When you think of Three Dog Night, you most likely think of their smash hits “One,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” and “Black and White”. They also had 21 more Billboard top 40 hits, and yet they didn’t write any of them.

Originally a vocal trio, singers Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells went by the name Redwood, and recorded demos with Brian Wilson. When Wilson passed on them in 1967, they added the talented session musicians Michael Allsup (guitar), Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), and Floyd Sneed (drums) and the rest is history.
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“I Can Hear You Calling” is the lead track from their fifth album Naturally. Released 53 years ago this week, it’s a funky number that showcases the diverse talents this band and three vocalists had.

Derrick Harriott is an often-overlooked Jamaican singer-songwriter and music producer. After a stint performing with the Jiving Juniors and a successful solo career, Harriott moved into the studio producing Dennis Brown, The Chosen Few, and The Ethiopians, among many others.
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In 1968 he started working with The Kingstonians, a vocal trio from Kingston, and together with the help of his backing studio group The Crystalites, they recorded a string of singles that became their only full-length album, the 1970 masterpiece Sufferer.
“Sufferer” is the title track from the album and was written by Harriott. It’s a sinfully funky number and a true Reggae classic.  

It’s been said that in order to master something you’ll need to spend at least 10,000 hours practicing. So, I think it’d be safe to say that over a 65-year career, one would be considered a master of masters. Such is the case for drummer Charlie Persip. From 1945 until 2010 he was a session and touring drummer for the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, Dinah Washington, Sonny Rollins and nearly anyone else you can think of. After he retired, he devoted his time to educating and sharing his many years with the instrument.
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 “Tubby” is from a session he did with Gene Ammons, Sonny Still, and Jack McDuff. It was released in 1962 on Prestige Records, and is a funky soul-jazz number that has some tasty solos. It also showcases his mastery of the instrument, and is just a warm celebration of these four giants of jazz music. ​

After Bad Brains moved from Washington DC to New York City in 1981, an interesting music scene grew around them. Bands like the Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, and Murphy's Law took punk rock to the next level. This hardcore subgenre of punk rock spread to nearby Danbury and New Haven Connecticut, where Revelation Records was formed.
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In 1987, Revelation released New York City Hardcore: Together, and a year later New York City Hardcore- The Way It Is. Both of these compilations showcased the NYC Hardcore punk rock scene and influenced generations of musicians. My favorite track was Breakdown’s “Sick People.” It’s a thick and heavy number, and still stands out today.  

If you ever look at a map of the United States, you’ll notice that Nashville is equidistant between Chicago and New Orleans. Since the 1950’s it’s been the center of the country music industry. It’s also been a sanctuary for session musicians who migrated there from both those cities, and everywhere in between, dragging with them various musical influences.

One of those unsung musicians was drummer Aaron Kenny Buttrey. Born in Nashville and raised on the road from the age of 14 with Chet Atkins, Buttrey also performed with everyone from Elvis Presley, to Bob Dylan and Joe Simon, to Neil Young, Peggy Scott-Adams, and Donovan.

In 1969 he helped form Area Code 615, a group aptly named after Nashville’s area code. They were a progressive country rock supergroup of sorts, made up of some of those session players like Wayne Moss, Mac Gayden, Charlie McCoy and David Briggs.
“Southern Comfort” is the first single from their debut self-titled album released in 1969 on Polydor. It’s not their most popular single, that would be “Stone Fox Chase” released a year later, but this song truly showcases the various musical genres that made their way through Nashville.
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We lost Kenny Buttrey this week in 2004. He was a true legend among musicians and his slick and funky style will forever be mimicked and enjoyed by future generations.  

It’s hard to dance without music, and throughout human history the two art forms have become synonymous with each other. If it was “The Stroll” in the 1950’s, or the “Macarena” in the 90’s, communities creating dances around songs or musicians creating songs around dances, this aspect of music history is fascinating.

One such song that stormed the R&B charts in 1964 was “Twine Time” by Alvin Cash & The Crawlers. It was a response to a dance that sprang up in the south side of Chicago.
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The Crawlers struggled to find that same success and eventually disbanded, but Cash would go on to have a modest solo career, scoring an R&B hit with “Keep on Dancing” in 1968.   ​

I stumbled on this song last year and I’m still confused as to why it hasn’t received more attention.

Maia Friedman is a standout vocal talent, and “A Sleep in the Garden” is a pleasant nod to the 80’s, and a breath of fresh air among the contemporary pop dribble that’s forced down our ears these days. Her other songs from her debut album Under The New Light are also worth giving a listen.
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Don’t sleep on Ms. Friedman, she’s a talented singer-songwriter and I expect to hear great things from her in the future. 

​We lost legendary announcer Rick Jeanneret this past Thursday. He was and will always be synonymous with the Buffalo Sabres, and moreover the NHL for his legendary calls and devotion to his team and the greater hockey community.  
RIP RJ

In 1977 an independent film about a farmboy and his princess sister hijacked the box office while completely revolutionizing the way films were produced, consumed, and marketed.

One month later, Sorcerer was released. No, it’s not a movie about kingdoms or magic, but a thriller set in Central America. It also fell woefully short of its projected profits and critical expectations, while costing twice as much to produce.

William Friedkin was the director of that film. He was also a part of the “American New Wave” of filmmaking, which did away with the studio system; focusing more on realism, on location filmmaking, and improvising actors. He won an Oscar for The French Connection, and has garnered critical acclaim for his work on The Exorcist, Cruising, and To Live and Die in L.A.
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We lost William Friedkin last week at the age of 87. He was a brilliant director that refused to compromise, shortchange or sabotage the stories he told. His work also spanned various genres and although Sorcerer was originally both a commercial and critical failure, it has since been lauded as an overlooked masterpiece. Friedkin even considered it one of his favorite works. I tend to agree.