Category Archives: the MisterG-laneous

Man o man…I think this is a fair representation of what this years top albums look like. I apologize to those left out and/or forgotten but when you mix sounds of several varieties–these lists make for quite the challenge. Either way, I hope you find some surprises here and maybe even a new artist or two to check out…if you like any of these sounds, come on over and check out the show.

60. Razed- EOTO
59. Down in New Orleans. the Blind Boys of Alabama
58. Desert Crossroads- Etran Finatawa
57. In Search of my Roots- Abiyou Solomon
56. Angels & Curves- Leroy Powell
55. Jah is Real- Burning Spear
54. Someone Else’s Shoes- Tommy Talton
53. 1861- Moreland & Arbuckle
52. Music for Dorothy- Topaz & Mudphonic
a tie@51. Raindrops-Duane Andrews & Quiet Strength-Russel Blake
50. It’s Hot in Here- EG Kight
49. Hi FI Stereo- Reverand Organdrum
48. Saxless- Celia Baron
47. Radiolarians 1- MMW
46. Deidem- Taj Weekes & Adowa
45. The Prelude EP- the Mighty Underdogs
44. We can get Together- Sean Costello
43. Legends of the Preacher- Nation Beat
42. Forked Tongue-Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
41. Skin Deep- Buddy Guy
40. Sesame Street Playground
39. Maestro- Taj Mahal
38. Pebble to a Pearl- Nikka COsta
37. Music for People- Blvd
36. Country of Guns- Kaleta & Zozo Afrobeat
35. En Paz- Eljuri
34. 11i- Supreme Beings of Leisure
33. Palmystery- Victor Wooten
32. Pocket Fulla Nasty- Doug Johns
31. Anarchy & Alchemy- Dub Gabriel
30. Carribean Soul & Calypso- Calypsoul
29. Kabash Rockers w/ Bill Laswell
28. Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered-Scratch Perry
27. Devotion- Cheb i Sabbah
26. Superhero Brother- G Love & Special Sauce
25. Jump for George- Imaginary Homeland
24. Nassira- Grant Calvin Weston
23. Center Stage- Tommy Emmanuel
22. Lobster Leaps In- the Microscopic Septet
21. Dark Shade of Blue- Xavier Rudd
20. Funky Kidz
19. BAck to the Cat- Barry Adamson
18. Never Never Love- Pop Levi
17. Shivaboom- Eccodek
16. In the Skyscraper- Secretary feat. Big Boss
15. MOODOO- Porter/Batiste/Stoltz
a TIE @14. Freedom- Sol & Thunder- SMV
a TIE @13. CinemaSonics- Doug Wimbish & Sex Sells-Rithma
12. Make the Road by Walking- Menahan Street Band
11. Takin’ you Back to the Magic Suite-Dayton Flic
10.Bruja on the Corner- Mad Juana
9. Orange Blossoms- JJ Grey & Mofro
8. Soul Summit- live at the Berks Jazz Fest
7. Funk Fixes & Remixes- the Pimps of Joyime
6. Terrorvision- Mister Rourke
5. All One Tribe- Skeebo Knight
4. Sidewalk Caesars- Scrapomatic
3. Rotonova- Razl
2. Global Noize- DJ Logic/Jason Miles
1. Marcus- Marcus Miller

Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose style influenced a generation of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died Monday, a month after suffering a heart attack. He was 70. A towering figure in jazz circles, Hubbard played on hundreds of recordings in a career dating to 1958, the year he arrived in New York from his hometown Indianapolis, where he had studied at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music and with the Indianapolis Symphony. In his earliest recordings, which included “Open Sesame” and “Goin’ Up” for Blue Note in 1960, the influence of Miles Davis on Hubbard is obvious. But within a couple years he would develop a style all his own, one that would influence generations of musicians, including Wynton Marsalis. “He influenced all the trumpet players that came after him,” Marsalis told The Associated Press earlier this year. “Certainly I listened to him a lot. … We all listened to him. He has a big sound and a great sense of rhythm and time and really the hallmark of his playing is an exuberance. His playing is exuberant.” Hubbard played on more than 300 recordings, including his own albums and those of scores of other artists. He won his Grammy in 1972 for best jazz performance by a group for the album “First Light.” As a young musician, Hubbard became revered among his peers for a fiery, blazing style that allowed him to hit notes higher and faster than just about anyone else with a horn. As age and infirmity began to slow that style, he switched to a softer, melodic style and played a flugelhorn. His fellow musicians were still impressed….and that never seemed to stop.

Dock Ellis was a fierce ballplayer, you can just read the stories…but this one is just too much: No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game. Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou. During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter, despite the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game. There is out there a song about this fantastic event, let me know when you find it.

Tinariwen’s first live concert dvd will be available on World Village this January 2009. Entitled Live in London, the dvd is of Tinariwen’s performance at Shepherds Bush Empire in Dec 2008, recorded by Phoenix Film and TV Productions. Live in London includes special features such as a documentary on the band, interviews with founder Ibrahim Abaraybone and producer Justin Adams, and even a how-to guide for making “shesh” headgear. Some live tracks in the hour-long concert portion are “Matadjem Yinmixan,” “Amassakoul ‘n’ Tenere” and “Cler Achel”. A sneak-peek video is available here:

Tinariwen – Assawt N’chet Tamashek (from Live DVD)

As I am setting to prepare for the top albums of 2008 as heard by my ears, I often think about making a more memorable list-one that takes albums that I might not play on the program but still love dearly and encompassing them into a directory of sorts with some explanation on why these might be my choices of things I might share with you before it’s too late. For the last three and a half years, award-winning music journalist Tom Moon has been searching out peak musical experiences from all genres and every corner of the earth. 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die, published by Workman Publishing in August 2008, is the result of his journey. Covering both acknowledged world-culture masterworks (J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations) and recordings that have been unfairly overlooked (Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left), the book is designed to encourage listeners to become explorers. It is alway obvious that when compiling a list like this, things get pushed to the side or overlooked as there is so much to deal with….Check out Tom’s site and look into the list he has developed…there are some albums here I am thankful to be reminded about and some I am happy to have been directed towards in search of exploration.

I recall so many good times hanging with “laughing Boy” and Taj’s Natch’l Bues

Chachi Mulletino presents Eric Biondo in his sweaty Brooklyn Bedroom.

Beyondo soon to be a guest on the show. Check out more at Eric’s site.

Confronted by an uncertain economy and a sharp decline in current and projected revenues from corporate underwriting, NPR today announced that it will reduce its workforce by 7 percent and cut expenses. The difficult moves come despite NPR reaching near-record audience levels on-air and online, with 26.4 million people listening to NPR programs each week and 8 million people visiting NPR.org each month. A significant number of the personnel cuts result from the upcoming cancellation of two NPR produced programs — Day to Day and News & Notes. Both programs, broadcast on NPR Member stations nationwide, will remain on the air through March 20, 2009. Staff and expense reductions will be made in reporting, editorial and production areas; station services; digital media; research; communications and administrative support. A total of 64 filled positions have been eliminated against NPR’s current staff of 889, 21 open positions will not be filled and travel and discretionary expenses have been cut across the organization. “It’s crucial to realize that these programming changes are being driven by a loss in revenue, not relevance,” said Ellen Weiss, NPR’s Senior Vice President for News. “With near-record audience levels, now more than ever people are relying on NPR to better understand the extraordinary events occurring in the world.”

original source: Daily Fishbowl DC

The Band of Bees bring us a music video attempting to answer one of the most popular questions….wait…what?

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Nation Beat with Willie Nelson @ Farm Aid 2008:

NationBeat is presented by our friends at Modiba Productions.

Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, has died. She was 77. In spite of failing health that caused her to use a wheelchair, Odetta performed 60 concerts in the last two years, singing for 90 minutes at a time. Her singing ability never diminished, said her manager of 12 years, Doug Yeager. With her booming, classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, blacks and whites. First coming to prominence in the 1950s, she influenced Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other singers who had roots in the folk music boom. An Odetta record on the turntable, listeners could close their eyes and imagine themselves hearing the sounds of spirituals and blues as they rang out from a weathered back porch or around a long-vanished campfire a century before. Odetta called on her fellow blacks to “take pride in the history of the American Negro” and was active in the civil rights movement. When she sang at the March on Washington in August 1963, “Odetta’s great, full-throated voice carried almost to Capitol Hill,” The New York Times wrote. “I’m not a real folksinger,” she told The Washington Post in 1983. “I don’t mind people calling me that, but I’m a musical historian. I’m a city kid who has admired an area and who got into it. I’ve been fortunate. With folk music, I can do my teaching and preaching, my propagandizing.” Her 1965 album “Odetta Sings Dylan” included such standards as “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Masters of War” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” In a 1978 Playboy interview, Dylan said, “the first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta.” He said he found “just something vital and personal” when he heard an early album of hers in a record store as a teenager. “Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar,” he said.

RIP Miss Odetta

Shortly after and right before I have been an admirer of this collective:
Orchestra Morphine in Ouro Preto Brazil
Tom Halter -trumpet
Mike Rivard-bass
BIlly Conway-drums
Jerome Deupree-drums
Evan Harriman-keys
Laurie Sargent-vocals
Russ Gershon-sax
Dana Colley-sax vocals

I hope you digg.

Tractors working in the distance—Dried field grasses blowing in the breeze sounding like rattlesnakes startled…It was nice to get away today.

The footsteps on icy snow-tops while breathe slides out of my mouth….it was a nice day to get away.

LONDON (AP) — Paul McCartney says it’s time an experimental Beatles track saw the light of day. McCartney says he wants to release “Carnival of Light,” a 14-minute experimental track the Fab Four recorded in 1967 but never released. The band played the recording for an audience just once, at an electronic music festival in London. It reportedly includes distorted guitar, organ sounds, gargling and shouts of “Barcelona!” and “Are you all right?” from McCartney and John Lennon. McCartney said during a recording session at Abbey Road studios he asked the other members of the band to “just wander round all of the stuff and bang it, shout, play it. It doesn’t need to make any sense.” “I like it because it’s The Beatles free, going off piste,” he told the BBC in a radio interview to be broadcast Thursday. Extracts of the interview were published Sunday in The Observer newspaper. McCartney said he still had a master tape of the piece and “the time has come for it to get its moment.” McCartney, usually regarded as the most melodically minded Beatle, told the BBC he had a long-standing interest in avant-garde music. He said “Carnival of Light” was inspired by experimental composers John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He said he had wanted to include the track on the Beatles’ “Anthology” compilation, but was vetoed by his bandmates. McCartney would need permission from Ringo Starr and the widows of Lennon and George Harrison to release the track.

A lot of people asked me how I made the gascan banjo. Then my friend Carla gave me this olive oil can. Said she thought I might make something good out of it. So I made the oilcan banjo, and documented it. The background music is from the oilcan. I think it’s got a nice sound, for an oil can.

Posted Originally by RPEEK

Mitch Mitchell, the legendary drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, died in his sleep of natural causes, US medical tests revealed. Mitchell, 61, whose fusion style allowed him and one of history’s greatest guitar players to feed off each other, was found early on Wednesday in his room at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon. His last days were spent celebrating the music and legacy of Jimi Hendrix on the 2008 Experience Hendrix Tour. For nearly 4 weeks the tour travelled coast to coast in an 18-city tour in the US finishing in Portland. In addition to Mitchell the tour featured Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Cesar Rosas, David Hidalgo, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, Hubert Sumlin, Chris Layton as well as Eric Gales and Mato Nanji. The Mitch Mitchell Trust has been established to manage the MMT Drug Rehabilitation Through Music programme based in Bettws, Newport in Wales.

RIP Mitch Mitchell

Music video for “Buncombe to Badala (B2B)” by friend of the radio program Toubab Krewe from the new album, “Live at the Orange Peel,” coming November 29, 2008!

Edited by Kurt Vincent.

Filmed by: Jake Frankel,Kurt Vincent,
David Suskind, Lee Ann Kornegay,
John Fernandez, Sasha Rubel, Rory Heller….

Mad Juana performs a new song, Bury Me Standing. Karmen Guy sings with Sami Yaffa on guitar, Fernando Rosario on bass, Maukka Palmio on percussion, Kiku Collins on trumpet, Danny Ray on sax and Marni Rice playing accordion. Video by Alan Rand.

2-20-2000-Merl plays 140 West in Missoula,MT

Jimmy Carl Black….Jimmy passed away peacefully last night Saturday 11/01/08 at 11:00 o’clock pm. Jimmy says hi to everybody and he doesn’t want anybody to be sad.

Merl Saunders, a phenomenal person and funky keyboardist who collaborated with artists of all shapes and sizes including Miles Davis and the Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 74. In a statement posted on Merl’s website from the Saunders Family reads as follows:

Merl Saunders stood for music and love – his smile alone told you that. We loved him very much – and we know that you, his fans, did too. Sad as we are to lose him, we’re very aware of being comforted by the affection coming from all those touched by that smile and that wonderful music. He was a special man, a beautiful companion, father, grandfather, and family patriarch, and the proof of that spirit is in the way you’ve reached out to us at his passing.

Keep on keepin’on,
The Saunders Family

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, October 29th, at 11 am
at First AME Zion Church, 2159 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco.

I send my thoughts and positive vibes to Jr and the entire Saunders’ family as well as those in the circle through the music. Rest In Peace Brother Merl.

Check out my conversation with Merl Saunders Jr a few years back right here.