April 4 - Today in music history

April 4 1960
RCA Victor Records announced that it would be release all Pop singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, the first record company to do so. Elvis Presley's single, ‘Stuck on You’ was RCA's first mono / stereo release.

April 4 1967
Jimi Hendrix was the special guest on the first edition of the UK BBC-TV's 'Dee Time', along with Kiki Dee and Cat Stevens.


April 4 1968
Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper and Ted Nugent (really?) met up for an all night blues, folk and rock jam at The New Generation Club, New York, NY after hearing the news of Martin Luther King's assassination. What a night of music that must have been!...

Album Review - The Ken McDonald Quartet

The Ken McDonald Quartet - "Pay what you can"
rating: 4/5


Personnel:
Ken McDonald - upright bass and Fender 5 string
Paul Metcalfe - tenor and soprano saxes
Demetri Petsalakis - guitar
Lowell Whitty - drums, percussion

"Detroit" is a stand out track that kicks off the aptly titled second full length album from Toronto based bassist and composer Ken McDonald. That first track is one of the standouts of this exciting new album. Every time I listen to it, the catchy, swinging melody stays in my head for days. The soulful swing (of this entire disc!) takes my mind to a smoky little club somewhere in the big city, in the heart of the sixties.... these cats have clearly done their homework, but also arent afraid to push the stylistic boundaries of their craft.

Sounding classic, and the same time modern, "Pay what you can" is a solid disc, well worth repeated listens.

Each track has amazing harmonically textured bass solos and really shows Ken's agility and intuitiveness as a leader. Unlike a lot of modern jazz albums where the leader is prominently showcased on each track, Ken gives his crew plenty of room to breath. As opposed to sounding like a backing track for the leader, the group comes across as cohesive and competent, sounding like an actual band that has four minds operating simultaneously, as opposed to just one.


For more information on the artist and the album:

http://www.myspace.com/kenmcdonaldjazz

http://ken.halfbeatmishap.com/News.html