Merry Christmas

This piece of music has always given me goosebumps. Merry Christmas!

My favorite Christmas Carols

This time of year, I always think about all the thousands of Christmas carols around, and which ones I like best. This year, these are my favorites:

"Carol of the Bells". This is the George Winston version.


"Some Children See Him." I recall hearing this for the first time at a George Winston concert.


"Stop the Cavalry" peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart in December 1980. The song was never intended as a Christmas hit, but the line 'Wish I was at home for Christmas' as well as the brass band arrangements made it an appropriately styled song to play around Christmas time. This version is by The Cory Band (a Welsh mine brass band) with The Gwalia Singers. 



Happy Christmas (War is Over). I get tears in my eyes every time I hear this.

Black Friday

Saturday matinee - Yes

I never appreciated "Yes" at the time. I bought one album, didn't like it, gave it away, and then didn't think about this band again for years. And then one day, I was driving somewhere and "All Good People" came on the radio. I pulled into my destination but couldn't turn the radio off. I was transfixed by the complex melody.

So if you gave "Yes" a pass at the time, now's the time to reconsider. They're great!

"All Good People"


"Roundabout"


"And You and I"


"Long Distance Runaround"

Saturday Matinee - Richie Havens

Richie Havens will be remembered as the one who opened the Woodstock festival. He was chosen for a good reason - he's a great performer who can get a crowd up and on their feet. I saw him in Seattle in the mid 1970's and I'll always remember what a great singer and what a great storyteller he was.

Here are some videos, starting with his famous "Freedom/Motherless Child" from Woodstock.


Tupelo Honey/Just Like a Woman:


All Along the Watchtower:


And a more recent video:

Saturday matinee - "Thriller" Halloween special

Happy Halloween!



This is 1,500 plus inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines performing their own choreographed dance routine to the late Michael Jackon's great song "Thriller".

Saturday matinee - is music for the birds?

Next time someone tells you that music is for the birds, gently correct them and say, "No, music is by the birds."

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Saturday matinee - Mysterious Mountain

Alan Hovhaness was a northwest composer of classical music, who wrote one of my favorite pieces: The Mysterious Mountain.

Here's a video, with the music as the background to a cable car ride in the Alps.

Saturday matinee - Traffic

A few weeks ago I posted something about Dave Mason, one of the founders of the great English band, Traffic. So this time I thought I'd post something about the band itself.

Traffic was founded by

• Steve Winwood, who at age 15 (15!) had been a key member of the Spencer Davis Group and had written "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm A Man" (which was a big hit later for the group Chicago)
• Jim Capaldi (drummer)
• Chris Wood (woodwinds)
• Dave Mason (guitars)

This band broke up and reformed more than the blobs in a lava lamp. Mason left and re-joined three times.

But in their various mutations and iterations, they produced two outstanding albums: "John Barleycorn Must Die" in 1970, and "The Low Spark of High-heeled Boys" in 1971.

For a band steeped in psychedelia, "John Barleycorn", with it's heavy folk influence, was a real departure - similar to the Grateful Dead's turn from psychedelic to country and folk with "American Beauty".

"John Barleycorn" featured four really memorable songs: the great instrumental "Glad", "Freedom Rider", "Empty Pages", and the title song (an old folk song about the harvesting of barley). Here's a video of a live version of John Barleycorn:


"The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" turned back more to the psychedelic and jazz-rock roots. It featured the extended jam song "Rock and Roll Stew", and my personal favorite Traffic song - "The Low Spark of High-heeled Boys". Here's a video of a live version:


And here's a bonus track - "40,000 Headmen" (from their second album "Traffic"):

Saturday matinee - "Little Wing" by The Corrs

"Litle Wing" is one of my favorite Jimi Hendrix songs. The Corrs are a (semi-)traditional Celtic band from Ireland. Here's their gorgeous version of the beautiful "Little Wing". It's so moving - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.



If the young woman singing looks familiar, it might be because she was the lead actress in the charming movie, "The Boys (and Girl) From County Clare". Her name is Andrea Corr.

Saturday matinee - Dave Mason

I was a big fan of the band "Traffic" in the late 60's and early 70's. Who wouldn't be? Steve Winwood was a genius, and the band had this really psychedelic jazzy folky feel. One of the early members of the band was Dave Mason (who wrote "Feelin'Alright" for them), who released what I always thought was one of the best solo albums around - "Alone Together".

"Alone Together" showcased Mason's great songwriting and amazing guitar work. It had some memorable songs: "Only You Know and I Know", "World in Changes", and the song that contained one of the best guitar solos ever recorded, "Look At You, Look At me".

Here's a recent video of that song (with edits, and a different version of the solo):


Here's his version of that great Bob Dylan song (made famous by Jimi Hendrix), "All Along the Watchtower. Listen to that great guitar-playing!

Saturday matinee - Les McCann & Eddie Harris: Compared to What

One of the GREAT jazz numbers. Less & Eddie were paired at the Montreaux Jazz Festival even though they barely knew each other. But the result was pure magic. In addition to this song, they came up with Cold Duck Time and several others.

Here are two videos: one is just still photos and the cut from the album. The second is a newer version. Both are amazing. That beat just won't quit!

Saturday matinee - Robbie Robertson

I know this post is a day early, but what the heck. Check back tomorrow and you'll see why.

Last week, I posted about The Band. This week, I'm posting about Robbie Robertson.

Robertson was lead guitarist for The Band, and exerted increasing artistic control over The Band's musical direction. When The Band broke up, Robertson went solo.

I bought his self-titled solo album when it came out, without having heard it. I bought it solely because I had been so impressed with The Band's final studio album, "Northern Lights - Southern Cross".

Boy was I impressed! "Robbie Robertson" was a real gem. The production values were amazing (not surprising - Robertson had already produced several albums for other artists), and the songs were great. Tracks included a heartfelt tribute to former Band-mate Richard Manual who committed suicide, a cautionary tale of gang violence ("Sonny Got Caught In The Moonlight"), a story that intermingled tales of James Dean, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe ("American Roulette"), and my personal favorite, "Somewhere Down That Crazy River". I can't embed it, so here's a link to the video of that.

I thought his self-titled album would be a tough act to follow, but he topped it with his next release - "Storyville", an album with tons of guest appearances (Neil Young, some of the Neville Brothers, former Band-mates Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, Bruce Hornsby, Ginger Baker, and a whole bunch of New Orleans musicians). There are no videos for this album, unfortunately.

"Storyville" was an incredible tour de force, and I listened to it a lot. Robertson (who is part Mohawk) followed it up with a soundtrack to a limited TV series called "The Native Americans". Robertson produced and sang and played on some tracks. Here's a video of "Ghost Dance":

Saturday matinee - The Band

I became a fan of The Band late in their career, at the point when they were about to break up. I'd heard 'em over the years on the radio and knew they'd become famous as Bob Dylan's backup band, but they just seemed too laid back for my taste. But one night I was watching television and saw them do a version of "Georgia on My Mind", and it just blew me away. So when their next album "Northern Lights - Southern Cross" came out, I bought it.

It was a wonderful album. Songs ranged from the funky "Ophelia" to "It Makes No Difference", and the incredible ode to the French Canadians, "Acadian Driftwood", which went on to become an earworm of mine - a song that haunts me to this day.

Shortly after the release of "Northern Lights - Southern Cross", The Band announced that they were breaking up. To commemorate the occasion, they released a movie called "The Last Waltz"; a documentary of their last concert. "The Last Waltz" was memorable for two things: (1) It was directed by Martin Scorsese, and (2) in post-production, several of the musicians decided to overdub their solos. So although the soundtrack was advertised as live, it really wasn't. The reaction to this news was interesting. Several other bands released concert albums shortly afterward, and titled them "Absolutely Live", "Guaranteed Live" and things like that.

There aren't many videos of The Band, but here are three:

I Shall Be Released:


The Weight:


Although this video doesn't shown the group, here's a video of Acadian Driftwood:

Saturday matinee - Sarah Palin

The leader of Alaska's "I-quit-arod" sings!



Thanks, Steve.

Saturday matinee - Jackson Browne

I've been a fan of Jackson Browne ever since his first single ("Doctor My Eyes") came out. A classic LA singer-songwriter, Browne became more overtly political in more recent years. But he was always capable of turning out well-crafted, intensely personal, emotionally powerful images as well.

Here's a video of that first single:


Here's a video of The Pretender, written shortly after his first wife committed suicide:


And here's a video of one of his political songs, "Lives in the Balance":


Browne is still recording and still touring, and still drawing thousands of fans. His concert this month at Chateau Ste Michelle is sold out.

Saturday matinee - Chris Rea

English singer-songwriter Chris Rea first came to my attention in 1978 or 1979 with the hit single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" from his debut album "Whatever Happened To Benny Santini". "Fool" peaked at #12 on the US charts, and was nominated for a Grammy for song of the year (it lost to the schmaltzy Billy Joel "Just The Way You Are").

And then as far as I knew, Rea fell of the edge of the earth. He continued to record and tour in Europe and the UK throughout the 1980's but I wasn't aware of him again until the late 1980's, when I happened to hear that familiar raspy voice on the radio, singing "On the Beach". Here's a video of a live version of "On the Beach":


Shortly after that, he released two really good albums in a row, "The Road to Hell" in 1989 and "Auberge" in 1991. Here's a video of the title cut from "The Road To Hell":


And then, he disappeared again. Well, I just found out that his disappearance was because he was deathly ill. But he recovered, and has since gone back to his blues roots. Here's a version of "Legacy Blues":

Saturday matinee - "Stand By Me"

A while back I posted a video of a group of musicians from around the world contributing to the great Bob Marley song "One Love". Thanks to my brother, I found out that the "group" is called Playing for Change, dedicated to the idea that music can bring people around the world together better than just about anything else.

Here's a terrificvideo of their version of "Stand By Me":

Saturday Matinee - Bruce Cockburn

Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has been around a long time. I bought his "In the Falling Dark" way back in 1976, but he's been around longer than that. Not only is he a great singer-songwriter, he's an amazing guitarist. He's become increasingly political over the years as well.

Here's a live version of one of my favorite songs of his - "If I Had A Rocket Launcher":


Here's a segment about his guitar-playing:


A lot of people have accused him of always being too serious. But that just isn't so. Here's his version of "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life":

Saturday matinee - Oscar Peterson

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a Canadian piano player? I've been a fan of the late Oscar Peterson for as long as I can remember. He was a piano player of extraordinary skills as well as great musicality.

Here are just two examples: