Kaleidoscope with David Lindley (2nd row - right) - catalysts, messengers and purveyors of broad musical horizons.
Kaleidoscope (David Lindley) – Live At UC Berkeley – 1967- Past Daily Backstage Pass – Tribute Edition (David Lindley – 1944-2023)
Kaleidoscope – live at UC Berkeley – Greek Theatre July 4,1967 – KALX-FM
David Lindley (1944-2023) – it’s getting to the point where you start looking around nervously to see who’s left as opposed to who’s here. It’s sad that we’re losing so many vital and essential voices in music these past few years – some artists that may not have become household names, but have left an indelible mark on the tapestry that is music – those figures who have shone lights and pointed directions and coaxed explorers to look deeper, further and in those hidden places where treasures lie. David Lindley was one of those explorers, those musical Sherpas who took us on adventures and showed us new things and new ways to look at them. For that, there’s a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, but rather carried on to others. That’s the thing about music; all music. It’s about exploring and discovering and mashing and adding yourself to the mix, or the Roux as Wynton Marsalis so accurately puts it.
The tragedy is that we’re losing sight of those vistas, those horizons that enhance and inform us – those elements we take and add to our own points of view and give to others. We aren’t doing that so much these days. I wish we were.
Well, let me rephrase that – I wish the Mainstream were exploring and enhancing and discovering and informing the mass audience – that’s the only way it can stay fresh and vital – otherwise it becomes lifeless, formless and so much evaporating smoke.
But too, who is taking up the legacy of David Lindley? Who is reaching out, discovering, adding to the tapestry and pointing directions? We need you – otherwise we’re a mountain of fading legacies and dead-end roads.
This is an early incarnation of Kaleidoscope; one that is probably most memorable. Still in the discovering stages, not yet hitting the stride they would reach a few months later. I posted a Newport concert from 1968 (link here) that gives you idea of what they were doing only a short time later. But still, any of these early recordings are worth discovering and digging into.
Fortunately, we have a recorded legacy of David Lindley to tap on – he left a lot of messages. Kaleidoscope, at least for me, was one of the milestones from an era fairly overflowing with innovation and imparting. Keep an open mind and keep listening – don’t be afraid to hit the Browse button.
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