What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention.
This week: Sly (and the Family Stone).
I’m a sucker for oldies. Sixties, seventies, those were the decades that pop-piano (and pop-music, for that matter) really had it’s glory days. Synths were dirty, piano’s were gritty, the heart and SOUL of music from those days was both awe-inspiring and -literally- an inspiration for everything that is produced nowadays. Also, everything was still REAL back then. Musicians actually had to be able to play, singers could sing. There were no fancy computerized techniques that would either fix your mistakes, or even play the whole damn thing for you. There was feel. Those decades are the home of most of my favorite records ever made.
Because they’re just such a huge inspiration, you’ll understand that I’ll be mentioning dozens of other artist from that time and day in this WILT category, but for this week, let me introduce (if you’re not yet familiar with him, which would be a shame): Sly Stone and his ‘Sly and the Family Stone’ and for this post in particular one of my favorite tracks of his band (although he played the majority of instrumental parts & the vocals on this record himself): ‘If You Want Me To Stay’. What a magician.
‘Sly Stone’ is the artist name of a guy originally named ‘Sylvester Stewart’, who was the front man of his funk / soul / psychedelia band ‘Sly and the Family Stone’, a band that has GREATLY influenced the funk and soul genres. I highly recommend you checking out more of their material too.
He is a multi-instrumentalist (vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar, bass & harmonica), but obviously I choose this particular track here because it features Sly playing a piano track that is so cool it might just freeze your private parts right off, excuse my language. Not to say not to listen to the rest of the song, but for the piano-greatness, particularly check out that solo at the end! Weeeeew! (That’s a Yamaha CP, for those of you that are interested.)
Following- and playing perfectly along the lines of Pop-Piano magic, playing chords, grooves and improvisational licks, runs and fills, enjoy and be amazed by this ‘you-better-bounce-your-head-or-you-might-end-up-shaking-your-ass-uncontrollably’ track, What I’m Listening To this week: ‘If You Want Me To Stay’.
Cheers, Coen.
