Second Weekend

do you FEEL that?

2nd weekend of JazzFest starts today.

here's today's cubes


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Earl Hines & Jackie Byard

watch it.


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Roger & Johnny

funny stuff

1969


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it's a Bloody Mary morning...

this one goes out to all my JazzFest brothers...

Monday morning, post-Fest, high octane breakfast drinks all around!


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Amazing Grace

Aaron Neville at JazzFest

Happy Sunday.


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Happy Jazz Fest!!!

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if you play it real loud and squint yer eyes it's almost like yer there...


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Junko Partner

JazzFest starts tomorrow



The Dirty Dozen playin Dr John

Nobody does it better


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Good Ol' GD

I don't know about you but this is my favorite time of year to roll the car windows down and BLAST the good ol' Grateful Dead...

Spring has sprung.


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Toots Hibbert & Ryan Adams

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Damien Rice

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bird IS the word

der Fall Böse


yeah theyre really playin

in a van


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Booooogie

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the black keys

yep, a 2 piece


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Moanin'

Freddie Hubbard
Art Blakey
Wayne Shorter
Curtis Fuller
Cedar Walton
Reggie Workman

1962


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waters

floyd 1980


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Bukka White

with Howlin' Wolf and friends

'Please Don't Put Your Daddy Outdoors'


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Black Crowes

The Crowes have a new record out...Warpaint.

A return to form in my opinion.


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Sunday Morning Coming Down

Happy Sunday


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John Prine in the kitchen

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Ani DiFranco

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My Morning Jacket

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Les McCann & Eddie Harris

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Rick Danko

with Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and others on a train in 1970.

I'll have what he's having....


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Dinah

Louis Armstrong and His Harlem Hot Band
October 21, 1933, Copenhagen, Denmark

2 minutes and 45 seconds of pure JOY


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Lowell George

a little slide guitar clinic...


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The Blind Boys of Alabama

Happy Sunday!


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Paul Pena

Paul Pena (January 26, 1950, Hyannis, Massachusetts – October 1, 2005, San Francisco) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.

His music touched on Delta blues, jazz, morna, flamenco, folk, rock and roll and Tuvan throat-singing. Pena is probably best known for writing the song "Jet Airliner," a major 1977 hit for the Steve Miller Band and a staple of classic rock radio, and for appearing in the 1999 documentary film Genghis Blues.


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You lot! What?

The Clash 1981


Cheeesboiger!


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The Who

from The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus filmed in 1968.


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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat was responsible for the modern evolution of qawwali. Although not the first to do so, he popularized the blending of khayal singing and techniques with qawwali. This in short took the form of improvised solos during the songs using the sargam technique, in which the performer sings the names of the notes he is singing (for example, in western notation it would be "do re mi"). He also attempted to blend qawwali music with more western styles such as techno.

Nusrat's qawwali songs usually follow the standard form. A song begins with a short instrumental prelude played on the harmonium and tabla. Then the instruments stop, and the main singers (but not the chorus) launch into the alap, which establishes the raga, the tonal structure of the song. At this point, introductory poetic verses are sung. These are usually drawn not from the main song, but from other thematically related songs. The melody is improvised within the structure of the raga. For example, listen to the verses being sung in a relatively straightforward way in one performance (listen here). Now compare this to the same verses being sung in another performance with more improvisation.

After the introductory verses, the main song starts, and the rhythmic portion of the song begins. The tabla and dholak begin to play, and the chorus aids and abets percussion by clapping their hands. The song proceeds in a call and response format. The same song may be sung quite differently by different groups. The lyrics will be essentially the same, but the melody can differ depending on which gharana or lineage the group belongs to. As is traditional in qawwali, Nusrat and the side-singers will interject alap solos (listen here), and fragments of other poems or even improvised lyrics (listen here). A song usually has two or three sets of refrains, which can be compared to the verse chorus structure found in western music. Songs last about 20 minutes on average, with a few lasting an hour or more.

Nusrat was noted for introducing other forms of improvisation into the style. From his classical music training, he would interject much more complex alap improvisations, with more vibrato and note bending (listen here). He would also interject sargam improvisations.

While it is undoubtedly difficult to put into words what makes Nusrat's music appeal so deeply to so many listeners, many of whom do not understand a single word of the languages he sings in, here is one fan's attempt to explain: "Nusrat's music invites us to eavesdrop on a man communing with his God, ever so eloquently. He makes the act of singing a passionate offering to God. But we do not merely eavesdrop. The deepest part of Nusrat's magic lies in the fact that he is able to bring our hearts to resonate with the music, so deeply, that we ourselves become full partners in that offering. He sings to God, and by listening, we also sing to God."


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