Dr. John (Jun. 20, Toronto
Jazz Festival)
"With each passing year, it becomes more evident that Mac
Rebennack, aka Dr. John, is America's premier roots musician.
This is not negotiable". -- Josh Alan Friedman, from Tell
The Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of
Blues and Rock 'n' Roll. See book note later in the
newsletter.
"The Grand Divas of R & B"
(Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love & Merry Clayton) (Jun. 21, Toronto
Jazz Festival)
In the same book, the author recalls his brief romantic and
professional life with Ronnie Spector (formerly of the Ronnettes,
and formerly married to Phil Spector). He met her at Doc Pomus's
apartment (see note below on Books), an event that "resulted
in a breakneck romance that sucked every minute of my life for
four months. Ronnie was Godzilla disguised as Gidget. Doc helped
me regain my sanity in the year it took me to recover." The
details of his time with her is recounted in a chapter entitled
"Mr. Nobody".
Merry Clayton is best known for
her powerful background and accompanying vocal on the Rolling
Stones' "Gimme Shelter". On
this YouTube clip, you can listen to the original, set
against a powerful collage of still and film images of the
Vietnam War background the song was a part of. Starting about
2:45, check Merry's voice finally breaking (and Mick's reaction)
on the third chorus repetition, "Rape! Murder! It's just
a shot away..."
Pinetop Perkins (Jun. 26,
Sound Academy)
Earlier this year, Pinetop won a Grammy for the album he did
with David "Honeyboy" Edwards. It might have been one of the
most appropriately named albums in some time: Last of the
Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas. Edwards
was 92, and Pinetop will be turning 95 this July.
There is a profile of Pinetop
in the current (and final issue) of
No Depression magazine.
Here's a little clip taken at his 94th birthday party. (The
camera operator seemed a bit more unsteady than Pinetop).
Jayme
Stone & Mansa Sissoko CD Release (Jun 28, Hugh's Room)
Jayme is a Canadian banjo player who went to Mail to explore
"the African Routes of the Banjo". Mansa is a kora player
and griot from Maili. Their new CD, Africa to Appalachia,
is a wonderful evocation of that continent- and ocean-crossing
musical connection. You can see a
video
here of them playing the Malian classic, "Jarabi" at Hugh's Room
last summer, and listen to some of the CD via this
e-card.
As they were last August (photo
on right), they will be joined by singer Katenen "Cheka"
Dioubaté.
Sergio Mendes (Jun. 28, The
Music Hall)
He's been playing bossa nova, jazz, funk for decades. And
here's proof: A
1967 video
of him in town at the (then) O'Keefe Centre in a show titled,
"The Rock Scene: Like It Is".
Salif Keita (Jun. 29, Jazz
Festival)
Nothing else to add. Watch and listen to "Folon".
Jun. 30: Lee "Scratch" Perry
A
Yahoo biography says, "Some call him a genius, others claim
he's certifiably insane, a madman". A huge figure in reggae and
one of the inventors of dub. And where did that dub sound come
from? He recounts the story in
this interview:
Well, I used to watch some
sex films, what you call blue films. I used to buy those films
for myself in England and everywhere, and watch those blue films
when I was in my studio. Then, because of that, the music have
to be sexy to turn on people, to make them want to dance, and to
make them act like they are fucking. That’s how the dub come
into it, because the dub is really a part of sex; it’s a sexy
kind of creation. Sex in your thought and sex on your mind, and
when you go to sex a girl tonight, you put all that in the music
and call it dub.
Seun
Kuti & Egypt 80 (Jul. 2, Harbourfront) (photo, right)
Last summer, Fela's youngest son knocked everyone out with a
masterful performance on the same stage. Astoundingly, I've
heard from someone who saw him there, and again a few months
ago, that he is much better now. A must-see show for African
music fans... and FREE. Here's a
video clip
from 3 years ago.
Orchestra Baobab (Jul. 3,
Harbourfront)
One of the greatest African bands ever (and still). And
FREE. A video
of "Nijaay" from 2004
Grupo Vocal Desandann (Jul.
4, Hugh's Room, plus Afrofest, Jul 5-6)
One of my favourites: gorgeous (mostly) acapella music from
this Cuban group, all of whose members are descendants of
Haitian immigrants. Here's
a
short video collage of their recent performance at the Art
of Jazz festival here. To get a better sense of their sound,
visit their CD Baby page
which offers 2 minute clips of all the songs of their 1999 CD,
Descendents.
Their Hugh's Room show will be
with Jane Bunnett.
Afrofest, Jul 5-6
The twentieth anniversary of the largest African music festival
in North America. Three stages of free music over two
days, crafts, workshops, food, beer and sun. Pretty hard to find
a reason not to go.
This year, besides Desandann
(above), features two different nominees for recent BBC World
Music Newcomer Awards (Dobet G'nahore from Ivory Coast and Mayra
Andrade from Cape Verde), along with new Senegalese star Fallou
Dieng, four different performers from the African Guitar Summit
(playing with their own bands), and many more. All performers
and links are posted here:
http://to-music.ca/events.htm
Pete Seeger (Jul. 6-7,
Hugh's Room)
The first Toronto appearance in years by this giant of
American music. My clearest memory of him was a rare (and
famous) TV appearance on the Smothers Brothers show in 1967 (and
1968). Seeger had a new song, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (and
the Big Fool Says to Push On)". The clear political message (and
connection to President LBJ) kept many record stores from
carrying it. So he accepted the Smothers' invitation to perform
on TV for the first time in 17 years... but CBS cut that song.
(It was carried in Canada, on CTV). Eventually, publicity forced
them to relent, Seeger re-did his performance and it was
broadcast a few months later.
You can watch it on
this clip,
which includes a medley of American war songs. Seeger's account
of the story is
here.
He can still perform the same song... nothing seems to have
changed.
Alejandro Escovedo (Jul. 7,
Mod Club) (and Buddy Miller, Jul. 14)
Two "artists of the decade" will be playing in town, a week
apart.
No Depression magazine,
the main publication for the Americana/alt-country scene for
many years has just published its final issue, featuring on the
cover, guitarist, singer and producer Buddy Miller, naming him
their Artist of the (still only 3/4 complete) Decade.
Miller has put out a series of
excellent albums over the years, produced Solomon Burke's recent
and excellent Nashville album, and can often be found
playing guitar with Emmylou Harris. (At his last Toronto show,
in 2005, he said with amazement, that he'd "pay to be able to
stand on stage every night, hearing that voice come out of the
monitors".) This summer, he's playing guitar with the Robert
Plant/Allison Krauss tour (at Molson Amphitheatre July 14).
Here's a video
of the three of them singing together. And, in keeping with the
war themes mentioned previously, here's a
music video
of his version of "With God on Our Side".
Ten years ago, in 1998, the
same magazine named Alejandro Escovedo their artist of the 90's.
The reason for that decision early in that decade, was fear for
Escovedo's health and life. However, he recovered, is still
around, and will be playing in town on July 7.
Master Musicians
of Jajouka (Jul. 15, Phoenix)
Small World Music is bringing back this amazing group from
Morocco who perform "the oldest music on earth" (William S.
Burroughs), led by Bachir Attar, part of the Attar clan who may
have been making this music for 4000 years. Her's
some video.
