The Safari listens to Crossover Prog from Norway’s Fatal Fusion – The Ancient Tale

Today I was reviewing the Top Albums of 2013 at the ProgArchives  at number 16 was a band that I had listened to earlier this year, Fatal Fusion. Their 2013 release is The Ancient Tale and was the soundtrack for several periods of time today. Earlier in the year I had listened to their 2010 release Land of the Sun. I liked both of the albums. Fatal Fusion is a Norwegian crossover prog rock band strongly influenced by bands like  King Crimson, Camel, Pink Floyd, ELP, Yes, Genesis, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple from the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s and…

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The Safari explores Estonian Music and finds Metsatöll!!

So today so far has been a strange musical day. It started when I was thinking about Estonia! Ok so why was I thinking about Estonia? The  reason was that yesterday was the birthday of Ingrid Hagel who according to All About Jazz is an: Estonian violinist and singer, currently living in Copenhagen/Denmark. An instrumentalist, as well a vocalist, Ingrid Hagel expresses her musical ideas through her original compositions. Her themes and melodic violin solos are full of vigorous energy and are talking the language of the heart and her life in different cultures. …..Ingrid is currently searching for a…

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The Music Safari meets the Dutch Crossover Prog band Tumbletown!

Over the last week or so I’ve listened to the debut album from a band named Tumbletown Done with Coldness  and enjoying it more with each listen. Of course this leads to the ubiquitous question: Who are these guys and where in the world  do they hail from?  The answer to  the who is Han Uil and Aldo Adema, two skilled producers, guitarists and composers and the where is the Netherlands. Uil and Adema both were members of the band Egdon Heath and its continuation Seven Day Hunt. Uil also played with the band Antares and has released some solo works. Seven Day…

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This Day in Music – Jan 1, 1923 – The Great Milt Jackson was born!!

Today among all out celebrations of the start of a New Year we also celebrate the birthday of one of my favorites jazz artists vibraphonist Milt Jackson.  (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) From All About Jazz…..we read that Milt Jackson was….. born Jan. 1, 1923, in Detroit, Jackson’s musical beginnings were in the neighborhood gospel churches as a pianist, guitarist, violinist percussionist and singer. He took up the vibraphone in high school. He moved to New York, played with Earl Hines and in 1945, joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band rhythm section, which also included pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray…

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The Safari explores the “Hydrosphere” courtesy of Divine Matrix

So this afternoon,  I received an email from Echoes, that included the top 25 albums for the month of December 2013.  The album at number 9 was Hydrosphere by Divine Matrix. Since I deal all the time with things related to the hydrosphere, i.e. wetlands, storm water regulations, I thought it was a good album for me. Not that the album really had anything to do with those things the theme of the album is obviously water! The album was the second electronic ambient album that I listened to today. The first album was Jeff Greinke’s album Cities in Fog 1…

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Archives: Prog Rock from Glasgow – Comedy of Errors – Fanfare & Fantasy!

Comedy of Errors - Fanfare-and-Fantasy

Comedy of Errors – Neo Prog – United Kingdom   So I had to go today for a follow-up visit for my new hearing aids. While the trip is longer than the trip to the old place,I got a hearing aid from, the trip does give me time to listen to some music! The trip there was Prog Rock from Glasgow, UK and the way back was nuevo flamenco First the prog rock from Comedy of Errors and their 2013 release Fanfare & Fantasy. Evidently the band formed in 194 had various line-up changes and released a few albums then…

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The Safari encounters the Icelandic New Age Music of Olafur Arnalds!

So the soundtrack for this mornings activities which included a trip to Target was one of Echoes 25 Essential Albums for 2013 Olafur Arnalds For Now I Am Winter. The Echoes blog writes this about the album.  Both sophisticated and edgy, Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds inhabits his own sonic universe, balancing emotions and mood on a laser’s edge of strings echoing out of frozen skies and electronics trawling the substrata. Read More Now once again, the leader of this Safari does not know anything about this artist. So needing some background I visited his website and found lots of music…

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The Safari Explores the Music of Woody Shaw (Dec 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989)

  Christmas Eve was the birthday of one of the best, least famous trumpet players, Woody Shaw.  Shaw was born  December 24, 1944 in Laurinburg, North Carolina. and raised in Newark, New Jersey from the age of one year old.  His parents  were Rosalie Pegues and Woody Shaw, Sr. His father was a member of the African American gospel group known as the ‘Diamond Jubilee Singers’ and both his parents attended the same secondary private school as Dizzy Gillespie: Laurinburg Institute. Shaw’s mother was from the same town as Gillespie: Cheraw, South Carolina.   NPR says that Shaw was :  “the last great trumpet innovator” Miles…

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The Safari finds Breather by Shlomi Cohen – a breathe of fresh world fusion!!

Yesterday, as I was reviewing the Jazz birthdays, I noticed one of the showcased albums on the sidebar. The album was Breather and the artist was Shlomi Cohen.Since the name sounded, and the album looked, interesting I thought I’d give it a listen. What I found was a very, very talented new musician.  Who has been nominated for a Grammy as part of the nominated album “Frutero Moderno” by Gonzalo Grau & La Clave Secreta. He is also collaborates with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda, bringing his incredible and unique form of music to the world. Shlomi is also a member of the…

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Archives:Lunchtime Prog Rock from The Netherlands’ Sun Caged

So the other day, when I was coming home from dropping my wife in Trenton so that she could look for dead people, I listened to some prog rock. The band that I listened to was Sun Caged and their 2007 release Artemisia. I found them in the “Just for You” section at MOG. The blurb at the bottom said “because you listened to Suspyre and Roswell Six”. Since I like both of those bands, I figured I would like them. I figured right, some really good stuff!! According to the Prog Archives Sun Caged is: an impressive Dutch progrock…

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