Trace

When asked to name "Progressive Rock" groups from the '70s most folks can come up with  Yes, ELP, Genesis, Rush, Focus, Gong, Flash, etc. One band that flew under the radar is a trio called Trace. They released 3 albums for Sire Records, the self-titled titled first album, "Birds", and "White Ladies". The core members were multi-keyboardist Rick van der Linden who gained fame with the group Ekseption, and excellent self-taught electric bassist Jaap van Eik. The great Focus drummer Pierre van der Linden (2nd cousin) made the debut album bristle with stop-start, jazz influenced rock steadiness and flair. After Pierre van der Linden's departure the group turned to Marillion drummer Ian Mosley for "Birds" who brought a more "rock fusion" aspect to the proceedings.

I can't recommend these albums highly enough to fans of keyboard dominated progressive rock. Rick van der Linden plays an arsenal of keyboards with intelligence, humor and incredible technique, and his writing is legit. Jaap van Eik is one of the most accomplished self-taught bassists I have heard, and also contributes electric guitar and a brief vocal segment to "Birds".  Drummers van der Linden and Mosley are excellent virtuosos and make me smile by how they serve the music.

"Desert Island" status.

Who Remembers Quad Sound?

I'm old enough to remember when certain record companies and electronics manufacturers experimented with Quad sound. This was a unique "Dual Stereo" encoding system that required a special phono cartridge, a Quad compliant component and four speakers to reproduce. Sound like any recent audio technologies? Needless to say Quad was short lived due to less than stellar reviews, the price of admission and little software support (the few titles offered were mainly classical and pop).

My roommate and I went this one better using stuff we already owned. We put together a system that consisted of 2 AR Integrated amps, 1 pair of AR 3 speakers for the front, 1 pair of AR 4x speakers for the rear. I wired the speakers in a "Stereo Around" configuration that, no matter where you sat, you had a complete stereo sound-field. The results were spectacular! The sound was rich, warm, involving and filled the living room with ease. We could take advantage of our current LP and Tape collections without having to deal with format incompatibilities. At the time I had a Sony TC-355 reel to reel deck that had "Sound-On-Sound" dubbing facility which allows you to crudely overdub sounds. If this function was engaged with the "Monitor" on, you got incredible and variable echo effects. One night I was fooling around with this when some friends called. They had just dropped acid asked if they could come over to listen to music. I continued with my echo experiments until they arrived. I had left the tape deck going and audible. When they walked into the living room their voices instantly began echoing through all the speakers in glorious "Stereo Around" sound. They began laughing hysterically which, well, you get the idea.

I loved that system. After 30 some-odd years, multiple iterations, untold investments, I've finally put together an excellent system that accomplishes much of what that system did with just 2 speakers. Advances in digital amplifier technology, analog and digital source components, speaker designs and cable geometries can now yield unparallelled musical reproduction and amazing holographic imaging.

We live in a wonderful age!

Didgeridoo: The Most Expressive Musical Instrument?

I first heard the Didgeridoo at a very early age on my dad's Folkways LP of Aboriginal music recorded on locations in the Australian Outback. I always thought it was a drum ( I was too young to read the liner notes) because of how the instrument is articulated.

Many years later I'd all but forgotten about the Didgeridoo when I read in Duke Ellington's biography, "Music is My Mistress", his account of hearing didgeridoos while on a musical ambassadorship state department tour of Asia. Duke considered the Didgeridoo to be the most expressive instrument he'd ever heard, and even incorporated the instrument on the album, "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse". 

In the '80s when I was the New Age buyer at The COOP I met a couple of nice guys who called themselves, "DidgeriDuo". Yup, 2 guys playing rhythmic set pieces on didgeridoos augmented by processed low frequency extension and sparse synthesizer shadings. Before you commit "Contempt Prior To Investigation", these guys put together compelling pieces that actually ROCK. I treasure these albums and have dubbed the cassettes onto CDRs which I've ripped into iTunes at high resolution. "Boom-Shaka-Laka!" 

The Didgeridoo is capable, in the right hands (Aboriginal master David Hudson is, for me, the best), of complex ranges of shading and by blowing using circular breathing techniques, beautifully primitive dancing and dream inducing rhythms.  

I feel a Walkabout coming on...

It Has Been Made Clear...I Am Painfully Out Of Shape!

This Monday evening my Auto 66 posse Tristram and Doug descended on my home, and we fired up the "Big Irons" for the first time in over a decade. It felt GREAT to interact in real time with these guys. What the session pointed out in black & white is I'm out of shape. When Doug launched into the fastest tune in the Auto 66 repertoire (Thanks Doug!) I lasted about 3 minutes before melting down and just stopping (insert out of breath gasping sounds here). SO, grateful for this data point I am looking to work on stamina. My plan is to play along with my iPod on Shuffle. Whether a Chopin Etude, The Ventures, Mastodon, Kirsty MacColl, NEU!, a Beethoven symphony, James Brown, Captain Beyond, Lee Fields, Steve Roach, Steve Reich, Funkadelic, Judas Priest...this will be my metronome and context source. I think this sounds like fun. Any drummers care to weigh in on this?

The Night I fell Over On Stage

When we had shows at the club Streets, my girlfriend Barbara loved to have the Someone & The Somebodies "Entourage" over for a hearty meal of anti-pasto, pasta with her incredible north Italian style tomato sauce that included sausages sourced from the neighborhood deli in Park Slope. We usually ate a lot because it was so awesome. Er, we also drank A Lot of wine with these meals. It just felt right at the time! We'd all stumble around to Streets and arrive just in time to set up and play. It was one of those nights in 1981 when I was reeling from one of Barbara's heady fetes. It didn't help that the audience was particularly hostile. At one point my bassist Tristram was hit in the left elbow by a full beer bottle. No chicken wire here! Half way through the set came one of our more complex pieces. The ending was a rapid fire cadence, "DAdadadaDadadadaDAdadaDA!" where I conclude by damping the ride cymbal on the last beat. Only this time I kept going, falling over my floor tom and crashing to the ground still holding the ride cymbal. My throne, floor tom, cymbal and a few microphones were scattered over the stage. I calmly picked myself up, got everything back in place and said, "Excuse Me". Right out of Cheech & Chong's "Up In Smoke". the night didn't get any better. Between songs towards the end of teh set the club DJ announced, "Would the owner of a Toyota sedan with New Jersey license plate #........ please come to the bar. Your car is on fire". Tris lowered his head in ultimate dejection. Yup, that was HIS car on fire. Rock & Roll!

Who Are Your Favorite Wah-wah Players?

The first Wah-wah I heard was Eric Clapton on Disraeli Gears and I thought it was cool. His approach was on the beat with an accent hear and there, and after a few listenings I started to miss the wonderful tone from Fresh Cream.

I relegated the Wah-wah to, "novelty" status until I heard Jimi Hendrix's incredibly supple articulations on "Axis Bold As Love". Wow!...THAT's expression! His seemingly effortless ability to use the Wah-wah as an extension of his mind remains for me well, mind blowing. Just listen to any of the recent Experience Hendrix approved live recordings, especially "Winterland". When I listen to these performances I feel in the presence of a true genius who's emphasis on extracting every ounce of expression and emotion from his rig hasn't, for me, ever been matched. Thank you Jimi!

I have to give a shout out to the late, great Pete Cosey who anchored the lead guitar spot in Miles Davis' great acid rock "On The Corner" band. I saw Pete several times in this band and his use of the Wah-wah for pure effect is the closest I've heard a guitarist approach, "Phasers On Stun!". He could make the guitar sound like it was literally falling apart. Beautiful Pete!

Frank Zappa. Talk about totally unique. Developing his style to suit what he was writing for The Mothers Of Invention, Frank invented an inimitable feel for the Wah-wah. Zappa's ability to articulate triple "Wah" inflections while executing hellacious 32nd note rapid-fire staccato attack leads is so uniquely audacious I have never heard anyone else, even Zappa's lead break transcriber Steve Vai. Eat Frankie's dust all you Cali GIT-Heads!

Who are your favorite Wah-wah players?

How Loud Is Loud?

When I was at The COOP music department in the '80s I got to see a lot of bands compliments of the labels. There were some great shows (The Kinks, Bryan Ferry, Paris Combo, Lou Reed touring "New York" with The Feelies warming up, Laika & The Cosmonauts) and some not so great shows (Motley Crue with Ratt opening, and they go downhill from there).

3 major act heavy metal shows that came my way all happened at the Worcester Centrum. First Up: Iron Maiden on the "Somewhere In Time" tour. Our seats were 25 rows back and 15 rows up on the stage right (audience left) side. The SPLs were so ridiculous that the bass, bass drums and lead vocals were pounding our chests. NO KIDDING!! Luckily Sylvia brought ear plugs. Next up: Judas Priest touring "Ram It Down". Similar seat placement. Chuck and I were prepared with ear plugs. As soon as "The Hellion" began blaring from the PA ear plugs were inserted. Half way through the second tune, "Metal Gods" I had to take the ear plugs OUT! The sound was immaculately put across to draw the audience in, not blow them away. We were able to relax, get into the songs and sing along. And Last: Van Halen touring "5150". Worst case scenario, loud and muddy/honky..."There's Only ONE WAY TO RAWK!"...NOT! C'Mon! The audience deserves better than that! And the performance was, as my rock critic friend Tristram Lozaw put it in his Herald column the next day, "Pathetic".

Also, I remember, during the "Live Aid" concerts broadcast from Britain, a "Loudest Band In The World" face-off between Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. Sabbath sent up the slowest "Iron Man" even the rabid fist pumping fans timed out on. The Priest weighed in with their send-up of Fleetwood Mac's, "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" complete with much KK Downing feedback and blistering breaks. Sabbath won. Fewer amps but louder amps wins over many well-placed and tightly tweaked amps. Go figure.

If any of you folks have favorite "Ear Splitter" shows please share! 

To Match Grip Or To Parade Grip?

When I was 15 I took 6 weeks of drum lessons with the great local percussion instructionist extraordinaire, Dick Demers. We focused on "Set Control" as I had a basic fundamental vocabulary. After observing me he commented, "I see you use the Matched Grip popularized by Ringo Starr. Did he influence this?" "No, I just find this grip suits my style of rim-shot based attack." "Interesting you should say that. I find the Parade Grip actually gives me more power and flexibility, making it very easy to switch gears from feathering to sharp rim-shot attack. Would you like to try this?" "Okay, it works for Charlie Watts who I prefer over Ringo, so I'll give it a try." This approach is a paradigm shift! I found that switching between Parade and Matched grips really opened things up, A LOT. I angled my snare around 2 degrees forward, positioned my hi-hats to be easily reached with the left hand, brought my ride as close as possible angled almost vertical. Dick always questioned the ride positioning but hey, it works for me! As I began playing out and the emphasis veered towards hard rock/progressive blues rock Ala Mountain, Jethro Tull, ELP, etc., I weighted my approach more to the Matched Grip (turns out the great Jethro Tull drummer, Clive Bunker did the same shift as they began playing larger stages). By the time I co-founded the band Someone & The Somebodies in '79 I was a confirmed Matched Grip slugger. My rim-shot accuracy had improved to over 90%. The upside was I sounded way more powerful than I was actually hitting the snare. The downside was I more consistently cracked my left index finger, sometimes severely enough to draw blood and bleed all over my snare. I became quite adept at keeping the beat while licking blood from my hand! After Someone & The Somebodies broke up in '85 I hung up the sticks and became more involved on keyboards in my experimental electronic band Dervish with Somebodies lead guitarist Rob Davis. When I was urged out of retirement in '90 to join the Goth Country band, Why Fatman, Why?, I toyed with the Matched/Parade switch-off approach but I wasn't ready for it so stuck with Matched to get up and running quickly. After another long hiatus, I've set the kit back up and am taking time to be as open as possible on this. Any of you drummers out there care to chime in?

The "1 Slice Rule"

After having some initial success and filling the coffers with hard earned shekels, my band Someone & The Somebodies decided it was time to "Move On Up" the recording studio food chain and booked several sessions at Blue Jay. Richie Blackmore's Rainbow preceded us. The first day was the typical " Get The Sounds Day". The engineer, a guy named Bruce, said he'd read the session notes for the first Van Halen album where Ted Templeman had Alex Van Halen record each drum separately, and that's how we were going to execute. If any of you drummers out there have tried playing your cymbal parts "ala carte" I'm here to say, "Bah Humbug!". After a few run throughs the band collectively assessed that Templeman was either an idiot or had "mis-remembered" the facts. So, on with the plan. A plan based on "want" is not a plan. We REALLY REALLY WANTED a perfect take of the tune Tristram and I brought from our first band The Molls called, "People Are Dumb". This was a neo-punk tune and my part was 16-32nd notes to the bar. We did about a baker's dozen takes. Even if the rhythm section performed well enough for prime time, it was always something: The middle section was too long/too short or "what the f*ck??", one or both guitarists flubbed the ending, or the ARP 2600 would melt down. And after the 12th take I melted down. We called it after 10 hours of frustration with Tristram and I acknowledging this was not meant to be, and we should write a list of tunes for the next day's session. After an evening of drug and alcohol infused analysis we stumbled into an 11:30AM session around 12:15. Bruce looked up from the console, "You're late!". The reply is not worth recounting. We demanded food and Bruce produced a stack of menus. We chose pizza and due to the lateness we each had just one slice. We nailed a performance of "Working In A Coal Mine" on the first take, and the day rolled on with first take keeper after first take keeper . From then on the mandate for tracking sessions became, "Gentlemen, 1 Slice Rule!"

Are Drum Solos Necessary?

I'm listening to "Radiolarians 1" by Medeski, Martin & Wood and all of a sudden there's a drum solo from Billy Martin which train wrecks the proceedings. I like this guy for his chameleon-Esq in context rhythming.  He can really get it going to help his band-mates reach new heights collectively. The only drum solo I've actually liked is Ron Bushy's well composed segment from "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". It is elegant in it's simplicity, moves through motifs smoothly and segues quietly into the organ solo. Ginger Baker's Cream contribution "Toad" remains for me one of the most tedious workouts because there is no compositional commitment to the tune for setting up an appropriate context. I much prefer what he does in ensemble, his Afro-Beat inspired recordings produced by Bill Laswell are wonderful and his work with Jonas Hellborg sets new standards. I've seen a few Billy Cobham solos and while technically astounding, leave me cold because they exist for themselves. For me context is key. Surf rock drummers flail wildly, good progressive rock drummers apply symphonic techniques to embellish, funk drummers mine feel like veins of precious ore. In my own approach, I embrace the Jim Keltner Mantra Of Humility, "I try not to call attention to myself". Drummers please chime in!

"I Like All Kinds Of Music"

I love getting that answer to the question, "What music do you like?" My first answer, "Cool. How about some Sardinian Bagpipe music?" "Uh, er, okay?" "All righty then!" "Hm..this is a bit er, harsh?" "Now worries, how about some Swedish Two-Step dances done in the heavy psychedelic style by Kebnekajse?" "Really?" "Here Ya go!" "Are the guitars in tune and do the singers ever harmonize correctly?" "Ah, bit of a stretch, eh? Here's something more straight laced by by  a German band called Guru Guru" "What kind of music is this and do they ever play a normal rhythm?" "Okay, Krautrock not your thing it seems. Hm...Ah!..Hawkwind keep the beats simple and the tunes are not very complex" "What's with all the noises swirling around and what's an argon accumulator?" "Maybe something in a world music groove....Ah!...How about some Thai Shadow Music from a tape my bass player picked up in Bangkok? It's a bit long but the beat is easy" "Are those out of tune harmonicas and when does the beat change?" "Ah..a bit too far east? Let's see....Ah!..Here's some beautiful secular Bali Gamelan music by E. Koestyara and Group Gapura" "It sounds like someone is pounding a cleaver on butcher block and playing with kitchenware. What's that shrill chirping and does the low frequency throb ever stop?" "Okie Dokie...Hm...Jazz!...Here's John Coltrane's famous Quartet live at The village Vanguard" "Do the sax player and drummer ever calm down? And why does the piano player have to pound so hard?" "Post be-bop isn't for everyone...Let's try something else....Here Ya go!...This is a great trio called Scorch!" "Why is the guitar so distorted. Yikes that's the bass?? Oh my, the guitar player seems a bit stressed and the drummer isn't making any sense" "Okay, Finnish free jazz not your thing obviously....Dance!...This band Kraftwerk always gets me up" "I know this! Sprockets!!"

Who's Your Favorite Drummer?

As a drummer I get this question from people I meet for the first time 99.9% of the time. How can I possibly pick ONE drummer?? That's like asking "Who's your favorite author?"! So, I thought I would go on a stream of consciousness musing on the drummers, living or not, who continue to inspire me. The first drummer called to my attention was Gene Krupa for his work on Benny Goodman's "Carnegie Hall Concert of 1938", on 78 lacquer from my dad's wartime collection. Dad couldn't get enough of his breaks in "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon", always saying, "LISTEN to that DRUMMER!" every time he put that one on the Garrard 401 turntable.  Buddy Rich for his work with Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Charles Mingus. My dad and I loved how fast Buddy could roil it up with boundless energy. I love Charlie Watts for his consistency, accuracy on the snare and behind the beat jazzy R&B feel. Jim Gordon not for his work with Derek & The Dominoes rather for the rock-steady beats he laid down on Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band album, "Bongo Rock" especially the break in "Apache" which is one of the most sampled beats ever. Bill Bruford for his awe inspiring acrobatic/ultra flexible/take no prisoners poly-rhythmic assaults as the drum chair for Yes in their early years, and especially the incredible King Crimson band featuring John Whetton on bass. Robert Wyatt of Soft Machine who could play in one time signature and sing in another. Cleve Pozar who was asked to join Weather Report several times, and I had the amazing experience to play in a band with this genius. Greg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone who I actually did see in performance with Weather Report. Terry Cox of Pentangle who could effortlessly shift from traps to hand drums played in the Renaissance dance and Moondog poly-rhythm styles to tabla. Keith Moon of The Who for sheer audacity, playing fills that no one else would dare attempt and pulling them off 99% of the time. Corky Laing of Mountain who revolutionized hard rock drumming and laid the template for generations to come. John Densmore of The Doors for rock solid grooves and contextual adaptability. Lenny White for his work in Return To Forever, I saw him in performance effortlessly chewing gum against whatever he was doing with his limbs. Bill Ward of Black Sabbath for hanging in there coping Tony Iommi's multiple riff shifting compositions. Billy Cobham for just being him. Jack DeJohnette who continues to drive passionately, able to leap from light and bouncy to fire breathing dragon of death in an instant. Brian Keenan of The Chambers Brothers who kept me dad's attention through the long version of "Time Has Come Today", "This drummer is really keeping it interesting!" Jim Keltner for his "I don't try to call attention to myself" humility in the service of music. John Garner of Sir Lord Baltimore for balls to the wall kicking it out while attempting to sing lead vocals. Tony Williams for his work with the great Miles Davis Quintet from the late 60s and The Tony Williams Lifetime band with Larry Young and John McLaughlin. Elvin Jones for what he accomplished in the 3/4 time signature. Robbie McIntosh for his work with Brian Auger's Oblivion Express which blows away anything he did with Average White Band. Klaus Dinger of NEU! for being happy with Teutonic 4/4. Jaki Liebezeit of Can who still defines "Human Beatbox". Ndugu Leon Chancellor for his jaw dropping agility with George Duke's great electric trio of the mid 70s. Jimmy Carl Black for his contributions to The Mothers Of Invention. Chris Frantz of Talking Heads for his conviction and authority, especially live. Billy Hart for his work on the extended Herbie Hancock/Eddie Henderson sessions for Columbia and Capricorn. Billy Higgins for his elegance and sympathetic approach. And finally, the great Mel Taylor of The Ventures who inspired me to become a drummer and play music.

In Awe Of Pat Martino

I first heard Pat Martino during a party at a friend's apartment in 1975. I walked into their room and became transfixed by some of the most articulate post-bop guitar playing. Clearly under the spell of Wes Montgomery but already developing a new voice. The album was called, "Pat Martino - Live!" and the tune was "Sunny". What Pat Martino accomplished on that tune is reputation making. Relying more on instinct than "taught" methods of improvisation he takes chorus after chorus. Just when you think he has nothing more to say, he takes it to another level, again and again. He has become one of a handful of musicians whose albums I buy immediately upon hearing they are released. His latest effort, "undeniable: Live At Blues Alley" is a return to the in your face organ based groups with which he cut his chops, and is well, "undeniable". His talents as a guitarist and composer extraordinaire are enough in and of themselves. What makes his story so compelling for me is in 1980 he underwent major surgery to address a brain aneurysm that almost took his life. As a result of the operation he experience selective amnesia, forgetting much of his playing technique and large parts of his musical experiences. Through intensive rehab, the help of friends, and listening to his records he learned how to play again. How grateful we are to have him back. I consider Pat Martino a National Treasure, a true bearer of the torch who shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Thank you for all the great work to date Pat and wishing you many more creative and fulfilling years to come!

Remembering Jon Lord

Deep Purple co-founder and keyboardist Jon Lord has passed away at 71 years of age after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer. I discovered Deep Purple on their second album,"Book of Taliesyn" on Bill Cosby's label Tetragrammaton Records. At this stage they were still doing a lot of covers and Jon's arrangements of "Kentucky Woman", "River Deep, Mountain High" and the iconic "Exposition/We Can Work It Out" medley really got me hooked. My parents even liked Deep Purple, especially on the later albums "In Rock" and "Fireball" when Jon and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore would exchange modal lead breaks. My mom, who was schooled at Longy in Cambridge MA under Nadia Boulanger and E Power Biggs, loved how Jon would go out of key during his breaks and his aggressive guitar-like fuzzed out sound. It was his open mindedness and "follow the muse" approach to arranging that made Deep Purple stand out from the crowd. Just take the mid-section of "Fools" from "Fireball" for example. Even earlier he composed the first "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" and in later years became a prolific composer of classically oriented works. His contributions to the canon of Rock are undeniable and he is deserved of mega tributes. Thank you for all the excellent work Jon!

Celebrate Your Favorite American Musician Today

Happy 4th of July! In the spirit of celebrating America take a few minutes and listen to your favorite American musician, even if it's Uncle Donny singing in a drunken stupor by the pool, or my favorite living American icon of the guitar, Mr. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.  When Jimi Hendrix appeared on the Dick Cavett show he was asked, "Are there any guitarists currently playing whom you like?" and Hendrix answered, "There's a guy down in Texas by the name of Billy Gibbons who's doing some good things."  Certified Testifyin'! Time to put on "ZZ Top Live at Rockpalast 1980" and bask in Texas Sizzle. Rock On America!

"Oh Yeah, THAT Guy"

I was visiting my friend Chris O'Dea in Northampton after he'd moved there in '75. We had become friends after he introduced himself at one of the shows by my band, The Molls. I brought along some gems including "Puzzle" by Mandrake Memorial which he loved immediately, fired up his tape deck, then realized the album was too long for the only tape on hand, a 60 minute cassette...oops. For his share he pulled out a 7" and said, "This is beyond heavy!", and cued up a song called, "White Line Fever" by Motorhead. Ouch! It was snake bitten love at first decibel. I love these guys. Their recorded output is staggering. Lemmy Kilminster's muse is a fertile beast for sure. Highlight albums for me include "Another Perfect Day" with Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy replacing original guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke. The story I've heard is Robertson agreed to do the album only but the band hadn't found a suitable string slinger by tour launch so the band made him an offer ($$!!) he couldn't refuse to do the tour. They came to the Paradise rock club in Boston on this tour and my Someone & The Somebodies mates Tristram Lozaw and Rob Rand (sound man extraordinaire!) went along. as pre-show entertainment, WBCN sponsored an air guitar contest. At the urging (alcohol fueled) of my mates I joined in, to a Judas Priest song I didn't know, won the contest, and WBCN DJ Tony Berardini bought me a beer (OH Boy! Prizes were er, lacking back then, no offense Tony). Time for the show! Rob produced foam ear plugs just as the first chords erupted. To say Motorhead were amped beyond the abilities of the Paradise sound system would be conservative. They were so loud the front of house system collapsed followed in short order by the stage monitor system, and you could STILL hear Lemmy screaming over the din. THAT'S Rock & Roll my friends! At one point Rob turns to me with a fiendish grin and mouths, "Take the ear plugs out!". I complied. The sound went from "rrrroooaaarrr" to "SSSSIIIINNNNGGGE!!!". Couldn't get them back in fast enough. A highlight of the stage antics came when Lemmy crossed the stage and shook his sweat drenched hair at Robertson covering him. Robertson's expression was priceless. Great show. In the following years, not every album was stellar, but one standout gem, "Orgasmatron" was produced by Bill Laswell. Of all people! It was a fine effort with songs, "Deaf Forever", "Claw" and the title track. Fast forward. My friend Brendan was over recently, we were listening to Motorhead's recent live set, "The World Is Ours Vol. 1". Brendan recalled an interview with Lemmy where he was given a few blind listening tests. The interviewer played a Bill Laswell tune and Lemmy says, "I've got NO clue as to what the F*CK this is", the interviewer says, "This is Bill Laswell. He produced 2 of your albums", Lemmy says, "Oh yeah, THAT guy".

The Night I Saw Passport

One of my favorite rock/jazz-ish bands from the '70s was Passport from Germany, led by Saxist/keyboardist/composer Klaus Doldinger. I became interested in Passport because of the unique cover art on their second album. When I turned over to the back side saw that John Mealing, a founding member of the great band IF, was the keyboardist. Intrigued I picked the album up and was pleasantly surprised. The compositions were melodic, evolved well and the band actually rocked. I automatically picked up their next album, "Looking Through". The rhythm section had changed to include drummer Curt Cress, bassist Wofgang Schmid remained and Mealing was replaced by Kristian Shultze. From the opener, "Eternal Spiral" it is obvious this band has something to say. The compositions are even more spectral, Schultze's multi-keyboard/synthesizer shadings and Fender Rhodes abilities add a perfect balance to Doldinger's sax and keyboard textures, and drummer Curt Cress brings an updated "Cobham-esque" attack that bassist Schmid locks into with hard bite and precision. This lineup would record several of my desert island records including, "Cross-Collateral" and "Infinity Machine". With each new effort the rhythm section of Cress/Schmid becomes more muscular, flexible and telepathically insane. The first section of the 13 minute title track, "Cross-Collateral" is a fine example. I played this to a sax player friend who quipped, "The sax player's just playing pentatonic bullshit, but the rhythm section is incredible". I informed Peter the "bullshit artist" wrote, arranged, produced all the music plus played synthesizer/string machine and clavinet. "Uh, okay he's really good!" I was working at the New England Music City store in Kenmore Square (on the corner where there is a convenience store now, for those who would remember), and the Atlantic sales rep came in to say Passport were conducting a 10 city US tour and The Jazz Workshop Boston was on, and did anyone want comp tickets. YES!!! It was a beautiful summer's evening on the appointed show date, the band had been to Fenway Park, and keyboardist Kristian Schultze was wearing a Red Sox jersey and cap. The rest of the band assumed the stage quietly, tuned up, then were introduced by Klaus Doldinger's German label head. I make no apologies for what I'm about to say. Passport were simply jaw-dropping. They played 2 sets and the albums "Looking Through", Cross-Collateral" and "Infinity Machine". They began by equaling the studio sonics then surpassing that by gradually increasing the house volume until the band became presented a through the biggest, cleanest stereo I'd ever heard. At the intermission I got to chat with bassist Schmid who asked, "Can you hear Curt?" to which I replied, "Yes, very clearly." to which he replied, "That's good because the drum microphones haven't arrived yet so now you know how good he REALLY is!" I sought out Kristian Schultze and found him at the bar, introduced myself, said how much I enjoyed his contributions to the Passport palette, and I played keyboards in a local group, "The Molls". He said, "Thanks Jon! It's great to meet another keyboard player, would you like to see my setup?" (OH YEAH!!). He took me to his stage area and walked me through his arsenal. When we came to his synthesizer I asked him what brand. "It's a Ah Kah Ess (AKS) what do you think?" "The pin-grid interface reminds me of a Putney VCS I played a few years ago." "Ja Jon! It is based on that. Do you like this way of programming?" "It's more intuitive than the ARP 2600 we use in The Molls, but that's an unfair comparisson don't you think?" (Much laughter). The second set had the drum mics in place and The Jazz Workshop rocked! This band, 4 hugely talented musicians, working through excellent compositions and sounding more like 6 people, presented themselves in a league of their own. For me, the music of Passport remains viable, intense and persistent. If you are a fan of jazz rock with the emphasis more on the progressive rock side, I can't recommend Passport enough. Thanks Guys!

Goodbye To An Old Friend

Sadly, Judas Priest have hung up the spurs. They might not be your cup of tea but they wrote some fine rock tunes that are melodic, musical which feature excellent guitar work and soaring vocals. While hits like "Breaking The Law", "Livin' After Midnight", "Desert Plains", "Out In The Cold" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" are truly great, I enjoy their story setups and monster depictions above all. From the album "Defenders Of The Faith": I love "Jawbreaker" about a mythical beast which features a mind-boggling workout from KK Downing. The futuristic 'Man against Machine' battle saga "The Sentinel" with killer rapid fire trade-offs between KK Downing and Glenn Tipton. The doomsday masterpiece, "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" with a killer chorus and H-Bomb lead breaks. From the "Ram It Down" album: The Terminator styled post apocalypse fight to the death of "Blood Red Skies" with KK Downing again delivering a scorching break that prompted my friend Rob on first listen to blurt out, "He's picking every note!". From the masterpiece "Painkiller": The tale of a nocturnal killing creature "Nightcrawler". The Nuclear reactor disaster scenario "Metal Meltdown" featuring well, lead breaks that sound like reactor cores melting down! The "Ripper" Owens years were not kind sadly because even though he could sing the catalog with incredible authority his lyrical abilities lacked, and the tunes written by Tipton/Downing showed clearly that Rob Halford's pen was the catalyst that pulled everything together. That being said the albums "Angel Of Retribution" and "Nostradamus" with Halford returning showed clear signs that he might have been "cherry picking" from his portfolio, perhaps saving what he thought as better efforts for his band "Halford". When KK Downing departed before the final tour citing an un-workable situation I really wasn't that surprised. I have heard interviews with him and seen his webcam video postings to fans as band spokesperson and he is a class act. I wish him all the best and look forward to his next outing. Judas Priest was his band that he formed with bassist Ian Hill. To all the members of Judas Priest I thank you for so much inspiring work.

Give Me Bass Or Give Me Death Part 2

A few more pet peeves: Bill Wyman's non-presence that is noticed when Keith Richards substitutes. Any bad upright bass Arco technique. Stanley Clarke's hyper-overplay-slap crap. Wolfgang Schmid's totally unfunky playing in Passport. Anyone want to chime in here? Now, for me, Stanley Clarke's upright bass playing is phenomenal, and Wolfgang Schmid's playing in Passport is stunning. The late great Bob Bogle of The Ventures especially his work on "Super Live '80". Jonas Hellborg's acoustic bass guitar workouts on Ginger Baker's "Unseen Rain". Jaco Pastorious for just being here for a few minutes and influencing a whole generation of bass players (Joe Zawinul said of Jaco, "It's too bad you can't copyright style, man."). John Wetton for his work in King Crimson (NOT Uriah Heep!). Paul Chambers for everything. Ian Hill of Judas Priest for solid bottom end and consistency beyond reason. Jerry Scheff for his work with both Elvises, Sam Phillips and appearing on the Get Smart episode "The Groovy Guru" in the band "The Sacred Cows". Lee Dorman for his great work in Captain Beyond. Whoever the bass player is on the Shadow Music tape my Dirt Red band mate Tristram Lozaw found in Bangkok. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten of Scorch Trio for pushing the limits and kicking Raoul Bjorkenheim's ass. Any and all thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome. Give Me Bass Or Give Me Death Part 2 concluded!

"Nobody Wants A Digital Record!"

Those words were uttered by Pat McGrath, owner of Looney Tunes Records in Boston as he was inspecting a batch of LPs I needed to cash up to pay debt. Now, I understand Pat needed to dis these digital LPs so he wouldn't have to pay me the current reasonable rate in the interest of profit. How about the fact that this might be a credible, even masterful performance Pat?? What I like about digitally recorded LPs is processing the digital tape through the RIAA curve and mastering to the pre-emphasis and re-emphasis EQ tolerances of the LP format make the recordings sound WAY better than the CD issues. Take the first Philips digital recording, "Pops In Space" by the Boston Pops under John Williams. This first came out on LP and for me is a blockbuster sounding recording. When the CD issue was released, everyone in The COOP music department stood around scratching their heads and comments ranged from, "Well, it sure is LOUD", "Something's missing", "Why does the CD sound so harsh?". Fast forward to 2012 and the new Galactic album, "Carnivale Electricos". The LP includes the CD version. The LP version SMOKES the CD version in terms of trueness of instrumental timbre, rhythmic pace and extension at the frequency extremes. The CD "Sure is LOUD". This with the playback capabilities of NAD's near top of the range T567 BD machine. I ripped the CD into iTunes at 320Kbps/VBR/48Khz and played back through Winamp comes close-ish which for me is, "okay for digital". I thank any record label offering digital formats (CD/Mp3 download) with their LP releases. At least digital files played back on my iPod aren't susceptible to the stretching and breaking ala cassettes played back on the old Walkmans! And Pat, I love my digital records.

Rediscovering The Mandrake Memorial

My friend Brendan was over recently for a "follow the muse" listening session. In the heat of a tangent I fired up "Puzzle" by The Mandrake Memorial. One of my "Desert Island" LPs and a certifiable masterpiece. These four guys from Philadelphia were 180 degrees away from soul, funk or R&B. They were a psychedelic folk/pop/avant garde/musique concrete oriented band who recorded 3 albums for Poppy Records from 1968-1969. For example, here are some song titles; "Bird Journey", To A Lonely", "Barnaby Plum", "Ocean's Daughter", Whisper Play", "Bucket of Air". The first side of "Puzzle" navigates through warped tunes linked by little miniature variations called "Just a Blur" which always end with the last note tape echoing into infinity which at one point segue into a full blown "Kyrie" of massed overdubbed choruses and orchestra, written and arranged by the band. The common thread throughout is the interesting and haunting voice of bassist Randy Monaco who sings in an introverted ghostly alto. He makes me a believer when he muses from the heavens, "When I look down, S'just a blurrr". For me, these guys carried the psychedelic mantle way beyond blues tinged contemporaries like Pink Floyd because they drew on so many influences and in terms of ideas and execution far more conceptually advanced. At one point Brendan reflected, "What strange music", not meaning this in an unkindly manner. Any fan of psychedelic experimental music who hasn't heard these guys will be rewarded if they take the leap. I can't recommend "Puzzle" enough.

Remebering Pentangle

For a household that loved music, the mid to late 60s was a special time. It seemed every week a new revelation became revealed. The first Traffic album, Electric Ladyland, the first Doors album, Pearls Before Swine, the first Black Sabbath album, ELP's debut, the first Mothers Of Invention album, Blind Faith, "Stand Up" by Jethro Tull, Spirit, Mountain, the White Album, "Led Zeppelin II", Switched On Bach, Jeff Beck's first album, Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy" album (the session where John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page met), Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew", Pink Floyd's debut, WHEW! One standout ensemble for us were Pentangle. Featuring John Renbourn on vocals, acoustic & electirc guitar and sitar, Bert Jansch on vocals and guitar, Jacqui McShee on vocals, Danny Thompson on stand-up bass and Terry Cox on percussion these guys were a sleeper super group. The influences of Renbourn, Thompson and Cox brought jazz and ethnic sensibilities into the healthy mix of blues, popular folk, traditional folk and medieval court songs which they were comfortable navigating through within a single song. Their rendition of "House Carpenter", with John Renbourn's scorching sitar was in constant rotation. What starts as a traditional folk tale gradually morphs into a percussion driven dervish with Jacqui McShee being the constant, her pure soulful voice the emotional connection to the past. What a voice. My dad was a huge Danny Thompson fan and always requested Danny's reading of Charles Mingus' "Haitian Fight Song" from their "Sweet Child" album. Dad heard Pentangle were coming to the amphitheater at Castle Hill in Ipswich MA and bought tickets. They were scheduled to be the opening act and due to some snags the schedule was reversed and the headliner, Arlo Guthrie opened. He was awesome. Telling stories between songs and making everyone feel at home. After a short break Pentangle came on. The set-up was, from the audience view; John Renbourn stage left, Jacqui McShee center, Bert Jansch stage right, Danny Thompson back line center stage left and Terry Cox back line center stage right. Jacqui sat on a stool as if in a trance, her beautiful long blond hair covering her face while the band worked out intensely around her. They were intoxicating. Trading lead vocals, executing vocal harmonies that at times brought me back in time to the days of Stonehenge. The mix of music ranged from Italian Renaissance dances to "Pork Pie Hat". The sheer magnitude of their collected vocabularies still awes me today. I can feel the tinge of evening breezes blowing through the theater, the smell of flowers from the garden, how brilliant Jacqui's white dress shimmered in the lights, how the lights would dance off the varnished guitars as Renbourn and Jansch would shift positions, Danny Thompson's tall presence in the background. After the show we were walking to our car when all of a sudden dad starts walking quickly towards Danny Thompson! "You, Sir, are an incredible bassist!" Well, that started a conversation! While we were talking Jacqui McShee ambled up in a tight t-shirt, jeans, her hair up in braids, and I could see her wonderful, wide lunar face that lit up the evening when she smiled. Danny was saying how this was the last stop before heading back to the UK and, "All that lovey-dovey stuff!" Thanks for setting up a great memory Dad.

The Miraculousness Of Vinyl Playback

I was listening to a few records with my friend Stephen the other night. I lowered the stylus of my Sumiko Blackbird cartridge mounted to a Rega P23 turntable feeding a Simaudio Moon LP 5.3 phonostage and thought, "This is the culmination of over 100 years of R&D, how many other current audio playback platforms can claim THAT??" A tiny needle point drops into a groove of polyvinyl binder substances stamped with micro grooves embedded with vibration cues which are picked up by the needle, transferred to the stylus pole which relays the information to tiny magnets mounted in the cartridge body. The magnets amplify these impulses into a signal which is sent along wires to outputs that feed a device which amplifies then corrects the wave forms according to a pre-emphasis curve. This device sends the amplified and corrected signal to the input of a switching device like a pre-amplifier which then De-emphasizes the radical equalization curve. The end of the line is tangible, palpable music from your speakers. I think this is WAY cool and for me is what separates the analog men from the digital proprietary boys. It's physics in service of music that has inspired people to seek ever more creative avenues of progressing this methodology. There are cartridges with magnets hand wound from miniscule strands of exotic metal alloys and housed in wood, ceramic, metal and even Bakelite. Works of art, museum pieces! Yikes! If anyone would like to chime in with more granular detail on this brutal signal transfer process please do! We should be grateful for all of the amazingly talented people whose labors bring us closer to the music we love.

"And YOU, How Do You DO It??"

One day in 1971 my friend Greg called, "Jon, Taj Mahal, The Buddy Guy/Junior wells Blues Band and Mahavishnu Orchestra are playing at Colby College. Do you want to go?" We went, for $2.50 a pop. What do we pay to see a 3 headliner artist bill today? First up was Taj Mahal solo, accompanying himself on banjo. He was quite engaging and kept the audience with him throughout a musicological treatise on American roots music. Next up The Buddy Guy/Junior Wells Blues band, well actually you could have called this The Buddy Guy Blues Band. Junior was "sick" so Buddy "warmed up" the audience until Junior could get presentable. When Junior finally did appear he lasted for one song, barely able to play the harmonica then staggered off stage. Buddy ever the showman, "Give it up for Junior Wells Ladies and Gentlemen!", and then it was back to business. Buddy guy was INCREDIBLE. His vocabulary, authority, blazing technique and ability to sell it more than made up for Junior Wells' absence. While Greg and I were catching our breath Mahavishnu Orchestra set up. The band readied themselves and John McLaughlin began speaking softly, very softly, until members of the audience caught on "sshhh, sshhh". As the audience quieted, McLaughlin's voice became audible, "...and we'd like to begin with a piece titled "Meetings of The Spirit""BLAM!! they were off with a huge chordal crash and for the next hour never looked back. To put this in perspective, the concepts this band were executing in 1971 had never been attempted. We were in the presence of a whole new musical genre being launched. For Greg and I, never before had such incredible musical technique been melded with passion and intellect. One inspiring melody after another, used as launching pads for intense solo sections. The highlight of the night was a jaw-dropping hellacious duet between McLaughlin and Cobham during "Dance Of The Maya" that stratospherically surpassed what was documented on "Inner Mounting Flame" and featured one of THREE Billy Cobham drum solos that night. During the set, Billy Cobham would execute press rolls with such brutal force that drumsticks would shear in half, the broken ends soaring sometimes 15 feet in the air. When this happened he would grab a stick from one of the metal stick caddies IN MID ROLL WITHOUT DROPPING A STROKE, and depending on where in the roll this occurred, WITH EITHER HAND. Yikes!! After the show we were on the way out and Greg needed to use the facilities. I looked up in the direction we were walking and there was John McLaughlin, just standing by the railing with his double-neck guitar still strapped on, having a soda. "Okay Greg, I'll be over there with Mr. McLaughlin". As I approached John saw me, broke into a huge smile, held out his hand and we executed the current "hip" handshake followed by a quick slap-hug. I started by thanking him for coming to Maine then shared knowledge of his work with Tony Williams' Lifetime, that I loved the "Devotion" album with Buddy Miles and Larry Young especially "Dragon Song", and of course his recent work with Miles Davis. I instantly got the feeling we were speaking as colleagues, talking about the writing process, how natural the evolution to Mahavishnu and thoughts on where all this would lead. I commented on the excursions between him and Billy Cobham, the Herculean role Cobham was called upon in support of the music AND the fact he accomplished 3 drum solos. McLaughlin was right there, eyes sparkling. I felt we were having a spiritual encounter. All of a sudden Billy Cobham ambles up, I look at him and say, "And YOU, how do you DO it??" McLaughlin doubles over, looks at me and says, "I JUST asked him the SAME THING!!", and we all collapse into hysterics. Billy told me he is left-handed, and playing in a right-handed setup enables him to leverage his ambidexterity "omni-laterally" and helps achieve the posture necessary for more power. "Ginger Baker Please Sit Down!" I am grateful to have been in the presence of these wonderfully talented people at the gestation of a genre that would inspire a generation. On the drive home Greg summed it all up, "John McLaughlin, I love you!" Thanks Guys!

Give Me Bass Or Give Me Death Part 1

There are exceptions for me, like Tim Bogert's (Vanilla Fudge/Cactus) fuzz bass, Chris Squire's overblown live solos, Jack Bruce's horrendous SG Bass "blatzzz" (Ala West, Bruce & Laing period), Lemmy's of Motorhead, anyone want to chime in here? Now, for me Felix Pappalardi's fuzz bass rocks! Chris Squire's sound and playing on "Relayer" boggles. ANY Dub bass playing. My Someone and The Somebodies band mate Tristram Lozaw's beautifully dense Hagstrom 8-string workouts (Terror Thru Hope!) that literally shook the house. Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash and his Gibson Thunderbird punch. Michael Manring for his work in the Yo Miles project. Sveinung Hovensjo's mercurial presence on the '70s Terje Rypdal recordings "Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away" and "Odyssey". Buster Williams' acrobatic space-funk on the Herbie Hancock and Eddie Henderson sessions. The elegant bounce of Ron Carter in the great Miles Davis Quintet of '65-'68. Paul Jackson Jr. in Herbie Hancock's Headhunters band (whew!). Bootsy Collins' stand tall and steady in James Brown's band (Live for Peace in Paris 1972). Oh, OK! ANY Bootsy Collins. My fellow Auto66 band mate Tristram Lozaw's deep, steadfast and haunting Martin "Thunder Bass" excellence. Gary Justin of Sir Lord Baltimore for his relentless full-blooded fuzz throb. Steve Swallow who has to be one of the most criminally underrated compositional and playing talents ever. Christian McBride for his ability to easily compress into his own voice 100 years of jazz bass stylistics on any given night. Janick Top of Magma for his psychotic maniacal approach to playing. Any and all thoughts, comments and suggestions welcome. Give Me Bass Or Give Me Death Part 1 concluded!

Drummers, Your Input Needed!

Drum-Shtickers! After more than a decade I've set the kit up and starting a daily routine to shake off the rust. The configuration is based firstly on how my feet orient themselves from the sitting position. I place the snare drum in the center, the bass drum and hi-hat pedals at natural foot orientation, the crash directly in front of my sitting position, the rack mount and floor tom positioned close for easy reach, and the ride cymbal at an almost vertical angle directly over the floor tom. Over the last 2 weeks I've been happy with the overall positioning especially the cymbals because my response times have shortened dramatically. The feedback from my body tells me I'm sitting too high, I keep slouching to the pull of gravity instead of being centered properly to be supported by gravity's forces. I'm thinking I need a new throne. My present throne is set as low as it can go. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

I Love Hildur Gudnadottir

I recently read a review of Hildur Gudnadottir's recent album, "Without Sinking" and nothing stood out until it was mentioned she has worked with composer Nico Muhly who's album, "Mothertongue" I enjoy. So, I re-read the article and became intrigued because of the instruments she plays; cello, zither, processors, halidrophone and voice. With extra contributions from Skuli Sverisson on bass & processors on 2 tracks, Johann Johansson on organs & processors on 4 tracks, Guoni Franzson on clarinet & bass clarinet on 2 tracks, this is totally entrancing music recorded with a delicate intimacy. Her cello playing has a peaceful, glassy quality and her compositions incorporate the use of space in a reverent manner. On her rendering of the Icelandic hymn, "Heyr himna smiour" she displays a warm voice and the overdubbed harmonies are hauntingly beautiful. As I listen to this music I become relaxed, at peace and transported to some lightly chilled Icelandic sanctuary, a slice of heaven. Hildur Gudnadottir has the grace and guidance of a truly poetic muse, and I hope the connection remains strong. Thank you Hildur, I am grateful to have you in my universe.

R.I.P. Pete Cosey

I received a link from a friend that Pete Cosey, the incredible guitarist in Miles Davis' experimental band that existed for 18 months between 1973-1975, passed away yesterday. I truly love this guy. For me, his contributions to experimental rock music are hall of fame certifiable. Not only did he play guitar he also played percussion and synthesizer (a HEATHKIT no less!). When I saw this band at Paul's Mall in 1975, Pete occupied audience view stage left. Sitting behind his card table covered with wood blocks, bells, shakers and toys he presided over a controlled chaos with sheer abandon and joy, shifting easily from flailing on wood and metal to flailing on frets to twiddling oscillator dials. Miles had a battery of other high quality soloists including guitarist Reggie Lucas and reed man Sonny Fortune, and it was always a special moment when Miles called on Pete to jump in and solo. Pete was FEARLESS. No matter the context he played with an unmatched blend of technique and passion, at times making his guitar sound like it was literally breaking apart. Miles would instantly react to Pete's efforts, more than anyone else on the front line, signing encouragement, smiling, and gaping in awe. I am profoundly grateful to have been in the presence of this wonderful musician. The memories of watching him work remain as vivid as though it was just yesterday. Good for you Pete Cosey! May your spirit soar to heady heights. Give Miles a kick in the rear for me next time you play together at the Upstairs Lounge!

Who IS This Raoul Bjorkenheim Anyway?

A few years ago I came across an article, I can't remember where, titled, "The Finns Are Coming!". The by-line photo showed a bearded, long rasta-ish haired man with a manic expression that looked to be taken from a live performance. My first thought was, "Yikes! What a lunatic." immediately followed with, "Who IS this guy?". This guy is Finnish guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim at the time fronting a band called Krakatau. The article talked about other artists and the lion's share went to this guy. Based on the description of the music I took a chance and bought the Krakatau album, "Ritual". All of the music is composed by Bjorkenheim for an ensemble consisting of himself on guitars/talking drums/percussion, 2 sax players, bass and drums. I was enthralled from the get-go. The opener, "Foot Talk" is a tongue and cheek send-up on certain world music cumbia ethno-rhythm pixie dust tunes. The non-joke is the composition and playing are top notch. Truly unique. I've been a fan ever since. Bjorkenheim is one of the most innovative and expressive guitarists I've heard. I put him at the head of a class that includes Terje Rypdal, Jimi Sumen who also cut his teeth in Edward Vesala's group, Derek Bailey, James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Sharrock, Even Hette Hermansen of bushman's revenge, and David Torn. I knew I had struck gold when one day traveling in the car put on the album, "Apocalypso", and halfway through the first tune "Oracle" my wife burst out laughing and pushed the eject button. I make no apologies! I love his work in the trio format and we are fortunate that 2 trios are documented. The first is Scorch Trio with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass/electronics and Paal Nilssen-love on drums/percussion. I played the opener from their 2nd album, "Brolt!" for my bassist friend/collaborator Tristram who said, "Wow, this is pretty aggressive". And that before Bjorkenheim enters the fray! Once he jumps in everyone has to hang in there because his vocabulary is so large, his improvisations become streams of consciousness journeys which build into spontaneous compositions, and just when you think this is a bunch of nonsense he leads the band into an actual composition. The 2nd trio features Bill Laswell on bass and the incredible Morgan Agren on drums who's worked with the band Zappa's Universe. The focus here is on intricate compositions. Drummer Agren's "Phasers On Stun" attack gets right out there with Bjorkenheim, the healthy competition in the service of the music just fires me up, and Bill Laswell lays down the law holding everything together with a huge bottom end. Blam! Bjorkenheim also exploits the ring modulator better than anyone who's used this tricky effect, especially when combining with his excellent fret harmonics technique. Jaco Pastorious may have coined "Trio Of Doom" for the trio with John McLaughlin and Tony Williams, yes their 20+ minute set from Havana in '79 is classic stuff from the progenitors of jazz fusion and we thank them for their service, but these 3 guys truly are the Trio Of Doom. I will pay to see this if they come around. I hope Raoul Bjorkenheim one day receives the attention he so richly deserves. For me, he is the best guitarist/composer most folks haven't heard. Keep on doing what you're doing Raoul!

Audiophile Re-Issue Suggestion: Refugee

In the late '60s there was this cool band called "The Nice". The rhythm section was way ahead of the times in terms of execution and they had a showy and eccentric organ player who would stab his instrument with knives and coax gut wrenching sonics from his Hammond B-3. That keyboardist is Keith Emerson who jumped ship to form a band with King Crimson bassist/crooner Greg Lake and Atomic Rooster drummer Carl Palmer, called "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or more commonly ELP. Well, we all know how THAT aggregation fared. But what of the ex-Nice band mates drummer Brian Davidson and bassist/vocalist Lee Jackson? They weren't giving up and had secured a one album deal with The Famous Charisma Label by 1972. the story has it Brian and Lee called Keith with the exciting news, Keith was very excited for the boys and said, "Don't know if you guys are aware I'm in this little band called Emerson, Lake & Palmer and we're quite busy at the moment. There is a guy I can recommend in Switzerland named Patrick Moraz who has his own studio and I think you'll get along nicely". On Keith's reference Brian and Lee secured Patrick's services for the album deal and a self-titled album was released in 1974 with little promotion. It appeared on the shelves with no hype and vanished quickly giving those "in the know" scant seconds to acquire. Produced by Jack Burns and the group, the music was written by Moraz, lyrics by Jackson and arrangements by the band. The opening cut, an instrumental called "Papillon" burst out of my speakers and shouted, "We're here!". This is an amazing workout requiring tight unison ensemble playing, and Moraz erupts with uber piano technique in the melody section all at a blistering tempo ELP could never match (the closest they came for me is the instrumental acoustic trio workout in "Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression" from Brain Salad Surgery, and I'm saying a distant close!). This album is a progressive rock classic. The music is intelligent, melodic, requiring virtuosic abilities and confidently executed. For me, the only other body of work from this era that equaled Refugee is "Relayer" by Yes. Replacing Rick Wakeman...Patrick Moraz! Moraz injected an energy to the precedings that put everyone on notice and the efforts of drummer Alan White and bassist Chris Squire on Moraz's "Sound Chaser" are undeniable. I still have my original Refugee LP. I've cleaned it up with my VPI 16.5 record cleaner. The sound is respectable for the surface age, I've dubbed a CD that's been imported to iTunes at 320kbsVBR/48Kz which barely suffices sonically. Someone (4 Men With Beards, Sundazed, MoFi, you know who you are!) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give this wonderful music the attention it deserves with a 180gram vinyl re-issue so more folks can enjoy what these 3 guys accomplished. If you're a fan of progressive rock and haven't heard this, you should check it out. You won't regret it!

How I Learned To Play The Piano

My Mom studied at Longy School Of Music and her teachers included Nadia Boulanger and E. Power Biggs. There was always music in the house. Dad loved Sinatra, Josh White, Don Shirley, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, ETAL and their LPs were constantly spinning on our old Garrard 'table. Mom played piano pretty well and sometimes I'd come home from elementary school to a Chopin Etude, a Liszt Prelude, or a Bach Variation she had transcribed. One of my favorite records at the time was an Antal Dorati recording of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" which featured real cannons and carillon. Can you say, "KLANG!"??? One day while Mom was puttering in the kitchen I walked to the piano and plucked out the 1812 ditty. You know, the one that goes, "DoDeeDaDaDoDeeDaaDoDo", in the correct key with the 1/2 step modulation. Mom freaked out, ran into the room and said, "You're going to have piano lessons!". Ugh. Piano lessons were quite instructive on many levels. I learned I did not care to take direction, that most of the literature for my performance level i.e. the John Thompson Reader(s) were inane like Dick & Jane, I have a temper, and authority figures outside the family were evil and to be feared. So, lessons were curtailed and I was allowed to happily listen to my muse. In the spring of '69 I was listening to the radio at my Mom's brother Ed's house, this tune came on that kicked my 16 year old ass and the singing was raw, passionate and ballsy. That tune was "Born On The Bayou" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I bought the album, "Bayou Country", played it so often my parents gave in, caught the fever and gave CCR the stamp of approval. The last song on Side 1, "Graveyard Train" is a slow blues over a repeating riff and a vehicle for John Fogerty to stretch out on guitar and harmonica. I would spin this track and play along on piano. I picked out standard blues riffs, learned how to play them in different keys, and after a few weeks was able to answer Fogerty's solos with my own. What I learned through this process gave me the template on which to build my vocabulary and the flexibility to apply myself to newer musical formats including jazz fusion, electronic avant garde/minimalist, and straight up pop. That's how I learned to play piano. If anyone else has a similar story please share!

Paradigm Studio 20: The Holy Grail Of Reference Monitors?

True Stories.

 A few years ago I was in a project that had culled sufficient material to enter the studio. The engineer is top notch and works with Richard Thompson, Marc Cohn, Rosanne Cash to name a few. The first day was mostly for setting up the drums, the mics for them, tweaking, etc.  The current monitor configuration was a pair of current run KRKs. During mic placement playback checks I asked Tom how he like the KRKs, "They're okay, I'm renting them, the lease is up next week and I'm thinking there's a better alternative out there. You got any suggestions?" I told him about the Paradigm Studio 20 v1, I knew the rep and could score a pair on comp pricing, if he didn't like them I would keep them. We did the deal and had the Paradigms in house for start of following week's sessions. When we entered the mix phase the process was; run the mix down and commit to cassette. We'd go outside and pop the tape into the crappy deck in the bass player's Chevy Astro. On the second day of mixing Matt, the bass player commented, "The Paradigms are very accurate. What we're hearing up there, we're hearing down here." On the last day Tom the engineer/producer said, "I'm keeping the Paradigms Jonny. I just can't go back."

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mark Ailing at Paradigm Electronics. One of his customers is the mobile recording engineer for The Rolling Stones. This guy trusts his Studio 20s so much he ships them to wherever he is. On a remote mixing session with Keith Richards the shipper routed the Paradigms incorrectly so there was a 2 day delay. During the 2 days they were using the studio's Yamaha NS-10s and Keith seemed okay with that. When the Studio 20s finally arrived they were in the middle of a mix. Tape was stopped, and the Studio 20s hooked up in parallel to the NS-10s, and they resumed mixing. When the NS-10s were switched on, Keith took a drag of his cigarette, got up from his chair, ripped each NS-10 from it's perch and threw them against the wall!

Anyone else have stories about these remarkable speakers?

Is $1,300.00 Too Much For A Pair Of Headphones?

Well, that's what I spent on a pair of Sennheiser HD-800 'phones. To briefly qualify, I am a headphone freak. I owned one of the first pairs of Koss Electrostatics from '69 which wired directly to the speaker terminals of my Scott 342B Receiver, weighed over 9 ounces, had red indicator lights on each earpiece that glowed brightly when the volume was cranked (nice!), and sounded awesome. Currently I own a set of Beyer DTC-770 closed back, one set each AKG 501 and 301 open backs, a set of Sennheiser HD-265 closed back, a set of Sennheiser HD-590 open back, and a pair of Etymotic Research In-Ear noise isolation plugs for commuting. I've been in dozens of recording studios and subjected to various species of "studio monitor" 'phones which by necessity needed to be flat, Er, dull to accommodate long sessions. At home many memorable evenings have been spent listening to music on headphones driven by a Grace Design m902 Monitor Controller/Hi-Rez DAC. Of all the models listed above I consistently reach for the HD-590s. They are extremely light, circumaural (fit over the ear) and have a detailed/transparent sound that present no fatigue over long periods. I am still quite happy with the '590s. When I heard Sennheiser had released a total re-think of their transducer technology in the HD-800s I was skeptical, but even more curious so_GULP!_actually ordered a pair from musicdirect. My order was slated for the second US-bound production run, and I received the goods in about 6 weeks. The packaging speaks "High Fidelity Component". The box is huge by 'phone packaging standards, has life-sized photos of the cans prominently placed, the carton is first rate, the foam is much sturdier than most "Audiophile" packaging. These are BIG transducers. The ear-cups are ingeniously designed with flat backs that mitigate the "phones forward" push I get from the AKGs, Beyers and HD-590s when listening from my Scandinavian lounger. The steel and plastic construction is more sophisticated than most "black box" receivers from the late '80s/early '90s, the cord itself is a work of art terminating at the cans with heavy-duty proprietary clip-plugs and at the amp end with a high quality 1/4" jack. So, "What's all the fuss about then?" I make no apologies for what I'm about to say; these cans sound absolutely incredible. Everything I enjoy about the HD-590s on steroids, in spades, "To the Moon, Alice!". I have not heard a more even presentation of extension at the frequency extremes, the most transparent mid-range in the universe of my understanding combined with the ability to create space that rivals my Dahlquist DQ-16s. One night deep into a session I reached to address an ear itch and was surprised when my finger hit the outer wall of the HD-800s! All of the design innovations incorporated into these 'phones relaxed me physically, and convinced my auditory receptors I was listening to speakers at real world volume levels. Yikes! I have since upgraded the cord to a Cardas model that has taken the performance even further. Double-Yikes!! As the saying goes, "I'd pay for that!". To my spend-long-green-phobic friend Doug, "Yes Doug, it IS too late to send them back!!"

Shaking Off The Rust

I was recently laid off from a company I got to not like very much. To get the most from this gift of time a friend suggested putting a daily schedule together designed to awaken my right brain. I'm putting the DAW production studio back together, writing these posts, and scheduling 30 minutes of drumming a day. For the first time in over a decade the kit is set up. With the exception of the bass drum they sound horrible and before I tune them I'm committing to getting back in shape (first things first!). Last Thursday I went back to the configuration that worked well for me in Someone and the Somebodies: ride cymbal in a vertical position above the floor tom, seating at an angle with snare in the middle, feet in natural alignments to ankle quirks, everything set to within easy arm's reach to ensure upright posture. I am more effective when sitting low. The bugaboo is I bought a new throne that sits me higher, and the adjustments have been difficult. To address this the snare and floor tom drums are elevated to the top reaches of their supports, the rack-mount tom as close to precarious as I will allow, crash cymbal squarely between the hi-hat and rack-mount tom. When I sat behind this configuration I immediately felt at home, could easily find all the components with my eyes closed and maintain posture. Now the challenge is to be able to switch from hi-hat to ride cymbal without breaking the beat or losing tempo! When I mentioned getting back to it to my friend Steve who drums for Tom Petty and I was thinking about working with a metronome to get my sea legs back he said, "Nah. Just get with some guys and play. They'll tell you when you f*ck up!"(Ha!Ha!Ha!). Guess it's time to round up the usual suspects...

Hey! Where'd You Get That NEU! T-Shirt?

I got it by ordering the limited edition LP Boxed Set of remasters by NEU! co-founder Michael Rother after the passing of Klaus Dinger. The box also comes with a stencil of the logo so I can create my own NEU! t-shirts. Thanks Michael! One fine evening in 1975 I was at a party where my friends Rob (lead guitarist in many of my bands) and Tristram (bassist in several bands we co-founded) lived. It was a typical party for this set, about 200 people including pre-med students, NE Conservatory students, various drag queens, lounge lizards, and neer-do-wells like yours truly. I walk into a room and there on the bed next to the wall is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen wearing a sheer nightdress that was pulled up over her knees, with no underwear. I like this room! Then the music caught my ear and the woman was forgotten. "What's this?".."NEU! from Germany" said the person overseeing the turntable. The piece is "Hallogallo", a straight 4/4 beat over which sparse overdubbed guitar lines wah-wahed, strummed, fuzzed and after a while I found, were playing something that sounded actually written. Yikes! I really like this room! I was hooked, I was hooked, my brain was cooked!! And I hadn't sampled the "Psychedelic Grape Juice" yet. We listened to the entire first album, "NEU!" and the entire second album, "NEU!2". The next day I went out and bought these albums. And "NEU!'75" when it was released a few months later. These LPs still remain sources of comfort. NEU!'s recordings have been sampled again and again, most infamously "Fur Immer" by System 7 as the basis for the tune "Interstate" from their album "power of seven". What these two drop-outs from Kraftwerk accomplished influenced a generation including David Bowie (who carbon-copied a section from the first album's "Negativland" as an outro), Brian Eno, Rhys Chatham among the heavy hitters, and several of my bands: The Molls, Someone & the Somebodies, Dervish and Auto66. Once, when I was describing how Tristram and I worked together as a rhythm section he quipped, "It's a good thing for you I like NEU!". It's a good thing there was NEU! Thanks Klaus and Michael! Your work continues to inspire me.

The Compact Disc: NOT Perfect Sound Forever

I'm old enough to have witnessed the comings and goings of touted media formats. Quad-encoded LPs (never opted in), Reel to Reel Tape (owned a rock solid Sony TC-355), 8-Track Tape (only in a few of my dad's late '60s era Chevys), Cassette Tape (owned several decks including one of the first Norelco portables), Beta (never opted in), VHS (only when stereo S-VHS became available), Dolby Encoding (Ugh), Digital Audio Tape (have 2 machines), Compact Disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, Blu-Ray Disc (several players), Mini Disc (yup, got a recorder) and I'm sure I've forgotten one or two. When the CD format was launched in the early '80s the format was marketed, "Perfect Sound Forever!". If that meant no surface issues like crackling from dusty grooves, occasional skipping, cross-talk from poorly mounted cartridges/worn out styli, then sure. Where the theory fell apart was in the sound. If anyone here suffered from the first round of Beatles CD issues you know what I'm taking about. Many early CD re-issues of back catalog were created from RIAA EQ'd master tapes (overly simply put this EQ curve is radically inverted for the purpose of being processed properly by the cartridge transducer) and the sound was perfectly re-produced un-inverted RIAA equalization, bright and harsh with bloated bass. Yes!, Er, Yikes!! When the CDs caught on I was working in the music department at The Harvard COOP in Harvard Square Cambridge MA (AKA, The COOP), world-renowned and we sold a lot of LPs. We set up a small bin with a short sampling of CD titles. When revenues for one month hit $20K out of that bin, the writing was on the wall. Eventually The COOP became a CD only shop, and not many years later the department was closed. Quick aside; even though improvements to sampling bit-rates and over-sampling techniques took digital sound into reasonable parameters, whenever I took a project into the recording studio and the heavy lifting was done by digital multi-track recorders the producers would always have an analog multi-track machine on hand to "warm up" the drum/vocal/guitar tracks. In blind A/B comparisons the feeds through the analog deck clearly smoked the straight digital feeds, by A LOT. Back to originally scheduled programming...Indications to me the CD format wasn't going to last came early. The record companies used the CD to "commoditise" music solely for greed, and in the long run the public caught on and a mighty backlash ensued. Napster came along and the major label "distribution clout" disappeared. During the hey-day of CDs Neil Young used his star power to ensure all his releases were supported on vinyl and thanks to a few other big name artists who followed suit one record pressing plant was kept in business. Two decades later recording artists are monetizing their content directly through their own Websites and outlets like Amazon/iTunes. There are boutique vinyl re-issue labels galore that have pressing plants in house, and the majors are also jumping in. Many new releases come with digital download codes, and many others will include the CD version of the album for free! Now THAT puts the legacy of the CD in perspective!

Lenny Breau, You Left Town Way Too Soon

Last night my friend Vince was over and we were having fun spinning various species of discs. One tangent led us to jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. I pulled out his album "Swingin' on a Seven-String" with the great Buddy Emmons on pedal steel guitar supported by Jim Ferguson on acoustic bass and Kenny Malone on drums. The opener, "Back In Indiana" is a brisk free-wheeling swing with blistering trade-offs and melody splits between Emmons and Breau. This is the real deal, it just doesn't get much better. Lenny and Buddy made 2 albums together, the first, "Minors Aloud" is worth it for their send-up of Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple" alone. The story I've heard is Buddy worshiped Chet Atkins and had gone to Toronto to woodshed, network and get gigs. One day Chet was in Toronto visiting the RCA studios for a place to do some ad hoc recording sessions while on the road. He and the manager were walking down a hall of practice rooms, and the playing in one room caught Chet's ear. Chet is rumored to have said, "This cat's doing some of my tricks, only better!". Chet knocks on the door, walks in, Lenny just stops dead, transfixed and unable to speak. Chet breaks the ice and offers Lenny an opportunity to come to Nashville and see what can come together. Lenny did very well and became a local legend, even recording an album of acoustic duets with Chet. The playing on this record is stunning, and you can hear them amusing themselves several times throughout. I had the pleasure of meeting Lenny in 1980 at party at my parent's house where Lenny was invited to play some tunes with the great clarinettist Brad Terry who was a friend of the family. Lenny was a small guy with slightly too long arms and HUGE hands. A natural physique for serious guitar playing (KK Downing of Judas Priest and Peter Frampton are very similar). We actually had a chance to chat, I got to play piano for him (there is a picture) and he offered kind words, "You sound a lot like Chick Corea, Man!". He had to leave for a solo concert in Portland Maine that night and we never saw each other again. A few months later I got a call from my Dad, "Lenny was murdered yesterday, the police think it was a drug deal gone bad." Oh those demons. The world lost a true genius that fateful night. Fortunately, including the albums mentioned above, there are half a dozen excellent recordings under his own name and readily available through the usual outlets. If you haven't heard this guy and are a fan of jazz guitar I can't recommend Lenny highly enough. Thanks for the legacy of excellence Mr. Breau! 

Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series

Recently Legacy issued the first installment of Miles Davis, The Bootleg Series: Miles Davis Quintet Live In Europe 1967. This is the legendary band with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The set captures the unit in performances from Antwerp, Copenhagen and Paris. The sound is acceptable period "mono field recording" quality which is rendered irrelevant by the performances. This band was at an apex no other quintet before or since has equaled. Take Wayne Shorter's "Footprints". This composition receives 4 treatments (including a scorching rendition from a Stockholm performance on the accompanying DVD). The arrangement is fairly set in stone, and just when you think Davis, Shorter and Hancock have plumbed all that can be each rises to the occasion with deeper introspection, especially Davis who at this time is telegraphing a new direction for his voice he would soon dive deeply into beginning with "Filles de Killimanjaro". for me, this set is absolutely essential and bodes well for what is to come. I am REALLY REALLY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hoping there is more in the can of the band Miles had for 18 months from '74-'76 that featured guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas, percussionist Mtume, Sonny Fortune on flute and sax, Al Foster on drums and Michael Henderson on bass guitar. I saw this band in 1975 at the legendary Paul's Mall in Copley Square Boston for 4 sets over 2 nights. This was "On The Corner" attitude. The band gathers onstage, hanging out and tuning up, then Miles saunters out like he's crossing the street smoking a cigarette. He stops and all of a sudden jerks his head at the audience, puts on a look of "what th'?", raises his right hand, executes a finger snap and the band kicks in like they've been on pause...Blam! Miles was having fun, especially with Pete Cosey. During one set Miles was at the end of a butt and walks over to Pete's station, offers the smoking stick, Pete stops playing and gives 2 thumbs down while sticking out his tongue in disgust, Miles doubles over in hysterics. This band has been documented well in the studio on "The Complete On The Corner Sessions" where Miles and gang were inventing "Black Rock". The live albums "Agharta" and "Pangea", recorded on one day of a tour in Japan (Agharta in the afternoon and Pangea in the evening) have yet to receive the reissue treatment they deserve which sparks my little rant of earlier. Hey Michael Cuscuna! Is more there and when can we hear it?

Cleve Pozar, Where Are You?

In the early 70's I was a Bar-Back at the Copley Plaza Hotel. on Saturday nights my beat was The Merry-Go-Round Room. Yes, there actually was a merry-go-round in the center of the room and in this iteration, the decor was 1930s speak-easy: Black Naugahyde, cream chiffon drapes along the walls lit very discreetly, chrome bannisters and trim. The hostess/manager was the awesome Judy Wilson, all 6 feet of her, black hair in a flapper bob always decked out in a tight evening dress complete with long cigarette holder (you could smoke in clubs back then). The entertainment was the creme-De-la-creme of jazz artists and practitioners of the American Popular Song. More on this later. My first night I walk in and Chris Connor is singing Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and the band is in the stratosphere with her. The drummer catches my attention because he is playing legit poly rhythmic be-bop light as a feather. The kit was a kid's set, the kind you could get at Sears with the exception of a real snare drum, and the bass drum which was a full sized floor tom. At the break he comes over to the bar, makes a soda with lime and I ask, "How long have you been coordinating your independence?" to which he guffaws and says, "I'm amazed anyone notices! I'm Cleve, what's your name?" Robert "Cleve" Pozar in fact. A wiry 5 foot 5 enigma. Turns out he'd spent time with Bob James (the avante-garde pre-smooth jazz Bob James), Peter Ivers (post beat generation oddity who became a cult phenom), had been asked to join the fusion band Weather Report numerous times which he refused citing, "No Martial Arts Bands!" (flying egos). He also had a solo percussion act which was AMAZING. He had these long Echo-Plex tape loops of bowed vibes, whale-like vocal sounds created by his son, Mingus (at that time a 5 year old, "L'Enfant Terrible"). Solenoid switches affixed to his snare drum triggered beaters that struck gongs, he had a retro-fitted organ pedal keyboard that played a small carillon above which he had 2 tabla drums. He gave me a recital one afternoon playing several pieces from his album, "Solo Percussion". It was like performance art. Cleve moving rapidly from station to station playing various configurations of instruments. I have never seen anything like it since. The ingenuity, quality of the compositions and sheer integrity of the performer. We actually formed a rag-tag ensemble with the intent of creating music for a local improvisational dance company. The members consisted of Cleve and one of his students on drum kits, another student on conga drums, Rob Davis who played lead in my band The Molls on electric guitar, and myself on Farfisa organ through an Echo-Plex. The music was based around a reworking of four pages from Louis Bellson's "4/4" with the patterns mirrored playing against each other. When the two patterns met there was a calamitous fill, then repeated. Rob and I were given absolute freedom with the mandate, "No White Rock!" (i.e. no major or minor chords, and absolutely NO barre chords). Every so often Cleve's son Mingus would come in, climb up on a table next to a rack strung with pots/pans/bells/shakers/flatware,etc., and leap onto the structure shaking with all his might. You don't see THAT every day! We'd play for 2-3 hours straight until Cleve would stand up, light a cigarette and say, "I Quit!" with a huge smile. We drifted apart towards the 80s with Cleve moving west and sadly never kept in touch. My memories of our times together remain some of the best in my life to date, and I truly believe I was in the presence of genuine genius. There is one more Cleve story that will be shared in the context of the Merry-Go-Round Room post. Cleve, if you're out there I hope all is well. Drop me a line would Ya?

Hanging With Nokie Edwards

As many of you know one of my all time favorite bands is The Ventures. Their drummer Mel Taylor was my inspiration to want to play music and be in bands. I've always loved their voice, lead guitarist Nole Floyd "Nokie" Edwards. Nokie can wring things out of melodies, and blaze like hell when called upon. In the early '80s The Ventures had a hit, "Surfin' and Spyin'" (featuring The GoGos on vocals) backed with the rocker, "Black Sand Beach". They hit the road playing small rock clubs and ended up (several times) at Jonathan Swift's in Harvard Square Cambridge MA. On one occasion I brought my Ventures LPs and proceeded to hound each member until I got autographs (Don Wilson got away, damn it!). I caught up with Nokie at the bar, we took stools and began to chat. Nokie is a BIG guy and at the time he loved scotch & sodas, lots of them, one right after the other. We talked for almost half an hour about his approach to finger picking, the banjo tuning/de-tuning techniques he uses in support of vibrato/tremolo fret expression, his influences (Chet Atkins, Les Paul) while he casually took each album and autographed the cover. While we were talking bassist Bob Bogle comes over, "Hey Nokie, we're going on in a couple of minutes" "Okay Bob". 5 minutes later drummer Mel Taylor comes over, Hey Nokie, "We're on in 2 minutes" "Okay Mel". 5 minutes later rhythm guitarist Don Wilson comes over, "Hey Nokie, we're on in 2 minutes" "Okay Don". 30 seconds later Mel Taylor leans in, "NOW NOKIE!!!" "Okay Mel, well Jon, I gotta go. It's been swell talking with you. See you at the party after?" When Nokie took the stage he'd consumed at least 8 scotch & sodas, he played excellently, never looking at his instrument, wearing a smile the whole time and engaging the audience (Hey Billy Zoom of X, you take a cue from Nokie?). Thank you for all the excellence and elegance Mr. Edwards!

Taking The Computer Out Of The Equation

I've been building a digital music library which is at 1TB and growing. I manage this through iTunes with storage on 2x2TB Caviar Black drives in SIIG II USB3 enclosures. For the last few years the D/A conversion is accomplished with a Grace Design M902 Monitor Controller that also has an excellent headphone amp. I run this single-ended (analogue) to a McIntosh pre-amp and the sound is very respectable.

My McIntosh system is pre-amp, 2x400w power amps and universal disc player. The radio is either through iTunes or my trusty Nikko FAM-500. The selection through iTunes has way more depth than what can be picked up by a traditional tuner. Sure, the quality varies depending on the bit-stream, and by opting in to paid subscriptions better sound quality minus commercials can be had for short green.

I LOVE my McIntosh gear. It is beautiful to look at with the hand-stenciled glass face-plates, the sound is All-American: big, bold and hefty. Recently I've come to realize, great as this McIntosh stuff is, it is not future-proof and_GULP!_I traded it for an NAD system.

Yikes!! Am I CRAZY???

NO!!! The amp, the new C390DD is a total re-thinking of integrating control/switching/amplification. All functions occur in the digital domain right up to the speaker terminals where a 150watt/channel Class D amplification stage routs signals to the speakers. The architecture is software based and infinitely upgradeable. I have also installed 2 modules for analog and HDMI inputs. The sound is absolutely stunning. Where the McIntosh is as described above, the NAD just gets out of the way and presents a tight, lively, holographic image with timber accuracy and transparency. I've connected my PC directly via asynchronous USB connection that up-samples to 96K and can handle files up to 192K.

The radio is NAD's new C446 Digital Media Tuner. This is where it gets interesting. The C446 is Ethernet capable so connects directly to my router, is supported by a NAD portal that has hundreds of stations from around the world, plus stations can be added any time. Within minutes of configuring my account on the NAD portal, I turned the PC off and was accessing traditional Persian music broadcasting from Tehran. This device can also access music files stored on a NAS (Network Access Storage) device. The computer is taken out of the equation!

I still use the PC for importing/converting/organizing my music files and feeding the NAS, and otherwise it's off.

All this would be meaningless except for one thing: My toes have been happily tapping along more than ever! 

Congratulations NAD on a job well done. 

The Electronic Music Pioneer You Might Never Suspect

A friend of mine recently shared a video clip of the Raymond Scott Quintette performing "War Dance For Wooden Indians" from the film "Happy Landings", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbR6YZs8hqs (the drummer is AMAZING). There are also clips featuring Scott discussing his "Manhattan Research Project" and I was reminded that I actually have all of this on LP. When not conducting his famous ensemble Scott ensconced himself in his studio to create sound mosaics, zany ditties and experiments. Some of this work was done as background music/sound effects in advertisements for Vicks Cough Drops, Auto-Lite Spark Plugs, Nescafe, ETAL. He even created the first electronic keyboard called "Raymond Scott Clavivox" that predated the Mellotron by several years. I love this stuff. Scott's compositions for traditional instruments are quirky enough, when left to his own devices in a vacuum the results are even more madcap. And at times awe inspiring by the sheer advanced conceptualization. Track 5 on Vol. 1, "The Bass-Line Generator" and Track 9 on Vol. 2, "The Rhythm Modulator" are incredible. Scott imagined and created devices that did things way before the development of modules known as "sequencers", and I'm going out on a limb here to say that his inventions gave birth to the notion of what is possible by generating patterns through the manipulation of high frequency waveform oscillators controlled by low frequency oscillators. "The Bass-Line Generator" sounds at times so much like what Kraftwerk accomplished I'd not be surprised that Ralph und Florian owned or knew of these recordings. Thank you for all the fun and inspiration, Raymond Scott!

Does It Really Have To Be Perfect?

What begs the question for me comes from hearing snippets of audio from today's "artists of the moment" where the reliance on technology is exploited to render "perfect" takes, down to pitch-correcting the star's inaccurate vocals. I've been told stories of how certain A&R executives now base decisions during the recording/production process according to "audience/demographic" metrics to determine appropriate "product placement" and in some cases re-tool the "product" to a degree not resembling what was outlined in the original recording contract. For me, this seems to be a direct correlation to our country's obsession with "perfect". There is no true creativity in perfection. Back in 1968 the great record producer Mickey Most (Jeff Beck, Donovan) was quoted, " I don't think there is any art in gramophone records." What I think he is saying is, getting the "perfect take" can drag a recording project to it's knees, be the knock-out punch putting everyone on the ropes or on the mat counting down to zero for the TKO. I was in the studio with a project and the lead guitarist kept informing the producer about changes in pickup configurations and amp settings. After a half dozen of these the producer said, "All I need from you is a performance". It doesn't have to be perfect. If everyone is in synch to the feel and testifying, "It's a Take!" Thoughts?

If You Have A Turntable You Need These!

One Christmas long ago, in a simpler time, my parents gave me 1. A pair of drumsticks. 2. A practice pad. 3. An LP called, "The Ventures In Space". I learned the basics of drum strokes from playing along with Mel Taylor's pounding. Eat Mel's dust Ringo and Charlie! This was I think their 10th album. The Ventures went on to make many more albums and honestly not all of them were great ("Super Psychedelics" comes to mind). But there is a core group of records I always go back to time and again. On a recent trip to Newbury Comics I was grateful to find Sundazed has taken on a 180Gram vinyl re-issue series and the first batch includes a representation of my all-time Ventures faves. "Surfing", "Walk, Don't Run Vol. 2", "The Fabulous Ventures", AND "The Ventures In Space". I've owned these on LP since they were released and have opted in on CD re-issues(Ugh). These new pressings are STUNNING. Mel Taylor's rapid-fire rim-shot snare snaps on "Penetration" from "...In Space" leap out of the left channel with a "Take THAT, you Brit-Wimps!" attitude, Nokie Edward's lead on the awesome opener, "Out Of Limits" FINALLY gets the attack and bite right. I have a friend, Brendan, who shares a similar "Music Freak" omnivorousness and we are constantly acquiring and sharing. When I cued up "The Bat" from"..In Space" at real world volume level he just sat there with an open-mouthed, "OhhhShhh*ttt" stare. Say No More!

I'm addicted to S C S I 9

OK, I really like electronic music and have even created some in my time. Every once in a while something comes along that just defies my ability to ignore. On a self-dare I recently picked up S C S I 9's "Metamorphosis" on KlickRecords. These guys fall directly in the genre pioneered by Monolake, Sounds From the Ground, Biosphere, Pete Namlook, ETAL. They obey a rhythmic and sonic template so rigorously that I have become a believer through their sheer persistence. When I first put this on I didn't want to like it, "Well executed but too derivative...", and by the last piece, and I don't say this lightly, I felt compelled to play the disc AGAIN.  Yikes! Don't fight it, relax, turn off your mind....