards. "It's going to be something that nobody's ever heard before, and hopefully something I've never heard before." To hold us all over, we will be releasing a live EP in the Fall that was recorded during a recent performance in Sin-é.
It seems evident to all who've followed his career that this next important chapter in the musical odyssey of Jeff Buckley could very well become an equally important chapter in American popular music.
***
COLUMBIA ROCKS SONY CONVENTION
FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 18
In the words of Sugar's Bob Mould, "When you hear him sing, you will understand." Not only did attendees get to hear Jeff Buckley sing, they also got to see his unique guitar playing style. How often do you see a guy witth just an electric guitar?
Jeff showed us an extremely condensed version of his infamous Sin-é shows (a coffeehouse on Manhattan's Lower East Side), which featured not only his own songs, but distinctive versions of some of his favorite artists' songs. During the Columbia presentation, Jeff performed a Van Morrison song, The Way Young Lovers Do, the beautifully breathtaking Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, and his own composition called Eternal Life.
By the end of the convention, Jeff had met, hung out with, and moshed with more employees of this company than even Andy Piretti could count! Jeff was happy that everyone got "a little glimpse into my world. It wasn't until after I performed, that it hit me that not everyone in the country could go to see me at Sin-é."
We agree that Jeff is a very special artist that we were very fortunate to see in the early stages of his career. He will begin recording his debut album in August.
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