The Dec. 16 edition of Crashing The Ether featured the new Waka/Wazoo box set — a five-CD collection covering Frank Zappa‘s legendary Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo eras — and special guest Scott Parker, a noted Zappa historian who penned the liner notes for the new release.
The program, which coincided with the actual release date, can be heard on the archive by clicking here
Parker, who has written a number of books about Zappa, is the host of ZappaCast, the official Frank Zappa podcast. In addition to taking a deep dive into Waka/Wazoo, Parker discussed several recent archival Zappa releases, including Mothers 1971, Zappa/Erie and Zappa ’75.
Recent releases by The Weight Band and Maurice Tani as well as a tribute to Christine McVie were featured on the Dec. 3 edition of Greasy Tracks.
Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here.
The Weight Band appears at The Warehouse at FTC in Fairfield on Dec. 16 and Infinity Music Hall in Hartford on Dec. 17. They recently released Shines Like Gold, their first studio effort since their debut, World Gone Mad in 2018. Keyboardist/vocalist Brian Mitchell discusses the album and up-coming shows in an interview that will air during the program. There will be tickets given away to the Infinity Hall appearance.
Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Tani’s latest release is All In! (Little Village Foundation) where the veteran guitarist, singer and composer goes for a more soulful country sound with hints of rock on his album of original tracks, minus a superb rendition “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” — the Booker T. Jones/William Bell chestnut. Highlighting the album are appearances by The Sons Of The Soul Revivers who add a gospel influence to a pair of tracks.
Formed nearly a decade ago by musicians who traced their lineage to The Band and Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band, The Weight Band specialized in keepingThe Band’s catalog alive and well on stage, but over the years, began to incorporate original material. Their latest effort maintains their traditional Band-influence sound, but runs the gamut from Americana/roots rock to blues and a couple of ballads. The lone cover is a wonderful rendition of Willie Dixon’s “It Don’t Make Sense (If You Can’t Make Peace)”.
Just as The Band featured a versatile collection of singers and players, The Weight Band follows suit with Mitchell, bassist Albert Rogers, drummer Michael Bram and keyboardist Matt Zeiner all handling vocal duties while guitarist Jim Weider, who spent 15 years in The Band, rounds out the lineup.
McVie, a long-time member of Fleetwood Mac, passed away at the age of 79 on Nov. 30. The program avoided playing standard FM fare when it comes to the McVie tribute.
The annual WRTC fundraising marathon concluded Nov. 11.
On behalf of the staff and management, we thank all of our generous listeners who pledged to support the station.
As the non-commercial radio station of Trinity College, we offer a diverse schedule of 60-plus programs on a weekly basis. Aside from two part-time employees, we’re an all-volunteer organization.
Much of our financial assistance comes from our loyal listeners and we rely on your backing to keep us on the air doing what we do best.
Those who pledged will receive a pledge/payment form in the mail. Just follow the simple instructions and return it to: WRTC Marathon, 300 Summit St., Hartford, CT 06106.
You can also still donate securely online, just click…
“Thank You” premiums will be mailed out in the near future.
For more information, or to make a pledge by phone, contact the station at 860-297-2450.
There are very few drummers who even come close to racking up the number of sessions that the legendary Bernard “Pretty” Purdie has done and the Nov. 5 edition of Greasy Tracks at least scratched the surface of the drummer’s fascinating career.
Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here.
Dating to the late 1950s, Purdie — once known as “the house drummer of Atlantic Records” — played nearly 30,000 sessions, has appeared on more than 4,000 albums and recorded with 2,500-plus different artists, including a deep catalog of solo releases.
Artists he has appeared with, running the gamut from jazz to rock, include Miles Davis, James Brown, Steely Dan, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, BB King, Joe Cocker, Bob Marley, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Mongo Santamaria, Peter Frampton, Hall & Oats, Hank Crawford and Jimmy McGriff to name only a few.
Employing an innovative use of triplets against a half-time backbeat, Purdie developed an immensely distinct and impactful technique known universally as “the Purdie Shuffle”.
On Oct. 19, WRTC hosted the New Haven-based experimental improvisatory duo, Tongue Depressor, to play in the unique and resonant Crypt Chapel downstairs in the Trinity College Chapel.
You can enjoy the concert yourself with this video. They played the small pipe organ there as well as double bass and bag pipes. Entirely acoustic, their music resonated and reverberated in the enclosed stone space in a wonderful and satisfying way.
The Oct. 15 edition Greasy Tracks featured music from Zero as well as interviews with founding members Greg Anton and Steve Kimock.
Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here.
Zero is at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford on Nov. 3, marking the band’s first appearance in the city since 1995 when they played multiple dates at The Blue Star Café.
While the band is finally able to do an east coast run of shows following the shelving of dates due to the pandemic, it’s been a busy year for drummer Anton and guitarist Kimock.
In addition to west coast Zero gigs, Anton released his debut solo album, Starfire, a one-off live recoding he did at TELEFUNKEN Soundstage in South Windsor. He is also working on his second book following the publishing of Face The Music. Kimock has been on the road with Steve Kimock & Friends and will do a handful of dates with Oteil & Friends this month. In January, Kimock is touring with Jazz Is Dead.
Here’s Zero: The 2022 edition of Zero, from left, Hadi Al-Sadoon, Steve Kimock, Greg Anton, Pete Sears and Spencer Burrows. They return to Hartford the first time in 27 years with a Nov. 3 date at Infinity Hall. (Susana Millman photo)
And then there was the May release ofNaught Again, a live offering featuring tracks recorded during a three-night run at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in 1992. Anton and Kimock discussed the album on the May 21 edition of Greasy Tracks.
Hartford native Anton and Kimock trace their collaboration roots to early 1980 and The Heart of Gold Band, a short-lived line-up featuring ex-Grateful Dead members husband/wife Keith and Donna Godchaux along with bassist John Kahn.
Earlier Days: Greg Anton, Steve Kimock, John Farey and Bobby Vega (back row) with John Cipollina and Martin Fierro.
The passing of Keith Godchaux, only days after the band’s debut appearance, hastened the breakup of the group, but Anton and Kimock continued working together in the studio and by 1984, with a somewhat loose aggregation of players, made their first appearance as Zero.
The early edition of the band featured guitarist John Cipollina who remained with Zero until his death in 1989. Core members over the years included bassist Bobby Vega, saxophonist Martin Fierro, keyboardists Banana, John Farey and Chip Roland amongst others.
They released their debut studio album, Here Goes Nothing in 1987, followed by Nothing Goes Here (1989).
Zero Shows Open Venue: Zero played multiple dates to mark the 1993 opening of The Blue Star Café in Hartford. (Thos. Chapman artwork)
In 1992, the band, which had primarily played instrumentals since forming, started working with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Vocalist Judge Murphy soon joined and Zero became a regular go-to for Hunter’s material.
Joined by a handful of special guests, Zero performed at the Great American Music Hall Oct. 14-16, 1992. A portion of those shows was released in 1994 on Chance In A Million. With keyboardist Pete Sears part of Zero during this period, the band also had Nicky Hopkins and Vince Welnick alternating on piano during the run.
In addition to Anton and Kimock, the latest edition of Zero includes Pete Sears (bass), Hadi Al-Sadoon (trumpet) and Spencer Burrows (keyboards), but the Infinity appearance will also include Robert Somerville (saxophone).
The band St. Lucia was featured on the Oct. 10 edition of the Devo Rock Show, including an interview with lead singer and songwriter Jean-Philip Grobler.
St. Lucia just released their fourth album, Utopia(Netwerk Records). The band features Grobler’s wife, Patti Beranek, on vocals and keyboards, Ross Clark (bass), Nick Paul (keyboards) and Dustin Kaufman (drums). They have a distinctly 80s sound with lots of rocking guitars and synthesizers.
Grobler was born and raised in South Africa and currently resides in Germany, but spends a lot of time in the United States focusing on his own music and production work with other artists including, Foster The People, Passion Pit and Wykclef Jean.
His current album is an upbeat take on the sound of the 80s with impeccable production and stunning vocals. Devo caught up with the band at the opening night of their tour, Oct. 7, at The Paradise in Boston. In the interview, Grobler describes his journey through the pandemic and how his new album came to be.
Interviews with noted author Marc Myers and Grammy-winning trumpeter Arturo Sandoval were featured on the Oct. 6 edition of Fifty Shades of Jazz with Lou Pomales.
Sandoval appearrs at Eastern Connecticut State University on Oct. 15 for a pair of concerts with David Foster & The Shaboo All-Stars supporting.
Myers, who posts daily at JazzWax, is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal where he writes about music and the arts. His books include: Anatomy of 55 More Songs (Grove Press), Rock Concert (Grove Press), Anatomy of a Song (Grove Press) and Why Jazz Happened (University of California Press). Based in New York City, Myers is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association’s award for Jazz Blog of the Year.
A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval recently released Rhythm & Soul (MetaJAX Entertainment). He has won 10 Grammy Awards, six Billboard Music Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Sept. 24 edition of Greasy Tracks featured a tribute to legendary jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis who passed away at the age of 87 on Sept 12 as well as an interview and profile of the versatile guitarist Scott Metzger.
A native of Chicago, Lewis’ career spanned seven-plus decades, yielded more than 80 releases as well as three Grammy Awards. Despite his love of blues and jazz, Lewis was, thanks to his parents, exposed to classical and gospel at an early age.
Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here.
The Ramsey Lewis Trio: (From left) Ramsey Lewis, bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac “Red” Holt .
He’s credited with being a catalyst of bringing jazz to an audience that traditionally listened to pop music, opening what would become a massive market, especially years later with smooth jazz, boosted again, this time by Lewis’ release of the blockbuster Sun Goddess in 1974.
In The Crowd, released in 1965, was the first of Lewis’ five Gold records. The single of the same name from the album went to No. 2 on the R&B chart and No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart that year. A year later, it won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by an Individual or Group.
Scott Metzger’s Too Close To Reason
One of the keys to Lewis’ early success was what would become a decade-long collaboration with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac “Red” Holt blended who helped give the music a harder edge with a funky, “roll-your-sleeves-up” feel, despite still being acoustic.
The Brooklyn-based Metzger, best known as a member of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD), released his debut, solo album, Too Close To Reason (Royal Potato Family), earlier this year.
Between road dates with JRAD, Metzger’s focus as turned to WOLF!, a “Telecaster rock trio” he’s been part of with bassist John Shaw and drummer Taylor Floreth for the past six years. Their second album, Adult Entertainment, (Royal Potato Family) will be released Oct. 28. WOLF! plays The Sultan Room in Brooklyn on Oct. 7; Stage One in Fairfield on Oct. 7; and Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke, Mass., on Oct. 8.
WOLF!: Scott Metzger (left), drummer Taylor Floreth and bassist John Shaw.
There will be tickets given away to the Stage One show.
In addition to discussing life as a musician during and post-Covid, Metzger talks at length about how WOLF!’s new album came about as well as his love to playing the Telecaster, an instrument not really suited to his JRAD job, but perfect for WOLF!’s approach to making music.
A career overview of and an interview with legendary guitarist Leo Nocentelli was featured on the Sept. 17 edition of Greasy Tracks.
Check out the archive by clicking here, while a playlist is here.
The New Orleans-based Nocentelli, best known as a founding member of The Meters, plays Infinity Hall in Hartford on Sept. 22.
Nearly a year ago, Nocentelli released Another Side (Light In The Attic Records), an album of solo material he recorded in 1971, but would not see the light of day for nearly half a century.
The Meters: The iconic New Orleans band was founded in 1965 by (from left) Leo Nocentelli, George Porter, Jr., Art Neville and Zigaboo Modeliste. Cyril Neville (second left) joined the band in the early 1970s.
Backed by such Crescent City studio luminaries as Allen Toussaint (keyboards), George Porter, Jr. (bass) and drummers James Black and Zigaboo Modeliste, the effort is a massive departure from the style of The Meters, the iconic band Nocentelli co-founded in 1965. Nocentelli described it as “his Country & Western album.” Another Side is a current Grammy Nominee.
Nocentelli appeared on the Aug. 8, 2019 edition of Greasy Tracks which featured a tribute to the then-recently departed Art Neville.
WRTC recently interviewed Nocentelli and will present segments throughout the program, including the fascinating backstory of his solo album; great memories of working with musicians such as the aforementioned Toussaint, Dr. John and Little Feat’s Lowell George who did several sessions with The Meters when Nocentelli, Modeliste, and Porter were playing with the definitive lineup with Art Neville.
