The Safari finds “Oleo” at Yoshi’s and with Bags’ Groove!

So the other day when I was listening to Hammond Heroes one of the tracks that I really liked was the Pat Martino Trio’s performance of “Oleo” After listening, I went and looked for the album that the track was on and I found it on Martino’s album Live at Yoshi’s. Live at Yoshi’s was released in 2001 a little over 20 years after Martino had brain surgery as a result of a nearly fatal brain aneurysm. The surgery left him with amnesia, that wiped out his memories of his career and how to play guitar!! With the help of friends…

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The Safari finally finds the Progressive Metal of Agora in Mexico!!

Agora – Progressive Metal – Mexico So this evening I was searching for some new prog rock, and I went to New Prog Rock Releases and saw that an Italian Jazz-Rock, fusion band named Agora released their new album Ichinen on Monday of this week. So I traveled over to MOG to see if I could find it I found Agora and there was no Ichinen album. I did see however a 2011 release Regresa Al Vértigo. So I continued to search for some information on the band while I was listening. I went to the Prog Archives where I…

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This Day in Music January 23, 1943 – Happy Birthday – Gary Burton!!

On this date in 1943, the great vibraphonist and one of my favorites Gary Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana. Whenever I have “One of those days” it’s usually the vibes of Burton that bring me back to a happier and more relaxed place. Some background and information on Burton from Wikipedia: Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[2] He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, Indiana (56–60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his…

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A Morning with Hammond Heroes leads the Safari to “Bag of Jewels” from Lou Donaldson!

So this morning started with a cold walk to my office. I left the car at the office yesterday and walked home during the snowstorm!  While that may have been a good idea yesterday, it didn’t seem that good this morning, when I faced a ten minute walk to work with single digit wind chill temperatures. But like I always say when I struggle through a run  “At least the music was good!” The music came from an album released back in November titled Hammond Heroes. The album somehow got accidentally downloaded on to the iPhone a while ago and…

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The Safari finds Blues from Tinsley Ellis’ Midnight Blue on a Snowy Day is a good thing!!

So today was a blues day. A blues day inside and a white snowy day outside, as we here in the northeast were hit with another snowstorm! s]Since it was a blues day, the latest release from Tinsley Ellis Midnight Blue was the album of the day. After listening and thinking about Tinsley I was trying to fix when I first discovered his music. I have his 1992 release Trouble Time and his 1994 release Storm Warning both on cassette, and I may have bought them at Tunes in the late 1990s. Not that it really matters, the important thing…

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The Safari explores Doug Webb’s West Coast Jazz at Another Scene!

  Saxophonist Doug Webb was born in Chicago and raised from the age of three in California. He is a well-known West Coast jazz musician. Webb has appeared on over 500 recordings for a myriad of artists including:Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Sal Marquez, Stanley Clarke, Brian Bromberg, Quincy Jones, Mat Marucci, Bobby Caldwell, Kyle Eastwood, Rod Stewart, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, Queen Latifah, Cher and Vikki Carr.He played for fifteen years with the Doc Severinsen Tonight Show Big Band.. with whom he still tours. He also played with the house band for the Dennis Miller TV show, and the Jimmy Cleveland orchestra   Webb…

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Life’s Soundtracks – And She Said Gold from Sweden’s Enbound leads me to a good run!

Well if you told me when I was in the fist half-mile of my run tonight that I would end up running faster and farther than I did on Tuesday night I ay you are nuts!! Obviously I did not feel real spry at the beginning of the run! Part of the reason for that it was a lot colder than i thought it was and I always have trouble breathing when the air is cold. But I had put on an album by what I thought was a progressive rock band Enbound and their 2011 release And She Said…

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Lunchtime Music from Two Blues Favorites – Vincent Hayes and Tinsley Ellis

  So let’s make this a Blues Thursday, we’re almost to the weekend, even though that means that I have to work Friday and Saturday nights, I do have off on Sunday for the NFL Conference finals!!  I don’t have much time to write now so I’ll just give you a taste of what I’m going to listen to this afternoon! First up will be the new release from Vincent Hayes The Grind. Hayes is an award-winning blues man from Michigan. I really liked his earlier release the Reclamation. So I’m looking forward to The Grind. Here’s Vincent performing an…

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The Safari Explores the Chromatic Harmonica of Enrico Granafei (He lives in New Jersey!)

 So this evening I was reviewing the JazzWeek Chart for this week, and I saw a name that looked interesting at No 20, Enrico Granafei  His current release Alone (and) Together rose from No 46 last week to that No 2o spot. So I found the album at Spotify, and put it on while I was doing some other stuff on the computer. As I was listening, I was struck by how much the music sounded like the French Gypsy music of Django Reinhardt.What I couldn’t decide was whether or not the instrument Enrico was playing was a harmonica or not. It sure…

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Archives:The Music Safari explores the Tunisian Prog Rock of Myrath!

Originally posted at Me, Myself,Music and Mysteries -May 2013 In Tunisia, Myrath (means Legacy or Legend), in the progressive rock world it means great prog-rock with a Tunisian flavor! Myrath was founded in 2001, by a then 13-year-old guitarist Malek Ben Arbia. The band changed musicians over the next several years and played mostly cover songs and gravitated towards progressive rock. In 2005 MYRATH released their first self-produced album  Double Face. In 2005 Malek Ben Arbia the band’s founder and guitarist traveled to Nancy – France and enrolled in the famous Guitar school, Music Academy International (M.A.I.) After graduating, Ben…

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