Lee Morgan - The Gigolo

A couple weeks ago, I ordered some CDs off of amazon.com. Talk about a deal! They were all Blue Note records. I got this incredible album, The Gigolo, by Lee Morgan. Morgan definitely has a bluesy-soul type R&B vibe to his trumpet playing. It's almost like he understands the blues so well that he applies it to jazz without even trying. This is definitely a jazz classic.

Blue Note records were to jazz what Stax was to R&B, where every album was just an absolute classic without fail for just about ten years. Too bad times like this are over. People just don't go into the studio and record material this good this fast any more. And talk about production, there almost is none.

Anyway, if you can, get this record. It's amazing.

Recent Music Purchases

I ordered some music these past few days. I actually did pre-order "Cardinology" on vinyl finally, albeit without all the special limited time bonus package extras. But I think I'm going to enjoy the music at least.

The other few albums I've bought are just CDs. Although at a garage sale this last weekend, I did manage to score four or five records, Mary Poppins being one and the rest being Dean Martin (absolutely my favorite pop singer) albums. The CDs I ordered though are all Vince Guaraldi material; "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits", "Oh, Good Grief!" and "The Charlie Brown Suite & Other Favorites". I bought them all to listen to around the holidays, I already have "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on CD and two copies on vinyl (one all original and the other a reissue). Anyway, I think they'll be great to listen to during Thanksgiving dinner and even before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, it's all Christmas music.

Anyway, I'm excited for Thanksgiving. It's going to be the best Thanksgiving ever.

Elton John - Sixty Years On

Simply breathtaking. Just listen to the harp in the beginning of this video. This is a side of Elton that you'll virtually never see again. I've never seen Elton apart from his piano, just singing like this. But since it was so early in his career, he had the freedom to do what he wanted, even put harp in the songs and make them sound more classical oriented. This is just absolutely beautiful.

The Brothers Johnson - Stomp

I personally think this may be the greatest funk song ever. I may not be the #1 expert on funk music, but this is certainly my favorite funk song. This and "Get The Funk Out Ma Face", besides everything Sly Stone ever did with Larry Graham. But the bass in "Stomp" is just incredible. Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson is just so incredible. I cannot figure out who's better, Larry Graham or Louis Johnson. Both are equally incredible slab bass players while still being incredibly melodic.

I mean, on one hand, Larry Graham invented modern "slap bass", or as he puts it, "thumpin' and pluckin". But then you have Louis Johnson, who may (or may not) have taken that style into new areas. I mean, Louis Johnson played bass on "Thriller". That's just an immeasurable feat, right there. But then, Larry Graham played with Sly and virutally invented the funk music genre.

As you can see, I haven't made up my mind as to who's better and I may never. Both are equally amazing and inspirational. For someone who's played guitar for about 8 years now, I'm playing bass way more now and don't even consider myself a guitar player anymore, in some respects. But I think there is something absolutely electric about the bass playing in this song, "Stomp". Just listen to the last 20-30 seconds and see if you can't shake your hips a little.

Cardinology...

So I missed my chance. I'm pretty unhappy about it. And guess what? I just found out that there was a limited edition run of signed copies of Ryan Adams' book, "Infinity Blues". Missed out on that one, too. Damn it!

Ryan Adams - Cardinology

Yay! Ryan Adams' new ablum, Cardinology, is FINALLY coming out! They're pre-releasing it on vinyl in a special package, where you get the album on translucent red vinyl, you get a lyrics comic, a t-shirt, an extra 7" record and a free digital download. I've already heard the song, "Fix It" on the Ryan Adams site. This is really exciting, I can't wait for the album!

Ryan Adams - Amy

Wow, what a beautiful song. I've been a Ryan Adams fan for about five years now and this was one of my favorite songs of his since I first became a fan. I have to say that it's still absolutely hauntingly beautiful. I think it's fit to have this be my first post, as the video's in black and white, and so is the blog. Anyway, great song.