A Few Zen - Music, Fusion, and Life

John Medeski is THE piano player in the band Medeski, Martin and Wood. He is a relatively young virtuoso on any keyboard type instrument. He usually plays a different organ on each hand for every song he does. His band has mastered funk, jazz, reggae, electronic, and hip hop. Keyboard, bass, drums. No vocals. Mostly. A master of all types of crazy and beautiful sounds. I get to study with him/them in August this year up in NYC. I'm so glad (Cream). Anyways, John recently visited an orphanage in Peru and is now in the process of trying to have a bunch of Melodians donated for the kids! Watch the video here.

And here is John with the band....doing his thang on the 2 keyboards.

Posted by JJ at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beck is stil one of my fav artists. He starts with "Jackass" which is just great live country song. This is a great medley sounding good audio wise.

Posted by JJ at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just watching the movie "Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story" and it was pretty hilarious. As a long time Jack White fan (White Stripes, Raconteurs fame) I was surprised he had a cameo in the movie as Elvis. Crazy Elvis. I'm glad somebody put it up on Youtube so I could post on it. Check out the movie. It was definitely a parody on the Johnny Cash movie "Walk The Line" and maybe a little parody on "Ray" too. Good supporting cast of SNL actors. See the movie if you like Rock n Roll. 4 out of 5 thumbs.

Posted by JJ at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Louis is a great new Rock band. They embody everything about the Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll attitude of the 70's. They are today's Stones or T Rex or Bowie or Beatles. Very talented and grooving. They are coming to Chicago at the Metro on 3/22. I highly recommend them because their new album "Slick Dogs and Ponies" is the sh*t. Check out the video for "Guilt by Association" below for that one. See you at the show.

From their first album. "God Killed The Queen".

From their new album. Acoustic performance of "Air Traffic Control".

Posted by JJ at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My bud Rhonda hipped me to the movie "Once" early last year. It only played at the fine arts theaters. I waited for the DVD. I was shocked how much I liked the movie and the music. The movie director asked Glen to write some songs for the movie. Glen ended up playing the main role in this movie about an Irish street musician. He also co-stars with a female musician he already was playing with named Marketa Irglova. They won an Oscar (best song in a movie) this year for the song "Falling Slowly". Glen has a booming passionate voice and great ear for melody. Goose-bump material. He sings and plays guitar. His guitar is actually a quite cool beat up one with a hole in it. Glen also has been playing with his own band The Frames for quite awhile. They are decently big in Ireland (where he is from). He is currently on tour with Marketa and the Frames and are calling themselves the Swell Season. Check them all out. I think he might be the next big thing now that people know who he is, kind of. Thank you Rhonda. Should have listened to you sooner and caught them when you did when they were unknown. They just sold out two shows at the Chicago Theater in minutes. FYI.

From the movie Once.

Posted by JJ at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I owed my bud Mark on Twitter a mix comprised of Old School Hip Hop like Digable Planets plus some dance hall Reggae. This is the mix. Hope fully you all have these songs. Otherwise contact me.

01 - Destiny - Zero 7 w. Dan the Automator 6:01
02 - Jah Love - Bad Brains 3:08
03 - Day Tripper / She's A Rainbow - Bad Brains 4:53
04 - Kinky Reggae - Bob Marley & The Wailers 3:46
05 - Junco Partner - The Clash 5:16
06 - All Night (with Steven Marley) - Damian Marley 3:30
07 - Dog It - Digable Planets 4:43
08 - Television, the Drug of the Nation - The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy 6:39
09 - Absentia Absentia - DJ Spooky 4:33
10 - Any Colour You Like - Easy Star All-Stars 3:38
11 - Microphone Fiend - Eric B And Rakim 5:38
12 - Mona Lisa - The Fugees 5:16
13 - Code of the Streets - Gang Starr 3:29
14 - Tippi Toes - Primus - Meters Cover 1:33
15 - Crumblin' Erb - OutKast 5:34

Posted by JJ at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This band Rudder is one of the best bass/horn/keyboard/drum bands of right now. If you listen to any one thing, it loses it's flair. But if you just don't pay attention, and maybe pay a little attention to the bass, you hear a whole world expand. This band is very very tight, but still needs a singer or big lead instrument. Their first album Rudder, is the sh*t off of iTunes.

Posted by JJ at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)