November – 2014 – Music New to You from the Past and Present

Time for an overdue dip in the modern jazz pool.

Tauk is a four-piece, instrumental fusion band from Oyster Bay, Long Island (thanks for the heads up, Charlie!). Three of the band’s four members began playing together in middle school and reunited after college. “Friction” is the first track from their new album “Collisions” (that guitar tone is very Walter Becker), and if you want an introduction to their earlier album, “Homunculus”, try out “In the Basement of the Alamo”.

Fletch’s Brew is a U.K. band built around drummer Mark Fletcher, and it includes a crew of seasoned musicians who have played with pretty much everyone you’ve ever heard of from Dizzy Gillespie to Diana Ross, and from Chrissie Hynde to Placido Domingo! Despite all that history they are thoroughly modern, having raised money to record their new album “39 & 47” on KickStarter. Here is the band playing their progressive version of the jazz standard “Invitation”.

Thievery Corporation is the duo of Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, who have been turning out incredible records and live shows that mix a broad range of musical styles since they teamed up in 1995 in Washington, D.C. Their shared love of Brazilian Bossa Nova apparently was part of what drew them together as artists, but “Saudade” is their first album entirely dedicated to that genre. Here are “Firelight” and “Bateau Rouge” featuring long-time vocal collaborator Lou Lou Ghelichkhani.

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A few weeks ago, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for the Class of 2015, with 16 acts spanning a broad range of styles and eras. The annual announcement is always a great chance to remember acts who may have faded a bit from memory, but were very important in their day.

From the era of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (the same one where Jimi first set his guitar on fire) and Woodstock, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band played classic Chicago blues fronted by their singing and harmonica playing namesake. Butterfield was a talented young man from a well-to-do Chicago family. He studied classical flute in high school, was offered a track scholarship to Brown, and studied at the University of Chicago where he met bandmate Elvin Bishop. Fellow Chicago native Mike Bloomfield was another notable member of the band. Here’s a performance from Monterey. That’s Bishop on guitar, and Bloomfield clapping enthusiastically at the end of Butterfield’s soulful singing and harmonica work.

War formed in the 1960’s in L.A. and hit the big time when Eric Burdon, formerly of the Animals, joined the band in 1969. Who can forget their first big hit, “Spill the Wine”. Burdon only stayed with the group for a couple of years, but War kept bringing the funk well into the 1970’s. Enjoy these live versions of “Spill the Wine” and “Slipping into Darkness”.

Bill Withers is still around, though not performing anymore, and he put up a string of hits beginning with 1971’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and running through 1981’s “Just the Two of Us”. Both songs won Grammy’s for Best R&B Song. Wither’s highest charting single, though, was 1972’s “Use Me”. Here’s a live performance of that tune by Bill, and a truly out-there cover by Mick Jagger from his 1993 solo album “Wandering Spirit”. Lenny Kravitz contributes.