Take Your Rest

Just got the sad news that British folk guitarist John Renbourne has joined his old pal Bert Jansch for that great gig in the sky. Renbourn, a true pioneer of British folk guitar and a founding member of the great Pentangle, was 70 years old. Miss him.

Pentangle - Sweet Child
John Renbourn - I Know My Babe

Sisters Brothers

"Oh sister sister let me live, and all that's mine I'll surely give..." Presenting a sibling ten pack, in honour of a hilarious novel I enjoyed recently: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt. Be sure to pick up a copy of this surprising western noir. And buy some albums if you like what you hear below, my amigos da musica.

Pentangle - Cruel Sister
Wild Tchoupitoulas - Brother John
Arson Garden - Two Sisters (Love All Around Them)
Dennis Brown - Together Brothers
J.J. Cale - Don't Cry Sister
Prince Far I & The Arabs - Hello Love Brother

MC5 - Sister Anne

Art Pepper - Four Brothers

Horace Silver - Sister Sadie

Bill Carter - Baby Brother

And the obvious bonus track:
F.J. McMahon - Sister Brother

Bye Bert

Just received the sad news that Bert Jansch has passed away. The highly acclaimed Scottish guitarist was 67. His work, both with Pentangle and as a solo artist, was dazzling and original, influencing such famous names as Neil Young, Nick Drake, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Smiths. Johnny Marr, guitar player with the latter, once remarked that Jansch "completely reinvented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today. There are people playing guitar who don't even realize they've been influenced by him one step removed..." Amen to that.

Bert Jansch - Where Did My Life Go? MP3

Pentangle - When I Get Home MP3

The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now MP3

Deep In Love

Forget that wiz tandem of John Renbourne and Bert Jansch (who plays an Appelachian dulcimer here btw) for a second, and don't even pay too much attention to the pretty vocals of Jacqui McShee. Just wait 'til Danny Thompson's hypnotic bass kicks in. Mingus would have been proud.

Pentangle - A Maid That's Deep In Love MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 37

It´s gonna be a Wild Weekend, issue 37. Where East meets West and the well known goes hand in hand with the obscure. What have we got in store for you this week? Some Britfolk, soul, and afro-reggae, a shot of dino-rock, an Indian ghazal, and a promising new Americana trio to boot. Have a wild one, y´all.

We´ll kick off with some shimmering soul featuring brother Ry and friends, who give the Maurice & Mac classic Why Don´t You Try Me a whole new coat of paint. From the mighty fine Borderline album (´80). Give it a try why don´t you. Time to go pentangling now. I was enjoying some beers with a friend of mine recently when he put an old Pentangle album on, and it amazed us all over again how fresh these British folkrockers still sound today. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn: a wiz guitar team if ever there was one. "Look around for someone lying in the sunshine, marking time, hear the sighs, close your eyes..." And in case you were wondering: that´s the underrated Jaqui McShee on vocals.

Ry Cooder - Why Don´t You Try Me MP3

Pentangle - Light Flight (Take Three Girls Theme) MP3

May we continue with a new band now? Thanks. Presenting Woodsy Pride, an Americana threesome all the way from Redhook, Brooklyn. Wasn´t that the birthplace of Joey, the famous mafioso Dylan wrote such a great but controversial song about? Cool. Anyway, they call their stuff ´southern gothic´ and I sure can live with that. Nice lap steel, too, which is always a good thing. Next we move all the way to India for a relaxed ghazal by a contemporary singer called Hariharan. If I´m not mistaken, the delicate Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai was written by Mir Taqi Mir, the most famous Urdu poet of the eighteenth century. Yes, it´s that old. No idea what he´s on about though. Anyone?

Woodsy Pride - As Always A Good Thing MP3

Hariharan - Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai MP3

On to Jamaica now, with one of the weirdest ventures in the Lee Perry catalogue: his collaboration with Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo. These two singers from Zaire were brought to Kingston in the year when the two sevens clashed, by some malafide promotor who abandoned them almost right away. The duo didn´t speak the language and had no money, but did manage to locate Perry´s famous Black Ark studio somehow. Scratch then worked his magic and produced what was probably the first Afro-Jamaican crossover. Irie or what? And we´ll be off with a pastoral classic by Led Zep. This time Sir Percy´s in pursuit of a Californian beauty who´s never been born. "Meet you up there where the path runs straight and high..." Deal.

Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo - African Roots MP3

Led Zeppelin - Going To California MP3

Hats Off

"When Charlie speaks of Lester, you know someone great has gone...
The sweetest swingin´ music man, had a Porkie Pig hat on..."

Here´s three versions of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, the immortal ´59 tribute to recently deceased tenor great Lester ´Pres´ Young by ´angry man of jazz´ Charles Mingus. The bassist´s original, which became a jazz standard over the years, simply flows and flows.

In ´68 British folk experimentalists Pentangle - featuring the dual guitar wizardry of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn - tackled the song with a totally different, all-acoustic approach. It remained jazz somehow though.

And Joni Mitchell even set Goodbye Pork Pie Hat to words in ´78 when she was collaborating with Mingus in what proved to be the last months of his life. "We came up from the subway, on the music midnight makes, to Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone, in taxi horns and brakes..." Oh yes.

Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

Pentangle - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

Joni Mitchell - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat MP3

And as a bonus, here´s Lester Young (1909-1959) himself. All dig the Pres.

Lester Young - Love Me Or Leave Me MP3

Lester Young - Red Boy Blues MP3

Lester Young - Gypsy In My Soul MP3