JACKIE!

Hip-Hop Friday takes its occasional reggae diversion today, with a classic jam from the keyboard king of Studio One, Jackie Mittoo. So much soul. In my mind Mittoo is right up there with Jimmy Smith, as far as the unforgettable melodies and tones he'd coax out of that Hammond B3. Not nearly as mind blowingly technically proficient, but still a nasty player, stylist and master arranger/ session organizer.

Row, Fisherman row

How I haven't posted this in two years of blogging and youtube re-posting, I am not sure. At any rate, this is obviously the beautiful vocal stylings of the Congos, the production genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry, and, in short, this is reggae.

Enjoy.

'Mr. Dodd': The Father of Reggae on Father's Day

One of the fathers, at any rate. Clement Seymour 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, RIP.

Enjoy the Sunday Studio One special:

Postcard from DC: Composing and recording roots reggae music, drinking much Yuengling

Greetings, everyone.

I'm very pleased to say that the weekend recording session went very well. We recorded drafts of three songs, which may not seem like much, but considering that it was our first go at recording a full band on our own, and that we had to give structure to and discuss the tunes, we are very pleased. Personally I am really happy with how my portable Hammond B3, consisting of Voce V5, Hughes & Kettner rotosphere and Yamaha DX7 IIFD as a midi controller, sounded. I look forward to recording some more and hopefully releasing a great record within a year.

Recording with a band, for those who have not yet experienced it, can navigate a tenous path, at times exhilarating or exasperating, dramatic or boring. If you've seen either the Metallica or Wilco documentary, then you know what I'm talking about. Fortunately, though, this weekend remained relatively free of drama, and still had the exciting feel of creating a new body of work. We are in no rush this time, which is a good thing, especially considering that our main songwriter, guitarist, webmaster, and booker of gigs has an 11 month old daughter (Phoenix, pictured below)



Yesterday I had a wonderful time in chilly, rainy, DC - accordingly much of it was indoors. Breakfast with a former co-worker, pizza at Matchbox with Phoenix, the aforementioned 11 month year old, and her parents, followed by a few pints of Yuengling at the good old DC standby, Clyde's. Now I'm in Bmore and looking forward to heading up to New York City tomorrow. That should be fun since, if all goes according to plan, I will be linking up with Mr. Schist himself, and possibly he of the rockss and the fruits as well.

Surely this will make for some very entertaining, fresh blog material - sorely needed on this oft-unfocused, purportedly wine geek oriented blog. Check back early and check back often, I'm back on the saddle and ready to go. Giddyup.

eek a mouse