1001 Albums Summary

I wasn't used to listening live music. But here, the music being played live is the core of the album. The interactions with the crowd - the shouts, applauses, laughs by the convicts in San Quentin - help us listeners understand how these songs resonate with the people who are actually experiencing life in a cage - not just as a metaphor. The lively, country rhythms evoke a homely atmosphere.

I felt the connection between the music and the public. Each song told a different story - but there were some that really shed new light on emotions that I believe are often neglected when thinking of prison. "I Still Miss Someone" is about solitude - not necessarily related to prison - but most certainly what a convict might experience on a daily basis. "Flushed from the Bathroom of your Heart" can be read as a song about abandonment and rejection dealt with a great deal of irony. "A long black veil" was the most compelling of all: a man refusing to tell the truth - that he "had been in the arms of his best friend's wife" - thus receiving capital punishment. Was it love that pushed him to this decision? Was it shame? A combination fo both? The song leaves these questions unanswered and lets doubt transform into fascination

A deep dive in the world of jazz. Sax, piano, drums and double bass blend together. I found keeping track of all the sounds at once very challenging - but rewarding as well. Just as I felt that I had lost all reference -with all the chords and instruments accumulating - a sudden burst of music (and energy) would bring me back to full attention. Acknowledgement Resolution Pursuance Psalm; thunder and sax: how could a start be better than that? Then the piano and the drums enter the scene. Sweetness and suspence cohexist - tension builds up, but the sax and the piano make sure that it neither explodes nor fades out. The sax is gentle and reaches your heart but touches it very lightly.