Thelonious Monk Quartet 1966

The internet can be a lovely place sometimes.

For example, did you know that with the most basic of Google-Fu skills, you can find amazing live concerts on the Interwebs just waiting for you to watch? Like this video of the amazing Thelonious Monk Quartet in 1966. It’s labeled “Thelonious Monk Quartet Live In 66 Norway & Denmark concerts” with only a set list and no other information. Oh well, what more do you need? I’m sure if you have more than the most basic Google-Fu skills, you can find out more about this lineup and shows than I cared to. I just wanted to get my Monk Swing on.

• Visit Thelonious Monk’s page at Blue Note Records.

• Purchase Thelonious Monk’s music at Amazon.

Hiss Golden Messenger Defend Public Schools

North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger is one of my favorite current live acts going. And not just because lead-man M.C. Taylor’s wife is a public school teacher like my own. But that certainly helps.

Hiss Golden Messenger has fought to remain a voice of light in the growing darkness. To see how they have been this for me, just browse some of the posts marked “Hiss Golden Messenger” here at Holiday at the Sea. Taylor’s honest approach to fighting for hope is something that resonates with me the way few current artists have.

The band’s new project, Forward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students, sees the release of a live recording from one of the band’s home-town concerts on 01/11/20 of this very year; just before the Quarantine hit. Taylor says of the release on the band’s Facebook page:

Good morning! Today, we put out into the world ‘Forward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students.’ This is a fully multi-tracked, mixed and mastered 15-song live Hiss album from our performance at the Cat's Cradle—one of our most venerable hometown venues in the North Carolina Triangle—on January 11th, 2020. It is available for download on Bandcamp now and will hit all streaming services on April 3rd. ALL proceeds—every penny—from this record benefit students in the Durham Public Schools system that are currently struggling with food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. At a time when anxiety seems to be our default emotion, I realize that this is a big ask, but I implore you to donate as much as you can to help feed our kids that depend on public school in order to eat. And while listening on the streaming services is the way that many of us interact with music these days, purchasing this album on Bandcamp puts far more food on the table. Dig deep, please. There are so many people to thank in the making of this album—so many that I could easily take up the rest of this section naming them all. Special love, however, goes to the Hiss band: Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Alex Bingham and Al Smith, and our engineer Luc Suèr, who recorded and mixed this show. When I hear a performance like this in light of where we all are now, it’s amazing what stands out to my ear: Community. Gathered joy. Spirit, and a little bit of sorrow. What a Saturday night feels like in our little shared corner of the universe. May we find those times again soon. Changed, perhaps, for the better. Thank you all for listening.

Stream the album here:

Purchase the album (and help Durham public schools) here.

• Visit Hiss Golden Messenger’s official website.

• Purchase the album (and help Durham public schools) here.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Facebook.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Twitter.

• Support Hiss Golden Messenger at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Hiss Golden Messenger’s music at Amazon.

Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet (BBC Documentary)

In 2005, the BBC released a short (an hour or so) documentary on Jazz legend Sun Ra. The Guardian wrote:

"Letts's BBC4 documentary, Sun Ra: Brother From Another Planet, is an attempt to make some sense of the man whom he describes as "The Salvador Dali of jazz", who was born in Alabama in 1914 but proclaimed himself to have come from Saturn, on a mission to save the black race in particular from the bondage of planet Earth. Letts himself, however, admits that, even having voyaged extensively through Ra's back catalogue, "a lot of the music goes right over my head. He certainly appeared to be a bit bonkers," he concedes. "But to him, all this stuff was deep and meaningful and had a continuity to it. But it was hard to get a handle on. [Even] Marshall Allen, his saxophonist, admits he didn't quite get it."

Featuring Wayne Kramer, Thurston Moore, Archie Shepp, Marshall Allen and more, and interview segments with Ra himself, the documentary tries to make sense of the Sun Ra legacy. Watch for yourself.

• Visit the official Sun Ra Arkestra website.

• Purchase Sun Ra’s music at Amazon.

Manu Dibango "Soul Makossa"

In light of yesterday’s news that international saxophonist Manu Dibango has died from Coronavirus, here he is performing his best known track “Soul Makossa.”

• Visit Manu Dibango’s official website.

• Follow Manu Dibango on Facebook.

• Purchase Manu Dibango’s music on Amazon.

• Listen to “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango on Episode 25 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard (McCoy Tyner Trio at Jazztage Stuttgart 1990)

With the recent passing of jazz legend McCoy Tyner, this seems like as good a time as any to watch the 1990 1990 McCoy Tyner Trio Set from Stuttgart featuring Freddie Hubbard.

The Take The "A" Train blogspot offers the following background for the concert:

“A torrent of notes on keyboard and flugelhorn. Three decades after the photograph above was taken, pianist McCoy Tyner and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard are back together, this time in Stuttgart, Germany.

Freshly digitized from a nearly disintegrating VHS tape (while the image remains amazingly intact, reminding us about the virtues of analogue formats that at least allow for some sort of extraction), this exciting concert is the complete TV broadcast of McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Freddie Hubbard and Ralph Moore.”

Jazztage '90
Stuttgart, Germany
July 13, 1990

• Freddie Hubbard (t, flugelhorn),

• Ralph Moore (ts, ss),

• McCoy Tyner (p),

• Avery Sharpe (b),

• Aaron Scott (d)

Tracklisting:
00:00 Introduction in German
01:08 Dear John
14:20 Twilight Mist [only the trio]
23:30 Embraceable You 
32:40 Reinhold Beckmann interviews Tyner and Hubbard
40:31 One Of Another Kind

• Visit McCoy Tyner’s official website.

• Follow McCoy Tyner’s Facebook page.

• Purchase MCoy Tyner’s music at Amazon.

• Visit Freddie Hubbard’s page at Blue Note Records.

• Purchase Freddie Hubbard’s music at Amazon.

Gratefully Dead With Pigpen

I started a mix of some of my favorite Pigpen Grateful Dead tunes in 2019 around the time of his birthday (09/08) with the plan of posting it at the anniversary of his death (03/08). A few months ago, I finished the mix I wanted to post, did some quick artwork if anyone wanted it. And then I forgot about it. And March 08 came and went and the post sat in my Drafts. So here it is.

These are some of my favorite Pigpen Grateful Dead. Tracks. What are some of your favorites?

Tracklisting:

Next Time You See Me

Mr. Charlie

Easy Wind

Hard To Handle

Turn On Your Love Light

Smokestack Lightning

Hurts Me Too

Big Boss Man

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Source Material:

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Here is where each track came from if you’re interested in that sort of thing:

Next Time You See Me: “Hundred Year Hall” (04/26/72: Jahrhundert Halle Frankfurk, Germany)

Mr. Charlie: Europe ‘72 (disc two)

Easy Wind: Workingman’s Dead

Hard To Handle: “The Honky Chateau” (06-21-71 )

Turn On Your Love Light: “Hundred Year Hall” (04/26/72: Jahrhundert Halle Frankfurk, Germany)

Smokestack Lightning: History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 Bear's Choice (02/08/70)

Hurts Me Too: Europe ‘72 (disc two)

Big Boss Man: Skull & Roses

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• Download the mix as individual files including jewel case artwork.

• Visit the Grateful Dead’s official website.

• Follow the Grateful Dead on Facebook.

• Follow Grateful Dead on Twitter.

• Stream the entire show at Live Music Archive.

• Purchase Grateful Dead music on Amazon.

• Purchase A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead by Dennis McNally at Amazon.

• Purchase The Dead book: A social history of the Grateful Dead by Hank Harrison at Amazon.

Giant Sand, Live at Mad Dog Studios/The Atlantic Session (01/30/90)

I don’t know if it’s still around, but when we lived in KY (roughly 2002-2005), I was part of The Sandman Series. This was a CDR series of bootlegs organized by Jim Blackman and Howe Gelb. Basically, the way it worked was that CDRs were sent out to “seeders.” I was a seeder. The seeders committed to recording and mailing the CDRs to a certain number of people (I think it was around 10 but I really don’t remember). I seeded several different discs, but the one I still return to most was called The Atlantic Session.

The core group (at that time) of Howe Gelb, John Convertino and Joey Burns recorded this set as a demo for Atlantic Records at Mad Dog Studios in CA. It was never officially released until the Sandman Series helped bring it to the light of day. As the name suggests, this is a studio recording. The band is tight and the tunes are bitchin.

The set is available at the fantastic Archive.org.

Dive right in.

• Visit Giant Sand/Howe Gelb’s official website.

• Follow Giant Sand at Facebook.

• Follow Howe Gelb at Facebook.

• Visit the Archive.org page for the show.

• Browse all posts marked “Giant Sand” here at Holiday at the Sea.

• Purchase Giant Sand music at Amazon.

Give Me Some Of That 1973 Miles Mojo (Have you watched the PBS: American Masters special on Miles Davis?)

Have you watched the PBS: American Masters special on Miles Davis?

I watched it the other day and really enjoyed it. Of course it left a lot out. But it was also pretty straightforward about what kind of person Miles was. Complicated. Contrarian. Like all of us. And, I felt like it gave a great overview/introduction for long-time fans and those just coming to Miles’ music.

Watch the trailer here:

It should be no surprise to you that I dig Miles Davis. My first born is named Miles. And I love the many phases of Miles’ musical explorations. But lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of the On The Corner stuff. And this 1973 Stockholm Set is right up my alley:

Yesssssseeerrrreeeeeee!

The deets are as follows:

Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm (SWE 1973-10-27)

1. Band warming up 0:48

2. Untitled Original 730424c (M. Davis) 16:12

3. Calypso Frelimo (M. Davis) 20:31

4. For Dave [Mr. Foster] (M. Davis) 13:32

Tune in 5 (with applause) (M. Davis) 5:01

Liebman continues with "For Dave" (ts solo) while the rhythm section plays "Tune in 5"; cga solo 2:00-4:30

Miles Davis (tpt, org)
Dave Liebman (ss, ts, fl)
Pete Cosey (g, perc)
Reggie Lucas (g)
Michael Henderson (el-b)
Al Foster (d)
James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)

From the fantastic treasure trove of tolvis77 on the Youtubes.

• Visit the official Miles Davis website.

• Follow the Miles Davis page at Facebook.

• Purchase Miles Davis music at Amazon.

Terry and Gyan Riley Live At Oval Space (Not At the MIM Where I Saw Them)

Thanks to a friend of mine, I had the opportunity to see Terry and Gyan Riley at the Musical Instrument Museum.

Of course I was familiar with the elder Riley’s work, and I have the The Book Of Abbeyozzud album (which Amazon tells me I’ve owned since 2003), but I didn’t really know what to expect since the evening was billed as an evening of improvised music. The website for the evening’s performance quotes Terry Riley as saying:

“Nothing I have done in this life has given me more satisfaction than improvising on these songs with Gyan. Nothing I have done can match the intuitive synchronicity we have shared, many times, on the stage.”

The evening’s music was sublime, challenging and rewarding. It spun circular rhythms and balanced scales as each player was propelled by the other. I have never seen another night of music quite like it and I will be forever grateful for the experience.

Here is video of Terry and Gyan Riley from a totally different 2018 performance presented by NTS; Live At “Oval Space.”

• Visit Terry Riley’s website.

• Visit Gyan Riley’s website.

• Purchase Terry Riley’s music at Amazon.

• Purchase Gyan Riley’s music at Amazon.