Music Diary

Throughout the 1970’s Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock were two of the leading figures in jazz fusion, Corea with the bombastic Return to Forever and Hancock with his funky Headhunters group. Each had a critical part in Miles Davis groups of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, which Hancock a pivotal member of the ‘second great quintet’ and Corea joining on electric piano and leading into the epic Bitches Brew. Both played on the transition records ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro’ and ‘In A Silent Way’, with Corea staying with Davis through On the Corner in 1972. However, in 1978 the two fusion…

I had never been one to peruse YouTube for songs and music video clips … until I decided to start including them with my music reviews as a simple way for folks to get a sample of an artist’s sound. Then I found myself hooked! Now I will regularly check out artists of interest on YouTube to see their songs performed in a number of settings, and also use it to check out full versions of songs when the measly iTunes / Amazon sample just isn’t enough – or if I get a desire to listen to a song while…

Given how much I talked about Jason Parker since discovering his music & intriguing business model early in 2010, it is not surprising that I’ve been eagerly anticipating more news on his Nick Drake project. Well, now we have more … but it wasn’t what I expected! Jason works with a rapper/remixer named Spekulation, and as he notes here had sent him early cuts of stuff from the upcoming Nick Drake project for feedback. Spekulation, as Parker says: cut up our take of “Day Is Done” with Jay-Z’s “Can’t Knock The Hustle”, and lo and behold it was magic! Spek…

Photo courtesy of JAE C. HONG of the Associated Press The Grammy Awards, like most self-congratulatory industry events across the various media, are an interesting study in how they like to ‘tell a story’ framed by performances, themes, and the awards they give out. There is a mix of artists having major sweeps of categories, some years the awards are spread around, and there is even the occasional ‘surprise’ – which generally means the difference between two similar sounding pop stars from the same label and management team. Make no mistake on my opinion – I believe the ‘Awards’ at…

Way back in November, all of two months ago (I know, eons in internet time!) Apple promised a day that would change everything – or something like that. We all knew what was coming, and on November 16th The Beatles catalog arrived on iTunes. There were many who believed that it was too little, too late. The Beatles box set was already out for over a year on Amazon, and millions of copies of their 13 records had sold. Others thought their was a ‘pent up demand’ that would spring forth on release. Within a week reports let us know…