Neko Case @ First City Festival, Monterey, CA

 



Debuting songs from her upcoming release, "The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You" (out September 3rd), alongside selections from past albums, Neko Case played to a full crowd of fans Sunday evening at the inaugural First City Festival.

  

Particular highlights from the night included "This Tornado Loves You" and "That Teenage Feeling", as well as her covers of the Shangri-Las "Train from Kansas City" and Lisa Marr's "In California".  Overall, the hour plus set demonstrated Ms. Case's wide-ranging talent, showcasing her ability to be both vulnerable and emotion and strong and aggressive with her vocal delivery. 

 

The event, which took place at the history Monterey Fairgrounds (home to the long running Monterey Jazz Festival taking place next month), brought a mix of up-and-coming bands such as the Los Angeles-based Electric Guest alongside indie legends Modest Mouse. 

 

The Best of Marian McPartland on YouTube

I've spent the better part of the day listening to old episodes of NPR's Piano Jazz. I highly recommend tracking down the Willie Nelson episode, which is such a fun and unexpected pairing of legends. And if you are in the mood for some great bass, check out the Ron Carter and Esperenza Spaulding shows. You can't go wrong. Here are some clips of various interviews and performances with Marian throughout the years.

Remembering Marian McPartland, 1918-2013

I woke up to the news this morning that Marian McPartland had passed away at her home in Long Island, New York.  She was 95.  Marian was no doubt one of my biggest music inspirations, and I will always remember with the highest regard the first time I heard her show, and then, many years later, the first (and only) time I was fortunate enough to see her play.

Although I am a huge fan today, I did not grow up listening to jazz, and much of my exposure to the genre did not come until my late teens when I began to explore music beyond the rock and folk I grew up with.  Around this same time, during my first summer home from being away at college, I heard Marian’s Piano Jazz, and through the show I was educated and introduced to many new artists.  With her comforting British accent, Marian talked to her guests like they were old friends catching up on lost conversation.  And in large part, these were in fact long-time friends of hers.  The guests and her swapped stories about shows played at The Hickory House, where Marian enjoyed a long standing residency from 1952 to 1960, and gave us listeners a taste of what it was like to live and play in an era where thriving jazz clubs scattered the streets of New York City.  This intimacy set Piano Jazz apart from any other show I’d heard before.  It was like listening to my grandmother telling stories from her youth, if my grandmother grew up alongside the likes of Dizzy, Mingus, and Monk, instead of on a Midwest farm.  I fell in love with it all.  “Shall we play that one together?” she would say to her guest.  And so began the music that was beloved by her many listeners and fans for decades on end. 

I saw Marian play at Yoshi’s, a jazz club in Oakland, California, in 2007.  It was shortly after she turned 89, but you would not have a sense of her age by the way she played.  Though she used a walker to help her get around onstage, she led her trio through two solid sets of her own compositions and jazz standards.  She didn’t miss a beat.  I was obviously thrilled to be seeing one of my heroes, and throughout the night, kept thinking to myself, “Damn, if we could all be so lucky—to not only be alive and in good health at 89, but to be leading a band of men half her age with such strength and grace.”  What a gal, that Marian McPartland. 

In recent years (through the help of her grandchildren), Marian maintained an active presence on Facebook.  She posted many pictures and videos of her peers, and fortunate for us, used it as a way to communicate with her fans.  I shared this blog with her, particularly the posts in which she was highlighted in the entries about women and jazz music.  I am happy to say that she read them, and replied to me that she enjoyed them.  I am grateful for her many years as a dedicated host, and for all of the knowledge of jazz she imparted on me and other listeners.  And thankfully, in the digital age we live in, there are hours upon hours of archived shows available for us to listen to.  She may be gone, but her music lives on.

First City Festival coming to Monterey, CA August 24-25

It's summer time, which means it's time to start planning which music festivals to attend in the coming months.   I am excited to check out the inaugural weekend for the First City Festival, taking place at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center on Saturday, August 24th and Sunday, August 25th.  I am particularly looking forward to seeing Neko Case, who will be on tour promoting her highly anticipated new album coming out later in the year.

Other performances will include Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Neko Case, Beach House, the west coast debut of Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks (featuring Dave Portner of Animal Collective), and more.

First City Festival is named after Monterey's claim as the official "first capital" of California. The festival promises a sophisticated musical line-up of 30+ bands in a relaxed and beautiful coastal setting.  The festival grounds will showcase three live music performance stages plus a Vaudeville variety stage. A full carnival with rides and games will be available to guests.

Tickets are on sale via FirstCityFestival.com. Single tickets are now available for $85 per day.  Two Day GA and VIP passes start at $149.50.  All tickets are “all in” with no additional fees, and a “layaway” option is available. The festival is all ages and will run from 1pm until 11pm each day. 

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle

This week I have been playing "Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle" as often as possible. The album, which was recently released on Nonesuch Records, is a collection of recordings from a series of tribute concert led by Kate's children Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and organized by Joe Boyd (who produced the album, as well as many of The McGarrigle's early recordings).

"(Talk to Me of) Mendocino" is easily one of the highlights for me, and truly demonstrates what a brilliant songwriter the late Ms. McGarrigle was. Simple melodies, sparse piano accompaniment, yet has the ability to convey a very specific sense of time, place, and emotion. A task that is not easily accomplished in song, but is a hallmark of much of her work ("Saratoga Summer Song" is another example of this, a song which Teddy Thompson perfectly delivers on the album).





The album is not only a wonderful introduction to Ms. McGarrigle, but also brings light to many artists who you may not of heard before. While the likes of Emmylou Harris and Norah Jones need no introduction, Krystle Warren is an artist I discovered through these concerts. When I attended a screening of Lian Lunson's documentary film "Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle" at the San Francisco International Film Festival, it was Ms. Warren that left the crowd in complete silence.  Everyone was floored by what she brought to the concert.  Her performance of "I Don't Know" brings a new touch of gospel-influenced soul to a body of work that has foremost been in the hands of folksingers.  Tribute concerts often run the risk of simply mimicking the artists being recognized.  While this demonstrates the influence the honoree has had on other musicians, it does nothing to contribute or add to the greater good of the original song.  This is not the case with Ms. Warren, as she takes complete ownership of "I Don't Know" and makes it her own.


 

Proceeds from the album will be donated to the Kate McGarrigle Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money in the fight against sarcoma and also to preserving her legacy through the arts

Playlist: WWOZ DJ Soul Sister

In a city known for its legendary music scene, New Orleans community-based radio station WWOZ serves as an institution in itself. It is highly regarded as one of the best stations in the country, and its disc jockeys continuing play a fresh selection of jazz, R&B, funk, and soul.

 DJ Soul Sister, known worldwide as the “queen of rare groove,” has hosted her "Soul Power" show on WWOZ FM and "right on party situations" for nearly two decades in her native New Orleans. One of the longest-running live DJ artists in New Orleans, the veteran radio programmer and host of the longest-running rare groove radio show in the U.S., vinyl collector, crate digger, party promoter and tastemaker is highly regarded and respected not only in her hometown, but around the globe.

We recently asked DJ Soul Sister to curate a playlist for Girls on Your Turntable and here is her selection.  

 

DJ Soul Sister’s “Bold Soul Sisters” Playlist Part 1

A playlist of rare groove, funk, disco, and other vintage soulful music by fierce women artists that you may or may not have heard of before.

1. "Smoke Signals" - Brides of Funkenstein, 1980
   I’m partial to this song because I’m a huge P-Funk head, and my cousin Dawn Silva happens to be one of the Brides. Even if none of the above were true, this group should always be included in the conversation about Funk music. The women of P-Funk’s most successful spinoff, outside of Bootsy’s Rubber Band and aside from sister group Parlet, provided the background (and foreground) vocal sweetening on Parliament-Funkadelic’s greatest jams. I can’t even imagine songs like “Flash Light” and “(not just) Knee Deep” without their voices.
   
    
   
   
    
2.   “So In Tune With You” – Kellee Patterson, 1979    
   Gary, Indiana-born Kellee Patterson was always winning – whether it was local youth talent competitions alongside fellow music-loving neighbors Michael Jackson and his brothers or winning beauty pageants. She enjoyed a prolific recording career in the mid- to late 1970s, and opened for entertainers like Johnny Carson. Rare groove enthusiasts swear by her 1976 LP Kellee. That one’s amazing but, lately, I can’t get enough of this winning dancefloor cut from her 1979 release, All the Things You Are.
   
   
    
3.  “Sister Funk” – Gloria Williams, 1973  
   I don’t know much about Ms. Williams except that she lays down some serious grit on this 7” hunk of funk. Her vocal delivery is oddly somewhere between the Ohio Players and Playboy Magazine. I can’t get enough.
       
4.  “Love Shock” – Kitty & the Haywoods, 1977 
   Speaking of the Ohio Players, they produced one album by the family group from Chicago consisting of well-seasoned session vocalists who sang with Leroy Hutson and other renowned soul artists. This cut, the title track, is a Funk monster , and the rest of the album focuses on plenty of lovely mellow cuts, which are equally nicety.
   


5. “Number One” – Patrice Rushen, 1982  
   I’ve focused a lot on female vocalists in this list, so now it’s time to spotlight an instrumentalist, considered to be number one amongst her peers. Considered one of the world’s top jazz pianists, she hit the ground running as an in-demand session player on sides by Sonny Rollins and Eddie Henderson, and released her debut album in 1974. She switched to R&B, Funk, and dance music in the late 1970s, keeping her soulful jazz edge and winning over pop fans in the process. This instrumental cut from her top selling album Straight from the Heart (containing the hit “Forget Me Nots”) is a perfect example of how jazz grooves can work on the dance floor. 

 

Check out event promoter, soulful dj artist, and music writer Melissa A. Weber aka DJ Soul Sister on the web at facebook.com/djsoulsister, or listen to her weekly “Soul Power” show, the longest running rare groove radio program in the U.S., every Saturday night from 8-10pm Central Standard Time on WWOZ in New Orleans, streaming live at wwoz.org.

 

New Joni Mitchell interview from CBC

This is the first new interview I have seen with Joni Mitchell in awhile. So excited to watch. Thank you CBC for making it available online!