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Written by Glenn BurnSilver
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Thursday, 03 May 2007 |
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 Leon Redbone is a celebrity anomaly. He’s a musician known worldwide, appears in movies and even famously rode a magic carpet while singing the praises of Coca-Cola in a TV commercial, yet he prefers to hide behind his dark sunglasses, Groucho Marx moustache and trademark Panama hat.
He answers questions with questions, and those he does eventually answer are filled with suppositions, lest he have to commit to saying something that might later be attributed to him. In fact, when he learned that our interview was being recorded, he insisted it be erased so no record of his voice would exist.
“I’d like to make a request that this recording be erased after we’re through,” Redbone asked, unwilling to also reveal where he was calling from. “I don’t like to be recorded in conversation. I don’t want a record of this.”
So began our rambling conversation, much of which turned toward the problems of musical expression, all while trying to get at the heart of his music. Though Redbone was completely non-committal about his style, save to say it “incorporates aspects of the earliest sounds of recorded music,” his sound might best be summed up as a blend of turn-of-the-19th-century jazz and ragtime, slow blues, European classical waltzes and lullabies, swing, and old country with a hint of modern folk. Redbone performs alone with the acoustic guitar, singing meandering tales of love, life and oddities, and filling in the blank spaces with dry wit and humor.
“My point of view is a very selfish one in that I only play what I am interested in, and how that’s perceived I don’t know,” he said. “The content of most of the things I’m into have a sort of a theme to them, but the actual delivery is quite different. Fast songs or slow songs, sentimental songs or nonsensical songs. It’s a required mix for living.”
Beauty and expression, Redbone explained, are the themes running through his music, which he likes to keep at low volume. Though he’s quick to point out his belief that all musical expression has been used up, Redbone still plucks the best rose petals for the individual music he creates.
“The only thing I create is a moment in time, then you don’t need it anymore,” he said rather matter-of-factly. “There has been virtually nothing created musically that’s of any note in the last 50 years, so I’m looking for the next form of expression.
And where might he find it?
“I don’t know, no idea at all,” he pondered. “There are wonderful compositions we know because they are written down, all the way back to the 15th century, but there is a moment in the insanity where beauty is always expressed. That’s what’s lacking today, beauty. And expression. Let’s face it, music is ugly.”
Perhaps, but certainly less so under his guidance.
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TO GO TO THE SHOW
Leon Redbone
Doors 6:30 p.m., show 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 8
Rialto Theater
228 E. 4th St., Loveland
962.2120
$24
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