Category Archives: SHOW “G”-Views

Influenced by ground-breaking artists such as Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Jimi Hendrix, and Miles Davis, it is obvious that Doug John’s earliest endeavors explored every genre. Going on the road at a very young age, he honed his technical skills on stage with many soul, funk, blues and jazz bands, realizing they were all connected by the rhythm of the soul. After playing together as fellow clinicians in 1991, Victor Wooten described Doug Johns as “a great talent who will definitely make his mark in the bass world.” Today, they maintain a personal and professional relationship. But even before gaining notice from Victor, Bass Player Magazine wrote, “Doug Johns wastes no time demonstrating command of his instrument,” and went on to say he “is an impressive showcase of… versatility and professionalism.” Later, while recording tracks at Joe’s Garage in Los Angeles, Dweezil Zappa cut right to the chase and said, “Doug is a freak of nature!” The culmination of these musical experiences has led to the much-anticipated release of Doug Johns’ self-titled, debut CD. The opening tune, “Pimpasaurus Rex,” comes out swinging and includes stellar performances on horns from Joe Miller from one of my personal favorite groups, Chicago’s own Liquid Soul and Kenny Anderson (Arturo Sandoval, Tom Jones). Following Doug’s funk roots, “Hippobottomus” features the deep groove of an unstoppable rhythm section with Chris Ceja on drums and Mark Leach on Hammond. Bound to be a bass players’ staple, track# 9 revisits the country song, “The Claw.” Jerry Reed’s classic takes a smoldering turn with Doug Johns and Victor Wooten furiously trading solos. Flavored with the soul of his teachers – Jaco, Stanley and Bootsy – Doug Johns’ first CD offers variety,depth and should have a home in your set list.

Burnt Sugar played an outdoor event at Real Art Ways and really put it together for an early evening of spiritual hip-ness, funk-a-fied jazz-a-delia that sounded like a new world being born. I enjoyed meeting up with Greg Tate and Moist Paula Henderson who gave me a brand new album of hers to SAX you up with. The vibe, the crowd and the sound was the architect erecting a new buliding on a planet of the undiscovered, a true DIRECTION UNKNOWN adventure in the mindspace. If you haven’t checked them out, you should.

19 members of the Arkestra on stage

Full of energy and life, this sampling of Afro-Cuban selections awakens the Samba, Mambo and Salsa dancer within those listening. With Jazz stylings reminiscent of the early big bands of the 40’s when Afro-Cuban sounds where being explored and experienced on a global level. While many of the names are familiar in this compilation, from Tito Puente to Poncho Sanchez, it is the arrangement on the album that treats the senses to a cool breeze of style where you can feel the ladies’ dresses breeze by as they cha cha cha across the floor. Some how, with all the examples of fine Latin Jazz to choose from, Putumayo’s Latin Jazz is smooth and feels so good like a perfect Sunday afternoon and the chores don’t need to be thought about, just let loose.

Psychodelic GRANDE Beat sounds extraordinary– ‘We Are The Night‘ is the sixth studio album from the duo of Ed Simonsand & Tom Rowland. It starts with Willy Masons short dramatic intro which he states ‘There’s no path to follow‘, which would be more awe-striking to me if seen in a live setting. ‘We are the night‘ explodes with pulsating 4/4 beats and the psychedelic layers build and build until a house of hybrid sounds is built. Track #4,’Saturate‘ is an electronic speed stepping race in high, I mean high paced competition, this track is a serious workout, a full days work, but worth every drop of sweat. ‘Do it again‘ is the first single off the album, listen to it and you’ll see exactly why. I am not at all into the goofy ‘Salmon Song‘, it makes me skip with a heavy thumb onto the next track. Speaking of the next track: Burst Generator, is that genre bent sound storm that I seek in an album, it has the energy of a new born cub and the drive of a steam locomotive gone astray. I will leave my thought there, as I want to hear some feedback from the thirsty eared and open minded.

Send along your thought on this album to: greenarrowradio@hotmail.com

I have been so busy with life, and conversations with artists that I have neglected to talk up the shows I have been seeing. First. Dickey Betts and Great Southern really was on when I saw them… Pedro was right in our chat, a lot of old favs and a ripping rendition of Hoochie Coochie Man with Pedro leading the vocals…

Akashic Records, Tyrone Farm had more FUNk on its plate then bargained for. There is a lot of talent in that group, from Beau Sasser on Hammond to Johnny Trama on guitar and all points in between, this group is one NEVER to miss out on live..trust ME…They kept the barn that is gently nestled in the quiet corner filled up with sound that not only did the cows come home but they brought friends and picnic baskets in hand.

And just the other night it was Dub is a Weapon and Lee “Scratch” Perry. The hang in between was beautiful and vibe-tastic…the band was tight..from Larry and Dave right over to Chrissy on Sax. She made the show…..Scratch was delightfully loving of all on stage and sent more magic into the crowd with song then I have witnessed in a long while. He looks like the show that he still is, I was very impressed!!! Dub is a Weapon backed Scratch on stage with a certain bounce to their beat, like that final puzzle piece clicking into place…it is a perfect match made in space with just the right mix of ebb and flow…and never enough Lee “Scratch” Perry.

You remember friend of greenarrowradio Desiree Bassett….Here is a little idea of what I am talking about. I saw Desi play live in Manchester CT and she blew the roof off the place. With a new band playing with her, bassist David Stolz, a former member of the Dickey Betts Great Southern & Rob Godfrey, the drummer of the Sesame Street Band. The early show was one that I wouldn’t want to have to play after, but when this power trio was finished, Desi ended with a monster shred that would have those in the documents department of the government jealous. People of all sizes and shapes came over to chat with her and get a closer look at the next rock and roll star.

Desdamona is the premiere female hip hop & spoken word artist in the Midwest. Inspired and empowered by rap and R&B, she moved to Minneapolis, to get noticed on the music scene. “I found open mics and started to perform my lyrics as poetry and I got known as a spoken-word artist, when the truth is, that’s not what I was initially. But becoming a spoken-word artist actually made me a better writer.” She has been awarded the MN Music Award for Best Spoken Word Artist for the past five years. her first full length cd, The Ledge, largely produced by Reggae legends Sly & Robbie. She also co-founded and produces B Girl Be, the only female hip hop festival to incorporate all four elements of hip hop. B Girl Be (named after one of her poems) celebrates its third annual festival in June, 2007. June 2007 also marks the release of Desdamona‘s second full length release The Source, which is a nationally released project on FS Music.
The Source is set to wake up minds and inspire those you always wanted to try, something. Desdamona shines THE LIGHT on those willing to look and listen, from true soul, a taste of hip hip and man if there isn’t a madd dash of Reggae flow mixed with a poetic reality. This album is the SOURCE of being aware that you are a human BEING not just a human DOING.

Enjoy.

Last week ended in a rockin’ fashion for me. On Friday night, I kicked back with the large crowd of happy concert goers and watched SIRSY take the Main Pub in Manchester Connecticut by a dynamic duo storm. I honestly feel that this is what they would do at a festival, an intimate gathering or even just a small birthday party. Melanie is as pleasant off stage as she is on, she will electrify, energize and make all your parts move with a, errrrrrrrr certain tingle. Rich is on guitar, bass sounds and a little bass/snare with his feet. He is steady flowing man, taking the sounds into medleys and bouncing it off and back into original tracks that really pump!!! Melanie, standing up (oh yeah) wails on the drum kit like it cheated on her, makes magic happen with each beat…also plays the flute, sings and takes the crowd into her hands and molds them into rock -n- roll Sirsy soldiers, poised to take on the night together. Thanks to Keith at the Main Pub in Manchester for getting this band to the thirsty earholes of the people in this area. Folks, you should be talking your local club owners into bringing this act to a place near you….NOW!!

MisterG recommendation: **GO SEE SIRSY AS SOON AND OFTEN AS POSSIBLE**

Haven’t we all had that feeling of wanting to pick it up and move it along. Well, as history will have it, the nomadic people known as Gypsies, did just that and they seemed to add each cultures musical styles to their repertoire. This wayward traveling and moving allowed the Gypsies, or the Roma to become crafty musicians with no genre standing in their way of expression. This Putumayo release is a sure hit on the dance floors around the world. With mixes from some of the finest musicians in today’s scene, the roots of many lands grow strong through instruments foreign to perhaps too many ears. Gypsy Groove makes all colors of our one world dance together with toe tapping, house shaking and romantically wistful songs filled with that sense of wander, and connects regions to remind us once again of the common bond of sound that keeps us linked together. There are many standout tracks on this album but I will mention just one so you can use your own judgment. The album features the previously unreleased “Amari Szi, Amari (Remix)” from Luminescent Orchestrii, a Brooklyn-based group whose repertoire is a combination of Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle. I invite you to put on your headphones and feel free to aimlessly roam with the ebb and flow of Gypsy Groove.

share the worlds dance floor.

Last Thursday, I was able to be a part of a the experience known as a Derek Trucks Band show. The venue, the Warner Theatre in Torrington, Connecticut is a beautiful spot to hear and feel such a blend of vibrant and alive sounds. You all know how much we like this band on the radio program, well when you remind yourself with a live performance, it really opens up many more avenues that remind us that genres don’t always have a place in the musical world. Kofi was multi-tasking all night long, Todd was all smiles as the notes proved to be an experiment at times. Count M’Butu was his classic self, dancing the robot and keeping the rhythm in all our steps while Yonrico made sure we got a significant amount of rock and roll flavors. Mike‘s voice is from a soulful planet somewhere I have never yet seen, but am thankful to be a part of, and it is even better live. There were moments during the show, but mainly during the solo/song ‘These are a Few of my Favorite Things‘, where I swear I saw both the ghosts of Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane peek around the curtain to see what Derek was pulling off out there. There was a moment where he struck a note or four, while bending the top string around the back of the neck of his guitar. Simply Amazing!

If you can,you should always go and see the Derek Trucks Band play live, as you will not come home disappointed. But I bet you knew that!

On July 19th of 2006, the legendary Yardbirds lived up to their reputation that they have carried with them for so many years….they tore up the stage with a non-stop set of blistering rock and roll and blues. This album contains 19 tracks of both the noticeable and memorable tunes like “For Your Love“, “Train Kept A Rollin’“, Heart Full of Soul” and “Shapes of Things“, and some newer tunes from albums released later on in this legendary band’s career.. The line up that held the stage to a group of fans and listeners that wouldn’t let them go looked like this: Founding members Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja, guitarist Ben King, vocalist John Idan and harmonica player Billy Boy Miskimmin. The fine folks at Favored Nations released this live and unforgettable show and I want to make sure we thank them by spinning this album for some younger fans just diving into powerful blues rock, and of course for those people that lived through the Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck Yardbirds…..just to remind them that these Birds are still flying.

I had an itch that needed to be scratched and there was only one cure…6 turntables and a Reggae Dub Trio named Zion Blood. There were dueling turntables throughout this night with heavy psychodelia and scratch-tastic beat dropping. The turntables even got involved in the dub action staying all around the stage while Zion Blood kept the irie feelings in the haze. Oh yeah. This was an inventive, creative soundscape of imagination and vinal madness. DJ Reazon, DJ Axel Foley and DJ Mister Rourke brought the noize to this quaint spot in the quiet corner of Connecticut. Tyrone Farm hosted this madness in their beautiful barn that would make any farmer jealous…if they didn’t have animals. If you are someone who often says that there is nothing good happening out there, you just haven’t thought about it long enough or you might need to tune into greenarrowradio for some live music to open your minds and fill up those thirsty earholes. You won’t be going down the wrong avenue if one of these fine DJ’s is making magic in your neck of the woods. Supposrt live music!

G

Dj Reazon & DJ Mister Rourke at Tyrone Farm

Call it raw like a freshly opened musical wound, or perhaps you might give it the name of back porch delta swamp blues where you can feel the mosquitoes dancing on your skin. Either way, this album is meant to be played loud. The album is called “Texassippi Blues” and it couldn’t be more appropriate – a slice of Texas – a pinch of the Mississippi Delta. As someone who spins music for listeners with thirsty earholes an open minds, I find this album to satisfy the senses of those seeking a foot stomper, a “hell yeah” and to be taken back a few steps into the blues that made you remember the first time your caught an earful of the legends. Cashman is Ray Cashman & Gabby Brown, that’s right just the two making all that sound….they get a little help from Mr. Jimbo Mathus on a few tracks and the assist to his fine label, 219 Records. I give you a boot on the backside towards the music outlet of your choice to make this one a priority.

***** MisterG Rating.

Well, this highly anticipated evening was even better than expected. You know how it usually is, you get yourself psyched up for an event and it doesn’t ever quite “get there”…well, Little Feat got there and then some…and then…some MORE. I got a chance to hang with Billy Payne and a couple other of the Feat members, watching and talking a little college hoops. The show started off with a bang and we all never looked back. There were some tasty treats as expected we got to Skin it Back, and walk around on a Spanish Moon, and we did get a fried up encore-like rendition of Dixie Chicken, but what blew me away was what appeared to be a version of Within you With out You. The best part of all, believe it or not was the way the entire Little Feat family treated me like I was one of the crew, making sure all was well on several occasions. This band might have little feat, but they sure do have some big hearts…please check out their webpage to see how active they are in the social/medical climate around the world.

A brand new solo release on Red House, Five years after Blue Country Heart, this new release finds Jorma Kaukonen continuing and expanding on that Grammy-nominated work. Not generally a prolific writer, Kaukonen has written a welcome five of the disc’s fourteen numbers this time out. They range from the perfect and prayerful opener “Overture: Heart Temporary,” with its 12-piece string section holding his acoustic guitar and vocal aloft, to the lilting instrumental “A Life Well Lived.” Jorma’s choice of covers has left him room to make them his own, while also adding to the portrait of who he is as an artist, and how he got there. Continuing the journey through American roots music he started in the early 1960’s, Jorma cooks up a tasty collection of down-home blues, bluegrass, folk, country gospel and reggae. Stars In My Crown was recorded in Nashville and is rooted in classic Americana, flavored with a laid-back bluesy feel. This album certainly shows off Jorma’s ability to hears songs in a different light then those who wrote them before him. While he does have quite a collection of backing musicians on this album, it is obvious that Jorma is his own star and another shining jewel in the history of sound. As i sit and listen for the fourth time through, I look forward to locating the quirky tastes of individual personality this guitar master tempts us with as his signature style. And then I look to his website for tour dates….

***** MisterG rating

Last night was something special. We arrived early and caught the sound check, which produced one of the coolest and most original guitar jam of the evening…and there were many. We met up with other journalists and discussed Vieux and his father but mostly the home country to them, Mali. The green room was the spot for our conversation. We shared laughter and languages, handshakes and with some heritage, it was as real as the very earth we stand on. The guys at Modiba Productions are doing this tour right. They are a team of people, treating each other and us as family and it really hits you when they are on stage. The crowd was to the back walls and as you looked around they were smiling from thirsty earhole to thirsty earhole, most containing the urge for dancing until the end of the show…oh, this music makes you dance like no one is watching. Vieux was filled with energy and enthusiasm as always on stage and off. Many tracks of his new self titled release are featured during the show, and there are some surprises also. Many of the people in attendance walked away with their copy, I suggest you find yours. O.K….LET’S GO!!

Also, check out the first music video in Vieux’s career.

produced by Andrea Wozny

The place was packed with a group ready to hip, hop and bounce around to the good time feelings and sound of G. Love & the Special Sauce. There was a nice blend here of new album material both with the Special Sauce and acoustic G. As with the majority of the crowd, Garret doesn’t stay still very long on stage, slapping five with the folks in the front and movin’ and shakin’ it the entire show. The energy and fervor really spill over onto the crowd like a guitar pick being tossed into the front rows. The band rocked and rolled into the early hours and made us all feel cooler than we felt before we walked into the Heartbreak Hotel, and I for one, still feel like the FONZ to this moment after sharing some time being a part of this event. Ayyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeee!!

G during ‘Shootin Hoops’

The collaboration of veteran bluesman John Hammond and contemporary Philly hip-hop/soulman G Love could make some blues purists run for the hills, the duo’s work here shows there is nothing to be running from. G. produces the 64 year old Hammond’s newest release, which John actually tackles some songwriting of his own. If you recall my conversations with Garrett and John last year, we touched on that aspect. This is a release destined for good things, with that ‘lets find some trouble‘ guitar moan and the bar-b-q sizzler of harmonica, blues enthusiasts will be thrilled to the bone. For those of you looking for a cross-over track, try #5 I’m Tore Down, which features a dash of hip hop and rap colliding with the fusion of a well produced album, not an over produced mess.

MisterG Rating *****

Let me just tell you this, if you are in search of something to take your mind away from the everyday sounds and styles you are used to, go see Vieux play live anywhere. He and his band mates, combine the tradition Malian sound associated with Vieux’s father Ali, mix in its cousin the North American blues and now there are dashes and hints of Reggae and even rock and roll. I swear on the last song played, Chuck Berry jumped on stage at one point. Vieux is exciting to watch, whether it is playing his or his father’s guitar, dancing or flashing a brite smile into the crowd. At Wesleyan we were quite lucky as Mama Sissoko and Seckou Toure joined in on the magic making. Wesleyan was packed with a crowd of smiles, foot stomping and a deep puddle of self expression splashing in beat with Vieux triumphant sound of mother earth, and his motherland Mali.
This was a show were connection were made, I came away feeling more in synch with the very soil I walk on and the water I drink seems to trickle down from those very strings Ali Farka Toure once strummed, and now I am pleased to have Vieux pouring that water into our thirsty earholes.

Stay tuned for an upcoming conversation with Vieux and his team at Modiba Productions.

This is a FIVE STAR ***** Show. Not to be Missed!