mick’s blog

Colin Bailey

July 9, 2022

Colin James Bailey (9 July 1934 – 20 September 2021) was British-born American jazz drummer.

Born in Swindon, England, in 1934, Bailey learned to play drums as a child, studying formally from age seven. His first band was the Nibs, when he was 7, which consisted of two accordions, banjo and drums. He toured with Winifred Atwell from 1952–1956, and performed at the London Palladium for Queen Elizabeth (1952). He lived in Australia from 1958 into the early 1960s, playing in the staff band for Channel 9 TV. In Sydney, he played with Bryce Rohde and the Australian Jazz Quartet, backing musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. When the AJQ toured the U.S., Bailey was hired by Vince Guaraldi, with Monty Budwig on bass. This trio played with Jimmy Witherspoon, Ben Webster, and Gene Ammons for the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. In 1962, they recorded the album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, which included the hit “Cast Your Fate To The Wind“. In 1963, he moved to Los Angeles to play with the Victor Feldman Trio, returning to San Francisco the following year to record Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown with Guaraldi. Bailey also performed with Guaraldi on the Peanuts television specials A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) and He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968).

Bailey worked with Clare Fischer (1963–1964), Joe Pass (for 14 years, and made 14 records) and Miles Davis (1963). He toured worldwide with Benny Goodman in 1964–1965, played on the first Regis Philbin show with Terry Gibbs, and toured with George Shearing (1964-1967). In 1967 he recorded with Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim. He also spent time with Chet Baker, Ray Brown, João Gilberto, and Blossom Dearie (1975).

see full post...

Mercedes Sosa

July 9, 2022

Haydée Mercedes Sosa 9 July 1935 – 4 October 2009), sometimes known as La Negra (literally: ‘The Black One’, an affectionate nickname for people with a darker complexion in Argentina), was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout Latin America and many countries outside the region. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of El nuevo cancionero. She gave voice to songs written by many Latin American songwriters. Her music made people hail her as the “voice of the voiceless ones”.

Sosa performed in venues such as the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Théâtre Mogador in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, as well as sell-out shows in New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Roman Colosseum during her final decade of life. Her career spanned four decades and she was the recipient of six Latin Grammy awards (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011), including a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and two posthumous Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2009 and 2011. She won the Premio Gardel in 2000, the main musical award in Argentina. She served as an ambassador for UNICEF.

see full post...

FREE UKRAINE Joryj Kłoc

July 9, 2022

see full post...

Daily Roots Black Uhuru

July 9, 2022

see full post...

Cosmos Rho Ophiuchi

July 8, 2022

The clouds surrounding the star system Rho Ophiuchi compose one of the closest star forming regions. Rho Ophiuchi itself is a binary star system visible in the light-colored region on the image right. The star system, located only 400 light years away, is distinguished by its colorful surroundings, which include a red emission nebula and numerous light and dark brown dust lanes. Near the upper right of the Rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud system is the yellow star Antares, while a distant but coincidently-superposed globular cluster of stars, M4, is visible between Antares and the red emission nebula.

see full post...

Jaimoe

July 8, 2022

John Lee Johnson (born July 8, 1944), frequently known by the stage names Jai Johanny Johanson and Jaimoe, is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band.

Johanson played with a number of Muscle Shoals and Memphis soul acts in the early-mid 1960s, such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, as a session and touring drummer. While recording and touring he would meet the various members of what would become the Allman Brothers Band. One of the few bands at the time to employ two drummers, alongside Butch Trucks they drew on R&B, blues, jazz, country, and rock to create a unique variety of southern rock. Upon the death of founding bassist Berry Oakley, Johanson brought in frequent collaborator Lamar Williams to replace him. While on hiatus from the Allman Brothers Band in the late 1970s, he formed the band Sea Level around a core of former Allman Brother Band members including Williams and pianist/vocalist Chuck Leavell. He briefly rejoined the Allman Brothers in 1979, but left again in 1980 due to back problems, and spent much of the 1980s playing in local Macon, Georgia-area bands. He rejoined the Allman Brother Band in 1989, as the band transitioned from a southern rock sound to a more jam band feel, having added a third drummer/percussionist Marc Quiñones. The band continued to perform until formally retiring in 2014. Johanson has since fronted his own jazz outfit, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, and appeared with former Allman Brothers Band members for one-off reunions and in a number of different side projects.

Along with the other members of the Allman Brother Band, Johanson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. As of 2022, he and guitarist Dickey Betts are the two surviving original members of the Allman Brothers Band.

see full post...

Earl Van Dyke

July 8, 2022

Earl Van Dyke (July 8, 1930 – September 18, 1992) was an American soul musician, most notable as the main keyboardist for Motown Records‘ in-house Funk Brothers band during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Van Dyke, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, was preceded as keyboardist and bandleader of the Funk Brothers by Joe Hunter. In the early 1960s, he also recorded as a jazz organist with saxophonists Fred Jackson and Ike Quebec for the Blue Note label.

Besides his work as the session keyboardist on Motown hits such as “Bernadette” by The Four Tops, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye and “Runaway Child, Running Wild” by The Temptations, Van Dyke performed with a small band as an opening act for several Motown artists, and released instrumental singles and albums himself. Several of Van Dyke’s recordings feature him playing keys over the original instrumental tracks for Motown hits; others are complete covers of Motown songs.

see full post...

Johnnie Johnson

July 8, 2022

Johnnie Clyde Johnson (July 8, 1924 – April 13, 2005) was an American pianist who played jazz, blues and rock and roll. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for breaking racial barriers in the military, as he was a Montford Point Marine – where the African-American unit endured racism and inspired social change while integrating the previously all-white Marine Corps during World War II.

Johnson was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, United States. He began playing the piano in 1928. He joined the United States Marine Corps during World War II and became a member of Bobby Troup‘s all-serviceman jazz orchestra, the Barracudas. After his service, he moved to Detroit and then Chicago, where he sat in with many notable artists, including Muddy Waters and Little Walter.

see full post...

Louis Jordan

July 8, 2022

Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975 Brinkley, AK) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as “The King of the Jukebox“, he earned his highest profile towards the end of the swing era. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “early influence” in 1987.

Jordan was a talented singer with great comedic flair, and he fronted his own band for more than twenty years. He duetted with some of the biggest solo singing stars of his time, including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Jordan was also an actor and a film personality—he appeared in dozens of “soundies” (promotional film clips); the one for “Caldonia” is the most readily available for viewing on various websites. He also made numerous cameos in mainstream features and short films, and starred in two musical feature films made especially for him. He was an instrumentalist who played all forms of the saxophone but specialized in the alto. He also played the piano and clarinet.

Jordan began his career in big-band swing jazz in the 1930s, but he became known as one of the leading practitioners, innovators and popularizers of jump blues, a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues and boogie-woogie. Typically performed by smaller bands consisting of five or six players, jump music featured shouted, highly syncopated vocals and earthy, comedic lyrics on contemporary urban themes. It strongly emphasized the rhythm section of piano, bass and drums; after the mid-1940s, this mix was often augmented by electric guitar. Jordan’s band also pioneered the use of the electronic organ.

With his dynamic Tympany Five bands, Jordan mapped out the main parameters of the classic R&B, urban blues and early rock-and-roll genres with a series of highly influential 78-rpm discs released by Decca Records. These recordings presaged many of the styles of black popular music of the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and exerted a strong influence on many leading performers in these genres. Many of his records were produced by Milt Gabler, who went on to refine and develop the qualities of Jordan’s recordings in his later production work with Bill Haley, including “Rock Around the Clock“.

Jordan ranks fifth in the list of the most successful African-American recording artists according to Joel Whitburn‘s analysis of Billboard magazine’s R&B chart, and was the most popular rhythm and blues artist with his “jump blues” recordings of the pre-Rock n’ Roll era. Though comprehensive sales figures are not available, he had at least four million-selling hits during his career. Jordan regularly topped the R&B “race” charts and was one of the first black recording artists to achieve significant crossover in popularity with the mainstream (predominantly white) American audience, having simultaneous Top Ten hits on the pop charts on several occasions.

see full post...

Flamenco Fridays Paco de Lucia

July 8, 2022

What makes this video special – the clarity of rhythmic music in Eva’s solo Soleares por Bulerías reveals the opportunity of taconeo  and remates and the beauty of flamenco dance structure and rhythms collaborating through music and dance

A favorite dance among professional artists, Soleá por bulerías consists of a series of letras that include breaks of one or more compáses within the letra. Dancers will include “remates” – fast finishes or moments/spurts of footwork, for example, after the 1st line of a letra, which is standard practice, and even at the end of a compás while the singer is still singing. This creates a lively structure, though the dance and music also retains a majestic quality.

There is no standard music for the escobilla in this dance, though it’s parent form. the Soleares has easily recognizable music for its escobilla. Dancers usually request rhythm music in the tone and key of Soléa por bulerías for extended footwork sequences. The dance follows the same structure as the Soleares.

Guitar falsetas are often included as both an introduction to the song/dance, and throughout the dance as a vehicle for the dancer. Singers admire this song, and if they perform solo versions with the guitarist only, they usually sing anywhere from 2 to 20 letras in a performance. The Soléa por bulerías and Soleares por medio are often performed together.

For our purposes, there are four features that distinguish the soleá por bulerías:

  • The compás starts on 12, and is identical to that of the Alegrías;

  • The pace is that of a slow to mid-tempo bulerías;

  • The letras follow the form of soleares letras, though the repeats at the end of phrases can vary and are often extended;

  • Often, although by no means always, there is a descending bass line in the guitar of D-C-Bb-A on beats 7-10, echoing similar lines found in soleares.

see full post...

Daily Roots Johnny Clarke

July 8, 2022

see full post...

Cosmos NGC 6914

July 7, 2022

A study in contrasts, this colorful skyscape features stars, dust, and glowing gas in the vicinity of NGC 6914. The interstellar complex of nebulae lies some 6,000 light-years away, toward the high-flying northern constellation Cygnus and the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Obscuring interstellar dust clouds appear in silhouette while reddish hydrogen emission nebulae, along with the dusty blue reflection nebulae, fill the cosmic canvas. Ultraviolet radiation from the massive, hot, young stars of the extensive Cygnus OB2 association ionize the region’s atomic hydrogen gas, producing the characteristic red glow as protons and electrons recombine. Embedded Cygnus OB2 stars also provide the blue starlight strongly reflected by the dust clouds. The over 1 degree wide telescopic field of view spans about 100 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914.

see full post...

Ringo Starr

July 7, 2022

Sir Richard Starkey MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, usually for one song on each album, including “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help from My Friends“. He also wrote and sang the Beatles songs “Don’t Pass Me By” and “Octopus’s Garden“, and is credited as a co-writer of others.

Starr was afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, with periods of prolonged hospitalisation. He briefly held a position with British Railbefore securing an apprenticeship as a machinist at a Liverpool school equipment manufacturer. Soon afterwards, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze and developed a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he co-founded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, which earned several prestigious local bookings before the fad succumbed to American rock and roll around early 1958. When the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success in the UK and Hamburg, he quit the Hurricanes when he was asked to join the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best.

In addition to the Beatles’ films, Starr has acted in numerous others. After the band’s break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles including the US top-ten hit “It Don’t Come Easy“, and number ones “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen“. His most successful UK single was “Back Off Boogaloo“, which peaked at number two. He achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top-ten release in both the UK and the US. He has featured in numerous documentaries, hosted television shows, narrated the first two series of the children’s television program Thomas & Friends and portrayed “Mr. Conductor” during the first season of the PBS children’s television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, he has toured with thirteen variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

Starr’s playing style, which emphasised feel over technical virtuosity, influenced many drummers to reconsider their playing from a compositional perspective. He also influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings. In his opinion, his finest recorded performance was on the Beatles’ “Rain“. In 1999, he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named him the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. He was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a Beatle in 1988 and as a solo artist in 2015, and appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music. In 2020, he was cited as the wealthiest drummer in the world, with a net worth of $350 million.

see full post...

Joe Zawinul

July 7, 2022

Josef Erich Zawinul ( 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007)  was an Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, a musical genre that combined jazz with rock. He co-founded the groups Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. He pioneered the use of electric piano and synthesizer, and was named “Best Electric Keyboardist” twenty-eight times by the readers of DownBeat magazine.

Zawinul grew up in Vienna, Austria. Accordion was his first instrument. When he was six or seven, he studied clarinet, violin, and piano at the Vienna Conservatory (Konservatorium Wien). During the 1950s he was a staff pianist for Polydor. He worked as a jazz musician with Hans Koller, Friedrich Gulda, Karl Drewo, and Fatty George. In 1959 he moved to the U.S. to attend Berklee College of Music, but a week later he received a job offer from Maynard Ferguson, so he left school and went on tour. He then accompanied Dinah Washington. He spent most of the 1960s with Cannonball Adderley. During this time he wrote “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and “Walk Tall”, and “Country Preacher” and played electric piano. At the end of the decade he recorded with Miles Davis on In a Silent Way as Davis was establishing the genre of jazz fusion, combining jazz with rock.

see full post...

Hank Mobley

July 7, 2022

HenryHankMobley (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone”, a metaphor used to describe his tone, that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz, and his style that was laid-back, subtle and melodic, especially in contrast with players like Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. The critic Stacia Proefrock claimed him “one of the most underrated musicians of the bop era.” Mobley’s compositions included “Double Exposure,” “Soul Station”, and “Dig Dis,” among others.

Mobley was born in Eastman, Georgia, but was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, near Newark. He described himself as coming from a musical family and spoke of his uncle playing in a jazz band. As a child, Mobley played piano.

see full post...

Tiny Grimes

July 7, 2022

LloydTinyGrimes (July 7, 1916 – March 4, 1989) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a recording session with Charlie Parker. He is notable for playing the electric tenor guitar, a four-stringed instrument.

Grimes was born in Newport News, Virginia, United States, and began his musical career playing drums and one-fingered piano. In 1938 he took up the electric four-string tenor guitar. In 1940 he joined the Cats and the Fiddle as guitarist and singer. In 1943 he joined the Art Tatum Trio as guitarist and made a number of recordings with Tatum.

After leaving Tatum, Grimes recorded with his own groups in New York and with a long list of leading musicians, including vocalist Billie Holiday. He made four recordings with his own group, augmented with Charlie Parker: “Tiny’s Tempo”, “Red Cross”, “Romance Without Finance”, and “I’ll Always Love You Just the Same”, the latter two featuring Grimes’ singing.

see full post...

World Music Spondi

July 7, 2022

see full post...

Daily Roots Bob Andy

July 7, 2022

see full post...

Rhythm Roots Workshop

July 6, 2022

Teaching a Rhythm Roots Workshop @ Walker Methodist Health Center (https://www.walkermethodist.org/locations/health-center). Working with Seniors celebrating world drumming and world cultures. On Wednesdays July 6th thru August 31st 2022. 1030am-noon.

see full post...

Cosmos CGCG 396-2

July 6, 2022

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observation has captured the galaxy CGCG 396-2, an unusual multi-armed galaxy merger which lies around 520 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion.

This observation is a gem from the Galaxy Zoo project, a citizen science project in which hundreds of thousands of volunteers classified galaxies to help scientists solve a problem of astronomical proportions — how to sort through the vast amounts of data generated by robotic telescopes. Following a public vote, a selection of the most astronomically intriguing objects from the Galaxy Zoo were selected for follow-up observations with Hubble. CGCG 396-2 is one such object, and was captured in this image by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The Galaxy Zoo project originated when an astronomer was set an impossibly mind-numbing task; classifying more than 900 000 galaxies by eye. By making a web interface and inviting citizen scientists to contribute to the challenge, the Galaxy Zoo team was able to crowdsource the analysis, and within six months a legion of 100 000 volunteer citizen astronomers had contributed more than 40 million galaxy classifications.
Since its initial success, the Galaxy Zoo project and its successor projects have contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and led to a rich variety of intriguing astronomical discoveries above and beyond their initial goals. The success of the project also inspired more than 100 citizen science projects on the Zooniverse portal, ranging from analysing data from the ESA Rosetta spacecraft‘s visit to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to counting killer whales around remote Alaskan islands!

see full post...

Interviews