Janiva Magness – Blues’ Superstar Voice and more!
Yesteday in Music – Jan 30, 1957 Happy Birthday, Janiva Magness!!
Yesterday Janiva Magness celebrated her 57th birthday. If you do not Janiva is a blues superstar. She was named the Blues Foundation’s B.B. King Entertainer of the Year in 2009, becoming only the second woman, after Koko Taylor, to be so honored. She was also named the Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year in that same year! She had won that award in both 2006 and 2007. In 2012 she was nominated for that award again. All ototal since 2006, she has had 22 similar nominations! This year she won the 2013 Blues music Award: for Contemporary Artist of the Year again and her song “I won’t Cry” was song of the Year!!
The Safari Rediscovers Serenity from Austria and visits Death & Legacy!!
Back in October I came across the band Serenity, I listened to and really like their current release War of Ages. Yesterday I thought about the band and went back in time and listened to their 2011 release Death & Legacy and I liked that album just as much as War of Ages, maybe more!! As I am writing this I just put on their 2008 release Fallen Angel.…. sounds just as good. Hard driving metal, good vocals, good guitar, etc… Like I do always when I’m listening to a band like this, I went to Prog Archives to see what they say about the band and the albums. What i found is that the band is not included in the archives because their music is not prog enough! I’ve heard several bands that are included in the Archives and these guys don’t sound any different to this newbies ears!! Anyway here’s what I had written before about the band…..First from Wikipedia some background about Serenity:
Book 3 of 2014 – The Road Out: A Teacher’s Odyssey in Poor America!
Years ago I was moved by Death at an Early Age Jonathan Kozol’s award-winning book chronicling his first year of teaching, and the plight of poor children in the Boston school system. Forty plus years later, I am moved again this time by Deborah Hick’s book The Road Out (Book 3 of 2014) The Road Out chronicles Hicks attempt to give several at risk girls in the Cincinnati school system a road out, through a top quality literature education. For several years Hicks conducts a special literature class for these girls in trying to give them something that they didn’t have hope and dreams, Dreams about where they could go and what they could be, by using the power of the written word. Seven girls Blair, Alicia, Adriana, Jessica, Elizabeth, Mariah,and Shannon. Seven girls growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Cincinnati.Children whose parents and grandparents came from the hills of Appalachia to the industrial centers of Ohio, to chase the American dream only to have that dream crushed.They watched their jobs be shipped out of the country, have the factories close, and their communities turned into ghettos with rampant unemployment, and drug use particularly Oxycontin…
The Safari finds Progressive Metal? in France from Spheric Universe Experience – Mental Torments!
One of the albums that has been on the iPhone for a while now is Spheric Universe Experience‘s 2005 debut album Mental Torments. I had started my explorations of the band’s music with their 2012 release New Ere and after the fist listen I wasn’t quite sold on the band. So I went back and listened to Mental Torments, which was their highest rated album at the Prog Archives. I liked that album a lot more. Now I need to explore the two albums released in between number one and number four to know if I’m completely sold on the band!
This Day in Music – January 30, 1930 – Wes’ baby brother – Buddy Montgomery was born!
On this day in 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings.
Buddy Montgomery Wes’ baby brother -born January 30, 1930
Buddy Montgomery – Primary Instrument – Vibraphone
On January 30. 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings.
The Safari Re-Explores Re-explores Progressive Metal from the UK’s Maschine – Rubidium!
Tonight, I re-explored the album Rubidium from Maschine. I say re-explored because I had listened to the album for the first time several months ago and really enjoyed it. The band hails from the United Kingdom and is labeled at Prog Archives as progressive metal. Personally, I don’t think that they are as heavy as many of the progressive metal bands I’ve listened to. The band’s name seems to have been derived from the founder of the band vocalist and guitarist Luke Machin. Machin who had played with both Tangent and It Bits formed the band in at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2008. The line-up for the band includes: Elliot Fuller on guitar, Dan Mash on bass, James Stewart on drums and Georgia Lewis on keyboards.
