DogTown Gris Gris

Herbie Hancock is among the musicians I hold in the highest regard.  He is one of my favorite piano players, but beyond that represents my ideals of artistry.  His career is distinguished not only by the many icons that have been his peers, but also by the breadth of genre and style that he has so comfortably and willingly explored; he is a true chameleon (sorry, it was right there and I couldn’t resist).  He is also a champion of cultural exchange and respect and has always been a strong voice for the power of music to be a transformative force to affect both personal and social change.  His latest endeavor, The Imagine Project, is an excellent example of his commitment to bond cultures and spread enlightenment.

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Trombone Shorty's debut cd on Verve Records

It is widely known and nearly universally agreed by fans of New Orleans music that Troy Andrews, known as Trombone Shorty, is the most gifted crescent city musician of his generation and a promising beacon in a musical lineage as thick as the roux that has flavored its rich tradition. On his debut solo cd, Backatown, on Verve Records, he embraces the uncertain challenge of trying to sell himself (and his well-honed, funky-ass band – only a few holiday dinners removed from the kids’ table) to a mainstream audience with no grasp of his deep roots or prodigal talent, while remaining true to both. In practical terms, this means short tunes, no extended solos and radio-friendly production techniques, when a live-in-the-studio-jamin’-like-its-jazzfest concept would have played to his strengths and satiated his established fanbase.The choice of Ben Ellman as the producer in this effort was a critical step towards fulfilling this ambition. They have played on many stages together, and with the last two Galactic outings and his Gypsyphonic Disko mix-tape, Ben has proclaimed himself an ardent and imaginitive producer committed to finding an authoritative voice for New Orleans musicans in the American pop music discourse so often a dysfunctional talkfest between the deaf and dumb.

Backatown opens with “Hurricane Season,” the first of many scorching instrumental tracks, with all of the horn-driven excitement of a brass band shout chorus over a thunderous bass line and swanky NOLA-phonic backbeat that would light up Frenchman street any night of the week. Next, Allen Toussaint knuckles some piano on a tune he wrote, “On Your Way Down” – a sweet, laconic, bubbly groove with some simple, tasty harmonic movement and the amusing refrain: “well, it’s high time that you found, the same people you walk on, on the way up, you might meet on your way down.” For the most part, the cd alternates dutifully between instrumental and vocal tracks. Shorty is joined on vocals by guests Lenny Kravitz on “Something Beautiful” and Marc Broussard on “Right To Complain”. All of the tunes are powered by a supafunky, in-ya-face rhythm section dripping with in-the-pocket, ballsy, contrapuntal horn lines – this is not your daddy’s Verve Records release, but the confidence, craftsmanship and relentless badassness on display throughout stands with the best of that historic catalog.

Sonically, Backatown is as radio-friendly a rock album as anything you’ll hear with your FM dial tuned between 101 and 107. This is no 2:1 affair; the drums, bass and guitars are compressed and mixed with the intention of putting the listener back on his/her heals. Despite the heavy production, the groove never loses it’s live feel even when the drums are gated and processed to sound like a drum machine. The horn production is bombastic and fantastic. Forget blending in – they leave me wondering how it is possible that the power of a horn section has not been on the forefront of the hard rock sound for the last 20 years. Finally, the vocal production does not suffer from being an after thought on a great instrumental record. Many of the standard rock/pop vocal production techniques are here, with the thankful exception of the pandemic “really?  I mean really!?!” Melodyne effect. Some soulful phrasing and well-mixed doubling sell me on Shorty as a vocalist. Everything to do with production on this cd seems intent on kicking ass – and does it with conviction. Once again, Ben Ellman shows himself as uniquely able to produce contemporary New Orleans funk within the mainstream rock aesthetic without coming up short on either end.

In today’s homoginized, temporal culture, a generation of musicians in New Orleans including Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Dumpstaphunk, and the Rebirth Brass Band are branching off a deep-rooted tradition, with the hard-earned respect of those that came before them, and reasserting the city’s important influence on the American musical landscape. No one represents the depth of that tradition or the urgency of that cultural promise more than Trombone Shorty.  On his debut solo cd, we are introduced to an artist who’s vision is fueled by a youthful, vibrant exuberance and tempered by tremendous maturity, clarity and confidence. This recording succeeds in bringing Trombone Shorty to a mainstream audience without alienating or disappointing his existing fanbase who for years have been eagerly following his performances during jazzfest and packing Orleans Avenue shows around the country. Deep funk astronomers will herald this disk as the birth of new a rock star. And without a doubt it will be part of the constellation that guides my bbq this summer!  Buy it on Amazon

Trombone Shorty Reel 2010 from verve on Vimeo.

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Fela Kuti Collections on Knitting Factory Records

“AfroBeat is about social, political and cultural literacy. It confronts the geography of world complacency, greed and fear and calls for a trans-formative insubordination.” – Carlos Moore, author of Fela: This Bitch of a Life

Fela Kuti is making his resurgent presence felt in popular culture today, 13 years after his untimely death.  The broadway musical Fela (produced by Will & Jada Pinckett Smith & Jay Z.) was just nominated for 11 Tony awards.  A film about his life, directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger) begins production this fall and will be released by Focus Features.

Fela’s pioneering contribution to Afro-beat blended African descendent music from the west (funk, salsa, calypso, reggae) with Juju, highlife, and west African percussive roots, creating a truly pan-African sound which along with his unequivocal political message of strong African identity in the wake of wide-spread disillusionment with neo-colonial rule established him as a heroic figure far beyond his home in Nigeria.  He remains a beloved messenger in culturally and politically conscious movements across Europe, Africa and the Americas rooted in the liberation and human rights struggles of the twentieth century.  He was also an enigmatic personality filled with contradictions, idiosyncrasies, controversy and magnanimous excess that make him ripe for re-examination through a variety of narrative and biographical mediums.

Knitting Factory Records has released two re-mastered and re-packaged collections of Fela’s musical output during the late 60′s and 70′s. Batch 1, Chop & Quench, is six cds containing the music from the original albums: The ’69 Sessions, Live with Ginger Baker, London Scene, Shakara, Roforofo Fight, Open & Close, Afrodisiac, Gentlemen, and Confusion. Batch 2, Na Poi, is 7 Cds, including music from the original albums: Alagbon Close, Why Black Men Dey Suffer, Expensive Shit, He Miss Road, Monkey Banana, Excuse O, Everything Scatter, Noise For Vendor Mouth, Ikoyi Blindness, Kalakuta Show, JJD, Unnecessary Begging, Yellow Fever, and Na Poi.  Each collection is offered in a three-tiered package.  The deluxe package includes: immediate download in 320kbps MP3 (plus free Apple Lossless file upgrade), digi-pack Cd’s featuring original artwork, and the biography “Fela: This Bitch of a Life” (with Batch 1) or a first edition Fela sun t-shirt (with Batch 2).  The regular packages includes the immediate download and digi-packs featuring original album artwork minus the biography and t-shirt.  Finally, they offer both batches as a digital download only.

These collections are satisfying in several different ways.  The gratification of downloading this much Fela music was realized moments after I imported it into iTunes and pressed play – knowing that the cd’s with the original artwork of artist Ghariokwu Lemi are on their way leaves me in child-like anticipation each day when our mail carrier arrives.  I do not have the originals to compare them to, but the remastered collection sounds clean and even throughout when played in shuffle mode.

The record nerd in me is thrilled to have this comprehensive body of work from such an influential artist and activist.  Examination of these collections in chronological order, gives the listener clear insight into the intricate and mulit-layered Afro-beat sound being developed by Fela.  Tight, angular horn section lines woven with a relentless rhythmic foundation powered by Tony Allen’s drums and dry, percolating guitar stabs give testament to the catalyzing influence of James Brown but create a uniquely west African flavor of funk.  His well-documented political journey through the 60′s & 70′s supports his increasingly militant message, but it is his development of a truly individual, rhythmic and vocal style of saxophone playing that to me best illustrates the confident, sly, dissident, outraged and outrageous aspects of his personality.  There is a tremendous amount of music in these collections, but it does not suffer the dilution of its potency through exhaustive presentation.  It demands both intensive study and laid-back, bbq-infused enjoyment – many hours of both lie in my future.

Fela Kuti Discography

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photo of Gabe Roth by Jacob Blickenstaff

Here is a link to a great interview with Daptone Records founder Gabe Roth on the Waxpoetics website.  He is also the producer of Sharon Jones’ latest cd, “I Learned the Hard Way” which dropped on April 6th.  There is a cool promo video from it here.

Gabe is one of my favorite producers working today.  His stuff with Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse and the Budos Band has been tearing up my iTunes and contributed to the soundtrack of many Venice BBQ’s over the last several years;  Always marked by vintage analog sound and humorous creativity.

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RootDownFM is absolutely the coolest listening spot on the web if you like funk, jazz, soul, latin, hip-hop, reggae, afrobeat, boogaloo.  It is a subscription service powered by Live365. Live 24/7, 72 hours no-repeat, and no ads.  It is a fantastic mix of classic cuts and new music from independent artists all carefully chosen by the folks running the joint.  I even heard a Gumbo Brothers track last night!

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Happy 4/20.  If you are celebrating today, I think you will enjoy this tune.  It is the end-credit song I arranged and produced for a film called The Green Goddess that is scheduled to be released later this year.  It is performed by Derek Shields on guitar, bass and vocals.  He also wrote the tune along with the director, Craig Nisker.

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“My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now” is the track that introduced me to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (wikipedia) 20 something years ago.  I heard it on a Boston radio station – probably WERS or WGBH, but I can’t remember.  What I do remember is that it blew me away.  I was a kid in high school playing saxophone and getting into jazz records, but they were mostly bebop and post-bop (the stuff on Riverside, Columbia, Blue Note, Impulse).  This is one of the things that turned me on to a whole new sound and gave me some understanding of why New Orleans has such a unique place in the history of American music and culture.  It’s a funky groove!

I have heard these guys live many times in Los Angeles and during a great performance at last year’s jazzfest with Rebirth Brass Band and Trombone Shorty.  They always bring the funk.

Here is a cool video with some interview footage:

Another classic Dirty Dozen track, “Ain’t Nothing But A Party” from Bonnaroo 2002:

This is a live version of the gospel tune, “I’ll Fly Away” which they recorded on their Cd, Funeral for a Friend in 2004.  The album is in memory of Tuba Fats, the best sousaphone player I have ever heard and one of the funkiest “bass” players ever.

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“From the Corner to the Block”- An iTunes playlist just threw this at me while I was cooking dinner.  What a monster track of a super funky album, featuring Juvenile and the Soul Rebels Brass Band.   I can’t wait to hear the new one, “Ya-ka-may”.  Ben Ellman did a great job producing this cd.  I have also been listening to his Gypsyphonic Disko re-mix download – check it out.  I am looking forward to hearing the work he did on Trombone Shorty’s “Backatown” that drops on 4-20.

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I heard his name mentioned many times over a period of years before I finally heard him.  Now, having heard him live with several different bands and listening to him on some fantastic albums, Johnny Vidacovich is one of my favorite drummers.  He can drop a mile-wide pocket, add brilliant color, and keep everyone on the edge of their ears listening.  Watching him play is amazing – it looks like the drum sticks are balancing on his hands instead of him actually holding them.

Here is a cool clip of Johnny playing with Robert Walter and James Singleton.  I heard this band on this tour at the Malibu Inn – they tore the place up.

Here is a conversation with Stanton Moore about New Orleans drummers:

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Robert Walter has been laying down boogaloo grooves I love since the first Greyboy Allstars records.  His solo work and his appearances with Stanton Moore is some of my favorite music on NOLA funk, soul jazz scene.  His time feel when he’s soloing makes sure you hear every last drop of the funk. Check it out:

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