Kathleen Loves Music

Joan Osborne > How Sweet It Is

Joan Osborne never quite registered on my radar. She was a wonderful singer who sang a hit I liked (the bluesy video for “One of Us” was great) and she was one of the modern day highlights of The Funk Brothers’ Standing in the Shadows of Motown, but nothing really made her break through for me. In fact, I’ve been meaning to post this CD since I started this blog, but somehow nothing compelled me to complete the thought.

One day a few years ago I was out having a business breakfast and in the background there was a song playing that had a familiar feeling, but I knew I didn’t know it at all. I never pay attention to the words but I wanted to know about the track and the lyric “how sweet it is” kept repeating. I knew it wasn’t the Marvin Gaye song, but [Read more…]

Willis Jackson
with Pat Martino
Single Action

Produced by Fred Seibert

1. Evergreen
2. Bolita
3. Makin’ Whoopee
4. You Are My Sunshine
5. Hittin’ The Numbers
6. Single Action
7. Evergreen (outtake)

Willis Jackson: tenor saxophone
Pat Martino: guitar
Carl Wilson: organ
Jimmy Lewis: bass
Yusef Ali: drums
Ralph Dorsey: percussion

Willis Jackson single handedly pulled me away from the avant garde and towards the soulful, bluesy expression of jazz that was popular in the African American neighborhoods of mid-century America. He didn’t mean to, he didn’t want to, it was just that he was so damn good.

Less a producer than actually a recording supervisor (my credit on this album) I arrived at our first session together with virtually no information on what we were recording or who was playing. Willis was tough and a little paranoid so this situation played out during the three or four sessions we did together. I’d never heard any of his music (it wasn’t cool enough within the jazzbo circles I [Read more…]

Friends > Marc Cohen, John Abercrombie, Clint Houston, Jeff Williams

Produced by Marc Cohen & Fred Seibert

[Note: Marc Cohen now performs on piano as Marc Copeland]

Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. 5/8 Tune †
2. Black Vibrations *
3. Nursery Rhyme
4. Loose Tune ††
…:::UPDATE, Feb 08: These MP3s are CD quality, 320kpbs:::…

Marc Cohen: electric alto sax, ††add tenor sax
Jeff Williams: drums
Clint Houston: fretted bass, †acoustic bass
John Abercrombie: 6 string guitar, *12 string guitar, ††no guitar

Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
…..
Friends
Oblivion Records
OD-3 (1973)

Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.

CREDITS, from the original LP cover:

Recorded December 1972, by successful exploitation of Columbia University’s WKCR. To everyone who has ever been there, thanks folks.

Produced by Marc Cohen and Fred Seibert
Engineering: Fred Seibert
Brains behind the engineering: Don Zimmerman
Microphones behind the brains: Marc Seiden
Pal: David Reitman
Graphics: the Oblivionettes co-starring Sue DeLaney
Photography: Trebor Trepla, Fred Seibert, and Robert Alpert (Mark Focus Jr.)
Advice: Don [Read more…]

Johnny Woods
Mississippi Harmonica

Produced by Tom Pomposello and Fred Seibert

Original 45rpm single. Click the titles to play.

1. Long Haired Doney
2. Three O’Clock in the Morning
…..
Oblivion Records
O#2 (1972) [45 rpm single]

Click here to read some of the stories behind this record.

And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
……
Original credits

Johnny Woods: harmonica

Recorded Thursday, April 27, 1972, Olive Branch, Mississippi, by Tom Pomposello

Remastered by Fred Seibert

Graphics by the Oblivionettes featuring Susan DeLaney

Cover photo by Tom Pomposello

This recording was made possible by a special grant from the Dick Pennington Blues Foundation

Addition copies of this disc can be had by sending $1.00 (plus 25 cents for postage and handling) to:

Oblivion Records
P.O. Box X
Roslyn Heights, New York 11577

©(P) 1972
……
Original liner notes

During the spring of 1972, I spent some time in Mississippi visiting with my friend and teacher Fred McDowell. Now Fred had promised to show me around and introduce me to a few of his musical [Read more…]