Category Archives: Music

Tonight’s GOP Debate Preview

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Why Are the Feds Picking on Gibson Guitars?

Supposedly it’s because they are using exotic imported woods such as ebony and rosewood — which they’ve been doing for generations and which are not commonly grown in the US.  (The best ebony for musical instruments is grown in East Africa, although … Continue reading

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Honeyboy Edwards Dead at 96

…he was the last of the old Delta bluesmen with a connection to Robert Johnson — he had played with Johnson back in the ’30s.  R.I.P. Honeyboy. Here are two videos and the obit from Howard Reich at the Chicago Tribune: Honeyboy with … Continue reading

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‘Use Me’ by Bill Withers

Bill Withers, a native of the pastoral West Virginia hellhole of ‘Slab Fork,’ was working on an aircraft company assembly line in L.A. in 1970 and submitting demos of his music to record companies. A small company named Sussex Records … Continue reading

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Two by Wes Montgomery

What can you say about Wes Montgomery (born John Leslie Montgomery in 1923) except that he’s a jazz genius who influenced everyone from jazz masters Kenny Burrell to George Benson to rock-blues virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn … Continue reading

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Compared to What? Les McCann and Eddie Harris

Jazz greats Les McCann and tenor saxman Eddie Harris had an unexpected Billboard hit with this one back in 1969 and it still grooves today, both lyrically and musically. ‘Tryin’ to make it real, compared to what?’ could have been … Continue reading

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Mose Allison Double Dip: ‘Parchman Farm’ and ‘Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy’

For a half century, Mose Allison has defied the usual classifications — he’s blues, jazz, beat poetry, social commentary, what have you — but his mellow vocal style is unmistakable and he’s an impeccable instrumentalist. Never a huge star in … Continue reading

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Howard Roberts — Star Eyes

Though mostly unsung while he was alive and nearly forgotten by most guitarists today, Howard Roberts’ bluesy approach to jazz guitar rivals that of Kenny Burrell and his lines are as clean and cogent as the best instrumentalists in the … Continue reading

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‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks

This tune by The Kinks is remarkable for several reasons, one being that some credit it as the first ‘heavy metal’ song that led to all the hair bands of the 1970s and beyond. Be that as it may, when “You Really Got … Continue reading

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Smokestack Lightnin’ by Howlin’ Wolf, 1956

The original 1956 Chess Records release. Wolf sure knew how to set a mood.

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