BFrank

I picked up Neil Young "Americana", which included a video of each tune.

Thanks for the input, David. And greater thanks for putting this ensemble together. I would see this group ANYtime, ANYwhere (within reason, of course). I've seen Billy countless times over the years - he's one of my jazz heroes. And the rest of the band are all legends in their own right, as well. What's NOT to like????

Happy b-day, Baraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

They're pretty good, BF. My friend was playing the album yesterday while we BBQ'd and watched fireworks at The Rose Bowl. The lady singer has a very soulful voice. The instrumentals are sweet without being sickly. Sincere, good quality music. The downside is it all sounds a little same-y, from track to track. I imagine they're fun live. She has a good voice and presence, but when we saw them the band seemed somewhat uninspired. Same-y would be a good description. Actually, here's the show! Maybe I should watch it again. http://www.npr.org/event/music/148530119/alabama-shakes-live-in-concert-sxsw-2012

Let me know what you think of Alabama Shakes. My friends and I saw them at SXSW and weren't impressed - but we seem to be in the minority. This group gets raves wherever they play.

"Arcane" is putting it mildly. I got one, though! Thanks, GA.

Good one, Uli. You might be onto something there. Any other singers doing this from a vocal perspective?

I picked up the Black Keys @ $.99, too.

Finally getting around to listening to this. I can't think of ANYone who is doing (or could do) music remotely like this. A unique mixture of hip vocal performances over a backdrop of 60s/70s-era progressive/outside jazz. Gotta be one of the most outrageous albums of the year and could be appreciated by pretty much anyone on this board. One thing's for sure - it's NOT commercial.

This conversation is just a LITTLE off topic.

It's summer in San Francisco - 64 degrees and foggy. Perfect!

I saw him playing acoustic stand-up bass with the Mike Gibbs band once. Well...........there ya go. My point exactly!

Hit up some galleries last weekend. Saw a very nice Thiebaud retrospective at the Berggruen Gallery followed a Friedlander show at Fraenkel that was so-so (although I'm a big Friedlander fan).

I was really impressed with ArchAndroid, myself. (especially the first half of the album) "Cold War" knocked me out. And this video is amazing - just a closeup of her face, but it's hypnotic. I've must have watched it at least 50 times.

I just picked up a Roland Cube 20 XL. Nice little apartment amp. Much better (and better looking) than the Line 6 Spider I had before.

Well, that's a REALLY "California-ist" thing to say.

Tamarindo lineup: Tony Malaby soprano & tenor saxophone William Parker bass Mark Ferber drums

I have no way of knowing, but I'm guessing that things he said in 67-68 are not things he would have said 10-20 years later.

It was originally released on Polydor, but now it's on Verve.

He's bringing Tamarindo to a nice small venue for SFJazz in October. I definitely plan to see that.

Jack w/FZ

Their recent reunion album was quite good. I love Bruce. I think he was one of the greatest singers of classic rock besides one of the best bass players, and I love him on the Michael Mantler stuff too. I recently watched a documentary about the Cream reunion. I was unaware of how much Ginger Baker can't stand Bruce! The success of Cream is quite surprising given how much the 3 of them couldn't stand one another. If you read Clapton's autobiography (a good read, btw), you'll find out how bummed out Clapton was that Winwood wanted Baker for Blind Faith. I agree on Bruce. However, I revisited "Songs for a Tailor" and "Harmony Row" today, and found them both to be quite pedestrian. Ouch! "Harmony Row" is one of my favorite albums. I highly recommend Kip Hanrahan's Vertical's Currency (with Jack on the cover) for a different take on his talent - both instrumentally and vocally. Check out Jack's work on the sensual "Make Love 2" and also a version of "Smiles & Grins" from Harmony Row.

Yeah, but did he say anything even close to what I said (and nobody else here has said)? I know firsthand that ALL Penn Staters (and all of Pennsylvania for that matter) have drunk the JoePa Kool-aid for far too long. Sacrificing our principles for the sake of college athletics needs to end here, or this has all been meaningless. Yeah - pretty much. You should look some of them up.

Joe Nocera has written several columns in the NY Times this year about the many problems with the NCAA and big-time college sports.

Jack is one of my all time favorite musicians. Extremely varied in his musical output. Besides his eclectic catalog of solo albums, he's played with a wide variety of artists such as Tony Williams, Carla Bley, Kip Hanrahan, Zappa, and John McLaughlin.