She never ceases to amaze me.
She never ceases to amaze me.
Love.
There's another thread elsewhere on the forum about who is the ultimate Prog-God. And the answers vary. But for Prog-Goddess there is NO doubt. Hail Rachel!
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
There's really not much more that can be said about Ms. Flowers. She is such an inspiration, and just so impressive.
Thanks for posting.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
I'll say it: is there a better musician in the world today in terms of the breadth, depth and scope of the playing of practically any instrument ?
Another category reached --RWV major works for Chapman Stick. Joins RWV for piano, RWV for chamber groups, RWV for orchestra, RWV for jazz ensemble. Etc.
In her free time, I fully expect her to crank out some genius level sacred and secular cantatas. Just because she can
In all seriousness, has she recorded an album yet ? She certainly has plenty of material on YouTube and sound cloud?
A true genuine genius and prodigy
If that's her first time playing the Stick, what will her 700th time sound like?
I second the question: has she recorded an album of originals yet?
She can do anything she puts her mind to. Respect.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
Originals, covers, live, whatever, please take my money already!
Seeing videos of Rachel always renews my beliefs that music's future will be brilliant.
"Why is it when these great Prog guys get together, they always want to make a Journey album?"
- fiberman, 7/5/2015
Right now, I would rather see Rachel live than ANY other band I can think of. It's all been said. It's a perplexing travesty that she:
1. Doesn't have an album.
2. Hasn't been signed yet by either management or a record label.
3. Isn't gigging regularly with her own band.
Prodigy is a word spewed about randomly, but this young lady is other-worldly. When I saw the vid of her singing "Montana" and trading 4 bar shreds with Dweezil, I was rendered speechless (not an easy thing to do).
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
IGGY!!!!!!
"The woods would be very silent if the only birds that sang were those who sang best..." - Henry David Thoreau
I'm not surprised at all.Originally Posted by progeezer
The three things I could see her succeeding at are following her original plan of being a classical flute soloist, becoming a classical composer, and being a teacher. Maybe being a Christian artist, where her miraculous, Gift-from-God abilities would make an unbeatable hook. Or maybe filling out someone's backing band, where her instant virtuosity on anything would be a huge selling point to the musical director, and enable her to replace two or three players. Otherwise, she may have all the talent of Stevie Wonder or Roland Kirk, but she's much less marketable. The music she seems to love most is uncommercial, her blindness and ordinary looks make her a very hard sell to Joe Sixpack and Jane Winecooler, and her blindness also presents significant operational obstacles to building a career.
Tell it to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap and Andrea Bocelli...
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
I don't know anything about this person. From Baribrotzer's post I gather she has plans of her own.
Determined artists aren't necessarily deterred by a supposed lack of commercial potential.
They're men. There's a difference. Stevie was signed to Motown at the age of 11, Ray was the hardass to end all hardasses; both started out doing music that was immediately commercial, and what they did later redefined what was commercial. They also made it fifty and sixty years ago, when the music business was more focused on talent than looks or TV marketability.
I picked up a Stick in a music store about 25 years ago and put it back 2 minutes later; I couldn't do sh*t with it! I had already been playing guitar professionally for over 12 years at that point, but knowing guitar won't help you much with the Chapman Stick. Of course, Rachel is not your average musician (gross understatement)!
You should. Check out her YouTube videos. She's an incredible multi-instrumentalist who has learned complex pieces by the likes of ELP and Zappa by ear and can play them flawlessly... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Rachel played live on my show about a month ago and burned the place down. She took no prisoners. Ted Leonard came on to play right after her and said he was going to use humor in his segment because there was no way to compete with what she did musically. Really? Ted Leonard? Of course, he was fantastic after her...even with a cold....but everyone went crazy after hearing her perform live. She was incredible and played only her own compositions on piano. She thought it was a lot of fun.Rachel is going to be very successful. It's great that her mom is helping her take it slowly and do things as she is ready to do them and not when someone else tells her it's time to do it. Her album or EP, whenever it is released, will be a joy.
Bari- one thing I think we can fairly say is that blindness will not be any impediment to Rachel's career. She has everything you need- chops, personality, drive and talent. And a compelling story. She will be the decider for where she goes, but whatever she decides, expect great things.
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
Wow. If there is such a thing as a "humblebrag" I guess this would qualify as a "praiseinsult". Not that Ms. Flowers needs me or anyone to defend her or explain her musical direction, but I find this post to be thoughtless and worthless.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
I would agree more on the "praiseinsult". I have heard Rachel play live and I think she could be the centerpiece of a new or established band or eventually run her own band. I don't think there are any limitations to what she can achieve or what she can or should aspire to. Her talent is incredible....in the best sense of the word.
Last edited by harbinger58; 10-20-2015 at 02:15 PM.
^^^^^^^^THIS!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
My point is not a matter of her talent or abilities, which are clearly enormous: She seems to have somehow rewired her entire visual center - quite a large portion of the human brain - to play music instead of interpret visual images. My point is that the music business, as it is currently constituted, focuses far more on image, glamour, and marketability to teenyboppers than upon musical talent. I would argue that talent has become so beside the point that the managers and record companies doesn't even know what to do any more with real musical ability. It's become a sort of, "Oh, yeah, by the way," factor, and it barely counts. Even in the smaller corners of the biz, where talent greatly matters - jazz or classical music - a glamorous image also seems essential, particularly in women.But even though she can pick up anything by ear ridiculously fast, she can't read music. She can't read a contract. She'll need someone beside her at all times she can absolutely trust - her mom or, maybe some day, her husband - to navigate the world and keep trouble from finding her. Look at that burglary she suffered a year or two ago for a sample of the sort of trouble she might face. Those are problems she'll have, and you can't assume she won't, or that her abilities will somehow exempt her.
I hate being the bad guy, but I don't think a lot of you are cognizant of the enormous difficulties she faces, and how much she's going against the current grain just by being who she is.
And Mats Öberg !
At the gig in Helsingborg he pulled his T-shirt over his head and said: I can play whithout looking !
Dare I say, those two need to collaborate on something?
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Bari- basically, you are saying that her disability will affect her. Well, that is true for virtually every disabled person I know. But you are addressing her business issues, not her musical ability, which as you say is enormous. And truth is, I think you sell her short and are allowing your perspective on disability to color your comments. Reading a contract is something most sighted people cannot do- or can you tell me the details of your cell phone contract, just to name one? Or the software you might recently have loaded? This is why we have lawyers. And her instruments were stolen? So were a whole lot of sighted people's instruments. Again, we can see that disability has not hampered her development. She will certainly face challenges, but so what? So do we all.
As to the music biz, it is what it is, and it is what it is no matter who is what where. She has not yet decided what to do with her life. Let's see what happens. All this means is she has to conquer that mountain like any other musician in the world.
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
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