November 2006 Rambling Podcast : The Acoustic Show

I don't have access to exact download statistics, but judging by the way my available bandwidth shot through the roof two days after I released the October Rambling Podcast, I suspect there have been a few listeners! So here's the new show:   Rambling Podcast #2.

It's quite a large mp3 file, around 45Mo, si I'd strongly recommend downloading it rather than listening to it streaming as this can lead to glitches and doesn't allow you to skip forward or backwards easily. So, right click on the link, Save Target As... and be patient ! Depending on your available bandwidth, downloading the whole file may take from ten minutes to over half an hour, so do it while you're working on something else and then listen to it !

For more information on the philosophy behind the sources and legality thereof, I encourage you to read the general presentation of Rambling Podcasts here. As mentioned last month, a reminder that maintaining this blog actually costs quite a bit of money. I'm shifting to a new scheme during the month that should speed up download times and allow me to design a more readable page, but it's also more expensive. The only way for me to recoup it is through Amazon Affiliation, so a good way of supporting Harmonica Ramblings at no additional cost to you is to purchase records (or anything else, for that matter) on Amazon by clicking either on the album links in the text or on the banner visible on the right of this page. Once you do that, anything you purchase on that session from Amazon will earn Harmonica Ramblings a small % of the value of the products purchased.

The program this month focuses on acoustic instruments, hence The Acoustic Show. By the strict definition of the word acoustic, no live concert nowadays is acoustic, since the instruments are all amplified one way or another. However, I think we can all distinguish an acoustic sounding instrument from one that use amplification to alter the sound. This is the definition of acoustic used here. The detailed tracklist (which you can also download in text format) for The Acoustic Show is as follows :

Jean-Jacques Milteau - Ode to Billy Joe: This track is a slow instrumental from Jean-Jacques Milteau's live album Pacific Blue. Unfortunately, this live recording is not available online and only sold by JJ at concerts outside of France. It's a shame, bacuse it's really a beautiful acoustic concert... If you like what you hear, JJ's recent albums all feature a similar approach: sparse playing, gorgeous sound, and sober instrumentations. I'd particularly recommend Blue 3rd and Fragile if you want to delve into his discography.

Bob Brozman - Down the Road: Probably my favourite Bob Brozman song, it's actually a cover a traditional trinidad song. This is from a 1997 live show featuring masters of slide guitar, and Bob is accompanied here by Shubashish Battacharya on tabla. Bob's original rendition of Down the Road can be found on Slide A Go-Go, an album that is unfortunately out of print. If you're interested in Bob's stuff, though, you could do worse than get hold of Truckload of Blues or Devil's Slide, fine albums that showcase his eccentric approach to traditional musical genres. If the world music side of things appeals to you more, Bob has released an album with Debashish Battacharya, Subashish's slide guitar playing brother entitled Mahima.

Ry Cooder and David Lindley - Jesus on the Mainline: This song comes from a 1995 show in Austria, part of the Family Tour. I haven't found any references to albums released under both their names, but Ry and David have been collaborating since the 70s, so chances are David is featured on several of Ry's albums. Ry Cooder is mostly known for Wim Wenders' movie soundtracks, in particular the haunting sounds of Paris, Texas. David Lindley has been a sideman and session musician behind many greats, from Bob Dylan to the Blind Boys of Alabama, but has also released many albums under his own name with band El Rayo-X.

Charlie Musselwhite - Christo Redentor: This chilling, intense and somber instrumental is actually a cover of a jazz pianist Duke Pearson composition. Charlie Musselwhite here is accompanied by none other than the famous Dr John, and this was recorded as part of a 1997 tour with Musselwhite, Dr John and Keb' Mo. Musselwhite first released Christo Redentor on his 1967 debut Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite's Southside Band. A different version can be found on the 1969 album Tennesse Woman. The best officially released version however, at least to my taste, is to be found on a semi-obscure live record called Curtain Call Cocktails. The original Duke Pearson tune is pure blue-note sound, and a little less somber. It can be found on Donald Byrd's A New Perspective.

Ray Brown - Ellington Medley: The late Ray Brown is one of the milestones of jazz bass, having backed nearly everyone from the 60s onward. He accompanied Ella Fitzgerald on stage and in life, he was part of the celebrated Oscar Peterson Trio, and in the 80s he started touring under his own name in mostly trio format. This solo piece is part of a trio concert in Sweden in 2001 with guitarist Russel Malone and pianist Monty Alexander (you can hear them briefly at the end of the tune). A trio album was made and released in 2002, just around the time Ray passed away. Unsurprisingly, it's entitled Ray Brown/Monty Alexander/Russel Malone.

Bireli Lagrene - Hungaria: Bireli Lagrene is an authentic gipsy from Alsace who started playing guitar in the Django style but quickly strayed away from his origins and became a celebrated jazz-rock guitarist. He played with everyone who was someone in the late 70s and 80s, including, famously, Jaco Pastorius. Middle age carried him back to his roots, however, and his recent records include two Gipsy Swing releases : Gipsy Project and Gipsy Project and Friends. As good a place as any to get started if you want to delve into Gipsy Jazz. You can also start from the roots and get hold of one of the many Django Reinhardt compilations live The Best of Django Reinhardt or Quintette du Hot Club de France.

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones- Michelle: In the early 90s, Bela Fleck's band featured diatonic harmonica player Howard Levy, and this track comes from a concert performed for the Lonesome Pine Special radio show, available on the live music archive. Michelle was officially released on the 1991 album Flight of the Cosmic Hippo. There are two other albums of the same era with Howard Levy, namely Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and UFO TOFU.

And that's it for the Acoustic Show. I especially want to thank Jean-Jacques Milteau for allowing me to use Ode to Billy Joy from his commercial release Pacific Blue and to Bill Barrett for letting me to use the intro and outro from his amazing piece Corn on the Cob (Available on Brother Weasel's Swingin' & Groovin' that can cheaply be acquired here) as a jingle for the show.

Please, please, please, send me comments or post them here ! Artists you want to hear, bootleg shows you own and want to contribute, comments, questions, queries, I want to read it all!

Comments

[Murray]

Ow! Rare Cooder n Lindley family material. Your collection is verily the mightiest. To round out the Cooder/Lindley info, I think they have been hanging out together since the mid 60s, when Cooder was in Rising Sons with Taj Mahal and Lindley beat Mahal in a SoCal banjo competition (at least that's the version I heard). And Lindley is now doing exclentisimo things with percussionist Wally Ingram, notably Turkish and Andalusian things on the saz etc. But of course you knew that already.

And yes, your increased bandwidth would be due to people downloading your music, i mean, it wouldn't be to look at your picture now would it...?

[Murray]

And it doesn't need that much bandwidth. It only took me 3 mins and I'm in the dodgiest internet cafe you can imagine.

[Benoît F.]

>

I didn't, actually, and I'm very interested in specific references if you have them !

Thanks for the comments, Marcus of the Sprouts !

[harpwales]

what a clever chap you are to iclude two of my favourite pieces on the same pod cast. specifically christo r and ode to billy jo. tho i haven't heard the latter by jean-jaques millteau previously. still sends the shivers down my spine. didn't have much success with the downloading tho. my software seriously fighting back. thanks again.

[Benoît F.]

Can you email me about the specific problems you have for downloading ? Have you read the mention about the tag on the third paragraph ? It may solve your problem. If not please email me. I'd hate to think you can't have a listen !

[David Chalumeau]

Bravo Benoit pour cette nouvelle émission qui nous fait découvrir des versions live inattendues et qui permettent de rendre à César ce qui est à César ;-)
Encore, encore !!!!!

[Nain]

Thank you for this podcast.

It is a pleasure to heard the instrument like this on this tracks.

I recognize several song and get a version like this is a pleasure.

see you around.

Nain.