Bernard “Bunchy” Johnson (1952-2010)

Quite sadly, I pass along news that longtime New Orleans drummer (and part-time actor) Bunchy Johnson died today, according to the Louisiana music website OffBeat.com.

Mr. Johnson will be seen acting in the premiere episode of “Treme” on April 11. (He also appears in Episode 5.)

As a drummer, Bunchy (or “Bunchie”) worked with a Who’s Who of New Orleans legends: Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, James Booker, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Lloyd Price...

Click here to hear a Bunchy Johnson composition – “Pass It On” – from a 2000 album by Wardell Quezergue & His Slammin’ Big Band. It’s a song about the Mardi Gras Indian culture.

And here’s a video of Mr. Johnson backing Jeremy Davenport during last year’s JazzFest:

A free Lightspeed Champion download

Seattle’s KEXP.org provides a nice new FREE MP3 from the eccentric hipster known as Lightspeed Champion.

Click here to hear “Marlene” on my Vox blog. To commence downloading the track right now... hit this link.

Lightspeed Champion’s new CD is called “Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You.”

Saturday morning cartoon

Name this band, win a prize.

Tonight is St. Joseph’s Night, and that’s a big deal in New Orleans... because the Mardi Gras Indian tribes will take to the streets in their elaborate costumes and strut.

So I’m doing a contest, like the ones I used to do. Click here and listen to a mystery track on my Vox blog. The first person to correctly name this band – in the comments section here – will win a prize. (Please, only one guess per person.)

That prize is a beautiful little picture book, “Eyes of Eagles,” by New Orleans photographer Christopher Porché West. It’s all about the Mardi Gras Indians. Here’s one of the photos:

Another sneak peek

A free Geri Allen download

Pianist Geri Allen, one of the great women of modern jazz, has a new album out called “Flying Toward the Sound.”

The title track is available as a FREE MP3.

This project is a solo piano suite Ms. Allen composed as a Guggenheim Fellow.

Click here to hear “Flying Toward the Sound” on my Vox blog. To download it, click below.

“Flying Toward the Sound” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store
Album available at Amazon MP3

Playlist: Irish soul bands

In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, I went searching for some Dublin funk. If you saw “The Commitments,” you know that the Irish dig soul music. Matter fact, the city of Dublin sponsors a soul festival every spring.

Here are some tracks I found from funky Irish bands:

1. “Nutbush City Limits” (live) – Santoria

This group’s influences include Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5 and (of course) Ike & Tina Turner. Santoria’s website is here. Lead singer Linzi Mckeon is hot as balls.

2. “Pass the Brack” – The Candidates

Influences include the Meters, James Brown, P-Funk and Kool & the Gang. The band’s MySpace page is here. I don’t know what “brack” means.

3. “Ghetto Life” – Mob Fandango

Mob Fandango’s website is here. These chaps don’t declare any specific musical influences... but I can tell from this track that Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album is one.

4. “Voodoo (Hoodoo)” – Ali & the DT’s

Here’s one with a bluesier vibe. Influences include Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Otis Redding. The group’s website is here. Ali De Mora and his band are coming to America, with a Baltimore pub gig scheduled for early July.

The New York Times Magazine on ‘Treme’

This weekend, the New York Times Magazine will run a cover story on my old bud David Simon and his new HBO drama series, “Treme.” The article is up online as of today.

I haven’t read it yet, except to see that I’m quoted early in the piece, sounding intelligent. (And that I’m pictured alongside Simon in the photo slide show.)

As a consequence of the sterling reputation of “The Wire,” the media will be all over “Treme” in the coming weeks. Fun fun fun.

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love’

Speaking of Stevie...

... I never knew that “All I Do” – one of the great tunes off of “Hotter Than July” – was originally written for Tammi Terrell, and that she recorded it in 1966. (Yes, Stevie Wonder was a teenager when he co- wrote that song.)

Click here to hear the Tammi Terrell version. It was never released... until 2002, when Universal Music Group put out a compilation in the U.K. called “A Cellarful of Motown!”

Random Japaneseness

A free Balkan Beat Box download

Here’s a new FREE MP3 from Balkan Beat Box, a crew of Brooklyn hip-hop fusionists with roots in Israel.

Click here to hear “War Again” on my Vox blog. To download it, follow this link to Spinner.com.

‘Treme’ trailer

Coming on April 11...

Saturday morning cartoon

A free Mulatu Astatke download

I first blogged about the Ethiopian jazz master Mulatu Astatke a year ago. The vibraphonist has a new album coming out at the end of March. It’s called “Mulatu Steps Ahead.” You can cop a FREE MP3 right now.

Click here to hear “Green Africa” on my Vox blog. To download it, follow this link to RCRD LBL.

Random hipness

UBM’s first annual ‘Nice Try’ Awards

Why? Because I give. I’m a giver. And now, without further adoo-doo...

Third place:


Second place:


First place:

Before/after

Meet Kayotic, a New Orleans rapper. I don’t know this cat or his music. Just stumbled on him on YouTube.

But we filmed part of an episode in this housing project, known as the Calliope (pronounced “Calio”). Master P was raised here. And as kids in the 1940s, the Neville Brothers lived in the Calliope for a while.

A free Garaj Mahal download

The jazz-funk jam band Garaj Mahal (which I blogged about in 2008) just dropped a new album. Want a FREE MP3?

This track was composed by the band’s bass player, Kai Eckhardt, whose fusionist credentials include close work with John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham.

Click here to hear “Witch Doctor” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the title below.

“Witch Doctor” (MP3)
More on this album

Random hotness