TagsTagsKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette making a joyful noise, in a tune called “Prism” from a 1985 concert in Tokyo’s Koseiniki Hall. [Video]
Music, Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, Jazz, Video
Here’s a track from Steve Vai’s live concert DVD Where the Wild Things Are, titled “Now We Run,” featuring Steve trading licks with two excellent violinists. [Video]
Insanely great mandolin shredding by Chris Thile and Mike Marshall, playing “Fisher’s Hornpipe” from the album Into the Cauldron. (And here’s the iTunes Store link.) [Video]
A live version from Japan in 1995 of “Here To Stay,” from the Pat Matheny Group’s 1994 masterpiece, We Live Here. (The iTunes Store has this essential jazz album too.) [Video]
This performance of “Tall Fiddler” by Tommy Emmanuel is completely ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean mind-boggling. The fastest wrist in the west. [Video]
A barn-burner performance of “Philosophy” from the first eponymous Ben Folds Five album. This song helped me through some hard times, and it packs a powerful message. [Video] Won’t you look up at the skyline At the mortar, block, and glass And check out the reflections in my eyes See they always used to ...
Don Ross got a haircut, but it doesn’t seem to have affected his stellar finger-picking skills. This tune is “Klimbim,” from the album Passion Session. (The iTunes Store has it too.) [Video] An Amazon widget with samples from the rest of the album: [Video]
The tune is called “PercusienFa,” an excellent showpiece for Canadian guitarist Erik Mongrain’s unique percussive style. It’s from Erik’s album Fates. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video] An Amazon widget with more clips from this excellent album: [Video]
Acoustic/classical/jazz guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner in a beautiful performance of “Tale of Saverio,” from one of his best solo albums, Ana. [Video] Here’s an Amazon widget to hear more music from this excellent ECM recording. [Video]
Here’s another excellent track from the jazz-rock group Reign of Kindo, titled “October’s Storm.” [Video]
Music, Reign of Kindo, Jazz, Rock, Video
This stunning video shows why Tommy Emmanuel is considered one of the best acoustic guitar finger-pickers in the world. You’ll probably recognize the tune, but you’ve never heard it played like this. [Video] Here’s a little Amazon widget guy that lets you listen to samples of the other tunes on this fine ...
Here’s another great tune from the latest album by Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, Levitate. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video] Most of our years have flown away with nothing much decided Except the board we′re playing on, how it′s to be divided Win more years yet die alone? ...
John Mayer [R] and Robbie McIntosh [L] play the livin’ heck out of Mayer’s “Daughters,” a song from the 2003 album Heavier Things. [Video]
Tommy Gauthier plays a duet with himself on mandolin and 10-string mandola (also known as a cittern), from his album with guitarist Antoine Dufour, Still Strings. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video]
Here’s a great dress rehearsal performance of “Cousin Dupree” from the album Two Against Nature. It features the exemplary Ricky Lawson on drums, and ends with what appears to be a spontaneous interview with Fagen, Becker, and hapless background singer. [Video]
There’s a great version of this cynically on-target song on The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video] Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why If the children of Israel were supposed to multiply Then why must any of the children die? So he asked the Lord And the ...
Here’s a very cool tune from a fairly new band called Reign of Kindo — an interesting fusion of rock and jazz. They’ve released two recordings: Rhythm, Chord & Melody and The Reign Of Kindo EP. [Video]
Music, Reign of Kindo, Jazz, Rock, Video
A great performance of one of my favorite Todd Rundgren songs, “Parallel Lines,” recorded on David Sanborn’s short-lived TV show “Night Music” in 1989. Todd sings his heart out here. This version is substantially different than the one on the excellent album Nearly Human, which is out of print but still ...
Here’s a little Christmas Eve virtuosity, as Keith Jarrett redefines the 1936 Isham Jones standard “There Is No Greater Love,” in another amazing track from the sadly out of print DVD Solo Tribute: The 100th Performance in Japan. [Video]
Music, Keith Jarrett, Piano, Solo, Video
Keith Jarrett plays the Thelonious Monk classic “‘Round Midnight,” in an inspired solo performance from the DVD Solo Tribute: The 100th Performance in Japan. [Video]
Rivers Cuomo has an affliction. He can’t stop partying. Imagine his distress. From Raditude. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video]
Here’s a great live performance of “Prairie Dog Town,” by Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, from their latest album Levitate. Like all of Bruce’s recent work, this one goes in unexpected and musically intriguing directions — and the lyrics are a hoot. (Here it is at the iTunes Store.) [Video] Poppin′ ...
Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile’s band Punch Brothers is creating a new form of acoustic music, related to bluegrass but much deeper and more diverse, drawing on influences from classical, folk, jazz, and rock. Here’s a live performance of an excerpt from the four-part suite, “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” from ...
The title track from Swedish guitarist Jimmy Wahlsteen’s album 181st Songs, with a cool video to boot. (Here’s the recording at the iTunes Store.) [Video]
Another fantastic track from John Mayer’s Continuum, in a live version from the DVD Where The Light Is. (I would be remiss if I didn’t also give props to John’s terrific band.) The iTunes Store has both of these excellent recordings, if you’d like to download them right away: Continuum Where The Light Is [Video] ...