Monkey business beats no business in this economy...

Having to work for a living is becoming a real drag these days. Guess the financial mess we're in now helps illuninate just how spoiled most of us have been here in the United States. But thankfully, there are some fallbacks to help us through tough times, things like listening to two great guitarists laying down some smooth musings like this next album. Another OOP LP that I found in a record store a couple of years ago. Frankly I was a tad disappointed, it's not exactly challenging, but it is leisurely good listening if you enjoy the expert touch of electric guitarists... like Billy & Johnny on "Makin' It". Not sure what is with the monkey cover here, who was he makin' it with? Especially odd for this mainstream, generally pretty album. But this is good jazz that should be of particular interest to guitar nuts like me. Listen carefully and you will hear some nice stuff, and it should definitely help lower your blood pressure after a day of aggravation at the job...lowering your cholesterol will require turning it up a notch or two, Art Ensemble or Marion Brown perhaps?

MonkeysMakinIt

Johnny Pisano and Billy Bean - Makin' It (Guitar Duets) - 1958

Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)
Cirrus
Indian Summer
Little Old Lady
When I Fall In Love
Our Waltz
While The Music Plays On
Flute Cocktail
Symphony
The Song Is You
I See Your Face Before Me
Crazy Head

Partial listing of personnel;
Billy Bean: guitar
Johnny Pisano: guitar
Paul Horn: flute
Gene Estes: vibes, drums
Calvin Jackson: piano
Hal Gaylor: bass
Larry Bunker: drums
Fred Katz: piano
Red Callender: tuba
William Green: clarinet

Thanks......

Every day of the year warrants a grateful expression of wonder at what the world has to offer. While it's so easy to get caught up in all the ridiculous wasted energy and egotistical ambitions of so many people, it's not so difficult to simply relax into the many things that have hit the heart since the beginning of memory. So on this Thanksgiving day, 2008, I make this dedication to the spirit of good people and good music. This is yet another inexplicably OOP record by the talented Toshiko Akiyoshi. Since I discovered her big band with former hubby Lew Tabakin, I have been a great fan and was happy to land the following trio album which apparently has never been put to CD. Her playing is so fluid, and although this album features all "cover" tunes by some of the jazz greats like Miles, Powell, Gillespie and Brubeck, I think she is a tremendous composer/arranger as well. I recommend any of her work and I think you will enjoy this one despite the low bit rate here...feel free to give thanks...

Giving

Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio - Dedications - 1979

Side One:
Toshiko Akiyoshi: piano
Bob Daugherty: bass
Jimmy Smith: drums

Solar
Swinging Till The Girls Come Home
Israel

Side Two:
Toshiko Akiyoshi: piano
Andrew Simpkins: bass
Peter Donald: drums

Two Bass Hit
Enigma
In Your Own Sweet Way
Tempus Fujit

Post Roy Syndrome...

Well, by now, anybody bothering to read my posts may be fairly frustrated with my run-on sentences that have little or nothing to do with the respective musical offering. So I'll try to spare you here a bit and simply say, this album is one of those calls where it may have been best to leave it to posterity and free of the internet. But I found it in a record store in Florida and was more than a little intrigued to see "Little" Roy (I'm a complete sucker for great steel guitar) along with the well respected studio guitarist, Kelso Herston, and the next thing I know I had parted with ten bucks and was anxious to give a listen. Well, it's a disappointment overall I'm afraid. I had high hopes, ten dollars worth, but Roy does very "little" here to impress. While there are some moments for him and some of his cast, the playing is largely elevator fare with a generally regrettable vocal chorus that repeats the featured lines from many of these tunes. But I love the pedal steel / steel guitar so much, and this understandably being OOP and uncommitted to CD, I figured, what the heck, here you go. For once I won't apologize for the 128kb rip from this dated LP. Proceed with caution but maybe a few of these tunes will hit the spot. Roy sure can play, he just makes it hard to be sure on this one....

18

"Little" Roy Wiggins - 18 All-Time Hits - 1966 - Starday (SLP 392)

Medley: Candy Kisses/A Prison Without Walls/Show Me The Way Back To Your Heart
Alabam
Seasons of the Heart
Medley: Goodnight Irene/On Top of Old Smokey
Satisfied Mind
Y'All Come

Medley: Faded Love/Maiden's Prayer
You Are The One
Medley: Beautiful Brown Eyes/I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
The Window Up Above
Medley: Chained To A Memory/I'm Throwing Rice (At The Girl I Love)/You Don't Know Me

"Little" Roy Wiggins: steel guitar
Kelson Herston: guitar
(other musicians unidentified by instrument: Fred Carter, Pete Wade, Billy Linneman, Harold Weakley, Vic Willis, Tommy Hill, and The Ray King Singers)

Moses was a good dog...

Music so often blends with moments in our lives. Maybe as obvious as seeing a band perform the music live, or maybe what was playing on the radio when you heard that Elvis died, or what you had on your stereo when you broke up with what's her name back in your teens. Certain songs and sounds recapture events and people as vividly as any photograph. I remember shortly after my father passed away that it struck me one evening that music just didn't have the same impact, it didn't conjure the same childlike happiness as it used to, and maybe I was right. But generally speaking, with time, music, like all feelings, rekindles and must remain a defining force, and I think I managed to get over it, though not as easily as I got over what's her name. So this leads me somehow to an album that I only listened to for the first time when I burned it not all that long ago. So go figure. It's a good one that features my favorite instrument, the guitar, played by someone who can really play it. Jerry Hahn is another under-recorded master and only a few recordings are available. This album, Moses, was never on CD to my knowledge is really enjoyable. It includes a lot of different techniques and some different feels on the electric guitar. Another 128kb offering from the LP, but it will give you a taste of some special music. Hopefully it will eventually equate to some special person or event in your life......BTW, Moses was the name of an English Mastiff that belonged to a good college friend of mine from New Jersey. He was a big lug, and a good dog, so was my friend...enjoy;

Woof

Jerry Hahn - Moses - 1973 - Fantasy 9426

Moses

Prime Time

Slick & Sharp

Blues Suite

Full Moon and Empty Arms

Sunshine Superman

Joy Spring

All Blues

Honey Suite

Jerry Hahn: guitar

Mel Graves: bass

George Marsh: drums

Merl Saunders: organ, synthesizer

From Sun Up To Hoe Down...

Like everything, variety is also the spice of music. Even when you think you just can't get excited about a certain style or genre, all of a sudden, given the opportunity, you find yourself listening to something that just breaks through. Then you are energized to find out what else there is like it which leads to more stuff that isn't exactly like it which leads to more stuff that isn't anything like it and whammo, back you are to another total surprise discovery. Most of my childhood experience with music was guided by the radio and television and an occasional school play or other musical production. I evolved to the early 70's well entrenched in the popular rock and folk of the day, probably most admiring the likes of James Taylor and Steve Miller, some of which remain old reliables in the CD collection. But my musical epiphany really started with a good friend, one with an already broader range of musical exposure. He played Herbie Hancock's Headhunter album. I knew he was into jazz and I occasionally listened but found much of it difficult to relate to, a difficult segue from The Rolling Stones. I'm not sure which song sealed the deal, Chameleon I think, but with that Hancock album I was soon finding it hard to keep still to that funky good stuff and the fun improvisations that framed it. My first response was to question that this could be considered jazz, in the same realm as Ella & Coltrane where I had failed to truly relate. But more listens to a few more items carefully selected from my buddy's budding collection and you just don't turn back, do you? So Jazz was my first real breakthrough and probably remains my first obsession, but pretty much everything followed in the years to come, in pretty quick succession; Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Classical, Honky Tonk, Reggae, and all the subfiles there of. So while I will say that Sun Ra remains one of the most highly revered among my favorite musicians, there is plenty of other good stuff to talk about and share. In trying to keep with only material that seems totally out of print and unavailable, I am suggesting this second post of Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys as a great example of the heart of Bluegrass and music in general. Joe sings such free flying lead and harmony parts with great sincerity. I always enjoy a certain carefree feel in his mandolin playing as well. "Sparkling Brown Eyes" may not be his best album, but it's hard to pick from the few he has out there, and this one is not available on CD. Not sure why he's been avoided so. Sorry this is another 128kb as one of my early recordings but Joe doesn't need too much hi-fi treatment, just a mandolin and some bluegrass boys!! Enjoy;

Joe

Joe Val and The New England Bluegrass Boys - Sparkling Brown Eyes -

1982 - Rounder Records 0152

Lonesome Road Blues

Silver Haired Daddy of Mine

Out in the Cold World

Going Home

Ribbon of Darkness

Yellow Rose of Texas

Sparkling Brown Eyes

God Loves His Children

T for Texas

The Angels Rejoiced

Fair and Tender Ladies

Vision of Mother

Joe Val: mandolin; lead & tenor vocals

Dave Dillon: rythm guitar; lead guitar on "T for Texas"; lead vocals

Paul Silvius: banjo; baritone vocals; finger style guitar on "God..."; bass vocals on "Going Home".

Eric Levenson: bass

Dave Haney: rythm guitar on "Silver..." & "The Angles..."; tenor vocals on "Silver..."; lead vocals on "The Angels...".

Sonny Miller: fiddle

Jazz...for the record...Freddy Robinson

Music finds its way into the lives of most everybody one way or another. As a business person in sales I often find music the quickest common denominator in breaking the ice and getting to know people. It's particularly helpful to be open minded to all kinds of music and to enjoy most anything in terms of styles or genres. And so the journey forward and back in music. How did the treasure evolve and where will it lead next? Each experience another adventure like a day in the life. Who can ever recall just where it started in their life, but somewhere there is an audio experience that translates into wonder, emotion. And then there's another, and another and eventually it's like walking and we all develop our own styles and preferences. For me, I can recall moments of impersonating the popular performers of the time, a singing 4 year old trying to recreate the gravelly tones of Louis Armstrong and later pretending I was the powerhouse Tom Jones singing "What's New Pussycat" (if only I knew). Then there were the teenage years of discovering 45's and some LP's, experimenting with my own acoustic guitar to try my hand at Donovan and Simon & Garfunkel, etc. Eventually there came the bands and playing in some local bars and clubs, The Beatles to Allman Brothers, along with original endeavors, eventually playing out the string into a pass time that keeps a low profile. But the steady influence of the rest of the world's music has lived on through it all. The never ending collection of 8-tracks, cassettes, records, CD's and MP3's, etc., is a source of personal expression and pride. And now, with this new blog, I want to document some of my thoughts along with offering some occasional treasures for fellow listeners to enjoy and share in my excitement about the world of music I call home. Of all the great albums I might consider to initiate my postings here, I offer an elusive work by the funkified Freddy Robinson. I saw Freddy perform with John Mayall & His Bluesbreakers back in the 70's and I have tried to find all of his recordings since. This one has been particularly tough to track down and it's now re-ripped at 320 (6/21/09 update) so have a listen....

Freddy Robinson - Hot Fun In The Summertime - 1970

Liberty LST-11007= Pacific Jazz PJ 20176

Caprice's Green Grass

Moonglow

I Want To Hold Your Hand

I'm In Love

Hot Fun In The Summertime

Someday We'll Be Together

Becky's Rainbow

The Creeper

Link to re-post

Recorded 1970 in Los Angeles;

Freddy Robinson: guitar

unknown: piano

Henry Franklin: acoustic bass

Wilton Felder: electric bass

Paul Humphrey: drums

Al Vescovo: guitar

Bobby Bryant & Freddy Hill: trumpets

Tom Scott: alto sax

Bill Green: sax, poss.

Clydie King, Darlene Love & Edna Wright: vocals

Sid Garp's string section

Welcome Fellow Listeners...

With the holiday season already descending upon America, what better way to initiate this blog than under the name of a personal favorite Christmas song. In fact, the composer of the tune was a friend of my family, Noel Regney. He actually co wrote the song, Do You Hear What I Hear, with his wife and lived in Connecticut during his later life when my parents befriended him. He played piano and sang at the Ridgefield Inn as I recall. I remember him as a very nice gentleman. And so, there is the inspiration for the blog name. My own ID is inspired from quite a different source, none other than the great Herman "Sonny" Blount. I was fortunate enough to have seen Sun Ra with his Arkestra a couple of times and only wish I had made the effort to see him more often. But what I did experience certainly was special as are all his recordings from my experience. So from traditional Christmas tunes to the supremely bizarre and wonderful jazz from timeless space, I christen this blog in the name of peace and the joy of the listeners everywhere. Thanks for stopping in. I will be documenting some of my music collection, mostly LP's and hope to post some of the interesting OOP's.