Cracked mirror.
I'm a physical product kind of guy. Yet when Amazon offers a deal like the Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Jelly Roll Morton on MP3 for $19.98, my trigger finger gets itchy. I own much but not all of the hundreds of selections; this piece is from Volume 1. It's not a conventional recording- the hours of material include lots of interviews and outtakes. That's what makes it so compelling. "Pretty Baby," documented by Alan Lomax in 1938, is a representative snippet. Even if Morton didn't "invent jazz" as he claimed, this piece demonstrates his unique melding of ragtime, blues, minstrelsy and European classical music with a distinctly American sense of lust and braggadocio.
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At least for today, American Idol finalist David Cook is bigger than either George Brett or Charlie Parker in the Kansas City area. I like the dude, but the mania surrounding him is a bit unsettling.
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I'm so relieved that there are only two more Tuesdays in which I'll be obligated to tell unbelieving shoppers that Tha Carter III isn't out yet.
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I fell hard for "Sequestered In Memphis" when I heard the Hold Steady perform it live in 2007. Alas, I'm not sold on the production of the official recording.
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A buddy posted this Muxtape of an American Legion band competition. Call it "contrarian cool."
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Kansas City Click: Dan Sanchez brings his Louisiana blues band to Blayney's tonight.
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