East certainly met West on Ananda Shankar’s eponymously titled first album from 1970. Shankar’s father was the Indian choreographer, Uday Shankar, while his more-famous uncle was the master sitar player, Ravi Shankar. Although, Ananda also became famous for playing sitar, he did not study under his uncle, but rather studied traditional Indian music with Lalmani […]
Song Of The Day – “Moon/Light” by Herbie Hancock and Foday Musa Suso
In West African culture, a griot is a musician and storyteller who holds all of the keys to the history of his people. It is the griot’s place in society to share that history through music, entertainment and poetry. The kora is a 21-string instrument that is the chief instrument accompanying a griot. Foday Musa […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Talaps Theme” by William Parker
Difficult listening doesn’t have to be difficult. It’s all about perception, and given the ability to just let it all wash over you with an open mind, difficult listening can be real easy. Case in point is bassist William Parker’s 2007 free jazz album Petit Oiseau. Parker has one of the best working bands in […]
Song Of The Day – “The Magdalene Laundries” by Joni Mitchell
“Turbulent Indigo” was Joni Mitchell’s last great album. That’s not to say that all that followed wasn’t any good, it’s just that “Indigo” was her last consistently good album from beginning to end. Coming in on the heels of a trio of experimental records on the Geffen label – “Dog Eat Dog,” “Chalk Marks In […]
Song Of The Day – “Wings” by Tim Buckley
My sister is seven years my senior, and growing up she was my biggest musical influence introducing me to artists and albums I would have never otherwise discovered at such a young age. And so it was back in 1972 when she brought Tim Buckley’s album “Goodbye And Hello” home when I was eleven years […]
Song Of The Day – “Requiem For John Hurt” by John Fahey
I buy most of my music these days on line. I either purchase from Amazon where I can take advantage of free shipping, eBay where I can score clean copies of used records or directly from record labels like Polyvinyl and Third Man Records. Earlier today I got a rush and went down to a […]
Song Of The Day – “Easy Money” by King Crimson
Nothing can match the rush you get from hearing a newly remastered version of a record you’ve lived with for nearly 40 years, especially if the remastering job is done right. It’s all about the nuances you never knew were there that magically appear, making something that had been so ingrained in your memory sound […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Jack’s Lament” by Danny Elfman from “Nightmare Before Chiristmas”
Halloween is in the air…and so is the greatest Halloween and Christmas film ever made! Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” has become a modern-day classic. The film had a ten-year gestation period and was released in October of 1993. The soundtrack was composed and mostly performed by Danny Elfman, who was a member of the […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Born To Sing” by Van Morrison
I’m always fascinated by how the record companies approach the marketing of their legacy artists. To the record company, legacy artists are loss leaders, they have name value but don’t sell the number of records they used to. Many of these artists are either kept on their label’s roster for their marquee value, or they […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Aurora” by Oregon
Orgeon is a progressive Jazz quartet that created a singular sound all of their own by melding a then New Age sensibility (before New Age was a genre) with Indian sensibilities. Featuring phenomenal musicianship courtesy of the world-class talents of Ralph Towner on guitar, Paul McCandless on reeds, Glen Moore on piano and the late, […]
