VIA PRESS RELEASE | Mixed Bag (aka The Mixed Bag) was an all-star project from Detroit/Ann Harbor area who released one of the most obscure albums on the Tribe Records label in the ’70s (and one of the greatest too). The line-up is impressing to say the least:

On bass we have Ron Brooks (who also produced the album). Brooks has been a major player in, and influence on, the Detroit jazz community for several decades. Ron emerged on the scene in the 1960s, performing on bass with piano greats-to-be Bob James and Stanley Cowell. He was a member of the Contemporary Jazz Quintet, led by the late Detroit pianist Kenny Cox.

On the drums we have Danny Spencer who has a unique style that exemplifies the best of the Detroit tradition of aggressive and explorative drummers which gave the jazz world Elvin Jones, Freddie Waites, and Louis Hayes among others. His intense propulsive energy combined with his ability for subtle colorations made him Joe Henderson’s choice for touring in the seventies and many concerts ever since. Spencer was also part of the legendary Contemporary Jazz Quintet which recorded for Blue Note and Strata Records.

On Keyboards we have Eddie Russ who was an impressive jazz keyboardist-composer-arranger who worked with numerous legends through several decades, including Sonny Stitt, Sarah Vaughn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Roland Kirk, Marcus Belgrave, among many others. Russ came into his own in the 1970s with trend-setting excursions into jazz-funk that mirrored James Brown’s forays into hip-hop and dance.

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Remembering John Bonham in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Now listen here: Once upon a time there was a band called Led Zeppelin, and they laid down more barbaric heavy metal riffs than anybody, ever. They came from the land of ice and snow, and produced a Hun-like din, and if you heard them approaching your castle walls the wisest move was to flee via the back door. Guitarist Jimmy Page seemed to possess an inexhaustible repertoire of battering ram riffs designed to smash through castle gates, and what he couldn’t turn to splinters John Bonham, his catapult-fisted drummer, could. There was nobody quite like them when it came to the employment of brute and unremitting force, and there never will be.

But in case you haven’t noticed there are no Huns rampaging across the countryside raping and repining, haven’t been for centuries. Because nothing lasts forever, and so it went for Led Zeppelin, who officially disbanded in December 1980, several months after Bonham died from asphyxiation of vomit following a day of supernatural drinking (four quadruple vodkas—and that was just breakfast!).

Led Zeppelin’s first six LPs are unimpeachably great; the debate over quality arises only in relation to their final three albums, one of which (1982’s Coda) was a collection of unreleased odds and sods from sessions that took place years before. Me, I’m primarily interested in their final studio LP, 1979’s In Through the Out Door. Critical reaction was at first lukewarm at best. Over the years, however, there has been a reappraisal, with many a critic eating his words. So which is it? Led Zeppelin at their best, or worst? Or somewhere in that vast middle ground, where the bustle in the hedgerow is just the spring clean of the May Queen?

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People often associate Christian Rock with an aura of the milquetoast, enough so that describing the genre as rock can register as a wee bit inappropriate. At its beginnings however, Christian Rock (yet to have a name) was an appealingly unkempt affair inhabiting the countercultural fringe. Jesus People Music, Vol. 2: The Reckoning, released jointly by ORG Music and Aquarium Drunkard, continues the exploration of this subterranean impulse by culling choice cuts from obscure and highly collectable LPs from the early ’70s. Its out now on transparent red vinyl.

In the notes for this set (compiled by Josh Swartwood, Doug Cooper, and Justin Gage), writer Jason P. Woodbury does differentiate between typical Contemporary Christian Music and Jesus People Music, which was made by assorted hippies after they opened themselves up to Christianity and with the New Testament at the forefront. It’s further emphasized that these believers kept their freak flags flying at full mast (indeed, they were the inspiration for the “Jesus Freak” tag), so that neither straights nor non-Christian hippies were particularly accepting of them at the time.

Our Generation, a Nyack, New York band that cut a pair of private press albums in the early ’70s, open Jesus People Music Vol. 2 in strong fashion with “Hello Friends,” a fuzz guitar-laden glider with ample infusions of airy harmony vocals and a restrained but effective organ presence. While the voices are united in unambiguous praise, it’s the competent but decidedly non-pro instrumental thrust that stands out, and that’s cool.

Even cooler is the All Saved Freak Band’s “All Across the Nation,” which delivers a heaping helping of stoner-blooze, except these cats are high on Jesus, maaannnn. The high quality is unsurprising, given the participation of Glenn Schwartz, who played in Pacific Gas & Electric and was the original guitarist in the James Gang (the All Saved Freak Band Based was initially based in a Christian commune near Orwell, Ohio) “All Across the Nation” is taken from the band’s Sower album, which came out in 1980 but sounds like 1972, with a big riff that’s nearer to Mountain than James Gang.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, has released the full album from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 5 (Music From The Amazon Original Series) today, Friday, May 26. The digital album now features songs from the entire fifth season with 6 new songs added, including a Tegan and Sara cover of the Dave Edmunds song, “Girls Talk,” featured in the finale episode. The song was also released as a single and is available now. The original song by Dave Edmunds was featured in the pilot episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Tegan and Sara say of the song, “We were thrilled to cover Dave Edmunds’ ‘Girls Talk’ for the finale episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. This remarkable series has been a constant source of inspiration, captivating us throughout the past four seasons. Being included in the final moments of such a beloved series felt beyond exciting. We hope fans of the show will enjoy our rendition of this iconic song once they’ve wiped away all their tears.”

Featuring the same music as the digital album, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 5 (Music From The Amazon Original Series) will be available on CD (June 9) and 12″ vinyl (September 22) and may be pre-ordered HERE. The new songs released include: Richard Burton, “How to Handle a Woman”; Bobby Short, “I Happen to Like New York”; Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer “Shy”; Barbra Streisand, “I Stayed Too Long At The Fair”; Tegan and Sara, “Girls Talk”; Rachel Brosnahan, “The Final Minutes.” The full tracklisting is below.

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Remembering Levon Helm, born on this day in 1940. —Ed.

Talk about your survivors; legendary Band drummer/vocalist Levon Helm was 69 years old when he released 2009’s wonderful (and moving) Electric Dirt, and he packed a whole lot of very hard living (and a near fatal case of throat cancer) into those 69 years.

But this proud son of cotton farmers from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas triumphed over it all, and went out on a valedictory note with a pair of twilight LPs (2007’s Dirt Farmer garnered him a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2008) that did nothing but enhance his status as one of the most distinctive vocalists and drummers of the rock era.

Helm may have run with real slick customers (Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson, for starters), and he spent his fair share amount of time atop the Big Rock Candy Mountain, but he never lost that rural twang. His singing was equal parts white clay grit, visionary yowl, and sly country swing, and it provided some much needed American coloring to Robbie Robertson’s Canadian songwriting palette–he was the only fella in the Band who could have pulled off “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

The years that followed the break-up of the Band were no kinder to him than to anybody else in the group; he messed around some, landed a memorable movie role or two, and put together some great touring bands and played his ass off, but his recording career was spotty at best.

Which is what makes the last two LPs he recorded before his death so wonderful. On Dirt Farmer he reached way, way back to explore his folk roots; come Electric Dirt he stretched out and went the funky Americana route, and ended up winning the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana album for his efforts.

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One of my old film professors used to say that one had never really seen a film unless they had watched it at least once with the sound off. Audio—be it music, or sound—adds so much detail to a moving picture that sometimes the viewer misses a few visual nuances because they’re also busy listening. While my professor’s approach might be an extreme way to evaluate a movie, there’s no denying that music and film have long had a strong cooperative association. Long before film even had sound, there was always an attempt to fill the auditory gap.

While the days of the chart-topping soundtrack albums are long gone, there are still some directors who lean heavily on the mixtape concept to source sound for their films, and Wes Anderson is one of them. Marty Isenberg is a bassist and composer based in New York City and on July 7th, he’ll release his newest collection of songs pulled from, and inspired by, the films of Wes Anderson. The album will be titled, The Way I Feel Inside and it will be released on the Truth Revolution Recording Collective label. The music is stellar, of course, but the icing on the cake is the album cover which was illustrated by Renan Campus who tapped into the wonder of Anderson’s aesthetic palette.

Marty and I delve not only into the music that Wes Anderson has employed in his films, but we talk a bit about the films themselves. We also discuss the players that Isenberg employed on his auditorily filmic adventure including the outstanding work of Sami Stevens who added vocals to many of the album’s tracks, adding a crucial layer of dynamism and lyrical context to Isenberg’s vision. So, the lights are going down, join me and Marty as we take our seats and listen to the movies of Wes Anderson. Maybe my old film professor should add another layer to his approach: perhaps one should listen to a film at least once without watching it.

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.

Miserablism may be an “ism” of my own devising but it’s a very real thing, and its sufferers—if they’re of the cynical bent, and most are—tend towards the use of industrial strength sarcasm. Take musical miserablist Harvey Williams’ name for his late ‘80s/early ‘90s solo project, Another Sunny Day. It’s every bit as sarcastic as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and were he a believer in truth in advertising he might have gone with “Your Fucking Sunny Day,” which just happens to the title of a Lambchop song.

Another Sunny Day–who only released one LP, the 1992 compilation London Weekend—were on the roster of the British indie pop pioneers at Sarah Records, which basically put the band amongst the jingly-jangly guitar-friendly power pop set celebrated in the New Musical Express’ highly influential 1986 C86 cassette compilation (although Williams was too late on the scene to be included). London Weekend is made up of five of the six ASD singles released by Sarah Records, minus the “Genetic Engineering/Kilburn Towers” single on which Williams covered songs by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and the Bee Gees, respectively.

Another Sunny Day announced itself to the world with the 1988 six-inch flexi-disc “Anorak City,” a very, very low-fi guitar blur of a song on which Williams sings, “Take a trip to Anorak Station/There’s a craze that’s sweeping the nation/So don’t let your credibility slip” and (wonderfully) “Will you be anorak, baby?” I don’t know if Anorak City is London, but I assume the craze he’s talking about is anoraks, which will most likely never take hold in the U.S.A. because most of us wouldn’t know an anorak from a kayak.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Welcome to Feel The Wind—maybe one of the greatest team-ups in Jazz history featuring jazz superstars Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard!

Art Blakey (1919–1990) needs little introduction, the American Jazz drummer and bandleader made a name for himself in the 1940s and 1950s playing with contemporaries such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. He is often considered to have been Thelonious Monk’s most empathetic drummer (he played on both Monk’s first recording session in 1947 and his final one in 1971). In the decades that followed Blakey recorded for all THE labels that mattered in the field of jazz (Columbia, Blue Note, Atlantic, RCA, Impulse!, Riverside, Prestige, Verve, etc.). His collaborations were numerous and include working with equally legendary artists such as Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Chet Baker, John Coltrane, and countless others.

Art Blakey was a major figure and a pioneer for modern jazz, he assumed an aggressive swing drumming style early on in his career and is known as one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. Blakey was sampled and remixed by major acts such as The Black Eyed Peas, Digable Planets, Buscemi, KRS-One, and Madlib. The legacy of Art Blakey is not only the music he produced, but also the opportunities they provided for several future generations of jazz musicians.

Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008) also needs little introduction, he was one of the most renowned American jazz trumpeters who played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop. At the age of 20, in New York, he began playing and recording with some of the best jazz players of the era, including Don Cherry, Quincy Jones, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Nelson, and Herbie Hancock.

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