What are you listening to? August 2024

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Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth (2007)

I was drawn in by an article that diverged to a stray thought about HipHop and a bit of politics and something about anti-capitalism. Brother Ali popped into my head and that's how I ended up listening to this album this morning.

Brother has to be one of the most uniquely hyphenated musicians out there. A (legally) blind albino Muslim midwest backpack rapper, now middle aged child-rearing minimalist.

Another good thing about Brother Ali is he introduced me to a Nina Simone song I'd never heard before. It actually took me fifteen years from hearing his sample to hearing her song, and I arrived at her song by a different reason than him ... but I won't allow facts to get in the way of a good line. Besides, once I heard the original, I had to give him mad props for choosing it as a sample for this song.
 
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Various Artists - The Phonographic Yearbook: 1910 "Act Two, Scene New" (Archeophone 2019)

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My friends Richard and Meagan at Archeophone Records have created an essential resource with their "Phonographic Yearbook" series. Perhaps inspired by Joel Whitburn's reconstructed pop music charts for the pre-Billboard years, Archeophone has gathered the putative top singles for each year from the 1890's through the end of of acoustic recording in 1923.

Only one of the 26 songs here would be familiar to modern audiences: "Casey Jones" was performed regularly by the Grateful Dead. In addition, Mitch Miller did sing along with "By The Light of the Silv'ry Moon" on his TV show. But that's about it. The major artists of the pre-WWI, obscure today, are well represented: Billy Murray, Nora Bayes and the great Bert Williams. There is also this long-forgotten early effort by a 22 year old songwriter with a lot of potential....

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The Brothers Johnson - Right On Time (1977)

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Vinyl Spin of the Day.

I don't believe Quincy Jones ever produced a lame album. This one certainly isn't. :banana: :banana:
 
P.T. Gazell - Pace Yourself (Sugar Hill 1978, Miss Max reissue 2003)

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:confused: Lost In The Vault :confused:

Here's another mystery disc whose provenance is lost in the sands of time. P.T. is a terrific harmonica player who spent many years in the road bands of country artists like Mel McDaniel and Johnny Paycheck. This hot instrumental album (with one charmingly eccentric vocal by Gazell) appeared as the third release on Sugar Hill Records in 1978 with, ahem, a very different cover.

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It features Gazell backed by the likes of Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas. The CD reissue sports more contemporary art and two bonus tracks by "The West Texas Music Company" who toured and recorded as Johnny Paycheck's band. The eclectic song selection is part of the attraction here, ranging from old country tunes like "Billy In The Low Ground" to "The Flintstones Theme".

:4.0: on the Sam-O-Meter. Yabba Dabba Do!
 
Herbie Hancock - Sunlight (1978)

It would be an interesting exercise to compare and contrast the progression of pianist/keyboardists Hancock and George Duke. From the seventies into the eighties, they melded their supreme Jazz chops with Soul/R&B and created some wonderful sound elixirs.

It would be great to read an article (or book, or a chapter in a book) that took a long look at Hancock, Duke, Joe Sample and a couple of other musicians from that era and analyzed how they masterfully and successfully kept up with a changing music scene, while remaining unapologetically true to all the influences in their music.
 
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Rudresh Mahanthappa - Kinsmen (2009)

This opens with a short track that sounds like a snake charmer working his magic on a helpless reptile. Then the second track hits with a funky sax refrain, a Bollywood party erupts, a guitar plinks along, and things settle down to a very groovy time.

Seriously, where else are you going to find two saxophones, an electric guitar, a violin, some other strings, AND a mridangam? Come along and join in. The water is warm!
 
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The Buckaroos - The Buckaroos Strike Again! (1967)

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Another classic album from the Boys Behind Buck. Tom Brumley's three instrumentals are all highlights here. "Tender Tom" (1935-2009) as Buck dubbed him was highly underrated as a steel guitar player, perhaps because he was based in Bakersfield rather than Nashville. The nickname probably didn't help either. He did get more mainstream exposure and less ribbing when Rick Nelson went all out country and tapped him for his new Stone Canyon Band two years after this album.

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Tom in his later years, playing one of the ZB steels that his company manufactured.
 
Johnny Rawls - Soul Survivor (2011)

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:confused: Lost In The Vault:confused:

This is the finest 21st century soul blues album I've heard. Mississippi-born Johnny (no relation to Lou Rawls) was music director for O.V. Wright for many years. After O.V.'s death Johnny led his backing group which continued as The Ace of Spades Band, appearing with a slew of legends from Little Milton to B.B. King. He has since released more than 20 albums under his own name.

Soul Survivor hits hard with a blast of brass and Johnny McGhee's bluesy guitar, aided by background vocals from Texans Jessica and Jillian Ivey. Johnny had a hand in writing all but two of the songs here, one of which is a reprise of O.V. Wright's classic "Eight Men, Four Women". You just can't top lyrics like this:

I dreamed that love was a crime
I was alone, so lonely and blue
You know why? Because eight men and four women, Lord
They found me guilty of loving you

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter. Guilty as charged. :heart::heart:
 
Herbie Hancock - Dis Is Da Drum (1995)


Listening to this with my earlier comments about George Duke in mind, it is difficult not to see similarities between their respective albums from this year. Before I get to that, listening to Wallace Roney's trumpet on the opening track, it's easy to imagine Miles Davis playing those spare licks.

Illusions by George Duke, was also released in 1995 and has long been a favorite of mine. While listening to Dis Is Da Drum, between tracks I'd play a few bars of a song or two from Duke's Illusions. The songs fit well together. Then I tried a few bars from a couple of tracks from Urban Knights' self titled album (headed by another pianist/keyboardist of the era, Ramsey Lewis) and it was more synergy.

Despite a wide range of review ratings for different eras of his career, IMO, Herbie never once put out a bad album. More than that. I'd say every album Herbie released as at least very good, with most being better than very good.

AllMusic.com said:
a recording that rewards repeated listening, from the updated version of "Butterfly," which made its first appearance on 1974's Thrust, to such irresistible gems as "Mojuba," "Bo Ba Be Da" and the title track.
... proof that jazz is a continually evolving music capable of absorbing the sounds of each new era and expanding its vocabulary as a result."
Click to expand...
 
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George Duke - Is Love Enough? (1997)

Mr Chameleon himself, playing with his entire bag of musical tricks. From "serious" straight ahead Jazz, to Zappa zaniness, to George Clinton like funk, Duke can do it all. And on most of his albums from '73's The Inner Source on, he did do it all. Every album was an Eff U to genre sergeants who demand music be put into a labeled box. With George Duke, you come for the music, not the box. Here, a song can go from a funk workout to a couple of Jazz solos to a couple of bars from a dynamic singer, to some genre-defying musical tinkering in a four-minute journey.

Like Quincy Jones (but much more frequently) once Duke aura grew, he brought in a horde of incredible musicians for every album. This one has contributions from dozens of talents, including Bennie Maupin, Airto Moreira, Doc Powell, George Howard, Gerald Albright, Paulinho da Costa and many more. Of course, the star is George on the keys, writing the music, and ringleading the whole thing.

Mmmmm, tasty.
 
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Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense - Moment & the Message (2013)


I just realized both the previous listen and this one, George Duke and now Finlayson, were raised in the Bay area. I don't guess it means anything. Just struck me as meantionable on an early Sunday morning.

But now that I've noticed it, I can't unnotice it. Will I feel compelled to follow up with another Bay area musician? And if so, whom?
 
Steve Lehman - Mise en Abîme (2014)


Music that is more about setting a mood than creating hummable melodies. The Tuba, Vibraphone, Trombone, electronics and Bass all work in that hauntingly weird space fit for a Tim Burton David Lynch double feature followed by an X-Files movie. The saxes and trumpet match that effort by whining, blurting, rhythmically stammering along. Instead of pounding a steady rhythm, Sorey's drums often sound more like a square-shaped rubber ball, bounding unpredictably around a spiked floor.

Lehman doesn't call his company "Density Music" on a random notion. There is indeed a formidable denseness to his compositions that requires intentional attention to fully appreciate.
 
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