Resurrected unified MUSIC thread.

[doclinkin]

Also would have been a great opportunity to play some ska (and reggae and dancehall ...), where "toasting" has a long tradition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toasting_(Jamaican_music) And has links to hip hop. https://dancehallgeographies.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/retrospecting-musically-the-link-between-ska-toasting-hip-hop-and-dancehall/

Links. Hell, hip hop exists in large part because of DJ Kool Herc, born and raised in Jamaica, spinning break beats and toasting over the top of it.

Watch on YouTube

I remember when outdoor parties started playing just the breakbeats, when it started to spread in the 100 mile radius around NYC, and DJ's keeping up patter on top of it, before it became real rapping and scratching.

Early rhyme magicians like Slick Rick came from a similar Jamaica/New York hybrid (by way of England in the case of MC Ricky D). Dudes I knew wore this record out:

Watch on YouTube

After Sugarhill Gang, this was the song most memorized and imitated.

A couple years later it was KRS-1 (dad from Barbados) and DJ Scott La Rock (grew up at DJ Kool Herc's house parties) with a heavily Jamaican influenced style. This was the next song that every kid rhymed while beating dents into lunch tables and lockers.

Watch on YouTube

[doclinkin]

Which detoured me into a survey of the music of that era and further back. Reggae mostly.

I never heard of Nicky Thomas, but this is the most extreme case of a performer's energy not matching their voice. Smooth soulful intonation, and wracking spasms in his performance. Compelling to watch:

Watch on YouTube

[AFM]

as long as we're posting classics

Watch on YouTube

that album cover is too tight btw

I can imagine Dat pouring his fireball to this

[AFM]

Watch on YouTube

[payitforward]

This is basically for Zards: a new biography of the great Sonny Rollins has me thinking about him & listening him. ...One of the handful of greatest improvisers in the history of the music.

Zards --
Just a quick note to report that the biography of Sonny Rollins I mention above, titled (of course!) Saxophone Colossus, is absolutely great -- not "good," truly great.

I cannot recommend this highly enough to you. It's deep, detailed & completely absorbing first page to last. Beyond "absorbing" -- enlightening! Not just about Sonny but about the Harlem culture in which he grew up, about his family, & of course about his friends & peers.

As it happens, the author & I have a friend in common; we've been in touch & are becoming friends. He's a terrific writer. Also he plays the baritone saxophone. He knows Rollins well & had his active participation in writing the book.

I really hope you read the book; it was a deep & significant experience, for me, to get that close to Sonny Rollins.

(To give you a sense of how deeply entwined with my life jazz is, I'll just mention that I bought the Roach/Brown quintet at Basin Street, when it first came out -- yes, in 1956. I don't think I was quite 14 years old yet....)

[dobrojim]

My colleague in music, Rick Landers, was busy while I was gone (ricklanders.com).
We're going to be playing at the Cherry Blossom Fest near the Jeff Memorial (Tidal Basin Stage)
on March 29th at 3:55 pm. We're also going to be playing Wash Folk Fest at Glen
Echo in early June. And a house concert in Herndon in mid-May. And an outdoor
concert in or near Damascus MD Saturday April 8th @ No Harm Farm.

[closg00]

Poll: Which decade produced the best music to-date across all genres?

After a lot of thought I am going to go with the 70's, will return for discussion if anyone is interested in this topic.

[dobrojim]

The 70s would be a strong candidate. So would the 60s.
That said, I'm biased based on the year I was born and the music I listened
to growing up.

[AFM]

This sh*t goes crazy

Watch on YouTube

[AFM]

boro digeh is what I will say to Ted after I put him in a stone cold stunner

[doclinkin]

Poll: Which decade produced the best music to-date across all genres?

After a lot of thought I am going to go with the 70's, will return for discussion if anyone is interested in this topic.

All genres? Only if you think hiphop and rap are not music. Or if no hiphop song was ever better than Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight".

Personally of all the areas I've lived through it wasn't until the 90s that it felt like music was finally expressing what I needed to hear. Punk rock grew up and discovered songsmanship. Metal was tired of the Glam rock era. Hip hop spread from a regional sound into a nation of its own, producers perfected the sampling of the best work of prior eras. House and Techno fused to become EDM and rave culture. Music festivals that cross-pollinated genres became a yearly occurrence instead of an occasional thing. I won't argue if others pick different eras. But for me, it's the 90s.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-songs-of-the-1990s/

60s are a strong candidate though. Motown. The global re-discovery of the Blues that became everything from Jimi Hendrix to Led Zeppelin. Woodstock. James Brown bridged soul and R&B into the Funk era. Rock and Roll grew beyond Elvis. The Beatles and Dylan changed the culture. Metal was born.

[AFM]

Because PIF called Megadeth overly loud or whatever he said:

Watch on YouTube

this **** goes crazy





I'd say something about Cliff and his love of Bach...but tbh nothing needs to be said. This piece is as perfect as it gets. Amazing

[daSwami]

Poll: Which decade produced the best music to-date across all genres?

After a lot of thought I am going to go with the 70's, will return for discussion if anyone is interested in this topic.

One could make a case for the 1790s - early-Beethoven, peak Mozart. But for me it's the 1970s - I'm willing to ignore disco, because punk, hip-hop and metal, and what is now known as EDM.

[DCZards]

Loved the late 60s largely because of Motown and groups like the Delfonics, Moments, Friends of Distinction and a few others.

But I came of age musically in the 70s with Gil Scott-Heron, Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire, P-Funk, Mandrill and War, as well as progressive jazz groups like Weather Report and Return to Forever. Was also into Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, Carole King, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during the 70s.

Today my likes tend to be straight ahead jazz (both old and new) and jazz vocalists like Gregory Porter, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Lizz Wright.

[daSwami]

Which detoured me into a survey of the music of that era and further back. Reggae mostly.

I never heard of Nicky Thomas, but this is the most extreme case of a performer's energy not matching their voice. Smooth soulful intonation, and wracking spasms in his performance. Compelling to watch:

Watch on YouTube

Thanks for sharing this, I love it. Makes one re-think all those "all-time great" lists. How many Nicky Thomases are there out there - musical savants who remain on the fringe?

[AFM]

Some of the hardest sht ive ever heard:

Watch on YouTube

Man.... where is CCJ at btw???

[dobrojim]

cool show on Prime about the Wrecking Crew aka what should have been called the hit makers.

interesting how few people were aware how ubiquitous they were in appearing on so many
different popular songs. Amazing versatility.

[dobrojim]

Playing at ANA stage at Tidal Basin in 30 minutes.

Looking forward to this.

[payitforward]

For you, Zards:

Watch on YouTube

[dobrojim]

https://artsbarnmusic.org/

House concert in Herndon we're doing on May 13th
scroll way down to the bottom of this page if you want to make a reservation.