Jazz Odyssey

Brett Gladstone brings us a great article that contains a well-done interview with former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. In discussing everything from the drug use that ultimately torpedoed the Phish juggernaut to the difficulties in dealing with the fan backlash the followed Trey’s announcement that Phish was no more, Trey has finally come clean.
By [...]

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Phish has announced the official release of their show from Madison Square Garden on December 31, 1995. I’m very stoked about this….12/31/95 has been at the top of my wish list for official release.
12/31/95 was one of several crucial peaks that Phish hit over their years, and many (probably myself included) consider [...]

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En route from San Diego to the Newark airport this past Friday night, my iPod helped create one of the most intense music listening experiences I’ve ever had (and those who’ve heard me pontificate on my first Phish concert know exactly how high a bar I’m reaching with that statement).
Having finished the latest (and truly [...]

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"prog rock is again being hailed for restoring art to modern rock, allowing innovative musicianship to be revered instead of reviled."
Renée Graham of The Boston Globe takes a look at the perceived prog rock revival in this article. Perhaps a return to prog rock as a legitimately respected and commercially viable musical genre would [...]

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"It’s wildly, glorious excessive, indulging the prog-rock impulses that are simply too ecstatic for rock to leave behind." — John Pareles @ the New York Times offers his take on the new Mars Volta album.
"…the result is a homogeneous shitheap of stream-of-consciousness turgidity." Sam Ubl over at Pitchfork has a slightly different viewpoint than [...]

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My colleagues who don’t appreciate my prog rock proclivities are advised to stop reading this post now and go back to fawning over the Bright Eyes album. This post is of interest to those colleagues who’ve requested to see a bit more about the music near and dear to my heart, and also for [...]

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A tip of the hat to the just released Hatwise Choice compilation which is a stellar collection of previously unreleased rare and live tracks by Canterbury legends Hatfield & the North.
Hatfield & the North recorded 2 superb albums for Virgin in their 3 years as a band and toured Europe relentlessly. With [...]

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Looks like archive.org got the greenlight to begin hosting live shows from Phil Lesh & Friends in lossless FLAC and SHN formats as well as MP3 and Ogg.
For those who have been out of touch with the activities of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, bassist Phil Lesh began playing a few [...]

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I highly recommend downloading this live recording of the Hellborg, Lane and Sipe Trio. Bassist Jonas Hellborg, guitarist Shawn Lane, and Drummer Jeff Sipe (aka Apt. Q258) first started playing together in 1995. They toured pretty relentlessly through June of 1997 before splitting. They have released four albums as a trio, all of which are [...]

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Take a guitarist with sick fusion chops who cut his teeth in the Zambi meets Zappa madness of the Aquarium Rescue Unit (under the mentorship of Col. Bruce Hampton), put him next to former Dixie Dregs keyboard whiz T Lavitz, add the muscular funk drumming of Little Feat’s Richie Hayward and top it off with [...]

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 In no particular order:

Allan Holdsworth–Then!:I’ve been a fan of jazz and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth for many years, but more recently I’ve become a fanatic.  He released his finest studio album ever The Sixteen Men of Tain back in 2000 (reissued in 2003 with sonic improvements and bonus tracks) and followed that with two stellar live [...]

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Joe Taylor over at Spinme.com posted this great cartoon that resonated with me this morning.  At around this time of the year, my anticipation for the fall Phish tour would be working its way to a frenzy.  It was more than just anticipation of a concert….the fall Phish tour was a time when I would see [...]

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Happy Birthday…my blog enters the world today

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