Home » Jazz Musicians » Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Tom Waits, according to the esteemed American critic Robert Hilburn, is clearly one of the most important figures of the modern pop era. Such sentiments are not mere hyperbole; in a career that now spans four decades and over 20 albums, Tom Waits has long since emerged as an extraordinary innovative force, a singular voice whose music remains determinedly and even gloriously - well beyond the trivial fads and fashions of popular culture. Waits latest release, the 3CD set Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards adds further weight to that stellar reputation. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards is a wide-ranging collection of 54 songs - including 30 new recordings equaling over three hours of rare and never-before heard music. The set comes complete with a 94-page booklet.

Each of the three CDs is separately grouped and sub-titled Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards to capture the full spectrum of Waits ranging and roving musical styles. Brawlers is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke joint stomp; Bawlers comprises Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano and classic lyrical Waits songs while Bastards is filled with experimental music and strange tales.

In addition to the new work, Orphans features a number of songs originally recorded for the cinema, the theatre and other projects but which now find a home on a Waits album for the first time. They include his unique interpretations of songs by such extraordinarily diverse talents as The Ramones, Daniel Johnston, Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht, Leadbelly, Sparklehorse, Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac.

"Orphans are rough and tender tunes. Rhumbas about mermaids, shuffles about trainwrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigrals about drowning, says Waits. Scared, mean orphan songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate".

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (Anti Records) is Waits first release since 2004s much-lauded Real Gone. The album was written and produced by Waits with his wife and long-time collaborator Kathleen Brennan and is released in the UK on Tuesday 21th November 2006.

* * * Its been just over 30 years since Tom Waits made his recording debut. In that time his music has taken adventurous twists and turns, from confessional country-blues and jazz- flavoured lounge to primal rock and avant-garde musical theatre. By turns tender and poignant, strange and twisted, his songs have tended to explore the dark underbelly of society as he has given his voice to a litany of characters and tales on the fringe and in the fray.

Read more

Tags

10
Profile

Tom Waits: Ringmaster Of The Elegant Riot

Read "Tom Waits: Ringmaster Of The Elegant Riot" reviewed by Mick Raubenheimer


[For Tammi Tam.] Somewhere change is jingling, there is an accordion moaning softly in some corner somewhere, a barstool is creaking--somewhere foul glasses are being grimly emptied... The dark eerie carnival is rising once more--hurry your children into safe dreams, lock the wine cabinet; tuck your long-lost sweethearts into forgettance. Tom Waits is here, those sub-human genius features are sizing you up, asking you how your night's been; he's pouring himself a drink (he doesn't ask). ...

1
Interview

Guido Harari, dietro al mirino come un jazzista

Read "Guido Harari, dietro al mirino come un jazzista" reviewed by Luca Muchetti


"Potresti dire che sono un fotografo jazz, alla faccia di chi mi definisce da sempre un fotografo rock!." Guido Harari scherza volentieri sulla sua nomea di “fotografo musicale," autore di alcuni degli scatti entrati nell'immaginario collettivo e che ritraggono artisti come David Bowie, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Fabrizio De André (alcuni dei suoi ritratti più celebrati sono riprodotti nella galleria abbinata a questa intervista: Guido Harari: A Primer, ma la lista è praticamente infinita).

362
Extended Analysis

Tom Waits: Real Gone

Read "Tom Waits: Real Gone" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


With each successive album, Tom Waits has become harder to pin down. He is unorthodox and approaches things differently; he is strange, and as a result of that his music is strange, different and unorthodox. His last two (simultaneously released) albums ( Alice and Blood Money ) contained pieces specifically written for the theatre and found him in a distinctly theatrical (Brechtian) mode. Real Gone is Waits's most vital album in twelve years as he moves away from the feel ...

463
Reassessing

Tom Waits: Small Change

Read "Tom Waits: Small Change" reviewed by Trevor MacLaren


Tom Waits Small Change Asylum 1976

Tom Waits is unlike any singer/songwriter before or since he burst on the scene with Closing Time in 1973. His music has always been original and eclectic, guiding his audience along an evolution from drunken skid row crooner to his present role as western music's deconstruction magician. Throughout a catalogue that spans thirty plus years of gushing genius, jazz has always been a foundation for much of Waits' ...

Read more articles
99

Recording

Tom Waits - Bad as Me (2011)

Tom Waits - Bad as Me (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Back when Tom Waits released Real Gone, I used the concept of the essential nature of a pair of bluejeans to illustrate how that record could be used to get at what Waits' music is all about—an introductory album of sorts, one with a high score on the “Waits-y Scale." Much of the idea of Waits' essential nature revolves around the fact that there is nearly equal interest in his music and his persona. We don't really know what Waits ...

167

Recording

Forgotten Series: Tom Waits - Real Gone (2004)

Forgotten Series: Tom Waits - Real Gone (2004)

Source: Something Else!

Obsessive rituals of youth. It's all boils down to pants. Blue jeans, specifically. See, back before we had “pre-washed," “stone-washed," “acid-washed" or any of them other variants, we had plain 'ole blue jeans. And let me tell you...they were very blue and very tough. There was a lengthy (and somewhat painful) break-in process. Even after those first two or three washings, a nasty thigh-chafe could persist. To ensure a more perfect fit, some kids would go so far as to ...

154

Recording

Tom Waits: New Studio Album

Tom Waits: New Studio Album

Source: JamBase

NEW ALBUM BAD AS ME OUT OCTOBER 25 ON ANTI-RECORDS Bad As Me is Tom Waits' first studio album of all new music in seven years. This pivotal work refines the music that has come before and signals a new direction. Waits, in possibly the finest voice of his career, worked with a veteran team of gifted musicians and longtime co-writer/producer Kathleen Brennan. From the opening horn-fueled chug of “Chicago," to the closing barroom chorale of “New Year's Eve," Bad ...

80

Performance / Tour

St. Vincent, Arthur H, and More Perform Tom Waits Rain Dogs

St. Vincent, Arthur H, and More Perform Tom Waits Rain Dogs

Source: JamBase

PERFORMING 1985 ALBUM RAIN DOGS IN FULL Dates have been announced for an unforgettable evening as a stellar cast of singers and musicians revisit Tom Waits' classic 1985 album Rain Dogs. The record has emerged as an object of fascination for Waits fans. In a very personal evocation of the New-York slums, the album's nineteen tracks impress us with their variety, borrowing from cabaret, polka, jazz, rock and even spoken poetry. The use of numerous instruments adds to the album's ...

165

Recording

Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom Live (2009)

Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom Live (2009)

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski You don't have to look very hard to find all sorts of writing about Tom Waits. Much of it wanders around in the area of Waits' past, his hard living, the drinking, smoking, the decayed hotel rooms. Some of that stuff is true, and some of it is about as useful as that old truss you found in the bottom of the steamer truck up in your grandfather's attic. Maybe the reviews devolve into such cliché because ...

76

Award / Grant

Dr. John, Tom Waits Among Rock Hall of Fame Inductees

Dr. John, Tom Waits Among Rock Hall of Fame Inductees

Source: Groove Notes

There are a handful of jazz musicians who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. These musicians include Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, Nat “King" Cole, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jelly Roll Morton, Les Paul, and Dinah Washington. Crossover artists Dr. John and Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next Monday, March 14th. Bios from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website read: New Orleans' own Dr. John has ...

128

Recording

The Friday Morning Listen: Tom Waits - Mule Variations (1999)

The Friday Morning Listen: Tom Waits - Mule Variations (1999)

Source: Something Else!


92

Recording

Tom Waits Exclusive Vinyl Releases

Tom Waits Exclusive Vinyl Releases

Source: JamBase

CELEBRATE THE CLASSIC ASYLUM YEARS ON VINYL After signing with Asylum Records in the early 70's, Tom Waits recorded a series of groundbreaking albums whose noir tales of the after-midnight underworld transformed the seedy into the sublime in songs laced with both dark humor and profound longing. Nearly 40 years and several musical evolutions later, Waits' Asylum years still hold a special place in the hearts of many. Rhino will celebrate Waits this December by reissuing the Grammy-winning/Oscar nominated artists' ...

99

Recording

The Friday Morning Listen: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2011, Tom Waits

The Friday Morning Listen: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2011, Tom Waits

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski OK, so let's get the list over with quickly. Here are your 2011 nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Alice Cooper, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, Chic, Neil Diamond, Donovan, Dr. John, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Donna Summer, Joe Tex, Tom Waits, Chuck Willis. So, I've never paid that much attention to the particulars of the hall of fame thing. Just the other day I got around ...

Pete M Wyer
composer / conductor
Petr Cancura
saxophone
Terry Edwards
saxophone
Steven Blane
guitar, acoustic
Kai Brant
vocals
John Allee
vocals
Voodoo
drums
John Notaro
multi-instrumentalist
Chris Lowry
vocals
Marcel Lüscher
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.