The death of JJ Cale at the age of 74 is a profoundly sad event on many levels. Cale is an excellent example of the quiet innovator, a musician who, like Randy Newman and Laura Nyro, first became known as a songwriter, with other artists (in Cale's case, Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynrd) first covering his songs, allowing him to make a living from music, and ensuring that his own recordings would be released. As is often the case, his first well-known songs, "They Call Me the Breeze" and "Round Midnight" are not among his more interesting compositions. They simply suited their interpreters, and it is interesting to contrast the turbo-charged three guitar attack that Lynynrd Skynrd brought to "They Call Me The Breeze" to the cheap-and-cheerful sound of Cale's own version, whcih is basically an overdubbed demo. But there are no prizes for guessing which version has the essential feel and soul. Skynrd collected the plaudits, Cale collected the cash, and he went on to expand his songwriting and playing style on 14 albums. In a more recent interview, Cale commented "I would probably have been selling shoes if it wasn't for Eric (Clapton)".
Cale, by all accounts, remained uncomfortable in the spotflight through his life. Legend has it that, when he visited London for the first time in the mid-70's, he spent most of his debut London concert cowering behind his amplifier and speaker stack, upon hearing that Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, among other famous musicians, were in the audience. Although, geographically, Cale came from the middle of nowhere relative to the UK, he was popular from almost the beginning of his career in the UK; I was introduced to his LPs in 1974 while still at college, where he was getting extensive local radio airplay.
Like many artists, he had no interest in being a public figure. His realtively small number of interviews show a man with no interest in celebrity, and a reflexive horror of talking about himself as a person, but deeply interested in the recording process, an inveterate tinkerer, happiest in his home studio. He never realy embraced digital recording technology, preferring analog equipment and mixing processes. For many years he lived an itinerant existence in a trailer home, finally settling in the hills near Escondido CA in the 1990's, buying a country ranch home, where he spent his time happily tinkering, writing and recording, with occasional short tours.
Cale's music, like everything else about him, seemed to emerge from left field, containing a wide reach of styles and influences. Today it would be instantly classified as Americana, but at the time that term did not really exist. Eventually, his recorded soundscapes became known as "The Tulsa Sound", an amusingly meaningless label for what is a very rich music.
What was notable about his songs was the great natural feel that he cpatured in the basic playing, along with a meticulous attention to detail. Unsure of his own vocal abilities, he compensated by often double and triple tracking his voice, creating a laconic almost half-spoken vocal wall of sound. His early recordings often used drum machines since he could not afford a drummer.One of his early songs, "Any Way The Wind Blows", was recorded using cheap instruments and a beat box, with triple tracked vocals. The result, cheapness be damned, is beautiful, impossible to replicate, and the groove makes you want to listen to the tune for ever. On one of his best known songs,"Cocaine", the main riff is constructed from multiple single notes played one a time, which lends what is essentially a rock power chord a unique diconnected quality. The notes do not interact because they were played separately.
Cale's guitar solos are notable for their jazz-like quality in terms of phrasing and timing, and their minimalism, adhering to thr Ry Cooder philosophy of never playing a note where none will do.
Cale was enormously influential on other artists. Eric Clapton is on record as saying that he always wanted to make an LP that counded like JJ Cale. He made an album, "Road to Escondido" with Cale in 2006, which garnered a Grammy award, but truth be known, it is not a great album, sounding too much like two mutual admirers dancing around each other. It is doubtful if Dire Straits would exist in their 1980's form without Cale's influence; Mark Knopfler's entire singing style is line-of-descent from Cale's whispery, laconic vocal delivery. "Water Of Love", from the first Dire Straits album, sounds like it could have fitted onto any JJ Cale LP of the same period, with Knopfler's double tracked vocals sounding uncannily like Cale's. The vocals on "Calling Elvis", and the wry humor in the lyrics ("give him my number, Heartbreak Hotel"), sound like something Cale could have written and sung.
Favorites? Well, for overall level of interest and stylistic depth, I would go for "Troubador", the LP containing "Cocaine", but also many other great songs. For sheer minimalist beauty, "Anyway The Wind Blows" steals the show however.