R.I.P. jazz pianist/composer Les McCann, 1935-2023

Sadly, pianist Les McCann has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. Here are a few interviews and performances worth checking.

Get a copy of Les McCann's photo book, Invitation To Openness right here. 

Watch the BBC documentary Jazz Legends In Their Own Words

The hour-long documentary Jazz Legends In Their Own Words features Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and others.

Remembering Gil Mellé on his birthday

Musician/composer Gil Mellé created the futuristic soundtrack for 1971's Andromeda Strain and '72's Future Shock. 

That time Endless Boogie played Marina di Ravenna in Italy

Here's Paul Major and his Endless Boogie crew getting down for the Beaches Brew Fest at Marina di Ravenna on June 6, 2022. 

Happy Birthday Bo Diddley!

Remembering guitar slinger Bo Diddley with the 1966 film The Legend Of Bo Diddley (see it here) and some entertaining clips.   

One For The Weekend: Svend Asmussen & Jan Johansson

Danish jazz fiddler Svend Asmussen sat in with Swedish pianist Jan Johansson's crew for the delightful "Snabbcsárdás i d-moll." 

Happy Birthday Marianne Faithfull

Celebrating Marianne's birthday with a couple of lesser known performances en Français. 

Nichol Robertson's Honkytonk/Boogaloo Boys @ Reposado, Thursday

Guitarist Nichol Robertson will be joined by Sean Dean & Mike Belitsky at 9 pm with Trombone Charlotte sitting in later on.

Remembering Alex Chilton with Teenage Fanclub

Since it's Alex's birthday, here are a couple of his performances with Teenage Fanclub and their memories of Chilton.   

Happy Birthday Lonnie Liston Smith!

Celebrating the birthday of Lonnie Liston Smith with some 1973 footage and a few songs from his recent album for Jazz Is Dead.  

Midweek Mixdown: Larry Grogan's Funky16Corners Radio Show

Larry Grogan kicked off his latest show with a selection of Meters classics and included Grant Green and Dennis Coffey gems.

 

Funky16Corners Radio Show Dec. 18, 2023

Meters – Cardova (Josie)

Meters – Chicken Strut (Josie)

Meters – Good Old Funky Music (Josie)

Backyard Heavies – Soul Junction (Scepter)

Grant Green – Sookie Sookie (Blue Note)

Grant Green – Ain’t It Funky Now (Blue Note)

Wilbert Longmire – Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose (World Pacific)

Gene Ammons – Son of a Preacher Man (Prestige)

Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt1 (Prestige)

Bronc Glows – The Charge (Bull City Sound)

JD Bryant – Get It (Come On and Get It) (Enjoy)

OD Williams – Funky Belly (Bar Bare)

Otis Goodwin and the Casternets – I Feel It (Just a Little Bit) (Jazz-ee)

Brothers of Hope – Nickol Nickol (Gamble)

Dennis Coffey/Lyman Woodard Trio – It’s Your Thing (Maverick)

Flaming Ember – Filet De Soul (Hot Wax)

Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers – Searching For Soul (Mutt)

Richard Marks – Funky Four Corners (Roulette)

Check out the show via Mixcloud right here. 

Happy Birthday John Felice!

Celebrating the birthday of John Felice with three rippin' Real Kids performance clips from 1978, '82 and '83. 

Terry Allen biography "Truckload of Art" due in March

Claimed to be the definitive biography, Truckload of Art is slated for publication on March 19th. He's playing Austin on Feb. 2! 

Here's the scoop...

Truckload of Art: The Life and Work of Terry Allen – written by Paradise of Bachelors label boss Brendan Greaves – is the definitive, authorized biography of Terry Allen, the internationally acclaimed visual artist and iconoclastic musician whose work bridges the disparate worlds of contemporary art and country music.

Terry Allen is a songwriter, visual and recording artist, and playwright. He’s released more than a dozen studio albums since his 1975 debut, Juarez, and his wide-ranging artwork resides in collections around the world, including the Met, MoMA, and LACMA. Raised in Lubbock, Texas, since 1989 he has resided in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife and collaborator, the performer and poet Jo Harvey Allen.

“People tell me it’s country music,” Terry Allen has joked, “and I ask, ‘Which country?’” For nearly sixty years, Allen’s inimitable art has explored the borderlands of memory, crossing boundaries between disciplines and audiences by conjuring indelible stories out of the howling West Texas wind.

Pre-order a copy of the Terry Allen biography Truckload of Art via Paradise of Bachelors right here.

About the author: Brendan Greaves is founder and owner of the record label Paradise of Bachelors and has collaborated on numerous projects with Terry Allen, including Pedal Steal + Four Corners, for which he earned a Grammy nomination for Best Album Notes. A folklorist, essayist, and lapsed art worker, he studied at Harvard and UNC, and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

TRUCKLOAD OF ART: The Life and Work of Terry Allen—An Authorized Biography 

Hachette Books | March 19, 2024

$34 | Hardcover | 576 Pages | ISBN: 9780306924545

Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band play Austin's Paramount Theatre on Feb. 2. Get tickets right here.

Happy Birthday Doug Hammond!

Celebrating the birthday of drummer Doug Hammond with two performances and a documentary. Get his music right here.

R.I.P. British jazz drummer Tony Oxley, 1938-2023

Sadly, UK free jazz drummer Tony Oxley – who regularly played with Derek Bailey & Evan Parker – has passed away. 

LINKS
Free Jazz Blog Tony Oxley, 1938-2023

The Wire Tony Oxley (1938-2023)

Don Thompson Quartet vs.Buddy DeFranco's band

Don Thompson came up with an ace vibes-led arrangement of Bernie Senensky's "Lolito's Theme" for his Secret Love album.

Merry Christmas from harpist Dorothy Ashby!

Dorothy Ashby recorded The Sounds Of Christmas with WWJ's organist Tom Montgomery and sat in with the Soulful Strings.

Merry Christmas from Andy Votel!

Check out Santa's Sangria, Andy Votel's 'Festive Fuzz Cocktail' of yultetide oddities for your Christmas celebrations right here. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Les Chantels

Check out Montreal's Les Chantels tearing through "Noël Étrange" off the Christmas compilation, Noëls Dans Le Vent from '66.

Remembering German guitar great Volker Kriegel on his birthday

Raising a glass to Volker Kriegel on what would've been his 80th birthday with a 1969 performance alongside Dave Pike. 

Listen to the Higher Ground Rare Groove Christmas Special 2023

Toronto DJs Jason Palma and Paul E. Lopes present a choice selection of seasonal soul and jazz swingers. Check it out right here.  

You can hear Paul E. Lopes spinning roots reggae and dancehall at BSMT254 on Dec. 26!

Happy Holidays from Bill Kirchen!

Here's Telecaster master Bill Kirchen singing "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas" and "Truckin' Trees For Christmas"

That time Kate Bush shot a Christmas Special with Peter Gabriel in '79

Kate Bush's Christmas Special is filled with atypical song choices and odd performances for a holiday show... as you might expect. 

Merry Christmas from Rodd Rogers!

Here's the odd Sven Swanson-penned song poem "Santa Claus Goes Modern" intriguingly voiced by Rodd Rogers. 

Happy Birthday Jean-Michel Basquiat

Remembering Jean-Michel Basquiat with the recollections of his sisters Lisane Basquiat & Jeanine Heriveaux and more.  

Night Finger rocks The Bovine, December 29

For their last show of 2023, Night Finger will be joined by a special guest at the Bovine. Check out their cover of "Space Race". 

Writes Stacey Case about his Night Finger poster...

My good pal Craig Daniels asked if I had time to design a quick poster for his band Night Finger, playing a show at the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto. Not meant to be screenprinted, I couldn’t stop laughing at the Mod Thing, and asked if there was any budget to screenprint them. There was! They’re getting 50 numbered prints to do with as they wish. Very cheap. If you think I’d dig your band, I’m happy to design and screenprint a sweet poster for you! Shipping is cheap! Happy holidays! 

Visit the Cornwall Stamp Co. on FB right here. Check out Night Finger's update of "Space Race" followed by Gene and the Esquires original swinger below. 
 

Grab a copy of the limited edition silkscreened poster – created by Stacey Case – at Night Finger's show at the Bovine on Dec. 29th.

Remembering blues great Peetie Wheatstraw on his birthday

Check out David Katznelson's Ode To The Devil's Son-In-Law right here after listening to a few Peetie Wheatstraw gems below. 

Seasons Greetings-ah from Mark E. Smith and The Fall

In keeping with the holiday spirit here's "No Xmas For John Quays" performed by The Fall on a John Peel Session from 1978. 

Detroit DJ/producer Theo Parrish chats about his life and work with Mike Rubin

Theo Parrish recent sat down with music journalist Mike Rubin for an extensive discussion for Blank Forms Radio.  

Here's the scoop from Blank Forms Radio...

Lawrence Kumpf is joined by veteran music journalist Mike Rubin for a survey of the music of producer, remixer, and Detroit house legend Theo Parrish. The pair will spin a selection of Parrish’s work, on the occasion of the release of Blank Forms 09: Sound Signatures, the organization’s penultimate journal. The book, available for purchase at the Blank Forms table, features a transcription of a career-spanning, twenty-hour conversation between Rubin and Parrish, going deep on the latter’s childhood in Chicago’s South Side, sculptural training, and how the social movements of 2020 have reshaped his practice and dance music at large. Listen to the 2-hour show right here. 

Check out Theo's bangin' mix for the Sunday Show on NTS Radio following a recent interview with Lori for High Note in Melbourne, Australia below. 

Blank Forms is a nonprofit organization supporting emerging and historically significant artists who produce work across disciplines, often rooted in traditions of experimental and creative music. We aim to establish new frameworks to preserve, nurture, and present these artists’ work and to build platforms for practices underrepresented in art’s commercial, institutional, and historical fields. Blank Forms collaborates with artists on commissions, exhibitions, publications as well as archival and estate projects within contemporary cultural ecosystems and in perpetuity. In presenting and documenting this work, Blank Forms seeks to foster an artistic community founded upon engaged and equitable conversations across continents, media, and generations.

That time Edan shot a Poets Of Rhythm promotional clip for Daptone

Back in 2013, Daptone issued a Poets Of Rhythm anthology – get the CD here – and enlisted Edan for a wigged out sales pitch.

Midweek Mixdown: Mr. Fine Wine's Downtown Soulville

Check out Mr. Fine Wine's stellar selection of vintage R&B singles for WFMU's Downtown Soulville by following the link below. 

Check out the Downtown Soulville show from December 15th which WFMU-FM has archived right here. 

Merry Christmas from The Ghostly Trio

Back in 1987, Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo produced The Ghost Trio's off-kilter swing through the holiday classics. 

Christmas with the Ghostly Trio (Dali Records, 1987)

We Wish / Three Kings / Little Town Polka / Joy / Little Drummer Dude / Good King / O Time Bomb / White X-mas / Silent Night / God Rest Ye / Leon / Angels / Jingle Bells / Hark / Silver Bells

Credits: Bass – Tim Taylor / Guitar – Geoff Worman / Producer – Victor Delorenzo / Recorded By – Dave Neitzke / Saxophone – Peter Balestrieri. 

Dave Alvin is taking The Third Mind on the road starting in Portland

Dave Alvin, Michael Jerome and crew will be playing songs from The Third Mind "2" starting in Portland on January 11.

Here's the scoop on The Third Mind 2...

Featuring an all-star eclectic ensemble of like-minded musicians–Jesse Sykes (acoustic guitar, vocals); Dave Alvin (electric guitar); Victor Krummenacher (bass guitar/harmonium/mellotron); David Immerglück (guitar); and Michael Jerome (drums/percussion)– The Third Mind 2 reflects the band members varied musical histories with a “no safety parachute” recording approach using free-form studio techniques, no rehearsals, no preconceived arrangements, and recording spontaneous group improvisations live in studio. 

The six-song set, which runs the length of three LP sides, showcases songs written in the 1960s including, “Groovin’ is Easy,” “Why Not Your Baby,” “Sally Go Round The Roses,” among others, and an original composition, “Tall Grass,” written by Jesse Sykes and Dave Alvin for the album. Available for pre-order on CD, Digital and LP formats, the fourth LP side features The Third Mind Mandala etching by Tony Fitzpatrick. 

Produced by The Third Mind, the album was recorded by Will Golden at Sir Tiger Studio in Los Angeles, CA, mixed by Craig Parker Adams at Winslow Court Studios in Los Angeles, and mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering.

Get a copy of The Third Mind 2 via your platform of choice right here. Grab tickets while you can for the The Third Mind's show a Portland's Mississippi Studios on January 11th following clips of The Third Mind's performance at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. 

 

The Third Mind on tour

JAN 11 Mississippi Studios @ 8:00pm Portland, OR

JAN 12 The Crocodile @ 8:00pm Seattle, WA

JAN 13 WOW Hall @ 8:00pm Eugene, OR

JAN 18 Mystic Theatre @ 7:30pm Petaluma, CA

JAN 19 Moe's Alley @ 8:00pm Santa Cruz, CA

JAN 20 The Chapel @ 8:00pm San Francisco, CA

JAN 31 Belly Up @ 8:00pm Solana Beach, CA

FEB 1 Pappy & Harriet's @ 8:00pm Pioneertown, CA

FEB 2 The Troubadour @ 7:00pm West Hollywood, CA

FEB 3 Ventura Music Hall @ 7:00pm Ventura, CA

 

Get tickets for The Third Mind show at Portland's Mississippi Studios on January 11 right here.

Watch Totó La Momposina in action

Here's Colombian legend Totó La Momposina performing a rousing set – including the classic "El Pescador" – back in 2017.  

Happy 80th Birthday Keith Richards!

Celebrating Keith Richards' birthday with an interview about his guitar playing conducted by Matt Sweeney for Guitar Moves. 

Darlene Love reprises "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on The View

R&B great Darlene Love belted out her holiday classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" with Steve Van Zandt on The View. 

Watch Darlene Love reunite with David Letterman and Paul Schaffer right here.

R.I.P. Amp Fiddler, 1958-2023

Sadly, Detroit singer/producer Amp Fiddler – who worked with George Clinton and mentored J Dilla – has passed away at 65. 

Happy Birthday James Booker!

Remembering New Orleans piano wizard James Booker on his birthday with a few brilliant performances circa 1978.

Watch Joyce Moreno play "Natureza" at the Blue Note in Tokyo

Here's Joyce's swingin' performance of "Natureza," the title track of the album she cut with Claus Ogerman in NYC back in 1977.

You can get a copy of Joyce's "Natureza" album via Bandcamp right here.