Happy Birthday Albert 'Tootie' Heath!

Celebrating Albert Heath's 86th birthday with his Kawaida album with Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams & Mtume.

That time Larry Coryell threw down with Alphonse Mouzon in Oslo

Watch guitarist Larry Coryell's Eleventh House band filmed in action for Norwegian television back in 1975.

Larry Coryell's Eleventh House live in Oslo, Norway 1975

Larry Coryell (guitar), Alphonse Mouzon (drums), Mike Mandel (keyboards), Michael Lawrence (trumpet/flugelhorn), John Lee (bass).

Set list:

00:00   Cover Girl  (A. Mouzon)

09:25   Gratitude "A So Low"  (L. Coryell) - introduction to next song

10:08   Low-Lee-Tah  (L. Coryell)

16:00   Funky Waltz  (A. Mouzon)

21:10   The Other Side  (M. Lawrence)

26:35   Diedra  (M. Mandel)

31:00   Some Greasy Stuff  (A. Mouzon) 

Watch Roxy Music's early television performances

Here's 23 and a half minutes of the early Roxy Music at their finely feathered best on television. Catch it while you can.

Happy Birthday Darrell Grant!

Celebrating the birthday of jazz pianist Darrell Grant with "Rivers" & "New Land" from The Territory followed by The Cool Spot.

B-Side Wins Again: Don Ellis aka Harold Shutters

Check out the swingin' "Blue Fire" by Don Ellis aka Harold Shutters. Grab a copy of Norton's Rock 'n' Roll Mister Moon comp.

That time the Demolition Doll Rods played Schubas

Since it's Danny Kroha's birthday, here are two clips from Demolition Doll Rods' opening set for Jon Spencer's HITmakers in 2019.

Happy Birthday Irmin Schmidt!

Celebrating the birthday of Can's Irmin Schmidt with a 1975 Whistle Test appearance, Stuttgart show and a recent interview. 

LINK 

Tone Glow Irmin Schmidt interview

Watch a solo concert by The Walkabouts' Chris Eckman

Chris Eckman's performance was filmed at Ljubljana's Vodnikova domačija. His new album Where The Spirit Rests is out June 4th.   

Where The Spirit Rests, the fifth solo album from Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Dirtmusic, Distance, Light & Sky) is a deep dive into the vagaries of extraordinary times. Eckman’s luminous songwriting navigates loss, disorientation, redemption and the search for home. Recorded raw and direct with a small ensemble, the record is framed by expansive sonic textures: treated strings, analogue synth drones and ambient guitars. Where the Spirit Rests was co-produced with British electronic composer Alastair McNeill (Roísín Murphy, Yila) and includes an inspired cast of collaborators: pedal steel maverick Chuck Johnson, avant-garde violinist Catherine Graindorge, Dream Syndicate/Green on Red keyboardist Chris Cacavas, Seattle pedal steelist Jon Hyde (Karl Blau, Laura Viers) and Eckman's long time Ljubljana-based rhythm section of Žiga Golob (upright bass) and Blaž Celarec (drums). 

The All Music Guide called Eckman “one of the most underrated U.S. songwriters, a man who can pack a short story into image-laden lyrics.” The new album - Where the Spirit Rests - is amongst his most personal and vivid. A place to which he has been headed all along.

Get a copy of Chris Eckman's new album Where The Spirit Rests via Bandcamp right here. Watch the video for the title track below.

Chris Eckman – Where The Spirit Rests

1. Early Snow 06:03

2. This Curving Track 05:43

3. Cabin Fever 05:12

4. Drinking in America 07:08

5. Northern Lights 06:25

6. Where the Spirit Rests 09:11

7. CTFD 04:52

Happy Birthday Gary Stewart

Remembering honky tonk great Gary Stewart with a short interview (featuring a Dave Alvin cameo) and two performances. 

R.I.P. guitarist Tommy Connell

Sadly, Phoenix guitarist Tommy Connell – featured on Jon Rauhouse's albums for Bloodshot – has passed away. 

The three albums Tommy Connell recorded with Jon Rauhouse for Bloodshot Records are available right here. 

LINK

AZCentral.com Arizona guitarist Tommy Connell remembered as "one of the best" by Jon Rauhouse

Sporty yeti stars in new El Michels Affair video for "Murkit Gem"

The Ethio-groove workout "Murkit Gem" is off the latest El Michels Affair album Yeti Season out now on Big Crown Records. 

R.I.P. Toronto-based flautist/singer Kathryn Moses

Sadly, Toronto's Kathryn Moses of "Music In My Heart" & "Ready Or Not" fame has passed away. She'll be greatly missed. 

Kathryn's song "Ready Or Not" is the title track of my compilation of 60s-70s jazz from CBC which you can get right here.

 

James Kelly Duhon's modern soul gems on Jude get reissued by Tramp

Tramp is recirculating a pair of James Duhon's post-Ascots recordings "So Far Down" b/w "So Trusting" from the late 70s. 

Here's the scoop...

James Kelly Duhon was a native of Beaumont, Texas, a city about 20 miles from Port Arthur, Texas. In the late 1960s, he was in a Port Arthur group The Ascots who cut the Northern Soul classic "A Few Feet From The Gutter" for Huey P. Meaux's American Playboy label. The Ascots also featured Al Trahan who waxed "Funky Lu" and the better known dancefloor burner "Can I Feel It" for Port Arthur's Spindletop. After the Ascots, Duhon released four 45s including the Jonathan Toubin fave NY Night Train spin "Grave Yard Creep" – a split single with the hard groovin' flip "Color Me Soul" voiced by his Ascots pal Talmadge Armstrong which Huey P. Meaux produced for JetStream – and the sought-after Jude label sides "In School" b/w "Heart Breaker (Child Maker)" from 1974 (which later received national release on Mainstream Records), "Pusher Man" b/w "Drifter" from 1975,  "So Far Down" b/w "Can You Learn To Love Me" from 1978 . When he retired from the road, he settled back in Beaumont, Texas where he died of natural causes in 1998.

Get a copy of Tramp's reissue of James Kelly Duhon's single from their forthcoming compilation "Can You Feel It Vol. 3 - Modern Soul, Disco & Boogie 1976-85" right here. 

Listen to "So Far Down" and "So Trusting" below. 

That time Suckerpunch played live on Much Music in 1994

 Toronto's Suckerpunch – feat. Cindy Beattie, Chris & Sean Dignan – made their TV debut on The Wedge hosted by Sook-Yin Lee.  

Suckerpunch's Carols from the Canyon album from '94 might be due for a vinyl reissue. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Ina & Al Harris

Listen to Ina Harris sing "Don't Tempt Me" with her husband Smilin' Al Harris. Read his whole crazy story in the link below.

LINKS
Toronto Star Smiling Al Harris, the guitar man

Happy Birthday Miles Davis!

Remembering Miles Davis on his 95th birthday with a 1973 show in Stockholm feat. Al Foster, Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas. 

Flatlanders preview new album with "Sittin' On Top Of The World"

Lubbock pals Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore are back with Treasure Of Love, out July 9 via Rack 'Em Records.

Here's the scoop...

The Flatlanders, the iconic Texas cosmic country combo featuring Butch Hancock, Joe Ely, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, have just released the official video for their new single “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” The song is the closing rave-up from Treasure of Love, their first album of new recordings in more than 12 years slated for release on July 9 via Rack ‘Em Records/Thirty Tigers. Treasure of Love is now available for pre-order.

“This video reflects the combined energy of The Flatlanders from many performances over the past 50 years! It’s a damn miracle!” said Joe Ely about the video. Jimmie Dale Gilmore added: “In a way, this video encapsulates the history of The Flatlanders." Watch it below. 

Earlier this month, The Flatlanders announced their new album Treasure of Love, which was completed during COVID-19 lockdowns with the help of longtime friend and collaborator Lloyd Maines. Treasure of Love finds The Flatlanders in classic form, serving up a rollicking collection of typically twanged up and harmony heavy performances full of that wry humor we've come to expect. While a few of the songs here are never-before-heard originals, the vast majority of the tracklist consists of vintage tunes the band picked up during their 50-year career, some stretching as far back as the group’s earliest performances in the honky tonks around Lubbock, TX.

“I like to say that this album evolved more than it was recorded,” explains Joe Ely, who hosted the initial recording sessions and worked extensively on the tracks at his Spur Studios in Austin, TX. “We’d been chipping away at these songs for a while without ever really finishing anything, so when lockdown started, it seemed like the perfect time to really focus on it.”

The 15 tracks on Treasure of Love revisit songs they enjoyed playing from the early days and capturing them for the sheer joy of it. Not realizing at the time that they were actually making a record, the trio worked fast and loose in the studio, laying down raw, playful takes whenever they had free time between sessions or tours. It was only when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock to simultaneously clear all of their calendars that the band realized they had an album on their hands and the time to finally complete it.

“A lot of groups our age are either dead or not speaking to each other anymore,” says Gilmore, “but I think part of the reason The Flatlanders are still together is that we’ve all had our own separate careers along the way. We’re all such strange individualists, but we can co-captain this ship together because every time we come back to it, we feel that same magic we felt when we first started playing together.”

The Flatlanders – Treasure of Love 

01) Moanin’ of the Midnight Train

02) Long Time Gone

03) Snowin’ on Raton

04) She Smiles Like a River

05) Love Oh Love Please Come Home

06) Give My Love to Rose

07) Treasure of Love

08) Satin Shoes

09) The Ballad of Honest Sam

10) Mama Do the Kangaroo

11) She Belongs to Me

12) I Don’t Blame You

13) Mobile Blues

14) Ramblin’ Man

15) Sittin’ on Top of the World

 

Happy Birthday Phil Ranelin!

Celebrating Phil Ranelin's 82nd birthday with "How Do We End All Of This Madness?" – a timeless Tribe joint from 1973.

Watch MC Abdominal's "Freedom of the Printing Press" video

Toronto's MC Abdominal drops some science about the importance of a free press in a democracy. Check the clip below. 

Here's the scoop from Abs...

This is my first attempt at a 'Custom Rap', commissioned by independent BC printing press International WEB Express via brand new platform Event Rap. Client requested a short rap outlining the importance of freedom of the press, particularly in light of the current global climate, with democracy threatened everywhere, even regions once considered stable.

In this misinformation age, don't forget about the independent journalists, publishers and printing presses that empower community newspapers to serve their local readerships with un-hackable, unfiltered news.

Order your own Custom Rap here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bababrinkman/event-rap-the-one-stop-custom-rap-shop

Made with support from International WEB Express: https://www.intwebexpress.com

Video edited by Marco Vallini（music videos, series, short movies & whatnot）

Track produced by Nik Timar for Circle Research. 

Portland's Red Fang previews Arrows album with twisted "Why" video

Red Fang's long overdue new album Arrows is out via Relapse on June 4th. Watch Ansel Wallenfang's video for "Why" below. 

Here's the scoop...

RED FANG return with their highly anticipated new album, Arrows! Their first album in four years, everyone's favorite beer-crushing, zombie-killing, air-guitar-contest-judging metal heroes are back in action, doing what they do best – and more.  

“This record feels more like Murder The Mountains to me than any record we’ve done before or since,” bassist/vocalist Aaron Beam ventures. “It doesn’t sound like that record, but Murder the Mountains was us doing whatever the fuck we wanted, and that’s what this is, too.”

Arrows was recorded at Halfling Studios in the band’s hometown of Portland, OR, with longtime collaborator Chris Funk, producer of Murder The Mountains and 2013’s Whales and Leeches. “Chris is a major influencer as far as the weird ambient stuff in between the songs and the creepy incidental noises within the songs,“ guitarist Bryan Giles points out. “I think he definitely creates an added layer of atmosphere that we wouldn’t have otherwise.” 

'Arrows' is also a proper title track, which is new territory for the band. “This is the first time we’ve named an album after a song that’s actually on the album,” Beam explains. “We have other albums that are named after songs of ours that are not on those albums. So this time we’re really fucking with you because we didn’t fuck with you.”

Similarly, fans might not believe what the song “Arrows” is partially about. “If you’re confused by some of the lyrics to the song, that makes sense,” Beam explains.  “But it makes reference to meditation. I started meditating six years ago, but I can only do it when I’m not feeling too anxious. So, when I don’t need it, that’s when I can do it.”

Elsewhere, “Fonzi Scheme” was named after legendary Happy Days cool guy Arthur Fonzarelli—if only because it’s in the key of his famous catchphrase, “Aaay.” Producer Chris Funk came up with the idea of bringing in string players from the Portland Cello Project to class up the track.

Meanwhile, the opening riff of closer “Funeral Coach” was written 11 years ago. But it took until recently for the song to blossom into its full double-entendre glory. “I was driving around and I saw a hearse that said ‘funeral coach services’ on the back,” Beam explains. “So the first thing that popped into my head was a dude with a headset and a clipboard going, ‘Alright, dudes—more tears! Five minutes in is when the tears are critical, or no one’s gonna believe that anyone cares that this person died.’”

In a nod to tradition, Arrows will be available in formats that include all the drums, bass, guitars and vocals. But it could’ve gone another way. “Our original idea was to release the album with no vocals or guitar solos,” Beam explains. “If you want the guitar solos, it’s an extra five bucks. If you want the vocals, it’s an extra ten bucks. So basically people should feel lucky that we didn’t do that. You get to buy the whole thing altogether.”

RED FANG think of it as a generous display of gratitude toward their fans. “Yeah,” says Sherman, “Thank you for buying our album, you lucky bastards.”

Pre-order a copy of Red Fang's Arrows album here. Watch the video for "Why"below. 

Happy Birthday Terry Callier!

Along with Bob Dylan, Chicago's late great Terry Callier was also born today. Remembering Terry with two stellar performances.

That time Bonnie Raitt played Soundstage with Buddy Guy & Junior Wells

Bonnie Raitt was joined by Chicago blues greats Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and AC Reed for this 1974 taping of Soundstage. 

Watch Mdou Moctar perform the title track off Afrique Victime

Mdou Moctar's new album Afrique Victime is out now on Matador. Check out three songs below. 

Hamilton's Red Hill Valleys rock Flamboro Speedway for "Finish Line" video

Check out the Red Hill Valleys' video for the cowbell-enhanced "Finish Line" shot by Paul Maxwell at Flamboro Speedway.  

Whaddya mean you don't know Jerzy Milian

Polish jazz great Jerzy Milian did some of his finest work with Orkiestra Rozrywkowa PRiTV W Katowicach. 

Santigold joins U-Roy for an update of "Man Next Door"

The new version of "Man Next Door" will be on the posthumous Solid Gold U-Roy album due July 16. Check Dennis Brown's take.

Happy Birthday Rufus Harley!

Remembering jazz piper Rufus Harley on his birthday with his 1965 appearance on To Tell The Truth and I've Got A Secret in '66. 

Kora ace Ballaké Sissoko talks about his new album, Djourou

Bamako's Ballaké Sissoko has a new collaborative album Djourou out now via No Format. Check the clips below.

Happy Birthday Cecil McBee!

Celebrating the 86th birthday of bass boss Cecil McBee with a short doc, an interview and 1966 performance with Charles Lloyd. 

Watch a short film about Jim Sullivan

In March 1975, UFO-obsessed singer/songwriter Jim Sullivan took a walk in Santa Rosa, New Mexico and was never seen again. 

R.I.P. Franco Battiato, 1945-2021

Sadly, composer, musician and painter Franco Battiato has passed away. He'll be greatly missed.   

Happy Birthday Lobby Loyde

Remembering Australian guitar great Lobby Loyde on his 80th birthday with a few Coloured Balls clips and one as Wild Cherries. 

Souljazz Orchestra's Pierre Chrétien scores with Cinephonic

Cinephonic's debut album Les Paradis Artificiels was inspired by French film soundtracks and sound library recordings. 

Here's the scoop...

Cinephonic was founded in 2018 by composer/pianist/vibraphonist Pierre Chrétien, as an outlet for the new cinematic tunes he had been quietly writing when he wasn't busy leading larger groups such as The Souljazz Orchestra, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble and Slim Moore & the Mar-Kays. 

In the fall of 2020, he releases "Les Paradis artificiels", his first full-length album under the Cinephonic moniker, on which he collaborates with heavyweight hip-hop drummer Robert Biesewig (Wu-Tang Clan, Havoc, Alchemist) and versatile percussionist Marielle Rivard (The Souljazz Orchestra, Slim Moore & the Mar-Kays), while performing all other parts himself on mellotron, piano and vibraphone. 

Drawing inspiration from classic French film and library music, Chrétien expands on the sound with elements of orchestral jazz, cinematic soul, and instrumental hip-hop, creating a rich, evocative, and complex soundscape that juxtaposes intricate compositions with dark funk backbeats - a kind of epic soundtrack for a film that never existed.

Listen to the title track "Paradis Artificiels," Éveil de la cité and "Les Corbeaux"(below). Get a copy of Cinephonic's new album via Bandcamp right here. 

Watch The Black Keys play "Goin' Down South"

The Black Keys' cover of RL Burnside's "Goin' Down South" was left off the televised broadcast of Stephen Colbert's Late Show.

Nap Eyes vs. Bonnie Raitt

Halifax's Nap Eyes revisited Bonnie Raitt's "Thank You" for their When I Come Around EP out now. 

Sez Nap Eyes singer and songwriter Nigel Chapman...

“Bonnie Raitt is an unbelievable singer. Not just in an impressive, virtuosic, and technical way—all which of course she is. But hers is a deeply evocative, expressive, and personal style. She’s a master of timing, dynamics, inflection, and cadence, who decisively communicates the meaning and subtle emotional tone of a lyric in a way that few singers in any genre ever approach. She is also an outrageously good guitar player, songwriter and performer, all of which has made her work standout for decades. In her resonant shadow we humbly offer this cover.” - Nigel Chapman

First Takes: The Isley Brothers' "Who's That Lady"

The original 1964 version of "Who's That Lady" by The Isley Brothers was quite different from the better known 1973 update.  

R.I.P. "Guitarreiro" Luis Vagner of Os Brasas

Sadly, singer/songwriter and "Guitarreiro" Luis Vagner of Os Brasas passed away at home in Itanhaém on Sunday. He was 73. 

Watch The Jay-Jays' video for "Come Back If You Dare"

Who knew Nederbeat roughnecks The Jay-Jays made a video to go with their "Come Back If You Dare" single back in 1966.

One For The Weekend: Chris Houston

Listen to Chris Houston's pandemic classic "Doing Nothing" off his Steel City homage, One Mania To The Next.  

Talib Kweli & Madlib talk Black Star II, DOOM and Dilla

R.I.P. Bob Koester of Delmark Records

Sadly, Bob Koester of Chicago's legendary Jazz Record Mart & Delmark Records has passed away at the age of 88. He'll be missed.

LINKS 

Chicago Tribune Bob Koester dies at 88

Rock 'n' Roll Globe Bob Koester: The Purest Of Purests

Sparks documentary The Sparks Brothers out June 18th

Edgar Wright's film about Ron & Russell Mael's band Sparks is set for release June 18. Check the trailer and interview below.

Rocio and Matt Verta-Ray are Disturbios

Guitarist Matt Verta-Ray and keyboardist partner Rocio are releasing their Disturbios debut May 21 via Atlanta's Midnight Cruiser.

Here's the scoop...

The self-titled debut album from Disturbios is an electroshock fever dream — a marriage of blissed out, raunchy, and angular vintage rock & roll aesthetics with the pitiless tyranny of robotics gone wrong. Forged in the crucible of NY HED’s array of vintage analogue gear, the duo take a specialized approach to songwriting by experimenting on a vast array of sounds until the seed of an idea is planted. Rocio explains, “the writing process is enmeshed with the sound making, which is to say that recording, writing and performing are all on a continuum, all elements of the same whole. This extremely organic approach lets the important stuff kind of bubble up to the surface and announce to us what its shape should be.” Disturbios are hands-on to the last detail and conceive, perform, record and produce their music with Rocio creating their graphics and video. From this method emerges a record filled with songs about longing, sorrow, love and revenge, that are also, somehow, joyful and exhilarating as a backflip into an icy lake. 

Rocio, who comes from the worlds of film and philosophy, cut her teeth playing Farfisa organ in Spanish surf bands, completing the buzzing short circuit between primordial ibero-arab melodies and twanging, sizzling Jimmy Smith riffs by-way-of the Ventures and Erik Satie. Matt has been slinging six string hash and riding the underground zeitgeist like an electrobilly monorail since the New York ‘80s - haunting, jagged riffs channeling directly from a deep vein of Sun Records and Link Wray. Disturbios takes the listener on a wild ride into the greasy depths of the human psyche that will leave her breathless, revved up and dying to blast the record out into the air again and again.  

Listen to a few tracks off Disturbios' debut album which you can get right here.