Wednesday, December 07, 2005

That Jeff Solomon Sounds Like Such a Nice Boy...

Review of Jeff's CD on Seattlest

Posted by Alex at 11:16 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess us Elephant Larry dudes can't help being ridiculously wholesome all the time! Weird.

If anyone's curious, I decided to paste in a letter that I wrote the very kind Audrey from Seattlest in response to her review. I always write responses, regardless of whether the review is good, bad or in-between. Personally, I was a tad confused by this one, as it seems to recommend the record, even though it has a bunch of negative comments and few truly positive ones.

Regardless, Audrey's an awesome person and was very kind to review my tiny little CD. But if anyone's interesting in hearing what I wrote, here it be:

Hey, Audrey! Thanks so much! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your
taking the time to review my record. Actually, I can- I really really really
appreciate it. :) Getting feedback like this is so helpful in every way. I
can't thank you enough.

I'll try to keep in touch, and I keep getting you to listen to my new stuff
as I get it recorded. And perhaps I can get you out to a show once I make
it back to Seattle (probably won't be for a few months). Maybe a live show
would turn you around on the sax stuff...? Eh, maybe not. :) Ahh, the sax.
Too
bad I love playing it; it's pretty much the bain of my existence.

I hope that, one day, woodwinds will become acceptable in pop music again; I
guess the time just isn't right. I pretty much agree with all the criticism
of "Your Eyes" and the clarinet (Drowned in Sound said the same thing). It
was the first song that my producer and I tried together, before I assembled
my band, and we were learning to work together. I'm such a huge hater of
smooth jazz, having studied jazz performance in college, and it's a direction
that I tried to avoid. I regret that it's still what people think when they
hear those instruments but I guess there ain't too much I can do . :) With
the sax in "Am I Still?" I was hoping it would remind people, if anything, of
maybe the sax in "Modern Love" or "Changes" or one of the many other Bowie
songs that use the horn. Though I guess people are quite digging that stuff
these days as much as they are the glammier Bowie stuff. Ah well. Maybe, the
more Sufjan and Stars and other such acts use winds, peoples ears will be more
accustomed to them in pop without thinking of CD 101.9 (sorry, I don't know if
that's only an east coast thing or not, it's this horrible smooth jazz radio
station that everyone's boss listens to). Sigh.

I also hope you'll keep listening in the future so that you may get to hear
some of my less
straight-ahead songs. The first time around, my producer wanted to play
things pretty safe thematically, keeping to the more accessible songs. I
understand why he did this, given the timing in his career and everything.
But some of my favorite songs aren't on this record, the ones about
migraines, gourmet food addictions, heroin binges, The President of Mars,
police abuse, unhappy couples bugging a perfect couple's house and studying
their behavior, etc. There's one about a guy that gets in a car accident that
switches him from being right-handed to left-handed. I think that one's more
interesting than the one 'your eyes take care of me.' I guess he wanted me to
be build up more good faith in listeners before trying the weirder stuff. I
dunno, do you think we misfired? Honestly, I'd love to hear your opinion on
this stuff, as a professional listener whose opinion I respect and trust.

Anyway, I could babble on but I'll cut myself off here. I enjoy writing to
reviewers because I respect them and it's very difficult to get criticism from
your peers and fans. I need the criticism and grow from it, and I really
appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed the record (at least the non-horn aspects)
and that you'll keep listening.

Thanks again and best wishes,

Jeff

1:39 PM
Chris Serico said...

Mr. Drummond is the Bain of my existance.

Hang in there, Jerf. Bigger and better things to come. Especially if Geoff's coworker finds out he didn't bring a present.

~A fellow alto saxophonist

1:52 PM
Anonymous said...

too soon!

8:07 PM

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