I found this group while searching for new music this week. I often use platforms like Spotify to discover new sounds. I LOVE Spotify. I really do. It’s almost like going into a record store with hundreds of thousands of albums ready to be listened to at a moments notice. When we actually had record…
Read moreWatermelon Man
I played the song “Watermelon Man” from Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters album for my kids a while ago. My daughter thought it was as interesting as I think it is. She requested that I play it for her in the car over and over again on our way to and from school. She began to enjoy…
Read moreBarry White
I am a huge Barry White fan. I am a fan mostly because of the Saturday mornings where my mother would blast her music while she cleaned the house. My mother would wake me up with her Kirby vacuum cleaner which would bump up against my door as she cleaned the hallway leading to my…
Read moreVaneese Thomas – Take Me To The River – 2015 Hudson River Park’s Blues BBQ – NYC
I played with this great band a few weeks ago. It was a fun blues festival down in TriBeCa in Manhattan. The band was great, Vaneese was great, the food was great and the hang afterward was cool too. I ran into so many people I’ve played with over the years in Broadway pits in…
Read morePrince begins removing his music from streaming services
Prince can do whatever he wants. The problem is: 1) No one is trying to buy his “albums” anymore 2) There are very few places to get actual CDs or LPs 3) He is living and partying as if it is 1999. The game has changed. He doesn’t have to put his music anywhere online if…
Read moreNew Orleans FUNK
I LOVE New Orleans. If I knew then what I know now, I would have never come to NYC after college. I think I would be somewhere down south. In Atlanta, in Southern CA, in Austin, Maui…or New Orleans – anywhere but the north. I can’t stand the cold weather. There is something about the…
Read moreDennis Chambers, Mike Stern, Lincoln Goines & Bob Berg – Loose Ends 1990
THIS is what you call a “pocket” – the steadiness of the drummer. The solid playing of a drummer in a band setting where all else can musically blossom…I guess that might be a way to describe it. Ahhh! Dennis Chambers was, and still is an amazing pocket drummer – as well as a virtuoso. He…
Read moreBilly Cobham
Sometimes I forget just how amazing he still is. Dynamics. Style. Fundamentals. Brilliance. Power. Innovation. All wrapped up in one man. For all of you “gospel choppers” – BILLY COBHAM was probably the guy who influenced the guy who influenced the guy you were influenced by. Yes indeed! That is how influential Billy Cobham is….
Read moreThe Original Funky Drummers On Life With James Brown
John “Jabo” Starks (left) and Clyde Stubblefield laid the grooves on many of James Brown’s biggest hits. Here, they clown around on the cover of their joint DVD, Soul of the Funky Drummers. Rittor Music John “Jabo” Starks (left) and Clyde Stubblefield laid the grooves on many of James Brown’s biggest hits. Here, they clown…
Read moreCameo – Cameosis (Live 1980)
Easily one of my all-time favorite bands. It’s too bad I never had the chance to see this version of the band. I might have seen them at a P-Funk show back in ’77 or ’78 but barely remember it. I did see them in the late 90’s in NYC at Tramps. I had a…
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