May 04 : "Me and Mrs. Jones" - Billy Paul (R.I.P.)

Philly Music!

Back in the day I used to listen to radio. Back in the day I even had a radio! I even listened to national acts as well as the major am and fm stations. My writeup today is to pay respect to the passing of a musician whose work I listened to back then. His name was Billy Paul, and in 1972 his music was all over the airwaves. He had a hit single, "Me and Mrs. Jones", which won him the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Billy Paul died last week.

Here is a video of Billy Paul performing "Me and Mrs. Jones" on a segment of "Soul Train" :::

Billy Paul was one of the artists who worked with Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff at Philadelphia International Records (right here on Broad Street). Read their tribute to him Gamble and Huff tribute to Billy Paul

R.I.P., Billy Paul!

Apr 28 : "Chernobyl" - Windsor Park Walkers (Cherry Hill)

Friday night I went out to hear Windsor Park Walkers headline at Boot and Saddle. This was the first time I had heard them in several years.

I originally started listening to them back in 2006 when they did a lot of shows locally, several at Grape and Khyber, and for years. Then they seemed to vanish, only to reappear once in a while to do an isolated show.

The last time I heard them prior to Friday was a show at Johnny Brenda's in 2013. Back then I observed a slight mellowing of style compared to how they played in 2006, but I didn't know whether the change would be a trend.

Well, it wasn't. At the show this past Friday, the band was back to a presentation that was even more power-packed than when I had seen them originally. This is power-packed in the arrangements, the volume, and the physical movements of their stage presence.

It's been a while since WPW released a new album, so I wasn't sure which song I should feature with this writeup. But I got my answer in a lot of news stories appearing this week regarding the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Here is "Chernobyl", the fifth track on the band's 2008 cd, "50-Watt City" :::

While the band doesn't have a Facebook page, they do have a lot of their music on Bandcamp. Here is the click to that page ::: Windsor Park Walkers (CLICK HERE)

Apr 22 : "Save Your Love for Me" - Alessandro Fadini (New York)

Last week after work one night I was able to catch an early show at Pianos where I saw Alessandro Fadini. This was the first time I had seen him play. In checking out samples of music before I went out that night, I saw that the artist's online presence features him as "Alessandro Fadini", while the Pianos website listed his show as the "Alex Fadini Quintet". Well, it turned out to be a "quartet", but still an excellent show.

I got the impression that this was a project or ensemble that had just come together for that evening's show. The lead in most of the songs was played by NY / Cali musician, Brandon Sherman on trumpet, with Allesandro Fadini playing accompaniment on the keys. Fadini is very versatile, playing the lead in a lot of his work that can be heard on line, but then switching over to accompaniment at other times.

It seemed a little like a jam session, yet they all had music stands with sheet music! As they were about to start each song, they would shuffle the papers and then begin, BUT they would play some long pieces without ever turning one page! I'm not knowledgeable enough about jazz to know what that's all about, what the proportion of written music can be to the whole piece. But I don't remember ever seeing that before.

He points out that even though the venue is named "Pianos", they oddly enough don't have one. So he had to bring his own keys. There's a lot of work on his Soundcloud page that shows off his expertise. Here is one song where he plays with an ensemble and vocalist, "Save Your Love for Me". Vocals on this piece are by Yana Bibb :::

Here is the click to his main web page Alessandro Fadini main web page (CLICK HERE), and here is the click to his Soundcloud page Alessandro Fadini on Soundcloud (CLICK HERE)

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If you like what you hear and would like to see him live, you're in luck. He will be doing a show tonight at Club Bonafide on East 52nd Street. Here is the click to that event : Alessandro Fadini live at Club Bonafide. You'll note that here his effort is known by yet a third name, "Aleks Fadini Group".

Mar 27 : "Trouble Again" - Curtis Cooper (Philly)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released

Philly Music!

Friday night I heard Curtis Cooper for the first time. He was part of the "Bernie Show", a benefit for Bernie Sanders. This was held at "Big Cakes" close by in Francisville. Kudos to Curtis Cooper and the others for doing this benefit. There was a large turnout and the organizers were pleased with the $ response. While I was there for only a small portion of the evening and didn't get to hear all the acts, I especially liked Curtis Cooper's music.

Curtis Cooper just came out with a new album in January. Plenty of interesting lyrics and unique instrumentals. The album is "Laughing In Line", and, from the album, here is one of my favorite tracks, "Trouble Again" :::

Curtis Cooper has another show coming up on May 1, where he'll be headlining at Boot and Saddle. In the meantime, if you would like to check out his Facebook page, here is the click ::: Curtis Cooper on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Feb 28 : "Every Day Is An Odyssey" - Drama Section (Brooklyn)

BEATING THE ODDS

Friday night I went to Palisades, one of my favorite venues, and heard "populist zombie jazz band" Drama Section do a live show. While their genre could generally be described as jazz and their style generally described as free-form, they venture into some noise and electronics as well, making their sound unique.

One of the first songs they played was "Every Day is An Odyssey", which was an excellent demonstration of the band's versatility. It starts out with a single four note phrase that's played by itself and then repeated. Gradually the other instruments join in one by one. The tempo increases gradually, the volume increases gradually until we've got a frenzy. As the "day" comes to a close, the music quiets down and the last thing we hear are those original four notes which we heard at the odyssey's beginning.

The band is a four-piece, having a saxophone, guitar, "big bass", and drums.

Here is "Every Day is An Odyssey" played by Brooklyn band Drama Section. This is the second track from their 2014 album, "Things Are Great Right Now: Live Selections Vol. 1".

I had a chance to talk for a few minutes with Nate Mendelsohn, the group's sax player. He told me that the band is newly arrived in Brooklyn, having come here from Oberlin, where the four first met and studied. They originally came from places as geographically diverse as Boston and Portland, OR, to name two. After graduation, they all decided to keep the band and move to Brooklyn together.

What they've done is something unusual; they've beat the odds. There are too many stories of excellent bands of college musicians that end tragically when the bandmembers go separate ways after graduation. Drama Section isn't succumbing to those patterns; these guys are keeping their band together and vibrant and moving forward. In fact they're coming out with a new tape, releasing the album on March 15th when they headline at Trans-Pecos. In the meantime, if you would like to visit Drama Section on line, here is the click to their Facebook page: Drams Section on Facebook (CLICK HERE)