I took the day off work. Mind you, I'm not one that typically does the "mental health" day, or just decides "I need some time off."  I'm normally paranoid and guilty enough when legitimately sick that I'll bother my coworkers with updates about how the day is going and whether or not I need to plug in and work from home.  I have a complex, so days off aren't my thing. But, I had some things to take care of today and just figured I would try this "relaxing" that everyone speaks so highly of.  Part of trying to enjoy the day involved me hitting the record store.  I kept it very local today and stopped by The Vinyl Closet in North Wales, which is maybe ten minutes from my house. While the store doesn't hold much for those looking for current artists or recent releases, it is a treasure trove for vinyl addicts.  The first time I'd visited, I found a few things to pick up without spending too much loot.  Today, though, I kept on f...

Today would've been the 85th birthday of Miles Davis and there's no shortage of praise to spare for his extensive catalogue and all the wildly inspirational art that's thankfully been left in his stead.  If we can't have him, at least his music can live on. Early in the life of Letters From A Tapehead, I was caught up in a typing frenzy one evening and decided to spend a few hours discussing Davis' Get Up With It , a late period electric/fusion album that I feel gets overlooked.  As far as fusion, Davis' most noted releases are In A Silent Way , Bitches Brew and the controversial On The Corner , which earned Davis somewhat of a smiting at the hands of critics and fans.  But, such is the cost of being ahead of your time, as cliché as that sounds. Here are my thoughts and praise in regard to Get Up With It . "He Loved Him Madly" opens Get Up With It as a meditation of sorts on the life and death of Duke Ellington , who'd passed on before th...

It could be said that the 70s were a schizophrenic decade set on either purifying rock n’ roll ( Sabbath , Zeppelin ), putrefying rock n’ roll ( Styx , Bee Gees ), complicating rock n’ roll ( Rush , Yes ), glossing rock n’ roll ( Bowie , T-Rex ), or starting from scratch ( Ramones , Sex Pistols ). Inasmuch as the 60s as a whole, ( The Beatles and The Stones especially), can justifiably lay claim to the progression of rock music, even if its foundations were poured in the 50s by Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley , I believe the 70s have had the most profound and timeless effect on what we consider “rock,” especially with art and punk colliding and jazz and rock learning to coexist. In both you have Bitches Brew and Fun House , two diametrically opposed worlds birthed by a shared understanding that their respective genres had reached a peak. It was time to think differently once the 60s were over. Cover art for Rhino's 2005 Fun House reissue The same could be said for ideali...

Miles Davis ’s 71 CD set, The Complete Columbia Album Collection , is out in time for Christmas and exclusively available at Amazon . As I wrote back in September , I believe this set to be overkill, but it’s still impressive and beautifully packaged and guaranteed to be an overwhelming listen. It does, however, demonstrate exactly how amazing Miles Davis was. How many musicians can claim to be so prolific as to boast this many works of pure genius? The man was an extraordinary gift. Whether Columbia/Legacy honor the artist with this release, or see it as an opportunity to capitalize on Davis when other labels are so quick to do the same, these albums will always be something to treasure. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Miles Davis has been very good to Columbia/Legacy. While his body of work, as essential as most of it is, deserves all the attention it receives, (i.e. box set after box set after box set), you can’t get around the fact that Davis has been a reliable moneymaker for the label. He certainly left enough material behind for Columbia/Legacy to produce and reproduce while coming off sensible and respectful about how they treat the material. With Kind Of Blue having recently received the Legacy treatment in honor of its 50th anniversary, Columbia/Legacy are taking advantage of his current posthumous spotlight and going in for the kill: 70 CDs?!?! Initially, I barked “exploitation!” A 70 CD (1 live DVD, but who would have time to watch it?) box set is as unnecessary as it sounds. As Columbia/Legacy have been releasing and rereleasing Davis’s material for decades at this point, a 70 CD box set entitled, The Complete Columbia Album Collection , means the reacquiring of whatever you’ve a...

Jazz trumpeter, Freddie Hubbard , died Monday at the age of 70. Only being somewhat familiar with his work, namely his work with Coltrane in Africa/Brass and Ascension , and on Ornette Coleman 's Free Jazz album, it's probably best to let this video clip speak for him. Here he is in 1982 playing alongside two of my heroes: Drummer, Tony Williams and bassist, Ron Carter . R.I.P. Mr. Hubbard. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Post-holiday fanboy purchases. Don’t you love it when you can buy shit for yourself again? Borders bookstore, King Of Prussia, PA: Miles Davis The Complete On The Corner Sessions 6 CD Boxed Set Columbia/Legacy Released 9.25.07 After realizing that I’d thought of very little else other than The Complete On The Corner Sessions box set once it’d been made known to me that it existed, I had to figure out a way to get one. With Christmas having passed and the availability of “buy yourself something fun” money, I strolled into a local BORDERS during my lunch hour and strolled out with this metallically packaged beauty. It is however just as daunting as I thought it would be to listen to. Six plus hours of Miles Davis jamming out, creating soundscapes the likes of which modern America still hasn’t quite been able to fathom. Even the package seems ahead of its time. Seriously there is some incredible music in this set to explore, but it is an acquired taste. Completely worth the money...

Today, I heard of Joe Zawinul ’s passing. Cancer. Age 75. After having just finished his last tour with his band, The Zawinul Syndicate . He was an Austrian born organist, instrumental in the development of Jazz Fusion. He is probably best known for his founding electric jazz pioneers, Weather Report . The opening bass notes of “Birdland” are permanently etched into my grey matter, the result of my father’s excited devotion to Weather Report’s Heavy Weather , probably Joe Zawinul ’s best known contribution to electric jazz. “Listen to THAT!” he’d say, raising his finger to the ceiling of whatever domicile we were standing in, just so I’d know what to listen for. Prominent in his radar were those distinct fretless bass lines by Jaco Pastorious . Otherwise, he was all about Zawinul, always commenting on how brilliant the guy was. I could appreciate Zawinul, but I’d never really taken to him. That changed though the first time I heard Miles Davis ’s In A Silent Way , an album wh...

To Whom It May Interest, A couple years ago, I was browsing through rows of used CDs at the local record store, trying to ignore the fact that it was hot as hell and there was no air conditioning. Every cracked case held something I couldn’t have cared less about. I don’t remember actually looking for anything specific I think I was just trying to find something cheap that looked half way interesting. I was about ready to leave, when I found a copy of Miles Davis ’ Get Up With It , an album I knew nothing about. It was a Japanese import and about $8. That was enough to warrant purchase. Anyway, I got into my car, unwrapped the first disc and put it on. Within five minutes, I was asking myself out loud, “Where is this going? Do something, will you?” The record’s first track, “He Loved Him Madly,” is 30+ minutes long. The first ten to fifteen minutes consists mostly of eerie organ, sporadically plucked instrumentation and the most random drumming. There is no structure at all, ...