Lloyd Brevett

Lloyd Brevett (Aug. 1, 1931 – May 3, 2012)

When I think of Jamacian music, I think of the “riddim”, or as most people would call it the rhythm, in other words, the bass and drums. There have been a number of important rhythm sections in Jamaican music, and  three immediately come to mind: the Barrett Brothers, Sly and Robbie, and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb.
Aston (Family Man) and Carleton  Barrett,  played bass and drums with Bob Marley and the Wailers; Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare played with Peter Tosh and numerous others; and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb played with the Skatalites.
Jamaican music went through many changes. Starting with mento, it evolved into ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, and it continues to evolve. But with Lloyd Brevett, we will be looking at ska.
In the 1963-1964, a bunch of jazz musicians got together. They had been playing together on recordings in various configurations since the 1950s. The music was mostly blues shuffles, and boogie-woogie. As the music began to evolve, it became what we now know as ska. Lloyd Brevett, who had learned bass from his father, provided the bass for many of these early 1950s-1960s recordings. The Skatalites came together in June of 1964, and in a little over a year, they had broken up. In that time period they released a body of music that is still important today. They played on many of the early hits of Jamaican Music, including Bob Marley’s Simmer Down. Although the Skatalites were no more, the musicians formed a variety of other groups and kept on playing, eventually reforming in 1983. Lloyd Brevett played bass with the Skatalites until 2004 when he left the group. He also released a solo album called African Roots with many of the members of the Skatalites. When you listen to the Skatalites, you hear Brevett’s walking basslines, and ostinato figures driving the music.

Let’s hear some samples

Simmer Down

Guns of Navarone

Rockfort rock

Eastern Standard Time

Freedom Sound

Live at the Church House Inn - Concert and Interview Footage

Also check out this interview with Lloyd Brevett.

Donald "Duck" Dunn

So far this year we’ve lost a number of musicians from a variety of genres. Original rock and roller/blues musician - Johnny Otis, the World’s Oldest Teenager - Dick Clark, Disco Star - Donna Sumer, Bee Gee Robin Gibb, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, The Band Drummer Levon Helm, Guitarist Doc Watson and two that most people might not be familiar with but who meant a lot to me bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn,  and Skatalites bassist Lloyd Brevett.

Today we’ll look at Duck Dunn.

Growing up and learning bass, I became familiar with the work of all of the famous names in the rock bass world; Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Jack Casady, Phil Lesh, Tony Levin… and on and on.

As I delved further into the history of the bass, and branched into other areas of music, you start to come across other names, names that aren’t familiar to casual listeners. Names like Carol Kaye, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Bob Glaub, and Duck Dunn. Names that most people won't recognize, but whose bass lines have been heard and have influenced musicians for years.

Even if you don’t know the name, you’ve heard Donald “Duck” Dunn. He played on a number of  Stax/Volt songs. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Blues Brothers”, you’ve seen Duck Dunn. He was the bass player for Booker T. and the MGs, played with Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley… and many more. Duck Dunn, along with Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr. and Booker T. Jones, (Booker T. and the MGs) were more or less the house band for Stax/Volt, and played on a lot of their hits.

 So here's to Donald "Duck" Dunn ...and his Fender Precision strung with flatwounds..

Let’s hear some of his tracks.

Booker T. and the MGs – Green Onions

Booker T. and the MGs – Bootleg

Booker T. and the MGs – Time is Tight

Blues Brothers – Jailhouse Rock

Neil Young with Booker T. and the MGs

Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn – Time is Tight

Levon Helm

A couple of weeks ago,(March 25^th to be specific) my wife and I went to see a concert with another couple. (I’ll get to that later) We were talking about other concerts to see when I mentioned that Levon Helm was coming to Longwood Gardens. I played them some of Levon’s most recent CD, “Electric Dirt”, and it was decided to go, and tickets were purchased.  I was psyched! I’m a big fan of The Band, and I really enjoyed Levon’s two recent albums, “Dirt Farmer” and “Electric Dirt”. I had seen the reformed Band (without Robbie Robertson)a couple of times  back in the 1980s, and had always talked about going to one of Levon’s Rambles at his barn in Woodstock New York, but never got around to it. I thought that here was a chance to see one of my favorite musicians again.

But things don’t always go as planned. On April 16^th, I was reading the Mandolincafe Forum, when I saw a heading that caught my attention, “Rumors about Levon Helm’s health circulating” and my heart dropped. I knew that he had battled throat cancer, but had been able to recover enough to sing again and to put out two really good albums, but nothing lasts, and it seems that Levon is fighting his last battle, one that can have only one conclusion…

Still life for Richard, Rick and Levon

So here’s to Levon,  probably the best singing drummer ever, also not a bad mandolinist, guitarist and harmonica player. Although I never met you, you and the other members of The Band have given me much enjoyment through the years.

 I’m sorry to see you go… Wish I could have seen you one more time...Thanks for all the music.




Levon Helm

The Band

Nice overview on Levon at Huffington Post

Levon Helm
May 26, 1940- April 19, 2012
R.I.P.

The Titanic

100 Years ago, the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg, April 15, 1912. Up until the invention of radio and television, news didn't travel as fast as it does today. Songs used to be written as a way to disseminate information, and a number of songs were written to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic. My favorite song about the titanic is Blind Willie Johnson's "God Moves on the Water".



Blind Willie Johnson "God Moves on the Water"

Blind Willie Johnson recorded it in 1929, 17 years after the sinking, so this wasn't a "news story", since Blind Willie was a gospel singer,  it's meant more as a parable on man's hubris, in that man dared to name the ship after "the Gods", the Titans of Greek mthology. In flaunting their pride in the face of God, God had to put "man" in it's place.Whether you believe it or not, it's still a great song.

In Memory of

In Memory of My sister
Karen J. Auman
1956-2012

Now I'm not a religious person, but Blind Willie Johnson pretty much sums up what I'm feeling in this song.




Blind Willie can be a little hard to understand sometimes, so here are the lyrics.

Lord, I Just Can't Keep From Crying

Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimesLord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
When my heart's full of sorrow and my eyes are filled with tears
Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes

My mother often told me, angels bonded your life away
She said I would accomplish, but trust in God and pray
I'm on the King's Highway, I'm travelin' everyday

'Cause I just can't keep from crying sometimes
Well, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
When my heart's full of sorrow and my eyes are filled with tears
Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes

My mother, she's in glory, thank God I'm on my way
Father, he's gone too, and sister she could not stay
I'm trusting Him everyday, to bear my burdens away

'Cause I just can't keep from crying sometimes
Well, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
When my heart's full of sorrow and my eyes are filled with tears
Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes

I thought when she first left me, I'd pray for a little while
Soon it all would be over, and I'd journey on with a smile
But the thought as I get older, I think of what I told her

And I just can't keep from crying sometimes
Well, I just can't keep from crying sometimes
When my heart's full of sorrow and my eyes are filled with tears
Lord, I just can't keep from crying sometimes

Well, well


So long sis.

Road Trip Pt. 3 - Entertainment

Recording wasn’t the only thing we did during our week in Georgia. Steve is tied in to the music scene in the area, so on one night we went out to see a cover band. Now I’m not a fan of cover bands, the main reason being that they usually play songs that were overplayed (for me) 10 years ago.  That being said, I was a little hesitant to go see the band. Steve kept saying that the band was made up of monster players, and that they were worth seeing so, that made it a little easier.

The band was The Mike Veal Band, and they were most definitely monster players. All of the members had played with either regionally or nationally “famous” bands, including Wet Willie, Boss Tweed, Gregg Allman, Ted Nugent, Derek Trucks, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Sugarland.

That alone was impressive, but the proof as they say is in the pudding, and in this case the “pudding” would be the music, and these guys definitely knew what to put in the pudding. They have this “schtick” where people give them requests, and they try to play the song, whether they’ve played it before or not. The night that I saw them, they tried “The Age of Aquarius” from “Hair”, which they actually pulled off, and “Girl” by the Beatles, which sort of crashed and burned, but was still worth seeing.  

Another sign of good musicianship is who comes out and sees them play, and if the night that I saw them was any indication, then they have fans in high places.  They brought up some people in the audience to play and sing with them. They brought up a keyboard player who turned out to be Wayne Famous from the 1980s Atlanta band, The Producers. Then at one point, the singer Mike brought up a singer, whose name I didn’t catch, to sing a couple of songs. That singer did a good job, but the next singer Mike brought up was a landmark experience in my book. From the stage, the singer, Mike, says something along the lines of “It’s humbling to be only the sixth best singer in the bar,” and then invites up William Bell.

 This, in my opinion, was a brush with greatness. William Bell is a singer-songwriter who has a long history in the music business. He has been described as one of the founders of the Stax-Volt sound, and while at Stax he wrote and recorded “You Don’t Miss Your Water”, and co-wrote (along with Booker T. Jones) “Born Under a Bad Sign”.

As I said, Steve is tied in to the music scene, and knows the guys in The Mike Veal Band. The guitar player, Barry, kept trying to get Steve to come up and play on a couple of songs, and the drummer, Sean, is putting drum tracks on some songs that Steve is recording.  We got to meet these guys, and for a music fan like myself, it was a highlight of the trip.

Road Trip - Pt. 2 More Recording

The whole reason for the trip was to record some of Paul’s songs. Some of the songs we had played together a long time ago and some were new to me. My main instrument is bass and I think I have a pretty good feel for Paul’s music, so that was the easy part. But I also played slide guitar and mandolin for some of the songs, and what I tried to do for those parts was to play something that added musical accents, but didn’t overwhelm the lyrics and vocal parts. I tried playing a fiddle part on one of the songs, but didn’t feel that I would be able to pull it off.

If you’ve never recorded, the procedure goes something like this (or at least this is how we did it this time)… First the bass and guitar were recorded on two separate tracks. We played those together so we had the timing down, and didn’t have to use a click track. Since we were playing together, if one sped up or slowed down, then the other would follow.

Recording bass and guitar tracks

After we had a take that we liked, we would add the “musical accents.” I would either play a slide part or mandolin part while listening to the already recorded tracks in headphones. Once we had a good take of whatever incidentals were to be added, then Paul would put down a vocal. That’s pretty much it for recording. After that there’s mixing and mastering, but we only had time for a rough mix on the tracks. Well, that’s not entirely true, we had a friend of Steve’s come out and do a better mix on five of the songs, but since we didn’t have all of the recording  finished, we couldn’t get them all mixed. It was fascinating to watch Steve’s friend Chase mix down the basic tracks using Logic Pro. Chase had previously done some work at Southern Tracks Studio, so he certainly knew what he was doing, and I was just amazed about how computerized it all is now. I remember doing some recording in the early 1990s and it was all analog with tape and faders, and trim pots. Now everything is digital, and you manipulate the sound by digitally adjusting the wave form (I think, I’m certainly no expert.)

Rough mix of "Could Anissa Have Been Saved" with random pictures from recording