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Category: Music

Melvin Rhyne – Jazz Organ – Born October 12, 1936

Melvin Rhyne an Original Member of the Wes Montgomery Trio and More!

One of my favorite things to do is to scroll down the daily list of birthdays at All About Jazz. I always check for names I am unfamiliar with and/or musicians who play instruments that I enjoy! Today as I looked over the list I noticed a Hammond B-3 Organ player Melvin Rhyne.  I didn’t recognize Melvin’s name. However, after reading the following synopsis of the early years Rhyne’s career, I do believe I probably have heard his Hammond B-3 before……

Biography

Melvin Ryne was born on October 12, 1936 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her starte playing piano at an early age. He became a part of the city’s jazz scene at the age of 19 whenwhen….. read more

Joanna Connor – Six String Stories.

Six String Stories – Joanna Connor –  The Best Blues of 2016?

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted an album titled Six String Stories on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart. The artist was Joanna Connor. Since the title of the album was interesting and I had never heard of Ms. Connor, I went to Spotify and gave it a quick listen. Wow! It sounded great! But then my ADD kicked in and I was soon off listening to other albums and Six String Stories was set aside.

Somehow at the end of last week the album caught my attention again and I went back to Spotify and listened to it again. Boy am I glad I did! Ms. Connor is one hell of a slide guitarist! She may even give my favorite slide guitarist Dave Hole a run for his money! read more

Marquis Hill – The Way We Play

The Way We Play – Marquis Hill puts his own spin on some jazz classics

I first discovered the music of Marquis Hill back on 2013, around the time of the release of his album The Poet. At the time, I couldn’t find The Poet at any of my usual listening spots, so I listened to his album Sounds of the City . IK quickly became a fan! The sounds of the city emanated from Marquis’ home town of Chicago and the album was outstanding.

After the release of  The Poet, Marquis won  the 2014 THELONIOUS MONK INTERNATIONAL JAZZ COMPETITION. The winner of that competition also wins a recording contract with Concord Records. The Way We Play is the first album of the contract.The result may be a long and award-winning collaboration between the two! Jazz Times says this about Marquis’s playing read more

Terceto Kali hits the Flamenco-Jazz Scene

Terceto Kali – Terceto Kali

One of the albums that has been in my music rotation this past week while on vacation on Long Beach
Island in NJ was the latest the self-titled debut album from a three-man trio Terceto Kali. The trio led by virtuoso flamenco guitarist Jason McGuire “El Rubio, plays a blend of flamenco, Latin and jazz rooted in a variety of musical genres. Prior to the release of this debut album the band was billed as The Jason McGuire Trio. Either way, if you are a fan of flamenco guitar, oh hell, if you are a fan of guitar playing, you are going to love this album! Throughout the album, “El Rubio” lives up to his billing as a virtuoso guitarist! read more

Blues Icon Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon – Bassist, Singer and Composer – Born July 1, 1915

Today is the 101st anniversary of the birth of Willie Dixon(July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) and I bet somewhere on almost every night of the year someone is playing one of the 500 songs that he wrote! It could be a jazz, blues or rock artist because Willie’s songs appeal to lovers of  many genres. He was one of the two artists, the other Muddy Waters, that were the most influential in shaping the sound of Chicago blues in the post World War II years, as well as, rock and roll in the 50s and 60s. I think that my first introduction to the blues of Dixon was Cream’s cover of “Spoonful”, wait maybe it was The Doors “Back Door Man” or maybe Led Zeppelin “I Can’t Quit You” but it was probably Johnnie Rivers covering “Seventh Son” and I didn’t even know it!! Well, you get the picture. Here’s a link to a list songs of Willie Dixon, along with the artists who cover them!! From Wikipedia some of the songs….. read more

A Morning Walk powered by Blues of Desperation

Yeah I got off My Butt and went for a walk, listening to Blues of Desperation from Joe Bonamassa

The calender that  I created yesterday says that I was scheduled to run between 5:30 and 6:30 tonight. But when I checked the weather forecast for today, I saw that it was probably going to be raining at that time. As a result, I decided to move the run to 10 o’clock this morning. I also made another change, I decided to walk instead of run. Since I have been having problems lately with my ears being clogged, I thought I would walk to Dollar General and get some ear wax removal medicine.I knew based on my running courses, that I could walk a course that would make the walk about a mile. read more

A Playlist for a Thursday Morning Commute

Some Jazz, Blues and Prog Make for a Fine Commute Playlist

This morning I put the iPod on playlists recently played and for my commute to and from work at Target the soundtrack was a mix of new music added to my music library. Some the tracks are from the albums that I bought at the Princeton Record Exchange a couple of weeks ago and some are just new albums. So here’s the twelve track playlist…

  1. “Little Niles” – In the Vanguard – Bobby Hutcherson
  2. “No Good Place for the Lonely” – Blues of Desperation – Joe Bonamassa
  3. “Scorpio” – Shock Value – Live at Smoke- Jeremy Pelt .
  4. “Cause” – Shock Value – Live at Smoke- Jeremy Pelt .
  5. “This Train” –  Blues of Desperation – Joe Bonamassa”
  6. “Just In Time” (Take 11)  – Expoobedient – Lee Morgan
  7. “Quik” – Have You Heard – Javon Jackson
  8. “Somewhere in Dreams” – Project X  Dark Moor
  9. “Suspicion” – Shock Value – Live at Smoke- Jeremy Pelt .
  10. “Hightime” – Dark Blue – Jim Rotondi
  11. “The Valley Runs Low” –  Blues of Desperation – Joe Bonamassa”
  12. “Nevermore”  Project X – Dark Moor

The following is a breakdown of the albums on the playlist and the number of tracks from each album. Let’s see the list is composed of tracks from five jazz albums, one blues album and a prog rock album……. read more

Jason Marsalis – Vibes the Marsalis Way!!

Jason Marsalis :Vibraphone Born: March 4, 1977

So a while back I came across the album In a World of Mallets by Jason Marsalis. I listened to the album because the lead instrument was a vibraphone and not because of the name Marsalis. In fact I didn’t even make the connection until today, when I was reading about Jason, who is celebrating his thirty-ninth (39) birthday today. I read that Jason was in fact the youngest of the famous Marsalis family ,led by father Ellis and includes brothers Wynton, Bradford and Delfeayo!. I felt a little better about not knowing who he was after I read at All About Jazz that….. read more

More Guitars than Friends – Anni Piper

More Guitars than Friends from “Australia’s First Lady Of The Blues.” – Anni Piper

Anni Piper - More Guitars Than FriendsThis morning I decided to start my week with a little blues. I reviewed the Roots Music Report Blues Chart and came away with six albums that I wanted to listen to this afternoon. Anni Piper was  the artist who came first alphabetically. Anni’s latest release More Guitars than Friends, currently sits at number 29 on the chart up from 45 last week. How could I go wrong with an album title like that!!

The Track One Introduction….

My decisions about whether or not I will like and album are often made by listening to the first few minutes of the first song on the album. In the case of More Guitars than Friends, the first song is “Wonder Woman” which just blew me away. Strong music from the bass to the guitar and then Anni’s sultry voice sounded just right to me. read more

Steven Troch Great Blues Harp From Belgium!

Steven Troch’s album Nice ‘N’ Greasy brightens my night!

So this evening I was browsing the Euro-Americana Chart and there are several new albums from musicians whom I like. The chart includes new albums from: Peter Cooper & Eric Brace, Cam Penner, and Grant Peeples. One of the several artists on the Tips list whose name I didn’t recognize was Steven Troch. The title of Troch’s latest album is Nice ‘N’ Greasy and any album with a title like that is worth checking out!

When I went to Spotify I saw that the album cover had a picture of Steven and a big ass harmonica…again a sign that the album should be checked out!! So I did and I think I have added another blues harmonica player to my stable of favorites!! It turns out that Steven Torch is also known as the “Belgian Blues Torch” read more