It was the summer of 2000. I had just left playing bass in a funk band called Celebrity Hottub (yes, named from a SNL Eddie Murphy skit called James Brown’s Celebrity Hottub) and had decided to take a break from…
Blog Archives
Summer In The City Part 2: John Scofield Proto-Uberjam
Tagged with: Celebrate Brooklyn, John Scofield, Uberjam
Posted in Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Summer In The City Part 1: The Self Promotion Edition
It’s summer here in NYC. The weather has yet to become oppressive so it’s a good time to reflect on one of the coolest things about NYC in the summer: the number of great free (or dirt cheap) concerts that…
Tagged with: Acoustic Guitars, MMNY 2016, The New Jazz Spasms
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Between Miles and Mahavishnu: John McLaughlin’s “Devotion”
John McLaughlin, guitarist extraordinaire, came to New York in 1969 at the behest of drummer Tony Williams to join his new group. He immediately found himself playing a record date with Williams’ former employer, Miles Davis on what was to…
Tagged with: Buddy Miles, John McLaughlin, Larry Young, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Tony Williams
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Improvisation, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Follow Your Bliss – Guitar Shredding Edition: Santana/McLaughlin’s Love Devotion Surrender
A previous post discussed the work of Alice Coltrane, 2nd wife to jazz legend John Coltrane, as an example of a specific strain of jazz in the late sixties/ early seventies that has been referred to as Spiritual Jazz. The…
Tagged with: Alica Coltrane, Carlos Santana, John Coltrane, John McLaughlin, Love Devotion and Surrender, Spiritual Jazz
Posted in Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Improvisation, Jam Band, Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
The Universe Is Messing With Our Heads: Prince (1958-2016)
What is going on here? It seems like the plot of a bad Austin Powers movie (isn’t that redundant?) where some sinister force is killing off all rock stars of a certain generation, leaving the world to the current, younger,…
“Follow Your Bliss” . . : From the N.Y. Times to Jazz Harp to Alice Coltrane
It all started with a article in the N.Y. Times, reviewing the album by a young jazz harp player, Brandee Younger. Jazz harp players are not exactly what you would call a dime a dozen. The only one I was…
Tagged with: Alice Coltrane, Brandee Younger, Jazz Harp, N.Y. Times
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
The Great What If . . . : A Beatles Alternate History
With the recent passing of George Martin, one’s thoughts inevitably turn to the Beatles and with it, “what if . . .” In previous posts, I have indulged in a bit of alternate history with the Grateful Dead, theorizing about…
“Here, There, Everywhere” . . : George Martin (1926 – 2016)
George Martin passed earlier this week. He was undoubtedly best known as the producer of almost all the Beatles records (the exception being Let It Be which was smothered, I mean produced, by Phil Spector). If you think about it,…
Tagged with: Blow By Blow, George Martin, Icarus, Jeff Beck, Paul Winter Consort
Posted in Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Music Appreciation and Analysis
Bright Moments: Rahsaan Roland Kirk Live At the Keystone 1973
The very first jazz musician I ever saw live was Rahsaan Roland Kirk at the Village Vanguard. It was December 1973. I was in high school and just getting into straight ahead jazz, transitioning out of my jazz-rock phase. My…
Tagged with: Bright Moments, Fat Waller, Jazz, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Saxaphone, Villag Vanguard
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Posted in Jazz, Music Appreciation and Analysis
Animusic Videos
I first saw some of the music videos produced by Animusic Studios on PBS as short filler pieces to get to the top of the hour. They would immediately put you into a fantastical world populated by other worldly Rube…
ManRoy Music 