Minor Wisdom

For Jazz Fest, must work on bilocation

A few days ago, the New Orleans Jazz Fest schedule came out. I will have a WWOZ Brass Pass, so if all goes well, I’ll be at the Fairgrounds for all seven days. The lineup looks great. And as usual, it presents some tough choices. For instance:

Sunday morning music

How far it is from gospel to the blues? About one song. Here is Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Crazy on them

Back in the 1970s, back in my college, seminary-school days, we were crazy on these two gals. Watching this today, I’m still crazy—and envious of Nancy’s fiddle.

Lineup for Jazz Fest 2011

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has announced its day-by-day musical lineup for this year’s fest. We won’t have specific acts at specific stages at specific times yet, so we can’t do too much planning now. Depending on various variables, here are some folks I may try to see (and a handful I won’t):

• Friday, April 29: Robert Plant, Jeff Beck, Keb’ Mo’, Tab Benoit, George Porter Jr., John Mooney, Los Hombres Calientes, Joe Krown Trio, Willie Tee, Shades of Praise, Morning Star Mass Choir, Voices of Peter Claver.
• Saturday, April 30: Robert Cray, Jeremy Davenport, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Terrance Simien, Sunpie Barnes & the Louisiana Sunspots, Shannon McNally, Wayne Toups, J. Monque’D. No, thank you: Bon Jovi.
• Sunday, May 1: John Mellencamp, Dr. John, Arlo Guthrie, Zachary Richard, Anders Osborne, Tommy Sancton, Jeremy Lyons. No, thank you: Kenny G. I don’t know; I may have to check this out: Tom Jones.
• Thursday, May 5: Lucinda Williams, Amanda Shaw, James Booker piano tribute, Little Freddie King, Spencer Bohren. No, thank you: Cyndi Lauper.
• Friday, May 6: Willie Nelson, Gregg Allman Blues Band, Kermit Ruffins, Edie Brickell, Eric Lindell, Bonerama.
• Saturday, May 7: Jimmy Buffett, Trombone Shorty, Allen Toussaint, Bobby Blue Bland, Marcia Ball, Aaron Neville’s Gospel Experience, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, BeauSoleil, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, Dr. Michael White, D.L. Menard.
• Sunday, May 8: Neville Brothers, Robert Randolph, Radiators’ farewell, Sonny Landreth, Henry Butler, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bobby Lounge. No, thanks: Kid Rock.

“Heartbreak Hotel” like you’ve never heard it before

I just got Dax Riggs’s latest album, Say Goodnight to the World. It contains many original songs and one cover—Heartbreak Hotel—that blew me away. If you’re not afraid of the dark, give it a listen.

Dax Riggs - Heartbreak Hotel found on Rock

R.I.P. Solomon Burke

If Lennon & McCartney had written “Stairway to Heaven” in, say, 1963 ...

... it might have sounded like this.

Carcassi Etude No. 7

Here’s a piece I’ve been working on for months, and will probably work on for years: Matteo Carcassi’s Etude No. 7. I’m slow reading sheet music, so my guitar tutor, Vincent Marini, worked up a tablature, which I transcribed. Right now, I sort of stumble through it. If I play slowly enough, I can hit all the notes, but my phrasing is awful. Maybe in a few years, when I can play something listenable, I’ll make a video. Meanwhile, here’s Andrew Schiller’s version.

My first public guitar solo

It wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked, but it wasn’t a disaster. At church this evening, I made it through my first public solo on guitar—one verse of Sanctuary, by John Thompson and Randy Scruggs. With nervousness taking over my hands, I hit one or two wrong notes, but no one seemed to notice.

For anyone who’s interested, here’s my tablature. Nothing fancy—just playing the melody off the chords. Mostly I played two notes at a time: the melody note and whichever note in the chord was closest to the melody note.

Junior Kimbrough encore

As I said yesterday, Junior Kimbrough inspired Buddy Guy. Case in point: Here’s Buddy’s version of “Done Got Old”:

Now here’s Junior’s original version: