The Safari Explores the Music of Terrence Blanchard – Magnetic!
I’ve written it before and I am sure I will write it again during the years from 1980 to 1995 there was so much going on in my life that there was little time for musical explorations. During that period our family grew to include four children Nick (1979), Andrew (1982), Peter (1986) and Elizabeth (1990). Along the way our family lost my wife’s mother to breast cancer (1982 at the age of 48), my wife’s grandmother, and father, my father (1984) the way our sons Nick and Andrew both had medical problems, and mu wife had to miscarriages!! Anyway you get the picture, musical explorations were way down the list! I write all of this to give myself an excuse for not knowing about many of the artists that i have recently been discovering. One of those artists is trumpeter Terrence Blanchard! Today I have listened to his latest release Magnetic and throughly enjoying it!!
The Safari finds more Finnish Progressive Metal – Anthriel – The Pathway!!
The other day I was surfing MOG looking artists who are like ones that I like and I came across Anthriel and their 2010 release The Pathway. I gave it a 30 second test and I liked what I heard so it went on the iPhone. This morning it was part of the soundtrack playing while I did some work around the house. What a fine progressive metal album this is, with a little bit of everything – there’s some hard-driving guitar work from Timo Niemsto, drumming from Jari Kuokkanen. which often flows into some melodic keyboard work from Antti Hakulinen.These guys are the trio that founded the band in 2004. In 2008 lead singer Simo Silvan joined the band and last but not least there’s the bass player Klaus Wirzenius
2014 Blues – Tommy Castro and the Painkillers – The Devil You Know!!
Sometimes my first impressions suck! See I once said after the première of the TV show Cheers that it was pretty good except I wasn’t sure about the theme song! And I said that I didn’t know how long they could keep up the premise of the TV show Perfect Strangers! How about for eight seasons!! And after the first listen to The Devil You Know, the new release from Tommy Castro and the Painkillers I wasn’t sure if it was that good! Hey, it’s very, very and maybe a few more verys, good! I think that on the first listen, first I didn’t listen that closely, but second it sounded a little different from the Tommy Castro that I’ve been listening to since the mid to late 90s, At his website Tommy explains it to me……
Crossover Prog from Poland’s Iluzjon – Silent Andromeda!
One of the albums that I’ve listened to over the last week is Silent Andromeda from the Polish crossover prog band Iluzjon (yes, in Polish Illusion is the translation) From Wikipedia:
New Age- World Music from Adam Hurst – Nightfall
So at Number 23 on the Echoes Music Chart for January of 2014 is Nightfall from Adam Hurst. Now of the 25 artists/albums listed there is really only one artist whose name I recognize and Adam is not it. Moby is really the only artist whose name I’ve known for more than a few months! Artist’s whose music i have recently explored include: Bombay Dub Orchestra(7), David Helpling and Jon Jenkins (10) and Darkside (9).
This Day in History – Feb 3, 1900 – The 34th Governor of Kentucky dies from shooting!
On February 3,1900, William Goebel, the newly elected Governor of Kentucky died after serving four days in office. Goebel had been shot by an assassin the day before he was sworn in as the 34th Governor of the state. Goebel remains the only state governor in the nation to be assassinated while in office. John Connelly of Texas and George Wallace of Alabama both survived assassination attempts. From Wikipedia:
The Safari has Adventures in Kali City with Karim Baggili
So yesterday when I visited the World Music Chart Europe and listened to the Number 1 album, I also spied an interesting mix at Number 4. The album was Kali City(featuring Trio Joubran) from Karim Baggili. The countries listed after the title and artist were Belgium and Palestine. I gave the album the thirty-second test which it passed with flying colors. I downloaded it onto the iPhone, and listened to it later in the day. After listening and enjoying the Middle East tinged music, I went to Karim’s website where I discovered, that Karim is Belgian of Jordanian and Yugoslavian descent. He is a self-taught guitarist, who started with the electric guitar and then moved onto the flamenco guitar and the Oud, which he acquired in Jordan.
The Safari Explores the Mixing of a Balkan brass band and a Canadian Guitarist – Devil’s Tale!!
If, how much my feet tap while I am listening to an album is a measure of how much I like an album, then I really must love the number 1 album on the World European Charts Devil’s Tale! Because I do not think that those toes did not stop tapping through the entire length of the album!! The album is a union of a Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso and the Romanian group Fanfare Ciocărlia based on their mutual love of the music of Django Reinhardt. Ok so who are these artists and what have they created first Adrian Raso, from his website…..
