Otis Clay, R.I.P.

The gospel/R&B/soul legend left us on January 8 ...

I rather ironically discovered Otis Clay in the mid-90s when he posted a Rolling Stones cover on one of the first legit MP3-artist sites on the Web:

David Bowie, R.I.P.

Alabama Shakes

I can't get enough of this group (and featured them on my 2015 favorites list).  Here's they are on Austin City Limits:

A Short List for 2015

Here are the most memorable new 2015 albums I heard and kept returning to (in no particular order):

Sleater-Kinney: "No Cities to Love"

Courtney Barnett: "Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit"

Alabama Shakes: "Sound & Color"

Father John Misty: "I Love You Honeybear"

Olafur Arnalds: "The Chopin Project"

Max Richter: "Sleep"

Gina Chavez: "Up.Rooted"

Kamasi Washington: "The Epic"

Others considered for the list:

Leon Bridges   "Coming Home"

Calexico  "Edge of the Sun"

Didn't listen to music as diligently this year as previous; probably for reasons like distractions by my returning obsession with photography; not so much opportunity to compare notes with my dancing, music-loving daughter as she transplanted to Seattle; and computer woes, ranging from a music server drive crash to the obliteration of a major music library by an errant Mac OS update.

By the way, I noted that Olafur Arnalds made my fav list in a previous year, and I also previously cited Courtney Barnett.

Gina Chavez

More here:http://ginachavez.com/

Allen Toussaint, R.I.P.

Yesterday, the legendary New Orleans R&B songwriter/performer passed on.  You may have seen his appearance in the great HBO series, "Treme".  Here is a sample of his stuff.


Bob Lefsetz has also compiled an excellent selection of Toussaint covers on Spotify.

Quiet

Do you ever just want quiet?  Even if you’re a music lover like I am, there is no substitute for quiet when it is wanted or needed.  Apparently, Microsoft has now cornered the market on that commodity with its Quiet Lab: