Thursday, January 21, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 8
Entertainment
Commentary
New album not in Jewel's true 'Spirit'
Jewel is not an artist meant for pop music
By Matt Coxx
Kansan Music Man
No one expected Jewel to live up to her first record, and that's good. Spirit doesn't offer the same punch whatsoever.
The problem with this record is that the statements made on the album are far more developed than the music. Sure, Jewel is a folk musician at heart, which should give way to many songs in the key of G, but you can still add flair and a melodic punch to the same ol' progressions. Not to say that all the songs lack creativity, but most of them seem like B-sides. And not only because of the music, but because of the poor mixing job between vocals and instruments on
some songs and volume levels on most.
If I were to grade her storytelling I
The flagship song "Hands" creates a very "Foolish Games" atmosphere, which I am sure the producer, Patrick Leonard, aimed. It's a great song, but lacks any timeless quality to it to make me keep putting it in my CD player. The shining star on this album is "Fat Boy." It's a story about a boy trying to fit into a weight conscious world.The song
makes me squirm and really consider the beauty fixation this country has. This song succeeds because of the sharp statement and soulful vocals.
Every other song seems to just
dance
dance around naked of any innovation. The songs aren't horrible, just not impressionable.
would give her some thing in the "A" range, but my job is to pick apart the music.
Jewel was launched into a music genre that doesn't fit her. In order for her music to have any pop backbone, she has to have a co-writer or a producer teach her "normal" music construction. Don't get me wrong, music that doesn't follow the pop norm can be excellent, but only if it is done well. Spirit might have been better if Jewel produced it herself.
Jewel was meant to sing alone with her acoustic guitar. Her music doesn't need to be a poppy production with a drum line or ambient background noises. This might appeal to the popular market but it degrades Jewel's music.
Face it, Jewel wasn't destined to be a pop icon.
Louis Armstrong archive finds home recordings
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Louis Armstrong's gravelly laughter was contagious as it spilled from the speakers, filling a small conference room and drifting down the hallway.
Dozens of people giggled and howled as they listened to the recording at the Queens College library — the late jazz king was being badgered by his wife about giving the wrong date during a home recording session, then trying to correct it only to get it wrong again.
It was one of many private moments Armstrong captured in home recordings that now can be heard at the library's little-known Louis Armstrong archive, the largest collection of Armstrong memorabilia in the country.
"Louis recorded everything. He had a trunk custom-made with recording equipment so he could take it with him on the road. It was like a 1950s Walkman," said archive director Michael Coggswell. "Sometimes he would turn it on and leave it running for hours at a time."
The result: more than 650 tapes — each more than four hours long — that give a glimpse of Armstrong's wonderful world: his relationships
with family and friends, and his love of singing and playing the trumpet.
The recordings, along with Armstrong's home and its contents, were left to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs by Armstrong's wife, Lucille, after her death in 1983. Armstrong died in 1971.
The house is scheduled to open to visitors on July 4, 2000 — thought to be the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth. The archive will still be housed at the library.
Armstrong's belongings sat from 1983 to 1987 in the vacant house before the staff of the archive extensively examined them and learned the extent of the treasure trove.
"The Armstrong estate knew what was in the house. The conservators had told us, 'You have got to get that stuff out of the house,'" Cogswell said. "When we brought the stuff to the college, we found what the recordings were all about."
The archive, operated by the college, is copying every one of Armstrong's original recordings, which have become fragile through time. Because of the sheer volume of the recordings, the process is time-consuming and nobody has documented every word.
But gems have already been uncovered, such as a recording Armstrong made in a hotel room in 1960 that features him playing the trumpet along with a 1927 recording of himself with legendary jazz musician and composer King Oliver.
And perhaps the greatest revelation about Armstrong is that what you saw is what you got, Cogswell said.
"The person who was visiting with his buddies in the house in Corona (a section of Queens) was the same one who was on stage." Cogswell said.
That good nature made Armstrong an ambassador of good will, said first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during a recent visit to the archive to promote her Save America's Treasures tour.
"He was not only an American ambassador overseas," Mrs. Clinton said. "He was an ambassador of another kind ... between and among the races."
The archive is financed by public and private donations, and the house has been declared a national landmark.
Interest in Armstrong has grown in recent years. More than 1,200 visitors went to the archive last year, and Cogswell gets five to 10 emails a day.
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