26 – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Leo Kottke – 1969
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Leo Kotke
This one comes from the second album I bought of Leo’s, “6 and 12 String Guitar”, and his version of the Bach standard is my favorite (I have 3 versions, one from the “Bach”, two album set that Columbia put out, one from Walter/Wendy Carlos’ “Switched on Bach”, and Kottke’s).
Bach lends itself well to Kottke’s finger picking style and I always marvel at his fluidity and quietness. He used to play it all the time at the live shows I attended in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, at Chicago’s Park West, Hemmens Auditorium here in Elgin, and my favorite venue, which he plays almost every year, this year being the 28th, the Woodstock Opera House.
Most people may remember the Opera House from “Groundhog Day” as the tower Bill Murray throws himself from in his attempt to break the endless loop his life has become, trapped in the same day in “Punxatawny, PA.” Orson Welles performed Shakespeare from the same stage where he attended the Todd School in the 1920’s. It’s interesting to envision that booming voice, even when he was a teenager, overwhelming the audience of the Woodstock Opera House.
I find it the perfect venue for Leo Kottke, a quiet performer who maintains an intimacy with his audience, especially when it is as close as it is at Woodstock. It seats about 325, and no seat is very far away, only 10 rows or so on the main floor, 8 in the balcony. And the acoustics are perfect for catching Kottke’s sometimes baffling, sometimes hysterical, asides and stories.
I haven’t seen him for 5 years or so, the last time was at the Hemmens here in Elgin, where he played with the only other performer more eccentric than him, Leon Redbone. This guy is the same as he was 40 years ago on Saturday Night Live. He also had some sort of call and response-type inside joke going on that left 99% of the audience going “Huh?”
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