drive, he said

picture courtesy of ragnane/appunti

second encounter of a strange kind featuring Paolo Fresu on trumpet and effects and pedal-steel guitar-hero BJ Cole, captured live in france on june 2006.
hope you'll enjoy that smokey vibe.
part one
part two

to whom it may concern

thanks guys for support. here's part two of this great concert.
more paolo fresù trios to come soon, let me know who you want first, nguyen lè or bj cole.

la notte, la notte

On june 2006, italian-born trumpet player Paolo Fresu invited some of his favorite fellow sidemen and gave a very creative series of concerts at the Lyon Opera Amphi Jazz.
the first evening reunited Paolo and Nguyen Lê (on guitar), BJ Cole (pedal steel guitar) the following night and finally Eivind Aarset (g) and Dhafer Youssef (oud & voice), with Fresu adding various electronic effects. the very laid-back and warmful atmosphere of the club was delightful and the music was definitely among the best live gigs i heard in a long time.
here's the first part of the final set (soundboard quality sound/320kbps). enjoy and ask for more.

get your own bag!

it's so simple and cool it's incredible nobody dropped it sooner!
thanks to justin ouellette for launching muxtape, the best way to share your latest mixes online.
i couldn't resist to give it a try and share some of my faves of the moment, a few classics and homebrews. so please rush over and enjoy before Google buys it out or the RIAA gets berserk.
there's a buy mp3 option that should keep the dogs at large but as these guys can't recognize or resist to crash a good idea when they see one...
slowly, the future of music online builds up to reach stratospheric skies and innovative formats.
peace out.

between yesterday and tomorrow

thanks to the few cats who still pay a visit here once in a while.

you may have noticed the doctor's not in most of the time and with spring, outdoor choirs and new family duties i'm afraid it won't get any better...

here's what usually happens: when i finally come up with an idea of post, i then discover it's already been broken by the big jazz honchos around here (bacoso, vesper, jazz-nekko, smooth, reza -who is back on the block with great inspiration and wonderful jazz mixes contributions)
i don't say i consider playing in these guy's major league, it's just that compared to them, my record crates seem very limited.
anyway, it's nice to see the jazz brotherhood seem to grow wider and wilder: much props to recent discoveries at singer saints, culture and pleasure, ile oxumare, eternal rythm,


so, here's probably the laziest post i've ever done but these grooves are too good to stay under the radar (mine anyway, maybe you've been already blessed) any longer.

art bleek is a french cat who deserves a lot of love for his 2006 album. be sure to grab any format of any remix, edit, version extrapolated from "between yesterday and tomorrow"
and we must be grateful to federica at secret music box to share her beloved discotheque and discover such exciting grooves.

please enjoy the updates in the links section, a lot of newbies and pearls were thrown in...

luvs

miles edits

hi there. i've been away from this blog too long and won't even try to find a bad excuse.
so first i wish everybody a very good year and hope all your dreams and ambitions will be fulfilled.
good health is important too. among the most inspired jazz bloggers around, let's have a special shout out for reza, who suffered a very tough year and came back recently with full force, sharing great albums with us. this one's for you, man, from the heart.

while as was away, i managed to spend a ridiculous amount of time at killergroove music library , browsin' his insane record collection with almost 2 years of posts to catch up with. don't miss it and be sure to visit him on a regular basis.

ol' visitors from the Naugahyde Life years know i have a soft spot for house music, disco and nu groove. seems like there's some kind of revival online and the new craze is all about "edits", like they used to call the genre back in the days (say danny krivit's), way before puff daddy said he invented the remix.
current edits tend to stay closer to the bone of the original track and classics from the soul-disco era, krautrock gems and seventies psychadelica are the prime choice material of these guys, next to their own current productions. among the top players, todd terje, pilooski, prins thomas, seem to run the show.
be sure to visit these great spots to know more and keep the scene alive: another night on earth, one day later, dilated choons, alainfinkielkrautrock, american athlete, social disco club...

as edits go, here are the famous miles davis short tracks from "miles at isle of wight" lp.
tracks from the 7" singles Davis did for promotional purposes throughout the 70s.

B1		Great Expectations (2:42)
B2		The Little Blue Frog (2:32)
B3		Molester (Part I) (3:04)
B4		Molester (Part II) (2:10)
B5		Holly-Wuud (2:52)
B6		Big Fun (2:30)

enjoy.

same old story back again

is it just me or there's so many cool places around it's hard to keep up with 'em on a regular basis... even the rss and such a genial organizer as netvibes tends to make this blog thing ridiculous.
however, among my latest fave spots i couldn't help but recommand CATASTO'S FRIENDLY FIRE-, HUMBLE PIE'S INNER SANCTUM- definitely the best jazz live jams around,
MY FAVORITE SOUNDS, with whom i collaborated on a Bobby Pierce gig (catch it while it lasts), MY JAZZ WORLD is insanely consistant with underrated gems. on a hip-hop tip, WHEN THEY REMINISCE..., SWEET BLACK MUSIC and EFFICIENCY ONE are my best groove providers right now and deserve much respect.
you'll find these guys on the link section and be sure to pay them a visit.

i'm a sucker for covers, mash-ups and good remixes and stumbled on an excellent Angie Stone reggaestruction by NUFFWISH at CAPTAIN'S CRATE. it reminded me i myself got busy in the homestudio a few years ago, messin' with the same Angie track: "Wish i didn't miss you".

the backbone of both remixes are Nightmares on Wax' "Les Nuits", two slightly different versions taken respectively from "Smoker's Delight" (1995) and "Carboot Soul" (1999) albums.
Nightmares On Wax-aka George Evelyn-seemed to be particularly fond of Quincy Jones' "Summer in the city"- and who isn't?- which inspired him these definitive chill-out classics.

i remember hummin' the strings arrangements, blending naturally with Eumir Deodato's own lush signature of Björk's "Hyperballad", ending with the absolute/perfect (yes, baby...) soundtracks for Angie's words and adlibs.

hope you'll enjoy both versions, spread the good word and show some love.
ANGIE'S SUMMER NIGHT
ANGIE'S NIGHT

the taste of you

today's post is a rarity i'm sure you'll enjoy:
THE ERROL PARKER EXPERIENCE, recorded in NYC on april 1977, for Sahara records (errol's parker -a.k.a the dude on the album cover- own label) feat. clyde tate on vocals, monty waters on alto & soprano saxes, errol parker on both electric and acoustic piano, tambourine and cowbell, james"fish" benjamin on fender bass , clyde lucas on drums. you can grab more info about the man here

i couldn't track this piece of vinyl anywhere. google dug it out on some japanese rare records website so grab it while you can (at 320 kbps) and enjoy: it's a loose, groovy and almost "spiritual" jazz session, the kind of live jam with ups, downs and mishaps but full-flavored of funky seventies spirit.
now, obviously sahara studios were far from rudy van gelder's sonic standards and the drums, cowbell and hi-hat are pushed a little too loud and upfront for my taste but hey, if it was alright with errol, it's fine with me...
so pick up the pieces and feel the basement funk like back in the days...

in case you missed it, i collaborated with those cool guys celoduro and jazzypier for a Bobby Pierce post @ my favourite sound , be sure to pay them a visit on your way out, there's more than plenty of amazing stuff down there.

africadelic's the name, volume one

hi music lovers worldwide. i'm finally back with one rare and sought-after piece of library music composed and played by Gérard Levecque and Claude Romat in the seventies.
it's stamped n° 54 on the MP 2000 label and the first volume of a twofer in their african sound collection. for your knowledge, vol.2 which is even rarer-and funkier.

side one is full of catching breaks, drums loops, bass and funky flute, trumpets and wah-wah guitars
01-call me africadelic
02-djidji lights
03-jungle mania
04-bakaloo dance
05-the elephants track
06-bremeye voodoo

side two is drums & percussions only and will more appeal to the mature and dedicated beatmakers
07-green pepper
08-white peppers
09-red pepper
10-grey pepper
11-black pepper
12-scarlet pepper

at 192 bitrate, i hope you"ll enjoy it

by the way i find very odd that side 2 of the AIR album generated less downloads than side one... one could argue that this side is less exciting than the first one (which isn't the case) but how could you know if you didn't dwl it in the first place?
anyway, last chance to listen to this great album before i'll pull the plug to the links.

hope to hear from you here, african drums' way

are you experienced?

Thanks to the blogosphere's energy, several Miles Davis live performances from the seventies are floatin' around. (props to the Heat Warps, James at Nothing Is, Curved-air and the whole in-crowd, you know who you are) these gigs are so inspiring, uplifting and fresh that i had to contribute to the chorus in some way.
the Miles at Isle of Wight lp is one of these odd vinyl artefacts Sony indulged to fill the bins with while Miles kept away from the charts in the 80's, offering the live concert on side one and various alternate 70's studio takes on side b. however, the band was a dream team: Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Gary Bartz, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Airto Moreira. the performance is one of the band's more focused and crisp from this era, with a perfect balance of power and spirituality. a wonderful DVD "Miles Davis - Miles Electric - A Different Kind Of Blue " is available at your favorite online or physical spots (hey, these guys deserve to make a decent living, too) and you need to watch it to catch the intense excitment of the set.
anyway, here's side one ripped at 320 from the vinyl. feel free to show some love and spread miles' spirit around.
enjoy

Three Blind Mice in the Air

if you're into Miles Davis' early electric atmospheres, Air's eponym lp will probably make your day. recorded at Epicurius Studio, Tokyo on april 12 & 20, 1977 - yeah, that's exactly 30 years ago - by a bunch of laid-back xperimental jazz cats, namely Yasuo Shimura on saxes, flute, shô, ARP, voice, percusssion and radio - Reinkichi Hayasahi on Fender stratocaster, blue box, crybaby and super gas - Nobuyoshi Ino on electric & acoustic bass, turkish guitar, perc, tape recorder - Hiroshi Muramaki on Yamaha drums, cowbell and perc - Yuji Imamura on conga drums, tabla, the album sounds as fresh and exciting as it probably was, in deep and introspective ways.
strangely, very little online data is available on this gem or its protagonists but always a reliable source on such UFO's , the Kozmigroove connection provided this brief but accurate resume and description:
"Not to be confused with the Henry Threadgill project, nor the Googie Coppola joint (who dropped exactly one album on Herbie Mann's Embryo subsidiary before disappearing), nor the more recent sleazy-listening duo from France. This Japanese quintet of Yasuo Shimura, Renkichi Hayashi, Nobuyoshi Ino, Hiroshi Murakami, and Yuji Imamura continued to preach the gospel of Get Up With It, years after even Miles himself lost the faith. Yessir, this is elevated music, pure in spirit and intention and absolutely mindblowing in effect. Air's sole (eponymous) album is two sidelong cuts of psychedelic electric jazz, testified by five heads who mix Eastern and Western instrumentation into a thick brew of prime Kozmigroov: ringmodulated guitar lines, windchime swirls, ARP dissonance, deep bass echoes, wood flute invocations, processed saxophone, tape effects, subtly assertive grooves, omnipresent layers of percussion... mercy! The brazen shuffle which seizes the last quarter of the record actually reaches the same jazz/rock peak intensity of Jack Johnson's "Right Off." Three Blind Mice are an audiophile label who've reissued an armful of their back-catalog titles on compact disc. Although this album still awaits aluminum rebirth as of May 1999, Takeshi "Tee" Fujii (TBM prez) has promised an XRCD version."

ripped at 320 kbps, hope you'll enjoy and testify
part one
part two

pop74

.

well, here's a collector's one for you beat/breakdiggers out there.
a gift from a great friend of mine who stumbled on several fresh mint copies on a street corner a few years ago and made a small fortune on ebay and records dealers back when library music was the craze.
jean claudric used to be a popular composer and conductor for various french commercial artists, namely anybody from michel sardou to annie cordy-which could certainly be held against him, as french bloggers will undoubtely testify.
anyway it's a light funky session you might enjoy while i'm warmin'up for further more serious posts...
feel free to leave your feedback and comments
pop 74
on Jasmin Productions

1. shooting star
2. gust of wind
3. a trump card
4. hurly burly
5. stifling night
6. high cranberry
7. dog days
8. misdeal
9. it looks like rain
10. mildness

relief from muscular pain

seb, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

SEBASTIEN TELLIER
L'ENFANCE D'UN CHIEN
UNE VIE DE PAPA
L'INCROYABLE VERITE
record makers, 2001
first recording launched on RECORD MAKERS, electronic pop superduo AIR's own label, L'INCROYABLE VERITE was marketed as some innovative postmodern musical artefact: no drums, some kazoo and obsessive piano playing. hum, which sounded rather frightening. on the sleeve art, sebastien's beardie-dandy looks weren't helping much in terms of seduction and then there was so much hype around, i totally blacked it out.
however, a few months later the album landed home as a gift and with such titles as "l'enfance d'un chien" (a dog's childhood) or "a daddy's life" (une vie de papa), it couldn't be that bad. fact is, some true magic and poetic moments are to be found here.
later on, one of his tracks, "fantino" even found its way to the "Lost in translation" soundtrack; how about that as hype goes by?
in 2004, seb's 2nd opus POLITICS raised tacky cover art at even higher stakes (in a good way) and a classic track found its way in all the major league DJ bags worldwide: LA RITOURNELLE.

before france burns down (it's about time, baby), grab your own copies of these weird gems
at your favorite music dealers.

are you going with me?

m&m, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

MAMANI KEITA & MARC MINELLI
N'KA WILLY
ELECTRO BAMAKO
emarcy, 2001
palm, 2003
a sunny one from the heart, for your souls and feet. play on repeat mode until the neighbors drop in, with a smile on their face and party all night long.
you'll get all the info you need about this band
HERE
and i hope you'll hop THERE to do yerself a big favor. luvs

in your own sweet way

kenny&pete, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

KENNY WERNER
IN YOUR OWN SWEET WAY
SWEET SOUL
peter erskine
novus, 1991
in my wonderland of piano players,KENNY WERNER holds a special place. i discovered him on THIS very good peter erskine album and fell for his very personal take on dave brubeck's standard, full of surprises, fun and puns.

we got by

al, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

AL JARREAU
TAKE FIVE
WE GOT BY
LOOK TO THE RAINBOW
warner bros, 1977
so it's been a year now since i launched this musical blog. i hope some people grabbed here a little fun and a few musical discoveries, just as i did myself wandering across the everchanging blogosphere. there's so many of us now i admit i kinda lost track of everybody and stopped updating some ridiculous never-ending linklist but i'll try to behave, someday...
dedicated to whom it may concern and took time to share (you know who you are), here's some classic favorites of mine from an outstanding moment by AL JARREAU, one of the true last jazz singer.
i confess i'm not a fan of all al's past and current efforts but his first albums were cool and this early live recording sums up his talents, offering the right balance of funky grooves, jazz jams, ballads and vocal acrobatics, provided by one of his best back-up bands: tom canning on keyboards, abe laboriel on bass, joe correro/drums and lynn blessing on vibes.
one of the show's highlights is al's inspired version of paul desmond's "take five"-probably the ultimate scat xtravaganza, while "we got by" is one of my def classic fave song and the perfect closing track for any reverie set, hence the right one to celebrate together our 1-year anniversary online.
do yourself a favour and indulge in a birthday present HERE
much love to everybody.

the sweetest things i know

sweeties, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

SWEET SABLE
OLD TIMES SAKE
street life, 1993
LAUREN HYLL
THE SWEETEST THING
ruffhouse/sony, 1997
as late summer vibes, two very special musical and soulful memories:
with a few years in between, i first heard both tracks on the radio while drivin' around the atlanta area, which make them very special to my heart and soul.
SWEET SABLE's track was featured on the def classic "above the rim" soundtrack and uses a catchy portion of eddie kendrick's "intimate friends". production is by NIKKE NICOLE and i really dig the relaxed/phat/muffled scratch sound that underlines the breaks.
same kind of laid-back scratchism and cool guitar chords on LAURYN HILL's track, it just gave me goosebumps then and i remember making a detour up to wax'n'facts where that cool heavy dude gave me a promo copy!
xcept for a featuring on GURU's Jazzamatazz vol.2 back in '95, miss sable seems to have vanished in nu-soul divas' mist but you can get lauryn's track on the very good LOVE JONES: THE MUSIC SOUNDTRACK , which is a soulful goldmine compilation featuring MAXWELL, DIONNE FARRIS, LARENZ TATE, MARCUS MILLER & ME'SHELL (yes, the rush over track), KENNY LATIMORE among others.
btw, i realize this blog is almost 1-year old! i'll try to be back real soon (next week) in order to celebrate.

you must believe in spring

sweets, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

SWEETBACK
GAZE
w/AMEL LARRIEUX
AU NATURAL
w/BAHAMADIA
CHORD
sweetback
sony/epic,1996
well, as summer seems to fade away, sweet sounds are requested to carry on and ease our move into these sudden early evenings and scattered leaves.
one of my all-time classic albums is
SWEETBACK 's first opus. STUART MATTHEWMAN, ANDREW HALE and PAUL DENMAN form a trio mostly renowned as helen folaSADE adu musical partners in crime. that should tell you a lot but it's not even close to the beauty of it. i envy you if you don't know this album yet because you're about to be blessed. mostly instrumental, the album's line-up includes maxwell, amel larrieux and bahamadia, offering pure gems of sultry vocals. just click HERE and feel an ultimate chill experience.
unfortunately, i was sadly disappointed by their 2004 second effort, STAGE 2. it's been almost 10 years between the two albums and believe me i gave it a good try but didn't find that ol' black magic.
speaking of new albums, thanks to AURGASM who reviewed CLOSER, BEADY BELLE's latest album on jazzland: i'm joining the choir for praise.
relax, sit back and close your eyes.

precision on the cut

rob, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

ROB SWIFT
ROB SWIFT MEETS CHARLIE PARKER
SOME MAX OUT SHIT
WHO SAMPLED THIS?
day by day, 2003
here's one to start the week under a groove and a smile on yer face, taken from a not-so-fresh mixtape-style cd by turntable wizard ROB SWIFT
for obvious copyright reasons, the cd has the particularity of revealing absolutely no info about the original material "borrowed" by rob: a shame for both sound diggers and lazy lawyers. the gold nuggets' titles are replaced by funny or blank descriptions such as: funk time, fraudulent fakes or shady beats (jacques loussier's/eminem breaks).
it's a very creative hip-hop block party album with enuff scratching xtravaganza to keep the serious fans focused and plenty of heart &soul grooves to cruise or chill at home.
i thought the "who sampled this?" was part of a concept series but it's not, maybe the cool guys at DBD should jump on the idea and send their BUDDIES back on tracks to deliver the goods. nod and enjoy.

wood is a pleasant thing to think about

pat, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

PATRICIA BARBER
ODE TO BILLY JOE/gone<
w/michael arnopol (b), mark walker (d)
from CAFE BLUE, blue note,1994
THE BEAT GOES ON/gone
w/michael arnopol (b), eric montzka (d), john mclean (g)
from COMPANION, blue note,1999

well, lately i've been listening to some of patricia barber's records that fit my summer moods perfectly, then i used to feel the same way comes winter, fall or spring. of course you'll find all the info you want HERE
signed on the prestigious blue note label; though i'm not sure it means anything anymore: french singer keren ann being a labelmate now... critically speaking, i'm not sure she gets the props she deserves compared to the norahs, dianas, etc. maybe a hard-boiled dedicated jazz fan hopefully will give me his feedback (hi, nick francis!). found this nice info online about her : "critics can't always agree on the genre patricia barber falls into, saying she fits somewhere between billie holiday and joni mitchell, but barber knows exactly where she stands."i would define it as jazz. i'm going to insist that my years of sucking in smoke and playing for $100 a night entitle me to assert this is jazz".
patricia's discography is impressive and she probably tours a lot so be sure to catch her live in a club nearby. her own material is great but i really like her standards covers. SUMMERTIME is one of her early gems and a favorite (visit HERE). hope these few classic tracks will make you want more and go shopping at your local sound dealer, hey, these guys need to make a living too. cheerz.