by Brett Leigh Dicks
It is rather fitting that Van Dyke Parks’ latest musical undertaking should be about a man obsessed with records. The film, “Music Man Murray,” premieres at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and to celebrate its unveiling, Parks will be undertaking an after-screening performance at SOhO. Like the subject of the film, Parks himself has an affinity with the physical conveyance of music. So much so that his latest recorded undertaking is a series of seven inch vinyl singles complete with original artwork from a collective of visual artists. The symbiosis between audio and visual is something that has come to define Parks’ musical crusade. Not only has he worked extensively in scoring music for film and television, his own musical pursuits encompass song cycles and stories with cinematic overtones that quickly solicit a plethora of images. In addition to this, he has even found time to lend a helping hand to the occasional musical legend including the Beach Boys, The Byrds and Victoria Williams to name but a few. While arranging songs and music is still his primary focus, expect to see a lot more of Parks in the live arena this year. Having supported Fleet Foxes during a recent run of shows, Parks will be out supporting other contemporary artists in 2012, as well headlining a few shows of his own. As he tells MUSIC! The Sounds of Santa Barbara, it’s comes down to still wanting to show off.
You are by no means a stranger to Santa Barbara, but this time your performance is in conjunction with the film festival. I am presuming you have scored a film that is being presented?
I have provided the score for a documentary that my son shot as a graduate thesis in journalism for Berkley University. It is a fascinating short documentary, about 20 or 30 minutes long, and it’s about a man who has the largest personal collection of records in the world.
Perhaps you could enlighten me into who this gentleman might be and tell me a little about his collection …
His name is Music Man Murray and he’s from Los Angeles. He is a nonagenarian who has built what my son has termed “a monument to obsolescence.” It is a very curious and touching story. It speaks not only to the man, Murray, but to the collection itself which is of course mostly vinyl, but some of it is carborhondum, from the age of 78 rpm records and some of it is wax cylinders. It’s a massive collection housed in a large Los Angeles warehouse.
Being an obsessed music fan myself, I can certainly relate to such a passion. But this undertaking sounds as though it has taken on something of a life of its own …
It has been a lifelong pursuit. He is in his nineties and the issue that has arisen is that the collection is so massive that there are concerns with what to do with it. The library, like any good library, is worth more than the sum of its parts – it’s more valuable as a collection than it would be if divided. So it’s a difficult question and simply putting a price on it becomes an issue. And that’s what the documentary is about and I was happy to score it.
And what will your associated performance entail?
Since the film is an entry in the Santa Barbara Film Festival I thought it would be fun to do an after screening concert. I thought SOhO would be a fun place to do it because it’s a small room and intimate and I like the vibe of the room. I haven’t played there for a few years. The last one was with at the Lobero with Steve Young, so this one will be at SOhO with a bassist.
The obsession with records and vinyl is one I presume is also close to your heart given that your most recent releases are a series of seven inch vinyl singles …
Yes. I like records. I like a physical product and I am now reconstructing a collection myself – trying to duplicate the records I no longer have because at one time I thought they would become unplayable. When the CD era arrived I was told repeatedly that a day would come when I would no longer be able to buy a diamond stylus so I disposed of my records. We all know that vinyl is the most superior reproduction process available for sound, and I like hi-fi, so I do find a connection with that world because that’s the era when I came into the industry. My first releases were singles and now, towards the end of my long career, I’m more than ever interested in returning to that arena.
Downloading music doesn’t excite you?
I’m not so interested in counting the downloads associated with my efforts, although my new recordings are also available in download form. I don’t have very much regard for it as my interest and affection is for the actual physical product and the sleeve art that wraps up these sounds I have created.
The sleeve artwork for your recent releases has been treated to particular consideration I believe. What has that process been like?
I am actually meeting with another artist this coming week to discuss his participation. I am working on the audio today and meeting the visual artist on Wednesday and he will hopefully agree to be part of it. I have always put a lot of thought into how my records would look and I still have that desire to create records bearing in mind that they might be considered art objects.
There is a symbiosis between audio and visual. An emotive song will fill your head with imagery and it is difficult to imagine watching any cinematic undertaking without the backing of music …
There is a relationship between sight and sound. I myself have been accused of writing music that feels filmic or visual and I think I’m guilty of that. And I like to see that supported with an actual effort toward the visual. It’s the visual and physical art that makes recording somehow complete to me. Sight and sound are somehow in separable.
It’s interesting that we both harbor that feeling because in the early days of film they were of course very separate …
I once talked to an old silent screen actress by the name of Lillian Gish. She and her sister, Dorian, were protégés of D.W. Griffith, who wrestled film from the French and made it an American industry. I met her when she was very old and I asked if she feared the talkies. She said ‘that’s a very good question young man because when we first heard that sound would be coming to film, we didn’t use that expression, we just knew sound was coming and that that sound would be music.’ I think it’s natural for people to have visual associations when they listen to music and I am from that era, that’s where I cut my teeth as a professional. My world was filled with sights and sounds so every one of my records had a visual component. And that’s where I am today. I haven’t gone very far in the last 50 years.
I would have to beg to differ with that because the remarkable thing about your career is that you have collaborated with so many different artists from so many different genres. I am wondering if those experiences impart as much upon you, as you do on them?
A couple of things in response to your observation. I never know what I’m going to do. I never have plan or can repeat anything I have done. There’s nothing to be learned directly in the creative process. I think the creative process is one that is driven by instinct and matters of heart and not intellect or rationality. So I never feel prepared for the next job. That’s one thing. In fact it’s safe to say that, in the creative process, nobody knows nothing. You have to enter a project in a state of wonder and let that fuel the process. Another is that, as seen by the career turns I have taken where I have crossed genres, as you noticed, I think if I put all those people in one room, it would explode, it would be an absolutely chaotic social encounter because they are all so different. But I think that has been a blessing to me because I have been able to work with so many different people and explore their worlds to try to empower them and bring resolution to their goals. It’s often been a bumpy ride, but we have had many safe landings.
To round things off, you mentioned the SOhO performance will feature you and a bassist. You have played in that incarnation previously, but you have also performed as a sideman and with an entire orchestra. I am wondering what is your favorite musical setting in which to perform?
The thing I like to do most, at this point if I look back or even if I look forward, my favorite occupation is arranging songs – framing them. And my favorite way to frame songs is with chamber music, with string and wind arrangements. It’s a process of premeditation. It’s arranging. It’s monastic. It’s contemplative. And I like being alone in my work and following a discipline. But I think this year will be something of a benchmark year because I also plan to do a lot of touring. I am doing two things. I am headlining shows in concert and those will be modest, but I am also going out as an opener. I will be opening for famous people of another generation so I can expose my efforts to another generation of listeners. I am not interested in staying in the safe and comfortable stoned walled garden of my own generation as it is far more exciting to seek a new audience and see what my chances of survival are there. I recently finished opening for Fleet Foxes and I had a lot of fun because it was just me and a bass player. Because it was daunting and challenging, it was also very exhilarating. Although I don’t have the powers from the head to the hand that I had as a youth, I still can cover the bases at the keyboard and I still like to show off.
