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The Bus Ride - Anna Wilson
I stumbled upon this gal at Webster one night with Mr. Eto, checking out the soundtrack to "View From The Top", which is reputedly a brutal movie. Nonetheless, we were led to Ms. Wilson's website, where they had full-length clips of her album. It hadn't been released yet, but there was a sweetness to her in this track that justified my purchase. |
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Lady Lynda - Acoustic Alchemy
AA put this cut on their Against The Grain disc, and it's a wonderfully mellow piece, evoking images of a rainy day. According to the liner notes, it's a tribute to a friend who passed away. |
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Swept Away - David Benoit & Russ Freeman
This was the first David Benoit CD I acquired, having only heard a cut from his Urban Daydreams disc the summer before my freshman year at Webster. I had the Rippingtons' Brave New World (continue on for a song from that album also), and this was a collaboration of the two. This will forever make me think of the early days of that school year, mixing hot and humid with artificial air conditioned cool...and a world of uncertainty. |
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Lido Shuffle - Boz Scaggs
Now, this song...this is one of the first songs I ever remember hearing. My mom used to teach aerobics, and this song, with its strong, steady beat, was perfect material. I had filed it away in my head for years until, one night, I was driving home from work during high school, and heard it on the radio. The recordings from the 70's, like this one, can't be beat in terms of quality.
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Maybe There's A Loving God - Sara Groves
This album gets a little too folksy/country for me, but this song truly sticks out in the mix. It perfectly captures the frustrated nature of the storyteller, and I've found that songs about angst and sadness take on a new shape when they're played in a major key and in 6/8 time. Such is the case with this one. Never before had I heard the lyrics, "I have another meeting today/With my new counselor." |
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Faster Than An Arrow - Frank Gambale
Scott Jones owns a Frank Gambale Ibanez guitar, and it was Big Daddy G who first exposed me to his music. I heard this song on an instructional DVD, and it was a Sega moment for me. Totally captured the sound of 1987, in a way I wish I could duplicate. Just the right combination of guitar and synth over some tasty Steely Dan-esque chords. |
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On The Dunes - Donald Fagen
Another acquisition from early freshman year. I was a bona fide Danfan, having just seen the Dan in concert weeks prior, and subsequently dropping fifty bucks on a live SD import. Kamakiriad seemed a logical next step. It struck me as being a bit on the soft side, lacking the edge Walter Becker's guitar brought to the Dan. However, it was in the family, so how could I turn it away? This track had the most outside chords I'd heard at the time, and kept wondering when it was going to end. (At 8:02, it's a bit on the unnecessarily long side...) |
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Polina - Dave Grusin
This past summer, after hearing Grusin's Orchestral Album, I threw cash to the wind and bought every album of his not yet in my collection. Migration was an instant favorite. On this track, Grusin invites Hugh Masekela to lend his embouchure to a bed of beautiful chords. The result is utterly pleasing--Masekela demonstrates masterful execution of his instrument. Grusin's certainly no slouch, either. It reminds me of the theme to "Mr. Mom." |
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Somehow Our Love Survives - Joe Sample & Al Jarreau
My piano teacher in college, Carolbeth True, made me a tape of contemporary jazz, including Dave Grusin, Chick Corea, and this tune from Sample's Spellbound album. The chord changes are interesting to follow, and Jarreau does some scat singing over the fade-out at the end. |
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Home Town - Joe Jackson
Roight--let's get on with it! "Home Town" is Joe's interpretation of Pachelbel's Canon in D, utilizing the same chord changes, over a wistful, reminiscent retelling of his growing-up years (though, in typical JJ fashion, it's brash and self-deprecating at the outset: "Of all the stupid things I could have done/This was the worst"). It further colors the extremely broad Big World album from 1986. |
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Love Is The Answer - Todd Rundgren
Be warned: this is not the original version. With A Twist found TR-I revisiting his own catalog, and pouring out musical daiquiris to a Latin beat. It doesn't work for every song, but this one comes out like coconut milk. There is quite a bit of synth keys and strings in the background, and it feels like a night on the island...with a slow breeze. Todd's pretty intense, but he can obviously relax, too. |
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For Anything - Vanessa Daou
The reclusive, notoriously out-of-print chanteuse Vanessa Daou oozes sensuality from every pore. I first heard her most recent release, Make You Love,, and jumped on auction sites tracking the rest of her catalog down. Slow To Burn is one of her stronger releases, and "For Anything" is only one of an entire album's worth of great songs. |
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Show Up! - New Life Community Choir featuring John P. Kee
When I rolled out of St. Louis in July 2003, this was the latest CD in my collection, imparted to me by my partner in musical mayhem (and brother in the Gospel), Gary Fiorino. The opening track wastes no time, as John P. Kee leads the choir into a bumpin' jam. "Can I get a witness?" is the name of the game. |
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Mr. Johnson - Jimmy Smith
Dr. John lays down a funky piano groove leading off this relatively routine blues song. All genericity aside, it just feels good. Jimmy Smith tosses down his trademark percolating organ licks, eschewing the high rotary speed of the Leslie speaker for a more straight tone. In terms of organ work, Smith doesn't utilize (or hide behind?) the full timbre of the instrument, opting to let his solos speak more syllabically than qualitatively. It's a good jam. |
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Hip Hug-Her - Booker T. & The M.G.'s
I was studying with Jeremy Golnick in high school one night, and he tossed on this VBO's predecessor. In addition to the staple "Green Onions", Booker wowed me equally with this little piece of funk. Here's a guy who DOES take advantage of the dirt the B3 can kick up when you work it. Speaking of dirt, Steve Cropper's guitar has the crunch and bite of Chuck Taylors on a dusty road. A first taste of funk soul brethren, not easily forgotten. |
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Tiempo de Festival - Dave Weckl Band
As Dave Weckl is a truly fierce drummer, it behooves his style that most of his albums end on a high note. Though the penultimate track of this mix, his Perpetual Motion release concludes with this cache of Latin plastic explosive. In addition to the fiery performances of the band proper, the song is complimented by the horn-section-de-force of Jerry Hey, Gary Grant and Bill Reichenbach. It can't be possible for many musicians to pull this kind of thing off, but these guys make it look easy. Just one of those to throw in so my head can spin. |
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Virtual Reality - Rippingtons
After coming up perpetually unsatisfied with bebop, I finally stumbled onto the Rippingtons and never looked back. I've always preferred a soundscape and texture to simply chords and ideas. Anyway, when I picked up Brave New World, 8 of the 11 tracks took me by storm. "Virtual Reality" reminds me of a musical I participated in with my sister's junior high youth group, and held me aloft in a period of insecurity at the outset of my freshman year (that theme has appeared several times in this mix!). It also reminded me of the first time I beat "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap" on the Sega Master System, the way the original theme turned into an oh-so Japanese jam, and then faded out. A better way to end an awesome album, I could not offer. |
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