Colombia's Motown

Various Artists - 1960-1976 - Colombia! The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes--The Powerhouse of Colombian Music
This compilation is stellar. A collection of pretty much the best Colombian grooves you are likely to hear. Some people like to think of the Discos Fuentes record label as something like Colombia's version of Motown (not that they put out the same type of music, of course... people like to make the comparison between the two because both labels are still around today, but their best moments occurred in the sixties and early seventies--and of course, both labels made great music you can dance to). It's pretty hard to feel down when listening to this record. So put it on and enjoy.

1980s classical music

Steve Reich - 1986 - Sextet / Six Marimbas
Contained on this album are two works by Steve Reich, which together happen to make one of my favorite albums of his music. Reich utilizes two smaller ensembles than his music usually employed by the 1980s, to really wonderful effect (even having players bow vibraphones, later on in the first work, which produces wonderfully long and ghostly notes). I could babble on about how Reich's music makes me feel when I listen to it, but it's better to just listen for yourself without a bunch of expectations... If you just let yourself drift away into the subtle changes and evolving pieces while you listen, I think there's a pretty good chance you'll be hooked.

two huge influences on Miles

I couldn't quite decide which of the following albums to post next, so I decided just to post both today.


Betty Davis - 1974 - They Say I'm Different
Born Betty Mabry, she started off as a model, originally, appearing in photo spreads in the magazines of Seventeen, Ebony, and Glamour. While working in New York, she met and became close to a lot of musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. She married Miles Davis in 1968 (his second wife), and although they were only married for a year, Davis readily admitted her great influence on him, especially by laying the seeds that would lead him down the path of jazz-fusion by introducing him to rock, funk, and psychedelic music (she even appears on the cover of Miles' Filles de Kilimanjaro, and is reportedly the inspiration in the title for Miles' fusion classic Bitches Brew).

After her divorce to Miles, she moved to London to continue more of her modeling career, but while there she started to write her own music. She moved back to America to record her own material, and released three stunning funk albums (full of grit, and with no horns to get in the way of the hard funk). None of them were commercial successes as her open sexual attitudes were far too controversial for the time. She retired from music, and has since become a cult figure within funk music, beloved by those in the know.


Bill Evans Trio - 1959 - Portrait in Jazz
No one disputes that Bill Evans is the most influential pianist in jazz music, bar none. Evans spent years upon years of his early life woodshedding before he hit the scene, spending his time trying to do something unique and entirely his own within jazz piano. His style is probably most famous for incorporating the ambiguous voicings and harmonies of classical impressionism, such as that of Ravel and Debussy, into a jazz format (as well as his emphasis on playing in modes). Nowadays everyone is used to hearing chords and voicings in jazz like those played by Bill Evans (remember, I said the dude was highly influential), but at the time they were strictly avant-garde to everyone's ears.

Bill Evans made several notable albums as a sideman during the mid-1950s (such as Charles Mingus' introspective East Coasting), eventually joining Miles Davis' group in 1958. The story goes that Miles was looking for a new pianist and George Russell recommended Bill Evans to Miles.
"Is he white?" asked Miles.
"Yeah," Russell answered.
"Does he wear glasses?"
"Yeah."
"I know that motherfucker. I heard him at Birdland--he can play his ass off..."

While his time was brief in Miles' group, Evans' lyrical playing, ambiguous and impressionistic voicings, and emphasis on modes had a deep impact on Miles' own music. Miles had to kick out Evans because of Evans' extreme heroin use--and you know if Miles kicked you out of his group because he thought you did too much heroin, than seriously, you did too much heroin.

After his time with Miles, he started to lead his own dates. This is his second album, and his first with his most famous trio, featuring the bass playing of Scott LaFaro and the drumming of Paul Motian. This group has since become one of the most acclaimed piano trios, and jazz bands in general, of all time. With this group, Evans' put an added emphasis on interplay among the band members that often bordered on collective improvisation and blurred the line between soloist and accompanist (especially between Evans and LaFaro... listen to their version of the song "Autumn Leaves," on this album, for an outstanding example of this).

Sadly this classic trio would only get to record two studio albums and a live recording which would be split into two more albums, before Scott LaFaro would die in a car crash at the young age of 25--sending Evans into a deep depression, and creating a hole that was never properly filled within Evans music in ever the same way again.

deep soul classic

James Carr - 1966 - You Got My Mind Messed Up
James Carr was working on an assembly line, making tables, in Tennessee when he began recording for Goldwax Records. This is his first album and in my opinion his greatest. He would record one more follow-up album, A Man Needs a Woman, before his bipolar disorder began to interfere too much with his career and he was forced into retirement (that is, until the 1990s when he recorded two "comeback" albums). He later died in 2001, in a Tennessee nursing home, at the age of 58.

This album is the real deal--dripping with raw passion and grit. It's nothing short of outstanding in its emotional depth and soul. An essential album in anyone's collection. If you listen to this album from beginning to end and you are not moved, it probably means you're a robot.

the first post

Welcome to my new music blog. Updates will probably be an album once a week (although since this is the first post, I'm posting five albums today so the blog doesn't look so bare), so bookmark and check back (and no promises for how long I will keep up this blog--so again, check back and get stuff while you can). Hope you enjoy...



Bruno Spoerri - late 1960s to 1970s - Glückskugel
Bruno Spoerri was a Swedish musician who worked primarily in the field of composing library music, music for sponsored films, and commercial jingles. This record collects rare work of his from the late 1960s to the 1970s. The music is funky, experimental, and extremely hip (I just wish it was longer).



Various Artists - 1949-1976 - Life is a Problem
A compilation of raw electric-guitar-based gospel recorded between 1949 and 1976 (with most of the songs centering around the 1950s). Features Rev. Utah Smith, Rev. Lonnie Farris, Sister O.M Terrill and many lesser known artists. (Reverend Utah Smith, probably the most "well-known"... yes, I realize how ironic that statement is... of the artists on this compilation, made a name for himself by rocking out with his congregation, hammering out 12-bar blues on his electric guitar while supposedly swinging about on ropes from the church rafters with a pair of angel wings on his back... That itself should be recommendation alone.)



Andrew Hill - 1963 - Smokestack
Depending on who you ask, a good deal of Andrew Hill's jazz can be far too heady and eggheaded for its own good, instead sounding more like intellectual exercises than, well, music... Depending on the record I might tend to agree, but not with Smokestack (and several other Hill records which are favorites of mine). If you're not familiar with Hill's work, I think this is a fine introduction. Hill is of course on piano, Roy Haynes is on drums, and the two upright dueling/complimenting basses are played by Richard Davis and Eddie Khan.



Half Japanese - 1984 - Sing No Evil
Although not my favorite Half Japanese record, really, I admit this is probably the best introduction to Half Japanese (if namely for its short length... other records might be overwhelming for the uninitiated... I guess, if you are unfamiliar with Half Japanese, you should probably read their biography on Allmusic or something: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:a9fqxqw5ldhe~T1).

Half Japanese is one of my favorite bands, and I guess the one thing that I would add is that conventional opinion would state that Jad Fair can not sing. I disagree. The proof is in the pudding; take for instance the first song, "Firecracker Firecracker", which just happens to be one of the best songs of all time, at least in my opinion. Jad gives 200% (or more) when he sings, he gives it so much enthusiasm and heart, and the way he sells those lyrics, you can tell it comes from somewhere deep down that is very honest. So yeah, I say Jad can sing--I think he's one of the best singers, if not of just music in general, than at least punk.



Fela Kuti & The Afrika 70 - 1977 - Sorrow Tears and Blood
Prime afro-beat record inspired by the February 18, 1977, raid by a thousand Nigerian army men on Fela Kuti and his communal compound, the Kalakuta Republic. In keeping with the format upheld on the majority of Fela's LPs, this record contains a pair of extended works, featuring one title per LP side. More introspective and seething than some of Fela's more lively and funkier albums, it's a nice change of pace among most of his albums from the '70s. Plus you just can't beat the sound of that electric bass and those drums that start off "Colonial Mentality".