Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

I just found out that one of the world's truly great musicians Ustad Ali Akbar Khan died in June. He was 87. Back in the late 80s I saw Ustad Ali Akbar Khan play at Stanford. His music was transcendent, subtle, and life renewing. It mattered little whether or not I knew anything about Indian classical music. Hearing him made me understand the heights that musicians and all humans could aspire to, if we only had ears to hear.

"If you practice for ten years, you may begin to please yourself, after 20 years you may become a performer and please the audience, after 30 years you may please even your guru, but you must practice for many more years before you finally become a true artist—then you may please even God." --Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

"Guitarist Carlos Santana once said that a single note of Khan’s sarod 'goes right to my heart,' while classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin - who prompted Mr. Khan to first visit the United States in 1955 - once called the sarodist 'the greatest musician in the world.'"(Sepia Munity: "Farewell to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.")

"Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, who took drum lessons at Mr. Khan’s college the first year it opened, said …, 'All the people who studied there - it changed all our lives. Khan embodies the pure spirit of music; it’s not just the notes, it’s the spirit. Every time I listen to him, he takes me there.'" (Sepia Munity: "Farewell to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.")

"Ustad Ali Akbar Khan embodied the very pinnacle of our great classical music tradition. In his hands, the sarod was an instrument that expressed with unsurpassed beauty and eloquence the noblest aspirations and deepest yearnings of the human soul." -- World Music Central

Roots Festival

I love rootsy reggae from the 1975-1985 era. Almost all the reggae albums I originally had from this period I picked up used at Logo's Bookstore in Santa Cruz, California -- at first mostly based on the cover art alone. I found some great music. Sadly, a lot of it isn't available digitally (and my albums all melted in the hot sun one summer ....).

Roots Archive is a great site for digging into old reggae.

The White Album

Sometimes you just need to go back to the things that work...

Recently I found a used copy of the Beatles 1968 White Album. It's been about 25 years since I've listened to it. It's still amazing...maybe even more so now. In an era when music comes so cheap, this album will help you remember what a singular joy great music can be.

Bob Marley

I know the word "prophet" has been overused--mostly misused actually. But I wouldn't hesitate to apply it to this man. Bob Marley wasn't necessarily any more holy than the rest of us, but his words, music, and positive vibration has helped to wake up millions of people and called us to live life in a better, more loving way. That's a prophet in my book. Happy birthday Bob Marley.

St. John Coltrane

Lately I've been listening to John Coltrane's Stellar Regions album and his song, "One Up, One Down" and am still not surprised at all that a congregation chose this jazz musician as their patron saint. His playing is truly transcendent and transforming.

Happy Birthday St. John Coltrane.

A State of Wonder

Glenn Gould's famous 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations is all heart, all beauty.

And I don't care if I sound like Dr. Niles Crane when I say that.

Thank You iPod...

...for another night of glorious music ....just when you need it the most.....

1. Track 2, Lounge Divine - Santana

A stunning mash-up of Santana music created by two European friends I've known for years, but only through the Internet.

2. The Angel Cried Out - Russian Chamber Choral (Tchaikovsky: Vespers)

This Tchaikovsky composition was my lifeline during my lonely days in Alexandria, Virginia.

3. Enigmatic Ocean, Part 2 - Jean-Luc Ponty

Sounds of my spiritual awakening in Phelan in the late '70s.

4. Orthodox - The Rastafarians

Life saving Santa Cruz reggae.

5. A Night in Tunisia - Lee Morgan

Lee Morgan makes everything about life better.

6. Represente - Orishas

The soundtrack to my first five years in Toronto, back when I studied Afro-Cuban conga with Jesus Valdez, the Aztec Clave.

7. The Way and the Truth - Kephas

Kephas (Richard Gonzalez) is an unbelievable, unsigned guitarist who does Carlos Santana better than Carlos has done Carlos in the past 8 years.

8. Father and Son - Cat Stevens

Deep, deep memories which have been waiting as a sign of my new reality.

9. Welcome to Mexico - Cheech & Chong

Cooler than you may think.

10. Agrippina, Act 2 - Lorriane Hunt

Another sign of the lonely days in Alexandria. This is a copy of the album I bought for Jim Wind for Christmas 2004.

11. Born Under a Bad Sign - Jimi Hendrix

This song proves Jimi will always be the baddest dude around.

12. Ai Ga Bani - Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Pure. African. Beauty.

13. Moanin' Dove - Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked is so beautiful. "Moanin' Dove, Moanin' Dove. Lord that's what I be. Moanin' for your precious love. Your love is what I need."

14. Tall Trees in Georgia - Leah State

The best rendition of this Buffy Sainte-Marie song besides Buffy herself.

Prophet

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds."

--Bob Marley

Remember Lennon

I just picked up John Lennon's Remember at Starbucks (where else? It's not just about coffee anymore, it's the new "lifestyle" store). Remember is a retrospective of John Lennon's solo work and his stuff with the Plastic Ono Band from the 70s. It's totally amazing. I can't put it down. "Jealous Guy," "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)," "Working Class Hero," "Watching the Wheels Go Round," --brilliant songs I'm surprised I don't really remember hearing too much back then. (No wonder, as I listened almost exclusively to Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jethro Tull in those days.)

But let me be the first to tell you: John Lennon was an incredible musician!

Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane has left this terrestrial plane, a place she was always so lightly tethered to.... She was a wonderful musician and composer whose music was most uplifting.

Alice Coltrane was a young jazz pianist from Detroit when she married John Coltrane and later joined his band, replacing McCoy Tyner. After John Coltrane's death in 1967, Alice Coltrane released several critically acclaimed free jazz albums and then left music to start an ashram and become a guru.

In 2004 she returned to jazz, releasing Translinear Light, a profound album featuring her son Ravi Coltrane. Pure. Beautiful. Light. I highly recommend it.

Essence interview (September 2006)

Speak No Evil

Wayne Shorter on recording Speak No Evil: "I was thinking of misty landscapes with wildflowers and strange dimly seen shapes---the kinds of places where folklore and legends are born. And then I was thinking of things like witch burnings too."

About the song, "Dance Cadaverous": "I was thinking of some of these doctor pictures in which you see a classroom and they're getting ready to work on a cadaver."

About the song, "Infant Eyes": "I was thinking of my daughter."

Shorter on Speak No Evil: "Whatever change I have made so far is still there inside of me, churning around in a little circle."

Speak No Evil, recorded on Dec. 24, 1964, is a stunning jazz recording I received as a Christmas gift from Wendy.

Rachel Smith

Besides being a very good friend, an international expert on Greek mysticism, and a person of questionable judgment around trains; Rachel Smith is also an super incredible, beautiful musician. Her album The Clearing is one of the favourites around our house and we can hardly wait for the release of her next piece of work.

Echoing throughout Rachel's music is a light-in-the-midst-of-darkness spirit that fits right in with the Christmas season, though it's not Christmas music. You can check out a few of her ethereal earth sounds here.

Happy belated birthday Rachel! We're glad to see you're doing a show here in Toronto on Dec. 22. We would love to see you again. Perhaps we can make it.....?

Hendrix - Band of Gypsys

Does anyone else totally get off on this album the way I do?

Happy Birthday Jimi, wherever you are.

Now Playing

Out-of-print roots reggae from Reggae Traders....nice.

Yesterday's Top Ten

Another crazy run on the iPod shuffle....

10.16.06
1. Chaung Tzu's Dream – William Parker & Hamid Drake
2. Juanita – Rachel Smith (absolutely beautiful....I almost turned the iPod off after this song, I was so stunned)
3. Bobby-a-Go-Go – Bobby Parker (so funky, you can almost smell it....)
4. Too Much To Lose – Jeff Beck
5. Corrido de Boxero – Ry Cooder
6. The Real Revolution is Love – Joy Harjo & Poetic Justice
7. Up From the Skies – Jimi Hendrix
8. I and I Dub – Abyssinians
9. Sanctuary – Mahavishnu Orchestra
10. Safety Zone – The Gospel Hummingbirds ("Jesus keep me in the safety zone, I know I gotta be there just to make it home.")

Adios Freddy

Even though I was just a kid, I feel like I spent a lot of time in the mid-70s at Phelan's T-Bird partying as Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" played over and over again on the juke box. For me, it's the perfect theme song for those days and nights spent at the bar hanging out with my Mom and her friends---an almost surreal collection of local desert characters and Mexicans who worked at the chicken ranch. The only thing missing in Fender's recording is the smack of the cue ball during a break and the smell of Joyce's questionable burgers and fries.

Obit: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Fender.html

Cam McCarroll, Jazz Guitarist

Wendy's cousin Cam is a very serious jazz guitarist. And like any very serious jazz guitarist in the 21st century, Cam has a site on MySpace. Go there to check out his original compositions, "Dog Trip," "Song for G.Y.," and "Takai." Amazingly beautiful music.

Folks in the Toronto area can catch Cam on Wednesdays in October at the Rex. 6:30 p.m. Don't be late!

http://www.myspace.com/cammccarroll

Trane

John Coltrane would have been 80 years old today. Through music, he was one of the greatest spiritual seekers of the 20th century. And even today, there is still a healing, spiritual sound resounding in his music that can lift listeners to higher ground.

My hard-core fans :-) would know about these already, but for those who don't, here are two articles I wrote about Trane from a couple of years ago:

A Sax Divine (Utne Reader)
Spiritual Improvision (Sojourners)

Now Playing - Bob Marley & the Wailers

Not a perfect recording, but a very nice concert....from dimeadozen.org

Bob Marley & The Wailers
Madison Square Garden, New York
June 17, 1978
source: aud > unknown > cdr > eac > flac (level 6)
Total Time: 89:00

Disc 1
1.Intro > Positive Vibration
2.Them Belly Full
3.Concrete Jungle
4.Rebel Music
5.Running Away > Crazy Baldhead
6.Is This Love?
7.The Heathen
8.I Shot The Sheriff (cut)
9.No Woman No Cry
10.Jammin

Disc 2
Encore
1.Kaya >
2.Get Up Stand Up > War > Exodus

Santana Festival

I was messing around with the video clips below on YouTube this past weekend. I tried to post one of them here, but it didn't seem to work, so I tried another, and another. Nothing.

But then, suddenly, this morning, all the clips mysteriously showed up. So there you have it, a surprise Santana Festival on Alma's Soulfood.

Rock on man.