My previous posts have evolved somewhat, which I suppose is the nature of these things. I think I’m starting to get a better sense for the shape of this. I think I’ll try to just list the tunes, and instead of writing something small about each one, I’ll go long on a few. See where that gets me.

Gabriel Omolo & His Apollo Komesha – Wed Today, Divorce Tomorrow (from Africa Never Stand Still) – Like I said the other day, Africa Never Stand Still is a must own. Omolo is from Kenya.

Oumou Sangare – Unknown title (from a concert in Chicago in 1999) – Incredible Malian singer.

Mark Turner – Zurich (from Dharma Days)

Bezuayene Zegeye – Netsela May-May (from Ethiopiques 5) – This music is from Tigray in Eritrea.

Beach Boys – That’s Not Me (stereo mix, from Pet Sounds) – It’s true, the mono version is better.

Johnny Cash – 25 Minutes to Go (from At Folsom Prison)

John Coltrane – Lonnie’s Lament (from Crescent) – All of Coltrane’s records are must own recordings, especially those on Impulse!, and yes I even mean the later stuff like Intersteller Space. And let me just reiterate that Giant Steps is unbelievable.

Seyfou Youhannes – Tezeta (from Ethiopiques 10) – Sounds like Getachew Mekrya is on this.

Fela Kuti – Egbe Mi O (from Shakara/London Scene).

Adanch Teka – Bob Marley (from Ethiopiques 2) – Incredible to hear Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds interpreted by an Azmari musician accompanied by a masinqo and kabaro (Ethiopian drum). When the Either/Orchestra went to Ethiopia in 2004, one of the things that overwhelmed me was the feeling of listing to Azmaris. You walk into a bar – a tejbet (house of tej, a kind of honey wine) – and a few musicians are tucked away in the corner. Usually there is a singer, a masinqo player (one string violin) and a kabaro player. Sometimes you will also see a krar (5-string harp) player and even a washint (Ethiopian flute) player. The deal is that they play for tips, and they improvise like crazy. Their improvisations are led by the singer who will sing directly to people in the bar about various things, the way they look or whatever, again for tips. This style is called sem-enna-werq or the wax and gold, because the wax (the literal translation of their words) hides the gold (a deeper meeting, double entendres, etc.) I found it most unnerving to have a woman Azmari singer standing a foot away from me, singing directly to me, looking me in the eye, and dancing a little (the Ethiopian dancing, the Amharic style in particular, is some of the most beautiful movement on Earth) – but I couldn’t understand a single word she said except for my name. But this singing for tips thing is not trivial. It means that as long as the money keeps coming, they keep playing, sometimes for an entire night without stopping. Ok, so we jazz musicians whine about a 90 minute set, meanwhile the Azmaris play 5 hours without stopping.

Jeremy Udden – Loaded (from Torch Songs) – I love this record. To begin with, Jeremy is one of my all time favorite saxophone players. But the main thing here is how great the writing is, and how fantastically the bands play together. It’s not just about showcasing Jeremy’s serious talents, it’s about playing music that is organic, that breathes, that has life, and exploring the possibilities. The amazing accomplishment here is how they have managed to do this without playing music that is jarring, but instead they play music that is beautiful.

Aster Aweke – Kabu (from Kabu)

David Bowie – The Bewlay Brothers (from Hunky Dory) – Thankfully, there is much less Rick Wakeman on this one. Like basically none. Or maybe he is on there, but not all that honky tonk stuff.

Frank Zappa – Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow (from Apostrophe) – Ok, so this was one of the first things I ever heard by Frank Zappa, and it completely freaked me out. I wore this record out, not because of the brilliant lyrics because the lyrics aren’t exactly, um, brilliant. But the music is just absolutely incredible.

Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (from Sounds of Summer)

Bob Marley – Ride natty Ride (from Survival)

Jeremy Udden – Indecision (from Torch Songs)

Pat Metheny – The Truth Will Always Be (from Secret Story) – I love this record, and it was this tour that brought Metheny to Boston where I would meet and frighten him (see my earlier post about this). Oh, and ok, so the snare drum rim shot on beat 3 starting about halfway through this tune has wwwaaayyyyy too much reverb on it, and now sounds completely cheesy and dated, but otherwise, very nice. Ok, just one more thing, still very nice, but the whole buildup into the synth-guitar thing, well that was nice, but then the solo was, well it just sounds pretty dated and very predictible. Aside from that it’s fantastic.

Mahmoud Ahmed – Tezeta (from Ethiopiques 19)

That’s all for now. Thanks,

Rick