What the heck is in Haley's head?

[Miguel]

One reason Haley can sing so many diverse things is due to the many musical influences her parents exposed to at a young age.

So these two Amazon reviews by "Harry Reinhart" from "Chicagoland" might be of interest. They are about albums by Eileen Ivers, a violin player from the Bronx that has won 35 All-Ireland titles. They were written in March 2001, when Haley was ten.

Crossing the Bridge

This is a HOT album! In this day and and age of communications making the world smaller, Eileen succeeds at doing this with music. She takes us to a lot of places, but she doesn't leave her Irish roots. They still shine thru. She starts out smokin' right away with 'Gravelwalk', and builds it to a nice intense climax at the end. This girl can rock! Like on her other CD's, her choice of textures and colors is superb. The title tune is a Monster! It's like taking a boat ride from Ireland to New York. Eileen plays over that slick 'bounce' groove, and then she has Lew Soloff come in on the bridge with muted trumpet over a fat bed of chords. VERY COOL! Her African and Latin influenced songs are great and she still plays those jigs as effortlessly as ever. Sweet soul always comes out when playing the Irish folk ballads. They are haunting. And last but not least, this girl can play over CHANGES! Eileen truely does cross the bridge on this album. Hope she keeps doing so. Love it!
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KlD5zoh_j8 [/video]

Wild Blue

This album is the first I heard of Eileen. I was blown away. She brings Celtic to a whole new place. Her use of various colors is extraordinary, especially in the case of percussion. She is a fine soloist. She's firey! Her Irish roots come through and it's so perfectly mixed with good old American soul! She hits you with one thing after another. Nothing stays the same. You go away from this with a great feeling!

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6I7dg-TTZw [/video]

[john]

That's pretty cool. AI is all about putting people in a musical box that can be branded and marketed. For Haley that did not compute. She's in a whole different orbit. I love that Haley has so many musical influences to draw on. The more I hear Haley and learn about her, the more I know she will go on to big things.

[Miguel]

AI is all about putting people in a musical box that can be branded and marketed. For Haley that did not compute. She's in a whole different orbit. I love that Haley has so many musical influences to draw on.

In the intro package for her first live AI performance, they had a voiceover of Haley saying,

"I want to be an inspiration, I want to be a visionary to people all over the world."

My initial reaction was that probably didn't go over very well with the viewing audience. But I think she meant musically. She wants to be respected as an artist by other musicians for blending a variety of musical styles to create a unique sound -- just like her father stands in professional awe of Eileen Ivers.

I was just reading a critique of Haley on Idol that stated:

Then, when Jimmy Iovine said she must find herself as a performer she drops a bleeped profanity...The thing is, Jimmy is right and Haley confirmed his opinion when she tried to rebut him by saying her style was soulrockbluescountryjazz. Haley, all styles are no styles.

"Haley, all styles are no styles."

That is Haley's style. She likes songs that are dynamic and music that includes a lot of influences. She adds another layer of complexity with her unique voice.

Many singers have stated they don't think the public understands the complexity of what she is doing vocally because she makes it seem so effortless. So she is already garnering professional respect in one way. If she can marry her voice to the right music in the right way she could truly be hailed as a visionary.

At least she's shooting high. As a great adman who also hailed from Chicago once said, "When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either."

[john]

I was just reading a critique of Haley on Idol that stated:

Then, when Jimmy Iovine said she must find herself as a performer she drops a bleeped profanity...The thing is, Jimmy is right and Haley confirmed his opinion when she tried to rebut him by saying her style was soulrockbluescountryjazz. Haley, all styles are no styles.

"Haley, all styles are no styles."

That is Haley's style. She likes songs that are dynamic and music that includes a lot of influences. She adds another layer of complexity with her unique voice.

Many singers have stated they don't think the public understands the complexity of what she is doing vocally because she makes it seem so effortless. So she is already garnering professional respect in one way. If she can marry her voice to the right music in the right way she could truly be hailed as a visionary.

At least she's shooting high. As a great adman who also hailed from Chicago once said, "When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either."

Being the geezer I am, I recall the Beatles evolution through the 60s. Early on they did a lot of covers of Chuck Berry, Leiber and Stoller, and others. Then they were writing songs like "I want to hold your hand" and "She Loves You." They changed things up considerably with Rubber Soul. Within a couple of years it's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Magical Mystery Tour" and on to "Let it Be" and "Come Together." They were continually pushing out a new sound and the rest of the music world scrambled to keep up. But the Beatles would just move on and create the next thing. They started out with the basic guitars, bass, and drums, and later made use of exotic instruments such as the sitar, added sound effects and environmental noises, and used a partial or full orchestra (while staying grounded in their roots). They did things that nobody had dreamed of doing previously and it often involved blending diverse styles of music. (And a lot of it came from spontaneous tinkering around with sound in the studio.)

A lot of bands were kind of left in their wake or achieved some success by filling stylistic niches that had been pioneered by the Beatles.

Haley has the potential to musically exploit the synergy of her diverse music tastes and influences in ways that have popular appeal, but are fresh and unique. She can also move among genres. I think her Youtube account name is youmaysayimadreama, and why not? She can be a trend setter.

[midnightblues]

Who's a geezer?

[cherelann]

I'm proud to be a geezer!!

[midnightblues]

I think I'm in denial. I don't want to admit that I'm a geezer. So I guess the definition of the geezer is that you were born before anybody who isn't a geezer. Something like that . So at least my daughters don't think I am. And this is good enough for me.

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OMG
I think I need other energy drink.

[Miguel]

I can't believe I made the original post all the way back in early November. Time is flying.

Below are some excerpts from Haley's Ole Publishing page:

Thanks to her parents’ devotion and love of music, Haley had a wide array of musical influences growing up. "My mom was a huge fan of Janis Joplin, Grace Slick and Heart, to name just a few. I grew up listening to them, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, blues & jazz, as well as Bach and Mozart. I went from classical to Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Manhattan Transfer, Anita O'Day and Sarah Vaughn. Both of my parents are Beatle freaks, so the Beatles were a huge influence. And at Christmas we always listened to holiday albums by Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, the Carpenters and many more. I idolized all of them."

Haley's parents influenced their daughter in other ways. "My mom taught me to sing before I could talk. When I was a little older, my dad would scat to me and I would repeat every thing he did, like call and response. They took me to concerts with them. When I was a baby my first concert was Ziggy Marley. My parents tell me I was dancing, hopping up and down, and clapping at the end of every song, like I was cognizant of what was going on. It cracked them up!" After her sister Angela was born, Haley would sing to her and teach her how to dance. "Sometimes dad would put on some really percussive world music with heavy African or Latin beat and the two of us would move to whatever the groove was.

http://www.majorlyindie.com/songwriter/show/99

[john]

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I know Haley heard this one.

[My Alter Ego]

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John, thanks for posting that clip of "Moanin." Reminds me that I need to replace the old LP (with a CD) I had of L, H, & R -- love that group! "Birdland" was phenomenal when Manhatten Transfer turned the Weather Report?? version into a vocalese version. Two of my favorite groups in one post! Wow! Thanks, again!