It’s hard to feel things changing
After all’s been said and done
we spend our lives rearranging
everything under the sun…
– Songwriters: Kitchell Sonya Diane / Wilkenfeld Tal
Performed by: Tal Wilkenfeld
IT’S BEEN a couple of days since that “EDSA” nonsense and Rodrigo Duterte is still President much to the dismay of the “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon” but to the delight of the natives, and from the look of things they seem to have ran out of issues which is not surprising considering their utter lack of creativity, fixated only on the irrelevant “Marcos/martial law” narrative.
The coronavirus has been largely forgotten after they realized they can’t use it to oust Duterte; now they’re focused on the expiration of the franchise of ABS-CBN, calling it an “assault to press freedom”. Since when has the expiration of a franchise and failure to renew it an assault to press freedom?
It’s not that ABS-CBN is the only media outlet in town. The moment their franchise expires a month or so from now and they stop broadcasting, as sure as the sun sets you’ll still be reading my column as it regularly comes out in Panay News and you will still be watching Eat Bulaga on GMA television.
So assault on press freedom, my foot!
Meanwhile in “I Am Iloilo City” the natives couldn’t care less about ABS-CBN and are focused on ube cheese pandesal and more concerned if the bakeshops run out before they are able to buy their daily ube cheese pandesal fix.
Take note that the comparison/discussion on which bakeshop has the yummiest “ube cheese pandesal” has reached philosophical proportions.
And we segue to an artist whose music goes well while having your caffeine and ube cheese pandesal fix.
If you’re a fan of Jaco Pastorius and Esperanza Spalding, you’re either going to like or not like our featured artist/musician but there’s no denying the talent and superb artistry in her mastery of a musical instrument not traditionally preferred, even associated, with female musicians…the electric bass.
From that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
Tal Wilkenfeld is an Australian bassist, singer, songwriter and guitarist whose career began performing alongside artists including Jeff Beck, Prince, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, and Mick Jagger. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted “The Year’s Most Exciting New Player” by Bass Player magazine readers’ choice poll. In 2013, Wilkenfeld was awarded Bass Player Magazine’s “Young Gun Award”.
Wilkenfeld is a bandleader of her own eponymous band in which she sings plays bass and guitar.
From Rolling Stone Magazine:
“Wilkenfeld is working on new music that sees her evolving from an instrumental prodigy into a formidable singer-songwriter.”
Rolling Stone described Wilkenfeld’s vocal debut as “ten dense, riff-heavy tracks with brazen, introspective lyrics — prove her songwriting abilities.”
Here’s how she started life as a musician:
Wilkenfeld began playing guitar in 2000 when she was 14 years old. Two years later, she dropped out of high school in Sydney and immigrated to the United States where she studied electric guitar. Within a year, Wilkenfeld switched to electric bass. Wilkenfeld graduated from Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in 2004. She accepted an endorsement from Sadowsky Guitars and devoted herself to forming a band and composing songs. At the age of 18, Wilkenfeld moved to New York City and began making a name for herself in New York’s jazz clubs. “I was actually walking around to like several clubs every night till the sun came up, sitting in at jazz clubs just learning. I was really the only one that would go into these clubs with an electric bass, because these were like, you know, places that played exclusively bebop. So I got some funny looks for quite some time. But it was a priceless education.
And in one of those nights she met some members of The Allman Brothers Band particularly bass player Oteil Burbridge and lead guitarist Derek Trucks; they encouraged her to join them onstage at the Beacon Theatre and the rest is history.
She has been described as a jazz musician probably because she has toured extensively with jazz great Herbie Hancock’s band and compared with Esperanza Spalding, a jazz singer who also happens to play the bass guitar.
I would not pigeon hole her as a pure jazz singer/musician as her music and style is rather eclectic. She has forays into other music genres particularly rock and blues. It would not be right to compare Tal Wilkenfeld with Esperanza Spalding although both have some similarities; they both play the bass guitar while Tal is more into the electric bass, Esperanza plays the acoustic and upright bass as befits her as a pure jazz musician/singer and she sings only jazz.
Tal, meanwhile as a singer is not only flirting with rock and blues but to my mind a straight-ahead rock singer/musician heavily influenced by jazz and blues, particularly her live performance.
Check out on YouTube her live performance of Under The Sun while opening for The Who at Capital One Arena and you’ll see and hear what I mean about her music. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
