An Oklahoma native who landed in San Francisco in 1969, organist Chester Thompson joined Tower of Power in 1973 and after a decade with that group, hooked up with Carlos Santana for a 26-year stint that included work on GRAMMY®-winner Supernatural. But pertinent to right now is Powerhouse, Thompson’s 1971 debut for the Black Jazz label, which has just been reissued on LP and CD by Real Gone Music. In most (likely all) synopses of jazz in the year 1971, Thompson’s album doesn’t receive a mention, but that’s a faulty measurement of its worth. Let’s delve into that a little more below…

Artistic canons, which are dominated by masterworks, are certainly useful in ascertaining the creative heights and the breakthroughs of a particular discipline, but they are forever at risk of ossifying and even becoming downright moribund. For this reason and others (sexism, racism, Eurocentrism, etc.), canons have received scrutiny of late, which is completely fair, though I’m not here pile on. Rather, let me merely recommend maintaining an openness to artworks, in this case musical recordings, that haven’t been championed as high hierarchical classics.

It shouldn’t be difficult to make this argument to music fans, but when it comes to jazz (and the following applies to varying degrees to any style that’s existed for more than a half century), the history is by now considerable, indeed labyrinthine, and therefore potentially daunting, so that many end up simply falling back, deflated, and electing to absorb the established cannon. Of course, getting acquainted with masterpieces isn’t a terrible problem to have, but it doesn’t represent jazz’s true historical sweep.

Chester Thompson’s Powerhouse isn’t a masterpiece. Instead, it’s a highly appealing album by a quartet working in soul-jazz territory, which for 1971 was not exactly novel. Had it been released by Prestige and not by the label cofounded by keyboardist Gene Russell (whose own album New Direction was the imprint’s first release in 1971), it might’ve been slapped with a title like Soul Gravy and immediately followed by two, maybe three exclamation points.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Crammed Discs label will be releasing new albums as well as remastered vinyl reissues of the series early classics, starting with the inaugural volume Made to Measure Vol.1 featuring music by Minimal Compact, Benjamin Lew, Aksak Maboul, and Tuxedomoon.

​Originally released in 1984, the inaugural volume of the series included works commissioned as soundtracks for dance and theatre performances, films and a fashion show. The album offers both a glimpse into unusual aspects of these four artists’ work, and a testimony of the buzzing activity in what was becoming a close-knit community of musicians revolving around Crammed Discs’ Brussels headquarters, which spawned many collaborations (some of which are mentioned below).

Inaugurated in 1984, Crammed’s Made to Measure composers’ series set out to chart a map of some of the most interesting instrumental music of the era. Thirty-five albums came out during the series’ first decade, harbouring a great variety of inventive musical adventures which often weaved aspects of neoclassical/chamber music, ambient, electronica, minimalism, experimental avant-rock, soundscape creation and more.

The series christened “Made To Measure” as it was meant to host music which had or could have been made to measure as a soundtrack for other art forms (film, theatre, dance, video). Although only a moderate portion of the series’ releases was actually created for soundtracks (most notably, John Lurie’s original music for Jim Jarmusch’s two breakthrough movies), the intersections with other artistic domains turned out to be numerous: Made To Measure’s contributing musicians collaborated with renowned filmmakers (Wim Wenders, Bernardo Bertolucci, Tom Tykwer, Jarmusch) choreographers (Maurice Béjart, Karole Armitage, Régine Chopinot, Philippe Découflé), fashion designers (Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons) and more.

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Celebrating Troggs bassist Pete Staples on his 77th birthday. —Ed.

Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that prehistoric man had wisely declined to descend from the trees. Or at best had made his home in a cave, and from then on had declined (“No, thank you very much”) to evolve further. Think how wonderful it would be! No school (yea!), no cubicle farms filled with despairing wage slaves, no taxes, and no Maroon 5! No cars to run over bicyclists who run over pedestrians! Of course there would be no Chinese take-out or designer drugs (you can’t have everything), and the best your darling could hope to receive this Holiday Season would be a necklace made of the penises of your enemies, but still, Paradise!

Got all that? Now here’s the point. There would only be one rock’n’roll band in the whole world, and that band would be The Troggs.

Because the Troggs (and okay, The Shaggs as well) played songs so primal a caveman could have bashed them out. Hell, your dog could play them. And the Troggs didn’t even play them particularly well. But their music captured perfectly their primitive priorities, which amounted to making a big din designed to attract girls, girls, and girls, in that order.

And in keeping with their boycott on evolution, the moment some would-be crew of virtuosos had appeared to play a more sophisticated form of rock (say Emerson, Lake & Krog) mankind would have clubbed them to death like baby seals. Would the world be a better place? Probably not. But the Troggs would be Gods, as they deserve to be Gods, for proving that anyone can be a rock star after just two or three days of practice, tops.

Originally called the Troglodytes, the Troggs were formed in Andover in Southern England in 1964. They’re most famous, of course, for the ur-punk classic, “Wild Thing,” England’s prehistoric answer to “Louie Louie.” It’s barbaric in its simplicity and a million bands have played it, thanks to its simple club-to-head chord structure and lyrics that I suspect pre-date history.

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“At one point this year, I had hi-fis in every room of my house except the kitchen.”

“Each of the four setups was meticulously pieced together by my brother and bassist, Tanner. He’s keen on Sansui stereo receivers from the seventies. I’ve accompanied him on Craigslist missions around the tri-state area to buy these solid state gems from the heyday of hifi. While I don’t speak the technical jargon as to why these receivers are sonically sweet, I can see why Tanner is so passionate about the vintage system.

The brushed aluminum and wood paneling looks elegant. They’re loud and heavy. It’s like the exchange about the night vision goggles in Jurassic Park: “Are they heavy? Then they’re expensive. Put ‘em back.” In any case, they’re cheaper than anything modern from Best Buy and probably sound better, too. And we have great local radio stations like WMSE and Radio Milwaukee, so I appreciate the tuner and green lit dial.

Our love of records started at Atomic Records in Milwaukee, WI. The letters “A-T-O-M-I-C” were blocked out in yellow neon lights across storefront window squares. The glow of neon draws you in. They hosted legendary in-stores, and musicians like Dave Grohl have been spotted repping Atomic tees. To me, it felt like a microcosm of the local music scene, and was the antithesis of big box stores where I bought CDs as a kid.

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A very brief history lesson. First Attila was the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then Sir Lord Baltimore took over as the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then along came AC/DC to produce an electrical surge that brought down the hard rock power grid, settling the debate forever. Their ascendancy caused many a band to give up the ghost. Some sold their gear and returned to England to resume their careers as bricklayers. Others picked up dulcimers and went full folkie. I saw Deep Purple at a Greenwich Village folk club and their lute and bodhrán take on “Smoke on the Water”inspired some discerning fan with a flare gun to burn the place to the ground.

AC/DC played a primal, zero frills, straight ahead hard rock that led morons (like the younger me) to conclude their music was for dummies. Frank Zappa (my then idol) played cerebral brain music. AC/DC just punched you in the solar plexus. Theirs was gut music, like Iggy and the Stooges or a souped-up, oversexed early Black Sabbath.

And on 1980’s Back in Black—the band’s seventh studio LP—AC/DC forged its metal into a tool of sledgehammer simplicity. It was former Geordie vocalist Brian Johnson’s first LP with the band, Bon Scott having died from alcohol poisoning the previous February. The band recorded the LP in the Bahamas, where a diehard fan in the form of a crab scuttled across the studio floor. With his cheerleading the band recorded ten tracks that stripped hard rock to its essentials. Three chords, no poofter organ solos, just barf in your face music for the lads at the local.

You get a little dark stuff in the form of “Hell’s Bells,” are invited to have a drink with the lads, and get a lecture on how rock and roll isn’t poisoning the aural environment. But what you mostly get is not so subtle sexual innuendo that reveals Ted Nugent to be a loincloth feminist. This is 12-year-old stuff, but to be fair to the band, there’s nothing on Back in Black as pubescent as Zappa’s “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.”

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PHOTO: ANDREA BOHON | Pete Krebs is a musical chameleon. It was the 1990s when his career began in the band Hazel which was a very popular alternative rock and roll group on Sub Pop Records. In those days, Krebs even formed a friendship and musical partnership with indie rock hero and legend Elliott Smith. Yes, I’ve been trying to track down their split-single for many years, but that’s another story. He’s also been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

Since then, Krebs has continued experimenting and expanding his musical palate. Catching one of his shows, or listening to one of his records, might find one encountering Western swing, jazz, country, or just straight up, no holds barred rock and roll. While some musicians work hard to stay in their lane, Krebs enjoys grabbing his guitar and exploring wherever his ears lead him.

Krebs’ latest album (with his band The Gossamer Wings) is titled All My Friends are Ghosts and one might say the record is a sort of an amalgam of the many styles and sounds that Krebs can make with his voice and some steel strings in his hand. It’s an excellent recording and deftly showcases his compositional skills.

Krebs isn’t through exploring yet. As you’ll hear in the following conversation, he is still searching out unique sounds to play on his stereo. When he’ll try to figure out how to make those sounds himself is anyone’s guess, but you can be sure he’s thinking about 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.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | When punk rock erupted in Washington, DC it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships, and clear minds. This film is the first to explore the incredible challenges that this subculture faced when it took root in the Nation’s Capital in the late 1970s.

​Punk the Capital situates DC punk within the larger narratives of rock ‘n’ roll, working as a powerful multi-layered story for both fans and non-fans of punk rock. Featuring musicians such as Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, and Jello Biafra, this film dives deep into the ideas and sounds from this transformative music scene which continues to be influential culturally and politically around the world.

Created by James June Schneider (Co-Director, Editor), Paul Bishow (Co-Director), and Sam Lavine (Associate Producer, Co-Editor), Punk the Capital has been on the road since its world premiere weekend in Washington, DC held simultaneously at the American Film Institute and the Hirshhorn Museum (Sound Scene festival). The filmmakers took the film around the USA and Europe to festivals, cinematheques, cinemas, galleries and community spaces. It has been selected for festivals including In-Edit (Barcelona and Brazil) BAFICI, Leeds International Film Festival, and Sound Unseen.

Each screening has been an event, with at least one of the filmmakers present and for the majority of dates, there has been a special guest (Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Cynthia Connolly, HR of Bad Brains and many others.) The goal of the team was to reach 100 consecutive in-person events. They made it to 50 before the pandemic began.

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An extraordinary live document, this. Recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall and New York City’s Madison Square Garden (hence the LP’s title) in 1974, 1976’s Here and There captures Elton John at the height of his powers, and by design proffers a career retrospective of his work from his 1969 debut Empty Sky through 1974’s Caribou.

And what a career projectory it was–in only five years Elton had gone from the introspective and camera-shy nebbish on the cover of 1970’s Elton John to the glam fabulous cartoon figure on the splashy cover of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. His was a remarkable transformation from wallflower to glitter-bedecked showman, and along the way he became perhaps the premier (and certainly most entertaining) rock artist of the otherwise dour and colorless mid-seventies.

Here and There might have been your average live album. You know–artist performs mostly new material (in Elton’s case Caribou) but tosses in some familiar red meat to satisfy the crowd’s hankering for the hits. Instead Sir Elton chose to offer up an overview of his career–an odd but gutsy move on the part of an artist whose career spanned only five years–and by so doing introduced listeners familiar only with his hits to songs like “Burn Down the Mission,” “You’re So Static,” and “Grey Seal” that may have never crossed their radar.

But Elton’s strategy works, and it works spectacularly. The crowds sound as happy to hear “Take Me to the Pilot” as they are “Your Song” and “Crocodile Rock.” And tossing songs like “Take Me to the Pilot” into the mix wasn’t simply a matter of sheer guts on John’s part; it was a canny way of sending the folks in the seats in England and America straight to his back catalogue.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds today announce details of Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021). Released on 11th June via Sour Mash Records, Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021) is a definitive 18 track greatest hits package, and a timely reminder of the breadth and depth of classic songs from the first decade of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

​The album is also available on limited edition deluxe formats with a bonus disc including previously unreleased acoustic versions, remixes, instrumentals, and an unheard demo. There will also be a limited edition numbered, hand pressed, coloured double LP with exclusive art print released for Record Store Day on the 12th June.

Curated and compiled entirely by Noel, the tracklisting of Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021) encompasses songs from High Flying Birds’ three UK Number One albums (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday, and Who Built The Moon?) and the three acclaimed EPs (‘Black Star Dancing’, ‘This Is The Place,’ and ‘Blue Moon Rising’). Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021) also features two brand new songs produced by Noel Gallagher & Paul ‘Strangeboy’ Stacey, ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ and ‘Flying On The Ground.’ A songwriting masterclass that sits effortlessly in one of the great songbooks, ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ is unveiled today, a taste of the future-fan-favourites to come.

Since establishing Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds post the legendary success of Oasis, Gallagher has never sat still creatively. He’s mastered the art of embracing an instinctive sonic evolution and creative freedom whilst never neglecting the songcraft. From the New Orleans brass powered blast of debut single ‘The Death Of You And Me’ to the self produced psych-pop and space bound experimentation of ‘Chasing Yesterday’ and the disco saturated, sonic veer of ‘Who Built The Moon?’ at the hands of renowned producer David Holmes and the subsequent EP releases, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have proven time and time again to be unshackled by genre and expectation.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Chet Baker (1929–1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, actor and vocalist who needs little introduction. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s but his well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety (he was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late ‘70s and ’80s). Chet’s career included collaborations with greats such as Elvis Costello, Charlie Parker, and Van Morrison. Mr. Baker was the subject of many books and documentaries throughout the decades and he was even portrayed by Ethan Hawke in the 2015 film Born to Be Blue.

​Chet began his musical career singing in a church choir and his mother said that he had begun to memorize tunes on the radio before he was even given his first instrument. Peers called Baker a natural musician to whom playing came effortlessly. In the early 1950s he was chosen by Charlie Parker for a series of West Coast engagements. Shortly after this, his song “My Funny Valentine” became a hit and would be associated with Baker for the rest of his career. Mr. Baker (with his quartet) was a regular performer at famous Los Angeles jazz clubs such as The Haig.

Chet Baker’s quartet released popular albums between 1953 and 1956 and he won reader’s polls at Metronome and Down Beat magazine, beating trumpeters Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. In 1956, Pacific Jazz Records released Chet Baker Sings, an album that seriously increased his visibility. During most of the 1960s (before heading to Europe more frequently) Chet recorded music that could be classified as “West Coast jazz.” From 1978 until his death in 1988, Chet Baker lived and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the U.S. once a year for a few performances. This was Baker’s most prolific era as a recording artist.

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