Suggestions From All Around – Snarky Puppy, The Lone Bellow and Polaris Rose

To get 2015 off on the right foot, some great suggestions have floated in from friends and other bloggers. But before we get started, happy to say that two of the artists we featured when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees were announced made it through (see the post)!

First up is Snarky Puppy. Thanks, Ben! This Brooklyn based group of jazz fusion musicians, a self described “quasi-collective”, migrated from the University of North Texas . Their website lists a dozen members, but the video below makes you wonder if that number grows on some tracks. The video for “What About Me?” is from the live performance set-up they used to record their latest CD “We Like It Here”. If you find the beginning of the guitar solo at 3:00 a bit ethereal for your tastes, hang in there till things pick up at about 3:45. And if you want to hear one of the other guitarists strut his stuff, check out “Jambone”.

Meanwhile, on another street in Brooklyn we find the alt-country trio The Lone Bellow. Thanks Dennis and Maureen! They are about to release their second album, “Then Came the Morning”, and will apparently be on Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow night to play “Cold As It Is” from that album. Hear that track before everybody else, and also try out the album’s title track. No shortage of great backing musicians in the Big Apple!

Last but not least is the duo Polaris Rose from Los Angeles. They were mentioned on the excellent blog “The Delete Bin”. Thanks, Rob! No matter how cold a winter you’re dealing with, these harmonies and lush guitar tones will make you feel like you’re in the California warmth of the videos. “Perfect View” is from their new album “Telescopes”, and “Chartreuse” is from their debut EP “The Moon & Its Secrets”.

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2015 Grammy Nominees – American Roots

Rummaging through the 2015 Grammy nominees, the American Roots category stands out as a catch all for great tracks and albums by artists from many genres. Across its Best Performance, Best Song and Best Album sub-categories, Roseanne Cash is nominated in all three (see our earlier post), and John Hiatt in two (see our earlier post)

The most dramatic song on the Best Performance list comes from the album “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro”. It’s a cover of “And When I Die” performed by pianist Billy Childs (who’s responsible for the album project), with vocals by Alison Krauss and guitar by Jerry Douglas. You have to love when artists take a song in a unique new direction. Listen to the new version alongside Laura’s original. You may also want to remember the Blood, Sweat & Tears hit version.

Another nominee from the Best Performance list is “Statesboro Blues” from the concert “All My Friends – Celebrating The Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman” that took place back in January. The track features Taj Mahal and Gregg Allman sharing the vocals, and that is a significant pairing. Taj Mahal performed the song on his eponymous 1968 debut album, featuring slide guitar by Jesse Ed Davis. The story goes that Gregg Allman gave the Taj Mahal record to his brother Duane along with a glass pill bottle one day, and that was the beginning of Duane’s slide guitar playing. Give a listen to the nominated performance and Taj’s earlier version.

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A Jazzy Detour – Tauk, Fletch’s Brew, and Thievery Corporation

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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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees – Beyond the Obvious Picks

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.

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New Music Courtesy of The Delete Bin

Found a new blog to follow, The Delete Bin, by Rob Jones of Vancouver, Canada. A few weeks back he put together 16 recommendations to add to an autumn playlist, and here are a few favorites.

The Last Internationale is a trio fronted by singer/bassist/guitarist Delila Paz. They play a mix of hard rocking numbers and acoustic folk tunes in a classic rock vein. Lots of politically conscious titles and lyrics in their repertoire like “Killing Fields” and “Workers of the World Unite”, and they’re not afraid to tackle Trayvon Martin in a style reminiscent of Dylan’s “Hurricane”. Not much of a surprise they caught the ear of Tom Morello who signed on as their executive producer. Here’s the first track from their debut album “We Will Reign”, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Indian Blood”. And on the new album Delila pulls off a nice cover of the classic “Baby It’s You”.

The Wind and The Wave is an Austin, Texas folk duo Patricia Lynn and Dwight Baker. Their first album “From The Wreckage” is available now. Spend some time with this promo video that introduces the band and features some live performance clips.

If you like late 70’s / early 80’s pop and want to be the first kid on your block to check out videos that have barely dozens of YouTube views, check out Ransom and the Subset. Their debut album “No Time to Lose” is just out this month. Here are two tracks from the new release, “Anna” and “Million Out of Me”. Pure fun.