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Back in the 80's I used to occasionally listen to a Tommy Vance program on the BBC. I forget what it was called but it was music "on the heavy side" as he would say. In my view it was kind of lightweight musically but these bands often put on an impressive display of electric guitar virtuosity which could be enjoyable in and of itself, the tunes and lyrics largely simplistic and barely audible. OK a lot of it was repetitive tricks and pentatonic cliches but it had a certain cocky majesty in its braggadoccio. I don't know if my tastes have changed over the last 40 years. I still find the occasional shredder exciting but when I went through several notable Black Sabbath tunes mentioned in the newspaper, and when I listened to the excerpts that Rick Beato played in the clip linked above, I was struck by how rudimentary, obvious, and unswinging it all is. The combination of third-hand blues mixed with English music hall and camp satanism, hyper-masculinity blended vaguely with an ethos hinting at drag-queens - not that there is anything wrong with that - does little for me.

Now:

Bump...still a bunch of stuff available.

RIP. 97 is a great run. I'm only vaguely familiar with her work, but have been aware of her for decades. Married to John Dankworth for five decades.

If were a great group. Not sure when I discovered them, but it was after they had disbanded.

Valerie Simpson - Exposed (Tamla, 1971)

Now spinning on my turntable: Mickey Newbury - Lovers (Elektra, 1975)

I already booked a flight! 😁

Earlier: Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 - Primal Roots (A&M, 1972) and Flora Purim - Open Your Eyes You Can Fly (Milestone, 1976)

A fantastic record!

She was something else. RIP.

https://www.rothamel.de/en/artists/nguyen-xuan-huy/paintings.html?cat=0&art=2825 It's yours for the low price of 23590 Euro (~$28K).

There were a few Clean Feed recommendations threads before, here is one of them: Of recent discoveries, I like this live set a lot: LIVE IN EUROPE (3CD SET) – Clean Feed Records https://www.discogs.com/release/11195262-Gard-Nilssens-Acoustic-Unity-Live-In-Europe

Cool space, but uhhhhhhh, don't tell the wife how much I like that painting to the far right 🤔

This band, If? Seems logical to me: Imagine a reunion tour, they can rename themselves "Then" and start a rock 'n' roll conditional! 😎

Rod Stewart was the headliner of the bill, so he came on last, after If. I remember walking out on him as he was holding a bottle of Southern Comfort, singing like a drunk old lady. I don't remember if I ditched my friends, or they came with me, but I had to get outta there. The next day I went to TSS and bought If's first album. They were even more obscure than Sabbath. Many years later (pre-internet ), I only met one other person who was an If fanatic. We were doing a week-long gig with Al Martino in Connecticut, and he was the bass player on the gig, and we drove up together. It turned out that he didn't even know of the existence of the first If album, so I invited him over my place, and sat there in shock, listening to their first album on Capitol. I fulfilled a lifetime dream of mine by writing a transcription of an instrumental tune of theirs for big band (If only had seven guys in the band-two tenors, a vocalist and rhythm. With the advent of the 'internest' I uncovered a deep, dark secret of the first album that I had suspected for many years. They secretly added a trumpet player on a few of the cuts who wasn't listed in the credits of the first album. This is common knowledge today, but there was a time when you could be doing hard time for perpetrating a crime like that, according to the Jazz-Rock laws of the time. Thankfully, the laws have loosened up since then...👿

Jason Moran “All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller” Blue Note cd Not your grandfather’s Fats Waller! Nicely recorded. Bass – Tarus Mateen Drums – Nasheet Waits Drums, Vocals – Charles Haynes Piano, Electric Piano – Jason Moran Producer – Don Was, Meshell Ndegeocello Saxophone – Steve Lehman Trombone – Josh Roseman Trumpet, Vocals – Leron Thomas Vocals – Meshell Ndegeocello

Here's a cut from the album Felser mentioned. Chuck sounds a bit Dizzy in places. ...and a 21 year old Jarrett sounds like Jarrett already.

Joe Farrell “Canned Funk” CTI Supreme King Jazz Japan cd Bass – Herb Bushler Congas, Percussion – Ray Mantilla Drums – Jim Madison Guitar – Joe Beck Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Joe Farrell Recorded at Van Gelder Studios Recorded November, December, 1974

Next up:

Sorry to hear this news. R.I.P. This is the Laine album that I've enjoyed more than any others:

For a hot moment in the late '70's, she was very big. This sold a lot:

This is the best one I've read.

Mark Masters Ensemble"Porgy and Bess Redefined" Capri cd 400×400 23 KB

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch