New year, new tunes. I thought I’d open with that time Miles Davis opened for the Grateful Dead. Here’s the first track.
The whole set can be found here.
If you are interested, you can stream the Grateful Dead’s set from that same night on Open Culture.
And for those of you wondering how I and Neon Vincent are circumventing Sucuri to embed videos, here is an example of the embed code we use, so that you can replicate as wanted:
Just remember that each unique 11-digit video code in YouTube needs to be pasted in two separate locations within the embed code in order for your video to show up properly. So easy that I can do it!
Now that we’re back in business, let’s tear the roof off!
I know just the drink theme for The Grateful Dead. Take it away Tipsy Bartender!
The bartender is taking orders.
The Grateful Dead jammed with Ornette Coleman.
When I think of Miles Davis, I also think of Herbie Hancock, who was his keyboardist. Here is Hancock playing “Chameleon” Live at Java Jazz Festival 2012.
Herbie Hancock had one hell of an influence on Miles during the classic quintet era in the mid-1960s. What was fun about the recordings from that era was how many tunes were composed by Hancock, Tony Williams and crew. His solo work pre- and post-Miles often was worthwhile in its own right (we’ll try to forget about Hancock’s attempt at disco, which was, shall we say, regrettable).
Just thought I’d mention this since it does affect embedding videos. At least on the ancient laptop I use, Google Chrome will not let me embed videos even with the workaround that Frank Schnittger was instrumental in helping me discover. I’ve been using Mozilla Firefox for video embeds as a consequence. No worries. I like Firefox well enough for most purposes. Note that I am still using an earlier version of Firefox. I haven’t tried embeds with the latest version of that browser. Anyway, just a heads up in case anyone is wanting to participate but runs into problems. Play around with different browsers until you find one that will work. That’s probably all the tech advice I can muster, as I am lucky I can turn on a computer!
In the meantime, music is a wonderful sanctuary.
Speaking of which, the title to this track is perfect. It’s got a bit of that mid-to-late 1970s Quiet Storm vibe that some turntablists digging on back in the late 1990s as they were off creating something new and radical for the time. There was even a name for this type of music from the 1970s – kozmigroov. I ended up exploring quite a few kozmigroov recordings alongside quite a lot of DJ Krush, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Howie B, as well as some other dangers like Freight Elevator Quartet. Good times.
Tried this with latest version of Firefox. Success!
Since all the musicians in top-level comments are connected to The Grateful Dead, it behooves me to remind the readers of this diary that a documentary about the band has been nominated for a Grammy as Best Music Film and is on the shortlist for an Oscar nomination for Best Feature Length Documentary. Here is ‘Long Strange Trip’ Official Trailer (2017) | Grateful Dead Documentary.
Yes, there is a theatrical release date of May 26, 2017. There is another one in the trailer itself, June 2, 2017, when it started streaming on Amazon. That’s important because it came after the cutoff for the 2017 Emmy Awards. That means the documentary will be eligible for the Creative Arts Emmys this year. It could possibly pull off an EGO (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar).
That is cool! There was a DJ on KPFK about three decades ago who used to play live bootleg recordings of Grateful Dead concerts. Depending on how much of an insomniac I was, I’d listen in. Their live performances were well worth savoring as they seemed to blend together so many diverse threads of American pop and folk musics. And when they jammed, they were right up there with the jazzers. I can understand why I’d see Deadheads at Medeski, Martin & Wood gigs by the late 1990s – that jam band filled part of the void left behind.
I really hope Booman periodically looks at this series of diaries and is doing so this week. Granted, he knows the Grateful Dead’s work far better than many of us here, and perhaps there are no new revelations to be found for him, but I do like to throw in a shout to him every once in a while. And heck, will have to now see how this documentary fares.