Photo of Corn-Bred at NAMA

This photo from Indian Country Today, by Shannon Burns, was taken at last year's Native American Music Awards (NAMA). Corn-Bred's Hondo Mesa Records release won "Best Blues Recording of the Year." The boys are looking good. They didn't have a new release for this year's NAMA, however they are heading back into the studio. Expect to see them at next year's NAMA.

3rd & Main's "K 'n' D" on ReverbNation

Hello cool noir jazz fans,
Hondo Mesa Records just put up 3rd & Main's cool recording of their original, "K 'n' D" on ReverbNation. You can listen to the entire tune. And speaking of tune, stay tuned for some exciting news about a special summer (free) 3rd & Main gig in Syracuse, NY. Syracuse is the boys' home town and they are excited to be playing a free summer concert for all their fans. For now... enjoy a listen to K 'n' D:

Star Spangled Banner -- Larry Hoyt

Larry certainly has a distinctive sound. Here is his version of the Star Spangled Banner:



Nicely done Larry.

This Old Heart of Mine

Hey guys,
Remember this... Rod Steward and Ronald Isley. A favorite of mine:

R.I.P. BUDDY MILES

Another great one is gone. Buddy Miles played with Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and others. Late in life he got his second wind and was coming up again. God Bless you Buddy. Here is a video of Buddy Miles and his pal Carlos Santana playing "Them Changes" live.

Jazz Trio Live From Japan

I'm sitting in the Hondo Mesa Records studio (East) in Syracuse, NY. It is 10:00am on Sunday morning. I am logged into Second Life and listening to the Ashiya Jun Trio, live from Japan. The time in Japan is 11:00pm. The trio is made-up of all Japanese musicians -- Ashiya Jun on Acoustic Piano, Hatsune Nishi on Electric Bass (she kicks ass), maxmax Miles on Drums. Fantastic. The photo is a shot of their avatars. As they stream the live sound, the avatars are on on stage playing.

Ulf Oesterle featured in Jerk Magazine

My friend and fellow indie record label owner, Ulf Oesterle, is featured in a Jerk Magazine story this month. The story, "For the Record," written by Liam McCabe and photographed by Katie Dalrymple, Maren Guse and Nick Ruggiero describes how Aux Records was formed. A big part of the story is devoted to how Aux Records and the SAMMY award-winning band Merit hooked up. It's a good read.

Oscar Peterson singing?

Hey guys,
I'm in New York City right now. I've been here for about a week and I'm heading back to Syracuse on tomorrow on the 10:45 train. My last post, promised a story about the late great Oscar Peterson's singing at the CCC Jazz Festival.

Until recently, I didn't know Oscar sang. A couple of nights ago, in a jazz club around 92nd and Broadway, my friend Larry told me that Oscar did sing, recorded himself singing, and that he (Larry) had a very rare copy of that recording.

This kind of takes the interest out of my promised story. I didn't think Oscar could sing. When I saw Oscar at the old State Theatre in Cleveland (during the CCC Jazz Festival sometime during tne decade of teh 1980s), he only played piano. He didn't sing. Larry told me that Oscar had a wonderful singing voice, but he sounded too much like Nat King Cole. In fact, he sounded identical to Nat King Cole, so he stopped singing (on records, anyway).

Here is my story of the great CCC Jazz Festival and Oscar Peterson. Oscar comes on stage (after the drummer and bass player had been playing for a little bit). He starts playing. It sounds great. He grabs the mic, that was laying on his grand piano and announces the next song. While he is playing, I hear this "eek eek eek" sound. This sound continues through the entire song. When the song ends, the eek eek eek ends. Oscar introduces another song and starts playing. That "eek, eek eek, is back. I start looking aroud to see who is rocking in their squeeky chair making that sounds. I find no indication of this.

As it turns out, Oscar is kinding half humming, somewhat singing, basically vocalizing with his playing. It is totally off tune and basically sounds like, "eek, eek, eek, eek," and so on. He never turned off his mic after introducing a new song and the mic was picking up on his vocals.

After about three songs, the "eek" faded into the background and I never really heard it again. Oscar put on a wonderful concert. CCC Jazz Fest was a big hit and I miss Cleveland.
Best regards,
Dennis

Oscar Peterson

So long to another great...Oscar Peterson. I saw Peterson in the mid-1980s. He was the headliner for the CCC Jazz Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Wow. What a show. The concert was held in the old State Theater on Euclid Avenue. I have been telling a story about that night for years. I'll tell it here when I get some time. It has to do with Oscar's singing. Yes, singing. In the mean time, enjoy this clip of Oscar Perterson and Count Basie playing "Slow Blues."

Corn-Bred NAMMY photo

The Native American Music Awards recently posted the official photographs of the 2007 award winners. Check out the NAMA website and click on the "Photo" for the shot of Corn-Bred holding the NAMMY! Corn-Bred won for best blues recording of the year.

Engerman Grooves at Crepe de Paris

No stranger to the Seattle cabaret scene, Engerman presented his first-ever one-man cabaret show, "Engerman Grooves," at Seattle's premiere cabaret venue, the Crepe de Paris, a French restaurant, bar and cabaret in the heart of downtown. He played to enthusiastic audiences over two weekends.


"It was only four performances, but I learned a lot. About half the tunes were from Maquette [his recent Hondo Mesa Records release], and the others were ones I'm considering for the next HMR album. It was terrific to get such strong response. Many of the tunes were from shows I'd written as far back as 1977. Shows like "Ronnie Bwana, Jungle Guide," "The Ballad of Mary Reade," and "The Big Bad Wolf (and How He Got That Way)." Greg Palmer, who wrote the book and lyrics for "The Big Bad Wolf" even revised the lyrics to one of the songs expressly for the cabaret show.


"There were some songs that I did mainly because I thought they'd work well in the cabaret setting, but wasn't sure they'd word on a recording. I was pleasantly surprised to change my mind and now believe they'll record well, too. The production also kicked me in the butt to finish some tunes that were half-baked, and try them out fresh on the audiences."