Happy Birthday Eric Kloss!

Cheers to saxophonist Eric Kloss on his 76th birthday – here's his blast through Randy Weston's "African Cookbook" and more.

LINKS

Jazztimes Eric Kloss: About Time (2019) by Mike Shanley

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood A Visit With Eric Kloss

Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench to play Toronto's Lula Lounge on May 13

Tickets for a rare Toronto appearance of keyboard ace Benmont Tench go on sale this Friday (April 4) at 10 am. Get 'em here. 

Here's the scoop on Benmont's new solo album, The Melancholy Season...

Legendary keyboard player and founding member of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench,  released his second solo album, The Melancholy Season, via Dark Horse Records on March 7th. Tench’s first solo effort in over a decade – following 2014’s You Should Be So Lucky – The Melancholy Season was produced by Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Margo Price) and includes performances by Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek), singer/songwriter Jenny O and Sebastian Steinberg (Iron and Wine, Soul Coughing). You can get a copy of the record right here. Check out the video for "The Melancholy Season" directed by Chloe Badner along with a few of Benmont's interviews below. 
 

Keb Darge discusses a life of DJing and digging for the Ace Records podcast

Keb Darge talks about how he got into 60s garage punk and 50s rockabilly after decades of spinning northern soul and funk. 

Here's the scoop...

The Ace Records Podcast features interviews conducted by journalist, record collector and broadcaster Pete Paphides with guests from many branches of the extended Ace family, detailing their own careers, the artists that have influenced their lives and the records that they love, all enjoyably explored with your host, over two microphones and plenty of cups of tea.

Episode 32 – Keb Darge

The latest episode of the Ace podcast welcomes an in-house superstar, Keb Darge aka "Tarzan." With five decades on the Northern Soul scene, 18 years at Madame Jojos playing Deep Funk before latterly segueing into 60s garage punk and 50s rockabilly, his enthusiasm knows no bounds – although he does draw the line at New Romantics. This TaeKwonDo and disco dancing champion is a DJ who doesn't consider himself a collector. In fact, such a good DJ, he used to set records up for Paul Weller under the decks where no one could see him.

Keb has many and varied stories including his unique approach to cover-ups as a Northern Soul DJ in Wigan, how he deals with punters with requests, selling off his entire collection of rare Northern soul records after a divorce in 1987, getting paid surprisingly well for spinning rare groove in Tokyo, scrounging through record warehouses in the U.S. for three weeks with John Manship back in the 90s,  dancing in a Blow Monkeys video and helping the people of the Philippines after a tsunami and oddly finding rare 45s strewn all over a 50-mile stretch of coastline. Versatile is the word. Have a listen to Kebbo's freewheeling hour-long chat with Pete right here.

R.I.P. jazz guitar great George Freeman, 1927-2025

Sadly, trailblazing Chicago jazz guitar great George Freeman has passed away at the age of 97. He'll be greatly missed. 

LINKS
Chicago Tribune George Freeman, trailblazing jazz guitarist, dies at 97

Happy Birthday Prince Charles Alexander!

Raising a glass to producer/engineer and educator Prince Charles Alexander with a few 80s performances with his City Beat Band. 

Working For Billy Joe Shaver: Tales from the road and more

Billy Joe Shaver's guitarist  and road manager Jeremy Lynn Woodall says Billy Joe fired and rehired him many times.   

Teddy Hawkins tribute on JazzFM's Beyond The Fringe w/Danny Marks, April 1

Host Danny Marks plays a selection of Teddy Hawkins' fave recordings and shares some stories on Jazz FM.91 tonight at 11 pm. 

Writes Danny Marks...

Tonight! Our Radio Tribute to Ted. Presenting "When Country Met Soul," many of Teddy Hawkins radio favourites including Charlie Rich, Johnny Adams, Esther Phillips, George Jones and the man himself plus more in stories and song. Beyond the Fringe with Danny Marks 11pm on JAZZ FM91 https://jazz.fm/

Listen to Teddy Hawkins reprise the Charlie Rich classic "Feel Like Going Home" with Danny Marks right  here.  Watch Danny Marks perform "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" with Teddy Hawkins below.

Remembering Ronnie Lane on his birthday

Raising a glass to Ronnie Lane with a few performances with Slim Chance and a Marquee show with The Faces from 1970.

Unissued Kenny Dorham recorded live in the Bronx '67 being released for RSD

Trumpet titan Kenny Dorham is in peak form at the Bronx's Blue Morocco club alongside Sonny Red, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers & Denis Charles in 1967.

This just in from Resonance...

Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, a never-before-heard live performance from master hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, will be released as a two-LP set by Resonance Records for Record Store Day (April 12). The collection has been transferred from the original tape reels, mastered by Fran Gala at Resonance Records Studio, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at 33-1/3 rpm at Le Vinylist as a limited-edition package. The storming all-star club date will also be issued as a deluxe CD on April 18.

Both LP and CD editions include notes by two-time Grammy winner Bob Blumenthal; a Dorham appreciation by Dan Morgenstern, the late director of Rutgers University’s Institute of Jazz Studies and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master; remembrances from trumpeters Eddie Henderson, Charles Tolliver, Steven Bernstein, and Jeremy Pelt; and more.

The collection was recorded by Bernard Drayton in 1967 at the titular New York venue, a local bar at Boston Road and 168th Street that was operated by Sylvia Robinson (previously in the hit-making duo Mickey and Sylvia) and her husband Joe; the couple went on to found the groundbreaking rap label Sugar Hill Records.

Blue Bossa in the Bronx features a hard-hitting band comprising alto saxophonist Sonny Red, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Denis Charles. It leads off with Dorham’s best-known composition, “Blue Bossa,” first heard on Page One, tenor saxophonist and longtime bandmate Joe Henderson’s 1963 debut as a leader. The repertoire also includes an untitled blues by Dorham, numbers originated by Charlie Parker, Milt Jackson, and Miles Davis, and the standards “Memories of You” and “My One and Only Love.”

The award-winning producer and Resonance co-president Zev Feldman says of his latest archival find, “As I write this in 2024, the jazz world is marking the centenary of Kenny Dorham’s birth. I hope this recording will further cement his stature as a major figure during an important period in the development of modern jazz.” 

In his notes, Blumenthal eloquently measures Dorham’s towering stature in jazz history, situating him among the music’s greats: “Underrated. Deserving of wider recognition. Musicians' musician. In Art Blakey's memorable phrase, ‘the uncrowned king.’ These were the labels that Kenny Dorham carried throughout his career and that continue to linger over his legacy. A vital presence in jazz for over a quarter century and a valued collaborator with most of the period's creative forces, he never won a poll or acquired enough star power to sustain a working band or become a commercial draw.

“Part of the problem,” he continues, “was Dorham's fate to succeed more charismatic figures in historic groups. He followed both Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro, whom he considered ‘the two most outstanding trumpet players in jazz history, if not trumpet history,’ when he became the featured soloist in Billy Eckstine's orchestra. He became Charlie Parker's front-line partner after Miles Davis left. He succeeded Clifford Brown, whom he characterized as ‘the youngest player in trumpet history to achieve musical maturity,’ not once but twice — first in the Art Blakey/Horace Silver unit that became the Jazz Messengers and then, after Brown's death, in the Max Roach band.”

 In one of the last interviews he gave before his death at 94 in September 2024, Morgenstern said, “Kenny’s legacy is in his recordings. And there’s a lot of great stuff. I think there are very few recordings by Kenny that are not worth listening to. And he was a good partner on the front line. He was a good partner to his saxophonists. He was different from many of the musicians who were contemporary with him, trumpet players. He was more thoughtful and he was more melodic. And he had a great sound. I was very fond of him. To sum it up, Kenny was one of my favorite modern trumpeters.”

A chorus of great trumpeters testify to Dorham’s enduring influence. “From hearing Kenny's first note, I realized that he had a very distinctive sound, to say nothing of the melodic flow he had,” Eddie Henderson says. "It was so lyrical. His sound stood out from all the other trumpet players. Each of my heroes — Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, they all had the sound, but Kenny could hit just one note, bingo — you knew it was him. Miles Davis had his sound, but Kenny was one of the heavyweights of that generation.”

Tolliver recalls, “Having broken in in 1964, by 1967 I had met and/or played with all the supporting participants of KD on these recordings.  Birks, of course, sits at the throne, but KD was also one of my trumpet heroes in my youth. Though somewhat coming out of Birks/Fats, KD crafted and possessed a style and delivery inimitable to all other trumpeters before or after — tone, attack, theory, execution, ‘turnarounds.’”

“The thing about Kenny Dorham,” says Bernstein, “is that you could tell it was him in one note. And that’s hard to do on the trumpet. The trumpet’s a difficult instrument to play in general. People of Kenny Dorham's era and before played in big bands, so you had to be able to blend with other big-band players. You were required to have a certain kind of sound that matched the big band. Kenny was one of the first guys who had a sound not like that. His sound was so unique that you could hear one note and you knew, ‘Well, that’s Kenny Dorham.’ He also had what people used to call turnbacks; they call them turnarounds now. Turnarounds are a way to get from one chord to another chord and Kenny had a really singular way of doing turnarounds.”

Pelt enthuses, “Kenny Dorham had an obvious knack for melody. He displayed a keen melodic focus in his playing, which was also quite lyrical. His harmonic sense was what we call slick. He was playing inside of the harmony. It's a distinctive thing with Kenny — the way he plays inside the chord. I don't mean slick in a bad way. It's slick in like wow!”

Recordist Drayton says of the special qualities of his newly unearthed tapes, “When this show was recorded, Kenny was so highly regarded among musicians that even though he didn't have a regular band, he was always able to get the best musicians available to play with him. The performances that night were right there. The vibe was just one of those KD vibes. For a guy who wasn't able to play on a regular basis owing to his health issues, he was on fire and so was the band. As I said, it was a dream fulfilled for me.”

Watch a preview mini-documentary followed by Kenny Dorham and crew performing the classic "Blue Bossa"

Roots Rocking Zimbabe surveys 70s sound of Harare Townships

Analog Africa's Roots Rocking Zimbabwe uncovers some rippin' vinyl gems from the active Harare scene of the late 70s.    

This just in from Analog Africa...

In 1972 black people rarely featured in the country’s white-owned official newspapers, unless, perhaps, they were a dead “terrorist”. However, Dr Footswitch’s performance prompted The Rhodesia Herald to print the picture of their guitar player, Manu Kambani, on the front page along with the screaming sentence “Jimi Hendrix is dead but Manu is alive”. With his ability to mimic the mesmerising antics of Jimi Hendrix Manu had impressed everybody and the editor of the paper couldn’t resist printing the story. Heavy criticism from conservative whites followed, accusing the Herald of “lowering the standards.” But the coverage turned Manu into an emblematic figure in Harare, one of Salisbury’s oldest townships, and would influence many youngsters to form their own musical groups. Those bands began fusing Rock music, Congolese Rumba, South African Mbaqanga, soul and traditional beats into an underground music movement that would shape the future of Zimbabwean sound and challenge the colonial establishment.

All the commotion started drawing interest from South Africa’s industry players and a good number of Rhodesian bands – including The Great Sounds, MD Rhythm Success, Afrique 73, The Hitch-Hikers, The Impossibles and the O.K Success – had managed to get one-off recording deals with Gallo Record on the strength of their live performances. But for some reason the South African giant didn’t totally capitalise on
the momentum and that vacuum was filled in 1974 by the Teal Record Company who had decided to beef up their Rhodesian subsidiary. Crispen Matema, a prolific drummer with a love for traditional music, was hired to oversee the program.

It took some digging to compile Roots Rocking Zimbabwe

Driving across the country in his Peugeot 504, Matema scouted undiscovered talent, organized live music contests, and booked a small studio in downtown Salisbury. Within a year, he had recorded fantastic bands such The Baked Beans, Blacks Unlimited, New Tutenkhamen, The Acid Band, Echoes Ltd, Gypsy Caravan and many others. To release this flood of music, Teal launched several new imprints, including Afro Soul, Afro Pop, and Shungu.

Not to be outdone, Gallo Records finally sent the legendary sax jive producer West Nkosi to Rhodesia to scout for emerging talent. A chance recommendation led him to the Jamaica Inn Hotel, where he encountered The Green Arrows led by the carismatic Zexie Manatsa. By Christmas 1974, their single ‘Chipo Chiroorwa’ had sold over 25,000 copies, making them the first Rhodesian band to earn a gold disc. In November 1975 Nkosi arranged for another session for The Green Arrows at the Film Project Studios to record the fuzz-drenched ‘Towering Inferno’, a tribute to Paul Newman and the crystalline guitar instrumental ‘No Delay’, a homage to Steve McQueen.

In 1976 the liberation war is raging when Teal began immortalising Thomas Mapfumo on 1/4inch tape. Thomas had just joined forces with the Black Unlimited and The Acid Band and had started modernising traditional songs to great effect. That revolutionary style deeply rooted in Shona culture known as Chimurenga unified all generations under the banner of the liberation struggle.

Zexie Manatsa and Thomas Mapfumo massive popularity attracted the attention of the PATU (Police Anti-Terrorist Unit) who didn't like the massive crowds these artists were attracting. As a result Both Manatsa and Mapfumo were arrested and imprisoned.

Despite the arrests and the increasing scrutiny from the Rhodesian authorities, the music refused to be silenced. If anything, the repression only strengthened the resolve of Zimbabwean artists such as the enigmatic Tineyi Chikupo, who continued to compose songs that carried the hopes and struggles of the people. By the time Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the musicians who had risked everything to give their people a voice emerged as national heroes.

The 25 songs presented on Roots Rocking Zimbabwe (out May 2) project showcase the birth of the modern music industry in Zimbabwe and the explosion of creativity bands of the 1970s and 80s delivered is endlessly rewarding. It was a time of wild experimentation before established genres had crystallised. Rock, rumba, soul and traditional grooves all collide beautifully in this collection, which also includes never-before-released tracks by Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and many other Zimbabwean artists! 

Get a copy of Analog Africa's Roots Rocking Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound Of Harare Townships, 1975-1980 compilation via Bandcamp right here. Have a listen to a few tracks below.