Voices at Large

David Vienna

Donald "Duck" Dunn

15 MAY 12 DAVID VIENNA

Just days ago, the music world lost an incredible talent. Donald "Duck" Dunn, bassist for the legendary MGs and staple of early Stax recordings, passed away last week. Look for a remembrance from writer Chris Slawecki coming soon. In the meantime, The Atlantic has a retrospective of the man who created the bass lines for some of the most iconic songs in music history.

From The Atlantic piece: Even if you've never heard of Dunn, you've heard a lot of his playing. That's him easing into Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." Those are his monster arpeggios chugging along under Wilson Pickett's "Midnight Hour." It's his syncopation at the bottom of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'." And that's him in The Blues Brothers, too.

Bennett Isn’t It Romantic small
David Vienna

It's Record Store Day!

21 APR 12 DAVID VIENNA

The nation celebrates Record Store Day today. During the annual event, people are encouraged to patronize local and boutique record stores all over the country. To further entice people to support their local record shop, Concord Music Group unveiled a handful of limited edition vinyl releases. These collector's items from artists such as Linda & Paul McCartney, Esperanza Spalding and Little Richard are only available at participating stores.

For the past couple of days, we've told you about vinyl releases from The Dave Brubeck Octet and the supergroup of Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames. If vinyl versions from those artists weren't enough to get you to the store, you can also find the inimitable Esperanza Spalding's latest offering Radio Music Society in a double-vinyl package as well as a 7" vinyl single from Linda & Paul McCartney, "Another Day"/"Oh Woman Oh, Why." And if you really want to bring the house down, pick up the remastered Here's Little Richard from the Architect of Rock 'n' Roll himself. Oh, yeah, and it's on red vinyl.

So, get out there and support your local record shop. And expand your personal library with some awesome collector's items while you're at it.

David Vienna

Record Store Day Specials

26 MAR 12 DAVID VIENNA

The Grateful Web has a great post about all of Concord Music Group's releases for National Record Store Day, April 21, which "celebrates the culture of the more than 700 independently owned records stores in the U.S." From the post (with added links): "Concord Music Group will offer up a diverse array of exclusive Record Store Day releases for artists ranging from Paul McCartney and Little Richard to Dave Brubeck and Esperanza Spalding to Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames (New Multitudes)."

The specific releases mentioned in the post are:

• The Dave Brubeck Octet's Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals on 10" red vinyl, limited edition
• Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames' Let’s Multiply on 10" vinyl, limited edition
• The Little Richard reissue Here’s Little Richard on red vinyl, limited edition
• Paul McCartney's 7" vinyl single “Another Day”/“Oh Woman, Oh Why,” limited edition
• And Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society double-LP

Don't miss out on these killer releases and support your local record shop.

David Vienna

Happy Birthday, Ornette

09 MAR 12 DAVID VIENNA

Happy birthday to Ornette Colman, the talented artist whose career of innovation gave us great sets like Something Else!!! and Tomorrow Is The Question.

The NPR music Tumblr has a nice post about the jazz legend...

Happy birthday, Ornette Coleman! 82 isn’t what media organizations would call a “landmark” year, but we’re happy for every day that we have Coleman’s dizzyingly complicated, yet soulful jazz.

Check out his work, if you can handle it.


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