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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZJENKINS, KarlAfter playing with Soft Machine late '60s--early '70s, keyboardists Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge went into jingles, using rock in TV advertising: Jack Bruce singing 'I Feel Free' to sell cars, Kate Robbins (cousin of Paul McCartney) imitating Grace Jones to sell hair conditioner, 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' for Levi jeans, and in the early '90s the tune helping to sell the Renault Clio. Jenkins had grown up studying classical and playing oboe; he emerged as a composer '95, the Jenkins/Ratledge Adiemus: Songs Of Sanctuary on Sony selling a million copies, described as 'a synthesis of ethnic chants with sophisticated sonata form', a chunk of it used in an advert for Delta Airlines. At first there was a chart controversy, the pop suits throwing it out as too classical, but the London Philharmonic had told Jenkins that they preferred playing his music to that of Harrison Birtwistle (it's full of tunes), and the classical business was happy to see a million-seller. One critic who approves is Norman Lebrecht of the Daily Telegraph, who described Jenkins as 'a composer of traditional skills and a strong sense of structure', and who sees nothing wrong with putting 'music back to where it was in Mozart's time: as a daily accessory, free of fake reverence, to be enjoyed at will and disposed of once its charm fades'. Jenkins's Palladio '96 'employs a pastiche patter of baroque syncopation ... with an introspective spin'; his Adiemus: Cantata Mundi '97 revisited the '95 success, adding woodwinds and 'splendid fat brass' according to Mojo, who added, 'the hard-hearted may find themselves itching for a dose of Mettalica'. In a TV advert for the album the music sounded like Enya on speed. |