Monthly Archives: March 2023

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Throughout his brief but influential life, Charlie “Bird” Parker made an enormous impact on popular music as one of the architects of modern jazz. The jazz titan, inarguably one of the greatest saxophonists of all time, grew up in Kansas City, MO, and spent much of his adult life in New York. Nonetheless, Los Angeles looms large in his musical life as he spent more time in L.A. than anywhere outside of KC and NY.

From 1945–1954, Parker made half a dozen trips to the City of Angels and recorded many of his greatest musical triumphs there. In December 1945, Parker and Dizzy Gillespie changed music forever by bringing the sound of bebop from the East Coast to the West Coast for a fabled two-month residency at Billy Berg’s Supper Club in Hollywood billed as “Bebop Invades the West.” Entranced by the city, Parker would end up staying for an extended amount of time in which he gigged all around town, recorded at a Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concert, and made some pivotal recordings for the nascent Dial label.

Following a drug-fueled physical and mental collapse at the infamous July 29, 1946 “Lover Man” session, he was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six-month stint for his heroin addiction. Shortly after being released in January 1947, Bird would stick around for a few more months, which included a well-documented two-week engagement at the Hi-De-Ho Club, before heading back to NYC. He would return to LA four more times, briefly in November 1948 with JATP, for a three-month stay during the summer of 1952, and for shorter visits in 1953 and 1954.

Parker’s prolific and historic first three trips to Los Angeles have been collected together as Bird In LA, a 28-track collection of mostly unreleased and incredibly rare recordings, releasing digitally for streaming and download for the very first time, and in a 4-LP black vinyl box set on May 19 via Verve/UMe. This wide release, due to popular demand, follows a limited-edition vinyl release exclusive for Record Store Day Black Friday in 2021, which sold out instantly, and a 2-CD version, currently still available.

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Remembering Holger Czukay, born on this date in 1938. —Ed.

Can was the best of the bands to emerge from Germany’s Krautrock scene in the late sixties and early seventies. And the band had plenty of competition; Faust, Neu!, Amon Düül II, Popol Vuh, Cluster (and yes, Kraftwerk) were all traveling Deutschland’s musical Autobahn at approximately the same time, but Can’s music was pioneering in so many ways it will still be influencing new artists well into the 29th Century.

Formed in Cologne in 1968, the quintet is best known for its 1971 LP Tago Mago, which the UK-based webzine Drowned in Sound has called “arguably the most influential rock album ever recorded.” Call bullshit or not, the statement gives you a rough idea of the profound sway the LP has had on fellow musicians. The Fall’s Mark E. Smith (not one for accolades) even wrote an homage to Can’s lead singer entitled “I Am Damo Suzuki.” And Tago Mago’s 1972 follow-up, Ege Bamyası is considered a masterpiece as well.

So why am I writing about Can’s 1970 debut, Monster Movie? The simple answer is I’ve never been fond of white lab coats. Tago Mago features two long experimental tracks (“Aumgn” takes up one of its four sides); Ege Bamyası includes the ten-plus minute “Soup.” Tracks like these have always stopped me dead in my tracks—it’s a royal bummer to have to interrupt my listening pleasure to pick up the old stylus and put it down on the next song.

Monster Movie differs from Tago Mago and Ege Bamyası in two additional respects. First, Damo Suzuki had yet to come on board, and vocal duties were handled by American singer Malcolm Mooney. A big deal to Suzuki fans—and who isn’t a Suzuki fan?—but Mooney’s every bit as unique and unconventional a vocalist. Second, the Can of Monster Movie had yet to fully incorporate the jazz and electronic effects that would characterize its subsequent work. Monster Movie is very much a high-octane psychedelic rock LP, with “Mary, Mary So Contrary” being the only track that would sound right at home on Tago Mago.

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It’s a major concept for a short podcast, but when was the last time you thought about your place—not only in the universe—but within the multiverse? “What is a multiverse,” you may ask. We can thank the Ancient Greek Atomists, namely Leucippus and Democritus, for presenting us with the concept of multiple worlds or universes that construct everything in existence: space, time, matter, information, and all of the physical laws and constants that support them. However, where does music live in this multiverse?

About 25 years ago, multi-Grammy nominated Bobby Sanabria—a Nuyorican drummer, radio show host, educator, and band leader—decided to consider the interconnectedness of all things musical with the formulation of his Latin Jazz group, the Multiverse big band. On May 12th, Sanabria’s group will release their latest album titled, Vox Humana. That album, and much of Sanabria’s work, is an opportunity to not only explore the myriad possibilities within the musical realm, but to also explore the social significance that impacts any group of humans when they join forces to create music.

Musicians are fortunate to be able to communicate and develop works of beauty without speaking the same language, or even being in the same room. They are able to bring their own backgrounds and experiences to the performances and compositions in a way that complements one another, rather than focusing on ways that divide us. In this discussion, Sanabria and I examine this anthropological element in his music. Just when you were getting used to the idea of being a speck of dust in the universe, we go and throw the concept of multi-universality at you. Don’t be intimidated, especially since you have Bobby Sanabria serving as your tour guide. Even if the concepts are a bit daunting, the music is guaranteed to be out of this world!

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

1973’s Pin Ups is the least essential of David Bowie’s 1970s studio LPs. An album of not-so-old oldies released as a stop-gap album to appease RCA Records, it was yet another example of the backwards-looking trend that took hold in the early to mid-seventies. The Band released Moonlight Matinee the same year Pin Ups hit the record shelves, and John Lennon’s Rock ‘n’ Roll was released two years later. Taking stock of the past seemed to be the order of the day.

But Pin Ups differed from those albums because it didn’t look to the distant past. Moonlight Matinee included songs like Clarence “Frogman” Henry’s 1956 hit “Ain’t Got No Home,” while on Rock ‘n’ Roll Lennon played tribute to songs as geriatric as Larry Williams’ 1957 hit “Bony Moronie.” But Bowie didn’t give a glitter fig about the likes of “Ain’t Got No Home.” Pin Ups was a nostalgic homage to the songs he loved as a teenager, and whose posters may have covered his bedroom walls. Hence the LP’s title.

On Pin Ups Bowie glams up beloved songs by bands working in a variety of genres, including beat music, English blues rock, mod rock, psychedelic rock and so on. The teen Bowie fanatically followed the latest trends, just like millions of other English kids who tuned in religiously to BBC’s Radio 1 and television’s Top of the Pops. You didn’t get your news from all the young dudes—you got it from your transistor radio and the telly.

Recording and releasing Pin Ups was, in one sense, was an ironic act on Bowie’s part. He released it at a time when the Glam Revolution was burying the very bands—with a few exceptions—he covers on the album. Sure, he gives the songs a glitter makeover, but paying tribute to the acts you helped make passe has the whiff of the perverse to it. The Glitter Rage promised starmen descending to Earth, moonage daydreams, and a coming apocalypse. And how do you compete with that? The likes of The Yardbirds, The Merseys, The Mojos, and The Easybeats belonged in Jurassic Park—they played the boring music your older sister listened to in her bedroom.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 1977 album from the esteemed jazz bassist and bandleader, the LP is a bit more spiritually-inclined than the two releases The Skipper recorded for the Black Jazz label, but every bit as driving thanks to his indefatigable bass playing.

We at Real Gone Music were so knocked out by The Skipper and The Skipper at Home, the two Black Jazz-label releases we put out from Henry Franklin, that we hunted down the rights to his next record, Tribal Dance, recorded in 1977 for the little-known Catalyst label.

You will find many of the same players that made Franklin’s two Black Jazz albums so intense and enjoyable, including saxophonist Charles Owens, trombonist Al Hall, Jr., and guitarist Kenneth Climax, along with West Coast jazz stalwarts like percussionist Sonship and pianist Dwight Dickerson.

As the title indicates, Tribal Dance leans a little more spiritual, but without losing the pulsing drive of its predecessors (and how could it, with The Skipper at the helm on bass!). Never before reissued on vinyl, with original gatefold artwork intact and pressed at Gotta Groove Records where we made the Black Jazz records!

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino announces a post-50th anniversary reissue of Ray Barretto’s classic salsa album, Que Viva La Música. A landmark title in the influential bandleader and conguero’s prolific catalog, Que Viva La Música features such favorites as “Cocinando,” “La Pelota,” and the title track—all performed by Barretto’s legendary original band (including Adalberto Santiago and Orestes Vilató).

Available for pre-order today, the long-out-of-print album was cut from the original master tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and returns to vinyl for the first time in decades on May 26. The LP is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a classic tip-on jacket, replicating Izzy Sanabria’s stunning cover art. A ruby red vinyl variant color will be available exclusively at Fania.com. On digital platforms, meanwhile, Que Viva La Música will make its debut in hi-res audio (192/24).

Conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto (1929–2006) was one of the foremost names in Latin jazz, boogaloo, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. A pioneering salsa artist, who also kept one foot planted firmly in jazz, the versatile musician remained in the spotlight for more than five decades. Born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents and raised in the Bronx, Barretto grew up admiring both the swing of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, as well as the rhythms of Arsenio Rodríguez and Machito Grillo.

By the end of the ’50s, he was a member of Tito Puente’s legendary band and had become the go-to conguero in the New York City jazz scene. Over the next decade, he would appear as a sideman on albums by greats like Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, Kenny Burrell, and Dizzy Gillespie, while enjoying success as a bandleader (his 1963 hit, “El Watusi,” made him an international sensation).

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Music fans who recognize the name Dorothy Moskowitz are almost certainly hip to the Los Angeles-based experimental-psychedelic outfit The United States of America and their one exceptional LP for Columbia from 1968. Well, in one of 2023’s most delightfully unexpected developments, Moskowitz and a group of collaborators monikered as the United States of Alchemy have just released a new CD Under an Endless Sky through the auspices of the Tompkins Square label. Rather than an extension of The United States of America, it’s a remarkable dose of gliding and glistening ambient-drone plus a half dozen shorter pieces, all with penetrating vocals by Moskowitz.

It’s inaccurate to describe The United States of America as the band of Dorothy Moskowitz. Indeed, it’s composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Joseph Byrd who is sometimes cited as the group’s leader, though I tend to think of Byrd and Moskowitz as the ensemble’s dominant creative voices (she was notably the lead vocalist).

The United States of America was so ambitious that an early demise was basically preordained. They utilized a ring modulator (through which Moskowitz’s singing was processed) and other electronics (later an oscillator), contact microphones, an electric violin, a calliope, organ, bass and drums, but importantly, no guitar.

For all this, their record wasn’t a difficult listen, but it was so ahead of the game that it influenced few at the time. Amongst the US of A’s handful of contemporaries on the scene were The Red Crayola, The Silver Apples, Van Dyke Parks, Anthem of the Sun-era Grateful Dead, Forever Changes-era Love, and avant-classical composers Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Moondog (the latter two also releasing records on Columbia).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Mercury Records will release A Night At The Family Dog (1970), Go Ride The Music and West Pole (1969), three psychedelic trips down memory lane, on May 12 as a 2 DVD package, complete with new artwork and ‘60s-styled poster. All three films were originally produced and created as groundbreaking television documentaries by Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975) who did more than any other journalist to hip the world to what was shakin’ in San Francisco in the late ‘60s.

A Night At The Family Dog held on February 4, 1970, featured the brightest three lights of the Bay Area, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Santana. These three bands would define a scene that had the whole world wondering what exactly was going on in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. A Night At The Family Dog starts with two iconic Santana performances before Grateful Dead covers Otis Redding. Jefferson Airplane then splits the club wide open with their patented incendiary and provocative performance style. And when Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, and Paul Kantner kick out the jams to end it all, all hell breaks loose. The original mono recording has been remixed and remastered.

The San Francisco Sound, as it became to be known, was a montage of shrieking guitars and bold now-classic Acid Rock. Go Ride The Music is a stunning document of Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service (a band destined for stardom who short-circuited their own success). There are also cameo appearances from David Crosby and Jerry Garcia.

West Pole captures the magnetic attraction of musicians who provoked the establishment enough to create national news. Gleason knew it. And via his writings, eventually so did the rest of America. Here’s a chance to witness first-hand the birth of a culture: Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and others.

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Remembering Jon Hassell, born on this day in 1937. —Ed.

Originally released in 1981 on Editions EG, Jon Hassell’s Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two was a groundbreaker in its merger of ambient, experimental, and global sounds, but as the decades unfurled it came to be inexplicably overlooked, in part due to a lack of reissues since getting placed on compact disc in the late-’80s. Well, that scenario has changed, as it’s been given a LP and CD release courtesy of Glitterbeat Records’ new sub-label Tak:Til; that its often surreal yet meticulously crafted rewards are back in the bins is a fine circumstance indeed.

Regarding Jon Hassell’s early catalog, 1980’s Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics is much better known, even before it was reissued by Glitterbeat in 2014, largely because it has Brain Eno’s name on the cover. Eno plays on and mixed Vol. Two as well, but co-billing eludes him, specifically due to Hassell’s distress over his partner running with the Fourth World musical ball and spiking it directly into David Byrne’s backyard.

Hassell apparently viewed Talking Heads’ Remain in Light (’80) and the Eno/ Byrne collab My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (’81) as part of “a full-scale appropriation.” This may sound like an atmosphere of hostility, but Hassell actually contributed to Remain in Light, and as said, ol’ Bri wasn’t locked out the studio for Vol. 2; in retrospect, Hassell has said he “probably under-credited him.”

If a bit harsh at the time, Hassell’s caution over the usurping-weakening of the Fourth World, a concept expanded upon by Hassell as “a viewpoint out of which evolves guidelines for finding balances between accumulated knowledge and the conditions created by new technologies,” wasn’t exactly unjustified, as a stated goal was to imagine a musical landscape where assorted global musics, with Hassell citing Javanese, Pygmy, and Aboriginal forms as examples, had been as influential as the Euro-classical tradition.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton is releasing Frampton@50, a limited-edition vinyl box set, via Intervention Records. The exclusive set is limited to just 2,500 copies and will be shipped July 28. Pre-order available HERE.

Frampton@50 is comprised of meticulously restored 180G reissues of Frampton’s essential 1972-1975 studio releases Wind of Change, Frampton’s Camel and Frampton. The numbered limited box set also comes with an authentic reproduction of the promo poster that was only included in the earliest original LP copies of Frampton’s Camel and a Certificate of Authenticity with a message from Frampton. In addition, the Peter Frampton webstore has 250 sets that include an autographed version of the Frampton’s Camel promo poster, with the proceeds benefitting the Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund. Pre-order for the autographed charity version is HERE.

Intervention approached the Frampton@50 album art restoration with the same fanatical attention to detail and authenticity as the audio. The jackets for all three Frampton@50 Series LPs are Old Style “Tip Ons” by Stoughton Printing, with Wind of Change and Frampton’s Camel sporting “brown-in” blanks true to the UK original LP releases.

Frampton original LPs came with an inner sleeve with lyrics printed on both sides, which Intervention has expanded to comprise the interior panels of a gorgeous single-LP gatefold. All three LP jackets are printed on heavy stock, and film laminated for enhanced beauty and durability. The box is a deluxe slip case, with a matte-textured finish and spot Gloss UV highlighting the main image, and double-pass foil numbering.

The Frampton@50 Series studio releases are also available for pre-order now on hybrid CD/SACDs which play on all CD and SACD players. These CD/SACDs feature the same definitive remastered audio as the 180G LPs, mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Direct-to-DSD from analog tapes. These will ship in April 2023.

Formed in Austin, TX in 2019 and consisting of vets from the punk rock scene, The Oxys dish out a beefed-up strain of pre-hardcore street punk that does more than merely cover the requisite stylistic territory. Punk rock is frequently raw and cacophonous, but it isn’t always heavy. A Date With The Oxys offers a pulverizing din launching from a foundation or real songs. The album, honed during the pandemic, is out now on vinyl, compact disc (with two bonus tracks), and digital (no bonus tracks) through Dead Beat Records.

The Oxys came together through Austin’s Punk Rock Lottery, an annual event where bands are formed by complete strangers through a simple drawing of names from a hat, with these freshly assembled outfits then given 30 days to come up with a some high-quality songs. Based on A Date With The Oxys, I will speculate that a baseline level of skill and experience is part of the contest so that across the 30 days the focus can be on songwriting rather than individual instrumental competency, to say nothing of group chemistry.

Having won the 2019 competition, Jason “Ginchy” Kottwitz and “Punk Rock Phil” Davis decided to form a “real band,” and The Oxys were born. The record features Kottwitz on all the guitars, plus some bass, organ, piano, and background vocals, Davis on lead vocals, James Sheeran on drums, and Gabriel Van Asher on bass.

As said, The Oxys specialize in street punk, an unsurprising circumstance given Kottwitz having played with the Dead Boys and Sylvain Sylvain. But their stated inspirations also include “snot punk” and power pop, complementary styles that help to broaden their sound a bit. The snot comes through most strongly in Davis’ vocals (he’s also played guitar with the Austin band Nowherebound).

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