Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Push Push” by Herbie Mann Duane Allman’s final session… Herbie Mann was already ten years into a career that established him as a purveyor of Afro Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz and Bossa Nova music by 1971 and the release of his album Push Push. Mann had released albums for Bethlehem, Prestige, Epic, Verve and Savoy, before signing with Atlantic Records in 1962 where he would release numerous records for the label over the next eight years that established him as the premiere flautist in all of jazz. While at Atlantic, Mann worked with a whole host of influential percussionists and instrumentalists like Ray Barretto, Michael Olatunji, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#624 in the Series) is Loey Nelson, Venus Kissed the Moon I’ve wanted to do a piece on this Loey Nelson album almost since I started the website.  What’s always stopped me has been the fact that it’s long been out of print, and it wasn’t available on any of the download nor streaming services. Also, nothing from it was on YouTube. So I could yap until I was New York Giant blue in the face and most likely, no one would have a clue what I was talking about. So I couldn’t really share this absolutely marvelous album without being able to hand out any samples to the class. But alas!...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#607 in the Series) is Don Dixon, Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do Quite often the hardest thing about maintaining this website is trying to come up with the next day’s “Cool Album of the Day.” There are times when nothing jumps out at you that you feel like telling people about. Then there are times when you get an idea from places you never expected. That’s what happened yesterday when I was looking for our next entry. As you know we also have a Facebook page for “Cool Album of the Date.” On the page there is often continuous discussion on the entries along...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (# 601 in the Series) is Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees 1976 was a banner year for the album format. Hotel California, Takin’ it to the Streets, Songs in the Key of Life, and Boston all charted in 1976. Silk Degrees generated four monster Billboard Hot 100 charting singles, “What Can I Say (42)”, “It’s Over” (38), “Lido Shuffle” (11), and “Lowdown (3)” may have been the best of the lot, and was the coming out party for Texas born guitar slinger Boz Scaggs. The album was released right in the heart of disco fever and was just before the titanic, or travesty depending on your point of view, Saturday Night Fever, and...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#548 in the Series) is the eponymous debut from Karla Bonoff Karla Bonoff is almost the female version of J.D. Souther.  Like J.D., she was a denizen of Laurel Canyon and hung with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, and the rest of the cosmic cowboys. The two also shared the unique gift of song-craft that perfectly suited the times and the country-rock vibe that was permeating the L.A. scene in the early to mid-seventies. Also like Souther, Karla made a name for herself with her songs that were recorded by other artists most notably “Home” that was recorded by Bonnie Raitt, as well as “Someone To...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#541 in the Series) is The Beach Boys, SMiLE Is SMiLE a magnificent work of inspired musical genius or an over-hyped load of half-formed, unfinished nonsense? You decide! Rumour, speculation, lies, half-truths, assumptions, deliberate misleads and red herrings, guesswork………it seems that SMiLE has been, and no doubt shall continue to be, the subject of all of the above and lots more besides. For many people, their opinion of this album (regularly cited as “the greatest lost classic” of all time) depends on not just the music which has crept out over the years, but also upon just whose version of events they choose to believe. And everyone involved with SMiLE seems to have...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#529 in the Series) is Laura Nyro,  Eli and the Thirteenth Confession Laura Nyro is Randy Newman without the Disney movie soundtracks. Known more for the songs she has written for other people that have gone on to become monster hits than her own releases, her musical output rivals only Carole King as one of the greatest singer song -writers of her generation and a hit-making machine.  A partial list of Laura Nyro penned hits includes “Stoney End” for Barbra Streisand, “Eli’s Coming” for Three Dog Night, “Wedding Bell Blues” for The Fifth Dimension, and the fantastic “And When I Die”, that became a monster hit for Blood Sweat and Tears. The real...

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 (#504 in the Series) is Patricia Barber,  Nightclub A dark , delicious delight of an album. Take a look through Patricia Barber’s career and you’ll quickly see that she likes to be adventurous and do her own thing, rarely the safe option for her. Most people blessed with a voice and talent like hers would settle for a nice, comfortable career, the easy money. It’s to her credit that she tries not to go down that road too often and it’s her questing spirit which results in wonderful releases like this. It may also be the reason that you might not have heard of her! The aim on this recording was to...