Webonaire

2021 in Review Part II

2022-02-03T11:10:44-05:00

I'm not sure Last.fm accurately captures my listening history, but this is what it says I listened to. This doesn't count records and CDs I listened to at home, of course.

This list is the top track of my top 10 artists of 2021. I'm surprised by a few of my top artists. I think the explanation is that I listened pretty heavily to a handful of artists, and the rest had very few plays, but enough to get them into the top 10. Anyhoo, you know the drill:

2021 in Review Part I of ?

2022-01-21T12:56:13-05:00

Tidal created a playlist of my 2021 for me. I went on a few different kicks where at different times I immersed myself in Arthur Blythe, Don Pullen, Kahil El'Zabar, David Murray, along with some Latin (mostly classics by Eddie Palmieri, Mario Bauzá) and some old blues (a lot of John Lee Hooker, Little Walter, and T-Bone Walker). I'm surprised Archie Shepp didn't make it into the playlist because I obsessed on him for a minute. Also, I know I listened to a lot of Los Lobos, so I'm surprised they didn't appear.

Anyway, I took that monstrosity of a playlist and tried to make it into something that made sense. I offer it to you here on Tidal, Spotify, and Deezer. Give it a listen and maybe you'll find something you like. I don't think anything there was newly released in 2021.

Better Late Than Never: 2020 Listening Review

2021-02-25T20:47:54-05:00

I don't always pay attention to the recommendations and playlists on Tidal because they are so hip-hop focused and I'm not into that. Today, though, I noticed that there were playlists of my top listens for recent months and the entire year 2020. Nice! I'm happy about this because it's cool but also because my connection to last.fm</a> appears to have broken at some point, and a lot of my listens were probably lost.

It looks like I listened to mostly MPB</a> (música popular brasileira). Specifically, top albums were:

Novos Baianos, Acabou Chorare</li>

Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Clube Da Esquina</li>

Caetano Veloso, Transa</li>

Os Mutantes, Os Mutantes</li>

Jorge Ben Jor, Africa Brasil</li>

Jorge Ben Jor, Jorge Ben (1969)</li>

Elis Regina, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom</li>

Os Ipanemas, Os Ipanemas</li> </ul>
The only non-MPB album that got a lot of play was Christian Sands' Be Water.
Anyway, if you're interested, here's the playlist for Tidal</a> and Spotify</a>.

Steel Drums in Unexpected Places

2021-02-22T09:49:45-05:00


The lot of CDs I bought contains many artists I'm not familiar with. Generally, I will check out an unknown disc on Discogs and see if it has any value. If it does, and if the genre appeals to me, I typically give it a listen. Such is the case with Andy Akiho's No One to Know One. The cover shows a bunch of steel drums (or, steel pans, which may be the more current term) in a field. As a former percussionist, I decided to give it a listen.
I'm not sure how to describe the music, but I really enjoy it. It definitely sounds composed, so in that sense it has a somewhat classical feel. Googling the artist lists him as a classical composer, so that makes sense. But it's not classical classical. Parts of it sound improvised while others sound like prog rock or even smooth jazz. Anyway, it's a really interesting sound and I recommend you give it a listen. Here is one track, Murasaki (Purple)</a>.
The other CD I found with steel drum was, of all things, an Ahmad Jamal release, Nature. This features steel drum player Othello Molineaux. The steel drum doesn't sound too out of place - it has a kind of vibraphone feel. Here's the first track, If I Find You Again</a>. This is one of my better thrift store finds for sure.

Remembering Chick Corea (1941-2021)

2021-02-20T09:41:18-05:00

Chick Corea left this world on February 9. He was a prolific composer, performer, and collaborator. I was fortunate enough to have seen him perform at a jazz festival in trio form with Christian McBride and Brian Blade.
Chick is a special artist for me because he was the founder of one of the first groups I discovered when I was sort of coming of age musically, back in middle school. I found a copy of Return to Forever's No Mystery in my brother's record collection, and it quickly became a favorite of mine. And while he has recorded so much music and in different styles, he will always — for me — be the electric keyboard warrior.
I have gathered here a collection of some of my favorite tunes. I offer it for Tidal and Spotify. It is in no way comprehensive or representative of his entire body of work. Today I prefer his acoustic stuff, especially the Trilogy recordings - mostly because of Brian Blade.
</iframe></div> </iframe>

Movin' On (1972)

2020-04-30T11:11:57-05:00


I just picked up this early 70s LP by Oscar Brown, Jr. It's got some good, funky 70s vibes and a lot of spoken word/political lyrics/rap, some of which is probably considered paternalistic and misogynist by today's standards. The opening tune, A Dime Away From a Hotdog</a>, is great.

New to Me: Durand Jones and the Indications

2020-04-29T09:56:21-05:00

I just found out about this band and they're certainly worth a listen if you are into soul music. The Tidal biography refers to them as "a potent deep soul revival band based in Bloomington, Indiana" (that hotbed of soul revival). Here's a tune to whet your appetite.
Check out the tune Groovy Babe</a> for a sample.

Recovering the Satellites

2020-04-20T22:52:55-05:00


It was 1996. A newlywed in a small town in the mountains of Virginia. A sparsely furnished first-floor apartment. The burn in the linoleum left by a comal that split and was sent flying from the electric stove. Strumming my acoustic guitar to this CD in the barren living room, separated by a plastic sheet hung to keep the heat in the side of the apartment we actually used. Carver 900 receiver, Advent Legacy speakers, that crappy Panasonic five-disc changer that everyone had. Feeling weird that I didn't have anyone to hang out with and listen to this new CD. Wondering if I'll ever see my friends again. Nobody here knows who I am.
The chances of me listening to this album on a streaming service were none. I can't remember the last time I listened to it. And, while I listened to Recovering the Satellites considerably less than August and Everything After, I must have listened enough because everything came back to me. This is the beauty of physical media — I would never have found this in my virtual media collection.

I Am an Idiot

2020-04-16T18:59:09-05:00

I have been looking for a way to support my record buying habit, and I came up with the great idea of trying to buy entire collections and then sell off the albums I don't want. I know this is fraught with challenges, the primary one being time. Assuming I can find buyers, I have to wait for them to find me, and I've tied up cash I could otherwise use to buy records I actually want.
Ignoring the warning bells going off in my head, I went ahead and placed an ad on Craigslist. But as I was browsing the listing section (CDs, DVDs etc.), I came across an ad from someone selling a ton of CDs. They were priced reasonably, which is what caught my eye; usually, people selling collections think they can get full market price for every item. I ignored the new warning bells and replied to the ad. The next thing I know, I'm driving 45 minutes to check out the CDs.
I know "ton" is often used for hyperbole, but in this case, it just might be accurate. The CDs were in boxes of 50 each, stacked about five feet high and six feet wide and deep. I learned that this guy had bought the inventory of a guy who ran an Amazon web store. He said he had over 30,000 CDs to start, and had already gone through some but didn't have the time or inclination to go through the rest.
I asked if he would mind if I took some time to look through a few boxes to see what was there as I really didn't want to buy a bunch of religious, country, Christmas, and musicals. There was a little bit of that, but it wasn't all that.
It became overwhelming to contemplate the stacked boxes. I looked through a few, but there's no way I could even get to the middle of one side of the stack. At some point I decided I could probably resell some of them and at least make my money back, and that was that.
They seller set a minimum buy of 2,000 CDs and didn't want to do increments less than 1,000. I ended up buying the minimum, which barely fit in my car.
So now I have to go through 2,000 CDs and figure out what to do with them.
Wanna buy a CD?