I don't have access to exact download statistics, but judging by the way my available bandwidth shot through the roof two days after I released the October Rambling Podcast, I suspect there have been a few listeners! So here's the new show: Rambling Podcast #2.
It's quite a large mp3 file, around 45Mo, si I'd strongly recommend downloading it rather than listening to it streaming as this can lead to glitches and doesn't allow you to skip forward or backwards easily. So, right click on the link, Save Target As... and be patient ! Depending on your available bandwidth, downloading the whole file may take from ten minutes to over half an hour, so do it while you're working on something else and then listen to it !
For more information on the philosophy behind the sources and legality thereof, I encourage you to read the general presentation of Rambling Podcasts here. As mentioned last month, a reminder that maintaining this blog actually costs quite a bit of money. I'm shifting to a new scheme during the month that should speed up download times and allow me to design a more readable page, but it's also more expensive. The only way for me to recoup it is through Amazon Affiliation, so a good way of supporting Harmonica Ramblings at no additional cost to you is to purchase records (or anything else, for that matter) on Amazon by clicking either on the album links in the text or on the banner visible on the right of this page. Once you do that, anything you purchase on that session from Amazon will earn Harmonica Ramblings a small % of the value of the products purchased.
The program this month focuses on acoustic instruments, hence The Acoustic Show. By the strict definition of the word acoustic, no live concert nowadays is acoustic, since the instruments are all amplified one way or another. However, I think we can all distinguish an acoustic sounding instrument from one that use amplification to alter the sound. This is the definition of acoustic used here. The detailed tracklist (which you can also download in text
format) for The Acoustic Show is as follows :
Jean-Jacques Milteau - Ode to Billy Joe: This track is a slow instrumental from Jean-Jacques Milteau's live album Pacific Blue. Unfortunately, this live recording is not available online and only sold by JJ at concerts outside of France. It's a shame, bacuse it's really a beautiful acoustic concert... If you like what you hear, JJ's recent albums all feature a similar approach: sparse playing, gorgeous sound, and sober instrumentations. I'd particularly recommend Blue 3rd and Fragile if you want to delve into his discography.
Bob Brozman - Down the Road: Probably my favourite Bob Brozman song, it's actually a cover a traditional trinidad song. This is from a 1997 live show featuring masters of slide guitar, and Bob is accompanied here by Shubashish Battacharya on tabla. Bob's original rendition of Down the Road can be found on Slide A Go-Go, an album that is unfortunately out of print. If you're interested in Bob's stuff, though, you could do worse than get hold of Truckload of Blues or Devil's Slide, fine albums that showcase his eccentric approach to traditional musical genres. If the world music side of things appeals to you more, Bob has released an album with Debashish Battacharya, Subashish's slide guitar playing brother entitled Mahima.
Ry Cooder and David Lindley - Jesus on the Mainline: This song comes from a 1995 show in Austria, part of the Family Tour. I haven't found any references to albums released under both their names, but Ry and David have been collaborating since the 70s, so chances are David is featured on several of Ry's albums. Ry Cooder is mostly known for Wim Wenders' movie soundtracks, in particular the haunting sounds of Paris, Texas. David Lindley has been a sideman and session musician behind many greats, from Bob Dylan to the Blind Boys of Alabama, but has also released many albums under his own name with band El Rayo-X.
Charlie Musselwhite - Christo Redentor: This chilling, intense and somber instrumental is actually a cover of a jazz pianist Duke Pearson composition. Charlie Musselwhite here is accompanied by none other than the famous Dr John, and this was recorded as part of a 1997 tour with Musselwhite, Dr John and Keb' Mo. Musselwhite first released Christo Redentor on his 1967 debut Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite's Southside Band. A different version can be found on the 1969 album Tennesse Woman. The best officially released version however, at least to my taste, is to be found on a semi-obscure live record called Curtain Call Cocktails. The original Duke Pearson tune is pure blue-note sound, and a little less somber. It can be found on Donald Byrd's A New Perspective.
Ray Brown - Ellington Medley: The late Ray Brown is one of the milestones of jazz bass, having backed nearly everyone from the 60s onward. He accompanied Ella Fitzgerald on stage and in life, he was part of the celebrated Oscar Peterson Trio, and in the 80s he started touring under his own name in mostly trio format. This solo piece is part of a trio concert in Sweden in 2001 with guitarist Russel Malone and pianist Monty Alexander (you can hear them briefly at the end of the tune). A trio album was made and released in 2002, just around the time Ray passed away. Unsurprisingly, it's entitled Ray Brown/Monty Alexander/Russel Malone.
Bireli Lagrene - Hungaria: Bireli Lagrene is an authentic gipsy from Alsace who started playing guitar in the Django style but quickly strayed away from his origins and became a celebrated jazz-rock guitarist. He played with everyone who was someone in the late 70s and 80s, including, famously, Jaco Pastorius. Middle age carried him back to his roots, however, and his recent records include two Gipsy Swing releases : Gipsy Project and Gipsy Project and Friends. As good a place as any to get started if you want to delve into Gipsy Jazz. You can also start from the roots and get hold of one of the many Django Reinhardt compilations live The Best of Django Reinhardt or Quintette du Hot Club de France.
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones- Michelle: In the early 90s, Bela Fleck's band featured diatonic harmonica player Howard Levy, and this track comes from a concert performed for the Lonesome Pine Special radio show, available on the live music archive. Michelle was officially released on the 1991 album Flight of the Cosmic Hippo. There are two other albums of the same era with Howard Levy, namely Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and UFO TOFU.
And that's it for the Acoustic Show. I especially want to thank Jean-Jacques Milteau for allowing me to use Ode to Billy Joy from his commercial release Pacific Blue and to Bill Barrett for letting me to use the intro and outro from his amazing piece Corn on the Cob (Available on Brother Weasel's Swingin' & Groovin' that can cheaply be acquired here) as a jingle for the show.
Please, please, please, send me comments or post them here ! Artists you want to hear, bootleg shows you own and want to contribute, comments, questions, queries, I want to read it all!
is a lot quieter, and although there are a few really nice tracks on it, I can't help but feel that the proximity between G Love and 
: It's high-powered, its heavy, it's gritty. Muddy's voice is as powerful as ever, and the backing is generally as thick and loud as can be. It's a music that moves your guts, so the Guts rating is maximised at 5. Yet there are touches of subtelty and more emotion, so the Heart rating is 2. Many of the songs make you want to move, mark the beat, dance, so the Legs rating is 4. It's not intellectual and doesn't appeal to an analytical listening, so the Head rating is minimized to 1. The mapping would look kike the little vignette here on the right.
: One of my favourite jazz records, it's a good experiment because, as many live recordings, it goes many places and is not just in one style or approach. It's jazz and while not as complex as jazz goes, it's still something that pleases the mind, so the Head rating would be 4. It's not as gutsy as the example above, obviously, but Peterson never forgets his blues roots, so there's a little bit of Guts there, rated at 2. Many of the tunes are melodic and beautiful, so the Heart rating goes at 4. finally, NHOP's funky bass playing on tunes like the title track or Cakewalk is really driving and stimulating physically, so the Legs rating would be 3.
: The seminal (and perhaps earliest genuine) prog rock album. Not easy to rate since the various tracks all evoke very different feels. Head has got to rate pretty high, this is quite complex music, but it probably doesn't warrant a 5, so let's rate it at 4. Overall, the album is pretty raucous, as showcased on 21st Century Schizoid Man, for example, but it's something that happens at times rather than all the way through, so let's say Guts is 4. The Heart rating is, overall, lower, but one song, I Talk to the Wind, is quite melancholy and touching. Let's put Heart at 3 just because of that song. Finally, it's not really an album that you groove to, so I'd put the Legs rating at 1.
is a shining illustration of Larry Adler's music and personality. The playing is interspersed with anecdotes from his life told with great humour. I'm not familiar with the rest of Larry Adler's discography, but I'm pretty sure you can find many collections that feature this particular tune, Genevieve, the theme track (composed and interpreted by Larry) to the movie 
that was a huge success in 1953 !
a masterclass and an album, featuring many instrumentals and several songs and really pushing the envelope in terms of technique and musical approach. I tend to shun Musselwhite albums because I'm not a big fan of his singing, but this one's a keeper. The song, Azul Para Amparo, prefigures Charlie's collaboration with Eliades Ochoa on 
20 years later.
. Sinatra and gospel singer Gladys Knight are paired on this song, with Stevie Wonder playing this wonderful intro. If you like Stevie's playing, you can also try and hunt down his Motown instrumental harmonica album 
