{"id":88779,"date":"2017-02-10T00:54:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T05:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=88779"},"modified":"2017-02-10T00:54:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T05:54:06","slug":"bowies-blackstar-a-life-changing-experience-for-jazzman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/10\/bowies-blackstar-a-life-changing-experience-for-jazzman\/","title":{"rendered":"Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ a life changing experience for jazzman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Saxophonist<\/a>
Saxophonist Donny McCaslin will never forget the last time he saw David Bowie. He got a hug from the rock legend as they listened to the finished version of his last album, \u201cBlackstar.\u201d (Photo: Ron Frazier\/Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014Saxophonist Donny McCaslin will never forget the last time he saw David Bowie. He got a hug from the rock legend as they listened to the finished version of his last album, \u201cBlackstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie had unexpectedly chosen McCaslin’s cutting-edge, New York-based jazz quartet to record \u201cBlackstar.\u201d After mixing and mastering the album, Bowie invited McCaslin to his lower Manhattan home for a listening session in November 2015.<\/p>\n

McCaslin was sitting and listening to the music with his eyes closed when Bowie walked into the room and embraced him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him how much I loved the record and how beautiful it was to me to hear it …. and just what a brilliant piece of art it is. And he was so happy that I was happy,\u201d McCaslin recalled. \u201cThe joy on his face was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Bowie had talked about recording more songs and sitting in with McCaslin’s band at an upcoming gig at the Village Vanguard jazz club. But Bowie died of liver cancer on Jan. 10, 2016, just two days after \u201cBlackstar\u201d was released on his 69th birthday.<\/p>\n

A year later, McCaslin said he’s happy to see \u201cBlackstar\u201d nominated for multiple Grammys at Sunday’s awards show, including best alternative music album. The song \u201cBlackstar\u201d is up for best rock performance and best rock song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish David was here to see all the love and appreciation for the record,\u201d said McCaslin, who plans to attend the Grammys. \u201cIt’s been a privilege for me to meet so many of his fans this past year who love the record and whose lives he touched deeply with his art. I know for all of us in the band working with him was a transformative experience that we’ll carry with us the rest of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCaslin’s band\u2014with keyboardist Jason Lindner, electric bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana \u2014 channeled the grief they felt over Bowie’s death through music. Just weeks later, in every set at the Village Vanguard, they played \u201cWarszawa,\u201d the hauntingly brooding anthem that Bowie co-wrote with Brian Eno for the 1977 album \u201cLow.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCaslin says his band’s new album \u201cBeyond Now,\u201d released in October, was very much influenced by their experience working with Bowie. It includes covers of two Bowie tunes\u2014\u201cWarszawa\u201d and 1995’s \u201cA Small Plot of Land,\u201d featuring guest vocalist Jeff Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond Now\u201d also features covers of tunes by Deadmau5, MUTEMATH and the Chainsmokers, reflecting the band’s interest in \u201cexploring this intersection of improvisation and electronica music,\u201d McCaslin said.<\/p>\n

McCaslin says Bowie was into \u201cexploring new territory and doing something cutting-edge\u201d on \u201cBlackstar,\u201d and it was his quartet’s willingness to push boundaries that attracted the rock legend. Tony Visconti, Bowie’s producer, said McCaslin’s band \u201cwas told to do their ‘thing,’ and not think of it as a commercial rock record.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCaslin received two of his three Grammy nominations for his soaring solos with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and it was Schneider who brought Bowie to Greenwich Village’s tiny 55 Bar in June 2014 to hear McCaslin’s band.<\/p>\n

McCaslin first worked with Bowie on the single \u201cSue (Or in a Season of Crime),\u201d for which Schneider won an arranging Grammy last year. Bowie began sending the saxophonist demos of his new songs and invited him to record \u201cBlackstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCaslin says Bowie was \u201cno diva type\u201d and was \u201cgracious, warm and humble,\u201d creating an environment that \u201cbrings out the best in those around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really inspiring to see him at that stage of his career … his fearlessness as an artist just going for realizing his musical vision,\u201d the 50-year-old McCaslin said. \u201cThat’s the way I want to live and be when I’m 68 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014Saxophonist Donny McCaslin will never forget the last time he saw David Bowie. He got a hug from the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":88780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[14993,14992],"class_list":["post-88779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-david-bowie","tag-donny-mccaslin","mauthors-charles-j-gans","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}