Kathleen Loves Music

Moving our blog.Bye Bye Blogspot.

2005-12-01T11:17:00.001-05:00

Gotta go!

You might have noticed a scarcity of new posts over the last few months. Well, I've been busy over at my main (community) blog site for my cartoon company, and all the activity has kept me away. I'm hoping with this move it'll get better.

So, new site, same quality songs. And good news, we'll still have an RSS feed. xxoo

Allen Toussaint, Dr.John, Irma Thomas, Buckwheat Zydeco, Wild Magnolias, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, BeauSoleil, & nine more.

2005-11-27T21:25:00.000-05:00

Randy Newman >Louisiana 1927

As a music fan, here's an easy way to contribute to Gulf Coast relief. Nonesuch Records has recorded an exciting, brand new compilation of New Orleans related artists. And here's the original version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927, which was newly recorded with an orchestra for this CD.

From Amazon.com: Nonesuch Records is releasing a benefit album of newly recorded songs featuring artists from the New Orleans music community – across a wide variety of styles – to document the depth, richness and profound musicality of that unique city. Funds from the sale of the record, titled Our New Orleans, will be donated to Habitat For Humanity to aid those affected by the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster. A number of New Orleans’ best known musicians have been asked to record songs that are integral to their lives and that express their feelings about the city and the recent events there. Sessions began in New York on September 20, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Wild Magnolias recording at Clinton Studios. Later the same day and on September 21, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band recorded at New York’s Avatar Studios. Further sessions in October included Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Randy Newman, among others. Nonesuch’s parent company – Warner Bros. Records – is donating all of the production costs for this record, as part of the Warner Music Group’s larger efforts on behalf of the hurricane victims. Many others involved in the project are also generously donating their time and services.

Randy Newman >Louisiana 1927

Jackson 5 (Z-Trip remix).

2005-08-30T22:02:00.000-05:00

Jackson 5 (Z-Trip remix) >I Want You Back
As susceptible as I am to the recycling of my youth (Alan and I did create Nick-at-Nite, after all), it seems completely out of hand, especially in the music biz. That being said, I love this track.

My friend Michael is someone I've mentioned here a few times. We met in high school on one of our first recording sessions (in his basement); Mike played guitar, me piano. I don't think I've mentioned he's been one of my inspirations ever since. Smart, stylish, talented. And his sense of music and musicians has always been one of my beacons, especially about guitars. He illuminated the fact that Eric Clapton was an original, not just a star. And that Steve Cropper's sound was the thing, not only the notes.

So when I heard the guitars at the beginning of Z-Trip's deconstruction of I Want You Back, I thought of Mike immediately. People finally seem to be over thinking these early Jackson 5 tracks are bubblegum or formula Motown, but the sophisticated production kind of drowns out just how funky the original was. What this mix has done is taken a track that is completely played out (at least to me, since it's been one of my faves for 35 years) and just perked it right up. And unlike too many of these attempts to revive baby boomer jazz and soul which completely destroy the rhythm of the originals, Z-Trip's kept the beat's integrity, and, in it's own way, this new version rocks just as hard.

I want to shout-out my friend Dario too, a DJ-turned-media-executive, who's continuing interest in dance music prompted me to actually post this thing, which I've been trying to do for two months.

Jackson 5 (Z-Trip remix) >I Want You Back

Miles Davis and Joe Zawinul.

2005-08-18T22:47:00.000-05:00

Miles Davis >In A Silent Way/It's About That Time (A large file.)
Joe Zawinul >In A Silent Way

The other day you were talking (and writing) about Joe Zawinul's Rise and Fall of the Third Stream. I don't think I've ever heard it, or don't remember it. My bad attitude wrongly avoided anything to do with "the third stream," and honestly, generally I avoid Zawinul. Which is funny, because some of my favorite melodies are his --Mercy Mercy Mercy, Birdland, In A Silent Way-- among others. But I never particularly loved his execution, his bands, his arrangements. They always struck me as forced, obvious, kind of corny. (Aside from my too common refrain that his personality in many interviews over the years made me wanna smack him in the face.)

And when you brought him up I instantly thought of In A Silent Way.

For years most everyone thought the 1969 Miles' version was the way Zawinul intended. Probably because anything Miles did was usually thought of as 'definitive.' Joe's take on Zawinul from 1970 has often been in my collection, but I think it was because I liked the photograph and album cover (when it was an LP and 12x12"). My memory was that I didn't care for Zawinul's own version. Well, today I listened again in anticipation of posting it.

I was wrong. Yes, it's a wonderful melody, but, it's also just a wonderful track. Every interpretation I have in my library (Joe's, Mark Isham's, and five mixes or takes by Miles) is wonderful in it's own way. Enjoy these. (A large file.)

Miles Davis >In A Silent Way/It's About That Time (A large file.)
Joe Zawinul >In A Silent Way

Keith Jarrett.

2005-07-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

Keith Jarrett (& Jan Garbarek) >The Windup
Keith Jarrett > Blame It On My Youth/Meditation

My first midnight radio show on WKCR-FM was named after a Keith Jarrett LP (Life Between the Exit Signs) more because it was a hip name; I didn't really know too much about the music. I enjoyed seeing him with Miles Davis (and Steve Grossman, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, and Airto Moreira) in 1970 in Central Park, but that was really because of Miles. And I loved seeing him at the Mercer Arts Center in New York (before it collapsed) in 1973 during the tour to promote his innovative, stream of conciousness solo debut on ECM.

But as his success as a solo improviser flowered, he became such a fucking arrogant, pretentious fool I almost completely dismissed him. It wasn't the music, it was his attitude that was so completely off-putting.

So, on reflection the other day, I was surprised to see how often I put my feelings aside; there were at least a dozen CD's in my collection.

Here's two tracks that show why. He rocks, he cajoles, he caresses. He's really good.

Keith Jarrett (& Jan Garbarek) >The Windup
Keith Jarrett > Blame It On My Youth/Meditation

Petra Haden & The Who.

2005-06-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

Petra Haden >I Can See For Miles
The Who >I Can See For Miles

When she was in the record business, my wife loved working with Petra Haden in That Dog. She also loves The Who. I've known Petra's dad Charlie for years, and his work during the 90s has been even greater than his work for the 30 years before (I posted some with Hank Jones and Pat Metheny earlier). And I love hit records, so I Can See For Miles is probably my favorite song by far on The Who Sell Out.

Petra Haden >I Can See For Miles
The Who >I Can See For Miles

Ray Charles, Gordon McCrae.

2005-06-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

Ray Charles >Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
Gordon McCrae >Oh, What a Beautiful Morning

Before I heard Ray Charles do this song in 1981, Oh, What A Beautiful Morning was just another corny song from a musical. His version made it one of my favorite songs, showed me how Rodgers and Hammerstein could perfected match some words with a melody.

Last week was my 10 year old's end of the year school performance. His grade sang Oh, What a Beautiful Morning and it reminded me of Ray, so I played it for him afterward. Being the kind of kid he is, he wanted to hear the original. Even if I don't, he likes it better.

Ray Charles >Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
Gordon McCrae >Oh, What a Beautiful Morning

Jimmy Webb, Glen Campbell, & Philip Glass.

2005-06-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

Jimmy Webb >Worst That Could Happen
Glen Campbell >By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Philip Glass >Music with Changing Parts (this is a huge file: 56.5MB)

My musical friends are generally the hippest of the hipsters. Out jazz, Middle Eastern pop, the trippiest hop. One of the reasons they like me is that I can be pretty sharp with my taste too --after all, I did start my career producing Cecil Taylor records-- but they look very sad for me when I try to convince them to enjoy a genuine hit song.

So it's probably fitting that the two times I've gone to see live music in the last couple (!) of years (both in the last two weeks, by the way), the perfomances have spanned my complete horizon.

Our friend Jon Kane took a couple of years off from his day job as an amazing director to become one of the editors in the famous avant-garde Qatsi film triology by Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi, Powwaqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi) with equally famous music by Philip Glass. Jon wanted some more art in his life, and his sheer talent caused Godfrey to promote him to lead editor and -- unprecedented in his pictures-- creative director. Jon was nice enough to invite Robin and I to the world premiere of Powwaqatsi with a live, synchronized performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble, and we were excited because neither of us had seen Philip live in decades. It reminded me how much interest I had lost in his music starting with Einstein on the Beach, but also how thrilled I was with his early pieces like Music in Similar Motion and Music with Changing Parts. Love the minimalism, but also using those rock'n'roll organs in such formal works.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, only my friend Roy would call to see if we wanted to see a cabaret performance of Jimmy Webb, featuring Glen Campbell. Having never given Jimmy Webb a second serious thought until about five years ago (when I discovered his solo piano and voice album Ten Easy Pieces; I'm a sucker for a composer singing his/her own songs, even if he/she can barely sing), we were intrigued, especially because Robin has always loved Glen Campbell (I suppose she needed a break from her work with Motley Crue). I had a great awakening to Glen's talent when I shot a playing/singing commercial with him about 25 years ago (he might be a jerk, but he is intensely gifted), so I was completely up for the show. It was underrehearsed and pretty ragged, but listening in a living room style set up at Feinstein's at the Regency made it a wonderful, unusal musical experience in a city where you sometimes get the feeling there's nothing fresh under the sun.

This track from the aforementioned Ten Easy Pieces was my great Webb revelation. Originally done in a overwrought Top 10 hit by the Brooklyn Bridge (with Johnny Maestro from the Crests) I must admit I absolutely adore the song in any version I've ever heard. (this is a huge file: 56.5MB)

OK, so I'm not such a hipster.

Philip Glass >Music with Changing Parts (this is a huge file: 56.5MB)
Glen Campbell >
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Jimmy Webb >Worst That Could Happen

Jim Flora.

2005-05-30T20:01:00.000-05:00

Until now, this space has always been for posting an MP3 or three. But, as an antidote to the (admittedly fantantic) jazzer obsession with Reid Miles and the (admittedly fantastic) classic BlueNote album covers, I wanted to point out the also fantastic classic covers of one James Flora.

As is often the case with things visual, I knew Flora's work because it was in my molecules, in the air, rather than in my head. Then, my colleague Tim Biskup* came to work on my show Oh Yeah! Cartoons as a creator, background designer and (fantastic) painter, and started bringing in truckloads of his LP collection for reference and inspiration. He politely exported his passion and excitement for Jim's work, and, me being me, I became a huge fan. (Somehow, it's fitting to me that on my Amazon.com page, Tim's books come up when I search Flora.)

*Check out the fantastic postcard Tim painted for us at Oh Yeah! And, his own cartoon, too.

Cream.

2005-05-16T20:37:00.000-05:00

Cream >Sunshine of Your Love
Cream >Strange Brew

Three of my friends went to London last weekend for the Cream reunion. If I liked to travel maybe I would have gone too, because Cream was the only great band I feel like I missed seeing in person. The reviews were mixed, but everyone was so glad they were there. My favorite comment was about Ginger Baker ("He looked ancient then, so he didn't look a day older.") One of my friends said she was reminded of just how much it was Jack Bruce's band. And the other realized for the first time just what a democracy there were. Everyone loved Eric Clapton, as usual.

In 1967 & 68, my high school band was really good and pretty popular, playing soul covers, with the only black lead singer --my best friend Rodney-- in our very white suburb. Typically for the time, we had a guitar, bass, drums, Farfisa organ (me). We won almost every battle of the bands we entered.

Our last gig was in June 1968; Phil and Ray (our guitarist/singer and drummer/singer) were going off to Colgate in the fall. Once again, it was a battle with four or five local bands, one of them brand new. Over the past six months we'd attempted to go psychedelic, except we didn't do drugs, and we still loved soul music more than ... whoever.

And we got killed.

The new band wasn't playing the Young Rascals, they were doing Cream covers. Like Elvis, Little Richard, and the Beatles or Bob Dylan before, like Nirvana after... the day had changed.

Cream >Sunshine of Your Love
Cream >Strange Brew

Miles Davis.

2005-05-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

Miles Davis >Milestones
Miles Davis >Stuff (watch it, a large file)

Not any easy claim I think, but these are two perfect tracks.

In the first blush love of jazz, I used to say that left on the proverbial desert island, just give me my Ray Charles records, and my Miles records. Today, I'd be happy only with Ray's (he's got jazz records and blues records and pop records), but, much as I've found myself to be bored with a lot of Miles stuff (of all his eras, not just the later years, as a lot of his critics would have it), there are enough really perfect tracks (I do not use the word 'perfect' lightly either) to burn at least 3 or 4 perfect CDs (and probably enough just great tracks for another 5).

My two favorite perfects bookend Miles' greatness, they're sort of at the center of the wonder of his greatest periods.

Milestones is straight jazz at it's straightest. Rockin', swingin', singable, and memorable. Fun. Simple and/or complex, depending on how you look at it. This one came out of the 'hard bop' moment and swung us right into the modal one.

Stuff: Sharp observers in 1968 took Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter playing electric instruments as clear evidence that Miles had gone 'rock' (and lots of formerly sharp folk proved themselves to be hopeless square); they understood that Miles was on the first step of the journey that led to the amazing-ness of In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and Jack Johnson. Me, on the other hand, I was completely clueless. Stuff sounded completely jazzy and soft, even a little cocktail-ish. My hippest friend Michael told me Miles Davis was the thing, Miles in the Sky cost me one penny from the Columbia Record Club (the only way I thought I could afford LPs), so I gave it a play a day for at least six months before I could hear it. And now that I know that the music is perfect, it makes me wonder just how thick my pop music obsession had made my shell.

(By the way, the covers I picked were of the great original albums that introduced these tracks, Milestones and Miles in the Sky. For the big fan, I'd probably also suggest the box sets that include everything from the periods: The Complete Columbia Recordings: Miles Davis & John Coltrane and Miles Davis Quintet: The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions, 1965-68.)

Miles Davis >Milestones
Miles Davis >Stuff (watch it, a large file)

B.J. Thomas.

2005-05-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

B.J. Thomas >I Just Can't Help Believin'

Most of my friends can't really help believin' how much I love B.J. Thomas. Hell, Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head was a huge hit when I was a senior in high school, so, at first, I couldn't believe it either. And even though he's become a country, born-again superstar, not just the melodies, but the sound, the resonance of his hits keep ringing in my head. Some of the greatest pop producers of the 20th century (Huey Meaux [aka The Crazy Cajun], Burt Bacharach, Chips Moman) agree, B.J. Thomas is one of our greatest singers.

B.J. Thomas >I Just Can't Help Believin'

Kathleen.

2005-04-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

The Byrds >Kathleen's Song [alternative mix]
Josh Ritter >Kathleen

My life is so pathetic, and my music addiction so great, that here's a posting with two tracks I've never heard and don't have enough time so I can listen. And I do these posts at night with everyone in my family asleep, so there no way right now to know what they sound like.

But they were in my library, my wife loves the Byrds, and you're the namesake for the site.

The Byrds >Kathleen's Song [alternative mix]
Josh Ritter >Kathleen

The Kinks.

2005-04-16T14:38:00.000-05:00

The Kinks >You Really Got Me

The day rock'n'roll became rock.

The Kinks >You Really Got Me

Taj Mahal.

2005-03-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

Taj Mahal >She Caught the Katy

I need to regain my credibility.

In 1969, my new best friend's dad was an executive at Columbia Records. In an unbelievable turn of events for music freaks, every weekend he would give us two tickets to the Fillmore East in New York. The Fillmore was nearing it's peak; at least two A level acts every show, top ticket prices were $5.50 (still too much for a high school senior), and not every seat was sold in the 3000 seat auditorium. And the Joshua Light Show. My friend knew a lot more about the acts than I did (he was a great musician himself, and his father's access gave him a lot of information), but I'd go every week even if I hadn't heard of anyone on the bill; the Fillmore's credibility was such that I just knew I'd learn something. (It was a bonding experience with my friend that has served us well for 35 years.)

The last weekend in April was a case in point. I thought 'Taj Mahal' was a building, James Cotton had to be cool (he was older, black, and in a blues band), and I thought I couldn't stand Joni Mitchell. (It's for another post, but when Joni came out in a long, red velour, dress and sang her first song accapella, I had to throw out all my bad attitudes towards 'chick' singer-songwriters.)

My friend had just met Taj at his father's office and said his record was cool. The band opened the night and Taj and Jesse Ed Davis, his guitarist, blew me away. They still do. This track is my favorite from that period, and I'm sure if I Googled it, I would know the blues history of what the hell "she caught the katy" means.

Taj Mahal >She Caught the Katy

(By the way, it's funny what comes up when you search Amazon for Taj Mahal.)

Bowling for Soup

2005-03-20T20:49:00.000-05:00

Bowling for Soup >1985

No way could I have any interest in this band. Free CDs from Jive Records, an offer to produce a reality show about them. Nothing.

Now this track is my nine year old son's favorite. It's fun.

Bowling for Soup >1985

William DeVaughn and Massive Attack

2005-03-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

William DeVaughn >Be Thankful For What You Got

Massive Attack >Be Thankful For What You've Got

When you asked me about Massive Attack's Blue Lines the other day, it turned out to be the only MA in my collection, but I'd never opened it. I bought it when it was released because of their cover of William DeVaugn's Be Thankful for What You Got. I suppose it was enough to buy it to be reminded of the original, which has to be in the top 50 of one-hit-wonders.

(It's funny, and it says something about the difference between DeVaughn's America and MA's Britain -I'll let you figure out what- that the original is titled Be Thankful For What You Got, and the British cover is titled Be Thankful For What You've Got.)

William DeVaughn >
Be Thankful For What You Got
Massive Attack >
Be Thankful For What You've Got

The First KLM Top 10

2005-03-04T23:03:00.000-05:00

I've waited my whole life to have a record on the charts with the Beatles, and now three records I've produced have gotten there. (5, 9, & 10)

Who knew my friend Dennis would pick KLM's big winner? And my only other surprise in this first KLM Top 10 is Audrey Hepburn seems to more soulful than Mable John.

Wendy Rene >Bar-B-Q

Audrey Hepburn >Moon River

Johnny Cash >Get Rhythm

Mable John >Don't Hit Me No More

Mississippi Fred McDowell >John Henry

Aaron Neville >For Your Precious Love

Dan Penn >I'm Your Puppet

Beatles >Birthday

Joe Lee Wilson >It's You or No One

Hank Jones >Bloomdido

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello [unreleased]

2005-02-28T01:51:00.000-05:00

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello >Bulldog Blues

Here's an unreleased recording by Mississippi Fred McDowell and my great friend and partner Honest Tom Pomposello (it's mixed by Dave Baron). It's bound to depress some, thrill others. Me? It's one of the most exciting, grooviest, most optimistic tracks I've heard in the last 10 years.

[I was inspired to post because I bought a Putumayo CD called Blues Lounge. On a first cursory listen at the Tower listening booth, I ran home so I could rip and post it right away. Then I actually spent a few minutes with it. Rock to the McDowell/Pomposello instead.]

I'll tell more of the great story behind this recording at another time.

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello >Bulldog Blues

Oblivion Records.

2005-02-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

Charles Walker & the NYC Blues Band >It's Changin' Time
Joe Lee Wilson >It's You or No One

I posted these favorites (biased since I produced them) several months ago. Now, in a completely different context, here they are again.

Reuben Wilson

2005-02-19T23:24:00.000-05:00

Reuben Wilson >Bus Ride

Reuben Wilson > Sweet Tooth

Reuben Wilson >While the World Lies Waiting

Reuben Wilson >Last Tango in Paris

Gotta love that funky blues organ. I know I do.

I played organ in my high school rock band. Then I got 'sophisticated' and railed against it during my peak new music period, when I thought funky, popular jazz organ trios were stupid. But after I learned that "everything changes but the avant-garde" [surrealist Paul Valery] I rediscovered the simple joys of the amazing sounds brought forth by Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, Jack McDuff, Booker T, Felix Cavaliere, and Larry Goldings, among many many others.

Don't know why, but Reuben Wilson is kind of ignored. Listen to these tracks. I must say, I don't know why.

Reuben Wilson >Bus Ride
Reuben Wilson > Sweet Tooth
Reuben Wilson >While the World Lies Waiting
Reuben Wilson >Last Tango in Paris

Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Pat Metheny.

2005-02-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Ornette Coleman >Lonely Woman

Lester Bowie >Lonely Woman

Pat Metheny >Lonely Woman

Last night when I was posting the Lester Bowie track, passing this tune remined me how much I adore Ornette Coleman. And when my library search popped up these three lonely women, I realized that I could even love Pat Metheny when he was playing Ornette with Billy Higgins and Charlie Haden.

No boring analysis here as to why this melody talks to me (especially after the conversation I had this afternoon about the inherent narcissism of blogs). Just listen. If it doesn't talk to you too, you get your money back.

Ornette Coleman >Lonely Woman
Lester Bowie >Lonely Woman
Pat Metheny >Lonely Woman

Lester Bowie, Bobby Broom, and Alex Skolnick.

2005-02-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy >Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

Bobby Broom >I Will

Alex Skolnick Trio >Money

Don't know about you, but whining as a 53 year old baby boomer, it's about time. Our music's got some respect.

Most of my life the intellectual chattering class has rapped the uselessness of my culture, pop culture. From I Love Lucy to the Beatles to The Mary Tyler Moore Show to... you name it. "Disposible junk" is what we heard, even after Dylan and Sgt.Pepper made it all AHhhtt.

And once I got into jazz it just got worse. Around the 40s it started taking itself extremely seriously, especially when it came to it's musical pretentions. But underneath it all it was kind of insecure, and it liked interpreting the pop music of it's day (the "Great American Songbook") in a fancy dancy way. And then the only use jazz had for the simpler, less harmonically sophisticated songs of the rock'n'roll era was the condescending (but often very groovy) boogaloo of soul jazz.

I've become obsessed with finding great jazz covers of great rock-era pop songs. And, for all the reasons above, it's pretty damn hard. Because most players don't seem to think the songs are worth shit.

Then, during an NPR radio obit for the great trumpeter Lester Bowie (from the Art Ensemble of Chicago) I heard this unbelievably cool cover of Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, and I knew the day had come. Smart, funny, rockin', sexy, Lester had it covered. Too late, I found out he'd been covering the pop songs of his youth (and my youth): The Great Pretender, It's Howdy Doody Time, I Only Have Eyes for You, Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck, Saving All My Love for You, Blueberry Hill, Oh, What a Night... and the list kept getting longer. Oh joy!

And then, guitarist Bobby Broom. I don't know too much about him other than he's from Chicago. [Update: I just heard directly from Bobby (the web is an amazing thing). Originally a New Yorker, he's living in Chicago right now.] But again, he's around my age and his "disposible" list includes I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Layla, Sly & the Family Stone's Stand!, I Can See Clearly Now, Happy Together, Monday Monday, the Beatles' I Will, and Light My Fire.

Now, here's the capper. Alex Skolnick is a former speed metal guitar from the band Testament. He quit his band, went to the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and came out the other side with Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation and Transformation. Skolnick was interpreting material by Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Iron Maiden and—yes—Ronnie James Dio. I heard Money on some radio show. So, finally a rock culture player discovers his harmonic mantra and reinterpret his pop heritage.

You might disagree. A lot of my other friends think that any instrumental cover of a rock record is only muzak. But for me, like I said, it's about time.

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy >
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
Bobby Broom >I Will
Alex Skolnick Trio >Money

Mississippi Fred McDowell

2005-01-29T01:17:00.000-05:00

Mississippi Fred McDowell >John Henry

In 1971, Tom Pomposello was a guitar playing, married 21 year old father of a two year old boy, hippie co-owner of a suburban New York "liberation record store" in my hometown, who wanted to be a bluesman.

I was a 19 year old Columbia University student with a college radio show, who was dropping out of pharmacy school because I liked the Beatles better than chemistry.

Tom, who I'd interviewed excitedly, but badly, interviewed on my WKCR-FM show, told me he was the "New York bass player" for legendary country blues guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell. Maybe I could record their upcoming set at Village Gaslight for my radio show?

Let's forget that the only blues I knew was from English rock bands (I did know that old black men had started it all, and they did it better) and I didn't really play blues on my show. Or that I no absolutely no idea was Mississippi Fred McDowell was. Or how to record anything. Or that I was low man on the totem pole at the radio station, and there was no way the powers-that-be would ever allow me to take the expensive tape recorder out of the station. Somehow I ended up in the kitchen of the Gaslight with our only professional one-track Nagra recorder, a Shure mike mixer, some microphones, and my new buddy Roy Langbord roaring to go.

A still unrecorded Bonnie Raitt opened the show (Bonnie and Fred shared Dick Waterman as their manager). Roy and I recorded Fred and Tom's sets. I took the 7" tape reels up to the station and dutifully played them on my show. Eventually, the tracks became the basis of our first release on our first record label.

Mississippi Fred McDowell >John Henry

NRBQ

2005-01-17T22:56:00.000-05:00

Geez, I love this band.

They're smart, fun, rockin', goofy, sophisticated, modern, retro, pop-y, weird, somehow all at once. When I've been attracted to an artist for eclecticism, eventually I get bored because there's often no center, no core. These guys belie that lack; NRBQ know who they are, and we do to. Somehow. I don't know how they've done it.

Sending you Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm made me think of NRBQ all over again. They're the first ones I heard play it (on my favorite At Yankee Stadium, their 6th of over 20+ albums), before we knew what 'roots' music was. Originally, with their first LP in '69, I thought it was cute they'd cover Sun Ra's Rocket No. 9 and put lyrics to Carla Bley's Ida Lupino, but other than that never paid them nevermind. And I thought it was curious they backed up Carl Perkins on Boppin' the Blues, and hilarious that on the same LP they wrote and recorded a homage to the Three Stooges, Dr.Howard, Dr.Fine, Dr.Howard. I thought Scraps had a neat album cover and I loved the opening track, Howard Johnson's Got His Hojo Working, a reworking of the old Muddy blues riff. By this point I guess they were a funny, groovy curiosity. Then I saw them at New York's Bottom Line, and I got the dose that clubgoers up and down the East have been talking about for 35 years. Sure they've got one of the best, funniest, liveliest club acts you could imagine, but I've never seen a band go from rock to rockabilly to 40s pop to avant garde jazz to who knows and then back again. These guys could play the piss out of anything --anything!-- play it well, and have a great time doing it.

None of them sing all that well, but their voices are perfect for the songs they write, and for the way they play. Joey Spampinato's bass holds the band down, and he writes light, nice songs that always make me feel good (and he was the bass player on the Chuck Berry tribute movie, Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll, and he was married to country legend Skeeter Davis). Al Anderson's guitar has a chunky rollicking sound, he's got a slightly ripped voice (he finally quit the band after decades, relocated to Nashville, and I hear he's a successful songwriter and producer).

And then there's Terry. Terry Adams plays piano and clavinet. You can't tell if he plays like Professor Longhair, Cecil Taylor, Little Richard, or Thelonious Monk. He mainly plays like himself. His voice is reedy, a little thin, but he can sing his power pop, or any of the other wildly broad selection of songs he brings to the band. He's a complete madman, as anyone who's seen him play can tell you, and I always felt he was entirely bent, stoned, looney, and somehow, vulnerable and hurt.

(I was the road manager and soundman for Carla Bley when she first took her big band on the road in 1977. Imagine my surprise when I found out Terry Adams was the pianist [Carla played organ]. He was a great guy, soft spoken, but he brought incredible musicianship to the band, an exhuberant and carefree showmanship to the stage.)

I wanted to play you a song, in two tracks, that shows a lot of what Terry (and NRBQ) was about. I always liked Yes, Yes, Yes, from 1978. It was a pop-y type, ballad, but I always wondered how he could use such a Monk-ish, broken melody line, sing to it, harmonize to it. Then in 1995 comes Terry's only solo album, Terrible, an instrumental, jazz album on the avant label New World, featuring trombonist Roswell Rudd (another alumni of Carla's first touring band), and, lo and behold, a track called Yes, Yes, Yes. Yes, it's the same song, done like Monk would have done it. Yikes.

So, there it is. Think I like these guys? Look, they didn't make it for a reason. Their albums are often a mess, with a lot of ill considered, ill conceived tracks. They really can't sing, even though I love their voices. And I've heard excruciating stories of the the things they've done to undermine any possible success. But, hey, that's their business. The Rhino collection sort of starts to capture it, the live records give you a taste, these tracks here are kind of cool. But who knows? Will you like them? Don't know.

NRBQ >Get Rhythm
NRBQ >Green Lights
NRBQ >I Love Her, She Loves Me
NRBQ >It Comes to Me Naturally
NRBQ >Rocket No. 9
NRBQ >Dr Howard, Dr Fine, Dr Howard

NRBQ >Yes, Yes Yes
Terry Adams >Yes, Yes, Yes

Hooker 'n' Hepburn.

2004-12-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

It probably seems funny to see these two covers together, and maybe it'll be funny to you to hear them together too, but, not to me. They're both spare, gorgeous, and authentic. That might not surprise you about the Hooker, but it's just as true about the Hepburn.

The Hooker is cool because he's not really singing. Just playing and moaning. That moaning makes these my favorite John Lee I 've ever heard. And the wacky juxtaposition of having Miles Davis on the track (and Taj Mahal) just complete it. Dennis Hopper put this trio together with his friend arranger Jack Nietze for his not-so-great movie The Hot Spot (itself from a much cooler book, Hell Hath No Fury , renamed The Hot Spot for the movie tie-in--whew!). Dennis told me once (this conversation is another story completely) that Miles and John Lee and Jack Nietze were his dream group and the movie gave him the excuse to get them all together. Well, for me, it works like crazy. All the tracks together are one of my favorite CD s.

There's not too much I can tell you about the Audrey Hepburn. To me, it's just beautiful. (A friend of mine started this now failed record company to put out music from movies - full scores, songs, whatever. This Audrey one contains various cuts by Henry Mancini [obviously], Nelson Riddle, John Williams, and a lot of other great movie composers.)

By the way, my favorite melody of the month is the commercials running from Campbell's Soup called "Possibilities." (I know you don't watch TV and I can't find it on the web, so you'll just have to imagine a neat tune.)

John Lee Hooker >Coming to Town

Audrey Hepburn >Moon River

They say it's your birthday.

2004-12-20T22:27:00.000-05:00

The Beatles >Birthday

Johnny Cash

2004-12-20T21:34:00.000-05:00

I can't say that I ever loved Johnny Cash, even after I briefly worked with him on a commercial in the late 70s. He had everything I loved --a great story, a real voice, good songs, he independently went his own American way-- so maybe it's just my northeastern prejudice against "country" music. And I've been finding more and more tracks I really like over the years, spurred on by the Rick Rubin American series.

But I have to say I love this track. (Strangely enough I discovered it on an NRBQ's Yankee Stadium, a wonderful LP with a great cover of "Get Rhythm" sung by Al Anderson.) It rocks, it rolls, it swings. Who needs more?

Johnny Cash >Get Rhythm

Aaron Neville

2004-11-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

It was impossible to pick the right tracks from this CD.

Everyone knows that Aaron can sing the phone book and make it sounds good, but some say this session is his best ever. All I know is it's my favorite Aaron record, no other even close.

The producer was the legendary Joel Dorn. He told me that hanging outside the studio during a 1983 Neville Brothers record, Aaron was just messing around doo-wopping and casually mentioned it was his favorite music. Quickly, Joel rounded up a small group and another New Orleans legend, arranger Wardell Quezergue, and recorded this awesome EP. It was released on an independent New Jersey label, Rhino picked it up in the early 90s, and now Joel has released it himself with a lot of bonus material that rounds it out to LP length.

If you like these, I'll post the whole EP, I love it that much.

Aaron Neville >For Your Precious Love

Aaron Neville >Warm Your Heart

Mable John & Wendy Rene

2004-11-16T22:44:00.000-05:00

My friend Dennis asked to send him these two tracks from The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968.

I lent Dennis the 9-CD Stax collection 7 or 8 years ago. As is his way, he listened to each disc dozens of times, until he knew what he wanted to know, and then onto the next CD. We hadn't talked about it for years, but Dennis knows that I'm a big soul fan, so the other day he mentioned that he'd like to hear these two tracks again. Big a buff as I am, I'm really a fairweather friend, and I only pay attention to my favorite hits, so I had no idea what or whom he was talking about.

Sad truth to be told, I still don't.

I just ripped these tracks and posted them. (My quick look for links embarrassed me that I didn't know that Mable John led the Raelettes, and relieved me that there's almost no info about Wendy Rene.) I know Dennis is right, and I can't wait to make a couple of discoveries.

Mable John >Don't Hit Me No More

Wendy Rene >Bar-B-Q

The Fourth Way

2004-11-09T01:49:00.000-05:00

The Fourth Way were like superstars to me and my friends in the early 70s. Then, somehow, for no real good reason I think, we forgot about them.

[Mike Nock, electric piano and composer; Michael White, electric violin; Ron McClure, bass; Eddie Marshall, drums]

They were the rhythm section on John Handy's awesome live set at Monterey (on Columbia). They picked up on 'Miles in the Sky', 'In a Silent Way', that kind of thing, and they helped lubricate the rock influence in jazz. This album on Capitol kicked it off, there was a peak record on Capitol's UK sub Harvest (which I can't locate yet). I seem to remember the follow-up was really disappointing, so I guess that was the end.

Mike Nock is a wonderful composer, but I never checked out any of his solo recordings (maybe now I'll track some down.) Michael White was a fairly useless early fusion star. Ron McClure's a teacher at NYU. Eddie Marshall's still got a good rep in SF.

This groovy track's from an LP dub Alan ripped. Nothing's on CD. Virtually nothing's on the web. They're almost completely lost in the vapor. It's too bad.

The Fourth Way >Everyman's Your Brother

Joe Lee Wilson

2004-11-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

This guy sings like a motherfucker.

I would say that even if I hadn't produced the record more than 30 years ago. It's a from a live 1972 radio broadcast on WKCR-FM. I wasn't there at the time, I didn't really give a hoot about straight jazz singers, but the buzz was on after this session and it wouldn't stop. But I still avoided it for a year until someone put this Sammy Cahn & Jules Styne track on.

(The LP was a big jazz hit in NY in 1974. At least on the radio where they couldn't stop playing it. However, our company was broke and until my great friend loaned me his last dollar money from a meager inheritance we couldn't get albums into the stores. As is often the case, by then it was too late. It's been out of print for almost thirty years.)

This performance is how I became hooked on standards forever.

Joe Lee Wilson >It's You Or No One

Dan Penn

2004-11-03T01:00:00.000-05:00

It's not like Dan Penn can sing, but here he's singing his own songs (from "Do Right Man" on Warner Bros.). Anyone that can write songs this great can sing them any way he wants. And I'll love it.

Dan Penn > Do Right Man, Do Right Woman

Dan Penn > I'm Your Puppet

Dan Penn > The Dark End of the Street

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy

2004-11-02T23:55:00.000-05:00

I realized this would be perfect for you. (You'll probably find it geeky, so I used the version from the avant garde trumpeter Lester Bowie).

Lester Bowie >Don't Worry Be Happy

John Scofield

2004-11-02T10:33:00.000-05:00

I bought this CD because I liked the cover (one day I'll figure out how to post covers), and because I was sick of ignoring jazz guitarists. I loved it because finally there was someone my age with a rock and soul and jazz background putting it all together in a groovy, funky, tuneful, almost pop-y kind of way. I didn't know anything about the rhythm section -Medesky, Martin & Wood- until years later.

(So then I buy every solo Scofield, every MMW, and I'm completely bored silly by almost every track on every one of their CDs. God, I hate the jam bands.)

If anyone could come up with CDs full of tracks like this, actual songs rather than funky noodling, I'll be your fan for life. So will everyone else.

John Scofield >A Go Go

Reuben Wilson, Teddy Wilson, Four Freshman

2004-11-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

While i was on a conference call i searched my library and came up with some Paris tracks (though a couple have that Parisian heartbreak theme, I left out the really dreary ones).

Reuben Wilson >The Last Tango in Paris

Teddy Wilson >April in Paris

The Four Freshman >Lonely Night in Paris

And also, here's a fitting Isley's track for your trip.

The Isley Bros >Live It Up Pts 1 & 2

Hank Jones, Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny

2004-11-01T01:23:00.000-05:00

So here's some great music:

Hank Jones is one of the considerable jazz pianists. (His brother was Elvin Jones, the drummer in John Coltrane's great band. His other brother was Thad Jones, a respected trumpter, composer & bandleader). Hank was one of the most dependable pianists of the 40s, he spent 25 years in the CBS studios, and I produced his comeback record in 1977, Bop Redux, which got us my only Grammy nomination.

Bloomdido is one of my favorite tracks from that LP.

Anyhow, he made this amazing duet CD about ten years ago with bassist Charlie Haden. It's called Steal Away: Spirituals, Hymns, and Folk Songs. It is truly sublime. I was raised as a
Presbytarian so I recognize a bunch of the hymns (don't know if the Catholics share them), but whether you know them or not, you can't miss with these tracks.

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones >It's Me, O Lord (Standin' In The Need Of Prayer)

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones >Hymn Medley

Charlie Haden Hank's duet partner, got famous in the 60s as an avant-garde bassist with Ornette Coleman, and then his Liberation Music Orchestra that played Spanish and Cuban revolutionary songs (arranged by Carla Bley, by the way). After he quit heroin, he's become one of the most reliable, interesting guys around. Each of his records has a brand new look at how to play music (fitting, I think, since he started as a country musician and singer as a five year old with his family's country act before becoming a jazzman). He's done a series of duet records over the last 30 years, with the Hank one being my favorite. But close behind...

I generally am completely bored by Pat Metheny (jazz guitars are not my faves). But this duet record with Charlie is totally wonderful. The track I picked is from 'Two for the Road' the great romantic movie by Stanley Donen and the beautifully melodic title song was written by Henry Mancini (who, weirdly enough, has become one of my raves of the last 6 or 7 years, but more on that another time).

Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny >Two for the Road

The new Tom Waits

2004-10-31T23:46:00.000-05:00

in my quest to respond to your influence and to have an open mind, i found some blogs on tom. and below that some reviews of the new, controversial cd:

conversaton between waits and elvis costello: read

a tom waits blog: read

blog entry on new waits cd: read

..................................
From Amazon: one good, three bad reviews of the new cd. (most were good by the way, i figured you didn't need the ones where people blindly think he's amazing.)

Brilliant, October 20, 2004
Reviewer:
Waits, with his voice like unsanded timber, has ripped a masterpiece out of his vocal chords. His musical genius is in form here, raw and roaring, as well as hauntingly melodic. Don't wait for this one--get it now, blast it like the wind on a Halloween night. From "Hoist That Rag" to "Dead and Lovely" to "Make It Rain", Waits takes modern music to task by taking old forms and injecting them with enough blood and sweat to make me a believer in true resurrection... this album is roaring with poetry, grit, and rhythm. And it's capped off by the single best political song of this year's race, a poignantly-questioned monologue from a weary soldier who's stuck in a war he doesn't understand...

I don't know...
One thing for sure, this is an ugly CD: ugly music, ugly lyrics, ugly production, ugly packaging. Not that I think that makes it no good, but a prospective listener should be forewarned.
My fear about this CD is that Waits is pandering to the worst tendencies in his long-time listeners. He seems to be feeding hipness and brutality to the Starbucks set, who sit around and fantasize about how cool it would be to drink whiskey and murder someone. I'm not sure that I'll listen to this one very often, and I'm not sure why I'd want to.
I don't know...

ALICE'S BLOOD MONEY ILL-SPENT, October 21, 2004
It's very possible that the world is right and I'm all wrong, but I found this disc boring. I'm not sure what all the hub-bub is about the return of Marc Ribot as Waits' guitarist, but if he was meant to be some galvanizing catalyst for the creative juices, it somehow strikes me as only galvanizing, period. Not his fault anyway. The material here never grabbed me and I've listened thru this disc half a dozen times, convinced I was missing something. I was. But let's not get into that. Nearly as soporific as his appearance in Jarmusch's COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (one of the worst films ever made), Waits here seems equally uninspired in his delivery. There are all the usual Waits' cliches: rejects from the poetry of Charles Barkowski, but where in MULE VARIATIONS the tales seemed to tell profoundly moving stories, hillarious episodes, or bizarre incantations, here it is as though the author just whipped out his stock trademarks and took what were the most stultifying musical concepts in ALICE and BLOOD MONEY, and reset it all here. Not until the last song on the CD does anything really happen that seems to pull on the human soul and heart, and this isn't an A list song. Unfortunately no one's told Waits that the age of hidden tracks is over, so after a boring few minutes, you get to hear a bit more of the cacphonous howling that infuses several of the tracks here.
Maybe that's the point. It seems to be an album about death anyway.

REAL GONE!, October 21, 2004
Reviewer: Kimado (United Kingdom of America) - See all my reviews
Being a huge tom waits fan for some years now, i was to say the least a little excited with the prospect of another tom waits album, so after reading a favourable review in mojo magazine i purchased the cd on the release date...... i can say this is tom waits' worst album ever. the lyrics are still great but with the turntable scratching and beat boxing it seems a little fake and for want of a better word disgusting. All is not bad though a few tracks stand out such as 'dead and lovely' wich is a beautiful song and can really imagine it being used in a tarrantino film. 'hoist that rag'reminisent of bone machine album which for me is tom waits' best album behind small change. 'hows it gonna end', 'circus' represents everything i love about tom waits twisted intense imagery subtle laid back beats and and little sprinkles on sonic genius.

thinking about it there are alot of songs on this album i like but i can't get past the turntables and beat box (it is just not tom waits) i hope that's not the direction tom waits is going.

Not as great as everyone says, October 21, 2004
Not that it isn't great. But I can't take fans seriously when they say this is the greatest Waits album ever, because in my own mind, it doesn't come close. True, it's better than Mule Variations, and it's better than Blood Money, and it's better than Bone Machine. But it's not better than Alice, it's not better than the Eighties trilogy. The first time I listened to it, I liked it well enough. The second time I didn't like it too much, and I entered a state of depression for several days, because no new album matters more to me than a Tom Waits album. The main problem I had was just how distorted and lo-fi the sound was on alot of tracks. I still feel now, as a convert to the album, that the lo-fi sound is overdone. I would have preferred the brilliance of Hoist The Rag without the distraction of the unpleasant production. And I say that as someone who definitely appreciates lo-fi recordings . . . but it just seems to detract from the excellence of the musical performance. On first listen, I really didn't like the seemingly unending reggae-blues of Sins Of The Father; it reminded me too much of Get Behind The Mule, which was a track that bored me most times I heard it. I thought, why drag this on for ten minutes? Over time I've come to like it more, but I still think the length is unnecessary, and the vocal is too messy at times. I also have to say that the absence of piano isn't really a great thing, since Tom's piano playing brings alot of warmth and soul to his recordings. The only warmth one can really find on this album is in the final song, Day After Tomorrow. There are other things that don't please me here, too. The overenthusiastic scratching from son Casey on the opening track attempts to ruin an excellent beginning. The vocal is buried way down on this track, and the scratching is right in your face, and so is the guitar, so it's like the listener has to cut through the jungle of sound to get to the actual tune. Listening to the track on headphones makes it easier. But I think Tom could have done a better job on this piece, in terms of the production and mix. Like others have said, it's an album that requires numerous listens, but one also has to forgive Waits certain things before one can enjoy everything on offer. In the past he was one of the masters of the vocal rhythm of a line, but he gets out of sync on this album on certain lines, he falls slightly behind or loses his way, as if these were vocal demos, rather than the finished article. I guess such imperfections are appealing to some, but I find them something of an annoyance. The highlights for me are Don't Go Into That Barn, Hoist The Rag, Green Grass and Circus. The latter is perhaps his best spoken word piece ever. The way he says about the tattoo 'and it hurt like hell' is very striking. It's true that the beatboxing by Tom on the album is quite impressive, although it's overused, in my view. By the time that Baby Gonna Leave Me comes along, it feels like a bit too much. At the same time, it's a shame that Clang Boom Steam only lasts forty seconds, because it's one of the better examples. I would have given the album five stars, if it weren't for all the other rave (or raving) reviews. I have a problem with the things said by Waits' fans. I say that as a hardcore admirer myself, owning everything the guy has ever released. Their hyperbolic praise does not do any justice to the music itself. Yes, Tom is in all likelihood, the most important musical artist of his generation. But why waste time going on about this? I'm someone who has very little time for Bob Dylan; I think he's the most overhyped musical artist in the history of music. I don't want to see Tom Waits end up mythicised and made a fiction like Dylan. There are many great musical artists, but the greatest honour to be paid to them, is to shut up and listen to the music, not go on about it ad nauseam. To listen is to appreciate. Waits has his flaws, like all great artists. His consistency deserves loyalty and admiration, but not sycophancy. Real Gone is a worthwhile addition to the Waits cannon, and there are moments of genuine greatness here. It may be a masterpiece in its own muddy and messy way. But anybody's hyberbolic opinion doesn't transform the music itself in any way. And time ultimately proves the only sober judge. Enjoy this album, but don't waste time gushing about its merits. Listen, absorb, reflect. It is what Waits himself would no doubt ask of his listeners.