Brother To Brother - Let Your Mind Be Free (1976) 24-bit

Brother To Brother
Let Your Mind Be Free
Turbo Records (TU-7015)

 A1 Let Your Mind Be Free 3:28
A2 Visions 6:52
A3 Chance With You     4:46
A4 Phattenin'     3:28
B1 Groovy Day   2:54
B2 Take My Love   6:07
B3 Leavin' Me   6:17
B4 Joni   3:15

Ripping process
Vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply); Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 96khz; Click Repair light settings, sometimes turned off; individual clicks and pops taken out with Adobe Audition 3.0 - dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced (for 16-bit). Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.


   Bass Guitar – Jonathan Williams
   Congas, Voice, Other [Special Thanks] – Craig Derry
   Drums – Clarence Oliver
   Orchestrated By – Sammy Lowe
   Producer, Arranged By, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Clavinet, Organ, Voice – Billy Jones
   Producer, Piano, Synthesizer [Moog, Arp], Clavinet – Bernadette Randle
   Voice – Billy Brown, Joan Abbott, Linda Parker, Tommy Keith, Walter Morris


   Design , album artwork – Dudley Thomas
   Engineer – Allan Tucker, Richie Corsello
   Other [Special Thanks] – "Shag" Taylor, Al Goodman, Barry Diament, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Robinson


Recorded and mastered at Platinum Recording Studios, Englewood, New Jersey. All songs published by Gambi Music, Inc. (BMI)

A Division of All Platinum Record Group
Platinum Record Co. 1976

Doc Tucker
Yes, Billy Jones!!
[Etched “shout-outs” runout area A]

Bernadette Says Hi, Too
Tucker
[Etched “shout-outs” runout area B]



Imagine yourself walking into a decent-sized club in 1976 to catch a Kool and The Gang show only to find out that the bus carrying the horn section was broken down on the highway a hundred miles away.  The band perseveres and puts on a great show anyway.  That imaginary scenario is a little bit like what my first time listening to this record.  But it's an unfair characterization, because Brother To Brother does have their own sound, and could really write some great tunes.  The lack of a horn section gives lots of room for the other instruments.  In particular this is an analog keyboard-lovers wet dream.  The band had two keyboard players (both of whom double on other instruments in this largely studio-based project), and there are lovely textures of Fender Rhodes coupled with clavinet, Hammond organ, and even a dreamy Moog and Arp instrumental track.  The band is tight and lean but never showy, and there are a few long tracks that really stretch out, like the languid Latin-Soul of "Visions" and the fired-up funk of "Leavin' Me" which was apparently released as one of the singles.

Why did these guys never make it big, or at least bigger?  Well I don't know much about them.  The group was based around multi-instrumentalists Billy Jones and Bernadette Randle.  Their only big hit was a cover of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle", which ended up on their debut album.  Their albums were released on the Turbo imprint which was part of the Platinum family of labels founded by Sylvia Robinson, who also gets a co-writing credit on the only ballad here, "Take My Love."  Platinum (sometimes known as "All Platinum") eventually folded but Robinson reemerged with the famous and seminal Sugar Hill Records.  In 1976, the music world was flooded with funk, making these guys just a couple more fish in a big ocean.   I can testify that I have a lot of records with a few great tunes on them but a lot of filler, yet this album doesn't have any turkeys.  "Chance With You" should have been a hit song, and "Leavin' Me" is a monster although its length would probably keep it off the radio.  And it gets better with repeated listens.   The only ballad on the album, "Take My Love," has a really nice vibe but could have used a bridge section to break up its six-minute length.  I think that's a pretty minor quibble, though, especially given the obligatory inclusion of questionable ballads on funk albums by this point.  The cluster of inverted chords in the progression gives this is a nice midwestern-soul-jazz inflection.  I dig it.  The only other quibble is with the mastering of the LP:  there doesn't seem to be any.   I know that here in the digital realm we tend to bitch and moan about digital CD remastering.  Well in this case we're brought back to the original point of LP mastering in the first place - to give the tracks more consistency as a whole and give it all that little extra shimmer and magic.  The tracks are all recorded and mixed really well.  In fact I really like the production choices.  But some of the tunes fail to "jump out" at you like they deserve.  The obvious concession for a shot at a crossover  single, the Sly & the Patridge Family Stone-styled "Groovy Day" (the only song with horns, by the way), is the quietest song on the record, volume-wise.  And the difference between the quietest tune and the loudest tune on each album side is HUGE.  These mixes could have benefited from being run through a good tube limiter, or at least some adjustments of overall track levels and a little EQ to give the mixes some 'air' in the top end.   Oddly enough, a young Barry Diament gets a `thank you` on the album jacket, and he has an engineering credit on their next album.  Did he stop by the studio and give them some pointers?  Help set up their studio?  Because this was all recorded, mixed, and mastered in-house from the looks of it.

The song with the heaviest "vibe" on the whole album is undoubtedly the Latin opium dream of "Visions," which must be why I chose to play it on my podcast a while back.  I've come to just love this whole album.  A lot of variety on here.  The last two songs have some incredible bass guitar tones, with just the right amount of over-driven amplifier, and the instrumental "Joni" features fuzzy guitar runs and a weird disco-prog-rock arrangement.

In a few weeks or months or whenever, I'll share their next LP too.  Enjoy!
A couple of YouTube samples below

Flabbergasted Freeform Radio Hour #4 for May, 2013

Flabbergasted Freeform Radio Hour No.4 - May, 2013

 Tracklist to be posted in a week or so after people have had a chance to be surprised. I like surprises. Hence no setlist until later.

 Also, feel free to donate at Flattr or Paypal. I don't like soliciting for donations but it occurred to me that a Premium account at Soundcloud would enable hosting a few of these podcasts together and simultaneously. Right now I am limited to 2 hours on a basic account, which means it's necessary to delete each installment before sharing the next. But, you can also get the previous installments on the dedicated page here in case you missed them.

 abraços, abrazos, besos, beijos, y xoxo -F.

direct downloads -
 in 320

 in FLAC



 

Michael White - Spirit Dance / Pneuma (1972)

Michael White

SPIRIT DANCE
Impulse! – AS-9215  1972

A1 Spirit Dance
A2 The Tenth Pyramid
A3 John Coltrane Was Here
A4 Ballad For Mother Frankie White
B1 Samba  
B2 Unlocking The Twelfth House
B3 Praise Innocence

   Bass – Ray Drummond
   Percussion, Flute [Bamboo], Vocals – Baba Omson
   Piano – Ed Kelly
   Producer, Photography – Ed Michel
   Violin, Vocals – Michael White
   Vocals – Makeda , Wanika King

   Engineers – Ken Hopkins, Rick Stanley
   Mixed By – Baker Bigsby  
   Artwork and Photography – Philip Melnick

 
PNEUMA
Impulse! AS-9221

Pneuma (Part 1) 5:16
Pneuma (Part 2) 4:57
Pneuma (Part 3) 4:11
Pneuma (Part 4) 4:13
Pneuma (Part 5) 1:52
Ebony Plaza 9:18
Journey Of The Black Star 2:53
The Blessing Song 6:25



   Bass – Ray Drummond
   Engineer – Baker Bigsby
   Percussion – Kenneth Nash
   Piano – Edwin Kelly
   Producer – Ed Michel
   Violin – Michael White (2)
   Vocals – D. Jean Skinner, Faye Kelly, Joyce Walker, Leola Sharp




If you are a person for whom jazz violin is an acquired taste, then the notion of "free jazz violin" will probably send you running or at least reaching for the earplugs.  I confess that I am personally still grappling with the finer nuances of Leroy Jenkins and occasionally undergo a self-imposed "music appreciation course" at my house featuring his recordings.  So you could say I appreciate the fact that Michael White's music is not nearly as abrasive as Jenkins and in fact often crosses over into the downright accessible and melodic.  White has a lengthy resume that includes sideman gigs with people as diverse as John Handy and Sun Ra, but it was his electric proto-jazz-rock band The Fourth Way that led me to seek out these two albums.   Well neither "Spirit Dance" or "Pneuma" sound anything like The Fourth Way but if I felt any disappointment at that discovery, it didn't last long.  These are both excellent records.

Initially the listener is likely to be struck by what the records lack as opposed to what they offer - the absence of any horns whatsoever, as well as a traditional trap drum kit.  The versatile percussionists  (Baba Omsun for "Spirit Dance," Ken Nash for "Pneuma") manage to let you hardly miss the drums, and as for lack of reed or brass instruments.. well you'll just have to deal with it, because the tonal palette is a bit thin in the upper register at times.  The upside is that when he lost the horn charts, White gained not only a unique sound but also the flexibility that makes his avant-garde and free jazz flourishes more focused.  Considering the technical designation of the piano as a percussion instrument, Michael White is often the only voice here that isn't in the rhythm section, which liberates him to switch between riffing on melodies and freaking out at will.  The stuff stays grounded, though - there are quite a few shortish compositions with audible roots in blues and gospel, and the group often leans more towards modal jazz than free jazz.  Note the very brief use of an overdubbed violin at the end of the first track "Spirit Dance" here, too.  The turgid tabla of The Tenth Pyramid reminds me of the few months that I took tabla lessons - is this in tintal? - but it only lasts for four minutes so if sloppy faux-Indian jazz annoys you then at least your suffering will be brief.  "John Coltrane Was Here," besides having a great smile-inducing title for a tribute to the late deity, is a lovely modal piece with the almost requisite quotations from 'A Love Supreme.' It satisfies your nagging curiosity about what a violin-jazz invocation of Coltrane's spiritual vision would sound like.  Now that you know, you can finally sleep at night.  Again there is judicious use of overdubbing - is this cheating?  I'm not keeping score so I'll let it slide.  Another interesting piece here is the unimaginatively titled "Samba," which may leave you scratching your head until you hear the congas and the electric bass guitar whose notes accent the downbeat where the surdo drum would be.  The abstract  sandbox of "Unlocking The Twelth House" is a great closer for the album.  Unfortunately it doesn't actually end the record, but since I usually just skip over the last track, that's my story and I'm sticking to it - this is a great way to end the record.   However if atonal wordless vocals sung by children are your thing, by all means crank up "Praise Innocence."  After all you may have been hoping to annoy your neighbors with this album, and up until now you may have not succeeded.  This ought to do it.

I usually don't listen to the two records included on this disc back to back, in order to "maximize their efficacy" or something like that.  While "Spirit Dance" manages to keep things fun, "Pneuma" actually ranks a bit higher for me.  It may be a bit more sombre but it also seems more fully-realized, like he went into the studio with a more single-minded approach to make a statement, as opposed to recording a collection of pieces.  The original first side of the LP is comprised entirely of the "Pneuma" suite.  For a spiritual jazz homage to the breath of life, it actually boasts a pretty traditional jazz arrangement, with each instrument getting equal time to lead the group after the primordial swells and slow, sustained crescendos of the opening. First White's violin, then the bass (acoustic this time, which is a welcome choice), then piano, and finally percussion before wrapping the whole thing up.  It's pretty brilliant and if you are only going to listen to one "side" of this two-on-one release, I would pick this one.  The second half of "Pneuma" is just as impressive, with the additional textures of vocal arrangements on "Journey of the Black Star" and "The Blessing Song."  The latter is just downright catchy and merits a place on a compilation of that ill-defined 'genre' referred to as "spiritual jazz."  It's a beautiful and sweet resolution to the little musical journey Mr. White takes us on, which is one where his intensity is balanced by warmth that is often missing from these styles of jazz.  Solid stuff.  And check out The Fourth Way if you don't know them. 

 
 

Paulinho da Costa - Agora (1977)

Paulinho da Costa
AGORA
Released 1977 on Pablo (2310-785)
OJC Reissue 1991



A1         Simbora     8:44    
A2         Terra     4:23    
A3         Toledo Bagel     5:50    
B1         Berimbau Variations     3:50    
B2         Belisco     6:54    
B3         Ritmo Number One 8:27


Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1991, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).

Recorded at Kendun Studios, Burbank, California (August 6 through 16, 1976). Includes liner notes by David Griffin and Paulinho Da Costa.

Recording information: Kendun Studios, Burbank, CA (08/06/1976-08/16/1976).
Arrangers: Erich Bulling; Claudio Slon ; Paulinho Da Costa; Steve Huffsteter .

Personnel:
Paulinho da Costa (vocals, whistling, berimbau, tamboura, ocarina, congas, bongos, cuica, guiro, pandeiro, reco-reco, shaker, surdo, triangle, wood block, percussion, waterphone);
Octavio Bailly, Jr. (vocals, bass);
Claudio Slon (vocals, synthesizer, drums, water drum, timabales, percussion);
Larry Williams (saxophone, flute);
Steve Huffsteter,
Gene Goe (trumpet, flugelhorn);
Mike Julian, Frank Rosolino (trombone);
Greg Phillinganes (acoustic and electric pianos); Lee Ritenour (guitar).

--------------------

Nothing mind-blowing here but this is a solid record from a guy with a lot more album credits than he has records as a bandleader.  Having played with Brazilian greats like Elza Soares and Martinha da Vila, by this time Paulinho da Costa was well entrenched in the slick LA jazz studio-musician scene.  That slickness threatens to over saturate this entry on the Pablo label but Paulinho's energy on percussion manages to pull it back from the brink more often than not.  The opening "S'imbora" may not hook you immediately with its crystalline jazz-funk fusion but by the end of it you would be hard-pressed not to admit they are cooking something savory.  "Terra" is one of two percussion-centric cuts here, this one consisting of a dinner-party Santeria or Candomblé groove; the other, "Ritmo Number One" is a samba freakout and easily the most energetic thing on the album.  "Toledo Bagel" lets Paulinho prove his mettle as a salsero.  "Berimbau Variations" is more than what its title implies. It opens up with an otherworldly swell of notes and features an interesting flute riff in a pretty tightly-composed piece clocking in a three and a half minutes.  The band here are all more than capable but somewhat lifeless and restrained for the material, perhaps due to their California studio habitus they just can't manage to break out.  Keys player Greg Phillinganes (who has some sweet credits with Roy Ayers, Syreeta, Harvey Mason and others) gets some good runs on the electric piano but doesn't really cut it playing salsa on the acoustic piano.  Larry Williams (Seawind, Shiela E., Michael Jackson) has a nice solo on "Belisco" but elsewhere his playing tends towards nondescript. Steve Huffsteter (Willie Bobo, Shorty Rogers, Moacir Santos and many more) is under-utilized here in my opinion although he gets to employ his arranging skills to great effect on "Belisco."  Lee Ritanour is still Lee Ritanour.  Drummer Cláudio Slon is a fine drummer and also played with Paulinho in Sergio Mendes' Brasil '77 group, so it is kind of surprising that they don't sound more 'in the pocket' here.  I think the issue is the mix:  Cláudio's drum kit is tucked away under the other instruments, foregrounding Paulinho - it is his session, after all - but I think if they had pushed him forward a few decibels it would have given the tracks more impact.  

All in all this is a strong record.  His Pablo release "Muito Bem!" with Joe Pass gets a "pass" from me in spite of seeming like it might be a promising record.  His second record as a bandleader, "Happy People" (not to be confused with the Brazilian-themed Cannonball Adderley album) is also pretty good.

Richie Havens - Stonehenge (1970)

Richie Havens
STONEHENGE
Released 1970, Stormy Forest

    Open Your Eyes     2:48    
    Minstrel     3:28    
    It Could Be The First Day     2:15    
    Ring Around The Moon     2:05    
    Baby Blue     4:50    
    There's A Hole In The Future     1:59    
    I Started A Joke     2:51    
    Prayer     2:54    
    Tiny Little Blues     1:57    
    Shouldn't All The World Be Dancing     7:58

    Richie Havens - guitar, autoharp, sitar, koto, vocals  
    Warren Bernhardt - organ
    Daniel Ben Zebulon - drums, conga
    Monte Dunn - guitar
    Donny Gerrard - bass
    Ken Lauber - piano
    Bill Lavorgna - drums
    Eric Oxendine - bass
    Bill Shepherd Singers - string arrangements
    Paul "Dino" Williams - guitar

"To all the temples built by man of stone and other transient material: I wish to live to see them all crumble into truth and piles of light!
    And to the temple where divinity resides, even with all your newcomers: How quiet!
    To divinity: (the socio-physio-spiritus-harmonious-concludus) It is a pleasure to know you!

     And least and last, to the body, the substance, the hull, the distinguished main portion, the vessel of molecular pilots and passengers, and its power receiving, transmitting, perceiving, transcending equipment: The truth temple, I've seen your face, the earth and its inhabitants, a magnanimous collection.  Concentrate on your heartbeats, regulate your breathing even so that flowers may live.
 - Richard P. Havens "

On Monday April 22, Richie Havens passed away.  I saw Richie play a few times in small clubs and was lucky enough to have talked with him briefly one such occasion.  He was always approachable and interested in talking to his fans after a performance.  Here was this man who was a living legend of his generation, with an instantly recognizable style and always-evocative musical presence, and he seemed genuinely just grateful that people came to hear him sing.  In a way it seemed this fact was all that mattered – that people were still listening. 

   Note that I did not say "grateful that people still came to hear him sing" because this had nothing to do with his age – he was well into his 60s the last time I saw him perform – or out of some pop-singer’s vanity to feel relevant.  It mattered that people were still listening because he still believed in the urgency of his message as much as he did when he started out.  His message and his music had not changed much in a half century of recording and performing, and he put them both across to us in a voice that never wavered.  He had a wise voice, ageless and now quite literally eternal.  You can listen to his singing on "Mixed Bag" (1967) and follow it with "Wishing Well" (2002) and be forgiven for thinking they were recorded around the same time.  

     He will forever be associated with the opening scenes of the Woodstock film that captured him improvising the tune "Freedom" at the end of a nearly three-hour set, killing time for the rock bands to get their gear to the stage.  And he continued to represent the best utopian qualities of that historic moment soon to be overshadowed by the excesses of the era.  As most of his contemporaries succumbed to various combinations of self-destruction, greed, madness or mediocrity, he continued waging peace for the rest of his career.  He became the most refreshing of anachronisms.  A person who believed - really believed - that music could change the world one person at a time.  A figure who seemed incapable of cynicism in his music or his life.  Hell, he could even make promotional work for the cotton industry sound noble.

You can't go wrong with any of Richie's first ten or so albums, and Stonehenge is lodged right in between two of my favorites - the double album "1983" and "Alarm Clock."  The latter LP was his highest charting success, largely on the heals of an inspired version of 'Hear Comes The Sun.'  While Richie was a fantastic songwriter he sort of became known for his covers of other peoples' hits and giving them his personal stamp.  Usually songs associated with sixties counterculture folk/rock icons like Donovan, The Beatles, and Dylan.  Here he tackles "It's All Over Now Baby Blue," a song so good it is probably impossible to do a bad version of it, and the Bee Gee's "I Started A Joke," which also happens to be one of my favorite tunes (as I mentioned when blogging about Ronnie Von's Portuguese adaptation of it over here).  The album opens with a tune by gospel artist Leon Lumkins, "Open Our Eyes," also recorded by Funkadelic and which would  become the title track of an Earth, Wind and Fire album a few years later.  Havens version is better than both and more moving, as well as truer to the original.  It's a lovely prayer to begin a recording.

    I won't give a song-by-song account because if you have never sat down and listened to it then you should just enjoy your own subjective impressions.  "Minstrel From Gaul" is a recognized classic and a song he never stopped playing live.  He shifts from the tender "It Could Be The First Day" to the angular "Ring Around The Moon" seamlessly.  The song "Prayer" brings us back to gospel territory and reminds us of Richie's roots singing in vocal groups and doo-wop.  It's a Havens composition and the last one on the album to feature real vocals; it also seems that Richie may have overdubbed all the harmonies himself, if the album jacket credits are trustworthy. The instrumentation throughout the LP is changed up constantly, presenting new textures, and the arrangements are all excellent.  Also, unlike his first couple of LPs - and I mention this only because I was just listening to them yesterday and today - this one was recorded and mixed really well, which helps things a lot.  The record kind of tapers off a little towards the end with the rather disposable instrumental "Tiny Little Blues" (dobro fans will be pleased by an unexpected appearance from David Bromberg) followed immediately by an eight-minute freakout jam (lyricless but with some spoken word) that closes the proceedings.  It is tempting to think they needed to fill ten more minutes and had no more songs left, but Havens often managed to insert something experimental or vaguely improvisatory into his early records.  And this intense finale, "Shouldn't All The World Be Dancing" is shot through with Havens ecological, spiritual, and anti-war sentiments.  It is a surprisingly dissonant way to close a record, perhaps the musical rendering of his call in the liner notes to see "all the temples built by man... crumble into truth and piles of light."  Richie Havens didn't live to see that vision come to fruition here on Spaceship Earth.  But he did leave us a huge body of work through his searching.

Listen to a little piece of it today.

Also: MORE AUTOHARP!

I could post a YouTube clip to something off this album but why not share the original recording of that Lumkins tune:

Flabbergasted Freeform Radio Hour No.3 - April 2013

Finally, another episode of the world-famous podcast! 

or, for convenient download to your music player of choice
in 320 kbs (1 file set)

 MIRROR 1
 MIRROR 2
 MIRROR 3

--------------------------------------------------------------


in FLAC (1 file set)

MIRROR 1

MIRROR 2



Hope you enjoy this one.  I might as well mention, I put my purist audiophile pretensions aside (they are outside my budget anyway) and so should you, podcasts are meant to be listened to `on the go`, driving, running, working, dancing naked in your house or however you like.  Created with a fancy German microphone, some nice preamps, but also using compression which is a good tool if you know how to use it.  With so many different songs with different production values and aesthetics, it is kind of necessary to do some compression and limiting to make the listening experience less jarring (and less reaching for your volume knob or button).  Plus it gives it that little boost of radio faux-excitement that is one of the psychoacoustic benefits of compressing a mix.  I may not have a vintage Fairchild compressor to stay with the vibe of this set, but it works.  Also if you have a Fairchild compressor you don't need any longer, feel free to send it to me.  I will even pay for the shipping!

Check out the other podcasts, if you missed them, where they live 


Playlist:

New Birth – Granddaddy
Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman
Carlos Dafe – Bem Querer
Roque da Plá - Cantos Negros
Marines - No laço do carimbô
Mighty Sparrow – Witchdoctor
Vieira e Seu Conjunto – Melô do bode
Ed Lincoln – Miss Balanço
Cal Tjader – Solar Heat
Brother To Brother - Visions
(break)
Azar Lawrence – Forces of Nature
Riot – Just Beyond
Jimmy and Vella – Do You Really Know How I Feel
Soul Children – It Hurts Me To My Heart
Baby Huey – Hard Times
Wolfmoon – People Get Ready
J.B.Carvalho – Jesus Cristo
Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Let It Shine
Tim Maia – Paz
(break)
Roberto Carlos – Ninguem Tirar Voce de Mim
Orchestra Harlow - Lo Que Dice Usted
Baracho e Seus Cirandeiros - Despedida

Background music during the read-backs came from the Gil Melle soundtrack for The Andromeda Strain and a record by Welsh prog band Man called "2 oz of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle"




 

Dominguinhos - Programa MPB Especial, February 8, 1974 (Repost)

DOMINGUINHOS
"A música brasileira deste século por seus autores e intérpretes"
SESC São Paulo / JCB Produções Artisticas

Recorded for the Programa MPB Especial on February 8, 1974, directed by Fernando Faro

Dominguinhos - sanfona de oito baixos
José Braz dos Santos - zabumba
Domingos P. Neres - triângulo

-----------------------------------------

 This is a repost from 2010.  Dominguinhos' health has been failing for some time now.  Send him some good vibes and give a listen to this amazing interview-performance. March, 2013 - F.



Some years ago the SESC organization of São Paulo released a number of boxsets of interviews and music with musicians and composers. This disc is from the second boxset (the discs themselves are not numbered or in any way chronological). Only a fraction of the stuff filmed for this series has found its way onto DVD, such as Nara Leão, Cartola (very recently), or Elis Regina. If you've seen those then you know the format -- a little bit of playing, a little bit of talking, some more playing, very relaxed. In fact one curious production technique is that you never (or at least I haven't yet) hear the actual questions being posed to the artists. This used to really annoy me. Now I see it as some of form of editorial self-erasure, an attempt to efface the interviewer's subjective presence and keep the focus on the artists. In that sense the technique is mildly admirable. But there are still times when I knew what the hell they had been asking about..

But in this case, Dominguinhos, who is as relaxed and good-natured in an interview as you might expect from his music, tells us a little about growing up in Garanhuns, Pernambuco, his father being a small farmer (pequeno agricultor, not "small" like Azulão) who also worked as a tuner of sanfonas de 8 baixos (eight-button accordions) and playing in the feiras where so much business gets conducted in the interior. He tells of meeting as a young boy with the master Luiz Gonazaga, who would become his mentor and protector throughout this life.



We then get something of a musical travelogue of his life, with him playing some of the different types of music he played to get by when living in Rio - samba, música romantica, boleros, show tunes. Songs by Tom Jobim, Johnny Alf, Jack Lawrence. We even get a short snipped of chansón with "La vie em Rose" immortalized by Edith Piaf. It's not as if Domiguinhos is alone in knowing this repertoire as it was more or less required of working musicians, but as he demonstrates in this casual setting it is not hard to imagine that his emotive capacity to connect with whatever material he plays is at least part of how he grew to be such a sought-after session player, apart from his association with Gonzagão. This TV program was filmed as Dominguinhos was 'hot stuff' with the post-tropicalia scene, having both recorded on my ex-girlfriend's album "India" (1973) and also touring in her live presentation of it. I may be partial because I am still in love with Gal Costa after all these years in spite of her breaking my heart, but I really think the India tour performance should see a legit DVD release (there is a bootleg pimping itself out over at YouTube...), because I would rather go blind from stroking myself than from squinting my eyes at a blurry image *while* stroking myself, damnit. Anyway, if the only thing Dominguinhos ever did in his entire career was to play on that album, he would still deserve top props from me. But he was also working on Gilberto Gil's 'Refavela' album which would yield one of the most beautiful songs either man would write, "Lamento Sertanejo (Forró de Dominguinhos." But he opens the show with his most famous and instantly-recognizable song "Eu só quero um Xodó," which is a staple in the forró song book now, both pé de serra and electric... I had always thought it was co-written with Gilberto Gil because of its appearance on the latter's "Cidade de Salvador" album (underrated and rather hard to track down, unfortunately), and because the melody seems so obviously GIL to me.. But it's not, its Dominguinhos and Anastácia. There is however, the Gil/Dominginhos collaboration "Abri a porta" later on, and the fantastic song written with Chico Buarque "Tantas Palavras." There is even a song he co-authored with his nine year-old daughter Liv titled "Vários caminhos." And it's amazing.



I think this box has something like 13 discs in it and a book which transcribes all the interviews and has some commentary by the likes of Tarik de Souza and Sergio Cabral who worked on the SESC project. They are all pretty consistently good but this one is really special and definitely my personal favorite. It's recorded with the sparseness and simplicity that really brings out the best in Dominguinhos without the frills of (over)production, and to hear him play some of these tunes *entirely* by himself (by which I mean, with the zabumba and triangle players sitting them out in the corner) is a privilege, like having him come by to your house and play for you on your veranda on a crisp autumn evening. Some of the other volumes in the SESC boxes seem to be made from second or third generation back-up tapes or transferred off the video reels, whereas this one has incredibly detailed and warm sound. And, of course, he has some anecdotes peppered between the songs that prove how any good sanfoneiro is also a good storyteller. He ends the show appropriately enough with an homage to his mentor, Luiz Gonzaga, and shows us why is truly the only one worthy of being Gonzaga's successor and 'filho postiço'.






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Swamp Dogg - Rat On! (1971)

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Swamp Dogg
Rat On!
Original release 1971 Elektra (EKS-74089)
Reissue 2013, Alive Naturalsound Records (0142-2)

    Do You Believe     2:50    
    Predicament #2     3:07    
    Remember I Said Tomorrow     2:41    
    Creeping Away     2:51    
    Got To Get A Message To You     4:08    
    God Bless America     3:34    
    I Kissed Your Face     3:51    
    That Ain't My Wife     3:15    
    She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye     3:05    
    Do Our Thing Together     4:07

Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Sonny Royal
Bass, Percussion – Robert Popwell
Drums – Jasper Guarino
Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Mike Stough, Stacy Goss
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jesse Carr
Producer, and arranged by Jerry Williams, Jr
Piano, Vocals, Performer [Everything Else Of Any Importance] – Jerry Williams, Jr

Engineer – David Johnson
Photography By [Back Cover] – Siegfried Halus
Photography By [Cover] – Willis Hogans, Jr.*

 Recorded At – Quinvy Recording Studio, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Remastered (very well) by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters


I don't see what the big deal is about the album cover.  Apparently it frequently makes the top of 'worst album covers' lists, but I can think of far worse.  In fact I think it's a thing of beauty, down to the awful pun (for the non-native English speakers, the title is a pun on how the phrase "right on" might sound pronounced in a black US southern drawl).  It could reasonably be argued that such a silly cover does a disservice to the high quality of music inside.  But it is definitely eye-catching, and leaves you with handful of pertinent questions -- what? why? who? and again WHY? - none of which will really be answered after listening.

You see, Swamp Dogg is the artistic monicker of one Jerry Williams, who had been writing and intermittently recording as Little Jerry since the 1950s with little fanfare.  I had no idea there was something of a Swamp Dogg revival going on at the same time that I had been searching for clean copies of the original vinyl for his first few releases.  I scored the third album, "Cuffed, Collared, and Tagged"and had planned to share it here, but even though it was sealed New-Old-Stock vinyl it had a really obnoxious defect where the entire second side has sounds like someone crunching a potato chip with every rotation of the album.  So I was damned delighted to find out that his first three albums (at least) are being reissued.  And listen up closely when I say this, because you know I don't say it often about reissues - The remastering of this record is REALLY NICE, a nice warm analog glow that keeps all the dynamics.  Bravo.

As with all revivals of between-the-cracks music there are apparently articles springing up in places like Mojo magazine.  Now I have nothing against Mojo, they have some excellent writers working there, I just don't have time for them.  I don't mean that dismissively but *literally* - for now and for the foreseeable near future I just do not have the luxury to read music journalism, no matter how engaging.  It's all I can do to catch up on the stacks of LPs collecting dust here and occasionally shoot off a blog post when I can rub one out. 

So while I am sure there are some cool articles out there and that they help fill in the back story of this fascinating, mercurial artist - who is still around and wrote the notes for these reissues - I prefer to focus on just what I am hearing.  And when my eyes passed some press blurbs and quickly glossed over, seeing comparisons to everyone from Sly Stone to Frank Zappa, or calling him "psychedelic soul," I decided I would just ignore all of that for the time being, digest the music and write about why I find it so intriguing.  Because while phrases like "psychedelic soul" make for good journalistic shorthand (and probably help sell a few units to a niche market), it doesn't tell us much.  Listen, Baby Huey was psychedelic soul.  Swamp Dogg was just, well, Swamp Dogg.

The convenient and - I hope - more useful analogy that comes to my mind is Eugene McDaniels.  Both had backgrounds in straight-up traditional soul music (obviously Gene Daniels had much more success at it).  It is not difficult to understand how with bizarre album titles like "Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse" or "Total Destruction Of Your Mind," potential audiences would be at turns put off or alienated, contemporaneous critics would fail to take them seriously or notice them all, and their creative work would occupy those in-between-spaces where so much unmarketable music dwells.  Both of them donned iconoclastic masks for their own records where they could comfortably let loose their creativity with seemingly no concern for generating hummable hits, while both men were also perfectly capable of operating as professionals.  McDaniels was writing successful songs for Roberta Flack around the same time he was making his own unique records; Swamp Dogg produced Z.Z. Hill, Arthur Conley, Doris Duke, Irma Thomas, and wrote a hit song for Johnny Paycheck with his friend Gary "U.S." Bonds.

Swamp Dogg / Jerry Williams is, when you get down to it, just good deep southern soul music.   A lot of fun and with a lot more going on than meets the ear.  A balanced mix of mid-tempo groovers and ballads that are sometimes disarmingly poignant.   I've seen his stuff tagged as 'country soul' and that is a great descriptor, reflecting not only the stuff he heard on the radio growing up but also that the color line was first crossed in recording studios before the civil rights era even got moving, and that the decade of the sixties saw so much productive intermingling between those too genres.  His eclecticism, his off-kilter, sardonic sense of humor, and his occasional raunchiness - Cuffed, Collared and Tagged has a track that consists almost entirely of an orgasm (simulated, I hope) over a riotous funk groove, and then of course there are these infamous album covers.  He was able to be both "out there" and "earthy" at the same time.  Maybe this is what the British mean when they say someone is "a bit bent."  You can take a song like "Predicament #2" and laugh it off as a humorous anecdote about infidelity, but it is also kind of deep, almost a philosophical reflection on the constraints of monogamy and a person's ability to love more than one person simultaneously.  At least, that would have been a convenient way to describe it to his partner(s) at the time.  It's like a less maudlin David Crosby's "Triad" for soul music.  And of course the typically male double standard rears it's head when we come around to "That Ain't My Wife," but I'm not overly concerned with philosophical consistency here.   The bus-riding protagonist of "Creeping Away"  is also a loveable tramp, when he tells us "I got my bread in North Carolina, and my butter in Tennessee."  Safado.

 From sexual to racial politics to American imperialist war-making, the record was probably too all over the place for most casual fans of soul and too "identifiably black" for crossover success in what had become an increasingly polarized and segregated music industry in post-riots, early 70s America. "Remember I Said Tomorrow" is just plain brilliant, and just as relevant now as it ever was.  

Tomorrow we're gonna pass a law that'll make everything all right
With equal opportunity for everybody, whether they're black or they're white
Tomorrow we're going to bring the boys home, the end of the war is on its way
Tomorrow you'll even have freedom of speech, just be careful of the things you say
Didn't I promise your forefathers they'll be an end to pain and sorrow
Well then shake off those fears and wipe away those tears
And remember that I said tomorrow.

(In fact I think this song could have been played at Barack Obama's second inauguration ceremony.)

Swamp Dogg could also lay on some heavy emotional vibes.  "I Kissed Your Face" is an irresistibly pretty and poetic soul ballad with delicate sax runs from Sonny Royal, proving that Williams could "play it straight" with the best of them.  Which brings me to his impeccable choice in handpicking cover tunes, which I think is in some ways a key to Swamp Dogg's musical  weltanschauung.  Much like the old phrase "he/she is a musician's musician," well these tunes are "a songwriter's songs," ones that somebody personally familiar with the craft can appreciate in their totality.  The Bee Gee's "Got To Get A Message To You," sung from the point of view of a death row prisoner in his final hours, lopes along in a stately, elegiac build-up decorated by lush harmonies (overdubbed by Dogg himself, as far as I can tell).  Then there is an entry from the catalog of that genius of Nashville, Mickey Newbury, with "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye."  This is the real deal, people.  You probably didn't expect this from a man riding a giant rat on the album's cover, but he embodies these down-on-your-luck narratives with genuine pathos.  To be able to look in these dark places and evoke a feeling without relying on sentimentality or other gimmicks is the essence of the best soul and country music, which must be why he sounds completely at home in these songs.  That gentle darkness continued in his next record, which starts with the amazing John Prine song "Sam Stone" and ends with "Don't It Make You Want To Go Home" by Joe South.  Dude sure knew how to pick 'em.

I mention all of these before getting around to the massive "God Bless America For What" because they help understand where he's coming from.  A superficial encounter with this song, still years away from the end of Vietnam, probably would have inflamed the passions of many who heard only an anthem for anti-patriotism.  It's a small wonder that he didn't end up like Gene McDaniels with Spiro Agnew tapping his telephone; once again, the giant rat rodeo on the front cover might have persuaded the authorities there was nothing up the sleeve to be taken seriously.  But they would have been wrong, all of them.  The lyrics are defiant and angry but also simple and frankly compassionate - a little over halfway through the tune, the band grooves on a slow vamp as Dogg goes into a spoken passage urging us not to say anything at all in response or rebuttal, but to stop and think about it a little, let it sink in, do some soul searching about where we've been and where we're going.  Ain't nothing unpatriotic about that.   At the end of the day, Swamp Dogg's America is a place I wouldn't mind living in.

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker - The Carnegie Hall Concert Vol. 1 (1975)

Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker
The Carnegie Hall Concert - Volume 1
CTI Records 1975 (6054 S1)



A1         Line For Lyons     8:17    
A2         (Song) For An Unfinished Woman     8:53    
B1         My Funny Valentine        8:38    
B2         Song For Strayhorn    9:35    


    Recorded At – Carnegie Hall
    Distributed By – Motown Record Corporation
    Design – Bob Ciano
    Liner Notes – Doug Ramsey
    Producer – Creed Taylor
    Remix – Rudy Van Gelder
    Photography  – Carl Roodman



    Bass – Ron Carter (tracks: A1 to B2)
    Drums – Harvey Mason (tracks: A1 to B2)
    Electric Piano – Bob James (tracks: A1, A2, B2)
    Engineer – Dave Hewitt, John Venable
    Guitar – John Scofield (tracks: A1 to B1)   
    Percussion – Dave Samuels (tracks: A2 to B2)   
    Piano – Bob James (tracks: B1)   
    Saxophone – Gerry Mulligan (tracks: A1 to B2)
    Trumpet – Chet Baker (tracks: A1, B1)
    Vibraphone – Dave Samuels (tracks: A1, A2)
    Written-By – Gerry Mulligan (tracks: A1, A2, B2), Rodgers & Hart (tracks: B1)



Vinyl -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply, cork ringmat); Creek Audio OBH-15; M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 96khz; Click Repair light settings; individual clicks and pops taken out with Adobe Audition 3.0 - dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced (for 16-bit). Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.



Two of the giants of West Coast jazz were brought together again for the high profile concert documented here.  While ostensibly given equal billing on the marquee, this is really Mulligan's show, who wrote all the material here except for My Funny Valentine and whose playing is top-notch throughout.  Gerry Mulligan went through a career comeback of sorts in the early 70s, putting out fantastic records like Age of Steam, while Chet Baker on the other hand, well... was pretty into smack at this point.  He is barely even there on most of this record.  He plays well enough I guess, when he plays at all, but mostly he's just phoning it in.   Mulligan more than picks up the slack, however, and these guys in the CTI stable are no slouches.  While the band still has the shimmering gloss common to all CTI material, it is refreshing to hear these guys outside of the funk-lite context of majority of those records and know they can play "straight" bop and cool jazz when needed.  Harvey Mason plays with a subtlety I didn't think he had in him, while Bob James lays down the velvet carpet of electric piano texture you would expect from him.  John Scofield's performance depends on what you think of John Scofield: he's never done much for me personally but his presence here is innocuous.  This 'new' batch of West Coast session vets may not lend the same immediacy to Mulligan and Baker that they had in their Pacific Jazz heyday, but it's a satisfying listen nonetheless.  Oddly enough after years and years of owning this LP, I only recently picked up Volume 2 at a local shop, dirt cheap.  It needs to be cleaned and hasn't even been listened to yet, so I'm not sure if it is in good enough shape to justify a blog post.  But stumbling on it reminded me that I did this needledrop last year, at least.



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Ronnie Von - A Misteriosa Luta Do Reino de Parasempre Contra O Império de Nuncamais (1969)

Ronnie Von
"A Misteriosa Luta Do Reino de Parasempre Contra O Império de Nuncamais"
Original release Polydor (Brasil) LPNG 44.037, 1969
This reissue 2006 Discos Mariposa, Argentina


1- De como meu herói Flash Gordon irá levar-me de volta a Alfa do Centauro, meu verdadeiro lar
2- Dindí
3- Pare de sonhar com estrelas distantes
4- Onde foi "Morning Girl"
5- My cherie amour
6- Atlântida "Atlantis"
7- Por quem sonha Ana Maria?
8- Mares de areia
9- Regina e o mar
10- Foi bom
11- Rose Ann
12- Comecei uma brincadeira "I started a joke"

BONUS TRACKS
13. Meu Bem
14. O Pequeno Príncipe
15. Meu Mundo Parou
16. Paraíso

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Here's some more  pós-jovem guarda psychedelia  (or is it psychejovem guardelia-iê-iê?)  from former teen-idol and past and present TV star and show host Ronnie Von!  Pretty heady stuff for such a heart-throb: the title translates as "The Mysterious Struggle of the Kingdom of Forever Against the Empire of Nevermore." And this record was made before that North American whats-her-name made absurdly long and silly album titles trendy!   Of his three psych albums from the late 60s-early-70s, this only narrowly loses out to the third one as my favorite.  Mostly because it has one too many 'cover songs' of contemporary hits on it.   In particular, the rather odd choice of My Cherie Amor just doesn't fit.  A Brazilian-Portuguese version of Donovan's "Atantlis" is a campy highlight though, and his version of Jobim's "Dindi" is just plain great.  I like his version of The Bee Gee's "I Started A Joke" even  if I prefer the original.  It's got a very fuzzy guitar and everyone is accenting the down stroke (even the piano player!), giving the tune an unexpected headiness (or is it heaviness?) and it makes  a good closer for the album.  (Everything after that track consists of bonus cuts). 

This record is best when it's at its most psychedelic, which also happens to include most of the tunes co-written by Ronnie.  The opening cut is great, so is "Pare de sonhar com as estrelas distantes", features a sound collage bridge very much inspired by the Fab Four.  Von first got his start in music by way of a friendship with a group called The Brazilian Beatles and appeared on their TV show in 1965 singing "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," so it is only natural that his sound followed the instincts of their idols.  Although this kind of stuff was vociforously attacted by the reactionaries of the day as being an agent of imperialism and a "mass culture" threat, Von's music isn't nearly as derivative as all that.  He doesn't attempt to ape Beatle-esque harmonies, and the approach to arrangements has its fair share of blue-eyed soul (or is it green-eyed soul?) and is just as inspired by contemporaneous Roberto Carlos.  In other words, he might have been heavily inspired by The Beatles - along with, um, pretty much everyone else recording pop music in 1969 - but there was far more derivative stuff being produced by pop and psych-pop contemporaries in the anglophone world.  There is quite a bit of originality here, and if I were to complain it would be that the record doesn't have enough of Von's own compositions.  He fixes that on his next record, however.      

The track "Rose Ann" manages to squeeze English, Portuguese, and French into the same tune, briefly breaking down into an accordion-driven bit of chanson.  There's some very nice vibraphone on this too.    Ronnie was really gifted at doing spoken parts in between his sung vocals.  I would like to hear him read an entire audio-book.  What great works of literature should we suggest to his agent?  Please leave your suggests in the comment suggestion.  Meanwhile, "You're love will be, like summer to me."

One of favorite tunes on the album is "Regina e o Mar," which has a perfect blend of a groovy bass line and rhythm guitar, loose drums, creative string arrangements, Ronnie's soulful vocal, and just the right amount of tape delay.  This tune is followed by an unexpected and equally groovy tune penned by Benedito da Paula, which adds horns to the previous winning combination.  No tape delay, though.  Oh well, it's good to be sparing with it anyway. 

Tagged at the end are some bonus tracks, including yet another cover (The Beatles' "Girl"), which if the liner notes here are correct he managed to record without crediting them,  and Ronnie's signature hit tune, "O Pequeno Principe".  "Girl" / "Meu Bem" has a pretty wicked tremolo-surf guitar part.  

This release on Mariposa Records (Argentina) is a needle-drop, and not a particularly good one, but it gets the job done.  Since my birthday is coming up soon, feel free to send me original vinyl copies as a gift.  Thanks!  

Oh and I almost forgot - the bilingual booklet is a wonderful example of what happens when you use Google Translate to convert Brazilian Portuguese to English.  Fun!!


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