Cresent City Boogaloo
My absolute favorite mashup of musical styles is probably soul/jazz/funk. The take on this style is as arbitrary and varied as the practitioners of the sound. Here is one to check out. 
Crescent City Boogaloo, the band, it’s self is a mashup consisting of great individual artists and led, by the B3 master Dr. Lonnie Smith on organ. Donald Harrison, the masterfuly wonderful, New Orleans Sax player, once considered a “young lion” when he was paired with Terrence Blanchard back in the eighties. The master drummer Herlin Riley, also a native New Orleanian, who I first heard as part of the Wynton Marsalis Quartet. Peter Bernstein, the guitar virtuoso who has previously paired up with saxophonist Eric Alexander and also worked with another giant of the B3, the late Charles Earland.. Rounding out the group is the current young lion on the jazz scene the amazing Christian Scott, who has already garnered a Grammy nomination for his debut CD, Rewind That. I had the pleasure of hearing him live at a small club in Milwaukee and was quite honestly blow away..he is amazing.
From time to time the lineup varies a bit..probably depending on the members availability, but here is the core group..
Dr. Lonnie Smith (organ), Donald Harrison (alto saxophone), Peter Bernstein (guitar), Christian Scott (trumpet), and Herlin Riley (drums).
NPR Interview and Performance can be found here
about 30 minutes in length..
Blake Lewis dropped by Arista Records
With yet another Idol front runner loosing a record deal so soon after appearing on the show, you have to wonder what the viability is of Idol as a venue for finding new talent..or is it just good TV? I guess Simon is serious when he says, “is all about finding a superstar”. But is it possible to crown a champion year after year that can be a million seller and has the talent and appeal necessary to go from obscurity to superstar status overnight? As I see it, that is an unrealistic goal, and unattainable for most artists. What ever happened to record labels developing artists.. The Microwave “ready to go in minutes” approach to artist development is the reason we don’t have career performers anymore. And frankly the reason Pop music sucks!! Everyone is here today gone tomorrow, one or two Cd’s and on to the next big thing. Has anyone noticed that there are no new Stevie Wonders’, Aretha Franklin’s, Elton Johns’ or Neil Diamonds’ being groomed? I guess you could make a case for Alicia Keys or maybe Josh Groban having that kind of sustainable career pop icon status, but only time will tell if that will be the case. Does anyone believe that the talent well has dried up? I don’t. I just think that record companies are business, interested not in the art of music but mainly in the bottom line…”REVENUE”= selling music. If an artist signs a standard distribution deal and after a few years figures out the “music business” side of things, they will want a bigger piece of the pie… (publishing rights; larger share of the royalties) besides touring, that is where the real money is. And they might also want, the real taboo words to big labels “creative freedom”. So fiscally it makes sense to have a revolving door of artists who hit big and then move on..and if they don’t strike big right away, they are out the door. Many labels no longer even have artist development departments.
Quote:
“As record labels have come to see artists as products in recent years, some artist development departments have been renamed “Product Development.” Many insist that this is because the emphasis in the current music business is to promote artists very heavily in the beginning of their career, as opposed to long-term planning.”
Source http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/record-label1.htm
You know I’m not even a Blake Lewis fan and I certainly don’t personally think of him as pop icon material. For my taste beatboxing is a sound that is better off left in the eighties..But, there had to be something that excited folks enough to cast millions of votes for this guy. Certainly there was enough fervor to warrant at least two releases before canning him..
Creepy Elvis Toy
This is undoubtedly one of the creepiest things I have ever seen..but that is just one womans opinion, you be the judge.
Features
Alive (Taking care of business) mode: Elvis animates autonomously, tracks movement and makes the occasional famous Elvis remark.
Song mode: Select a song and let Elvis entertain you.
Monologue mode: Hear about the life and times of Elvis, in his own words.
Sing through (Share the spotlight) mode: Plug in a microphone (not included) and song cartridge to sing along with Elvis, or turn his vocals down and sing along with the track.
Elvis comes alive, recounting 37 monologues about his life and singing eight of his best loved songs, including:
Thats All Right
Hound Dog
Heartbreak Hotel
Love Me Tender
Jailhouse Rock
Blue Suede Shoes
Trouble
Baby What You Want Me To Do
Today I was thinking about
The sound of Bobby “Blue” Bland.. I remember the Malaco Records commercials from childhood. I wanted to buy all those records so bad back then..but I was nine and I had no money..anyway; I have always loved Bobby “Blue” Blands’ voice. (especially that trademark growl) Mr. “Blue” Bland is one of the greatest pure Blues vocalist, he always delivers the most expressive vocals, full of everything the Blues is about for me.
Bobby “Blue” Bland and Kenny Neal 2006
Just a question?
I know there are more pressing issues like:
- The War in Iraq
- The War in Afghanistan ( remember we are still fighting there too)
- Five dollar a gallon gas prices
- The collapse of global investment firms, like BearStearn
- Salmonella infested tomatoes, spinach, lettuce and whatever else they haven’t told us about yet.
- Lead poisoned toys from China and rat-poison laced dog food from…???
- The mortgage crisis
- The weak US dollar
BUT????
Do you think under our next administration we can get Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam)- taken off the enemy watchlist???
I’m just asking. 
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Everything old is new again
Fresh from my road trip through six states I think I maxed out my Ipod. But it gave me a chance to get into some new music from some of my old favorites. The standouts: Van Morrison, (Keep it Simple) Steve Winwood(Nine Lives) and the Rev. Al Green..(Lay it Down)What a pleasure to be able to play a CD from start to finish and be truly entertained. More details later…
on vacation
On vacation..no blogging til next week. I might Twitter from the road. I hope to catch some local music in the North Carolina area while visiting family..
Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008)
On the passing today of the great Rock-n-Roll pioneer Mr. Bo Diddley. I just wanted to post a brief tribute to his music and his influence on music across many genres.
He only had a few hits in the 1950s and early ’60s, but as Bo Diddley sang, “You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover.” You can’t judge an artist by his chart success, either, and Diddley produced greater and more influential music than all but a handful of the best early rockers. The Bo Diddley beat — bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp — is one of rock & roll’s bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, and even pop-garage knock-offs like The Strangeloves‘ 1965 hit “I Want Candy.” Diddley’s hypnotic rhythmic attack and declamatory, boasting vocals stretched back as far as Africa for their roots, and looked as far into the future as rap. His trademark otherworldly vibrating, fuzzy guitar style did much to expand the instrument’s power and range. But even more important, Bo’s bounce was fun and irresistibly rocking, with a wisecracking, jiving tone that epitomized rock & roll at its most humorously outlandish and freewheeling. Buddy Holly covered “Bo Diddley” and used a modified Bo Diddley beat on “Not Fade Away. As a live performer, Diddley was galvanizing, using his trademark square guitars and distorted amplification to produce new sounds that anticipated the innovations of ’60s guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. In Great Britain, he was revered as a giant on the order of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. All Music Guide .
Hey Bo Diddley on the TNT show
This is one incredible performance!
Hey Bo Diddley
Mona
Music in my Ipod
I was thinking about the music of Sam Cooke today. Now the first song I remember hearing by Sam Cooke was “Having a Party” I somehow got hold of the 45 when I was a kid, maybe I was about seven or eight and I wore that record out on my little phonograph player.. But today I was in search of a lesser known side of Sam Cooke. We all are familiar with the pop tunes or big orchestrations but, I wanted to hear the more stripped down stuff. Here is one of my favorites. Cooke’s voice took center stage on this admirably low-key session from February 1963, recorded in Los Angeles CA.
1. Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen
2. Lost And Lookin’
3. Mean Old World
4. Please Don’t Drive Me Away
5. I Lost Everything
6. Get Yourself Another Fool
7. Little Red Rooster
8. Laughin’ And Clownin’
9. Trouble Blues
10. You Gotta Move
11. Fool’s Paradise
12. Shake, Rattle And Roll
Lost and Lookin
Trouble Blues (featuring a young Billy Preston on organ)
The Ryan Montbleau Band
I’ve been listening to Live @ Eddies attic, selections from the the Ryan Montbleau Band and I just kept getting different vibes, soulful, rootsy, funky. They bring it from all directions, sometime within the same song. There is no neat little A&R box you can tuck this band away in, they easily gravitate from “Already There” a great reggae tinged number to “Honeymoon Eyes” a “jump blues” feel complete with a Hammond, that develops into a gospel sounding call and response ending; all these ingredients make up the unique sound of this band. Ryan’s songwriting can be described as intricate, for him it seems the lyrics matter and he has the ability to weave a story without loosing the song structure. But in the Ryan Montbleau Band, the band part is just as important, because these guys are incredible. They are not playing background music here..the music is front and center and the grooves are infectious. As far as Jam Bands go I think the uniqueness of this band is the equal attention given to both the lyrics and the groove. In Ryan’s high register there is a hint of Stevie present, other times his storytelling reminds me a little bit of Ray Lamontagne, but his sound is all original. You can check The Ryan Montbleau Band out on their Myspace page. The guy tours like a madman booking close to 2oo gigs a year, for the past three years, so odds are he’ll be playing somewhere near you.