Remembering blues great Brownie McGhee on his birthday

Remembering singer/guitarist Brownie McGhee with "Rainy Day" and an hour-long set with Sonny Terry on WFMT-FM in 1970. 

Whaddya mean you don't know The Elite

Straight outta Fort Worth, Texas – it's The Elite! Check out their garage punk classic "My Confusion" on Charay Records.  

Collector/DJs Jean-Claude & Victor Kiswell return with World Jazz Grooves Vol. 2

Victor Kiswell (above) strikes again with the second volume of World Jazz Grooves – another great deep jazz collection out now!

Here's the scoop...

The collaboration between BBE Music and If Music continues with another excellent compilation in the ongoing If Music Presents series with this second volume in the World Jazz Grooves chapter.

Alongside the A Journey Into Deep Jazz albums in the catalogue, World Jazz Grooves Volume 2 (out now) explores the global diversity of Jazz in its many forms, as interpreted throughout the globe, with tracks from Denmark, France, Brazil, Canada, the USA and Jamaica. The tracklist includes Rosa Mae from Mary Lou Williams, one of the artists in the legendary A Great Day in Harlem photograph and Dakar, a 16 minute opus of a track by Dadje.

With the music sought, sorted and selected by legendary diggers and selectors Jean-Claude and Victor Kiswell World Jazz Volume 2 is also the opportunity to own music that has been painstakingly searched for in flea markets, second hand shops and private collections and would not be available otherwise.

Jean-Claude’s excellent track record of creating and curating compilation albums and rediscovering rare gems and private presses for re-issue follows a philosophy of cross- genre music appreciation.

He has been a mainstay of London’s Black Music scene for some four decades with his record shop, his shows on NTS and Soho Radio, his excellent ‘In Conversation with...’ series of chat shows, his Djing and curation of event stages at We Out Here and Cross the Tracks and, of course, his excellent compilations.

Paris based Victor Kiswell is also a somewhat of a savant in the world of vinyl hunting and discernment with parallel careers as a journalist writing for vinyl bazaar, art director for Radioooo.com, DJ and broadcaster on various stations throughout Europe. Victor's travels around the world, on his vinyl quests, are well documented in his articles in Vinyl Bazaar and he describes himself as an 'adventurer', an 'archaeologist' and someone who enjoys the element of his vinyl hunting where he finds himself going where chance takes him.

Yes, with these two music heads and vinyl hunting experts unearthing the seven absolute gems on this double vinyl offering, If Music presents: World Jazz Grooves Volume 2 really is something you need in your life and in your vinyl rack.  Get a copy via Bandcamp right here if your local vinyl vendor doesn't stock it. 

Check out three tunes following the tracklisting below. 

iF Music Presents World Jazz Grooves, Vol. 2

1. Sylvain Kassap - Marlowe's Back in Tome 05:05

2. Mary Lou Williams - Rosa Mae 04:31

3. Gerardo Bátiz - Aguamarina (a Elis Regina) 03:25

4. Cedric Brooks and The Divine Light - Third World (Afro Beat) 13:05

5. Kahil El'Zabar - Song for a New South Africa 04:42

6. John Tchicai, Strange Brothers - I En Kælder 04:57

7. Colin Wilkie, Shirley Hart, Albert Mangelsdorff, Joki Freund - Ich armes Maidlein klag mich sehr 06:41

8. Dadje - Dakar 16:30

Drummer Billy Hart releases live quartet recording "Multidirectional"

It's legendary drummer Billy Hart's 85th birthday today and we're celebrating the news of his latest release, Multidirectional recorded live – out now!

Here's the scoop...

Jazz drumming legend and NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart discusses his long-running quartet's first live album, Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions Recordings). This video includes live performances by the quartet, which features Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, and Ben Street. Selections include "Sonnet for Stevie" (Turner), "Song for Balkis" (Hart), "Amethyst" (Hart), "Giant Steps" (Coltrane), and "Showdown" (Iverson). 

Legendary drummer Billy Hart credits the great Rashied Ali for introducing him to the term “multidirectional” – a descriptor for the elusive, daring approach to the kit that Hart and others of his generation had developed intuitively in response to the increasing freedom and exploration of the era’s jazz experimentation.

“Rashied Ali told me that ‘multidirectional’ was what John Coltrane called this freeform feel, where conventional structure was abandoned and the rhythms could cut in any direction,” he writes in OCEANS OF TIME: THE MUSICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BILLY HART, his captivating new memoir. Hart had begun to explore that style under the influence of Coltrane’s pioneering work, first venturing into the terrain while playing with Pharoah Sanders at the famed East Village club Slugs’.

More than half a century later, Hart has refined and evolved the approach into a singular percussive voice of unparalleled elegance, finesse and intricacy – as exemplified on MULTIDIRECTIONAL, the first live recording by his longstanding quartet featuring tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street.

The album’s release arrives just in time for Hart’s 85th birthday, and vividly reveals that the beloved drummer still has surprises to reveal. No less an authority than Iverson, not just a collaborator for more than 25 years but a respected scholar of the music’s history, marvels at hearing Hart veer into this audacious direction.

“A year or two into playing with Billy and his quartet,” Iverson recalls to writer Nate Chinen in his liner notes, “I went over to rehearse, and he sat down at his drums and said: ‘I want some music in this band that’s like John Coltrane with Rashied Ali.’ Then he started playing in the style, which I don’t think I’ve heard Billy ever play in another setting. He was always swinging so hard, doing what he does at the highest level every time—but I didn’t catch a situation with Quest, or any other group live where I would have heard a taste of that.”

Not that Hart is a stranger to adapting his distinctive voice to multifarious approaches. Iverson mentions Quest, the post-bop quartet in which he joined Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach; add to that another venerated collective, the hard bop all-star group The Cookers, not to mention Herbie Hancock’s pioneering Mwandishi sextet – the context in which Hart earned his sobriquet Jabali, Swahili for “rock.”

Then there’s the long history of work with many of jazz’s greatest artists, a list that ranges from Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Smith to Bill Frisell, Charles Lloyd, Branford Marsalis and Joe Lovano, among countless others. In 2022 he took his well-deserved place among the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters.

For more than 20 years now, Hart’s stellar quartet has added inestimably to that legacy. Their studio albums have documented the development of the band’s scintillating chemistry and an intense yet spacious group sound. But something further bursts forth when they take the stage together, a kaleidoscopic searching and bristling energy that has finally been captured, like lightning in a bottle, in this exhilarating live recording from the stage of Smoke Jazz Club.

As Hart describes, “Everybody in the band has had a direction in mind since I met them, and there were times when we got to certain points but never got a chance to record it. We did make records, but we weren’t playing in front of an audience.”

The album is an ideal showcase for Hart’s quartet, the members of which are a generation younger than the drummer/bandleader but all acclaimed veterans in their own right. “I know I’ve changed a lot as a result of playing with Billy in this band,” Turner says. “In terms of our experience level, we’ve come closer to Billy, if that’s not too egotistical to say. We’re 20 years older. We’ve all improved. We’ve gotten better as musicians, more comfortable in our own skin.”

Hart inaugurates the set on mallets, establishing an almost reverent tone on “Song for Balkis,” a tribute to his daughter that also opened the quartet’s 2012 ECM release ALL OUR REASONS. The song turns tumultuous – and, yes, multidirectional – as Turner unfurls a probing solo. Trane’s influence becomes explicit on an unusually restrained version of “Giant Steps,” which gains intensity and velocity as the familiar tune progresses from Iverson’s tentative, agitated solo intro.

Turner’s “Sonnet for Stevie” is propelled by Hart’s broad, unhurried swing foundation, Iverson’s solo seeming to hang suspended from Street’s sturdy basslines. Hart reaches back to the title track of a 1993 album for “Amethyst,” offering perhaps the date’s most striking example of the band’s fluid multidirectionality – never quite settling into a recognizable tempo or rhythm, yet maintaining a determined momentum and cohesiveness throughout. They conclude with Iverson’s “Showdown,” an introspective ballad that opened the quartet’s most recent studio outing, Just, highlighted by Turner’s eloquent melodicism over the leader’s sensitive, nuanced touch.

Deep into a storied career, Billy Hart remarkably continues to discover new paths to traverse. MULTIDIRECTIONAL refers to the rhythmic unpredictability displayed on this essential album, of course, but there’s a philosophy suggested by the word that defines Jabali’s restless curiosity – striking out along varied and divergent currents, unpredictable but always possessed by a resolute sense of direction. 

Get a copy of the Billy Hart Quartet's new album Multidirectional via Bandcamp right here. Note: the 180 gram vinyl pressing is limited to 500 copies. Check out the release trailer video and an interview following the credits below. 

Credits: 

Recorded Live at SMOKE Jazz Club, NYC December 7–10, 2023.

Produced by Paul Stache; Production Assisted by Damon Smith; Recorded by Paul Stache & Richard Bernard; Mixed by Chris Allen; Mastered by Chris Allen & Tyler McDiarmid; Photography by Jimmy & Dena Katz and Dave Kaufman; Liner Notes by Nate Chinen. 

Happy Birthday Sally Timms!

Celebrating Sally's birthday with her versions of the Handsome Family's "Sad Milkman" and two John Anderson honky tonk classics! 

B-Side Wins Again: Earl Vince & The Valiants (Fleetwood Mac)

Jeremy Spencer sings the rare Fleetwood Mac rocker "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite" from 1969. 

Remembering pianist/composer Billy Strayhorn on his birthday

Remembering composer/arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn with a couple of performances, recordings, interviews and more.

Toast 10 years of The Shameful Tiki Toronto w/ Ichi-Bons @ Shameful Tiki, Friday

Should be a swingin' 10th anniversary party at the Shameful Tiki (777 Queen St. W) tonight with T.O.'s own Ichi-Bons at 9 pm!

Longineu Parsons' self-titled debut as leader being recirculated by Ubiquity

The 1980 spiritual jazz album trumpeter Longineu Parsons cut in Paris is being reissued for RSD Black Friday.

Here's the scoop from Longineu...

This is my first album as a leader, recorded in Paris in 1980.  It has become a collectors item and is being re-released on Ubiquity Records tomorrow.  The album is the group I had when I lived in France.  Sulaiman Hakim is killing it on alto and soprano saxophones.

Happy Birthday Randy Newman!

Cheers to singer/songwriter Randy Newman on his birthday! Here are a couple of interviews and performances worth checking.

Straight outta Saskatoon... it's the Swingin' Canadians!

Sundazed is releasing The Swingin' Canadians – Kangaroo Hash comp as part of their Ultra 100's series – only 100 copies!

 

Here's the scoop from Sundazed HQ...

The sound of Saskatoon's Swingin' Canadians is a mixture of lots of punchy horns, some jangle and the energy combined with a certain flavor of angst that could only come from a band run by siblings who grew up in Saskatchewan. Previously featured on Sundazed's Heated Garage comp, The Swingin' Canadians' Kangaroo Hash album it includes 5 unissued tracks & their Bangar singles!

In the 1950s Gene Dlouhy led a big band with his brothers as the CBC Happytimers, then in the '60s he and his brother Reg led the Swinging Canadians, who at one time became the house band at the Trade Winds in Calgary, Alberta (where at the time they were based).

Gene's vocals had a range that had him swing from smooth vocals to a raspy bark when he wasn't propelling the band with his sax or solid metronomic rhythm guitar playing. The band typically featured a tight combo of fiddle, steel guitar, upright bass, and sometimes accordion—delivering toe-tapping two-steps and lively polkas alongside swing standards and country hits. Their sound was clean, melodic, and dance-friendly, perfect for the community halls and rodeo events that defined rural entertainment in Western Canada.

Gene Dlouhy & The Swingin' Canadians were a regional success in Saskatchewan and didn't seem to tour too much outside of that. However, sometimes the tours came to him, as he opened for Roy Orbison on some Canadian dates. The band would ultimately turn down a recording contract in the US so that they could stand firm in their Canadian roots. He continued performing for decades up until 2020 when he reunited with his late brother Reg at the age of 93. His musical legacy is carried on by his son Guy, who sings and plays guitar in the Hard Labor Band. 

Get a limited edition copy of The Swingin' Canadians' "Kangaroo Hash" LP directly from Sundazed Records right here. And watch out for a special Thanksgiving themed Ultra 100's single released tonight. Watch three video clips following the track listing below.  

The Swingin' Canadians - Kangaroo Hash

Kangaroo Hash • Baby I Need Your Love • Hooka Tooka • Kiss Me Sweet • Whirlybird • I Want To Go With You • Pretty Little Cha Cha • Boney Maronie • ​Drinking Wine • Mexican Market Days • Since I Met You Baby • Long Tall Texan • Autumn Leave​s​ • French Canadian Twist* • Broken Hearts* • Yakety Sax*

*CD Only

Happy Thanksgiving from DJ Kitschy Mama!

 Kitschy Mama is presenting a special selection of tasty turkey day gems for her Retro Obscuro show on WFMU at 2 pm Eastern.

Sez Kitschy Mama...

"Tune into WFMU-FM's Retro Obscuro, 𝚆𝚎𝚒𝚛𝚍𝚘 𝙾𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜 later today for a Thanksgiving Special featuring great lost songs about food from Chubby Checker, Sonny Terry, Bob Hope and many more! Tune in every Thursday at 2pm ET on WFMU Rock 'n' Soul Radio."

Here's the link: https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/158544

Do The Turkey now with song-poem king Rodd Keith below. 

It's the perfect musical accompaniment to whatever meal you're serving up!

Remembering Elmore James on his birthday

Here's Elmore James (right) with Homesick James and saxophonist J.T. Brown. Check out his classic Trumpet 78 and two Flair 45s.

Yes, we're thankful for rockin' Elmore James records and PBR too!

One For The Thanksgiving Weekend: Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

Here's a great Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee performance of "Long Gone (Like a Turkey Through The Corn)" 

R.I.P. fashion designer Pam Hogg, 1959-2025

Sadly, designer to the stars Siouxsie Sioux, Björk, Rihana, Kylie Minogue and others has passed away at 66. She'll be greatly missed.

Pete Rock plays The Phoenix Dec 14 followed by CL Smooth Dec 19

Great to have Pete Rock and former partner CL Smooth playing separate shows in Torono – don't count on a reunion anytime soon. 

Get tickets for Pete Rock's show on Dec 14 here and/or for CL Smooth's show on Dec 19 right here. 

Midweek Mixdown: Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine

Here's another sweet set of vintage soulful swingers from Matt "Mr. Fine Wine" Weingarden. 

Sez Mr. Fine Wine...

"The latest Downtown Soulville show on New Jersey radio station WFMU has now been permanently archived for anytime listening along with 25+ years of previous shows! Give it a listen at your leisure. Here's the playlist and a link to the sound file."

Check out Mr. Fine Wine's Downtown Soulville show from November 15th right here.

Watch Dead Moon's Toody Cole & her band live in Melbourne, Australia

Here's Toody Cole rockin' out with her Portland pals from The Spurs at PBS FM's studio in Melbourne, Australia recently. 

Here's the scoop...

Toody Cole, co-founder and mainstay of iconic Oregon group Dead Moon and the godmother of raw DIY rock 'n' roll, dropped by the Collingwood Yards studio of PBS 106.7 FM in Melbourne while in Australia for the first time fronting her own band, following three decades of appearances here with Dead Moon, Pierced Arrows and as a duo with her late great husband Fred Cole. In Toody Cole & Her Band, she is joined by Kelly Haliburton and Christopher March (on drums and guitar respectively) of fellow Oregon outfit Jenny Don't & The Spurs. 

The performance originally aired on Fang It! on Thursday November 20, 2025 - you can listen back to the audio archived here: pbsfm.org.au/program/fang-it/2025-11-20/17-00-00

Western World

Psychedelic Nightmare

Dagger Moon

Walking On My Grave

Caroline

Johnny

54-40 Or Fight

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul Maybury. 

Video by Patrick Turnbull / Two Way Media (instagram.com/twowaymedia1).

PBS FM is a member-funded community radio station based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. We have a dedicated team of volunteers broadcasting specialist music programming 24/7 via 106.7FM & PBS Digital in Naarm, and worldwide via www.pbsfm.org.au and the PBS app.

Michael Weston King previews new album with "La Bamba In The Rain"

Borne of grief, Michael Weston King's forthcoming album Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore is due early next year. Listen to the first track.

LINKS

Michael Weston King site: https://michaelwestonking.com/

Americana UK Michael Weston King - "La Bamba In The Rain"

Mamoru Banzai rocks Mossop's Social House, Wednesday

Ichi-Bons guitar slinger Mamoru Banzai hits Mossop's Social House (56 Yonge) for two sets (6:30 pm and 8 pm)

Sez Mamoru... 

"On Wednesday, November 26th, I will be playing 2 sets (6:30 pm & 8 pm) of electrified country blues at Mossop's Social House! No cover. Come by for some cocktails, food and music!" 

You can reserve a table at Mossop's right here. Watch Mamoru in action right here and over here. Those Ichi-Bons play the Shameful Tiki's 10th Anniversary Party at 777 Queen St. West on Friday (November 28). Watch Mamoru and his Ichi-Bons get down Dick Dale-style with a special guest in Paris below. 

R.I.P. Reggae great Jimmy Cliff, 1944-2025

Sadly, reggae great Jimmy Cliff has passed away at the age of 81. He'll be greatly missed. 

Nicola Conte digs up Italian sound library gems for his new "Viaggio" compilation

Nicola Conte's new archival comp Viaggio presents some amazing lesser known Italian film and television soundtrack swingers.

Viaggio compiled by Nicola Conte

Following his acclaimed five-part Viagem compilation series celebrating Brazil's forgotten bossa nova and samba jazz, Far Out, Blue Note and Schema recording artist and international DJ Nicola Conte turns his curatorial attention homeward with Viaggio, an extraordinary exploration of Italy's library music renaissance 1970-79.

The 12-track compilation spotlights the remarkable creative explosion that occurred during the seventies: when some of the greatest yet most historically overlooked composers, including Amedeo Tommasi, Alessandro Alessandroni and Max Rocci, were composing and recording huge amounts of original music for film and television libraries.

Unlike commercial releases designed for mass consumption, library music was created specifically to accompany images on screen. This meant creative freedom for composers who imagined scenarios, feelings and worlds to soundtrack. Pressed in limited quantities, these recordings were distributed only to internal circles of music supervisors, journalists, and television professionals – making them virtually invisible to the general public for decades.

This is a journey through a largely forgotten world, explains Conte. While major jazz recording opportunities were scarce, an incredible network of small labels owned by publishing companies – often created by the composers themselves – began to flourish. This created an open space where musicians could express more experimental and free thinking sounds.

At the heart of Viaggio stands Amedeo Tommasi, the sophisticated jazz pianist who emerged in 1960 backing international stars like Chet Baker, Bobby Jaspar, and Jacques Pelzer. Tommasi was among Italy's earliest artists to introduce Black US modal jazz influences, and when traditional recording opportunities dwindled, he pivoted to soundtrack and library music, helping define a distinctly Italian sound that bridged experimental jazz with the emerging possibilities afforded by developments in synthesizer and recording technologies.

The compilation features rare gems from small label outputs, namely the Girraffa, Cenacolo and Rotary label catalogs. Tommasi's contemporaries include the great Alessandro Alessandroni and his vocalist wife Giulia De Mutiis (Kema), Stefano Torrosi (under the alias Farlocco - meaning fake/phony), and Belgian composer Joël Vandroogenbroeck. The recordings capture the technological evolution of the era as beguiling synthesis often combines with global influences spanning Brazilian rhythms, jazz-funk explorations, and Middle Eastern scales.

You can hear both the haunting melodies and sun-kissed atmospheres so typical of Italian culture from that era, Conte observes. Some of these albums could have been proper artist releases, while others were specifically designed for accompanying images on screen, yet all were crafted with exploratory creativity that still resonates powerfully today.

Nicola Conte Presents Viaggio releases on Vinyl LP, CD and digitally on November 28th, via Far Out Recordings. Get a copy via Bandcamp right here. Watch Nicola's preview clip right here. 

TRACKLIST: Side A: Amedeo Tommasi - Brasilia (The Sound) Max Rocci & His Friends - Colorombo (Il Mondo Dei Giovani, Vol. 4) Max Rocci & His Friends - Niagara Falls (Il Mondo Dei Giovani, Vol. 4) Alessandroni E Il Suo Complesso - Via Mare (L'Ora Del Cocktail) Joël Vandroogenbroeck - Electronic Jungle (Images Of Flute In Nature) Kema - Pescatori (Canto Femminile) (La Natura E L'Uomo)

Side B: Desert - Leaving (Desert) The Swingers - Depressione (Jazz Video) Latrudi - Feeling (Teleobiettivo) Narassa, Amedeo Tommasi Trio - Lalo (Made In The USA) The Swingers feat. Marco Di Marco - Meditazione (Il Mondo Dei Giovani, Vol. 1) The Swingers - Nostalgia (Il Mondo Dei Giovani, Vol. 3)

Whaddya mean you don't know The Purple Sun

Check out The Purple Sun's apocalyptic fuzz-enhanced whumper "Doomsday" cut for Houston's Rampart Street Records in 1970.

Sugar Brown w/ Nichol Robertson & Andrew McCarthy @ The Cameron, Saturday

Sugar Brown will be playing songs from Toronto Bound with Nichol Robertson and Andrew McCarthy from 8 pm to 10 pm. 

Harrison Kennedy getting inducted into Escarpment Blues Hall Of Fame on Tuesday

Chairmen Of The Board legend Harrison Kennedy is honoured by the Escarpment Blues Society on Tuesday night. Well deserved!

Here's the scoop...

The Escarpment Blues Society proudly presents the Hall of Fame Induction Gala Concert honouring singer/songwriter Harrison Kennedy on Tuesday, November 25th! Join us for an unforgettable evening at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre (357 Wilson St. East, Hamilton) as we celebrate the life, music, and legacy of one of Canada’s most beloved blues artists.

This special event will feature live performances, stories, and a heartfelt tribute to Harrison Kennedy as he is inducted into the Escarpment Blues Society Hall of Fame!

Come be part of history, raise a glass with friends, and honour a true blues legend whose voice and songs have inspired audiences around the world. Seating is limited, reserve your spot now for this once-in-a-lifetime celebration. 

You can get tickets for the Escarpment Blues Society's Hall Of Fame gala featuring a performance by the EBS All Stars along with Harrison Kennedy and friends on Tuesday (November 25) directly from the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre right  here. Watch a few clips below. 

 

LINKS 

Harrison Kennedy site

Escarpment Blues Society site

Remembering singer/pianist and composer Hoagy Carmichael on his birthday!

Remembering Hoagy Carmichael with a 1961 appearance on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, two versions of "Stardust" and more. 

"Play It Loud!" star Jay Douglas lights up the Old Mill, Friday

The electrifying Jay Douglas – subject of the Play It Loud! documentary – hits the Old Mill with his all star band on Friday at 8 pm.

Toronto, get ready for an unforgettable evening with Jay Douglas — three-time Juno nominee, legendary bandleader, producer, and one of Canada’s most beloved and charismatic Island soul ambassadors.

From Rastafest to the 4 Seasons Reggae Cruise, Jay has lit up stages around the world. He’s collaborated with icons like Beres Hammond, Freddie McGregor, Marcia Griffiths, Luciano, Ken Boothe, Ziggy Marley, and the legendary Ernest Ranglin. 

Beyond the music, Jay’s heart is in the community — including helping bring Reggae Lane to life in Toronto.

As can be seen in Graeme Mathieson's excellent documentary, Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul (check it out here here), Jay's music career in Toronto began as the frontman of The Cougars, who ruled the local Caribbean club scene in the 60s and showcased at Toronto's inaugural Caribana Festival in 1967. 

And now he’s bringing that timeless magic to The Old Mill (21 Old Mill Rd) this Friday (November 21) from 8 pm to 10 pm. Tickets are $30, available online at www.oldmilltoronto.com or call 416-207-2020 for reservations.  Don’t miss this night of soul, storytelling, and pure good vibes. 

Watch a CBC interview with Jay followed by a couple of recent performances below. 

Remembering pianst Charlie Palmieri on his birthday

Remembering pianist/bandleader Charlie Palmieri with the Montuno Sessions and two performances with brother Eddie Palmieri. 

Ron Mann's "Clairtone" doc about the 60s Canuck hi-fi company screens @ Hot Docs, Dec 5

Jazz legend Oscar Peterson and Frank Sinatra were both fans of Clairtone's futuristic "Project G" home listening system... sweet! 

Here's the scoop...

Acclaimed director Ron Mann delves into the captivating rise and fall of Clairtone, an audacious Canadian electronics company founded by Peter Munk (Barrick Gold) and David Gilmour during the vibrant 1960s. 

For a decade, Clairtone Sound Corporation captured the spirit of the times: sophisticated, cosmopolitan, liberated. From its modern oiled-walnut and teak stereos to its minimalist logos and promotional materials, Clairtone produced a powerful and enduring body of work that epitomized iconic mid-century design. 

Clairtone soared to international acclaim, becoming a symbol of Canadian ingenuity and modernity; however, after six years of spectacular growth, Clairtone’s collision with economic challenges led to their dramatic decline. 

Writes Peter Munk's daughter Nina Munk: "As some of you know, my father Peter Munk and David Gilmour founded Clairtone Sound Corporation in 1958. For a brief but dazzling stretch it was one of Canada’s most admired companies, celebrated for its sleek designs and daring advertising. Clairtone's Project G hi-fi became a symbol of the Swinging Sixties: Hugh Hefner had one, Frank Sinatra too, and Oscar Peterson swore his music sounded as good on the Project G as it did live. 

"A new documentary tells the story of Clairtone’s meteoric rise and spectacular fall — a story of audacity, beauty, and the boundless optimism of invention. When the director Ron Mann asked me to narrate the film, I didn't hesitate. Not only because Ron is a superb filmmaker, but because Clairtone was my father’s “first love,” as he often said. More ruefully, he once told the New York Times, “Clairtone was the single most formative experience in my life because it was so traumatic.”

"I was born the year Clairtone collapsed — the year my father remembered as the worst of his life. Clairtone has always loomed large in my imagination, as it did in his. A few years ago, together with the curator Rachel Gotlieb, I wrote a book about the company. And now this. If my father were still alive, he'd be over the moon to see this story on screen.

"The world premiere is Friday, December 5 at Toronto's Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, where Ron and I will be speaking. Tickets are still available. A national tour follows with screenings in Montréal, Vancouver, Victoria, Halifax, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and Kingston."

Ron Mann's "Clairtone" documentary premieres at Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor St. West) on Friday (December 5) at 6 pm with Ron Mann and Nina Munk present. Tickets are $15, members $10 available right here. For upcoming screenings near you, follow the link to the Films We Like site below. Check the clips featuring Clairtone co-founder Peter Munk, his Clairtone operation and their products. 

LINKS

Films We Like Clairtone

R.I.P. Gary "Mani" Mounfield of the Stone Roses, Primal Scream

Sadly, Gary "Mani" Mounfield, bassist with the Stone Roses and Primal Scream, has passed away at 63. He'll be greatly missed.  

LINKS

The Guardian Gary 'Mani' Mounfield, bassist with the Stone Roses and Primal Scream, dies at 63

Etobicoke Jazz Fest w/ Jane Bunnett & Irene Torres @ The Old Mill, Thursday

The pairing of flautist Jane Bunnett with singer Irene Torres makes for a stellar double bill tonight at the Old Mill. Doors at 6:30 pm. 

Remembering Dr. John on his birthday

Remembering Dr. John on his birthday with an interview, his Midnight Special appearance from 1973 and more.