The Things I Do For You

...so this guy walks into a bar on Decatur Street, picks up a copy of Offbeat, reads a review of fabulous new collection of early Clifton Chenier jawns entitled "Clifton Chenier's Rockin' Acordion..." and puts it on his (requested) Father's Day wish list.

It arrives. Sound GREAT! Sounds VERY familiar. Guy pulls out this sorta wonky "box" titled n"Louisiana Stomp" which comprises a CD of Clifton Chenier and one of Clarence Garlow. And - the repertoire overlaps about 95%. In fact the liner notes in the new collection thanks the gent who wrote the liner notes in the earlier one. OY!

Finally - BOTH collections are great. It's the great bulk of everything Clifton recorded in the 50's which includes all the material he recorded for L.A.'s Specialty label which yielded his first national hits (so the Specialty release overlaps 100% with these). So great, raw, rockin' stuff! And if you have not explored zydeco, one of the nicely exotic yet oh so familiar strains of indigenous exotic (at least to mine Polish descended sensibilities), and you wanna start from square one - this is basically it.

Ergo the point is - DON'T BUY BOTH! But either one is essential!

Random Excess Mambo

This is all pretty random - really no time to do any of this justice but felt moved to put in my 1 cent...

I recently purchased Set 2 of Wire's "Legal Bootleg" series. Most people seem to favor particular periods in Wire's history: their first fiery, sculpted blasts of artpunk fury of their "Pink Flag" debut, the catchier and more experimental albums that followed "Chairs Missing" and ""154." Then came hiatus number one that lasted about 10 years, whereupon they re-emerged embracing dancey beats, extensive use of synthesizers and a closer approximation of contemporary quasi-pop (ala Cure, Human League, Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs, etc.). And then hiatus number two that last another 10 years and suddenly they started releasing stunning artpunk EP's in the "Read And Burn" series, then the wonderfully rabble-rousing, brain teasing "Send" album. Followed by a bunch more albums that each have a good share of worthwile material.

What I like about this series is getting a peak at how the band executed the repertoire from "Ideal Copy" through "The First Letter." And while a good amount of that material suffered under trendy or arbitrary studio strategies the solid songcraft and economical, pointed playing is what is primarily in evidence on their live performances from this period.

The material from their second and third album always comes across nicely - but no big surprises. Their most recent material fares pretty well too in a live setting.

Two albums that shine most brightly in Set 2 would be: 09 August 2009, Off Festival, Myslowice; 19 July 1979, Notre Dame Hall, London. The former would appear to be their first performance either in Poland, or at least at this particular festival (based on some of their comments from the stage) and clearly they were aiming to make a good first impression - pulling together a career-spanning set that'd be any Wire fans wet dream. And played as sharp and enthusiastically as is possible. The other show basically functions as the great lost Wire album - the 4th album from their original incarnation that only got peripheral documentation via a few Rough Trade singles and the dodgey live recordings that appeared on "Document and Eyewitness." And indeed the Notre Dame Hall show was the source of some of the material on that post-break up release. But here's the whole set with the band in top form! Pretty essential for Wire fans.

Another notable live set that just arrived is the Fripp & Eno "Live In Paris" 3CD set. I've been an Eno fan from day one and listened to the first two Fripp and Eno sets obsessively for years (and still bust 'em out every couple months). This performance drew from their first two albums, Eno's "Discreet Music" and enough additional material to comprise another full studio album. The previously unreleased compositions tend to be heavier and rawer and present a rather nice shock to longtime fans of the first two records. Also Eno also interpolated pre-recorded voices into some of these performances, presaging his work with David Byrne on "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts." The last disc here are a variety of loops without live improvisation, both loops that were used and test loops. The last two traks are a loop run in reverse and "Later On" which was an edit from some of their studio recordings released as the B side of Eno's "Seven Deadly Finns" single.

LASTLY - we've got "One More Shots" from the Rolling Stones. This was the new track added to their last hits compilation and...ya know, musically it's pretty fuggin great if you like post "Get Yer Ya Ya's" out Stones. But as with all their output from "Voodoo Lounge" onwards Jagger's lyrics sound both forced and tossed off - my fantasy is always of Jagger sitting at the kitchen table, sulking over a cup of tea until the Missus says "Kids, help grandpa write some words to this song and he'll take you to the mall for a Pinkberry."

Put Some Neckbones On My Plate

I know I've been remiss in posting. Life's gotten in the way. In a good way! But all this time I have been picking up books and recordings, reading and listening, sometimes with big gaps between bouts of same and then, sorta splurging (I still remember being BROKE AS SHIZ, living in D.C. at one point so a splurge for me means - spending $24 in one sitting on Amazon purchases -- or culling the collection and dragging it up to Princeton Record Exchange or down to Positively Records and combing their bins for surprises. So I'm not going to try and make up for lost time here but address what's sitting right in front of me.

I do regularly ignore things that generate media buzz and wait for the buzz to die off before possibly indulging. In 2011 there was considerable ballyhooing of Preston Lauterbach's "The Chitlin' Circuit And the Road to Rock 'n' Roll" book...and it's been on my radar ever since -- particularly because of the reference to Little Richard's days as a female impersonator. So this Summer I finally took the plunge and, was entirely engrossed.

I do have a love of "secret histories" and this one actually investigates multiple cultural phenomena and narrative arcs that even a music freak like me (tho admittedly a generalist and not a blues or R&B specialist) hadn't the foggiest notion of: the contemporary Black blues circuit of rodeo arenas and civic centers where day-long, multi-artist bills performing, um, "saucy" numbers by the truck load sustaining artists like Marvin Sease, Bobby Rush etc.; quasi-mythic figures like "Jody," purportedly a figure out of Yoruban folk-lore of enormous sexual appetite, a love for forbidden practices (specifically oral pleasure given to women) and a complete lack of discrimination when it comes to partners (and suddenly songs like Jean Knight's "Don't Talk About Jody" or anamalous references to Jody in the midst of James Brown songs, make sense). And of course there's the basic narrative arc of the book - how the onslaught of the Depression devastated the big swing bands' business model and forced performers and promoters to favor smaller bands touring smaller towns, playing to predominantly Black audiences as opposed to what the likes of Duke Ellington experienced in his glory days - extended residencies at a venue like the Cotton Club in Harlem playing to a wealthy, white elite.

To a degree the book's title is a misnomer -- or can be readily misinterpreted. Most honkies (my hand's up) do view rock 'n' roll being the music of Elvis, Beatles and the Rolling Stones and their myriad descendents. Whereas rock 'n' roll began as an especially salacious sub-genre of R&B (a term coined by Jerry Wexler when he was at Billboard), the term referring to alternating movements occurring during a righteous bout of coitus. And this book pretty much ends up with the launching of James Brown's career and the creative and commercial ascendance of Hi Records - both of these being very logical end products of local/regional music scenes banked by money coming from somewhat questionable sources, being quasi-laundered and simultaneously producing considerable profit for the investors -- these scenes/systems having arisen in the 1930's.

As a fan of the New Orleans music scene and having some passing knowledge of clubs like the Dew Drop Inn and the performers New Orleans supplied to the Chitlin' Circuit, it's a great gift to see the context that functioned with in, and to realize that it was in many ways typical of the scenes in other Southern towns like Macon, Indianapolis, etc.

Part of this story, of course is the entrepeneurs who owned the clubs, booked and promoted artists and ran the record labels who were a notably incestuous lot with many folks wearing many hats and deriving profit from each and every one they wore, at the artists' expense. And yet, these folks did set up, invest in and maintain the whole system (with lots of hidden expenses like bribes to the [typically white] civil authorities to allow these amusements to exist). And many of the artists achieved a degree of wealth -- at least when they were actively performing -- far surpassing anything most of them would have achieved otherwise. And things like records -- were viewed mainly as a calling card that allowed the artist to play bigger venues, demand bigger advances and so on.

Don Robey was the music kingpin of Houston, TX and his connections ran through much of the Southwest being especially influential from Texas up to Memphis and down to New Orleans. And he started his own label, Peacock, then "acquired" the nascent Duke label for whom a lot of artists discussed in "The Chitlin' Circuit..." recorded. Last year's "I Pity The Fool: The Duke Records Story" compiles 60 tracks from that label's output and is a great accompaniment/illustration of said tome: early sides by Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Junior Parker (note that "Take Me To The Water" starts with Al Green's spoken dedication to same), Otis Rush (!!) and Johnny Ace - who's accidental death (while drunkenly playing Russian roulette backstage between sets - with Russian roulette being a REGULAR part of his stage show), helped springboard his "Pledging My Love" to the top of both race charts AND Pop charts, the Black foot in the door to record buying white audiences for R&B.

I will admit that while the 60 tracks here (purchased for about $5 and postage from Amazon, new) makes for good casual listening that no one track really jumped out at me and made me want to look further into that particular artist. No duff cuts but, it's a style and a mood and if you're hungry for that -- which I often am -- this is a sound and inexpensive investment.

"Let The Good Times Roll: The Aladdin Story" (also about $5 = shipping) is a 50 track compilation of releases from this L.A. based label that functioned from the mid-40's through the 1950's. While I'm sure afficionados know thia all too well, it's been fascinating to me to note how many R&B labels were based in L.A. (also the immediate vicinity of Newark, NJ): Aladdin, Specialty, Imperial, Dial). Their big names were New Orleans' Shirley & Lee best know for the title track of this compilation and The vocal group, The Five Keys. And again, this is a great one to put on for casual listening when you're looking for a substantial fix of earthy R&B but not a lot of tracks will suddenly draw you in and grab your especial attention. Another solid investment.

BONUS review - I was just feeling blue, and recalled a review in New Orleans' Offbeat magazine of vintage Cajun/rockabilly hybridizations - "Boppin By The Bayou" and ordered it (I realize how shallow that is...sigh...but it IS cheaper than a therapist!) When it arrived I noted a lot of promising names "Al Ferrier, Nathan Abshire & The Pine Grove Boys, Jay Chevalier & The Long Shots etc., but after multiple listens I was disappointed. Not that this wasn't great, lively, gritty rockabilly but outside of one track (name escapes me right now), there was little or no noticeable Cajun influence. What there was, sounded cool as hell though and someday I'll go looking for more. So

PEACE OUT.

Livin For the Gritty City

If you've read past posts y'all know that I was/am a huge fan of the HBO series "Treme" which was truncated, basically cancelled after the second season but allowed - no doubt out of respect for and with an eye towards future working with creator David Simon. I haven't been so in love with or immersed in a TV show since, erm, "The Odd Couple." I think I loved it for the very reasons that the mass TV audience disliked or were indifferent to it.

* the show featured multiple, lengthy segments devoted to musical performance
* moved at a leisurely pace (ala classic European films) with apparently "nothing happenning"
* almost all the main characters were fairly morally/ethically/philosophically ambiguous. The worst characters inevitably showed redeeming qualities while the best of them sooner or later displayed feet of clay. And this shifted several times in the course of the series - so you witnessed just about everyone having their moments of nobility and of utter schuckery; very much like life.
* it needed to be actively investigated to make sense; it was full of insider references as to local politics, Louisiana's history, local music venues, restaurants, music, neighborhood subcultures, etc. To be fully enjoyed, it had to be approached interactively, intensively and persistently over time -- the polar opposite of "Jerseylicious"
* finally -- I think the central character was...the city itself which indeed you got to know as intimately as you can through a fictive TV series.

having given myself over to this pretty wholeheartedly, I will aver that I came out much enriched by it having been driven to study and collect its broad range of music (marvelling at the continuity between and coherence of what'd appear to be a myriad of styles over a period of more than a century -- being conservative), master some of its marvelous foodways and -- being buoyed by its embrace and support of vivid individuality, playful deviance and an acceptance of both life and death, lively entertainment and decay...and, finally joyful defiance in the face of adversity. (and if you think I'm making this shizz up listen to performers from Jelly Roll Morton (the vocal performances) to Big Freedia.

But this particular rant is occasioned by watching the stream of "The Whole Gritty City" http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/48-hours-presents-the-whole-gritty-city/ - a documentary obstensibly about the brass band programs operating in high schools, middle schools and also via independent institutions. Beautiful, heartbreaking, inspiring in turn. You wouldn't think that being part of the school band would be much competition for joining a street gang but in New Orleans it is exactly that for many youngsters. It winds up being a means of self-empowerment and learning life skills that are invaluable in a wide spectrum of situations Black youth face in surviving and hopefully thriving in this city. Amy contributed to the Kickstarter campaign for the documentary. I contribute to the Tipitina Foundations initiative to provide musical instrument to New Orleans youth.

How this ties in to "Treme" is -- actually two of the youngsters we meet in the documentary, a boy nicknamed "Bear" and a girl who goes by the name "Jazz" wound up as recurring characters in "Treme" starting in the second season - basically playing themselves; participants in after school brass band programs, enriched and excited by their experiences, the discipline, having a band leader who takes personal interest in all their students...and touched by tragedy. In "Treme" its Jazz whose best friend is murdered because she'd witnessed another child being gunned down, in real life it was Bear's brother who was shot and killed at age 19.

Previously I'd noted that Simon had also tapped Spike Lee's documentary, "When The Levees Broke"; several people who figured prominently in Lee's film wound up as characters on "Treme" most prominently Phyllis Montana LeBlanc who played Antoine Battiste's baby momma, Desiree.

It'd appear in both cases that Simon had access to these other films (all though "Gritty City" is just surfacing now, but has been in production since before "Treme" started airing) and drew directly from them for plot lines, characters, and indeed the actual people that appeared in the show. And... that's cool. Because as you view some of Simon's likely source materials and how they wound up being used...he did 'em full justice. There's no disconnects between factual material and their fictionalized incarnations in the show. Simon may have rearraanged what happened to who when and indeed created characters. But he got the overall saga straight, kept it as complicated and nuanced as it ought to be, and still turned it into coherent, to some folks, COMPELLING television.

So one of the effects of this is -- that the source materials - Lee's documentary and now "The Whole Gritty City" work beautifully as companion pieces - that expand on and illuminate matters touched on in "Treme." Or you could look at it in just the opposite way. But having watched one, the other will not seem alien at all; it'll feel entirely familiar though the documentaries are more poignant and intense because - what they depict is not "just a TV show." So don't take the step further and not expect to be moved and hopefully moved to action.

While some aspects of New Orleans have rebounded fantastically (i.e. hospitality industry -- I think that hotel rates are now HIGHER than they were BEFORE the "Federal Flood.") Meanwhile problems like poverty, education, unemployment still beleaguer folks down there.

Beatles = Boy Band = Bull

I'm not a fan of commenting on media coverage as it's commenting on what's often commentary to begin with - but new the Time Magazine ("Infinity Machine" cover) has a music feature equating the Beatles with One Direction titled "The Boy Band Blueprint." Which is simply DUMB.

The Beatles were a rock 'n' roll band that formed, woodshedded and began writing original material without management involvement for many years. Management's input (besides cutting business deals) was largely cosmetic and some just focusing on things the Beatles had already started experimenting with - i.e. the "mop-top" haircuts their German pal Astrid talked them into trying. Even after they had management and a recording contract they STILL pursued their own agenda (i.e. championing American R&B and rock 'n' roll).

One Direction et al were/are individuals who are actively, purposefully scouted by management to be made into a "group" and then intensively trained in singing, dancing, doing media interviews, have their look created by a stylist. When they record they exclusively use material by outside composers.

I'm not arguing as to the comparative aesthetic or entertainment value between the Beatles and Backstreet Boys (whatever floats yr boat). But this article (mainly a big pie chart with a little fluffy commentary) shows NO CRITICAL THINKING WHATSOVER.

It'd appear that some editorial meeting some top dog said "we need more Beatles anniversary coverage" and jumped at the first lame idea offered-- actual quality of content not being as important as being able to stick "Beatles" into a headline and include an iconic graphic.

Meanwhile the "meat" of the piece was that marketing "blueprint" that the Beatles established was the range of personality stereotypes involved -- smart one, cute one...which is as flimsy an angle to hang an article as wet toilet paper -- you can make the same observation about ANY grouping of individuals, period. And even sticking with actual bands -- The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. Pointing this out is mainly a function of the media looking to flesh out and personalize coverage.

So, my point? Just disappointment that such a poorly conceptualized piece should take up editorial space in a publication where music coverage is exceedingly slim in a world chock full of interesting stories.

...then there's everything else

It'd be my observation that if you're an active music fan/consumer and you rely on the mass media for information on current goings on in contemporary music such as new releases you're likely being exposed to a a fairly narrow range of info. If you monitor national print publications devoted to music (an easy task as that's now just a handful) and the most prominent online outlets you'll note that the same acts are getting covered across the board. And that's for a number of reasons (including the impact of folks in my particular line of work) that include, occasionally, the overwhelming creativity, technique (or ability to transcend considerations of conventional skills), power to excite, inspire and connect with listeners; but quite often, it's down to expert and well funded marketing. And music, finally, is a pleasure -- and if what you're exposing yourself to is pleasant to you -- all well and good.

If it's not working for you...

A couple years ago, I started subscribing to Offbeat, which is a monthly music magazine published in New Orleans. It's printed on slick paper, full color. About the length of Entertainment Weekly. This was a part of my efforts ala Huysmans' "A Rebours," to recreate a bit of the ambience and spirit of that city in my current hometown of Morrisville, PA. (please see my FB page for pix of the Mardi Gras beads festooning the front porch railing and Carnival tree set up in a back room). Yes, it's a silly affectation - but no sillier that furnishing your house in expensive, neo-Colonial or mid-Century antiques 'cause in the end that's just stuff you sit or lay on or stash stuff in - and it's pleasures me. Whatever.

Back to Offbeat -- on reading it month after month, then year after year, what emerges as most striking is that it is devoted primarily to local artists - all the cover stories, most of the inside features and the grand bulk of the record reviews (and the reviews section rivals Rolling Stone's in the number of releases covered). More than enough to warrant there being a monthly magazine devoted to covering. Stop and ponder that for a second - a regularly published music magazine that doesn't cover much if any nationally popular music and still finds plenty to fill its pages. Practically NONE of these ever show up in national coverage and a fair amount are vital, entertaining, enlivening listening experiences, many of them bearing little or no relationship to anything you've likely been exposed to watching the Grammy's or other TV awards shows, reading national media, listening to the radio etc.

One is thus confronted with the possibility of having an active, ongoing relationship with a delightful and in fact stylistically diverse body of contemporary music that is largely uncurated, unfiltered and unfettered by the many aesthetic/economic constraints that fence in the arenas of "pop," and mainstream "alternative" music (nothing against Miss Lorde but how she's the "alternative" to anything other than Rihanna etc. is obscure to me).

Of course, while the New Orleans music scene is especially large and diverse and notable for been extraordinarily supportive of its own (outside of the skirmishes between bourgeoise homesteader and folks looking to preserve and expand on the city's LONG tradition for street music and widespread live music in clubs), the same sort of thing happens around the country -- almost entirely under the radar of media "tastemakers," and "trendsetters" (read "power brokers").

If you're a fan of current pop trends - bless ya! Whatever brings some innocent joy into your heart is a good thing, finally. But if you find yourself dissatisfied (maybe you're addicted to novelty and exotica like me perhaps) - there's a WEALTH of amazing music out there waiting for your discovery. To paraphrase Dr. Leary: "Power down, Unplug, Move On." Trust your ears and your heart.

Finding Shallow Joys in Consumerism

Last weekend had a long overdue round of record store visits. I hit Positively Records in Levittown, PA and Princeton Record Exchange.

At Positively Records picked up: used copy of "Doo Wop Box" Volume 1 - 4 CD set I doubt anyone needs me to give a history lesson on what this stuff is, it's place in the evolution of popular music internationally, etc. The things that caught my attention were -- that the Beach Boys covered a couple classic Doo Wop numbers - The Regents' "Barbara Ann" and The Students' "I'm So Young." Meanwhile, bits of The Crows' "Gee" pop up in the long versions of "Heroes and Villains." Dave Edmunds, of course, did a great, very faithful recreation of The Chantells "Maybe." Yeah, a good amount of being redone by rock and pop acts into the 1980's and being a large influence in various ways on a wide range of artists notably Lou Reed who wrote "I Found A Reason" in this style for the Velvets "Loaded" and later took The Excellents' "Coney Island Baby" for the title of one of his early solo albums. I must admit -- most of Doo Wop's impact on white rock and pop has faded since the 80's and hard to discern much in those styles nowadays.

used "Elvis Presley" $2.99 Elvis is what my older cousins listened to and ever since I've filed him in my head with other pre-Beatles pop performers like Sinatra, Perry Como, etc. I REALIZE that's wrong and periodically try to experience him as paradigm shifter that he did function as. And this -- his debut for RCA has some great rockers on it...and a buncha maudlin ballads that testify to his willingness, perhaps intent to become and be accepted as a legitimate pop singer. Yet, it's hard to deny the force and fire in "Blue Suede Shoes," "I Got A Woman" and "Tutti Frutti"...but, honestly, I think that Ray Charles and Little Richards originals totally kick ass on Presley's renditions.

Steve Wonder "Talking Book" and "Innervisions" both used for $2.99 each "Music From My Mind" and these two form a stunning trilogy of a world class artist taking control of his career, his art and exceeding the already lofty heights he'd achieved under the closer direction of the mighty Motown brain trust. There is some fluff on these but even that's charming. The high points like "I Believe" "You Are the Sunshine Of My Life," "Living For The City" -- are catchy, ambitious and sophisticated in ways that severely challenged the conventions of soul-based Black pop and contributed to an explosion of creative innovation in the field that has yet to be equalled.

Big Joe Turner "The Definitive Blues Collection" NEW $2.99 Man, the packaging and marketing of this SUCKS. Generic, misleading packaging, no detailed session notes...but man this music rocks! Turner was a powerhouse vocalist, connecting with great material, backed by inspired musicians (wish it was spelled out who that had been!) And while it IS bluesy, it's clearly Rhythm & Blues with a strong undercurrent of beat and motive force of that R&B sub-genre that'd eventually be labelled "Rock N Roll." Indeed, Turner cut the original version of "Shake Rattle & Roll" that Western Swing bandleader Bill Haley would appropriate and have one of the early national rock 'n' roll hits with.

Ruth Brown "The Definitive Soul Collection" NEW $2.99 Basically, ditto to all my comments re the Turner collection - bad packaging; a ton of smokin' early R&B.

Fergie "The Duchess" used $2.99 Haven't listened much yet. But I likes to peep current pop after the brouhaha around it has died down.

Princeton Record Exchange:

Velvet Underground "White Light/White Heat" 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2 CD) version - new, full price Not too much to add to what other folks have said about this. This is music I've cherished since I picked up my first copy in 1975 in some record shop on "K" Street in DC (one of the clerks was a dude named Olsen who went on to found the Olsens' Records chain)(and my copy came with the black on black embossed artwork - good score for the $3-4 I spent on a new copy). I think I still have 3 vinyl copies, all with different artwork and one autographed by John Cale one night I and some friends opened for him. It's a total mind blow. Really took the most forward looking elements the Velvets expressed on their debut album ten steps further. Among its many achievements, demonstrating the high art that repetitive rhythm guitar could aspire to. Songs like "Heard Her Call My Name" and "Sister Ray" might initially seem like monolithic onslaughts of noise but close listening reveals intricate rhythmic motifs being laid out, one after another. Frankly, you could write a full album or two just out of the unique rhythm guitar figures on display in "Sister Ray" alone.

As per the bonus tracks on disc one -- I think this is the third time most of these have been trotted out. Perhaps mixed and mastered better, perhaps not.

Disc two - "Live At the Gymnasium" - I haven't collected the bootlegs so I'm glad to have this stuff, tho most of the repertoire that didn't make it on to their studio output...shows that there was some savvy A&R at work. I'd imagine that this is only important to fans that didn't already buy the bootlegs.

Incidentally, Kudos to UMG for releasing the live material as part of the Deluxe package rather than making it exclusive to the SUPER DELUXE package (as with the 45th Anniversary of "The Velvet Underground And Nico."

the new M.I.A. - for Amy - new, full price I mainly hear M.I.A. when Amy plays it in whilst we're driving around. Of all the current crop of dance pop performers out there she's the only one I really dig and who appears to be an artist rather than merely a performer. Cheeky, experimental AND infectious. Killah!

William Onyeabor "Who is William Onyeabor?" - new, full price I'll admit I bought this because of the fullsome media hype - NY Times, Time Magazine, etc. And I DO have a long standing penchant for non-American/Brit musical stylings (used to pick up the cheap Nonesuch Explorer titles at Sam Goody's back in the day). And this cat's good, and certainly unique, but... I'm not utterly sold. What IS cool is that Onyeabor hybridized African musical vocabulary with electro pop's. That's actually a good fit since both styles made use of lengthy repetition of simple, very beat-conscious melodic figures. What's not as cool is...it ultimately comes off as a bit one-dimensional, kinda simplistic. The arrangements woulda benefited by a couple added layers of rhythm patterns and a whole lot more swing. Still, I do dig the audaciousness of the cross-pollination being undertaken.

Eddie Floyd "Greatest Hits" $1.99 Most of these songs written and produced by Steve Cropper and/or Booker T Jones. Nuff said. On first listen "I've Never Found A Girl" perplexed me -- the opening sounds like a lift from the Young Rascals' "Groovin'" (I'll need to study release dates and see who lifted from who), but, hey, some folks imitate, artists steal (right, Keef?); but the chorus...damn I KNOW THIS SONG! But from where? Rascals? Dells? Spinners? And finally I realize that Alex Chilton (a Memphis lad after all) did this in the set documented on the live "Electricity By Candlelight" set. Man, had excellent taste!

Bobby Womack "The Poet" used $4.99 Haven't listened yet - but this thing and "The Poet II" used to BLOW OUT THE DOOR of Melody Records on Dupont Circle in DC back in the early 80's. Now I'll find out why.

"punk" of course refers to the guy in prison that gets butt-effed. Here in the U.S. taking on this tag was the classic inversion of social value, basically saying "the thing you despise us for is the very thing we're proudest of." The early punk scene (let's say '74 - '76 was mainly peopled by geeks, geeks who decided to capitalize on all the things that made them relative pariahs - passion for unpopular music, disdain for mass produced style and public displays of affluence. It's not for nothing that early punks often evoked disdain and wrath from members of mainstream society since this was an open, visually obvious rejection of its values. Of course in the UK it functioned differently because of their economic system, but before you dismiss American punk as a middle class affectation -- this was the beginning of the disintegration of the middle class -- the original punk generation had a lot of folks who had finished college and gotten their degrees AND THEN found out that there was already a dearth of good jobs to be had and wound up working retail, in food service etc...gigs you'd expect that a college education would allow you to do better than - WAKEY WAKEY!

Pun dit pun dat

This is a bit of pure punditry.

As I observe acts like Mumford & Sons and the like being hailed as the vanguard of "Alternative Folk" I must take issue...

10 years ago or so I was working with artists like Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, Akron/Family, Larkin Grimm, Feathers, Fern Knight, Fire On Fire and hung around the Philly psych-folk crowd (Espers, Fern Knight, etc.) a bit. Naturally I became familiar with the past musical histories of the performers I worked with and talked musical likes and dislikes at backyard parties and between sets at local shows. What came up on a regular basis was that most of these people had had backgrounds in the avant garde underground, had played in noise-bands, been skronk-rockers, done performance art, purely experimental music, etc; and most of them continued to follow the work being done in those genres. Then tt some point, they'd collided with the aesthetic corpus that Greil Marcus dubbed "Old Wierd America," a prime example being the music Harry Smith had anthologized on "The Anthology of American Folk Music." This was authentic folk music that was noticeably eccentric in lyric content, musical composition and performance - both instrumental and performance -- just the natural outcome of individuals expressing themselves as best they could with resources (educational, cultural, etc.)at their disposal. The work "The Anthology..." documented was singular and the visionary as the best efforts of someone with Guggenheim grant working for years in state of the art studio. This body of work proved highly seductive and influential to artists who might have felt that they'd exhausted the possibilities of amplified post-rock and would consequently begin examining the possibilities of creating avant-music using acoustic, often arcane, antiquarian instrumentation

The results(avant folk, psych folk, freak folk - whatever bin divider tag you prefer), were pretty marvelous. Subtle, low-key, sophisticated, catchy and consistently off-kilter in the most delightful ways. A decade, later most of it holds up fine and in fact continues to sound fresh and prescient -- and out of joint with the current crop of "Alternative Folk" front-runners.

I'd suggest that's because artists like Mumford and Sons are "Alternative" only in terms of being relatively young and marketed to "alternative" consumers (which I assume means anyone who's not a fan of One Direction, Kate Perry et al). They're "folk" only in terms of using acoustic instrumentation. But the grounding in avant-garde/experimental music and in the actual "folk" canon (the repertoire that people like Bob Dylan were inspired by) just isn't there.

So the point...well, if ya dig things like Mumford and Sons, that's all well and good. Music is divertissment first and foremost. If it eases the stress and strain of living, lifts your spirits, etc. that's what it's for and whatever does that for you...all well and good. But pass this stuff off as new and improved, innovative etc...not so much.

Here's ONE mark of a truly brilliant artist - that you can listen to ANY album they ever made and they're all equally great. To date, there's only one artist I can think of that qualifies -- MICHAEL HURLEY the great, er, what would ya call him? ALSO been acoustic-based. His songwriting and performance always based in a very natural melange Blues, early country and folk vocabulary. Lyrics -- always conversational, apparently narrative and yet slyly allusive, and evincing a gently skewed approach to life and the depiction thereof.

I've only got a handful of his recordings Long Journey Hi Fi Snock Uptown Snockgrass Wolfways Ancestral Swamp Ida Con Snock

these covering a period from the early 70's to the current century -- and listened side by side, there's no discerning which was recorded when - or written when and they're honestly, all equally great in a quiet, understated but thoroughly authoritative way. If only you could say that about the Ramones' output -- leaving out the quiet and understated shiz.

And I take additional pride in Hurley being the product of Bucks County PA where I've resided for the past few decades - and in fact am friends with a niece of his, Ella. Moreover, a few years ago I had the honor of doing publicity for him and having some ongoing dealings with him, finding him to be as singular, strong-willed AND charming as I'd hoped. In his emails he addressed me as "Howland" after the Owl in the "Pogo" comic strip.

After much prevarication I finally popped for a copy of "First Songs" - his first recordings made over 4 decades ago -- and expect to find it as delightful as the rest.

PS I received this a couple weeks ago and it was -- an "interesting" surprise. On one hand, Hurley's songwriting is pretty much fully formed and in fact the album ends with "The Werewolf Song" - one of his most enduring, beloved and puissant compositions; his singing is fairly indistinguishable from what you'll hear on work recorded in the past few years. BUT, his guitar playing is relatively rudimentary. He's mainly strumming to buoy his vocal melody. Only a few years later when he recorded his first proper studio album for the Youngblood's Banana Records label he'd blossomed as a guitarist as well, developing a nimble yet relaxed style of picking and strumming that's served him nicely ever since. I will note that the mix here is kinda unbalanced - vocals are WAY out front. I assume that's coz this was done with one mic that was positioned near his cake hole rather than on the guitar per se. But that's a minor quibble. One thing that did tickle me was hearing the original version of "Blue Mountain" which I'd previously only known from Espers luscious version on the "Weed Tree" EP.

People participate in popular culture as is their wont -- depending on their needs, aspirations, the dreams they're looking to empower. If it makes yr life better it's good. The first record I consciously bought was "Absolutely Free" by the Mothers of Invention, purchased on my one visit to the only "underground" record store in Jersey City in those times; the cover intrigued me. it really stuck out. And i was not disappointed by the content. My favorite art is that which suggests alternatives to the norm, that suggests novel an individualistic modes of thought. Participating in the most massively popular modes of art/performance...is just kinda lost on me, largely because it's highly predictable and most of it's fairly homogenous i.e. a lot of pop songs are relatively interchangeable. And clearly, for a lot of people, that's exactly what pleases them, and that's great. But contemplating things like televised awards shows -- a celebration of that which has succeeded through its mundanity and predictability (by and large)...just a different path.

Hear My Brain a Hummin'

Context - our 22 year old cat, Little Cat, who's been kinda slow and crotchety for a couple years now suddenly took a turn for the worse about 3 weeks ago and every day marked a new, obvious chapter in her decline. Working from a home office, I was her care giver. She finally died in her sleep, at home. Those two weeks were mighty sad and her passing hit hard, though it was also a relief as for 2 weeks her prowling range, and range of activities grew smaller and smaller day by day. That weekend, my son and his wife had driven up from Maryland to help my sister prep her house for sale and were staying wit us. On Sunday, we went to church, had some coffee and then went to our fave locals place for chow and libations - the latter being partaken of quite liberally. On returning home, application of the de-braining fluid continued - moving from the red wine at lunch to Freixenheit (an excellent dry Spanish sparkling wine that ya can grab for about $9 a bottle in NJ). We sat around, yapped and listened to music. Then they headed home. Mrs. W. was having a prolonged ladies-only late luncheon.

Finding myself at loose ends, I grabbed the DVD of "Hear My Train A Comin'" a new documentary on Jimi Hendrix.

Over the years I have seen a number of documentaries devoted to the man and I do own a good amount of performances on VHS and DVD, all fine enough though some have slightly weaker premises than others - one that revolved around dramatic readings of his correspondence (letters he wrote, postcards, diary entries) comes to mind as a kind of a stretch. The basic facts and chronology of his life-story are pretty well established and frankly common knowledge among most fans of rock music, both young and old, and it doesn't appear that there's any especially revelatory material left to uncover -- so the basic criteria for any new documentary on offer would be is: how much footage of the man himself, both on and offstage is there? how much hasn't been shown in previous documentaries? is the basic narrative coherent and effective? are most of the salient points in the narrative touched on. "Hear My Train A Comin'" scores well on all counts. Plenty of Hendrix being Hendrix, making music and just being his diffidently bad-ass self, the major bulk of which seem to be hitting the screen for the first time -- even the scenes from Woodstock, which has been pretty exhaustively documented in the festival film, expanded version of the festival film and then in a 2 DVD set devoted solely to Hendrix's performance, are backstage shots or camera angles not previously seen. The narrative line is handled cleanly and intelligibly, nicely illustrated not only by vintage footage but by the testimonials of various colleagues, friends and lovers -- band members like Buddy Miles, Billy Cox, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding; the man who launched his career and produced his first two albums, Chas Chandler; the women who befriended and championed him, Linda Keith (who famously appropriated one of Keith Richards' guitarist she had in safe keeping for Jimi's use) and Fayne Pridgeon who was his Harlem connection. All in all, a good and lively telling of the story, definitely taking a very upbeat slant.

In fact if there's any criticism I'd have of "Hear My Train A Comin'" is that it breezily overlooks many of the problems that beset Hendrix -- the basic conflict he confronted of wanting to record more and perform live less vs. the need to generate sufficient income to maintain his basic lifestyle and his artistic ambitions (composing and experimenting in the recording studio at length, and then building his own custom-designed studio, Electric Lady); the pressure he felt being a Black man performing for predominantly white audiences and initially with white backing musicians; the contradiction between his often outrageous showmanship onstage with his innate shyness, vulnerability, sensitivity and Romanticism. So it's NOT the "definitive" Hendrix documentary biography the back cover copy claims -- but it IS a good un. Utterly enjoyable and utterly truthful as far as it goes. As far as I can remember, coz -- as initially noted,I was four sheets to the wind when I watched it. And it cushioned my comedown quite admirably.

I own a lot of Jimi Hendrix albums, all of them legit releases, all but 4 posthumous and many of them, re-workings of the same repertoire. Frankly, other than the obvious cash-ins i.e. work he'd done as a sideman, are all pretty damned good. Some ARE more essential than others - obviously the albums he completed during his lifetime, the core of the material he'd completed but not released that came out initially as "Cry of Love" and a series of lesser albums, later collated as "Voodoo Soup" initially and then "First Rays of the New Rising Sun." But even the numerous further releases that are primarily alternate takes from all the above are, at worst interesting, primarily to the diehard fan who eagerly pour over the mutliple takes thereby in circulation and wonder at the different guitar solos as well as more subtle differences 'tween said versions. But all have SOMETHING to recommend them.

Likewise the live albums - Woodstock, BBC sessions, Berkeley Community Center, at the Monterey Pop Festival, the four concerts in the "Stages" box, the L.A. Forum show in the "Lifelines" box, Fillmore East. If there's one thing this cat LOVED it was to play live and it shows throughout all these recordings. In many cases, you get the same basic repertoire over and over again -- which is why the Fillmore East concerts are among my best, largely being an airing of then-unreleased material - a lot of these songs being among the best writing of the latter part of his career.

"Miami Pop Festival" is a nice addition to the Hendrix canon. It's a pro recording helmed by his longtime engineer Eddie Kramer from 1968. The song selection is primarily from his debut outing "Are You Experienced" with a cover of "Tax Free," a song by Swedish instrumental duo "Hansson and Carlsson" and the first live recording of "Hear My Train A Coming" - a groove that I'd suggest also is the undercarriage for "Machine Gun." So - the sound is good, the performances spirited. It's a little strange that all the stage patter is at a significantly lower volume than the playing and singing -- but since you're paying for the playing and singing, the point is moo. Also, the bass is a bit low in the mix but that could be down to the circumstances of the original recording of these performances.

The packaging's nice -- all the booklet photos are taken from the occasion the music was recorded, a strategm that the Hendrix family has pursued for the past 3 live releases, which adds thematic cohesion.

Is this the BEST live Hendrix available? The most interesting? The most revelatory? I daresay that judgement is in the ears of the particular beholder and subject to their own historical and aesthetic biases. But this IS an excellent rendering of his and the Experience's post-"Are You Experienced" material plus some neat pointers as to where he was headed next.

GREAT new collection of Professor Longhair's early recording career

I offer my humblest apologies for lack of action here. I've overwhelmed via work commitments. And during the Summer trying to keep the yard and garden looking quasi-reasonable. But I have been piling up the new musical acquisitions - audio, visual and written at a steady rate. Because of continued time constraints future postings could be on the pithy side for a while - but hopefully still of use.

On Saturday got a copy of "Mardi Gras In New Orleans," a new collection of Professor Longhair's work released this year on the Jasmine label.

As anyone who's done even a bit of collecting this inestimable artist's work knows - it's one hot mess! He only recorded a handful of albums during his lifetime, most of them only being released posthumously. Meanwhile, he'd recorded a number of singles for a number of small local labeles. A LOT of the albums you'll find are collections drawing from this relatively small body of material, haphazardly curated, with a lot of overlap between 'em.

One simple solution is to grab the Rhino 2 CD collection "Fess" and forget about the rest. But while Rhino's does touch on all periods of his career from the earliest to the latest and include a track or two from many of the tiny labels he worked with...well there IS a good amount more music to be had. Your main option heretofore would be just buying a wide variety of collections in order to get a couple additional tracks here, a couple there.

NOW w

ith "Mardi Gras In New Orleans" you get ALL his recordings from 1949-1962. This would be material done for Mercury, Star Talent, Atlantic (all the material both sessions they did with him), Federal, Wasco, Ebb, Ron and Rip. These are sequenced chronologically and thus effectively grouped by label as well. So -- this really straightens out your collection of Longhair for the entirety of his initial rock n roll career in one fell swoop and nicely mastered.

Previously, to listen to a batch of this stuff I'd have to throw in the Atlantic "New Orleans Piano," (which seems to only been released on CD years ago - ergo when CD mastering technology was in its infancy) CD1 from the "Gettin' Funky" box set and the Rhino collection - and sound quality an volume would fluctuate wildly and there'd be a lot of duplication. And this music IS all great - but listening under these circumstances was a less than optimal experience. "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" is THE way to hear all this music in readily comprehensible, context with consistent sound quality and volume.

And hearing it in proper context does then raise a lot of interesting issues to ponder. Longhair did have a limited repertoire of originals that he came up with right at the outset of his career and didn't add to significantly in the years that follow. HOWEVER, the arrangements he'd employ, the performance techniques he'd use and lyrics would evolve from one performance to the next, often in fascinating ways. While I'm usually of a mind that "First thought, best thought" Fess' technical prowess and conceptulization of his performing did in fact improve notably with age.

So...if you are a Fess fan and ready to take a step beyond the Rhino collection, I recommend this highly as well as "Rock N Roll Gumbo" album recorded in the mid 70's and "Crawfish Fiesta," which was recorded in 1980 and released shortly after his sudden, premature death that same year. I'm not knocking the various live recordings available or the other latterday sessions. Just saying, this is a fine place to start.

Didn't He Dabble

I must admit, I do like to dabble. Something catches my imagination and then I investigate far enough to get enough of a working knowledge of a topic to have a reasonable conversation with actual aficionados -- not hold my own - but to follow along. And New Orleans music history is my current passion. It's an easy one to get consumed in because, while it's got a long history -- you can trace lines of stylistic evolution from the late 19th century right thru to today -- and pretty diverse, encompassing early jazz, modern jazz, R&B, blues, rock 'n' roll, jam band, brass band, hip hop, etc -- it's a strangely congruent story. You can track lyric tropes and catch phrases that go back 100 years - for instance, Louis Armstrong reports being attacked by a pimp in the Battlefield (neighborhood North of the Central Business District) named "Cheeky Blakk," a name currently utilized by seminal female "Bounce" (a local hip hop sub-genre) luminary (just saw her spit a lil at SxSW and I can appreciate why she looms large in the field). Or take the case of one Danny Barker who'd played with Jellyroll Morton, one of the founding fathers of jazz, and later in life worked with the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band from whence emerged several of the Marsalis brothers as well as most of the players who would constitute the brass band revival of the 80's - members of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth, Soul Rebels etc; so here you have a direct lineage that goes back 100 years! And these are just two examples. It's a Gordion knot of epic proportions that's fascinating to unravel bit by bit via books, recordings, magazine articles.

Lotta folks have spent a lot of years doing this in depth to great effect and, as i said, I'm just dabbling. But recently I can across three artifacts that made a lot of great connections: Danny

Barker's two books "Buddy Bolden And The Last days of Storyville" and "MY Life In Jazz" and the "Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922-1929" CD box set. Barker grew up in the French Quarter and the Marigny in the early 20th century and while he was too young to actively participate in the emergence of "hot jazz" he did witness its national heyday, was old enough to hear some of the legendary players or at least rub up against musicians who'd known them. In addition, his grandfather, Isidore Barbarin, was a member of the Onward Brass Band, one of the top outfits in New Orleans at the time, which was later taken over by Oscar Celestin and renamed the Tuxedo Brass Band...and a Young Tuxedo Brass Band continues to gig to this very day, the very earliest recordings of them dating back 70 years. He paints a wonderfully vivid picture of life in New Orleans amongst the working classes - rough and tumble social clubs, regular street parades, dropping by grandma's and having her whip up a pan of fresh biscuits at the drop of a hat...and music permeating everything, everywhere.

You read Barker's books, or Louis Armstrong's "Satchmo: My Life In New Orleaans," Al Rose's "Storyville, New Orleans" and now the liner notes to Sony's wonderful 4CD Preservation Hall retrospective and the same names keep popping up - Freddie Keppard, Papa Celestin, Kid Ory, Fate Marable... who were the pre-eminent musicians and band leaders that inspired and helped train more widely known players like Armstrong, King Oliver... You go looking for the music...and there's NOT a lot, and much of what's out there is of - reputedly dubious provenance; tracks that have been repackaged multiple times in myriad ways, misleadingly labelled, sometimes including recordings that the featured musician may not even appear on. It's very frustrating, very tantalizing.

"Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922-1929" CD box set compiles 4 CDs' worth of this crucial material - Keppard with his Jazz Cardinals as well as with outfits led by others, Marable, Celestin leading multiple outfits, the earliest recordings of the great trombonist and band leader Kid Ory, etc.

This is a JSP release so -- INEXPENSIVE. Probably about 20 dollars (I got my set as an Xmas present - thanks Sis!)

As per the impact of the music -- well, "Hot jazz" tends to sound initially hokey to 21st century neophyte ears - Jazz developed into more polished, then more cerebral and abstract forms for decades and then slipstreams of the music mutated into R&B, then its sub-genre "rock 'n' roll" (a simple description of a certain sensual activity involving two people - get close to someone ya love and try one action and then the next), and so on. But even a rock-bred dummy can learn to appreciate what these folks were putting down - near telepathic group improvisation that was still danceable, hummable pop. More problematic - to a degree - is that some of these players, Keppard for instance, was already past his physical prime and was performing with a somewhat degraded embouchure (it's said)...nothing much to be done about that. The recording industry, in those days, largely revolved around the relatively scarce facilities, some of them technically classed as electronics laboratories that'd been set up in places like Chicago, Camden, NJ, New York. New Orleans musicians - by and large - didn't have access to recording studios until they'd relocated to these other towns. Moreover, there was a standing tradition not to publish your music or make recordings lest other musicians be able to imitate your repertoire and playing style and better compete with you for live work -- which is where the money was in those days.

ALL THAT BEING SAID - I'm finding this an invaluable rsource that brings a lot of the stories and references I've come across in my reading to life. In addition, there's repertoire and stylistic traditions presented here, recorded in the 1920's that STILL appear on some of my favorite NOLA releases from recent times.

Whole Lotta Bunk

FIRST OFF - I HEREBY DECLARE THAT I'M ONLY THE MOST CALLOW DABBLER IN JAZZ HISTORY. This account could only be of value to other wet-behind-the-ears neophytes...

This passed Christmas, my son Severin bought me "Buddy Bolden & The Last Days of Storyville" and my niece Anna Rose got me "My Life In Jazz," both titles by Danny Barker. Barker was an accomplished guitar/banjo players and played in top of the line jazz ensembles including Cab Calloway's in the 1930's. He was one of the first jazz musicians to start actively chronicling jazz history, especially early jazz history -- a pursuit he undertook because of his dissatisfaction with how non-player music journalists portrayed the both contemporary jazz and its development. Both books are a great read, colorful and insightful and with a lot of valuable insider information on the beginnings of jazz in New Orleans. A significant amount of his reportage can't be documented or is disputed by academics addressing the same material. It seems entirely possible that a certain amount of his account is myth -- either that he'd collected and passed along without further inquiry or had a hand in contriving. But myth is NOT a lie per se -- it's a vehicle for conveying useful information, that's goes beyond naked facts and figures.

The figure that stands out the most in the "Buddy Bolden" book, is of course Bolden. And the academics take issue with just about all the details Barker provides on Bolden, his day job, the narrative arc of his mental health problems that ended his career and eventually landed him in an institution -- EVEN the quality of his playing and showmanship. Which begs the question? So how did Bolden inspire such a pervasive and enduring myth if he was an indifferent player and hammy performer? The great majority of New Orleans musicians from that era have utterly vanished from the historical record and faded, even from popular memory? There must have been SOMETHING happening to have the profound impact that Bolden had on American music history.

One of the tragedies of Bolden's career was that he never recorded a single note (there're rumors...but nothing's ever surfaced). This was not unusual at the time when musicians made their money from live performance and having the most powerful, accomplished and unique playing style and compositions were their stock in trade. So, few registered their copyrights or published their material or recorded -- fearing that'd enable others to more readily copy their playing and songs and have a better shot at competing for live work. One of the more interesting sections of Barker's book is his account of the early career of one Bunk Johnson. Barker claims that he was Bolden's understudy, often playing with Bolden's main band, taking over for him when Bolden - who'd often double or triple book gigs for himself on a given night -- would depart for the next gig. Johnson, reportedly, prided himself on replicating Bolden's style exactly. And also copying his sartorial style, penchant for womanizing etc. And while Bolden left no recordings behind, Johnson in fact produced a significant amount. At the point where aficionados of New Orleans style "Hot Jazz" were on a holy mission to uncover, preserve and perpetuate that style in the '40's as the main body of jazz evolved into more cerebral and abstract forms, Johnson wound up being rediscovered, based on a tip from Louis Armstrong. As any cursory research will show, there's plenty of dispute over Johnson's artistic worth, the authenticity of the claims about his association with Buddy and I leave that to the more academically inclined to delve into. But the fact remains that it is documented that Johnson did play with New Orleans jazz heavyweights like Sidney Bechet. He was the person Armstrong referred researchers to as an authority on the origins of jazz in New Orleans and it has been documented that he was recruited to play with the line-up formed by Bolden's band members after Bolden had to give up performing. Based on all this it DID appear that it was possible that Bunk's music did preserve some elements of Buddy's style - and frankly, if it's only a fraction that's STILL more than we'd have otherwise.

Lately I have started making use of Spotify. It's not quite the miracle that some claim - try finding the work of James "Sugarboy" Crawford - there's maybe 5 songs - which Amazon lists a couple (very pricey) full length releses - BUT it can be useful to check out titles before purchase. There's actually a good amount of Bunk Johnson recordings available -- remember, he was rediscovered as part of a moment to preserve and document "Hot Jazz." I opted to check out "Bunk and The New Orleans Revival 1942- 1947," a 2 CD set with a whopping 43 songs on it - a compilation from 12 different recording sessions. A nice overview. And...I was utterly enthralled. Overall,the playing is by turns soulful, sexy, sad and rambunctiously swinging typifying the allure of New Orleans music throughout its history. The repertoire touches all the main bases of traditional jazz, the reworkings of sacred songs like "Down By The Riverside," early classics like Jellyroll Morton's "Milneburg Joys," brass band parade numbers and a good amount of the "slow drag" blues that'd be the occasion for low down "belly-rubbing" dance late on a Saturday night. The sonic ambience, in most cases, is lively and slightly echoey - honestly sounds like this is being performed on a sidewalk on Burgundy Street in the French Quarter, or in an inner courtyard overhung with lush vegetation. YES I'M OVER-ROMANTICIZING - but this IS one of those recordings that can transport you to a different time and locale within minutes.

So... I dunno if Bunk Johnson played alongside Buddy Bolden, or just studied him from the audience, or just heard accounts of his style from other musicians and did his best to fake something akin to it. Just sounds GOOD TO ME.

As I was scrolling through last week's Offbeat online newsletter and hit the new and upcoming LA-related releases section I noted a listing for "The Cosimo Matassa Story Volume 2." As Volume 1 proved such a revelatory listening experience and this installment was priced to move (less than $20 for a 4 CD set) on Amazon.com I put in my order. Upon receipt, I feverishly eyed the track listing and noted, vaguely, that a lot of titles seemed familiar -- but didn't think too hard on it.

On filling up the changer, hitting "Play" and then going about my business I, again and again, heard familiar tunes. A lot of 'em. AND a decent amount of music that was new to me and a welcome addition to my music library.

It's like this - Cosimo Matassa engineered, produced, owned the studio or released on his Rex label (or all four) a staggering amount of the music that came out of New Orleans for a couple decades. This output showed up on numerous labels including Aladdin, Savoy, Imperial, Specialty, Minit, Fury etc. and featured the biggest names to come out of New Orleans or at least record there including Fats Domino and Little Richards as well as countless others that only had a regional or local impact.

SO...if one, theoretically, had owned and operated Volume 1 of this series and were inspired to flesh out their collection with Fats Domino and Little Richard box sets and perhaps compilations of the output of the Minit and Ace Records labels -- well ALOT of that stuff was touched by the hand of Cosimo Matassa and, unsurprisingly is duplicated on TCMS Vol. 2.

Ergo, if, theoretically, Volume 1 had inspired you to go digging for more, Volume 2 will yield some great tracks you won't have heard before but a lot, you'll have already come across. So Volume 2 will function more like a killer mix tape of vintage NOLA R&B, RnR, Blues and Jump music than a treasure chest of hitherto unknown gems. IF, on the other hand, you were content with Volume 1, or perhaps you've NEVER looked into this sorta shizzle, Volume 2 is a GREAT place to start, or a good way to deepen your collection quickly, inexpensively yet prudently.

You'll likely wind up quickly charmed by the funky, gutbucket charms of Huey Piano Smith & his Clowns, Smiley Lewis, James Sugar Boy Crawford, Professor Longhair, Bobby Marchan, Shirley & Lee et al. I know that this stuff has pretty much ruined me in terms of taking folks like Rihanna, Maroon 5 etc. seriously...at least over the past year or so.

There's just something alive and vital and kinda dangerous and attention grabbing about music where the tunings are slightly off and the beats aren't exact and the vocals are imperfect -- there's elements of indeterminacy, surprise, tension, semi-tones, elements that are intentionally built into Indian Classical music, that are long standing traditions in much of the traditional music that you'll find in cultures rimming the Mediterranean (these days you'll still find it in Middle Eastern and North African folk musics but if you go back to Alan Lomax's field recordings from Spain and Italy from the 1940's, it's there two -- in fact try comparing vintage Spanish folk musics and currently Egyptian traditional music, you'll be shocked methinks). Well, all that happened serendiptously in NOLA rock and R&B. Though it wasn't unwitting. I love the story in "It Came From Memphis" (I forget the author now) of Furry Lewis playing a festival at the Overton Band Shell and his accompanist, Lee Baker (at that point, a former member of the hard rock band Moloch, and not yet a member of Jim Dickinson's Mudboy and the Neutrons), sees Furry's guitar untended, picks it up, finds it out of tune and meticulously tuning it, to save Lewis the trouble. So, Furry comes back, picks up the guitar, gives it a strum and then, just as meticulously, tunes it back exactly to where it was originally. So there was intent and conscious artistry involved in some of these apparently raw, dissonant sounds.

God Preserve us

Serious jazz fans will scoff at these thoughts, but for the rest of us... imagine Jazz as dance music, featuring alternately X rated or forthrightly religious lyrics, being an underground phenomenon largely sustained as a grass-roots street culture tradition...

For those of us who grew up hearing our parents' Big Band favorites, and then the increasingly abstract stylings of the post-Bop scene the above statements seem utterly absurd and yet...

That's exactly how Jazz originated in the opening decades of the 20th Century before being superseded by alternately slicker Big Band and more cerebral Bee Bop and post-Bop styles rendering the earlier form, "Hot Jazz," a quaint relic.

But then aficionados from around the country converged on New Orleans in order to enjoy and then nurture the remnants of original Jazz culture that had survived as a strictly local phenomenon. And one result of this was in the inauguration of Preservation Hall, an art gallery who's owner invited "Hot Jazz" old timers to come and perform as much to indulge his passion for this music on as conveniently as possible as to give them additional opportunities to perform together and perhaps make a few extra bucks. And 50 years later, the Preservation Hall community is still going strong, in fact having become a successful mini empire employing dozens of musicians playing regularly at the flagship venue in New Orleans, mounting multiple touring units,recording and releasing myriad albums -- guaranteeing that early Jazz styles remain a vital and LIVING tradition.

Columbia Legacy's "50th Anniversary Collection" box set is a thoroughly reverent and comprehensive yet thoroughly lively, boisterous collection documenting the music that's come from this operation over the past five decades. The running order of this material is purposely NOT chronological, instead mixing recordings from all eras of Preservation Hall's existence and from a wide variety of line-ups. What's immediately striking is how comfortably it all sits side by side even when some seemingly anomalous elements are added - a lead vocal by Tom Waits on one track, the entire Del McCroury Band sitting in on another track, etc. It's powerful testimony as to the impact Hot Jazz has and continues to have on American music - Waits' take on "Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing" would be perfectly at home at any of his own albums from "Swordfishtrombone" onwards. Clearly the many musicians that have contributed to Preservation Hall over so many years have maintained a very consistent high level of artistry, preserved all the essential formal elements of the Hot Jazz style and immerse themselves in the passion that this music was intended to incite.

We just got back from a brief stay in New Orleans. 10 pounds heavier; liver struggling to process all the red wine; and with a stack of recordings (of course!)

First off...we ran across a delightful little surprise. We'd grabbed a December issue of the local music magazine (full color, printed on slick paper -- how come New Orleans can support something like that while the rest of the country can't seem to support a national print 'zine devoted to music?) -- or maybe we peeped Offbeat's weekly online newsletter -- and noted a free screening of "Piano Players Rarely Play Together" a recently restored documentary that looked at three generations of New Orleans pianists, local legend Professor Longhair, one of his devoted disciples, Allen Toussaint, and one of Longhair's inspirations, Isidore "Tuts" Washington. This took place in the back dining room of Buffa's on Esplanade, a friendly, knockabout local bar and eatery. A very congenial and comfy place to watch a movie.

This was a hoot. First of all, there was a lot of performance, not only by each individual pianist, but they'd agreed to stage a performance and their rehearsals were filmed...luckily, as, tragically, Longhair died in his sleep a day or two before the scheduled performance (the two survivors went ahead and performed to honor his memory). All the performance footage is a treasure; first of all, just great music. Secondly, a fine document of vintage styles of playing who's original exponents are largely long laid to rest. Tuts was a barrelhouse player who incorporated elements of classical, popular music and mid century jazz into his stylebook over the years. Famously, Longhair added Carribean rhythms and melodies to basic barrelhouse blues and created the blueprint for much of New Orleans unique style of rollicking, piano-driven R&B (Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns, etc.) Toussaint injected N.O. R&B's unique features to a wide range of more mainstream R&B, soul and funk styles minting some of the biggest records to associated with that city: Ernie K-Doe's "Mother In Law," Lee Dorsey's "Working In a Coal Mine," Glen Campbell's "Southern Nights" (a Toussaint composition), Pointer Sisters' "Yes We Can" (a cover of one of Allen's songs for Dorsey), LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" (another Toussaint song and production).

Third: the interview footage is priceless -- not only hearing these worthies' thoughts about their own music but hearing them discuss one another -- Toussaint being especially reverential when talking about Longhair, while Washington was quick to point out the debut Longhair owed him and Longhair being just as quick to downplay the debt while noting Toussaint's debt to him! Feisty, proud men, hungry to grab a bit of justly deserved recognition. The most priceless segments are where the three are rehearsing together. Washington keeps showboating (and indeed his technique is dazzling) and Longhair keeps scolding him while Toussaint just chuckles and keeps his mouth shut.

Then, as I'd mentioned, Longhair died and the documentary includes footage at his wake (intense stuff) and a fragment of the massive public turn out for his funeral proper. Afterwards, Pauline Waring the former wife of the film's late director Stevenson Palfi showed up, spoke with the crowd a bit and then popped open a box of newly released DVD re-release, selling 'em for $20 (Amazon lists a used VHS for $70 and otherwise you have to purchase from Louisiana Music Factory for $30 + shipping -- SCORE!)

I'll just give a quick run down of other purchases:

The Original Pinettes Brass Band "Finally" self released (purchased at Louisiana Music Factory) - this is pretty standard contemporary brass band fare - you can find just about all these songs on the first couple Rebirth Brass Band albums. But this is one of the few (perhaps the only ) all female brass band in New Orleans and I suspect that this recording is mainly intended as a calling card meant to attract live bookings. And for that's it's utterly effective. These are all lively, enthusiastic performances - sharp enough to have punch but loose enough to make you think that the recording sessions were a party in themselves.

Smokey Johnson "It Ain't My Fault." (purchased at LMF) This is released on the Night Train division of Tuff City Records. While I admire the catalogue these guys have amassed I've had nothing but bad experiences trying to buy CDs from them and now only buy their stuff from other sources rather than direct.

Smokey Johnson is best known for his decades-long stint playing drums with Fats Domino but preceded that with a decade of being part of Dave Bartholemew's session band throughout the 60's, this following 10 years of late night jams and backing up various local luminaries including the late James "Sugarboy" Crawford ("Jock E Mo" later known as "Iko Iko"). This collection documents a series of singles wherein he fused jazz, blues, R&B and early rock 'n' beats with New Orleans street parade ("second line") beats, creating a muscular, spare and incredibly potent brand of funk comparable to the best of the Meters instrumental releases on Minit.

Kid Ory "King of the Tailgate Trombone" on American Music (purhcased at LMF). Back in the 40's, there was a resurgence of interest in 20's "Hot Jazz" and a concerted effort to document that music and the original musicians who'd helped create and sustain it by labels created entirely for that purpose. American Music/GBH/Jazzology are a New Orleans based company devoted to keeping those recordings in print.

Kid Ory is largely known as trombone player with King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, contributing to their seminal 20's recordings. Recent historical studies, however have reminded music fans that Oliver and Armstrong, in fact, had gotten their starts as members of Ory's band - Armstrong being tapped by Ory while a teenager to fill Oliver's shoes when the latter departed for Chicago. He's creditted for breaching color lines in New Orleans as his band gained such prominence that fashionable white socialites felt compelled to have his outfit performing at parties, picnics etc., propriety be damned. Later in life he led the "dixieland" band at Disneyland (very trippy to think that Walt and company were among the main patrons of archaic New Orleans party music for a LONG time).

This album stems from recording sessions done in 1948 and 1949 and finds Ory and company playing lively, authoritative versions of standard NOLA trad jazz repertoire: "Panama Rag" "Chinatown, My Chinatown" "Do you KNow What it Means, To Miss New Orleans" etc. To my ears its a great exemplar of this style of music but I do know that this stuff is an acquired taste for most baby boomers and following generations.

On one level, it emits the whiff of corniness and that's 'cause by the 60's it'd become mainly a nostalgic rush indulged in by aged grandparents sighing over their glory days. That's likely what its function was at Disneyland -- to evoke a bygone era when things were slower, simpler and more wholesome (I'm supposing). But when you start looking at it in the context of the music's original emergence -- out of the collision of formally trained, middle class mulattoes who had a repertoire of light classical music and popular orchestral pieces with often self-taught darker skinned players primarily versed in the blues, mashed together as efforts to segregate New Orleans stepped up; or how it was then nurtured in the bars and brothels of the quasi-legal red light district of Storyville; and lastly -- that it was the inception of "Jazz" process - taking well known tunes and reconstructing them through group improvisation...well, it can be possible to disable one's childhood biases and really dig this stuff!

Isidore "Tuts" Washington "New Orleans Piano" The Larry Borenstein Collection Volume 3 on 504 Records. Purchased at a stall in the French Market out of a batch of stuff marked to $10. OK, you can figure out why I'd pick this up after seeing the documentary he's featured in. Larry Borrenstein ran an art gallery at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter and started inviting local traditional jazz musicians to jam there after business hours in the 50's -- one of the few places that would have them once their music had been supplanted by R&B and rock n roll as popular music and by beebop and post-bop as contemporary jazz.

These sessions were recorded at the Associated Artists Studio before it was renamed Preservation Hall. The recordings were made "circa 1960" - about 20 years before the documentary was filmed. If Tuts playing in 1980 was spectacular you can imagine what it was like coming from a man some 20 years younger. From the sound of it, Borrenstein brought a home reel-to-reel into the room, set up one mic. So there's PLENTY of "room ambience" - which - if yr into utterly pro-Toolsed, auto-tuned, arrid sonic perfection -- this is your worst nightmare come true. If you'd wanna conjur up the atmosphere of being in Preservation Hall, not to mention at a time when there were probably just a few locals slouching in cheers, drinking a cold beer and enjoying some stubbornly venerable music...this is the shizzle.

George Lewis Ragtime Band "Live In Concert - 1963" 2 CD set on 504 Records purchased at a healthy discount in the French Market. Haven't listened yet but realize from pouring over the notes to the Preservation Hall box set that George and most of the ensemble were an important part of that scene and the diehard trad jazz movement in general. Looks good.

Trem-aniac alert! The latest episode in my continuing obsession-hobby, decoding the fictive narratives running thru the HBO series "Treme" determining their factual basis and tracking down pertinent artifacts has led me to Donald Harrison Jr.s '92 release "Indian Blues."

Lemme start by admitting that the decoding process is not awfully tough - every Monday morning Dave Walker of the Times Picayune posts his "Treme Explained" column which does all that, often with pertinent weblinks to restaurant webpages, Amazon downloads, Google maps etc. http://topics.nola.com/tag/treme-explained/index.html. And NPR and HBO regularly post exegeses as well: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2012/10/15/162939879/treme-ep-25-sugar-boys-salute; http://www.inside-treme-blog.com/

Typically I only have time to check out Walker's column which has lotsa interesting info listed but it's not always complete so there's still detective work to be done.

Sometime during the first season, the segments capturing Mardi Gras Indian chanting and performance really hit me hard and set me on a quest for anything on record. I realized that I already had the Wild Magnolias and Wild Tchapitoulis albums and started listening to those. The latter features the wiry minimalist funk of The Meters backing up their uncle, George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry and his gang's chanting - honestly ace stuff. The former features more densely-packed arrangement by another batch of top NOLA players including guitarist Snooks Eaglin, Willie Tee on keys and "Uganda" Roberts (who'd been personally mentored by Professor Longhair in his youth) on percussion - vocals by Bo Dollis and co. with a special guest performance by Monk Boudreaux; for my tastes, the backing musicians lay it on a bit too thick and florid to thrill, but it's solid enough.

What I was really jonesing for was just unaccompanied chanting and that proved harder to find especially online where most of releases you'll find have little or no description by editors or consumers. Eventually Keith Spera at the Times Picayune tipped me to The Indians of the Nation release which gathered a number of Big Chiefs together to perform the standard repertoire in the traditional manner - group chanting accompanied by a variety of hand percussion - this is something ya hadda buy from the Louisiana Music Factory; wasn't anywhere else online at the time. This one's totally killer. I also stumbled across "Lightning & Thunder" by The Golden Eageles featuring Monk Boudreaux - download or manufacture upon demand only at Amazon - another great find in this vein.

In the midst of my searching I came across saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr.s "Indian Blues" and noted that while it had a couple examples of unaccompanied Indian chanting, other tracks were jazz instruments -- not what I was looking for at the time.

One of the main plot lines in season two of "Treme" is Delmond Lambreaux's gradual rapproachment with New Orleans in general and its unusual musical culture - one that puts a premium on maintaining historical perspectives, preserving age-old traditions and keeping them alive and vital. And where in most places around the country this would be the mission of academia and intellectuals, here it's part of street level culture: in New Orleans a place in a school marching band bestows equal or higher street cred than than membership in a gang. Kinda mind blowing.

Eventually Delmond has an epiphany while second lining behind his father's Indian gangThe Guardians Of The Flame while marching down Claiborne Ave. under the I-10 (of course one of the great crimes committed against African American society in New Orleans was civil authorities routing the elevated interstate right down the major commercial street of the Treme neighborhood -- just imagine the main drag in your home town, lined with grocery, hardware, clothes stores, lawyers offices, restaurants, clubs suddenly having an interstate plopped down, obliterating it). As Delmond grooves along to the polyrthymic percussion and tribal chanting he suddenly passes a boombox blasting some fiery post-bop jazz and it all lines up in his head. His mission becomes to make a recording that marries Indian chants by his father, Big Chief Albert Lambreaux, jazz instrumental backings, laced with tribal beats. He starts by enlisting one Donald Harrison Jr. who, playing himself in the series, has a formidable past credits and critical acclaim aplenty who accompanies him to talk Dr. John into taking part, eventually rounding out the recording line up with legendary bassist Ron Carter, Uganda Roberts on percussion (some other drummer too whose name escapes me right now) and his father on vocals. Towards the end of the season we see them in the studio recording "Hu-Ta-Nay," a glorious melange of street-wise polyrhthms, call and response chanting and sweet jazz blowing.

As season three starts, we find Delmond at a NYC record release party for the finished product and folks looking at the cover art - (they never show it in close up so I could be wrong) one Indian in full finery, looking "pretty" as can be joined by a second in regular street clothes. And the sleeve art looks familiar. Next day, I go take a peak at Donald Harrison's catalogue on Amazon and find "Indian Blues" - Donald in fully Indian finery. I investigate further - lead off track is "Hu-Ta-Nay." Featured players include Dr. John. Hmmmm. I started sampling tracks and "Hu-Ta-Nay" mixes chants, jazz, New Orleans R&B and Indian percussion. Others are indeed unaccompanied Indian chants, still others seem like straight ahead jazz. So I break down and order it.

When it arrives I peruse the cover. "Donald Harrison Jr. with Dr. John" "Mardi Gras Indians The Guardians of the Flame." I look inside - chants by Donald Harrison Sr. who leads The Guardians of The Flame. Yeah. Hard not to admit that this is the inspiration for this particular narrative line in "Treme"! And in typical freaky "Treme" style, they have the real-life inspiration participate in the fictionalized telling (as with Rogan Davis, who's the basis for the DJ Davis character appearing as keyboardist in the latter's fictional brass band/funk/hip hop fusion outfit).

BUT WHAT DOES "Indian Blues" SOUND LIKE?

Well, rather than a straightforward consistent fusion of constituent styles it's a mixture: several numbers serve up unaccompanied Mardi Gras Indian performance; others are pretty straight ahead classic modern jazz with a number of them based in or at least starting out by stating melodies from traditional Indian chants or R&B interpretations thereon - and some of these do include an undercurrent of Indian-style percussion to boot; then there's admixtures of R&B and jazz (a comfy fit since so much classic New Orleans R&B was performed by the jazz players outta David Bartholemew's band). And finally you've got numbers like "Hu-ta-nay" (this version actually is playing at the record release party according to "Treme Explained"), that bring all these influences together.

For my purposes right now, I woulda hoped for an album that featured the fusion of all the constituent elements from start to finish. But I do appreciate and enjoy the educational impact of having the different genres laid out side by side, then seeing the effects of mixing these two styles in this song, those two in that song as well as the full on fusions -- it does encourage ya to see how nfluences progress genres over the years, then double back, overlap, grow fruitful and multiply. A nice symbol of the ongoing functioning of music in New Orleans in the last century or so.