"MUSIC BINDS US ALL"

Improvisation 101: Catching the Musical Wave

2010-07-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

“Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.”

Improvisation focuses on carrying one’s personal reality into a moment of sublime pulsation and consciousness in which one can develop a greater understanding towards whatever action is being concentrated on. The combination of awareness and thoughts can enable a musician to know he or she can act within a range of ideas that can best fit the situation; even if this moment has yet to be experienced. This can result in uncharted territory for an artist of any kind.

The art of improvisation has been utilized by tradesman for many centuries. Composers, artists, authors, poets, film directors and musicians have all explored this magical craft. The skills can apply to several talents and forms of communication, which express artistic, scientific and cognitive qualities. This can result in the creation of new practices, ideas, patterns and structures.

“There's no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others." - Wynton Marsalis

There is something unique about artists or bands that get together to “jam.” Quite simply, there is nothing like it. Making sure every live performance remains fresh and different is quite an achievement for a musician. The Dropa Stone, an "experimental jam-rock" band originally from South Florida has a similar approach to their live performance. Simply performing a set list of the same songs in the same fashion every night can be a grueling task, but allowing things to be fresh, “tight but loose,” can push the songs to morph and magnify itself with each show. Within each song is an ability to push the limits and see what is and isn't possible. It can enhance one’s individual prowess on an instrument. This is the point when separate entities combine together to form one source of inspiration.

Composed written music to that of improvised music may seem to be exact opposites, but in Jazz they combine to form a unique mixture. "You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." - Duke Ellington.

This is important because it illustrates the important of songwriting. Without a song, there is no vehicle for exploration or experimentation. This has been true for all genres of music from classical to jazz, to blues to rock.

This approach is a great technique when constructing new songs, experimenting on hypotheses or drawing paintings. Some of the most magnificent creations in human history have been as a result of taking chances; “on the spot magic.” Great songs have been born as a result of that one riff, one groove, one bass line that pops out of nowhere. Another jazz legend, Thelonious Monk's Straight, No Chaser is an example of an intricate composition that was built from an improvised line.

There is something about entering the unknown which is both nerve wracking and enlightening at the same time. Sometimes you miss just slightly, sometimes you fail and sometimes you exceed with grand results. How do you know if you don’t try?

The true value of improvisation can be drawn from an artist’s individual creativity and that process of physical expression is what we call…..MUSIC.

What Was Your First Miles Davis Album?

2010-05-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

I usually check in here on Thursdays or Fridays, so we missed Miles Davis' birthday anniversary by at least one day. I'll still share something on my mind to mark what would have been Miles' 84th.

The first Miles Davis album I heard was Live-Evil. How scary is that?

For those unfamiliar with Miles' recorded works, it's an unconventional place to dip your toe into the water. It's electric, dense, deliberate — but ultimately glorious in its mash-up of crunchy hard rock guitar, funk and disregard for expectations. As a budding percussionist I was forever changed by Airto's avant-garde use of traditional Brazilian instruments.

From Live-Evil it was on to Get Up With It, with its organ drones and plaintive, electronically-treated trumpet blasts. Then Live At the Fillmore and Dark Magus. All records from Miles Davis' electric period — and all not in the usual Top Ten Miles Davis lists.

By that time, someone had already given me a copy of Kind of Blue, but I don't think I had even opened it. This was 1976-77, and I was into hard rock, Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. Electric Miles made sense to me.

That's why the upcoming deluxe re-release(s) of Bitches Brew have my mouth watering. Remastered songs, unreleased tracks, DVDs of his band from that period (1970): It's all a treasure trove of the DNA of Miles' electric period. Though I still have my vinyl copy, as well as various CD versions, I'm excited to listen again to how it all started and put it into the context of what came after. As for the extravagant packaging: some of us still dig getting all the cool things that come in big vinyl-album-size boxes after years of opening those ridiculously small CD cases with tiny print and lame album cover art.

Is it a blatant attempt to sell even more Miles Davis records? Maybe. But Miles Davis albums will probably sell no matter what record companies do to market them. And for that we can be grateful.

What was your first Miles Davis album?

By: Felix Contreras
NPR.Org

In Support of Danny Tate

2010-05-23T07:21:00.001-07:00

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The Dropa Stone Planning to Record New Album in 2010

2010-02-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Music News Wire 2/17/2010 – Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Nashville -

THE DROPA STONE PLANNING TO RECORD NEW ALBUM IN 2010

Known for their avant-garde sound, rock quartet
THE DROPA STONE announced plans on Wednesday to enter the studio in the late spring to record a full length album of new material.

Music News Wire reports the band is currently writing and preparing dozens of new songs to include on a new album that will showcase the group’s musical versatility, chops and song writing. According to singer/guitarist Jon Meyers, the songs have been pouring out a rapid rate and touch on several genres, including strong elements within their rock sound; reggae, jazz, blues and funk.

The band recently introduced Justin Henry as a permanent member prior to their travels in the west coast, which saw them perform at venues such as the Viper Room in West Hollywood, California. Taking the role of lead guitarist, Henry brings his blues, jazz and progressive rock roots into the fold. Henry performed live and wrote sporadically with the members for more than year before officially announcing his permanent involvement with The Dropa Stone.

Meyers revealed the band’s focus currently is on song writing and preparing for the album, but said to be on the lookout for select show dates around Florida and the Southeast through the summer. Fans may get a small glimpse at some of the new songs, but Meyers warned the majority will be held under lock and key until the release date. Small teaser clips showing some of The Dropa Stone’s new songs have been posted online at the bands Youtube, Facebook and Myspace pages.

“We are really excited to enter the studio in the spring and show everyone what we have been working on the last couple of months. We have evolved immensely since our days as a trio and the initial E.P. We are really focused on the song writing and execution. I think fans will be very pleased,” Meyers said.

Joe Lederman of The Dropa Stone Sits in with Albert Castiglia

2009-12-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

- Ft. Lauderdale, FL

On Saturday November 28th, 2009, fans and music lovers at Maguires Hill 16, a prominent blues club in Ft. Lauderdale, FL were treated to a one of a kind performance. Famed blues virtuoso guitarist ALBERT CASTIGLIA was joined onstage for his final set of the evening by drummer Joe Lederman of THE DROPA STONE for an inspiring jam session.

Nationally acclaimed and regarded as one of the finest blues guitarists, Albert Castiglia was named “Best Blues Guitarist” by New Times Magazine in 1997 and is a 2009 BLUES MUSIC AWARDS SONG OF THE YEAR NOMINEE. Castiglia shows an expressiveness and originality in approach that identifies him as an emerging star within contemporary blues circles,” said Nashville’s City Paper.

Known for their avant-garde sound and psychedelic blend of rock and blues, The Dropa Stone’s Lederman fused crisply with the Castiglia band and even took off on an impressive drum solo which demonstrated his rock and jazz influences. Lederman just returned from a tour of the west coast where his band, The Dropa Stone performed at the renowned VIPER ROOM in Hollywood, CA.

The trio of Castiglia, Lederman and powerhouse bassist AJ Kelly then took off on a 30 minute encore that saw multiple improvised jams and rocking interpretations of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and the Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain.”

Check out some fan-shot videos of this performance HERE!

Empire State Building to Get Tie-Dye Lighting in Honor of Grateful Dead

2009-10-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

GRATEFUL DEAD TO BE HONORED OCTOBER 19
IN NEW YORK CITY WITH SPECIAL LIGHTING OF
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IN TIE-DYE COLORS

BOB WEIR AND PHIL LESH IN MANHATTAN FOR
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY FUNDRAISER OCTOBER 21

The Grateful Dead will be honored in New York City this Monday, October 19 when the Empire State Building is lit up with special tie-dye colors celebrating the group’s appearance in the city later that week. The color scheme will represent the group’s iconic imagery and psychedelic influences.

On Wednesday, October 21, Bob and Phil will attend a fundraiser at the New York Historical Society as part of an exhibit celebrating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band. The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New York Historical Society traces the career and achievements of a band that became one of the significant cultural forces in 20th century America. Through a wealth of original artwork and documents including concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners and decorated fan mail, the exhibition will explore the musical creativity and influence of the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1995, the sociological phenomenon of the Dead Heads and the enduring impact of the Dead’s pioneering approach to the music business. Materials in the exhibition will be drawn almost exclusively from the extraordinary holdings of the Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California Santa Cruz, established in 2008.

For more information on the NYHS exhibition,CLICK HERE.

Rothbury Festival Live Streaming

2009-07-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

For those of us who were not lucky enough to get there this weekend, here is some relief thanks to Rumbum.com. Schedule is below!

http://rumbum.com/sections/54

Friday, July 3

1:45 p.m. - King Sunny Ade - LIVE

2:45 p.m. - Toubab Krewe - LIVE

3:30 p.m. - G. Love and Special Sauce - LIVE

5:00 p.m. - Keller Williams - LIVE

6:30 p.m. - Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley and NAS - LIVE

8:00 p.m. - Brett Dennen - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 3rd, 2 p.m. Performance)

8:45 p.m. - The String Cheese Incident - LIVE

12:30 a.m. - The Disco Biscuits - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 2nd Performance)
Saturday, July 4

1:30 p.m. - Ralph Stanley - LIVE

2:45 p.m. - Martin Sexton - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 3rd Performance)

3:30 p.m. - Jackie Green - LIVE

4:45 p.m. - Sun Volt - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 4th, 2:30 Performance)

5:30 p.m. - The Black Crowes - LIVE

7:00 p.m. - Railroad Earth - LIVE

8:30 p.m. - John Butler - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 4th, 6:45 Performance)

10:00 p.m. - Lotus - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 2nd Performance)

11:30 p.m. - STS9 - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 3rd Performance)
Sunday, July 5

1:45 p.m. - Toots and Maytals - LIVE

3:00 p.m. - Four Finger Five - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 4th Performance)

3:45 p.m. - Yonder Mountain String Band - LIVE

5:15 p.m. - The Hard Lessons - Delayed from Sherwood (ROTHBURY July 5, 1 p.m. Performance)

6:00 p.m. - Willie Nelson - LIVE

7:30 p.m. - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Delayed from Sherwood (ROTHBURY July 5th, 3:45 Performance)

8:45 p.m. - Flogging Molly - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 3rd Performance)

10:00 p.m. - Ani Difrance - Delayed from Sherwood (ROTHBURY July 5th, 7:15 Performance)

11:45 p.m. - Matisyahu - Delayed from Sherwood (ROTHBURY July 5, 5:30 Performance)

1:00 a.m. - Umphrey's McGee - Delayed from Ranch (ROTHBURY July 4th Performance)

THRILLER PRISON STYLE

2009-06-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

FULL LINE-UP FOR VOODOO EXPERIENCE TO BE CONFIRMED IN THE COMING WEEKS

2009-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Widespread Panic To Play Voodoo Experience

This year, New Orleans residents and music fans traveling from around the world will witness history in the making as acclaimed Athens, GA band Widespread Panic take the stage this Halloween weekend at the Voodoo Experience. Details about Panic's performance will be released in the coming months, while news about the full Voodoo Experience (October 30, 31 and November 1) line-up is scheduled for later this month.

"We have discussed the idea of bringing these two New Orleans Halloween traditions together for years, it only took us 11 years to get it done," says Voodoo Experience founder and producer Stephen Rehage. "Voodoo and Panic kind of grew up together in New Orleans, endured and returned from the storm, so it's special for us to be working together with them."

Widespread Panic's John Bell says, "The Voodoo Experience has been kicking ass for ten years and adding to the spell New Orleans has on the rest of the country and beyond. We're proud to be included in the tradition. Hope it's scary."

The 11th annual Voodoo Experience will once again celebrate music, as well as New Orleans' bohemian culture, arts and cuisine. More than 160 bands will perform in three distinct performance areas - Le Ritual, Le Flambeau and Le Carnival - and eight stages each highlight a unique side of the personality of New Orleans.

For a limited time, three-day weekend tickets are $123, ALL IN with no additional fees; LOA Lounge VIP pass are $396, ALL IN with no additional fees and are available via Ticketmaster.com and the www.thevoodooexperience.com, where you can find further info about this event. - From http://www.jambase.com

http://www.thevoodooexperience.com/2009/

A Change Is Gonna Come

2009-06-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Inspiration

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.
The Production

We built a mobile recording studio, equipped with all the same equipment used in the best studios, and traveled to wherever the music took us. As technology changed, our power demands were downsized from golf cart batteries to car batteries, and finally to laptops. Similarly, the quality with which we were able to film and document the project was gradually upgraded from a variety of formats-- each the best we could attain at the time—finally to full HD.

One thing that never changed throughout the process was our commitment to create an environment for the musicians in which they could create freely and that placed no barriers between them and those who would eventually experience their music. By leading with that energy and intent everywhere we traveled, we were freely given access to musicians and locations that are usually inaccessible. In this respect, the inspiration that originally set us on this path became a co-creator of the project along with us!
The Effect

Over the course of this project, we decided it was not enough for our crew just to record and share this music with the world; we wanted to create a way to give back to the musicians and their communities that had shared so much with us. And so in 2007 we created the Playing for Change Foundation, a separate 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation whose mission is to do just that. In early 2008, we established Timeless Media, a for-profit entity that funds and extends the work of Playing for Change. Later that year, Timeless Media entered into a joint venture with the Concord Music Group through the support of label co-owner and entertainment legend Norman Lear and Concord Music Group executive vice president of A&R John Burk. Our goal is to bring PFC’s music, videos and message to the widest possible audience.

Now, musicians from all over the world are brought together to perform benefit concerts that build music and art schools in communities that are in need of inspiration and hope. In addition to benefit concerts, the Playing for Change band also performs shows around the world. When audiences see and hear musicians who have traveled thousands of miles from their homes, united in purpose and chorus on one stage, everyone is touched by music's unifying power.

And now, everyone can participate in this transformative experience by joining the Playing for Change Movement. People are hosting screenings, musicians are holding benefit concerts of every size, fans are spreading the message of Playing for Change through our media, and this is only the beginning. Together, we will connect the world through music!

http://www.playingforchange.com/

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm - A New Release

2009-06-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

The worry about the reunion of the original Dinosaur Jr. line-up, more than 20 years after their formation and legendary dissolution, was that these guys were just flogging the back catalog as a marketing gimmick. With the release of Beyond, in 2007, the band gave a hearty Marshall-driven "F**K YOU!" answer to those inquiring ears. Restoring the sound established by the opening hat-trick gambit of Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me, and Bug, the Beyond record continued the band's march into rock greatness by making old ears smile and new ears bleed afresh. And now comes Farm , Dinosaur Jr.'s first double LP and their fifth full length record by the original line-up -- J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph -- set to release on their new label home Jagjaguwar on June 23rd.

If Beyond was Dinosaur Jr.'s return to form, Farm is proof that this band continues to deliver that which makes rock worth cranking to 11. At times wholly 70's guitar-epic, at times perfect for sitting by a babbling brook with Joni and Neil, Farm encompasses Dinosaur Jr.'s signature palette - soaring and distorted guitar, unshakable hooks, honey-rich melodies - songs that get into your head and, bouncing around happily, stay there. The ear-catching "Plans" is nearly 7 minutes of classic whipped-topping rock dessert, while "I Don't Wanna Go There" is a meat-and-potatoes main dish, mixing unapologetic lead guitar with straight-ahead delivery a la James Gang or Humble Pie. These two tunes round out twelve tracks propelled by the unique energy of one of America's greatest living rock bands hitting their stride.

Farm was recorded in J Mascis' Bisquiteen studio in Amherst, Massachusetts, and was produced by Mascis.

From: Jambase.com

The Dead Come Back to Life Again in the Obama Age

2009-05-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

The band was ahead of its time in many ways
By GREG KOT
Chicago Tribune

The Grateful Dead won't die, in part because their fans – some of whom now work in the White House – won't let them.

The band broke up in 1995 when Jerry Garcia, one of the greatest guitarists of his generation and the Papa Bear of Dead-dom, succumbed to a lifetime of excess. Infighting among the survivors made future collaborations highly unlikely. "It's hard to say goodbye, it's hard to let go, but the page got turned for us," drummer Mickey Hart told the Chicago Tribune a year after the guitarist's death.

But the Dead never went away, sustained by hundreds of archival recordings and a community of fans that stretched into every sector of society – including the administration of President Barack Obama. Two of the president's senior advisers, David Axelrod and Pete Rouse, as well as deputy chief of staff Jim Messina count themselves among the legion of Deadheads.

The Obama team was instrumental in the band's latest comeback as the Dead (no longer "Grateful," alas). The estranged band members were invited to play an Obama rally in Pennsylvania last October, and things went so well that the core surviving members – guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, drummers Hart and Bill Kreutzmann – decided to keep rolling. They returned to play the Inaugural Ball last Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., and this month embarked on a 23-date tour. The touring lineup also includes singer-guitarist Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band) and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti (of Weir's band Rat Dog).

After Garcia died, the survivors feuded over everything from digital bootlegging of the band's archives to – what else? – money. A couple of reunions over the last decade, first billed as the Other Ones and then as the Dead, were hits at the box office (a 2003-04 tour raked in $18 million), but did little to quell personal tensions. Now, thanks in part to Obama's efforts, the band is once again hitting the road, including a stop May 9 at the Forum in Inglewood, and tentatively talking about writing new songs.

It remains to be seen if the latest reunion will be about more than just another payday. But what is indisputable is that the Grateful Dead was a band which both embodied its time (the band is practically synonymous with the hippie culture and the psychedelic music that flourished around it in the '60s) and was ahead of it. Long before the Internet was a factor in the way music was made, distributed and marketed, the Dead presaged its impact, and became a model for how bands could thrive in a digital age.

In 1994, technology expert Esther Dyson suggested that the ease with which digital content could be copied and distributed would require a new economic model for copyright-holders. They would have to "distribute intellectual property free in order to sell services and relationships."

No band was better at selling "services and relationships" to its fans than the Grateful Dead, and no band understood better that free distribution of its music could be a pathway to building a bigger, more loyal audience that would reward the band's trust.

Here's how the Dead anticipated the future we now live in during its 1965-1995 life span:

– Free music: The Dead was among the first bands to encourage its fans to tape its concerts and distribute tapes to their fellow Dead-heads worldwide. A specially designated "tapers section" was set up at each show near the sound board, and fans brought increasingly sophisticated gear to document nearly every one of the Dead's 2,000-plus concerts.

– Make the product unique: Garcia expressed disdain for the recording studio countless times – heresy in an era where the studio album became the centerpiece of music culture. Garcia insisted that live performance was the lifeblood of his band's music, and created a template for the jam-band culture. The Dead's studio recordings slowed to a trickle as the decades passed. Instead, the band focused on turning its shows into epic, four-hour must-see events for its followers. The Dead turned touring into an art form, a combination of high-tech ingenuity and grassroots communication. The shows were infamous for their ups and downs, the possibility that the band could fail, but the sense of improvisation and spontaneity became an increasingly alluring alternative, especially in the highly choreographed MTV era. Fans paid to see multiple shows on the same tour, knowing that each would be one-of-a-kind.

– Who needs record companies?: Though the Dead worked with major labels throughout its career, the labels had very little to do with the band's inner workings. The Dead's operation was essentially self-contained, a network of friends and associates from the San Francisco area who assumed various jobs within what would become a highly successful corporation, Grateful Dead Productions. The band's mail-order service and later Web site, deadnet.com, became a gathering place for the Dead's worldwide fan base and sustained the band's legacy long after Garcia's death.

– Sell direct to fans: The Dead released dozens of recordings from a bottomless stash of archives direct to fans, presaging the marketplace experiments of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. The Dead released only 13 studio albums in its 30-year lifetime. That relatively paltry number is dwarfed by dozens of live releases, including 36 volumes of the "Dick's Picks" archival series alone. The series was named after archivist Dick Latvala, who ascended from the ranks of the tapers' section in the '70s to become one of the band's most trusted lieutenants. These releases, which were promoted only through the band's mail-order service and (later) Internet site, in many cases exceeded the quality of the band's major-label recordings.

– The band as brand: The Dead dealt not just in T-shirts and hats, but in flip-flops and golf gloves. Frisbees, mugs, bar stools and license-plate frames. Key chains, a board game and socks. Magnets, patches and pins. Baby-clothes "onesies," hoodies and a miniature pyramid. The band also spawned a cottage industry of books, DVD's and even a syndicated radio show ("The Grateful Dead Hour"). The Dead became synonymous not just with a style of a music or a certain era, but with a way of life that transcended generations.

– Remix, remake, reinvent: Were the Dead the first modern rock band? Like all artists, the Dead borrowed freely from the music and traditions that preceded them. But a strong case could be made that no band worked with a wider palette or blended the colors more audaciously. By constantly reinventing itself through its music, the band remained relevant across the decades. Under the rubric of "American music," the Dead mixed blues, country, folk, early rock 'n' roll, jazz, experimental and even classical music into a fluid framework built not only on deep knowledge of the past but a mischievous desire to reshape it. The band improvised its way through thousands of shows, and suggested that songs were not immutable artifacts, but organic entities that could be bent, folded and occasionally mutilated to suit the needs of the moment. In this respect, they anticipated the mix-and-match styles that would surface and flourish in the last few decades, from the cut-and-paste approach of hip-hop and collage artists such as Girl Talk, to the recombinant rock of Beck and the Flaming Lips. John Oswald's 1995 studio manipulation of multiple incarnations of the Dead's epic song "Dark Star" on the album "Grayfolded" is among the first widely recognized mash-ups.

Four Dead In Ohio

2009-05-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Today is the anniversary of the Kent State (OH) Massacre. David Crosby says he and Neil Young were together when he wrote the song. According to Crosby it was when he and Young first heard about the shootings at Kent State. Neil Young became furious and started playing his guitar and wrote the song on the spot. "Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming...."

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Jimmy Herring: Don't Say No

2009-05-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

Superheroes don't always look super in their day-to-day lives. Case in point, Jimmy Herring, a quiet, perfectly gracious Southern man, who'll shake your hand and let you yack his ear off longer than he probably should. In short, the definition of mild mannered, but put an electric guitar in his hands and he is transformed into an octopus-fingered, quicksilver smooth marvel, notes gleaming as bright as the Silver Surfer as he blows your hair back with studied grace.

The first time I saw Herring perform was with Aquarium Rescue Unit at the 1993 H.O.R.D.E. tour. A sparse crowd at the amphitheatre sat mostly bemused by the instrument de-tuning, Zappa-esque strangeness mucking up their afternoon, but a handful of us were crouched at the lip of the stage, rapt with honest wonder. After one especially gnarly-beautiful solo, I actually bowed down in front of Herring in full "I'm not worthy" Wayne-and-Garth mode. Meant it, too. And the intervening 16 years have only seen him harness that wild brilliance into some of the sharpest, most technically exacting yet massively satisfying guitar work of the past few decades. Without overt hype, it's clear to anyone who's been paying attention to Herring's playing with luminaries like Phil Lesh & Friends, the Allman Brothers Band and especially in recent times with Widespread Panic that he's well on his way to joining the highly exclusive six-string pantheon of Al Di Meola, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson and the rest of the Guitar Player magazine cover boys. However, Herring seems to be making his ascension sans the usual ego, showiness and self-indulgence that often mar otherwise fabulous players. With him, we get the best parts of Clark Kent and Superman, and wowee zowee is it a sweet combination.

Last October, Herring released his first solo album, Lifeboat (read the review here), and has begun touring behind the material as a headliner for the first time in his career, which stretches back to the late '80s. The core band on the all-instrumental Lifeboat is comprised of Herring (guitar), Oteil Burbridge (bass), Jeff Sipe (drums) and Kofi Burbridge (piano, flute), who are bolstered by quality guest spots from Derek Trucks, Bobby Lee Rodgers (Codetalkers), Ike Stubblefield and sax great Greg Osby. Full of strut and fusion-dude complexity, the album also reveals a real gift for melody and band leadership that his more rock-oriented fare hasn't shown quite as clearly. Lifeboat skips wonderfully, while also taking time to pull us in close occasionally. Confident, fun and masterfully played, it's a great solo debut and JamBase was anxious to hear about its creation and explore some of his rich history.

JamBase: You're at a point in your career where you could potentially do just about anything.

Jimmy Herring: Only thing is I wish I was more free so I could do more, but I'm just no good at trying to do ten things at once. I'm just blessed all the way around. I can't complain about anything. I wish I didn't have to sleep [laughs]. Then, we could do a LOT of stuff.

JamBase: I'm with you on that. I sometimes resent having to sleep. It's positive, in a way, when one is so into what they're doing that they don't want to stop. A lot of folks don't want to get out of bed in the morning.

Jimmy Herring: I feel that way sometimes, too [laughs]. But, you do what you choose to do, and I know for me, personally, that if I try to do too much at once something's going to suffer. And all of it is so important to me that I don't want any of it to suffer.

And you've got two major mainstays going with the solo record and tour and Widespread keeping you busy. Part of what I love about Panic is that it's this big trundling monstrosity that could come off the rails any minute.

Yeah, man, and they're such good people. I've known them since '89, and they've always been such a classy organization. They're always trying to help as many people as they can and they're just wonderful people. So, when they called me I said, "You just tell me what you need."

When I was talking to Luther Dickinson last year about learning the Crowes songbook, you came up. Luther said, "It's nothing compared to what Jimmy has to learn in Panic."

Well, Luther will say that but Luther can do anything. He's fabulous, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Let's talk about Lifeboat. Why do you think it took you so long to have an album with the name 'Jimmy Herring' on the front?

Well, I'm trying to think of a good reason and I don't really have one [laughs]. Music is a collaborative effort, in my view. Sure, you can have somebody write a tune but what people play on it is them. I can remember this situation where I was sort of the front of the band I was in when I was a kid, and it puts a lot of pressure on you to be the guy that has to say, "Hey do this" or "Hey do that." Being a bandleader comes with responsibility and it can put you in a situation where you're not the nicest person in the band. I'm not sure that's the right way to put it but I just didn't want to be a bandleader. Plus, I feel like I can work for other people better than working for myself.

I fully get not wanting to be the guy who says, "You're fired," especially to someone who's been bunking three-feet above you for months.

Exactly! That's big right there. Also, I just seem to be better at working for other people. I'm not a prolific writer. I can write songs but I throw most of them out because they sound like something I've heard. When I'm composing I'm trying to do something I know wasn't just stolen from someone else.

I think Lifeboat is very striking in that way because it sounds very little like any of your earlier work.

That was a conscious effort, but it wasn't just that. I wanted to work with Jeff, Oteil and Kofi, who I've been playing with for 20 years on and off, and we'd never done anything like this before, but we could have [laughs]. We've done things like this for other people but the times we'd played together it was mostly improvisational things, which is all good – I wanted that to be a factor in this music, too – but, to me, in great music the solos are just part of it, not the main focus.

Lifeboat strikes me a lot like Jeff Beck's early solo albums, where there's immediacy of playing but also real compositional acumen.

Thank you very much! That's one of the things I was shooting for. When we started playing together – Jeff, Oteil, Kofi and myself – we were fusion heads. We were into anything from Weather Report to the Dixie Dregs – one of my favorite bands – to Mahavishnu Orchestra and the bands that Miles Davis had. And Allan Holdsworth is my all-time fave. He's in a class by himself, and I'm just happy to be in there somewhere [laughs]. He's somebody I have the utmost respect for. Both he and the Dregs, too, battled uphill struggles for years, being told by everybody, "You can't do this." They told the Dregs, "You can't have an instrumental rock band. It just won't work." And Holdsworth was always being told no, too, by record company people and such, but in the '80s Eddie Van Halen discovered Holdsworth and [Eddie] was the biggest guitar player on the planet at the time. He started telling anybody who'd listen, "If you think I'm good then you have to hear Allan Holdsworth. He's doing things that I couldn't even dream of." He got him a record deal, and if Holdsworth had wanted to get rich he could have. He's one of the few true masters that we have. He doesn't think so but the people who listen know. I stayed away from listening to him for years [to avoid being overly influenced by him]. He's one of my favorite musicians, period, and the guitar just happens to be what he plays.

What's always gotten me about Holdsworth is the general musicality that transcends his instrument. I think the first time I ever heard him was the Jean-Luc Ponty album Enigmatic Ocean, which sent me spiraling. It was an awakening that music doesn't need to be a genre card in a record bin.

His cuts on that album are just devastating! That album changed my life, too. And those guys just did it their way and I really respect them for it.

Do you feel your own career has followed a similar path?

No, not necessarily [laughs]. I've been lucky. I come from rock 'n' roll, that's my background. That's where I started and the music that made me want to pick up a guitar isn't the kind of stuff we've been talking about. I didn't hear that until I was older and had been playing, and it changed my direction almost immediately. Actually, the first thing it did was depress me and make me think, "Why am I even bothering to play when people can play like that?" But, I had good family members that encouraged me, and, even though I didn't believe it, they kept at me, telling me I could. Eventually, I started to try and I'm still not at a point where I feel I can play that music, but it gave me the desire to keep going and progress and not just be happy playing one thing.

I don't think you could find two more diverse projects than Lifeboat and what you do in Panic.

Remember back in the '70s – and I don't personally remember this but I was told about it – Bill Graham would put Miles Davis and the Steve Miller Band on the same stage. I miss Bill Graham so bad.

Festivals are the closest we come to this active blurring of styles but even given the opportunity many or even most folks will still fill their dance card with known things of a similar bent. But, when you put divergent artists on the same stage on the same night it actually changes how you hear music. I love that blurring of lines, which I think you've done a number of times, like with Jazz Is Dead, who took songs I thought I knew by the Dead and turned them on their ear.

That was an incredible experience. I got to work with legends, complete icons in my mind - T [Lavitz, keys] was in the Dixie Dregs, Alphonso [Johnson, bass] was in Weather Report and Billy [Cobham, drums] was in Mahavishnu Orchestra. Then, when Billy had left and Rod Morgenstein [Dixie Dregs] came in it was great, too.

I've been very blessed. First, I got to play in this band with Bruce [aka Col. Bruce Hampton] and then I get a call out of left field for the Jazz Is Dead thing. Then, the Allman Brothers thing was a shock, especially with Dickey [Betts] still around and playing so well. There have been things that have come along that I've had to work hard at because I wasn't too familiar with the music, like playing Dead tunes. But, we weren't playing them like the Dead, so I could just play 'em like I do.

Jazz Is Dead was a potent reminder that the Dead's compositions are really flexible.

They are! And I learned even more about that when I got the chance to play with Phil [Lesh]. That's one of the best bands I've ever had the pleasure of playing in. Phil really worked on getting us to play together. His thing was not having solos. He doesn't even like the word 'solo.' I used to call it "the s-word" as a joke. In his mind – and it's the most beautiful philosophy – music is a communal thing. And a 'solo' indicates being single, by yourself, and that's not the way he likes to view it, which is one huge group conversation. Warren [Haynes] and I were both coming from a school where when it was your turn you stepped up to play and that was how it worked. Then, when we started playing with Phil he didn't want any solos, per se. He wants you to chip away at your individual personalities and give something to the collective.

Exactly! He would put it like we were a school of fish or flock of birds, and sometimes you're the first in the group, up front, and other times you're in the middle, and other times still you're bringing up the rear. He's an incredible individual. I learned a lot from playing with him. We used to call it "P.L.U." – Phil Lesh University.

Moving onto Widespread, there's a perception amongst some Panic fans that you kind of saved that band. Are you at all aware of this notion? There was a feeling amongst a share of the hardcores that George McConnell wasn't working out and the days of their favorite band might be numbered.

I've been approached by people who've said similar things and it's very sweet of them to say that, but it's not true. Widespread could have gotten anybody, man. But, the kind of people they are they didn't go out looking for the bitchinest guitar player. That's not what they do. With them it's people first, and it's a testament to them as people. George was their friend and I'm sure they gave it a try. I think they still love George, and I like him a lot, too. I haven't seen him in a long time but I knew him before he played with Widespread.

To me, you can love someone to death but they may not be compatible with what you do. Chemistry is important. A band is a rare thing nowadays, and a band relies on chemistry. You can put a group of musicians together and play gigs down at the club or anywhere, and you can play someone else's music and just have fun. But Widespread is a band in the truest sense. They're a band in the way Led Zeppelin was a band. I don't compare them to Led Zeppelin musically but in terms of dynamics, compatibility, etc. They have a different way of doing things. Look at what happened when John Bonham died. Sure, they could have gotten anybody – somebody who played just like John Bonham or somebody different but a great drummer. But they knew they couldn't replace Bonzo. And my point is only this: It's a touchy thing to replace an original member of a band.

And there are few more beloved musicians than Michael Houser.

Poor George, he had to go in right after Mikey died. I was able to walk in four years later. That made it a LOT easier, and meant a lot less pressure on me than there was for George. Plus, I had the added advantage of knowing those guys since '89 and we've played a lot of shows together. I didn't have all their records but I'd heard them a lot. And those guys came to see Aquarium Rescue Unit in some bar with no cover charge and 99-cent beers. They just stumbled in one night and heard the band play, and stuck around for a long time. None of us knew them but they were already selling out three nights at the Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta. And they said, "You guys gotta come play with us! Are you on tour?" And we just laughed and said, "No, Bruce won't let us tour. He says we can't handle it." So, they put us in a position where we could go out and open for them.

What was the atmosphere like behind Lifeboat? Was a lot of it done live-in-the-studio?

Yeah, though there were a fair amount of overdubs primarily because everybody couldn't be there at the same time. And there's also some overdubbing I just wanted to do.

Hey if Jimmy Page can play eight guitars on a track why can't Jimmy Herring?

Ha, ha, right! I've always been told "no" and this was my "I'm not going to be told no by anyone" record. I just wanted to see what would happen, and I didn't have to answer to anyone. There's still some things I wish I could have done differently, but this is what it is. We did the basic tracks at Jeff Bakos' studio in Atlanta. Me, Sipe, Oteil and Kofi played live, and Matt Slocum [keys] played live on a few tracks. Of course, Osby wasn't there, Derek wasn't there, and I had to do some overdubs because the studio wouldn't let me use my favorite amp because we already had drums and bass and piano in the same room. Oteil's amp was in a different room and Kofi's piano was going directly into the board, but we still couldn't have a loud guitar amp in the same room. So, I had to borrow one from the studio that was a beautiful little amp but it's got cone cry in the speaker. It destroyed almost all my live tracks. We'd be there listening, thinking, "This is pretty damn good. We might be able to release some of this shit," and then all of the sudden that horrible sound would come and I'd be like, "Damn cone cry!" Tone Tubby speakers don't do that.

Well, Jeff Beck overdubbed a lot of his guitar work on Blow By Blow and Wired, so no harm, no foul in my book.

Most people make records that way. In rock & roll, people may play live [in the studio] but don't intend to keep it beyond getting the drum track. Once they have that, they redo the bass and then keyboards and guitars. But, all those Jazz Is Dead records are live and hell, most of the records I've done have been live. So, I wanted to do some different things, experiment and learn to use the studio.

You're the producer on this record and it's different being in charge of twirling the knobs.

I wanted to make a record where no one was going to say, "No." It was going to be up to me, and it was the first time ever. So, when you ask why it took so long maybe it's because this is the first time I've had that opportunity.

There's some real sweetness to this record that people may not have heard in your playing before, and certainly a sophisticated compositional side that's coming forward for the first time. "Lifeboat Serenade" is gorgeous with a Beatles quality to it.

We definitely talked about The Beatles in the chord progression. I wasn't thinking of a particular Beatles tune but more the feel. I've been very blessed and gotten to hang around a lot of great songwriters, and maybe some of their greatness rubbed off on me [laughs]. I had some discoveries that helped me find new ways of looking at music and help me write more music. One day I'm going to do an album where I write everything. I was trying to do that with this but I just didn't have enough [laughs]. I had two more tunes but I threw 'em away because they didn't measure up.

Those two songs from Kofi ["Only When It's Light" and "Splash"] on the album he wrote in the 10th grade! Kofi was a prodigy, a composer and a great flute player from a very young age. I met him in 1986, and two weeks later Kofi and Oteil moved into Jeff's [Sipe] house as roommates. So, those tunes have been laying around a long time. I remember playing "Only When It's Light" in 1986 but not feeling completely capable of it. I'm still in awe of the harmonies and chord progression in it.

The challenge in instrumental music is telling a story but without the benefit of words. Otherwise, it's just a variation on bebop, where you state the theme, move through a series of solos and then restate the head. It's such well-worn territory.

There's some of that on the record in honor of tradition like the Wayne Shorter tune ["Lost"], but not a lot. He's my favorite jazz composer, if I had to pick one. He just has a way with writing, and his playing is at the top. He seems to be open to all music. He was in Weather Report and some people viewed that as a rock band. We know it as jazz but they reached a rock audience.

Tell us a little bit about the Lifeboat Tour.

Who's touring is Jeff and Oteil but we couldn't get Kofi because he's on the road with Derek's band. We got Scott Kinsey, who mastered the record and played in Tribal Tech. He's like, for lack of a better way of describing him if you haven't heard him, a modern day Joe Zawinul. He's incredible. And then we have Greg Osby coming out. That's the first leg, and the second leg Oteil can't do because he's got his trio with Bill Kreutzmann doing some gigs in June. So, we got Matt Garrison, and he's brilliant.

Written by Dennis Cook for Jambase.com

Review: The Dead | 04.12.09 | Greensboro

2009-04-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Words & Images by: Stratton Lawrence
The Dead :: 04.12.09 :: Greensboro Coliseum :: Greensboro, NC
from Jambase.com

Reunion and rebirth may mark 2009 in the annals of history, both in our music culture and within greater society. Hampton brought new Phish energy (read up on that here), and the gathering of friends (many new to the experience) felt like the start of something wholly new. That's not necessarily what folks expected at The Dead, who hadn't toured in five years and were debuting a slightly new lineup.

"This is what it's all about," said 'Papa Bear' during Set One's "He's Gone," grinning his incredibly Jerry-like smile in the seat behind me. The man had a tattoo of Garcia on his arm, a contagious positive energy to his demeanor and a pair of binoculars he handed me to closely inspect the happenings on stage. "They're just an extension of your eyes," he clarified to my glazed over friends.

The Greensboro crowd was an even mix of old and young free spirits, 9-to-5ers donning their old tie-dyes and the expected contingent of ratty wooks. One car blasted RJD2, another MOFRO. The lot felt like a gathering of all hippie/jam/positive/conscious factions of our music loving society.

And it was the tour's first show. How would Warren Haynes fit in without Jimmy Herring by his side? Would they pull some old favorites from the vault? Would they let things get weird?

It was clear from the first strains of the opener that thought had gone into choosing a set list. "The Music Never Stopped" was a fitting kickoff to a show whose songs played out as perfectly as Phish's epic set lists a month prior. "Jack Straw" and a wah-heavy "Estimated Prophet" played out at over ten minutes each, but without much deviation from the musical themes. The band sounded tight, hiccupping here and there, but holding their own as a cohesive unit.

The first real highlight came in "He's Gone," during the relaxed, staggered harmonies of "nothing's gonna bring him back." The same man was on everyone's mind as Lesh, Weir and Haynes jammed vocally on the refrain, while the crowd roared in approval. The Dead's lyrics gain new flavors and poignancy with age, and the band seemed to take that into account throughout the set. "He's Gone" was followed nicely with the "I will get by" sing-along refrain from "Touch of Grey."

Set One ended with a rather straightforward, short rendition of "I Need A Miracle" (including awesome lead work from Haynes) and a "Truckin'" solid in its delivery but a bit lackluster in its outro jam. At about an hour and twenty minutes, the set was clean-cut and concise. A few segues could have included cleaner transitions (lots of nearly complete pauses in the music), but no one was complaining. The band sounded good - certainly better than any of the other thousand bands out there playing the same songs these days.

After set break, the group emerged loosened up and ready to do some trip traveling. Returning to the stage with several minutes of meandering noodling, the band soon featured Haynes with "Shakedown's" first booming chords. "Maybe you had too much too fast," sang Haynes to a crowd that likely included many veterans enjoying their first psychedelic experience in some time. The audience roared in knowing acknowledgement.

By the end of "Shakedown Street," it was evident that Haynes (as he was five years ago) is still the perfect fit for the band. The man knows a thing or two about filling shoes, having served as the Allman Brothers' provider of blazing rocket fuel for two decades. The dirty/smooth guitar licks he laid into the subsequent "All Along the Watchtower" showed Haynes to be the key ingredient The Dead needs to avoid becoming a cover band of their former selves.

Over twenty minutes of "Drums" and "Space" followed a "Caution" highlighted by Lesh's spooky walking bass line, showing The Dead have rediscovered their comfort zones in freeform improvisation. As "Space" should be, looking around the room at slack-jawed faces, no one knew what was going on.

Any band that can explore aimlessly on stage for twenty minutes while a sold out crowd of 18,000 listen in wide-eyed amazement is fortunate. The Dead practically invented 'space' and they use it well. Leaving the lengthy mind-trip with the classic "Cosmic Charlie" had the crowd moving again. "New Potato Caboose" was a fun and much-appreciated classic from the early days, before transitioning smoothly into an epic "Help On the Way" > "Slipknot!" > "Franklin's Tower" package. No notes were taken at this point - only ecstatic dancing.

The "Samson and Delilah" encore rang as a perfect cap to Easter night. Lesh's appeal to the audience to become organ donors seemed all the more appropriate on the holiday, closing a concert that glowed with the sensation of rebirth.

Jerry Garcia left behind big shoes. In the 14 years since his death, the various reincarnations amongst the Grateful Dead's surviving members have been enjoyable, but perhaps, at times, lacking in a unified spirit. The 2009 version of The Dead seems genuinely promising.

Looking down at Greensboro Coliseum from the nosebleeds, the corn-rows of seats on the floor seemed a bit odd. With everyone assigned to a seat, wandering through the crowd and enjoying the scene from anywhere but your designated seat wasn't possible. Security was a bit much at times, scurrying dancers out of aisles and into the seats. But The Dead's fan base, while growing and gaining young blood, is also aging. Many likely prefer the knowledge of having a seat and not having to push and shove to a view.

Kudos to the Greensboro Police Department for allowing the lot's 'Shakedown' to carry on late into the evening. Those unable to drive or traveling in buses and RVs were even permitted to spend the night in the parking lot - a very welcome invitation indeed. All things considered, The Dead still provide one of the grandest, most amazing experience for fans to trip out in because of they're willingness to push it so close to the edge that at times they stumble (like they say when you're skiing, skating or surfing, "If you aren't falling down you aren't trying hard enough"), and they're also able to still take old songs to entirely new places. Greensboro demonstrated that they'll never become a tribute band - the songs sounded fresh and exciting. They still know how to get you hopelessly lost in the music, but more importantly, they haven't forgotten how to bring you home.

The Dead :: 04.12.09 :: Greensboro Coliseum :: Greensboro, NC
Set I: Jam > The Music Never Stopped, Jack Straw, Estimated Prophet > He's Gone > Touch Of Grey > I Need A Miracle > Truckin'
Set II: Jam > Shakedown Street > All Along The Watchtower > Caution (Do Not Step On The Tracks) > Drums > Space > Cosmic Charlie, New Potato Caboose > Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower
Encore: Donor Rap Samson & Delilah

The Dead are on tour now, next show is Friday night in Albany, NY. Complete dates available here.

Order the show for Download on LiveDownloads.com.

THUNDER ROAD

2009-04-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

The screen door slams
Mary' dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide 'neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a saviour to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now ?
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow
Back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road sit tight take hold
Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind so Mary climb in
It's town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win

Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique: 20th Anniversary Edition

2009-03-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget the moment I first heard Paul's Boutique . It was the fall of 1989 and my first semester as a high school sophomore. After English class one day, one of my friends produced a red cassette tape and declared it to be the best hip-hop album he had ever heard. That red tape was Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys. "These are the same guys who did that stupid 'Fight For Your Right To Party' song?" I quipped skeptically right before I put my Walkman headphones on and was literally blown away by the pastiche of sounds, stories and urban-psychedelic imagery that swirled around in my head. Songs like "Egg Man," "Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun," "Car Thief," "Shadrach" and "High Plains Drifter" created a beautifully shot panoramic view of the corner of Rivington and Ludlow on the Lower East Side that unfolded before my eyes, a sorrowful but comfortable nostalgic snapshot of that neighborhood two decades before the trust fund brats moved in and chased out all the starving artists with their blue condos, Thai restaurants and American Apparel shops. To this day, I still hear stuff I didn't hear in previous listens thanks to The Dust Brothers' masterfully dense production, which, for my money, is more White Album than Sgt. Pepper by an avenue (in fact, their fusion of the Fab's "Back in the USSR," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and its subsequent reprise, "The End," and "When I'm Sixty-Four" remains possibly the best flow of samples in hip-hop history).

Paul's Boutique remains the Beastie Boys' unheralded masterpiece, as they arguably only managed to release one more album on par with the brilliance they displayed in '89 four years later on 1992's organic return to their punk roots, Check Your Head , before falling off a creative cliff with a string of subpar releases that all failed to capture the majesty of their sophomore classic. This 20th anniversary remaster, outside of sounding a whole lot better and splitting up the "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" the way the Beasties originally intended, leaves much to be desired, especially considering the veritable wealth of b-sides on the album's rare coinciding EPs, Love, American Style and An Evening At Home With Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego, which would have made this reissue far more valuable to collectors had they been tacked on as a bonus disc or something. Nevertheless, for those of us who have slept a hot minute on revisiting Paul's Boutique in recent years, this new edition is like a welcome visit from an old friend. You know, the one who got you into punk rock, Zapp and Roger, Johnny Cash and sinsemilla.

Written by: Ron Hart
JamBase
Go See Live Music!

On My Mind: The State of the Music Business

2009-03-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

By John Mellencamp

Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We've read and heard about the "good old days" and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well.

During the late 80s and early 90s the industry underwent a transformation and restructured, catalyzed by three distinct factors. Record companies no longer viewed themselves as conduits for music, but as functions of the manipulations of Wall Street. Companies were acquired, conglomerated, bought and sold; public stock offerings ensued, shareholders met. At this very same time, new Nielsen monitoring systems -- BDS (Broadcast Data Systems) and SoundScan were employed to document record sales and radio airplay. Prior to 1991, the Billboard charts were done by manual research; radio stations and record stores across the country were polled to determine what was on their playlists and what the big sellers were. Thus, giving Oklahoma City, for example, an equivalent voice to Chicago's in terms of potential impact on the music scene. BDS keeps track of gross impressions through an encoded system that counts the number of plays or "spins" that a song receives. That number is, thereafter, multiplied by the number of potential listeners. SoundScan was put in place at retail centers to track sales by monitoring scanned barcodes of units crossing the counter. A formula was devised whereby the charts were based 20% on the SoundScan number and 80% on BDS results. The system had changed from one that measured popularity to one that was driven by population.

Record companies soon discovered that because of BDS, they only needed to concentrate on about 12 radio stations; there was no longer a business rationale for working secondary markets that were soon forgotten -- despite the fact that these were the very places where rock and roll was born and thrived. Why pay attention to Louisville -- worth a comparatively few potential listeners -- when the same one spin in New York, Los Angeles or Atlanta, etc., was worth so many more potential listeners? All of a sudden there were #1 records that few of us had ever heard of. At the time we asked ourselves, "Am I out of touch?" We didn't realize that this was the start of change that would grow to kill, if not the whole of the music business, then most certainly, the record companies.

Reagan's much-vaunted trickle-down theory said that wealth tricked down to the masses from the elite at the top. Now we've found out that this is patently untrue -- the current economic collapse reflects this self-serving folly. The same holds for music. It doesn't trickle down; it percolates up from the artists, from word of mouth, from the streets and rises up to the general populace. Constrained by the workings of SoundScan/BDS, music now came from the top and was rammed down people's throats.

Early in my career, I wrote and recorded a song called "I Need A Lover" that was only played on just one radio station in Washington, DC the first week it came out. Through much work from local radio reps at the record company, the song ended up on thousands of radio stations. Sing the chorus of "I Need A Lover." It's not the best song I ever wrote nor did it achieve more than much more than being a mid-chart hit, but nevertheless, you can sing that chorus. Now sing the chorus of even one Mariah Carey song. Nothing against Mariah, she's a brilliantly gifted vocalist, but the point here is the way that the songs were built -- mine from the ground up, hers from the top down.

By 1997, consumers, now long uninvolved, grew passive, radio stations had to change formats. Creative artistry and the artists, themselves, were now of secondary importance, taking a back seat to Wall Street as the record companies were going public. The artists were being sold out by the record companies and forced to figuratively kiss the asses of their corporate overlords at the time these record companies went public. In essence, the artists were no longer the primary concern; only keeping their stockholders fat and happy and "making the quarterly numbers" mattered; the music was an afterthought.

Long-tenured employees of these companies were sacrificed in the name of profitability and the culture of greed was burned into the brains of even the most serious music lovers. It seemed that paying attention sales, who had the #1 record from one week to next, and who fell or rose on the charts was all that validated music.

One of my best friends in life was Timothy White who had been the editor of Crawdaddy, then Rolling Stone and, finally, Billboard. As a music critic, he championed singers, songwriters and musicians of all stripes. He was a music lover, beloved in the industry and by artists. Timothy, as many of you know, died suddenly, at the age of 50, waiting for an elevator at Billboard's office in New York. Artists including Don Henley, Brian Wilson, Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Roger Waters, Sting and me thought so much of him that two sold-out concerts -- one in Boston and one at Madison Square Garden -- were produced to raise money to support his widow, Judy, and family that includes their autistic son. Each of you, who care enough to read this, should ask yourself if people would be there to celebrate your life so lovingly as this.

In the early 90s, Tim started talking to me about the new service called SoundScan. Then the editor of Billboard, he was leery about the whole idea, realizing its potential to turn the record business upside down. He was pressured by his boss, publisher Howard Lander, who had warned that if Billboard didn't buy into SoundScan, its competitor, Hits, would become the premier music industry trade magazine. I remember performing at a City of Hope benefit dinner in 1996 where he and I argued with Howard on the pitfalls of SoundScan and BDS and how there would be consequences that would not be good for the music business once it was embraced. It was a very unpleasant evening.

Let's pause here to note that the record business has always been known for its colorful characters like Colonel Tom Parker, Ahmet Ertegun, John Hammond, etc. The most important thing is that different artists were able to express themselves in ways that were uniquely original, expressing their hopes and disappointments. That kind of artistic diversity and the embrace of eccentricity made the recording business great. It also made the record business horrifying in some ways. Look at what happened at Stax Records where financial finagling and skullduggery brought a great enterprise to a screeching halt that ended so many brilliant careers.

During the time of the upheaval wrought by SoundScan, BDS and the "Wall Streeting" of the industry, country music seized the opportunity and tacitly claimed the traditional music business. Country has come to dominate the heartland of America, a landscape abandoned or ignored by the gatekeepers of rock and pop. Great new country music stars came from seemingly nowhere to grow to tremendous popularity; think Garth Brooks.

While all this was going on, technology, just as it always does, progressed. That which, by all rights, should have had a positive impact for all of us -- better sound quality, accessibility, and portability -- is now being blamed for many of the ills that beset the music business. The captains of the industry it seemed, proved themselves incapable of having a broader, more long-range view of what this new technology offered. The music business is very complicated in itself so it's understandable that these additional elements were not dealt with coherently in light of the distractions that abound. Not understanding the possibilities, they ignorantly turned it into a nightmarish situation. The nightmare is the fact that they simply didn't know how to make it work for us.

The CD, it should be noted, was born out of greed. It was devised to prop up record sales on the expectation of people replenishing their record collections with CDs of albums they had already purchased. They used to call this "planned obsolesce" in the car business. Sound quality was supposed to be one of the big selling points for CDs but, as we know, it wasn't very good at all. It was just another con, a get-rich-quick scheme, a monumental hoax perpetrated on the music consuming public.

These days, some people suggest that it is up to the artist to create avenues to sell the music of his own creation. In today's environment, is it realistic to expect someone to be a songwriter, recording artist, record company and the P.T. Barnum, so to speak, of his own career? Of course not. I've always found it amusing that a few people who have never made a record or written a song seem to know so much more about what an artist should be doing than the artist himself. If these pundits know so much, I'd suggest that make their own records and just leave us out of it. Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, once told me a story about a reception she was at where Bob Dylan was in attendance. The business people there were quietly commenting on how unsociable Dylan seemed to them, not what they imagined an encounter with Dylan would be like. When that observation about Dylan's behavior and disposition were mentioned to Nora, the response was very profound. She said that Bob Dylan was not put on this earth to participate in cocktail chatter with strangers. Bob Dylan's purpose in life is to write great songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A' Changin'." This sort of sums it all up for me. The artist is here to give the listener the opportunity to dream, a very profound and special gift even if he's minimally successful. If the artist only entertains you for three and a half minutes, it's something for which thanks should be given. Consider how enriched all of our lives are made by songs from "Like A Rolling Stone," a masterpiece, to "The Monster Mash," a trifle by comparison.

Now that the carnage in this industry is so deep you can hardly wade through it, it's open season for criticizing artists, present company included, for making a misstep or trying to create new opportunities to reach an audience, i.e., Springsteen releasing an album at Wal-Mart and, yes, we all know what Wal-Mart is about. The old rules and constraints that had governed what was once considered a legitimate artist are no longer valid. When you think about it, you must conclude that there really is no legitimate business; there is no game left.

Sadly, these days, it's really a matter of "every man for himself." In terms of possibilities, we are but an echo of what we once were. Of course, the artist does not want to "sell out to The Man." Left with no real choice except that business model of greed and the bean counting mentality that Reagan propagated and the country embraced, there is only "The Man" to deal with. There is no street for the music to rise up from. There is no time for the music to develop in a natural way that we can all embrace when it ripens and matures. That's why the general public doesn't really care. It's not that the people don't still love music; of course they do. It's just the way it is presented to them that ignores their humanity.

If we have any hope for survival of the music that we all love, compassion must replace name-calling, fairness must replace greed and we need to come together as a musical community and try to understand each other's problems. I once suggested to Don Henley, many years ago after I had left Polygram, that we should form an artist-driven record label, much like Charlie Chaplin did with the movies when he, more than 90 years ago, joined forces with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to form United Artists. Don's response was correct. He said that trying to get artists and business people together to work for the common good of everyone involved is akin to herding cats. When all is said and done, unfortunately, it's not really about the music or the artist. It's about you and your perception of yourself and how you think things ought to be. And we all know that this very rarely intersects with what actually is. Just because you think this is how it should be only makes it just that: what you think; it doesn't make it true. So let's try to put our best foot forward and remember that anyone can stand in the back of a dark hall and yell obscenities but if you want a better world it starts with you and the things you say and do.

UK University Offers Masters In The Beatles

2009-03-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

LONDON — The city of Liverpool already has a Beatles museum and its airport is named after John Lennon. Now a local university says it rolling out a graduate program entirely devoted to the Fab Four.

Liverpool Hope University said Tuesday that its new master's program, "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society," would give students the opportunity to analyze music and culture through the band's work.

"There have been over 8,000 books about the Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address," said Mike Brocken, who is directing the program at the university, which is in the band's hometown in northwestern England.

Brocken said students would be expected to study the Beatles' songs, stardom, hometown and cultural impact through four 12-week courses and a dissertation.

Brocken said studying the band was really a way of examining society as a whole.

"If popular music is about anything, it's about people," he said. "If we look at popular culture, it simply provides us with a very complex mirror of ourselves."
___

On the Net:
Liverpool Hope University: http://www.hope.ac.uk/

Interview With a Poet

2009-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

We Are proud to share this interview/poetry reading featuring Steve Gang.
It was held on Feb 11th at Kevro's Art bar in Delray Beach, FL.

Please click here to listen: http://www.zshare.net/audio/558488987c115fc5/

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2009

2008-12-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

40th ANNIVERSARY
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL
PRESENTED BY SHELL
APRIL 24 - 26 (1st WEEKEND)

Wynton Marsalis, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Earth Wind & Fire, Wilco, Spoon, Erykah Badu, Irma Thomas, Orishas, Third World, Robert Cray, Etta James & the Roots Band, Mavis Staples, Drive-By Truckers feat. Booker T. Jones, Johnny Winter, Pete Seeger, Hugh Masekela, Better Than Ezra, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Galactic, Roy Haynes, Pete Fountain, Avett Brothers, Kinky, Roy Rogers, Del McCoury Band, Terence Blanchard, Marc Broussard, DJ Jubilee with 5th Ward Weebie and Ms. Tee, Buckwheat Zydeco's 30th Anniversary feat. The Hitchhikers, Tab Benoit, Locos por Juana, Trombone Shorty, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Yacub Addy and Odadaa of Ghana, Rebirth Brass Band Reunion with Kermit Ruffins, Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Donald Harrison, The Anointed Jackson Sisters, Tribute to Mahalia Jackson featuring Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, and Pamela Landrum, Chris Smither, Henry Butler, Papa Grows Funk, Robert Mirabal, Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Sonny Landreth, Benjy Davis Project, The Vettes, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Stephanie Jordan, Warren Storm, Willie Tee and Cypress feat. Tommy McLain and T K Hulin, Astral Project, Ladysmith Redlions of South Africa, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Amammereso Agofomma of Ghana, The Dixie Cups, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Germaine Bazzle, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Marlon Jordan, Tabby Thomas, Spencer Bohren, Savoy Music Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Dew Drop Inn Revisited hosted by Deacon John feat. Wanda Rouzan, Eddie Bo, Allen Toussaint, Robert Parker, and Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Leroy Jones presents the Fairview Brass Band Reunion Tribute to Danny Barker, Bruce Daigrepont, Vivaz!, Pfister Sisters' 30th Anniversary, Gringo do Choro, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band, Thais Clark, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, Henry Gray & the Cats, Joe Krown, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & Russell Batiste, Jr., Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, EOE, Pine Leaf Boys, Ebony Hillbillies, Crescent City Allstars feat. James Andrews, Hot 8 Brass Band, Schatzy, Jake Smith, 19th Street Red Blues Band, Brasilliance!, Mighty Chariots of Fire, Sharde Thomas & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band, Chris Owens, Topsy Chapman, New Bumpers' Revival Jazz Band of France, Zulu Male Ensemble, Jo "Cool" Davis, Leah Chase, Herlin Riley, Roderick Paulin, Mahogany Brass Band, Ingrid Lucia, MyNameisJohnMichael, Texas Johnny Brown & the Quality Blues Band, Rockie Charles & the Stax of Love, AsheSon, Jim McCormick, Lil' Malcolm & the House Rockers, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Thomas "Big Hat" Fields & his Foot Stompin' Zydeco Band, Guitar Slim, Jr., Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Willis Prudhomme & Zydeco Express, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Waterseed, Creole Wild West and Golden Blade Mardi Gras Indians, DJ Hektik & the New Orleans Society of Dance with Freedia and Nobi, Tipsy Chicks, Jonno Frishberg & Bayou DeVille, Christian Serpas & Ghost Town, Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective, NewBirth Brass Band, High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band, New Orleans Night Crawlers Brass Band, Hadley Castille & the Sharecropper Band, Carrollton Hunters and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Big Steppers, Furious Five, and Untouchables SAPCs, Patrice Fisher & Arpa feat. special guests from Brazil, Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders feat. Butch Thompson, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir, Sophisticated Ladies feat. Barbara Shorts, Leslie Smith, Cindy Scott, and Judy Spellman, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, N.O.C.C.A. Jazz Ensemble, Real Untouchables Brass Band, Olympia Aid, New Look & First Division SAPCs, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Tommy Sancton, Society Brass Band, Connie Jones, St. Joseph the Worker Music Ministry, UNO Jazz Combo, June Gardner & the Fellas, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Smitty Dee's Brass Band, Kid Simmons' Local International Allstars, Semolian Warriors, Comanche Hunters, and Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, Franklin Avenue B.C. Mass Choir, Small Souljas Brass Band, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Single Ladies, Family Ties, Big Nine, and Keep N It Real SAPCs, Second Mount Carmel Gospel Choir, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Heritage School of Music Band, Gospel Soul Children, Nine Times Men, Single Men, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, and Lady Jetsetters SAPCs, Red, White & Blue and Wild Mohican Mardi Gras Indians, Reverend Charles Jackson & the Jackson Travelers, Nineveh B.C. Mass Choir, Kid Simmon's Local International Allstars, Voices of St. Peter Claver, David & Roselyn, Grayhawk, Washboard Leo, Red Hot Brass Band, Kayla Woodson & Louisiana Lightnin'....

40th ANNIVERSARY
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL
PRESENTED BY SHELL
APRIL 30 - MAY 3 (2nd WEEKEND)

Aretha Franklin, TBA, Sugarland, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Tony Bennett, Kings of Leon, The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Common, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, The O'Jays, Toots & the Maytals, Allen Toussaint, John Mayall, Solomon Burke, Doc Watson, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, The Whispers, Jakob Dylan, Chuck Brown, Meter Men: Zig, George, and Leo, Kurt Elling, Rance Allen, Cowboy Mouth, Guy Clark, Radiators, Aaron Neville, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, Tab Benoit & the Wetland Allstars, Marcia Ball, Ellis Marsalis, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Frankie Ford, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Mississippi Mass Choir, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, Anders Osborne, the subdudes, Esperanza Spalding, Patty Griffin, Deacon John, Chris Thomas King, Kind of Blue @ 50 Tribute to Miles Davis feat. Jimmy Cobb, Wallace Roney, Larry Willis, and Buster Williams, John Scofield & the Piety Street Band, George Wein & the Newport Allstars feat. Randy Brecker, VaShawn Mitchell & Friends, Nicholas Payton, Linda Tillery & the Cultural Heritage Choir, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Bonerama, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Genius of Sidney Bechet: A Tribute feat. Bob Wilber, Dr. Michael White, and Brian "Breeze" Cayolle, Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Theresa Andersson, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin' Malcolm, Bobby Lounge feat. Sarah Quintana, Chieck Hamala Diabate of Mali, The Iguanas, Treme Brass Band, Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, Soul Rebels, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Luther Kent & Trickbag, Banu Gibson's Hot Jazz with Bucky Pizzarelli, Mark Braud, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Marva Wright & the BMWs, Kenny Bill Stinson & the Ark-LA-Mystics, Gregg Stafford's Jazz Hounds' Tribute to Danny Barker feat. Juanita Brooks, Eric Lindell, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Rumba Buena, Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars, Charmaine Neville Band, Eddie Bo, Ori Danse Club of Benin, Crocodile Gumboot Dancers of South Africa, Rotary Downs, George French & the New Orleans Storyville Jazz Band, Walter Payton & Filé Gumbo, Dash Rip Rock, John Boutté, Sonny Bourg & the Bayou Blues Band, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Sherman Robertson, Honey Island Swamp Band, The Revealers, I'Voire Spectacle feat. Seguenon Kone, Alex McMurray, 101 Runners, Midnite Disturbers, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, Big Chief Peppy & the Golden Arrows Mardi Gras Indians, D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces, James Rivers Movement, Otra, Tony Green's Gypsy Jazz, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, John Rankin, Betsy McGovern & the Poor Clares, Kenny Neal, Lil' Brian & the Travelers, Jeremy Davenport, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Jamal Batiste & the Jam-Allstars, Red Stick Ramblers, Ensemble Fatien feat. Seguenon Kone, Dr. Michael White, and Jason Marsalis, Sharon Martin, St. Louis Slim, Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band, TBC Brass Band, Lady Rollers, Original C.T.C., and Nine Times Ladies SAPCs, Feufollet, War Chief Juan & Young Fire and White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Bingo! Show, David Egan, Kidd Jordan-Al Fielder & the IAQ, Drew Landry Band, Driskill Mountain Boys, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Washboard Chaz, Bamboula 2000, Danza, Marisa y Mariachi Agave, J. Monque'D Blues Band, Cedric Watson, Twangorama, Higher Heights, Tim Laughlin, Elysian Fieldz, Percussion Inc., Pinettes Brass Band, Scene Boosters, Old N Nu Fellas, Secondline Jammers, and Ladies of Unity SAPCs, Little Freddie King Blues Band, Glen David Andrews, Po' Henry & Tookie, Sherman Washington & the Zion Harmonizers, Culu Children's Traditional African Dance Ensemble, Paky Saavedra's Bandido, New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Rhythm Section, Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, Shamarr Allen, Free Agents Brass Band, Jambalaya Cajun Band, Benny Grunch & the Bunch, Javier Tobar & Elegant Gypsy, Creole Zydeco Farmers, Bonsoir Catin, Corey Ledet, Gina Brown, Reggie Hall & the Twilighters feat. Lady Bee, Forgotten Souls Brass Band, Young Magnolias, Golden Sioux, and Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Westbank Steppers, Valley of Silent Men, and Pigeon Town Steppers SAPCs, Doreen's Jazz New Orleans, Truth Universal & Jimi Clever, Shades of Praise Gospel Singers, Brother Tyrone, Lazarus, Berard Family Band, New Orleans Jazz Ramblers, Courtney Bryan Trio, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, DJ Captain Charles, Blodie's Jazz Jam, New Orleans Helsinki Project, Original Last Straws, Chris Clifton, Panorama Jazz Band, Mario Abney, John Lee & the Heralds of Christ, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Hot Club of New Orleans, The Moonshiners, Clarinet Woodshed feat. Evan Christopher and Gregory Agid, SUBR Jazz Ensemble, Michael Ward, DJ Soul Sister, The Johnson Extension, Black Eagles, Geronimo Hunters, Wild Tchoupitoulas, and Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries, Tulane University Jazz Ensemble, First Emmanuel Baptist Church Choir, Louis Ford & his New Orleans Flairs, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, Red Hawk, and Black Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Leviticus Gospel Choir, Dillard University Jazz Ensemble, Bester Singers and the Dynamic Smooth Family Gospel Singers, Bon Temps Roulez, New Generation, and Undefeated Divas SAPCs, The Electrifying Crownseekers, Pinstripe Brass Band, Ebenezer Baptist Church Radio Choir, Trouble Nation, Black Eagles, and Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Famous Rocks of Harmony, Highsteppers Brass Band, McMain High School Gospel Choir, Voices of Distinction, Gal Holiday, Lyle Henderson & Emmanuel, Coolie Family Gospel Singers, Original Big 7 and Original 4 SAPCs, Tornado Brass Band, Eddie "Chops" Paris, Apache Hunters, Wild Red Flame, and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Morning Star B.C. Mass Choir, New Wave Brass Band, Julio y Cesar Band, First Emmanuel Church Gospel Choir, Greater Antioch Full Gospel B.C. Mass Choir, Roderick Paulin, N'Kafu African Dance Ensemble, Original Prince of Wales and the Original Lady Buckjumpers SAPCs, Johnette Downing, Young Guardians of the Flame, Eric McAllister, N'Fungola Sibo West African Dance Company, Mt. Hermon B.C. Mass Choir...

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Mahalia Jackson, often called the greatest gospel singer, returned to her hometown to appear at the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April of 1970. While attending the Louisiana Heritage Fair in Congo Square (then known as Beauregard Square), she and Duke Ellington, who also appeared at the event, came upon the Eureka Brass Band leading a crowd of second-line revelers through the Festival grounds. George Wein, producer of the Festival, handed Ms. Jackson a microphone, she sang along with the band and joined the parade…and the spirit of Jazz Fest was born.

This spontaneous, momentous scene—this meeting of jazz and heritage—has stood for decades since as a stirring symbol of the authenticity of the celebration that was destined to become a cultural force.

From the very beginning, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was envisioned as an important event that would have great cultural significance and popular appeal. The Festival was the culmination of years of discussions and efforts by city leaders who wanted to create an event worthy of the city’s legacy as the birthplace of jazz. A couple of other festivals were held in the years leading up to the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, but those events, different in format, did not take hold as the Jazz & Heritage Festival would.

In 1970, George Wein, jazz impresario behind the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival (begun respectively in 1954 and 1959) was hired to design and produce a unique festival for New Orleans. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was established to oversee the Festival.

Wein’s concept of the Louisiana Heritage Fair—a large daytime fair with multiple stages featuring a wide variety of indigenous music styles, food booths of Louisiana cuisine, and arts and crafts booths, along with an evening concert series—formed a construct that would prove vastly appealing and enduring.

In addition to Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington, the first Festival lineup included Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Clifton Chenier, Fats Domino, The Meters, The Preservation Hall Band, parades every day with The Olympia Brass Band and Mardi Gras Indians, and many others.

In announcing the first Festival, scheduled for April 22 – 26, Wein said, “The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival represents a new and exciting idea in festival presentation. This festival could only be held in New Orleans because here and here alone is the richest musical heritage in America.” He also noted, with great prescience, “New Orleans, in the long run, should become bigger than Newport in jazz festivals. Newport was manufactured, but New Orleans is the real thing.”

Wein hired Quint Davis and Allison Miner, two young, knowledgeable New Orleans music enthusiasts, to work on the event. Davis would quickly become the main creative force behind the Festival, establishing the event as a dynamic annual showcase of Louisiana music with a bold blend of national and international flavors. Davis remains producer and director of the Festival, guiding the event through its fourth decade of existence. Miner, who passed away in 1995, would make numerous contributions to the Festival’s evolution, including the creation of the Music Heritage Stage, which has been renamed in her honor.

In 1970, only about 350 people attended the Festival, about half the number of musicians and other participants in the event. But the Festival, which became known as “Jazz Fest” almost immediately, was a great artistic success. When Jazz Fest was held the next year, it was clear that the event had already outgrown Congo Square.

For the 1972 Festival, the event moved to the infield of the Fair Grounds Race Course, the third-oldest racetrack in America (open since 1872). Jazz Fest would grow quickly over the next few years, constantly expanding its use of the 145-acre site. In 1975, the Festival, still just a five-day event with only three days of the Louisiana Heritage Fair, had an anticipated attendance of 80,000. This was also the first year of the Festival’s popular, limited-edition silkscreen poster, now recognized as the most popular poster series in the world.

From 1976 to 1978, Jazz Fest expanded to two full weekends of the Heritage Fair, and in 1979, for the 10th anniversary, the Festival scheduled three weekends, though one entire weekend was cancelled due to rain.

In the 1980s, Jazz Fest continued to experience a tremendous growth in popularity and began to gain wide acclaim as one of the world’s greatest cultural celebrations. By the end of the decade, more than 300,000 people attended the Heritage Fair, evening concerts, and workshops. The 1989 Festival marked the 20th annual event, which was commemorated with a classic poster featuring Fats Domino, ushering in an era during which the poster would celebrate many of Louisiana’s music legends with iconic portraits.

The decade of the 1990s saw the appeal of Jazz Fest and the Festival’s significance as a cultural symbol soar. The New York Times would note that the Jazz Festival had “become inseparable from the culture it presents.” The Festival added features like the Thursday that kicks off the second weekend (1991); an International Pavilion that celebrates other cultures (Haiti, Mali, Panama, Brazil, Martinique, and in 2004, South Africa); and the Native American stage and area.

In 2001, the Festival celebrated Louis Armstrong’s centennial, and the total attendance eclipsed 650,000, shattering records for virtually every day of the Heritage Fair, including the all-time single-day attendance record of 160,000. Wein’s prediction that New Orleans would become the first city of jazz festivals had clearly come true.

With 12 stages of soul-stirring music—jazz, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, blues, R&B, rock, funk, African, Latin, Caribbean, folk, and much more—the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is a singular celebration. The event has showcased most of the great artists of New Orleans and Louisiana of the last half century: Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, The Neville Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Dr. John, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Ellis Marsalis, The Radiators, Irma Thomas, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Better Than Ezra, Ernie K-Doe, Vernel Bagneris, The Zion Harmonizers, Beausoleil and many others.

The Festival has always blended in a wide mix of internationally renowned guests, among them: Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Santana, Sarah Vaughan, Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett, Max Roach, B.B. King, Dave Matthews Band, Patti LaBelle, Tito Puente, the Allman Brothers Band, Joni Mitchell, Al Green, Linda Ronstadt, Lenny Kravitz, Sonny Rollins, Bonnie Raitt, James Brown, Celia Cruz, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hugh Masekela, Cassandra Wilson, Willie Nelson, The Temptations, Burning Spear,Van Morrison, LL Cool J, Abbey Lincoln, Erykah Badu, Dave Brubeck, Gladys Knight, Youssou N’Dour and many, many others.

Over the years Jazz Fest has received many honors, including being named the Festival of the Year four times by Pollstar magazine. The 2004 event marks the 35th anniversary of Jazz Fest, which the Wall Street Journal says “showcases a wider, deeper lineup of essential American musical styles than any festival in the nation…” and which Life magazine has called “the country’s very best music festival.’’

Inspired by the spirit of Mahalia Jackson and the Eureka Brass Band back in 1970, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival continues to celebrate the culture of Louisiana with the combined fervor of a gospel hymn and the joy of a jazz parade.

Sleeves Over Faces

2008-12-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

Sleeveface.com is one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion. Very cool site.

The King of the Delta Blues

2008-12-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Many have dubbed Johnson the father of modern rock and roll. Of all early bluesmen, Robert Johnson can be considered one of the more prolific. Although he did not live long enough to become as popular as many of the other earlier blues artists, his music has influenced a number of musicians who dramatically changed music history. Popular covers of his songs have been recorded by Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Elmore James,The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and many, many others.

ome find interesting the Legend behind the Legend: a partnership with the Devil- his soul for music infamy.

Even more interesting is the reality of the man. Although little is known about his history (adding to the rumors surrounding his life) the music remains. Thoughout Rock and Roll, among guitar player's circles, and reverberating through blues fans conversations, Robert Johnson is a name commonly heard.

Widepsread Panic - As Strong As Ever

2008-12-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

From Jambase.com

For nearly 25 years Widespread Panic has redefined Southern rock. Built on classic songs and inspired musicianship, it's always been more than just the music; it's the relationship the band has cultivated with their fans. There's a whole generation of people who have had the privilege of growing up following this musical force with obsession. A grinding juggernaut of gritty, testosterone fueled jam rock; Panic has clawed their way up through the small dive bars and clubs of the Southeast to become one of the most successful touring bands in the country, routinely filling arenas and amphitheaters with throngs of rabid fans. The journey has not been without setbacks, defeats and heartbreaking losses, but the experience as a whole, "the rollercoaster," as percussionist Sunny Ortiz calls it, has been an amazing ride that looks like it will continue for years to come.

Ortiz took some time out to speak with JamBase during a busy week where he found his band receiving the inaugural Road Warrior Award at Billboard magazine's annual Touring Conference and turning back the clock, in a manner of speaking, when they took the stage at the intimate, 1,000 person capacity Irving Plaza in New York City.

JamBase: I understand you headlined a benefit for The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation at Irving Plaza in New York City this week. Can you tell me about that night?

Sunny Ortiz: It had been probably ten or twelve years since the last time I saw David Graham, who is one of Bill's sons, so that was a real treat. And the other treat was, of course, to be able to perform at Irving Plaza again [see pics from that night here]. It is always fun for us to go to "The City," but this was a very special occasion for us and even though it was in the middle of our break we thought, as a unit, that it would be a shame for us to refuse such a gracious invitation. We had a great time, and it is kinda nice to go back and play a little bitty intimate venue like that, but it went too quick for me.

JamBase: I know tickets were snatched up immediately. What was the energy like in there?

Sunny Ortiz: Being in the city is such an amazing time for us and the energy level was incredible because everybody is so jam-packed in there and you can actually see people. It was just raging. It was wild and ridiculous, which it should be in New York City. I understand that the tickets went pretty fast and that is the unfortunate part about it. I guess there are some other venues that they could have chosen but I believe that Irving Plaza is now called "The Fillmore" and since we haven't played at the original Fillmore in San Francisco it was an honor for us to be in that venue knowing all the traditions that Bill Graham bestowed upon The Fillmore West in San Francisco.

Did you ever get a chance to meet Bill Graham?

I first met Bill in Telluride in 1991 when we were playing a festival there; I can't remember the name of the festival but it was a multi-day event and I know that on our day The Allman Brothers were playing. Our self-titled album had just come out and we were out touring, and we got an offer to come up and do Telluride. Bill Graham was there and, of course, introduced us. Somewhere in our archives there is a picture of Bill holding our CD backstage at that show, hugging it almost. He looks so serene, so surreal. I am trying to get a copy of it for myself. It is quite a unique and special picture.

Bill was very quiet but very firm when he spoke. He obviously knew what he was talking about and you just wanted to milk him for all of the knowledge and the stories that he had, but there were just so many. He was just constantly, constantly on the go. It was so sad when we heard about his passing, but it is just one of those things, life goes on, life goes on.

Switching gears a bit, I've got to ask you about New Year's Eve. After ringing in the New Year in Georgia for your whole career as a band what made you decide to break that tradition and take the party to Denver this year?

We just thought it was time that we did something special for the people of Colorado. Colorado has always been our second home because that is pretty much where we cut our teeth as a touring band. We toured there extensively in the mid-80s and got a lot of help from Jerry Joseph and Little Women. They were the ones that got us out there. I remember that our first show in Colorado was supporting them in Steamboat at The Inferno, and then we did a host of other gigs with them in that run. I think it lasted almost a month. We hit probably every ski resort known to mankind that first time out there.

A lot of things obviously change in the world of Widespread Panic and we thought this year would the perfect time to switch it up. We've got a great support act and that makes it even more special and we are all very excited.

That support act you mention is Yonder Mountain String Band, and I was wondering how you decided to bring them on board for the run?

They have a great following in Colorado and we thought it was a great package and thought that the fans would really like it. That's what makes it exciting for us, when the fans get excited. We extended an invitation for Yonder to join us and they were so gracious to accept. I am excited because they are such great players and there is great potential for us to do something together, some intermingling onstage perhaps.

There are some rumors going around that after the shows in Denver the band will be taking some time off. Will there be another hiatus for Panic in 2009?

I have heard through our office, because I never read the chatboards, that a lot of people think that we are taking the year off next year. We are not. So, we've got to put that little fire out. We are definitely coming out and working and while I can't tell you the exact dates that we'll have for Red Rocks, I can guarantee that we will be there during the summer of 2009.

That's good to hear because a lot of people have been saying that there will be no tour until the fall.

I know where you are coming from. I am even getting it from my kids. My oldest is 14 and my youngest is 10 and they are going, "Dad where are we going next year?" and I'm going, "What do you mean?" And they said, "Well, we heard that you guys are taking the whole year off." When Mikey passed away, bless his heart, we took 2004 off but they were a little bit younger. So, while they knew that he had passed away they didn't realize that it meant that I was going to be home for the whole year.

We will be there and we will be working in 2009.

Maybe a little less touring, but not a hiatus?

Not a hiatus. "A little less?" I don't know about "a little less." To us there is no "a little less." To me, it's not work. To me, it is socializing, its conversation, its anything but work and anything but touring. It is like being in a traveling minstrel show, I guess, maybe a circus. It is a way of life for us. It may sound corny but it really is. When we were growing up as young kids, teenagers, in the back of our minds we always wanted to be full time musicians and probably never thought we could sustain ourselves doing this. When I met the boys in '86 they were attending UGA and on their way to being golf pros, chemistry majors, business majors and then something happened that put everything on hold.

Our motto as a band has always been that we are willing to go to the edge and then think about it, and then actually dive off the edge and see what happens. A lot of people say, "They just don't do it anymore," and I kinda think that they just don't see that we are doing it and they need to step aside and let someone else that gets it get it and pass it back to them.

Some people have said that there seems to be a new life in the band lately, and I was wondering if that comes from having Jimmy Herring in the band? What is it like to have him as a full time member?

Jimmy Herring is an angel that we knew about back in the '80s. We connected with him when he was in Aquarium Rescue Unit. He is a virtuoso and a very studious player. He gives 110-percent every day, not only every night but everyday, too. He's a sweetheart of a guy; we are almost derelicts compared to him. He's been around the block a couple of times and when things were looking gloomy for us he was the one so nice to us and offered his assistance, but he was committed to Phil & Friends and The Dead and we had to look at other alternatives. When the second calling came he was available.

Is there a new Panic album coming any time soon?

The writing in the band has just kept getting better and we have some good new material that we haven't even pulled out yet. We have so much material that we are going to have to start using it. So, that's just a good problem to have. It has gotten to the point now where we are asking, "Where do we want to go record? Where do we want to go do this next project?" That seems to be the thing that is holding us back. We want to record, but we also realize that we need to see what happens. We aren't in any rush. We feel that we can do a lot of woodshedding in the next six months and come up with some hot stuff and maybe take it on the road and experiment with it like we've always done - just throw it out there and see if we get any bites from anybody who wants to sustain us, wants to invest or wants to make good use of it as a new product.

Anything we do as Widespread Panic is with everyone's input. There are obviously thousands of studios around Athens but who knows, we might do something in Nashville, we might do something in Atlanta. There are lots of options for us to dabble in, and it is just a matter of where everyone feels comfortable. That's the big name game right now, the comfort level. When we all agree that we are ready the ball starts rolling. We start sending out feelers for producers, studios and then we need to block out the time. If all that fits together then we are ready. There are just so many things involved. Who knows what form this monster is going to take.

So, through all of this, it's been more than 20 years that you've been playing together; what keeps you going?

Some say 25 [years]! Well, I guess when we reach 2010 it'll be 25 years. The music business is one big rollercoaster ride, and we've learned that through a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. The thing that keeps us bonded together and our feet on the ground is knowing there's a lot of folks that enjoy, love and really care about Widespread Panic. It's that give and take, that communication, that excitement that we've always gotten from our fans that just keeps us going on and on. Our way of giving back to these folks is giving that piece of music, which is our life. That energy is still there, that drive, that magic. Whatever you want to call it, it is still real strong. We love what we do and we are going to keep on doing it probably for a pretty good while now.

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2008-12-12T06:31:00.001-08:00