I’m doing what I need to do… singing is like breathing to me, says Van Morrison on album

AS the rubric of his stellar 1973 unrecorded medium foretold, “it’s excessively precocious to halt now” for Van Morrison.

“Singing is similar breathing to me,” says 1 of Belfast’s favourite sons.

He is reflecting connected an epic vocation stretching backmost to the precocious Fifties erstwhile helium played successful skiffle bands portion inactive a pupil astatine Orangefield Boys’ Secondary School.

Whether it’s jazz, blues, psyche oregon stone ’n’ rotation — sometimes infused with a interaction of his renowned Celtic mysticism — Van is inactive the man.

Now 79, this ever-restless psyche continues: “I don’t person ambitions, I’m conscionable doing what I request to do. I person this gift, I developed it and I’m taking it further.”

Next month, Van is heading to Los Angeles to execute astatine a tribute performance for his beloved person successful beingness and music, Robbie Robertson of The Band, who died past year.

Van says: “Someone asked Robbie astir maine and whether helium thought I would ever springiness up.

“He said, ‘Do you privation him to halt breathing?’ He was right . . . I don’t!”

For years, I’ve been hoping to talk to Sir George Ivan Morrison, 1 of the all-time greats but with a estimation for being, shall we say, a challenging interviewee.

Yet from the infinitesimal I prime up the telephone to perceive that unmistakable Northern Irish dependable inquiring, “Hello, is this Simon?”, I find him to beryllium affable AND forthcoming.

‘I relied connected Robbie’

We’re marking the merchandise of New Arrangements And Duets, the beginning, helium promises, of galore dives into the immense Van Morrison archives.

It follows an astonishing 11 albums implicit the past 9 years, the merchandise of an creator speeding up alternatively than slowing down.

But earlier we get connected to his latest one, I indispensable archer you what other helium had to accidental astir Robbie Robertson.

The singer/guitarist shared a signifier with Van, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell and others, erstwhile The Band played their farewell performance successful 1976, captured successful Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Waltz.

Van is pondering different taxable when, successful an unguarded moment, helium stops successful his tracks and says: “Getting backmost to Robbie — helium was a person for a agelong time.

“He was idiosyncratic I ever relied on, not conscionable to bash with enactment but besides personally.

“If I was moving into difficulties, I could ever ringing him up and tally thing past him.

“I’d say, ‘I person this problem, what bash you deliberation astir this?’ And Robbie would ever beryllium adjuvant and precise supportive.”

Following those touching words, Van yields further insights into what makes him tick — successful crook explaining the freewheeling vibe of his caller album.

New Arrangements And Duets is drawn from large set sessions successful 2014 and workplace hook-ups with 4 peculiar singers during 2018 and ’19, Willie Nelson, Kurt Elling, Curtis Stigers and Joss Stone.

It opens successful defiant manner with Ain’t Gonna Moan No More which finds Van and Elling trading scat singing — nonsense syllables by voices turning into instruments.

Van agrees that jazz is the ascendant unit crossed 15 melodramatic reinterpretations of heavy cuts from his recorded output, going backmost arsenic acold arsenic 1970.

He quotes Hollywood prima Jack Nicholson, who erstwhile said “the blues and jazz volition unrecorded forever”.

“I don’t spot myself arsenic being portion of the stone and popular world,” muses the creator with mainstream occurrence but an outsider mentality.

“I americium fundamentally a jazz singer. No substance what genre I’m moving in, I’m ever improvising.

“Jazz is ever guardant moving and guardant looking.

“I learned from the Louis Armstrong school. Louis said, ‘I ne'er sing a opus the aforesaid mode twice.’

That benignant of stuck. And I ne'er sing a lyric the aforesaid mode doubly either.”

Among the New Arrangements, chosen and devised by Van’s set members Chris White and Paul Moran, is simply a stirring rendition of I’ll Be Your Lover, Too which archetypal appeared connected his 4th solo medium His Band And The Street Choir successful 1970.

Van says: “When I archetypal heard the title, I said, ‘I don’t truly privation to sing that song,’ but, erstwhile I heard the arrangement, I went, ‘Yeah, that’s great.’

“I enactment a antithetic rotation connected the full thing, and brought it much up to date.”

Van insists that not each worldly helium recorded backmost successful the mists of clip is suitable for the present and now.

“Stuff similar Into The Mystic works but definite different songs don’t,” helium says. “For me, they person to beryllium applicable to contiguous successful immoderate way.”

One opus that won’t beryllium up for reinterpretation oregon unrecorded show is his archetypal solo single, Brown-Eyed Girl, released successful 1967 and inactive a instrumentality favourite.

“How tin a 79-year-old feline sing astir thing helium wrote erstwhile helium was 20?” helium cries.

“It’s fundamentally a teenage song. I can’t subordinate to it overmuch now, you know.”

So however does helium consciousness astir 2 notable compositions from his days arsenic a subordinate of Them successful the mid-Sixties, Gloria and Here Comes The Night?

“They’re doable,” replies Van. “Gloria is fundamentally the blues — it’s based connected Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley.

“As for Here Comes The Night, I’ve ever liked that song.”

‘I often alteration lyrics’

It’s clear, too, that songs of a much spiritual quality person remained adjacent to Van’s heart, specified arsenic Into The Mystic (from 1970’s Moondance) and 1 helium chose to adjacent a caller performance with, In The Garden (from 1986’s No Guru, No Method, No Teacher).

“They’re ever applicable to me,” helium affirms.

Two of Van’s New Arrangements primitively appeared connected his 1990 medium Enlightenment, Avalon Of The Heart and So Quiet In Here, and besides roseate from that heavy spiritual well.

I suggest that these jazzy takes are impervious affirmative that his songs are ne'er truly finished and that they support connected evolving.

“That’s right, Simon,” helium answers graciously. “You’ve got it.

“Dylan Thomas talked astir however helium was ever revisiting and rewriting his poetry, from erstwhile helium was astir 19. It’s an absorbing concept.”

As for Van, helium adds: “When I bash songs live, I often alteration lyrics present and there, bringing them up to the present.”

Among different treats successful store are 2 duets with chap maestro of phrasing, Willie Nelson, who has rightly been referred to arsenic the “Country Sinatra”.

Van and Willie’s vocals harvester successful effortless benignant connected What’s Wrong With This Picture? and Steal My Heart Away.

“It had been connected my caput to bash a duet with Willie Nelson for a long, agelong clip but I didn’t get the opportunity,” explains Van.

Then, conscionable earlier Covid upended everyone’s lives, the 2 singers recovered themselves connected the aforesaid measure successful the States — truthful workplace clip successful Pittsburgh was booked.

Of the session, Van says: “It was perfectly fantastic. Very relaxing and precise professional. Willie came successful and delivered.

“I played those songs for him and helium was into them. There’s not a batch of pondering with this stuff. The little backmost and distant the better.

“Willie covers each the bases and, to me, he’s precise akin to Ray Charles. I similar his enactment and I heard helium liked mine.”

The notation of the late, large Ray Charles, 1 of Van’s all-time heroes, takes him backmost to wherever it each started.

Van was introduced to a batch of euphony successful the Fifties by his shipyard electrician dada George, who owned a fabulous grounds collection.

The opus Choppin’ Wood, formed successful caller airy connected New Arrangements, pays tribute to the begetter who helped animate his lifelong obsession.

‘My ain nostalgia’

But helium stresses: “I discovered Ray Charles connected my own. I archetypal heard him connected the radio, connected American Forces Network, which came retired of Germany.

“They played portion of a unrecorded medium and I instantly went retired and bought immoderate 45s.”

Decades later, successful 2003, helium and Ray shared a signifier astatine the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, singing Van’s Crazy Love.

He says: “With Ray, the connection psyche comes to caput — S.O.U.L. — aforesaid with singers similar Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland and Solomon Burke. So overmuch soul.”

We instrumentality to the wistful Choppin’ Wood, which Van describes arsenic his “own benignant of nostalgia” with its references to his father’s occupation arsenic a “spark” down astatine the Harland & Wolff shipyard successful Belfast.

He says: “My begetter was portion of a tiny radical of radical who were into jazz erstwhile it wasn’t truly that popular.

“The radical centred astir a feline called Solly Lipsitz who owned Atlantic Records (a shop, NOT the grounds label).

“They listened to New Orleans jazz — Louis Armstrong, George Lewis and Sidney Bechet — and Chicago blues — Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Bo Diddley.”

Van remembers his dada “having a batch of Lead Belly records and immoderate by Josh White who had a deed with House Of The Rising Sun mode back”.

He adds: “Then I discovered John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles connected my own. This was my grounding for everything that came later.”

As Van began his archetypal forays into performing, helium took his cue from different trailblazer, the “King Of Skiffle” Lonnie Donegan, a Scotsman who enactment an idiosyncratic stamp connected American roots music.

“This feline was doing Lead Belly worldly similar Rock Island Line, which I already knew, but helium reinterpreted it and made it his own.

“Donegan has not been appreciated arsenic overmuch arsenic helium should be. He opened the doorway for guys similar me.

“I had a skiffle radical erstwhile I was inactive successful schoolhouse and helium was cardinal successful getting maine started, getting maine going.”

In 1998, Van performed unrecorded successful Belfast with Donegan and jazz set person Chris Barber — besides the treble bass subordinate connected Rock Island Line — for an medium called The Skiffle Sessions.

He says: “Donegan was a large performer, and bully to enactment with.

“He kept you connected your toes each right.”

Last year, Van released an authentic tribute medium to the genre, Moving On Skiffle, and different saluting stone ’n’ roll, Accentuate The Positive.

If they correspond the sounds of his youth, however important was his hometown of Belfast to his improvement arsenic a singer?

“It wasn’t truly the place, it was what you were funny successful and what you thought you could bash with it,” helium says.

“But determination were each sorts of opportunities to play unrecorded music, successful ballrooms and hotels. Big bands had residencies for weeks oregon months connected end.

“Then skiffle and stone ’n’ rotation came along. If you felt the impetus to bash it, it could beryllium done.”

Van says his favourite stone ’n’ roller was Gene Vincent, whose biggest deed was Be-Bop-a-Lula.

“Later, successful ’64, I really met Gene and got to bent retired with him for a bit,” helium says.

“He was a large guy, precise friendly, precise unfastened and amenable to speech to.”

To me, it feels arsenic if New Arrangements And Duets has provided workaholic Van with a spot of a breather, a accidental to bespeak connected his past earlier moving connected again.

So what tin we expect next? “It’s complicated,” helium replies.

“Not lone is determination a backlog of aged material, worldly that didn’t get released successful the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, but besides a backlog of caller material.”

“We haven’t worked retired the modus operandi yet but we mightiness effort to get a batch of it connected a boxset.”

To get the rubric of 1 of his aged songs, Van Morrison remains a “Full Force Gale”.

VAN MORRISON

New Arrangements And Duets

★★★★★