Good evening everyone. I was just about to call it an early night when I came across this piece written by JSOnline. I’d like to congratulate Jim Linneman on his success. For anyone that has not ever visited his establishment you are missing out. Hands down my favorite sound in Milwaukee. His Wednesday open mic night was where Pay The Devil played our first gig. Check out the article, and support music in Riverwest.
Read More...Hello, if you are reading this you may have noticed there has been a little face-lift around here. We’ll spare you the boring points but basically the site is now faster, more mobile friendly, easier to navigate, and generally more awesome. To honor this new epicenter of the Dig world I thought I’d dig up my all-time top five favorite posts from Dig past. So, without further adieu…
Read More...Beard weather and bluegrass music are upon us. Saturday January 11th a slew of phenomenal bluegrass acts will descend on the Majestic Madison Theater. The Dead Horses, The Evergreen Grass Band, Chicken WIre Empire, and The Smokin’ Bandits Duo (plus a special guest to be named later) will surely test the towns whiskey supply.
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We Three was originally released in 1958 and featured Roy Haynes (drums) Phineas Newborn Jr (piano) and Paul Chambers (bass). For me this album was love at first listen. The style was cool and straight ahead. The ensemble was well balanced in sound and technique, and the song choices and track lengths allowed the musicians to stretch out their ideas while remaining succinct and immediate.
In consideration of my recent post for the Paper Crane Collective I spent some time revisiting a few old favorites and rediscovered my love for this album. In supposition to this, today's Episodes in Virtuosity takes a closer look at the spectacular cut of After Hours from We Three.
Roy Haynes Phineas Newborn Jr Paul Chambers: After Hours
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Hey, hey, hey! It's time for a new Weekly Roundup.
For the first time, I have contributed a piece to another website besides Those Who Dig. The piece is an interview with Brooklyn band Time Travelers and it's available on Greenpointers. Read on for a link, a song, and info about their show this week with Blue & Gold.
Earlier this year, we had several posts connected to the album Story by David Bronson (most prominently an interview he did in association with the 3rd NYC podcast). You may recall that the album was only half of a two-album work that documented a particularly difficult time in David's life. The second, The Long Lost, came out this week. David will be playing a release show tomorrow at Brooklyn Bowl. You should come!
Weekly Roundup had taken a little break, but it's back with some new tunes for you to dig. Check 'em out.
Oliver Lake (b. 1942) is an American jazz musician, composer and poet whose storied career you can read about here. Regardless, on May 21, 2013 he celebrated the release of his second big band album entitled Wheels. This eight track opus is a tour de force of style, compositional prowess, command performances, and outside the box thinking and hearing.
The responsible parties joining Oliver Lake in this endeavor are: Jason Marshall (baritone sax), Darius Jones (alto sax), Bruce Williams (alto sax), Mike Lee (tenor sax), James Stewart (tenor sax), Waldron Ricks (trumpet), Freddie Hendrix (trumpet), Nabate Isles (trumpet), E.J. Allen (trumpet), Aaron Johson (trombone), Stafford Hunter (trombone), Alfred Patterson (trombone), Terry Greene (trombone), Yoichi Uzeki (piano), Marc Cary (piano solo track 6), Robert Sabin (bass), and Chris Beck (drums).
This album caught my attention because of Oliver Lake's deft arrangement of the Outkast song The Whole World. It seemed like such a natural choice for big band interpretation that it's amazing it took this long to happen. However, what I enjoy most about Lake's arrangement isn't just that it's a head melody and then virtuosic blowing across the changes, but rather that the artists go to great lengths to involve the original vocal cadences from the rapped verses. It's an impressive showing of due diligence and one you need to hear.
Check out the track below and then read on for the full album and prerequisit Oliver Lake social media links. You dig?
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You may have noticed a lack of posts on my behalf lately. Sorry about that. Been taking a little break to figure some stuff out. I might be rethinking my approach to the blog, but I will still be sharing music and writing one way or another. Anyways, here are some shows to check out this week.