The Genius of Chuck Berry

Watched an excellent Chuck Berry documentary on PBS last week. It covered the contours of his life well, with strong talking heads like Keith Richards, and some excellent concert footage. And while I would have liked some closer investigation into the particular brilliance of his sound and lyric writing, I think any viewer would come away impressed with his musical contribution. In fact, at one point I said to my wife, you know if I could only have one artist to listen to on that desert island I would be happy with it being Chuck Berry. The truth is that he is one of the great musical geniuses of the 20th century. What's interesting to me is that his aesthetic is perfectly formed; it presents a contained sound world that is totally and unmistakably "Chuck Berry," sort of like Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker or Billie Holiday. He never "developed" his sound. Once he found it he presented it, like an egg or a gem or the Baby Jesus. Now, bear in mind, while perfectly formed, it is also loose in feeling and flexible in how the melody and rhythm can be presented. Check out this video from the BBC in 1972 to see what I mean. Dig how the sound is springy, like a trampoline. Dig how Chuck and the guitar are one, body and soul. Dig how he plays with the vocal melody when he comes back in after the solos at around 2:57. And make note that this is rock and roll, with an emphasis on the roll. When you take the roll out, you are left with only the rock, and you get something like Metallica.