Fat Freddys Drop release their third album Blackbird, on Friday. To celebrate, they're live streaming their London album launch show via Youtube on Wednesday June 26, from 8pm GMT (that's Thursday June 27, 7am in NZ) .
"We're off to Europe to release our new album …and to help NZ & the rest of the world be a part of this, we've gone & hired a humungus satellite dish so that we can broadcast live our Album Release Show in London.
So no hard feelings please …our Aotearoa fans! Its just too hard to compete in NZ with the wit & intellect of Daniel Bedingfield & the NZ X Factor. Jokes aside, Europe has become our home away from home. We are performing to huge audiences over there & it just keeps growing each year.
Get up early! Crack some champagne … and party with the Freddys! Take the day off maybe & keep charging!
Chur !
Mu …"
The official Blackbird release dates are: New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Germany - 21 June / UK, France - 24 June / USA - 9 July.
Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove
by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Ben Greenman (Grand Central Publishing)
"Sometimes, you can tell a book by its cover. David Cowles’ Questlove-centric riff on Milton Glaser’s famous 1966 Bob Dylan poster is awesome, and the book by the big-haired, multi-talented Roots drummer backs it up.
Writing in a conversational style, Questlove — who says he started playing drums at 2 — explains his childhood (and everything that followed) like this: “If you take an inner city ghetto where there’s crime and violence and drugs — and there was all that around us all the time — the last thing you think you’re going to find is a family that’s teaching its afro’d four-year-old son the difference between Carole King’s original ‘It’s Too Late’ and the Isley Brothers’ version, which is this ten-and-a-half-minute blues-rock epic that opens up side two of their 1972 album “Brother, Brother, Brother.”
"Attention White Girls: Stop reading about vampires and read what Questlove has to say instead. Mo' Meta Blues is a magical kaleidoscope about a high concept, low maintenance genius named Ahmir. Like him, it's smart, funny, sweet and in a thousand places at once. Read it or rot on your vine." - Amy Poehler
"Questlove is an artistic giant and spiritual genius whose roots go back to Curtis Mayfield and so many others. This book is a gem to read and a joy to feel! Don't miss it!" - Dr Cornel West
From WahWah45s: "On moving to Canada from his original home of Haïti, pianist and singer/songwriter Henri-Pierre Noel brought with him much of the tropical island's influences.
Henri is an incredibly versatile musican who uses the piano in a very percussive and syncopated way, almost like a drum. This particular technique naturally brings disco and afro-jazz elements into his unique brand of "Kompa Funk".
In 2012, Wah Wah 45s re-mastered and re-issued Henri-Pierre Noel's debut LP from 1979, "Piano", to huge critical acclaim.
Whilst doing so, Canadian producer Moonstarr discovered a couple of previously unreleased cuts recorded in the same session way back when. Henri-Pierre Noel's versions of the the Walter Murphy disco classic "A Fifth Of Beethoven" and the soul/jazz standard "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" are fire for the dance floor filled to the brim with the man's trademark keys, funky bass and afro flavoured percussion.
These exclusive recordings (out July 1st) are sure to start many a party this (northern) summer, and set the scene perfectly for Henri's UK visit this July – the highlight surely being a full London show at The Jazz Cafe on Saturday July 13th!"
A handful of tunes up today as tribute to Big Matt, who passed away on this day 6 years ago. Wicked DJ, fine, fine man. Much love to his family and friends.
Carlton Shoes - Love me forever
Michigan and Smiley - Rubadub style
Skatalites - El pusssycat ska
Dennis Brown - No man is an island
Ernest Ranglin - Surfin
Bob Marley and the wailers - Simmer down
Brentford allstars - Greedy G
Lennie Hibbert - Vilage soul
Jackie Mittoo - Hot milk
Specials - Message to you, Rudy
Dexys - Geno
Nightmares on wax -70s 80s - Scientist mix 1
Henry and the revolutionaries - Jumping
Papa Levi -Mi god mi king
Gwen Guthrie - Ticket to ride
JStar - Musictime
Common - Come close -Boozoo bajou remix
Aim - Just passin through
Ballistic Bros - Prophecy reveal
Dukie and Fitchie - Midnight marauders - Mu's triple 5 steppa dub
Latinaotearoa - Fuego mi corazon
Hypnotic brass ensemble - Spotttie
Jackie Stoudemire -Invisible wind - Shoes edit
New York community choir - Express yourself - Butch le butch edit
Criminal element orchestra - Put the needle on the record
George Clinton - Do fries go with that shake
Newie out now from K7, with a guest spot from Joe Dukie (Fat Freddys Drop)...
" With his new CLOSE project, Will Saul has created the kind of album that lodges itself effortlessly in the brain. Collaborating with an incredible group of musicians including Fink, Scuba, Appleblim, Joe Dukie of Fat Freddy's Drop, Charlene Soraia and others, Saul has placed melody and mood at the forefront, and created a wonderful listening experience, front to back. This is the soundtrack to our summer, easily.
In addition to the double LP, CD and download of the album Get Close, the K7 web store will have an exclusive yellow vinyl version of the new single "My Way" feat Joe Dukie, limited to 100 copies...
"With a patient backbeat, shuffling piano and bass, and Dukie's soulful vocal take congealing to create something smoky and intoxicating in its own right. is undoubtedly one of the most earwormy, pleasurably spiralling dance singles of the year." - Pitchfork
Max Cryer and his amazing pants, alongside Dinah Lee and Millie Small, from Playdate mag, 1966
Chris Bourke has a great interview over on his Bluesmoke blog with 60s Kiwi popstar Dinah Lee. The original interview is from 1986, and was published in defunct fashion mag Cha Cha, one of the influential titles from the publishing house of M Cammick.
Dig that pic of Dinah with Max Cryer, and Millie Small, singer of ska hit My Boy Lollipop. That's the kiwi/ska connection right there, y'all. Dinah played shows alongside Millie.
Chris Bourke: Where did you get your material from? ‘Reet Petite’ and so on …
Dinah Lee: That was an old Jackie Wilson song, but I found it on some album by … I can’t remember, it was so long ago … it was some girl singer doing it. ‘Don’t You Know Yockomo’ was an early R&B hit as well, by New Orleans’ singer Huey Smith. Were you listening to those R&B records in the early 60s?
Oh yeah – into all that, cos it was sort of the Motown thing, and even before that there were your black singers like Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke and even Little Richard. There were lots of little coffee clubs in Auckland that people used to go to hear this music. Places like the Beatle Inn, the Shiralee, the Top Twenty … there was a jazz venue near Queen Street there, the Montmartre – I used to go in there and sing pop with a jazz band. Just piano, with slap bass and drums, and I’d sing, oh, Dusty Springfield stuff. So I had all that grounding.
I used to do ‘Yockomo’, ‘Reet Petite’, all those numbers, with Max Merritt and the Meteors and the Invaders even before I recorded them. We did shows all around New Zealand in the 60s with, like, Peter Posa, Lou and Simon – all these people. I don’t know if you hear of them any more … Bill and Boyd, the Howard Morrison Quartet, of course. All those people, all the time. And then I did my own shows, and shows with PJ Proby and Little Millie. [Millie Small pictured above with Dinah Lee and Max Cryer, from Playdate magazine, 1966.] She had ‘My Boy Lollipop’ – ‘Blue Beat’ is like an early reggae song too …
Yeah, Jamaican ska.
Where did you pick that up?
The record company [Viking] got that one for me and we just did it as we felt it should be done. Funnily enough in Australia reggae is quite big now, yet this was in the 60s when reggae wasn’t known. It’s quite unusual isn’t ‘it, how we got into reggae. I don’t know who produced that one; I’m just trying to remember … (shakes head). No, it’s just so long ago.
There’s a reggae group here called the All Nighters, and a couple of years ago they did a big show up at the Tivoli and they wanted me to do ‘Blue Beat’ with them. It was great. They all loved it, because they said, “Well, you’re one of the original reggae people we know of.” You know, I never really got into reggae after that..."
Easy listening supremo James Last got beats, you know that, right? From UK's Mr Munch, hat tip to Alan P for the link...
"Recorded in May 2013 this project started out as an EP but soon grew to be a mini LP with 9 tracks and 1 remix. The original concept was to use only the music of James Last and every loop, kick, snare and bass line is sampled from one of James Last's many albums....."
Danse Macabre did a reunion gig last month, with another 80s Akld outfit, Penknife Glides. They also got picked up to do one of Radio 95BFM's In Session recordings at Roundhead Studio, and took the opportunity to record some songs they'd written but left unrecorded back in the day. Here's one of those tracks, Memento, with a brief introduction from the band on their history, and the song.
Previous blog:Daniel Barnes reviewed Danse Macabre's 2005 reunion show, held to celebrate the reissue of their EP and album on CD/digital (iTunes ).
Their music is well worth investigating, it has aged very well. That can be credited to the band's stellar songwriting and performance, but also the outstanding production. Both the EP and album were produced by Trevor Reekie for Reaction Records, Mandrill Studio's inhouse label.
The label also released Satellite Spies, the Mockers, Knightshade, Car Crash Set, and Marginal Era, the latter two both produced by Reekie. Reaction Records back catalog has recently been reissued on digital, check Amplifier for more.
Electric Wire Hustle just posted a brief Vine clip via Twitter of them rehearsing with new drummer Thomas Pridgen (ex Mars Volta), and also revealed the tracklisting for their new album, Love can prevail/Blackwater...
Italian label Record Kicks has dropped some gems over the years - probably the most well known of them is the fantastic take from Baby Charles on I bet you look good on the dancefloor (Arctic Monkeys), twisting it into a monster soul shaker. If you're unfamiliar with the label, this is a great place to start.
"After 109 releases of which 90 also on vinyl format, 51 international artists released and over 40,000 7” vinyl pressed, it’s time to celebrate our 10th anniversary! From deep funk to (northern) soul, afrobeat, dancefloor jazz and rocksteady, what you hold in your hands is a collection of Record Kicks hits filled up with many exclusive contributions that will give you a full spectrum of the sounds we love.
Amongst the exclusive tracks, you’ll find new jazzy instrumental stormers by Detroit deep funk outfit Third Coast Kings, UK funk titans The Baker Brothers and Sydney premier afrobeat combo The Liberators.
Nick Pride & The Pimptones are back with a brand new soul single that anticipates their forthcoming LP expected on RK for the end of the year and last but not least, recorded in Kingston and produced in Buenos Aires by Mario Siperman (Los Fabulous Cadilllac); the brand new single since years by Lee Scratch Perry’s soulful queen Susan Cadogan together with mod reggae kings The Crabs Corporation.
In the collection are also new singles by Hannah Williams & the Tastemakers and Dojo Cuts and label’s evergreens like Nostalgia 77/The New Mastersounds, Gizelle Smith/TM Juke, Lack Of Afro/Kokolo, Baby Charles, just to name a few."
Well respected Auckland jazz musician Murray McNabb passed away yesterday morning, Sunday, 9th June.
"Auckland composer/jazz pianist Murray McNabb has been at the forefront of NZ jazz for over four decades. A master of the cinematic soundscape, McNabb has scored for television and film and was a member of seminal jazz-fusion groups Dr. Tree, Space Case, Modern Times and Band R." - from the Sarang Bang label, whom he worked with recently, recording alongside the likes of Gianmarco Liguori and Kim Paterson. His band had a regular spot at High st club Cause Celebre in the 1990s.
Reviewing McNabb's 2009 album Astral Surfers, Graham Reid noted "Long-established Auckland keyboard player Murray McNabb is a man whose career has been fascinating to follow. From his days in the jazz-rock fusion band Dr Tree in the early 70s, through Space Case in the 80s and some terrific albums under his own name or with New York musicians (some of which appeared only on cassette if I recall), McNabb has often taken the path less travelled. Any new McNabb album should always command serious attention..."
"In 1994 Grindlay teamed with musical colleague Murray McNabb to compose for another Kiwi classic: Once Were Warriors. Grindlay had worked previously with Warriors director Lee Tamahori on noted ad campaigns for Fernleaf butter and the Commonwealth Games.
Grindlay and McNabb won a NZ Film and Television award that year for best film score, and they were invited back to work on Communicado's next stab at an international hit: inter-racial romance Broken English. The two Murrays supplied a spare, moody, percussion-heavy soundtrack, coloured with vocals by jazz and jingle singer Andrea Cook.
The pair reconvened to provide the soundtrack for Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, but despite protestations from director Ian Mune, their completed soundtrack was replaced by the work of Australian composer David Hirschfelder. On television, the two Murrays have composed for the religiously-themed The Chosen, and orchestrated colonial bodice-ripper Greenstone..."
Sarang Bang have McNabb's 1990 album Song For The Dreamweaver recorded in New York available online, here's the liner notes written by McNabb...
A Kiwi Bites the Apple
"I first met Ron and Adam in the early 80's when they toured N.Z. with the Dave Liebman group. Then later I recorded and toured with Ron and Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi for N.Z. Jazz group "Space Case".
Actually, I knew Ron's music well from records with Mike Nock's "Fourth Way" and Charles Lloyd with Keith Jarrett in the late 60's. More recently he's been with Dave Leibman and Richie Bierach. Adam has been with John Schofield and Mike Brecker - heavy company.
When I decided to take the big trip to New York, it seemed like a good idea to make a record and Ron was the natural person to contact. We had a two hour rehearsal my second day there and then visited the studio. There was Eddie Henderson, Victor Lewis and Cecil McCee, so I knew I had come to the right place. The next day we recorded 10 originals in 8 hours.
The rest of the trip was a Jazz fan's Nirvana as, with my wife and N.Y. Navigator Edwina Thorn, we made a continual tour of New York clubs, meeting and hearing so many musicians who I have been listening to and reading about for thirty years from the other side of the world..." - Murray McNabb.
From CJC Creative Jazz Club's newsletter/website...
RIP Murray McNabb 1947-2013
"It's with sadness that we note the passing of Murray McNabb yesterday. He stood out as a singularly talented pianist and composer, walking his own path in the NZ jazz scene. Our thoughts are with his family and friends...
...Murray will be remembered fondly by the musicians who had the privilege to play with him, and those who his music inspired. For my part, seeing his Band R lineup with my uncle on guitar at an impressionable age showed me that music of that quality didn't come just on records, and inspired me to become a musician myself. We will update our page with details of his memorial here once they are available."
- Ben McNicoll, For Creative Jazz Club Aotearoa From NZ Herald notices, June 11, 2013: "McNABB, Murray. Passed away on 9th June 2013. Loved partner of Koula, and father of Andrew, Kane and Byron. A service will be held at the Romaleigh Funeral Home, 31 Ocean View Road, Northcote on Thursday 13th June at 1:00pm. In lieu of flowers donations please to the Cancer Society of New Zealand, P. O. Box 1724, Shortland Street, Auckland."
From the NZ Herald guestbook on that notice: "My dear mate Murray passed away on the 9 June 2013. Friends for 50 years since I went looking for the boy who wrote Monk on the wall at Mt Albert Grammar school. So many musical ventures together over the years. Conspirators in the true sense of the word:- 'to breathe the spirit together'. Will always be in our hearts and together forever in our music. Our love and sympathy to Koula and his sons." - Frank and Rosie Gibson, and family.
ADDED Tuesday 11 June: Graham Reid speaks to Radio NZ about McNabb's life and times, noting that he had been diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Reid interviewed McNabb a few weeks ago for a feature in the Listener, and a longer piece which will appear online. Well worth a listen.
ADDED 13 June: Murray McNabb profile – the extended version, from The Listener.
Graham has posted the extended version of his interview with McNabb, joined by his longtime musical collaborator Frank Gibson, done a few weeks before his passing. A shorter version due to be published in The Listener this week.
Listen:
Murray McNabb interview and performance, from kiwi jazz radio show Off The Record, hosted by Tony Hopkins, produced by Andrew Dubber.
2007 interview: RNZ's Trevor Reekie spoke to Dr Tree original members Frank Gibson Jnr, Murray McNabb and Martin Winch about the the seeds of NZ jazz-rock and the rebirth of Dr Tree... listen here Murray McNabb performing "Cosmic Protrusion" from Gianmarco Liguori's 'Duga 3' (download)
Murray McNabb's music at Amplifier.co.nz.
Murray McNabb discography credits at Discogs.com
via Cheese On Toast... "THE DRAB DOO RIFFS have revealed this promotional video for their latest EP “Aquatic Ape Theory” and details of the EP Release Party.
The party to celebrate the EP release is being held on 28 June 2013 at Galatos Theatre in Auckland and will feature special guests Hallelujah Picassos, Orchestra Of Spheres, David Saunders and friends, and Dirtbag DJs.
The press release for the EP reads:
“Aquatic Ape Theory” is The Drab Doo-Riffs’ brand new 10 inch vinyl only concept EP. Featuring such favourites as Telsa Girl and Do The Cat, as well as previously unheard-of material, “Aquatic Ape Theory” explores the origin and destination of the human syndrome and related topics to a perilous ‘surf noir’ soundtrack that will set your teeth rattling.
Recorded and mixed at York Street and Montage studios on equipment designed by 20th Century audio electronics genius Rupert Neve, The Drab Doo-Riffs have flouted the most basic rules of rhythm, harmony, and sound engineering to bring you these 7.5 startling numbers inspired by, amongst other things, Nikola Tesla, Catullus, Daleks, cats, and the lessons drawn from the example of our Simian brethren."
$10 door sales. $20 records at the door. June 28th at Galatos theatre. Special B-Card pre-sale packages (ticket to the release party & vinyl EP) available from the Bfm offices from now!
Sandoz - King dread
African brothers - Righteous kingdom
Beverly rd allstars - Murder she wrote
The Specials - Do the dog
Quantic soul orchestra - Raw ingredients - Nostalgia77 remix
The playboys - Bumpin bus stop pt 1
Helene Smith - You got to be a man
The peacemakers -Dont push your luck
Candi Staton - When you wake up tomorrow
Adi Dick - The message
Olmecha supreme - life muscle
Che Fu - Get up stand up
Beenieman and Devonte - Imagination
Albarosie - Sound killa
Footsie - Highgrade no bush - dub
Jah Batta - Informa
Keith Lawrence feat Rodney P - Style and fashion
The Impellers - Do what I wanna do
Ann Peebles - If this is heaven
Esther Phillips - Justified
Charles Wright - Doin what comes naturally
Amrals Trinidad cavaliers steel band - 90% of me is you
Hugh Masekela - Don't go lose it baby - dub version
Unversal robot band - Dance and shake your tambourine
Gloria Gaynor - Casanova Brown
The Family -Susannah's pyjamas
James Brown - Blind man can see it
