Highlights from the First Half of 2024

ICYMI, some favorite posts from the first six months of the year

Aug 19, 2024

Hello to all NDIM subscribers and casual readers. There has been a burst of new subscribers to NDIM, so I thought that I would post this roundup of highlights from the first six months of 2024.

For new subscribers, let me also mention My Life in the Cutout Bins, a series of essays about records I purchased in bargain bins and cutout bins during my vinyl heyday, that has aspirations of being a book in late 2025.

I hope everyone has had a summer to remember, and I thank each and every reader and subscriber to New Directions in Music. On with the show, good health to you!

Don't Fear the Sun Bear

Marshall Bowden

Jan 4

The popularity of this, my first post of the new year, surprised me. It's about how I pick one bulky record or piece of music to listen to exclusively during the month of January and how I approach epic pieces of recorded music in general. This year I chose to listen to Keith Jarrett's Sun Bear Concerts.

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Les McCann: 'Invitation to Openness' and 'Layers'

Marshall Bowden

Jan 28

Les McCann: 'Invitation to Openness' and 'Layers'

The death of soul jazz pianist Les McCann in January got me to listen deeply to a couple of records that really demonstrated how in touch he was with developments in Black popular music. I wrote about two records: 'Inviation to Openness,' a free fusion exploration with McCann on electric piano, and 'Layers,' where he multitracked himself playing the latest generation of ARP synthesizers as well as Fender Rhodes.

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Ultravox!

Marshall Bowden

Feb 20

I can't think of another album that caught the moment quite so much as Ultravox's debut record. Titled Ultravox! (the exclamation point was part of the band's name through their second album in tribute to German band Neu!), it presented, visually and musically, a group that had assembled its aesthetic around a compilation of the flotsam and jetsam of se…

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Frank Zappa Released Three Records In 1970

Marshall Bowden

Mar 6

Frank Zappa Released Three Records In 1970

Frank’s three releases in the year 1970 consisted of Burnt Weenie Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, recordings by the original Mothers of Invention tweaked and edited by Zappa, plus Chunga’s Revenge, which bridges the gap between the old Mothers and the new version of the band that Zappa would soon unleash.

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Iggy Pop's Arista Trilogy

Marshall Bowden

Mar 19

Iggy Pop was pretty much down for the count at the time Arista signed him in 1978. When former Columbia Records exec and Arista founder Clive Davis was approached about signing Iggy to his fledgling label (remember, Columbia lost megabucks financing the recording, production, and re-production of the Stooges’

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Weather Report's 'Mysterious Traveller' Turns Fifty

Marshall Bowden

Apr 3

Weather Report's 'Mysterious Traveller' Turns Fifty

While doing some research on an unrelated subject I stumbled across the fact that Weather Report's Mysterious Traveller (the group deliberately chose the British spelling) was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its release. While Mysterious Traveller

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Alice Coltrane/Carnegie Hall Concert

Marshall Bowden

Apr 12

On February 3, 1971, a concert was held at Carnegie Hall, a benefit for Swami Satchidananda's Integral Yoga Institute. The bill included The Rascals, Laura Nyro, and Alice Coltrane. While that might seem an odd grouping of musical talent, there's a sense of cosmic fate to the way the stories of these musicians intertwined to arrive at Carnegie Hall on t…

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My Life in the Cutout Bins: The Kinks/Sleepwalker

Marshall Bowden

May 5

My Life in the Cutout Bins: The Kinks/Sleepwalker

It's 1976. Ray Davies and The Kinks have spent the six years since their last American hit records, "Lola" and "Apeman," in a haze of dodgy concept albums that, while interesting in their own right, were an increasing source of alienation to the average record buyer and former Kinks fan. Not to mention the band, who insisted on a return to some semblanc…

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David Sanborn: An Appreciation

Marshall Bowden

May 16

David Sanborn was important, not just because of the records he released or even the numerous sessions that he played on, though that is part of the story. He's an important musician because he altered the sound of popular music, defining the sound of the alto saxophone for a generation of fusion artists and session musicians. Emerging in the mid-sevent…

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Céu: Not Your Dad's Bossa Nova

Marshall Bowden

May 21

It's been around sixty years since the gentle, intricate rhythms of bossa nova sprang from the samba and other rhythms that formed the musical DNA of Brazil. The style, sound, and ambience of bossa were quickly exported to America and, in short order, around the globe, influencing jazz and pop music for all time. From there, Brazilian music has absorbed…

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I thank you deeply for your support of New Directions in Music and my research/writing about popular music. You help keep the lights on, the turntable functioning, and the cats fed. Please let your music-loving friends (you know who they are) know about New Directions in Music, as it’s the best way for me to keep on delivering value to those for whom music is a way of life.

New Directions In Music

Don't Fear the Sun Bear

Les McCann: 'Invitation to Openness' and 'Layers'

Ultravox!

Frank Zappa Released Three Records In 1970

Iggy Pop's Arista Trilogy

Weather Report's 'Mysterious Traveller' Turns Fifty

Alice Coltrane/Carnegie Hall Concert

My Life in the Cutout Bins: The Kinks/Sleepwalker

David Sanborn: An Appreciation

Céu: Not Your Dad's Bossa Nova

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