08.16.05 (AP) VASSAR CLEMENTS, a fiddle virtuoso and A-list studio musician who played with Paul McCartney and an array of others, died at his home Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77. Clements was hospitalized for 18 days earlier this year, receiving chemotherapy and other treatment. He had been under hospice care in recent weeks. "He had no quality of life since he'd been diagnosed," said daughter Midge Cranor, who added that the cancer had spread to his liver and brain. Clements - whose wife, Millie, died in 1998 - last performed February 4th in Jamestown, New York, Cranor said. "God blessed me in that I was able to hold his hand when he died," she said. Clements' work bridged various styles, including Country, Jazz, Bluegrass, Rock 'N' Roll and Classical. "When the rhythm is good, I can play it," he told The Associated Press in a 1988 interview. During his career, he recorded on more than 2,000 albums, joining artists as varied as McCartney, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Hank Williams Jr., Woody Herman, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE BYRDS and THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND. Clements, a Kinard, Fla., native who grew up in Kissimmee, Fla., also recorded more than two dozen albums of his own. The 2005 Grammy for best Country instrumental performance went to 'Earl's Breakdown' by THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND featuring Clements, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs and Jerry Douglas. "He got his start in bluegrass, but he was equally comfortable playing bebop and jazz and rock 'n' roll, and he loved all those genres," said Jeff Hanna of THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND, which tapped Clements for their landmark "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" Americana albums and also toured Japan with him. "He could sit in with anybody." VASSAR CLEMENTS even recorded with the Monkees once - by happenstance. He was working on a recording session when someone asked him if he wanted to stay and play on another one. "I didn't know until later it was the Monkees," he said. Besides being a gifted musician, Clements was fun to be around, Hanna said. "He was incredibly hip," Hanna said. "He was just one of those guys. He was still the dapper Dan. My wife always said he was such a handsome devil. He always dressed impeccably." Clements, who appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film "Nashville," taught himself to play at age 7 and had no formal training. "It was God's gift, something born in me," he said about his talent. "I was too dumb to learn it any other way. I listened to the (Grand Ole) Opry some. I'd pick it up one note at a time. I was young, with plenty of time and I didn't give up. You'd come home from school, do your lessons and that's it. No other distractions. "I don't read music. I play what I hear," Clements once said. VASSAR CLEMENTS was employed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a year in the mid-1960s, working on plumbing. At various times, he also worked in a Georgia paper mill, was a switchman for the Atlantic Coast Railroad, sold insurance, and even had a potato chip franchise.
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08.04.05 (MusicPortal.com) After nearly 25 years, the original motion picture soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film "Raging Bull" has finally been released via Capitol Records. Compiled by Robbie Robertson and Scorsese, both contribute liner notes to the 2-disc set, with Robertson also including two previously unfinished tracks. The soundtrack release coincides with the Special Edition DVD release of "Raging Bull" from MGM that was released earlier thi year. "Raging Bull" is considered one of the top U.S. films of all time (#24 on the AFI Top 100 list). Robbie Robertson comments on the newly-released soundtrack: "It's no secret that Martin Scorsese has a unique gift for the way he uses music in his movies. He once told me that the picture and the music are the same thing - there is no difference. I had long been fascinated with the power of music on film and film on music. Not necessarily in the traditional sense, but in the way the music works in 'Raging Bull.' There is no traditional score. All the music is instinctively chosen and precisely laid in to take you inside the world of the characters and their story. When Marty asked me to do the source music for 'Raging Bull' (which is music that takes place live, within the story), I enlisted the talents of Garth Hudson on piano, and Richard Manuel on drums, both from The Band. Larry Klein, a much-respected bassist and producer, played acoustic bass. I didn't play guitar on those tracks, because I had recently broken my hand in an unfortunate confrontation. We recorded four tunes, and three of them Marty placed into the picture, seamlessly, with one of them reprising in the end credits. There are numerous grand versions of the Pietro Mascagni pieces that are used in 'Raging Bull.' Some by major conductors and renowned symphony orchestras but Marty was partial to this version by an orchestra from Bologna, Italy. It cried out in an emotionally uninhibited, straight-from-the-street kind of way. Most of the music in this movie comes from Marty's growing up years in New York City's 'Little Italy.' I'm sure that's one of the reasons the picture flows with such undeniable authenticity. The musicality in 'Raging Bull' seeps through the walls, out the windows and down the streets. It gets under your skin, and draws you way inside Jake LaMotta's bent reality. The sound of this movie was a journey in itself. Well, almost 25 years later, I still have the original artwork and songlist, and it has finally come to pass. Maybe it's like a fine Italian wine...it only gets better with time."
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[Ethnic News: July 2005]
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