Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#941 in the Series) is Les Dudek, Say No More Are you a guitar fan? Do you like great blues guitar? Do you like funky jazz guitar? I’m hoping you know who Les Dudek is. If not, you need to know about him, and quickly. Born in Rhode Island, and raised in Florida, Les made the rounds before ending up in California. Before he launched his solo career, he spent time playing with the likes of Boz Scaggs and Steve Miller. I recently learned an interesting story about the start of his solo career. In the early 70s he was living in the San Francisco area, well-known manager/producer “Herbie” Herbert was putting...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#929 in the Series) is Donald Fagen, The Nightfly I never would’ve thought that my favorite Steely Dan album wouldn’t even be a Steely Dan album. But as strange as that may seem my favorite work by Mr. Donald Fagan is his first solo album called The Nighfly.  It can’t be considered a Steely Dan album because it does not include Fagen’s longtime band partner Walter Becker, but I’ve enjoyed this work more than any of the Dan projects so that’s really what I’m getting at. One of the complaints that I often hear about Steely Dan is that their albums are so perfectly recorded, so perfectly produced, that they actually become...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Aire” by Chicago By the time of the sessions for their sixth studio album (and seventh overall), Chicago had dozens of hits behind them and had grown restless and unhappy with the concise nature of their previous two records. Sure the albums established the group as a hit making machine, but the band began to feel that their credibility was at stake. To that end, Chicago decided to use some of the leeway their many hits had bought them to stretch out and make the jazz album they always wanted to. Not all of the members were on board with the idea, especially Peter Cetera and producer James William Guericio...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman- “Toe Thumb” by Billy Martin and Wil Blades Another dynamic duo! He’s the Martin who pounds the skins for the Jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood, and has recorded with the likes of John Scofield, John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, Chris Whitley and Iggy Pop. Blades is a Hammond B-3 extraordinaire from Chicago, whose made a name for himself in the San Francisco Jazz scene and has lent his skills to the works of John Lee Hooker and fellow organist Dr. Lonnie Smith. The two joined forces for a one-off late night summit at the New Orleans Jazz Festival last year, and from that one gig, they knew they would...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#788 in the Series)Saturday Night Series) is Sting, Bring on the Night.This entry is slightly different. Bring on the Night is a live soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Have you seen the movie? No, then get to Netflx as soon as you can. Near the beginning of the film Sting explains why this concert movie is different.  He says, paraphrasing, that this film is different because most concert films are often about a band’s career ending or about them breaking up. This is about a band coming together. So here we see the rehearsals and some performances of Sting putting together his band for his tour for Dream of...

Today’s Cool Album of The Day (#582 in the Series) is Brand X, Product. Brand X was a band that wasn’t a band, well not at first were they a band, but then became a band. You Got it? Here’s the idea. Genesis drummer and new lead vocalist Phil Collins along with Atomic Rooster guitarist John Goodsall were looking for something to do as a side project.  How long was it supposed to go on? Well not long really.  Just do some jamming and maybe record a platter or two if the sound came together.  This was in 1976. They added bassist Percy Jones and keyboard Robin Lumley to complete the band. They decided to release an album here and there....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#513 in the Series) is Gino Vanelli, Brother to Brother. I’d love to know how many people freaked out when they saw today’s “Cool Album of The Day” is Gino Vanelli. I’ll say this, the real audiophiles are saying something like, “Amazing, a great album with an ultra-fantastic band.” Many though, only know him from his couple big hits like “I Just Wanna To Stop” and “Living Inside Myself,” and maybe even “People Gotta Move.” They probably know the look and the whole Gino Vanelli “thing” but have never heard some of the album cuts on this release. This album, and especially his live shows, featured some of the best musicians of their...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#510 in the Series, and #52 in the Live, Saturday Night Series) is Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light. I’m not going to sit here and type away about how much I think this is a perfect and fantastic album.  If you’re a jazz affectionado, then maybe it is to you.  I like jazz, I appreciate jazz, but I’m not head over heels in love with it.  (BTW, when someone does a flip, shouldn’t it be “heels over head? As soon as I stand up I’m going to be head over heels. When I walk to the fridge? Yup, head over heels again!) … anyway, I like jazz but not enough to site through two to...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#446 in the Series, #22 in the Whale Wednesday Series) is Steely Dan, Aja 1977, that’s when Steely Dan, Aja was released. Yes, in 1977.  Does it really seem like 34 years ago? Well heck no, not only does it not seem like 34 years ago, but give this a listen again. It also seems hardly true from a musical and recording standpoint.  Aja was recorded in 1977. It just seems hard to believe. This is jazz-rock at its finest.  These are the finest written songs, with the finest musicians giving life to those songs. Some people like their music straight forward in three minute pop tunes, so do I. Some people like...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#396 in the Series) is China Crisis, Flaunt the Imperfection Flaunt the Imperfection is the third studio album from one of my favorite acts, China Crisis. I love their What Price Paradise album. Like I’ve mentioned before, it seems like my favorite albums coincide with the tours that I’ve seen, having said that, this is probably a better album. This one has a big name attached to it. That name is Walter Becker.  Who? Many of you know that name. He’s one half of the famed duo that fronts Steely Dan, the other half being of course, Donald Fagen. Mr. Becker produced Flaunt the Imperfection. He also ads some synthesizer touches along with...