Gilles Malkine
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Gilles Malkine

Woodstock, New York, United States | SELF

Woodstock, New York, United States | SELF
Band Folk Singer/Songwriter

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"Time is doggin’ him"


Gilles Malkine of Woodstock is well-known to local audiences as the (mostly) straight man to musical partner and satirist Mikhail Horowitz. Also an accomplished composer and guitarist, Malkine, at the age of 63, has come out with his first solo CD, TimeDog, which will be available at a release party on Sunday, March 4, at 5 p.m. at the Kleinert James Gallery in Woodstock.
“I used to know people who recorded albums and had no control over the outcome,” muses Malkine. Sound Engineer Bruce Berky gave Malkine complete control in this case. “I sat there with him for every detail, and got it the way I wanted it.”
The result is a collection of songs in many styles – folk, gospel, samba, blues – and on topics from love to social justice, that is nevertheless “musically cohesive,” he says. “I didn’t want it to be choppy – I wanted the quality continuous throughout.”
All the songs on the album were written by Malkine except for an Appalachian tune, “Fair Beauty Bright,” sung poignantly and hauntingly in traditional style.
He performs all the vocals and guitar work, with the accompaniment on some numbers by percussionist Harvey Sorgen, bassists martin Keith and Mike Ralff, saxophonist Bruce Berky, his brother Bob Berky on concertina, and vocalist Dennis Washington.
The liner notes, available online at http://www.gillesmalkine.com/music/timedog describe how the title track, “TimeDog,” came from a line that materialized in a hot bath after a hard day’s work, when the weary songwriter found himself thinking “Time is doggin’ me!” This phrase morphed into a meditation on the nature of time, with the incomparable stanza:
The Devil stands at Heaven’s door
The quintessential saboteur
He wears a smile like velour
He’s there to say “You’re premature…”

Another philosophical number is “Heart of Kindness,” written, as Malkine says in the notes, “by my inner child.” Sweet Mary Anne is the upbeat and charming story of his first meeting with his wife of 16 years. Two instrumental pieces show off his nimble guitar fingers.
Other songs embody Malkine’s concern for justice in the world, including “Freedom Road,” expressing outrage at the abuses of Wall Street. “Marta” tells of the heroism of a young Catholic woman who saved the lives of 820 Muslims in Kosovo during the 1999 genocide. In “Pequeña Bresenia,” he mourns the death of a child at the hands of anti-immigration vigilantes. “The Yellow Land” is the searing lament of a disabled veteran, a composite of men he has worked with at organizations that support people with disabilities.
“I didn’t want a musical career,” says Malkine. “The music business is too petty. I decvided to spend my time helping people out, and do music on the side. There are too many people who need help.” ++ Violet Snow
- Woodstock Times


Discography

TimeDog (2012) - available at www.CDbaby.com
11 original songs including 2 guitar instrumentals, plus one Appalachian tune

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Bio

Gilles played guitar with Tim Hardin at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and Carnegie Hall, among many other venues. He has composed and performed guitar and string pieces, arrangements, and songs in varying styles, including rags, etudes, and music in the South American style. Typically his songs range from poetic to funny satire, to guitar instrumentals. He has taken part in recordings and/or collaborations with other instrumentalists and singers including Tim Hardin, Warren Bernhardt, John Sebastian, Billy Faier, Robbie Dupree, Jimmy Weider, Happy & Artie Artie Traum, Peter Schickele, and many others. He has composed, arranged, performed, and recorded scores, songs, and sound tracks for, among others, the Woodstock Shakespeare company Bird-on-a-Cliff, (productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and 12th Night). Gilles has found himself on stage at various times performing with and/or billed with Jesse Colin Young, Jacques Brel, Bill Keith, Phil Donahue, John Cougar Mellencamp, Cindy Cashdollar, Levon Helm, John Simon, Sharon Paige, John Hall, Johnny Herald, Kenny Kosek, Happy and Artie Traum, Allen Ginsberg, Dan Abrams, Marilyn Crispell, Michael Esposito, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Natalie Merchant, Peter Schickele, Ed Sanders, Bob Holman, David Amram, Roger Sprung, and many others.