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On Sunday I went to the Bob Marley Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival 2006 at Wolf Trap near Vienna, VA. It was the last stop on a one month tour. The bill included Bunny Wailer, Steven and Ziggy Marley, Jon Nicholson (solo singer with guitar) and a Salsa/Rap/Dance Hall group from LA called Ozomatli. It lasted about 5 hours and ended with an encore where everyone sang "Get Up Stand Up." The Marley brothers (each had his own set) played a mix of their father's songs and their own material. Ziggy, being the more experienced band leader, had a set more focused on originals than Steven did. They were both enjoyable though. Bunny was looking good, resplendent in a white jump suit and matching hat, but his music seemed to be more focused on his later day dancehall material than on pure roots material, with a few ska/rock steady flashbacks (Simmer Down, etc). He barked more than sang and his well known Curtis Mayfield styled tenor was little in evidence. Still, his band had a great horn section and was not as loud as the other groups.

I don't have the new album yet but based on what I read about it on Ian's website, a good portion of the concert came from it (the arrangements of the previously recorded tunes, that is).

Since there are some Deep Purple fans here on the board, I thought I'd tell about how I saw DP singer Ian Gillan's concert at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA (near Washington, DC) last night. The Birchmere is a great, intimate venue with food and drink. It's inside a kind of bar and grill, at least that's what it looked like (I'd never been there before). Gillan is currently touring his new album "Gillan's Inn" with his "Smoke This" tour. The band features: Randy Cooke - drums Rodney Appleby - bass Michael Lee Jackson & Dean Howard - guitars Joe Mennonna - keys & tenor sax The band played a mix of Gillan solo material and Deep Purple favorites. The Deep Purple tracks included: Into the Fire, Wasted Sunsets, Not Responsible, When a Blind Man Cries, Smoke on the Water and Knocking on Your Back Door. The Gillan solo material(which I don't know very well, so some of this may in fact come from other sources) included: No Laughing in Heaven, Have Love Will Travel, No Worries, Unchain Your Brain, Hang Me Out to Dry, Men of War, Sugar Plum, Moonshine, Bluesey Blue Sea and some tracks I don't know the names of. In addition they did an instrumental jam, a song about Texas by the musical director and rhythm guitarist Michael Lee Jackson from his new album and during the encore they played Elvis' "Evil" ("If you're lookin' for trouble you came to the right place). Ian looked great (in bare feet) and sounded good too. He was in very good spirits and the crowd was feeling good. The band was loud (good thing I had earplugs) and tight. In between numbers a model in short shorts, heels and a bikini top came out on the stage carrying cards with the song titles. During Smoke on the Water two contest winners came on stage and played with the band. One was a guitarist and the other was a therimin player. In related news, AP reported yesterday that Gillan is writing a novel called "Wessex" (nothing to do with Thomas Hardy apparently though..) and "Gillan said he also signed a deal last week with a British company to remaster and re-release the five solo albums that he produced during the 1970s and 1980s. This should happen later this year."

Dave 9199: I like "Kaya" too, although I would say that I prefer "Exodus" which was cut in London mainly during the same sessions as "Kaya." Fent99: (1) The deluxe edition of "Burnin'" is very worthwhile, not only because the album itself sounds better than ever, but also because the second disc includes the Live at Leeds 1973 concert I mentioned above. (2) The deluxe edition of "Exodus" is good too. The albums sounds great, the fun non-LP b-side "Roots" is included, and the second disc includes live material not included elsewhere, somewhat akin to the material on "Babylon by Bus," but cut about a year earlier, I believe. (3) I haven't bought the deluxe edition of "Rastaman Vibration," but I would suppose the album sounds as good as the others. I've saved it until last because the second disc includes a live recording now available separately as a two disc set called "Live at the Roxy." So far they haven't put out deluxe editions of any of the other titles, but I would certainly hope they will do so in the future. I would be especially interested in a deluxe edition of "Natty Dread," Bob's first album after the break-up of the original Wailers. AllBlues: I agree that the discography is also useful for Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer too. I've been getting interested in their solo material lately as well and have been finding the discography quite useful in sorting out Peter and Bunny's activities during the same period discussed above (1971-1973) as well as for sorting out the discographical details of the aftermath of their split from Bob (1974-1976) which ended with the release of their first solo albums in 1976. I do agree though that the format of the discography is less than ideal in some respects. I find it frustrating to read a discography where you have to keep flipping to the back of the book to look up the serial numbers so you can figure out which songs appeared on which albums. Frankly I would prefer a format where the name of each album (or albums) was listed along side the song titles and other details.

I was able to corroborate most of what is in the Steffens and Pierson discography in a new book by Christopher John Farley called “Before the Legend: the Rise of Bob Marley.” Here is an edited chronology. It turns out that Timothy White’s account in “Catch a Fire” is often vague as well as frequently inconsistent within its own version of events and may in fact be inaccurate as well. May 1971: Bob Marley goes to New York City briefly and then travels to Sweden by himself to work with Johnny Nash and his associates on a proposed movie soundtrack. June/July 1971: Bob returns to Jamaica. July/August 1971: Bob records a number of singles with the Wailers for his own Tuff Gong label: Screw Face, Redder Than Red, Concrete Jungle, Guava Jelly, Satisfy My Soul, Craven Choke Puppy, Lick Samba. November 1971: Bob returns to Sweden for more work with Johnny Nash and his associates on the movie soundtrack (this second trip comes from Steffens and Pierson, other sources don’t mention it explicitly). January 27, 1972: the money for the Swedish movie soundtrack projects runs out. Bob goes to London (in some versions Bob leaves Sweden abruptly, stealing Nash’s guitar and plane tickets in the process). In London Bob gets back together with Nash and co. Later he invites the other Wailers to join him, which they do. February 1972: Bob and the Wailers work with Nash on his new album (“I Can See Clearly Now”, Epic/CBS) and try to organize a Wailers tour but nothing really develops. Mostly Bob ends up touring with Nash and his group with the Wailers sitting watching on the sidelines, reportedly due to work visa issues. April 1972: Bob cuts two sessions for CBS. The main result of this is the single Reggae on Broadway. Other songs cut include early versions of songs later recorded for “Catch a Fire” as well as : I’m Hurting Inside, Dance Do the Reggae, Oh Lord I got to Get to Thee, Gonna Get to You, Stay With Me. May 1972: Bob and the Wailers return to Jamaica (in some accounts Bob returns after the Wailers, needing to finish the last dates of the Johnny Nash tour.) Late August 1972: Bob and the Wailers return to the UK to tour. Toward the end of their stay in the UK, Bob meets with Chris Blackwell of Island who offers the group an advance for an album and helps them get back to Jamaica. October 1972: the Wailers work on and complete “Catch a Fire,” their first Island album. Chris Blackwell meets with the group in Jamaica and collects the “Catch a Fire” masters, taking them back with him to London where he has them overdubbed in Island’s studios. (The Deluxe two-disc edition of “Catch a Fire” includes the undubbed masters which make for fascinating listening) Note: White claims that Bob traveled to London to deliver the “Catch a Fire” masters, overdub some of the vocals to match the new backing and sort out his contract problems (he was signed to CBS at the time he signed with Island). Other sources do not back up this version of events, although parts of White’s account may have happened at other times. December 1972: “Catch a Fire” is released in the UK. April 1973: The Wailers begin work on “Burnin’ , “ their second Island album. The Wailers then return to the UK for a tour. April 27-May 29, 1973: The Wailers tour the UK. There are no official recordings of this tour to the best of my knowledge, although there is a DVD that includes footage of the group from their TV appearance recorded on May 1, 1973 (broadcast date?) on the Old Grey Whistle Test. (It’s not clear if all the Wailers returned to Jamaica in between the UK and the USA, although clearly Bunny Livingstone did since he did not accompany the group any further.) July 1973: the Wailers go to the North America. The tour begins in the USA, hitting New York City in August 1973 (including a double bill with Bruce Springsteen), and continues out west, including some dates with Sly and the Family Stone. Since Bunny Livingstone declined to join the group for this US/UK tour, he was replaced by the Wailers’ friend and mentor Joe Higgs. October 1973: There is a very interesting CD available on Island called “Talkin’ Blues” which includes a live in the studio concert the group gave for radio station KSAN when they were in San Francisco at the end of this tour. November 1973: Joe Higgs returns to Jamaica and the Wailers continue on to the UK. No substitute is hired and the group continues as a quintet. November/December 1973: Wailers tour the UK. The Deluxe 2-disc Edition of “Burnin’” includes the Wailers’ concert at Leeds (November 23). Although this does mean that the famous three part harmonies are missing from the Leeds show, nevertheless the group sounds amazing. Bob and Peter play all the guitar parts since the group at the time consisted of the Barrett brothers on bass and drums and Earl Lindo on keyboards. This makes for a quite different sound compared to later Bob Marley bands as heard on live albums such as “Live!” and “Babylon by Bus.” After the shows in the UK, the group returns to Jamaica and in the following months Peter and Bunny officially split from the group. December 1973: “Burnin’” released in the UK.

Since I wrote the above I got a very interesting book called "Bob Marley & the Wailers: the Definitive Discography" by Roger Steffens and Leroy Jodie Pierson (Rounder Books). I am still analyzing his chronology (and comparing it to what I thought I knew) but so far he has cleared up a lot of things for me. In case anyone is interested in the book, here is a link: http://www.rounderbooks.com/archives/2005/...marley_and.html

I read recently “Catch a Fire” by Timothy White, a biography of Bob Marley. I was especially interested in his account of the years 1970-1973 when the Wailers began to reach the international market and signed with Island Records. However, after reading the chapters on 1970-1973, there seemed to be some inconsistancies in White’s account. Initially I attributed these to White’s writing style (he doesn’t always maintain a linear narrative, frequently circles back and forth in time and often presents the thoughts or impressions of others as he imagines them), but no matter how many times I read it certain facts were still unclear to me. I was interested in establishing the chronology of Marley’s activities during the period 1970-1973 in particular because I was interested in the first tours of the Wailers and I wanted to find out if there are any live recordings of the Wailers when the group included Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone. What I found out was that Bob Marley made three trips to England during 1970-1973. These three trips are often confused in White’s book and other sources. Here’s what I think I know about this period based on liner notes, other books and various on line sources: The first trip was in late 1970-early 1971. It began when Bob Marley went by himself to Sweden to work with Johnny Nash and his associates on a proposed movie soundtrack. Later Bob went to London with Nash and co and invited Peter and Bunny to join him. They worked with Nash on his new album and tried to organize a Wailers tour but nothing other than a few club dates happened. Toward the end of their stay in the UK, Bob met with Chris Blackwell of Island who offered the group an advance for an album and helped them get back to Jamaica. Back in Jamaica they worked on the first Island album “Catch a Fire.” They may have also cut some Jamaica-only singles for their own Tuff Gong label during this period but I haven’t been able to verify that yet. (Anyone know anything about this?) Their second trip to the UK took place the following winter, Nov./Dec. 1972, when Bob, Peter and Bunny returned to the UK to deliver the album masters, which were subsequently dubbed by various studio musicians and then released by Island (the Deluxe two-disc edition of “Catch a Fire” includes the undubbed masters which make for fascinating listening). During this stay in the UK, the Wailers toured the UK with a bit more success, performing at a number of clubs including the Speak Easy in London and even appeared on the TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test in January 1973 as well. There are no official recordings of this tour to the best of my knowledge, although there is a DVD that includes footage of the group from their TV appearance. The group then returned to Jamaica. While there they cut their second Island album “Burnin’.” Their third trip to the UK took place at the end of a UK/North America tour that took place during 1973. The tour began in the USA, hitting New York City in August 1973 (including a double bill with Bruce Springsteen), and continued out west, including some dates with Sly and the Family Stone. Bunny Livingstone declined to join the group for this US/UK tour and was replaced by the Wailers friend and mentor Joe Higgs. There is a very interesting CD available on Island called “Talkin’ Blues” which includes a live in the studio concert the group gave for radio station KSAN when they were in San Francisco in October 1973 at the end of this tour. The group then went on to the UK where they played in London and other cities. The Deluxe 2-disc Edition of “Burnin’” includes the Wailers’ concert at Leeds in December 1973. According to the liner notes Joe Higgs did not stay with the tour for its UK dates, and no other substitute for Bunny was ever found apparently. Although this does mean that the famous three part harmonies are missing from the Leeds show, nevertheless the group sounds amazing. Bob and Peter play all the guitar parts since the group at the time consisted of the Barrett brothers on bass and drums and Earl Lindo on keyboards. This makes for a quite different sound compared to later Bob Marley bands as heard on live albums such as “Live!” and “Babylon by Bus.” After the shows in California, the group returned to Jamaica and in the following months Peter and Bunny officially split from the group.

Interesting that Hunter did open.... It seems rather strange though that he came on so early since as far as I knew the event start time was 7:00 pm and at most concerts I've been to the event start time is the start time of the opening act, not the main attraction. In any case when I showed up at about 7:15/7:20 (I had to take a cab from the nearest Metro station to get to the show) Hunter was no longer on stage and they were preparing for Van to come on. I assumed Hunter hadn't played at all.

Did Jimmy play the basslines on the organ? I've understood he has to play with bass players or another organist these days due to his illness.

Weird that the North America part of the tour is so short. Oh, I got my ticket for free from a friend. I was shocked to see a $125 price on it. And that was for the back of the old Philly Spectrum just off the floor.

Van Morrison came to the East Coast of the USA for three shows this month (Fairfax, VA near Washington, DC; Philadelphia; and Jones Beach, NY) and I went to the show at the Patriot Center on the George Mason University Campus in Fairfax, VA. This was the "Pay the Devil" tour so he played material from the new album as well as a nice mix of well known and more obscure material. The set list included: (1) Pay the Devil Material: Playhouse, There Stands the Glass, Big Blue Diamonds (2) Recent Work: All Work and No Play, Stranded, Back on Top, In My Memory, Only a Dream (3) Covers: I Can't Stop Loving You, Help Me (4) Greatest Hits: Cleaning Windows, Bright Side of the Road, Crazy Love, Brown Eyed Girl, Wild Night, Moon Dance, Gloria. It was a great show. Van was in fine voice and played for about two hours. There was no opening act although the advertized guest James Hunter (guitar/vocals) came out and sang and played with Van during "Help Me." The horn section included Pee Wee Ellis on tenor and Chris Barber on trombone. In addition the band had a pedal steel player as well as a fiddle player, in order to be able to play the country numbers and anything else that came up

The line up was: Jimmy on organ, Jerry Weldon on tenor sax, Chris (Barlow? Burell? Durell? couldn't catch the name) on guitar and Don Williams on drums. It's true that Jimmy doesn't play as much as he used to, but he did lay down a few grooves and interacted with the band at times. I don't know what tunes they played, but most of them were good. Great fun.

Bertrand: I checked Blues Alley's site and Jimmy's site, and no details are provided. I'll report back on how the concert went next week. H.

I'm very excited because Jimmy and his band are going to be playing Blues Alley in Washington, DC this weekend and I have a ticket for the Friday Aug. 4 8pm show.

Well, I found the answer to my own question. The embarassing part is I found it on the webpage from the link I shared with everyone above. I guess I hadn't had time to read it very carefully. Turns out the answer is that Sundazed put out a two disc collection called "Get Low Down!: The Soul of New Orleans, '65-'67." Here's an amazon.com link in case anyone is interested in the contents: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tracks/B0...?ie=UTF8#disc_1

Lately I've been checking out Allen Toussaint's work as a producer. I stated with the Crescent Soul series on EMI/Capitol and most recently got some of his work with Lee Dorsey (especially enjoying their 1970 collaboration "Yes We Can"). In the liner notes though it says that in the mid' 60's Toussaint was working as a producer for Sansu Records. Other than some Dorsey stuff though I don't think I've heard any of Toussaint's work from that period as yet. Has there been any kind of compilation of Toussaint's Sansu productions? Anyone know who owns the rights to the catalogue... I understand that it was while Toussaint was at Sansu that he started working with the Meters...must be some pretty funky stuff. here's an intersting link to a site that talks about some of the specific '45's from Sansu: http://funky16corners.tripod.com/9_sansu_1.htm

Recently I saw in Rolling Stone a review of a reissue of a '70's soul singer named Leroy Hutson. I did a little research and found out that I had heard of Hutson before since he was a friend of Donny Hathaway (they wrote "The Ghetto" and other songs together), and replaced Curtis Mayfield in the Impressions (there are photos of him in the Rhino best of the Impressions collection, although no tracks featuring Hutson are included on the CD). It turns out that after the Impressions Hutson cut a series of solo albums on Mayfield's Curtom label. With these kinds of associations, I was intrigued to say the least and so I picked up a copy of his recently issued best of CD. Here's the AMG review of the new CD compilation: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&t...10:19kxu3edanxk While I tend to agree with AMG (and RS) that Hutson is at times a bit derivative of Curtis, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, I think he has a great voice and his records are well produced and performed. Very worth checking out if you like '70's soul.

I picked up some more Fania discs with Blades, including the two "Maestra Vida" discs. I've come to like the first part of "Maestra Vida" a lot. The music and playing is great. However, I find the second part less interesting so far. Blades decided to present most of the second part of his story primarily in flashback, which makes for a much less dramatic effect, in my view. Or perhaps the songs are just less interesting in the second part...I'm glad I got both parts, in any case. I also got two more of the Blades collaborations with Willie Colon that Fania has reissued: "Siembre," which features "Plastico" as heard on "Bohemio y Poeto," is excellent; "Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos" was cut after "Maestra Vida" and is not quite as interesting (apparently relations between Colon and Blades and between Blades and Fania began to sour as the seventies turned into the eighties), although it does enable one to hear "Tiburón," Blades' controversial single mentioned in some of the liner notes for the other discs. I also read about the first Colon/Blades album "Metiendo Mano," which came out before "Siembre" but it doesn't look like Fania has reissued it yet, although there is one track from it on "Bohemio y Poeta." I looking forward to hearing that in the future. By the way, here's an interesting Blades discography link I used, in case anyone is interested: http://www.maestravida.com/#1980s

A sad story indeed. Just out of curiosity, how did you compile the data that you entered into your computer (pre-disaster)? From Record Research?

I own a copy of Record Research's guide to r'n'b but I am at times frustrated by the fact that the book is (with the exception of a few summaries in the appendices) organized by artist, not by date. I have a book on the pop charts (UK and US) that does provide information by date and find this a very satisfying format. Does anyone know if there exists a book that gives the r'n'b charts in chronological order? Thanks. Henry.

Thanks, Jim. I listened to some samples from "Maestra Vida" last night and tend to agree with your assessment. Too much talking and not enough playing! Some of it is interesting though so I may get it anyway since it may be something that grows on one with time. I like "Bohemio y Poeta" the more I listen to it. I love the scatting Blades does at the end of "Sin Tu Carino." It reminds me of Marvin Gaye on "Make Me Wanna Holler." The Fania jazz bandleaders really knew how to bring out the best in singers. Heard a few samples of "Buscando America" and may seek out a copy of that too... I think it's still available although it doesn't look like it's been remastered recently, which is a shame since the sound on the Fania remasters is so good.

I've been checking out the Fania reissues too, inspired by the New York Times article and a general interest in Latin Music. I got the two compilations "Soneros de Siempre" volumes 1 and 2, both of which I've been enjoying. The individual artist that I liked the most was Ruben Blades from Panama (there seemed to be echoes of Marvin Gaye and Philadelphia International in his work), so more recently I picked up "Bohemio y Poeta" which is an excellent compilation of tracks featuring him with various Fania bandleaders. Has anyone here heard his two "Maestra Vida" discs (from about 1980) that Fania has reissued, and if so, do you recommend them? Also, does anyone have any thoughts on Blades' subsequent output on Electra, starting with "Buscando America"? Thanks

Based on a review from the Washington Post ("Chick Corea Trio, Spanning The Decades Friday," May 5, 2006; Page C02), it seems that one of the tunes I didn't recognize was most likely "500 Miles High." Link to the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6050401881.html This should inspire me to pull out my copy of "Light as a Feather" by Chick and Return to Forever Version 1 and listen to it a bit more closely (I listened to the ECM Return to Forever Version 1 CD more in the past, I think).

Did anyone on this board who lives in DC see Chick Corea when he played a series of shows at Blues Alley this weekend? I saw the eight o'clock show on Friday night. I'd never seen Chick in concert before and it was great. a very positive experience. He was with a trio featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and Airto Moreira on percussion and drums. Chick played piano and Fender Rhodes on and off through out the evening as well as a little percussion (no marimba, alas). I didn't get all of the program, but he started out with "Captain Marvel," played two Monk Tunes ("Bolivar Blues" and "Ask Me Now", I think), played several compositions he didn't announce and then ended with Jobim's "Desafinado" (which included a rap/recitation in Portuguese by Airto, as well as lyrics to the song after the intro). Chick told an anecdote about playing a series of shows at the Apollo with Monk's group and claimed that one night while peaking through the curtain he saw Monk play the same tune three times in a row as his set (I think it was "Rhythming").