Saturday, October 13, 2007

Ending on a high note - Luciano Pavarotti

There are a few musical moments in my life that stand out in my memory. Hearing Don Helms play "Cold, Cold Heart" on the steel guitar without any accompaniment, hearing Miles Davis' haunting, dissonant trumpet moan over a wall of jazz created by his unparalleled band, Jimmie Vaughan playing a guitar solo of "Six String Down," a tribute to his late brother Stevie Ray, Freddie Fender and Flaco Jiminez playing and singing Tex Mex like no one else as members of The Texas Tornadoes, and of course, Luciano Pavarotti singing "Pagliacci." Luciano was one of those rare few whose talents shattered genre boundaries and introduced the whole world to his craft. Opera is indeed the human voice at its most exalted. Bravo, Luciano.