IMPORTANT NEWS: I’ve moved the site to http://ptap.es/b2 pause for sharp intake of breath…and it sounds way better! You can skip forward when you like, put the playlist on pause, play on your phone, all that good stuff, All for now…go there now and as always, enjoy in joy.
CONTACT: [email protected] Where I always appreciate reading your comments.
http://ptap.es/bz Here, for your pleasure, are 34 tracks featuring all three of the free-form disciplines; Jazz, Swing, and Singers. Gathered from the last couple of years, I’m aiming this playlist at the ears of the people who say they don’t like Jazz. This is my attempt to convert them. The real acid test of this mix was to play it during a dinner party…this I have done, and I’m pleased to say, no complaints. The playlist contains notables running the gamut from Cecile McLorin Salvant, Vijay Iyer Trio, Tomeka Reida, and yes, I have included two numbers by the 13-year-old Malaysian jazz pianist, Joey Alexander. So there you go, enjoy in joy.
"Time to put on the thigh boots for another wade through the brave new sounds of pain-bandaging and humiliation," as the great man once said. I acquired these shows when employed for a brief stint at the magazine Entertainment Weekly, which was the highlight of an otherwise professional low point for me; however, I did get to interview the man himself, and I will release that material at some point in the not-too-distant future. So anyway, here you go, time to get under the sheets with the transistor radio again. You want the hits?...we leave all that nonsense to Pandora, Spotify, and the Clear Channel. Enjoy in joy. Press here http://ptap.es/by go hear.
MUSIC & TRAVEL BLOG 4:15: http://ptap.es/bx J’Ouvert in the Caribbean is the official start of carnival. Bacchanal is an occasion of wild and drunken revelry. I was in Nevis recently and lent my ears to much of what was being played, Jah Cure and Queen Ifrica are revelations. These two artists, and many other mostly Jamaican musicians, are spun together on this joyous playlist. So strap yourselves in, we’re going to a ‘jump up’ tonight.
MUSIC BLOG 03.12: For the quizzical among you who may be wondering where all those early British bands acquired their musical chops, The answer would be the talent signed to the label of Leonard Chess, whose Chicago-based label was the go-to place for English fans of the blues. Included on this mixtape, Freddie King jamming with Clapton, a rare B.B. King track live from the Bottom Line, a brace of Robert Johnson, an a cappella recording from my days at LIFE magazine, and some Bessie Smith from 1924. Press here http://ptap.es/bw
MUSIC BLOG 02:01:16: I present my annual 50 best tracks of the year, evenly split between 25 female vocalists and 25 male. The music eminates from 15 different countries, and is rendered mostly in English. Absolutely no Adele, New Order et al, just bands you may or may not have heard of, Gwenno, Prins Póló, Hot Chip, Moodoid and many more, all washed down the mighty Fall (Peel would be proud of me). Press here http://ptap.es/bv go hear.
MUSIC & TRAVEL BLOG 12.24:15: Here’s 3 hours of terpsichorean tunes, that I’ve personally test driven, and my legs are still tender from all the leaping about. As you may know I flew south to Sydney Australia this year to DJ an open-air festival. Since then I’ve been threatening to put together the dance music that provoked the stage invasion that closed the show down. I'm thinking that might be one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received. Press here http://ptap.es/bt
MUSIC & TRAVEL BLOG 11.21: I’m grateful to be writing this from the Yucatán Peninsula, where between occasional rainstorms, beating sun, and small aircraft-sized mosquitoes, I have composed a mixtape of music from SOUTH OF THE BORDER. This 46-track excursion contains a sombrero full of top tunes from the usual brace of Latin American countries, but also, perhaps more interestingly, cuts from Greece, Japan, Scotland, and this years sensation, the all-women ensemble, Mariachi Flor De Toloache. The tracks are, as always, magnificent! Press here http://ptap.es/br go hear.
MUSIC BLOG 11.7: The 45's that were the soundtrack of the 60s were, to a great extent, given to session musicians to gussy up. Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys' hits were not recorded by his kinfolk. The "family-friendly" balladeers of the time were being replaced by “pop", and a tight group of studio musicians, men and women, on both sides of the Atlantic, provided the fills—they were the "Wrecking Crews." This hit fest features songs from then and now, and is great for get-togethers, 1 point for titles, 1 point for the artist, and 3 points for the year...press here http://ptap.es/bq go hear.
MUSIC BLOG 10.15 The great thing about composing a theme playlist, is that you can introduce great music that has been slumbering awaiting a mission. This mixtape is a threnody of a soundtrack played in a graveyard. This playlist is for grown-ups only, featuring unreleased bootleg cassette versions of Joy Division’s Atmosphere and She’s Lost Control, picked up in Camden Town many full moons ago. Also in the mix, many more dark, modern, funny, and often hysterical tracks. http://ptap.es/bp
MUSIC & TRAVEL BLOG 10.2: http://ptap.es/bn If you’re anything like me, and I think you might be, you hear a piece of music and find yourself transported to another place and time. I travel and rifle through record racks, hear music on the streets, and listen to the radio. Then I set it down and design a soundtrack so I can visit again, anytime, cost-effectively, in my head– it’s eco-friendly and cheap. Twenty countries grace this playlist…material picked up trips to Italy, France, Greece, Iceland, and a scary DJ trip to Australia…hell if Columbus had the Internet he never would have left Spain.
