What's On Samb's Mind (created 5.23.09 / updated 5.21.10)

9.12.09: OK, so I've been complaining about the lack of music associated with Winston Salem's Wherehouse for long enough...

Yes, I actually did something about it,so click on the image above and check it out! (P.S.: I have been working frantically on our house, my head, and supporting Mary while MOC closes and BOC opens. Unfortunately something had to be sacrificed, and me Blog was it. I promise, I WILL be adding more when I can find the time.

5.23.09: OK, so I've been designing webpages, but not having my own outlet for too dang long!

Oh, crap. Now that I've started this page I won't be able to stop talking about music. Anyone surprised? I think not.

Last night (5.24.09) I heard a version of Miles Davis' most famous tune "So What" on the radio and it was excellent! I was one of those moments where you have to sit in the driveway and wait for the song to finish to find out who it is. Turns out that it's a recording released about a year ago that I somehow missed, called "Miles From India." It is an unbelievable session featuring nearly every player involved with Miles who's still alive. The list is something like: saxophonists Dave Liebman (1972-74) and Gary Bartz (1970-71), guitarists Mike Stern (1981-84), Pete Cosey (1973-76) and John McLaughlin (1969-72), bassists Ron Carter (1963-69), Michael Henderson (1970-76), Marcus Miller (1981-1984), Benny Rietveld (1987-91), keyboardists Chick Corea (1968-72), Adam Holzman (1985-87) and Robert Irving III (1980-88), drummers Jimmy Cobb (1958-63), Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler (1971), Lenny White (1969) and Vince Wilburn (1981, 1984-1987) and tabla player Badal Roy (1972-3).

As you can probably tell from the title, these cats are joined by a contingent of high-class Indian players like: keyboardist Louiz Banks, drummer Gino Banks, American-born alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, sitarist Ravi Chari, Vikku Vinayakram (a charter member of Shakti) on ghatam, V. Selvaganesh (a member of Shakti and Remember Shakti) on khanjira, U. Shrinivas (from Remember Shakti) on electric mandolin, Brij Narain on sarod, Dilshad Khan on sarangi, Sridhar Parthasarathy on mridangam, Taufiq Qureshi and A. Sivamani on percussion, Kala Ramnath on Carnatic violin, Rakesh Chaurasia on flute and Shankar Mahadevan & Sikkil Gurucharan on Indian classical vocals. After hearing the one song I ordered it from Amazon & hope to blow my wife's mind with it soon! If this sounds at all interesting to you, I highly recommend it just based on one track from this 2-disc set.

Here's a link to a sample of "Great Expectations".

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I just got home from a great show at The Garage.

Firstly, Shalini's REVOLVE Film Festival hosted an event there tonight (5.23.09) where Don Dixon and Mitch Easter were interviewed by Parke Puterbaugh about the remaster of REM's first EP. How's that a Film Festival event? Well, it was filmed and will be posted on REM's website. How cool! Mitch even mentioned The Dickies; a largely overlooked but fantastic band that I love. Yay, Mitch! Then one of Mitch's groups played (it seems they're always changing their name; I think it was Lyrics 101 this time) and it was undoubtedly the tightest set I've heard from them in quite a while!

Next up was one of my favorite Winston bands; Jews & Catholics. They rocked it out as usual. Man, those two (and their drum machine) make an amazing amount of racket for just a duo! And I really like their songwriting style. They were telling me that they're set to record with Mitch at the helm, but somewhere between Mitch's fee and their record company's contribution they're a bit short. I've been brainstorming all night trying to come up with fund raising ideas. At this moment I don't have anywhere to send you if you wanted to contribute, but I'll say this... out of any musicians that I'm currently in contact with; Jews & Catholics should get to record with Mitch. I mean, that's just two great things that need to converge and explode! I can't explain just how staunchly I believe in the necessity of this project. Unfortunately I don't have enough to bankroll it myself; or I'd be in the "record business" as we speak. So, I'm doing the only other thing I can think of at the moment; which is sending out a call to anyone with the means to help Jews & Catholics make this happen. I'll find out their contact info ASAP, so get yer chechbooks ready. I'm not certain of the exact figure they're trying to hit, but even if like 50 people gave or loaned (or whatever) $25; they could do this. Alright, that's all I have to say about that right now; but rest assured I'm not finished by a long shot.

My buddies Cakes Of Light (Jay Dunbar, Brian Doub, Eric Jackson & John Bryan) just got back from a short tour, where they had a blast. Big word'em-up to the Tea House in Charlottesville, VA! They've been recording material with Ryan Pritz and have enough for like 2 albums. Can't wait to hear that stuff. Also, I heard that Ryan P joined Terrence & The Tall Boys at a recent show, on percussion and baritone sax. Wow, with the new keyboardist AND a b-sax; I can't wait to hear 'em!

Big ups to Corndawg, who played the Warehouse earlier this month. That guy is just too great! We even bought his "new" Bengali Bootleg; though we already had with the original cover. The new cover and the story behind it is totally worth the price!

Alright it's late (1 am) and I should be crashing. (Whew! That's a load off my mind.)

P.S. - Caricature of me by Mark Bowman. yup

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My buddy Brian Doub (see Cakes Of Light, above) has been going through an awakening of sorts, in which he has gotten into devotional music, for personal growth and performance. It's something I've found fascinatingly comforting over the years, and he's inspired me to re-engage with. Ever since I heard pocket trumpet master Don Cherry's Brown Rice album, I just fell in love with the mid and later part of his career. Only recently have I discovered a trio he was in, that are often credited with riding the forward cusp of 'World Music'. That term, unfortunately, has many abusers and negative connotations, so it has been so refreshing to discover a group practicing it in an gestational and pure form. If you are at all interested in devotional, or World music, and have not heard the three albums by Codona; you really should.