JOVM celebrates what would have been Miles Davis’ 94th birthday.
Tag: throwback
Throwback: RIP Jimmy Cobb
Growing up, jazz was a formative part of my childhood. John Coltrane was God and Miles Davis was Jesus. Hallowed be thy names! Hallelujah and amen, forever and ever!
Copious amounts of ink — both real and virtual — have been spilled writing about Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, the recording sessions that birthed it and the musicians, who recorded it, which included John Coltrane (tenor sax), Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Bill Evans (piano), Wynton Kelly(piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) and of course, Miles Davis (trumpet). Personally, Kind of Blue is a quintessential New York album: if you ever get a chance, play the album while walking down a lengthy stretch of Fifth Avenue on a drizzly Spring afternoon. Trust me, it works.
I was heartbroken to hear that Jimmy Cobb, the last living link to Kind of Blue died yesterday and I wanted to pay a tribute to Cobb and the rest of the legendary musicians, who recorded such a gorgeous and meaningful album. I stumbled across this rare bit of live footage of Miles and the crew performing Kind of Blue album track “So What?” live. Check it out. And if you’re somehow unfamiliar with the album, go to Spotify and spend an afternoon with it.
Throwback: RIP Little Richard
JOVM pays tribute to the late and legendary Little Richard.
Throwback: RIP Bill Withers
I had some loose-held editorial plans for the site over the next 24-36 hours or so but when I saw a friend’s Facebook post on Bill Withers’ death, I scrapped those plans for a little bit. We’ve heard most of Withers’ work so much that it’s part of our collective consciousness — and yet, the songs hold up and resonate 40 some years after their initial release. They’re that timeless. And I suspect that kids 50 years from now, will hear the same things that our folks and we have heard in the material. Long live, Bill Withers!
I came across some live footage of Withers shot in 1972 and 1973. The 1973 footage shot by the BBC may be the most famous of the two, and as a photographer it’s intimate, capturing Withers with some tight close ups, in which he seems to explode into your living room.
Also before, I forget Still Bill is arguably one of the best albums ever written and recorded. Nuff said.
Throwback: Happy Birthday Kurt Cobain!
JOVM shows love to Kurt Cobain on what would have been his 53rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy “It Was a Good Day” Day
JOVM celebrates “It Was a Good Day” Day.
Throwback: Happy 73rd Birthday David Bowie
JOVM pays tribute to David Bowie on what would have been his 73rd birthday.
Throwback: DMX Performs “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on Power 105.1
A JOVM annual tradition: DMX’s rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Throwback: Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis”
An old-school Christmas-time classic.
Throwback: Happy Birthday 74th Birthday, Lemmy!
JOVM celebrates Lemmy Kilmister on what would have been his 74tth birthday.
On September 11, 2005, I had returned home from a day job working as an Editorial Assistant at a small, independent and family-run publisher of bilingual dictionaries, bilingual phrasebooks and international cuisine cookbooks in Midtown Manhattan to my father cooking in the kitchen and playing John Coltrane‘s A Love Supreme. Since then it has become a personal tradition that has also extended to this site. In light of such terrifying events that have reverberated in the lives of so many people here in New York and elsewhere across this planet, it seems appropriate to turn towards something that’s profoundly beautiful.
3,000 New Yorkers died that morning. And for their loved ones, there isn’t such a thing as closure. But somehow they’ve managed to keep on keeping on, moving forward as best as they can. So to that end, cherish life, cherish the small things today and every single day.
Throwback: Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”/Happy First Week of School
School officially started for kids across the New York City metropolitan area this week. And it’s been an annual tradition that I dedicate Van Halen’s classic “Hot For Teacher” to the countless, faithful, loving and dedicated educators out there. I’m hoping that the first week goes to a great start — and that the rest of the school year be amazing for you and your students.
Several years ago Red Bull Music Academy invited the legendary electronic music artist ad producer Giorgio Moroder to speak in front of a small group of music students about music, his creative process and more — and to what was then-billed as his first ever live DJ set at the now-defunct Williamsburg, Brooklyn nightclub Output. Along with his long-time collaborator and musical director Chris Cox, Moroder played a 75-minute set of re-arranged and exclusive remixes of some of his massive hits, as well as a Google-commissioned song (because of course, Google would do that) and his collaboration with Daft Punk.
Moroder’s DJ set manages to be an encompassing and thoughtful primer on his work and imitable sound, as well as about 45 years of disco and electronic music that boldly reminds the listener that the Italian-born, Beverly Hills-based legend would be on the proverbial Mount Rushmore of all things electronic music — and that without his work and his fellow electronic music pioneers, that 3/4s of the things you’ve listened to since about 1976 or so wouldn’t be possible. Personally though, the Red Bull Music Academy set brings back a flood of memories of one of the most formative periods of my entire life: I can picture myself as a small boy watching my mother cleaning and signing along (terribly off-key) to Donna Summer‘s “Bad Girls,” “I Feel Love” “Hot Stuff,’ and “Love to Love You, Baby” as though it were yesterday.
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout the years, you may recall that I’ve posted this DJ set, which in some way makes this sort of a re-post; but this is necessary because the electronic music pioneer celebrates his 79th birthday today and we should be dancing the day and night away in his honor.
Throwback: Happy 72nd Birthday David Bowie!
JOVM pays tribute to David Bowie on what would have been his 72nd birthday.
Throwback: Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis”
A Christmas throwback classic.