THE new music blog

If you’re wondering where all the wonderful commentary from this blog has moved to, here’s a hint: I’m now writing another blog, focusing on music. It’s called Traveler Blues. Read it. Devour it. Memorize it’s teachings.

The year passes, as do a pair of jazz legends

In the past two weeks, jazz — and music in general — lost a pair of elder statesmen that will be truly missed. Legendary producer Joel Dorn (b. 1942), who spent years at Atlantic Records and is perhaps best known for his collaborations with reed man Rahsaan Roland Kirk, passed away on Dec. 17. And jazz pianist Oscar Peterson (b. 1925), one of the last living masters from jazz’s golden ages, passed on Sunday. Next to Monk, I don’t know if there are any pianists I love more than Peterson. You can read recent items on Dorn here and here, and on Peterson here and here. Also passing earlier in the year was Max Roach (b. 1924), quite possibly the greatest jazz drummer who ever lived. Read about Roach here and here.

[Update: You can find another good write-up on Joel Dorn here.] 

New trailer for upcoming Scorsese film on the Rolling Stones

Barrett has once again alerted me to a very hot tip (and reminded me that this is a blog I should check out more often). He sent me an e-mail this morning directing me to the new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming rock documentary on the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light (the title is taken from a song from the Stones album Exile on Main St.).

[You can also see a more high-def version of the trailer at the film's official website.]

The film was originally supposed to come out in September, but now has apparently been pushed to April. It documents a Stones show from ‘06 at New York City’s Beacon Theater, where the Allman Brothers have also recorded a number of well-renowned gigs. Having seen the Stones last year with Marsha in Wichita, I can attest that they’re still very entertaining live, despite their advanced age (I believe Mick, Keef, Charlie and Ron are all now in their 60s), and the film trailer seems to back that up. The film also features behind-the-scenes footage of events leading up to the performance, as well as some archival clips of the band.

One slight concern — and I’m sure I’m not the only one to voice it — is the guest appearance of pop vixen Christina Auguilera, joining Mick on the song “Live With Me”. That being said, the girl has a got a dynamite voice, and she’s done some respectable work the past couple years, including a good rendition of the Leon Russel number “A Song for You” on one of Herbie Hancock’s recent albums. And to make up for any bubble gum confusion, Shine a Light also includes guest appearances from Buddy Guy — one of the last living blues legends — and Jack White of the White Stripes.

Scorsese, the filmmaker responsible for such classics as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and The Departed, also has a lot of credibility when it comes to rock docs. He made The Last Waltz, released in 1978, which chronicled the final concert of The Band, and which is often regarded as the best film ever in the genre. And in 2005, he released No Direction Home, a stellar look at Bob Dylan’s career in the ’60s. After viewing the trailer for this new film, it looks like he’s crafted another gem.

[And in case you were wondering about my opinion, dear reader: Yes, the Stones are the best rock n' roll band in the history of the world. And yes, I'm very excited about this film. I'm praying to all things holy and decent that it receives a showing on the big screen here in OKC. They still haven't brought the new Dylan film here yet, and it's not even a documentary!]

[One more addendum: As if all this weren't enough, you can also watch the new trailer for The Dark Knight, the next installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. Due out next summer. Looks incredible.]

Led Zeppelin reunites for London show

Fans and music writers had speculated about it for over two-and-a-half decades, and now it’s finally happened. Monday night, the British blues-rock band Led Zeppelin reunited in London for what will surely become a legendary performance.

The show, part of a larger commemoration of the life of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, had been touted as the band’s first full-fledged reunion concert since they split up following drummer John Bonham’s death in 1980, though they did later perform two brief shows, one in 1985 and another in ‘88. In preparation for Monday’s concert, the three remaining members — singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones — held long rehearsals with their new drummer, Bonham’s son, Jason. The show was hyped for months in the press, including on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone, and by the music industry, and came shortly after the release of a couple new Zeppelin boxed sets. (I don’t know which was planned first, the reunion concert or the boxed sets, but the former is bound to boost sales of the latter.)

Finally the date arrived, and by all accounts, the resulting spectacle was magnificent. Everyone from The Sun in Britain, to the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Wall Street Journal had great things to say. And the event even gave some blogger the chance to theorize on the Huffington Post about how the band has brought the western world and eastern Islam closer together. (Okay…)

Whatever the analysis, I just hope the wishful thinking that a U.S. tour is to follow will be realized. I believe Cream’s recent reunion tour did well, and surely a Zeppelin tour would be one of the biggest sellers of the decade.

Other tidbits related to Monday’s event:

• Check out the set list here. I certainly did not expect to see “In My Time of Dying”, “For Your Life”, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, or “No Quarter” on there, but I’m so glad they are. (And apparently this was the first time “For Your Life” has ever been played live.)
• On a similar note, despite the chagrin of this writer (and, I’ll admit, despite my own as well), the band did play “Stairway to Heaven”.
• Another interesting facet to the Zeppelin story is a new one for many fans of the band: cracking down on the uploading of clips from Monday’s concert to YouTube. Read one story on the topic here. For the record, I’ve tried viewing about 10 or so different clips, and none of them work. Dang it. Hopefully they’ll release it on DVD ASAP.

[Special thanks to Barrett for pointing my attention to some of the linked articles.]

Talkin’ ’bout “The Dark Knight”, “I’m Not There”

Somehow, yesterday (I don’t remember how it got started), I found myself searching for all things related to The Dark Knight, the next installation of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman series, due out next summer. For those of you who don’t think Nolan’s first effort, 2005’s Batman Begins, is by far the greatest Batman film yet, well, you’re just wrong. In fact, as a guy who doesn’t usually go nuts over superhero movies (but who is a Batman fan), I can honestly say that it’s one of my favorite movies period.

Anyway, I’m particularly interested in what will be the outcome of actor Heath Ledger’s portrayal of über-villain the Joker in Knight. Clearly, the guy doesn’t like to be typecast, seeing as how he’s portrayed everything from a heartthrob, to a skate bum mentor, to a drug addict. And there was that western he did, and his turn as Casanova immediately following in a thinly veiled attempt to let people know that he still likes girls. But forgetting all that, if you’ve seen the still frame of him as the Joker, or read some of the comments he’s made about the role, you’d agree that we have reason to expect good things.

I’m also eager to see his performance in the new Bob Dylan pseudo-biopic I’m Not There, in which he portrays an avatar of Dylan’s late-1960s, early ’70s period, during which Dylan was in extreme demand, yet became somewhat isolated from both the rest of the world and his earlier role as a voice of the ’60s. In the film, Ledger plays one of at least six different versions of the Dylan mystique. [Batman himself, or at least the actor Christian Bale who portrays him in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, also plays one of the Dylans in I'm Not There. Crazy.]

To sum up, here’s a good New York Times article on Ledger as an actor.

It’s fall, and so I’m listening to Neil Young

It must be fall. Autumn. A glorious time – my favorite season of the year – when the air gets cool and the colors change. Some call it “football weather”. Whatever it is, I love it. In Oklahoma, fall doesn’t last long; in reality, it’s summer here at least eight months out of the year. But even in those few short months (or maybe weeks) when we experience fall, I feel more alive than I do the entire rest of the year.

But that’s not why I know it must be fall. I know because I find myself impulsively listening to Neil Young. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another artist whose music screams “fall” quite like his. As I write this, I’m listening to a solo acoustic show of Young at Toronto’s Massey Hall in 1971 — one of the live archival releases from Young’s vaults that he’s started issuing in the past year. Every track gives the feeling of natural resignation, from the opener “On the Way Home” to highlights from albums like After the Gold Rush, which he’d just released, and still-in-progress numbers from the then-upcoming Harvest.

On this date, Young played acoustic guitar on most of the 17 tracks, and piano on the others. Some songs, like “Love in Mind”, “Bad Fog of Loneliness”, and the opener, I’d never heard before, and I love ‘em. The others are stripped-down arrangements of some of his classics. You’ve heard “Needle and the Damage Done” on solo acoustic, and possibly even “Cowgirl in the Sand”. But what about “Ohio”, “Helpless”, or “Down by the River”? I hadn’t, and I have to agree with an opinion I’ve heard elsewhere: only when you hear Young play his songs solo have you felt their full impact. Though this album was just released earlier this year, I’ve got to think it will become one of the definitive pieces in Young’s canon.

Young’s songs often look at the decay of things. But just like the message of one of his most autumnal tracks, “Don’t Let it Bring You Down”, after the decline, there’s hope that things will improve. Fall is a time when nature enters a period of decay, as part of the earth moves further from the sun’s warmth. Eventually we’ll get back to spring and summer. Still, with Young’s music and a brisk breeze, I could stay in autumn a while longer.

Another live Black Keys show on the web

Okay, this one’s even better than the one I highlighted in my previous post. Later in the afternoon, I did some more surfing, and I found this outstanding live video of the Black Keys from June 2006. According to Wikipedia, it’s a show they played in Amsterdam.

So, why’s this one better? Well, the show from the other post was from 2003, and this one’s from 2006. As a band, the Black Keys seem to be getting better and better with each passing year (month, even?), and that goes for their live shows, as well. With each record, and with each time I’ve seen their live performance, they seem to be refining their sound, yet they’re still exploring more of the space that can conceivably be covered by a band taking equal influence from both blues and punk music. I know, that’s saying a lot.

In this video, even more so than the other, the sound is clear, the picture is crisp, and the outcome is fantastic. Check it out. Now. I’m serious.

Live Black Keys video: full 2003 show from Austin, Tex.

I had no idea this was available. I feel like such a fool. Nonetheless, I believe I have a deep responsibility to move past my wounded pride and make sure you, dear reader, know about this video of a live Black Keys show from Oct. 2003 at the music venue Emo’s in Austin, Tex.

Apparently, a limited number of copies of the show were released on DVD, and it’s supposedly available in podcast form on iTunes (though I’ve tried many times to download it, and it never works). Based on the info I’ve found, what we have in this video that I’ve linked to above is the full show, almost 50 minutes; it’s incredible. The setlist is made up of songs from the band’s first two albums, both of which I also highly recommend (along with their other albums — let’s not forget those).

As for the band itself: the Black Keys are a couple guys from Ohio, both around 30 years in age, busting out the finest blues rock in decades — probably since Zeppelin. That’s right, you heard me. Like the White Stripes, to whom they’re often compared, the only instrumentation here is guitar, drums, and vocals (though I guess Jack White plays all kinds of other stuff, too, these days). Their style is also similar to the Stripes, loud and bluesy, though the Stripes are more erratic. The sound is raw and ragged, with lots of fuzz tones. And guitarist Dan Auerbach’s vocals are gritty, rough and extremely soulful, sounding nothing like any other band I’ve ever seen even remotely promoted by MTV.

In my opinion (which, let’s face it, counts for quite a bit), the Black Keys are the best rock band on the planet today. Period.

[Bonus: I also just discovered that the Keys have a free, four-track live album for download on their MySpace page (again, it's probably been there a while and I just didn't know). And they have a cut on the soundtrack to the new Bob Dylan psuedo-biopic, I'm Not There, a cover of Dylan's "The Wicked Messenger." All this stuff is good. I've never heard anything by the Keys that wasn't.]

Update: live music archives online, JFJO show

Had the chance to witness an incredible performance last night by the highly atypical piano jazz trio Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey in Norman. (You can read a brief preview of the show here.) The show was part of the 2007 fall Groovefest and was scheduled to be held outside in a park. But due to the threat of a lightning storm, it was moved inside to a small, hole-in-the-wall venue called the Deli. The energy was perfect, and the band absolutely tore it up.

The band recently took on a new, younger drummer, and the energy he brings is indispensible. If you’ve heard JFJO before, you know their music can be both electric and acoustic and can range from the avant-garde to more traditonal jazz by the likes of Ellington, Monk, and Mingus. But last night, in an all-electric show, they also brought the funk — even more so than usual — and they applied the punk aesthetic to a jazz trio in a way I’ve seldom heard before.

Needless to say, this morning I’ve been trying to find some live JFJO performances online that bear resemblance to the marvelous spectacle I observed last night. Of course, I checked out the Live Music Archive that I blogged about previously. But I also found some good stuff at nugs.net, and found some tracks that are quite similar to the ones I heard last night.

While I was at it, I browsed around the nugs site to check out what else is available from other artists. It appears that nugs serves as a clearing house of sorts, where interested persons can see what live digital recordings are out there, somewhere, online for, say, Phish, Widespread Panic, JFJO, or some other outfit that could potentially be labeled as a “jam band”. I guess, since tape trading became a popular thing initially among Grateful Dead fans, it only makes sense that most live digital music would be centered around the jam band scene.

And sure enough, another good place to find live digital downloads is at the website of the Bonnaroo festival — an annual event in Tennessee that began a few years ago to give all the jam bands and their fans a place to congregate and “freak out”. Also, if you’re a fan of Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, it looks like you can find some good stuff at this site, too.

I should point out that you have to pay for most of the downloads at the nugs and Bonnaroo sites (though nugs does have a “free stash“), while the downloads at the Live Music Archive are free. I don’t know if the quality of the pay-for shows are, on average, better than the free ones. But either way, there seems to be some good stuff out there.

And finally, here are links to some killer JFJO shows similar to last night’s; sound quality may vary. Some of the songs the band played last night were “Oklahoma Stomp”, “Dove’s Army of Love”, “Santiago”, and the closer, a cover of “Happiness is a Warm Gun”. Outstanding.

[Update: Just found a good article on another recent JFJO show that elaborates a little more on some of the aforementioned songs and states, quite rightly, that the fellas of JFJO are "on top of their game".]

Fans say Radiohead’s online-only album of poor sound quality, may just be marketing gimmick

I find this quite hilarious. According to this MTV News story, some Radiohead fans are peeved because they pre-ordered the band’s new album — which, in case you haven’t heard, is only available online – and then found out that it’s only available in a bit rate of 160. I don’t know much about bit rates (though Chris will hopefully explain it to me), but apparently a 160 bit rate is pretty lame, far inferior to the 320 bit rate that Radiohead allegedly distributes their other albums in, and far below CD quality (though Radiohead’s guitarist says 160 bits is still better than iTunes — I don’t know … Chris, please help!).

Some disgruntled fans are even going so far as to say this Internet-only release, in which you get to decide what you want to pay for the album — and which has been hailed as a revolutionary new approach that could shake up the music industry as we know it — wasn’t radical at all. It was just a bunch of pre-hype to get people ready for the release of the physical CD, due out next year. So it’s possible that the indie rock music intelligentsia (a long, pretentious list) just got played by one of their Lancelot bands. Priceless.

[On another note, regardless of your personal opinions about the state of MTV, have you looked at their website lately? Every time you refresh it, the background is different. The arrangement is essentially the same; only the background changes. I know, I know, they're surely not the first to do it. But still a cool idea.]