Eugene David ...The One-Minute Pundit |
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
Speaking of talk shows the other day as part of my continuing obsession with music downloads I found an album of Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show band. (Wrong -- it's for sale.) Hearing "Johnny's Theme" you might think it came from a synthesizer. Part of it was the vast overengineering of the day, with its strident highs and fake reverb; but part of it was the band, and this band knew how to play only one way -- LOUD. That some hack arranger mangled great tunes like "One O'Clock Jump" and "Don't Be That Way" intensified the noise. One can't really blame them as they might have wanted to be noticed, playing mostly in and out of commercial breaks, but I like my big band with nuance. If The Tonight Show's still on in five years it may be reduced to a street musician with a Casio organ -- quite fitting, I'm afraid.
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