William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Trio of Doom ; Year: 1979; Genre: Jazz Fusion Here is one of the four studio recording from the one-off jazz fusion power trio consisting of legends Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, and Jaco Pastorius. Para Oriente is one written by Tony Williams and has two other very brief "takes" on the record.     Hear Para Oriente on YouTube.   Hear Alternate Take 1 on YouTube.   Hear Alternate Take 2 on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Los Lobos - Don't Worry Baby     My song pick 2 years ago today: Lou Rawls - Three O'Clock in the Morning   My song pick 3 years ago today: Funkadelic - First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate   My song pick 4 years ago today: Curved Air - Easy   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Temptations - (I Know) I'm Losing You   My song pick 6 years ago today: Neil Young - Heart of Gold My song pick 7 years ago today: April Wine - 21st Century Schizoid Man My song pick 8 years ago to...

From: Adventures in Radioland ; Year: 1987; Genre: Jazz Fusion I guess you could more or less call this album the last gasp of the storied jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra; other than some unreleased tracks from the '70s, greatest hits and live albums, this would be it. Really, the last two records post-reformation were quite different from the material in the 1970s, but that does not make it bad by any means, on the contrary, this one is quite a fun disc to hear. Anyway, this synthesizer-heavy instrumental piece was penned by the song's namesake: composer/keyboardist Mitchell Foreman . You can certainly hear influences from the album if you ever played Japanese RPG video games back in the 1980s and 1990s; the music in some of those games must've been somehow, if not influenced by this band, someone similar for sure.   Hear Mitch Match on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: George Harrison - This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)   My song pick 2 y...

From: Jazz to the World ; Year: 1995; Genre: Jazz/Christmas Music It's getting ever so close to Christmas now; only a few days remain, so I'm picking more Holiday music today. This is a beautiful take on the classic Christmas hymn, he plays that guitar wonderfully and with so much emotion. Hear O Come O Come Emanuel on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - What Child is This? My song pick 2 years ago today: Dropkick Murphys - The Season's Upon Us My song pick 3 years ago today: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Nutrocker My song pick 4 years ago today: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night My song pick 5 years ago today: Bob Rivers - Holidaze My song pick 6 years ago today: Bob Rivers - Aquaclaus My song pick 7 years ago today: The Honeycombs - Have I the Right? My song pick 8 years ago today: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Christmas All Over Again My song pick 9 years ago today: Rush - Tears ...

From: Trio of Doom ; Year: 2007 (1979); Genre: Jazz Fusion I had this album on my mind whilst getting ready for today's song pick, so I'm choosing another one off the album. It's another one of those songs where you get a group of virtuosos and let them go. Hear Are You The One? Are You The One? on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: IQ - Fascination My song pick 2 years ago today: The Rolling Stones - Winter My song pick 3 years ago today: Archie Bell & The Drells - Tighten Up My song pick 4 years ago today: Yes - Cinema My song pick 5 years ago today: Heart - Sing Child My song pick 6 years ago today: Soundgarden - A Thousand Days Before My song pick 7 year ago today: The Ink Spots with Ella Fitzgerald - I'm Making Believe   My song pick 8 years ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - Vengeance (The Pact) My song pick 9 years ago today: Hawkwind - Sleep of a Thousand Tears My song pick 10 years ago today: The Who - Squeeze Box My song...

From: Mahavishnu ; Year: 1984; Genre: Jazz Fusion Wasn't sure about the song I was going to pick on this Funky Friday , however, after I happened to have one of their songs come on this morning I knew I had a pick. The funky rhythm section is definitely what drives this song and makes a great platform for the synth and other lead instruments to do their job. Hear Radio-Activity on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Toto - Stranger in Town My song pick two years ago today: Dream Theater - Hell's Kitchen My song pick three years ago today: Styx - Come Sail Away My song pick four years ago today: Alestorm - You Are a Pirate My song pick five years ago today: Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debbie My song pick six years ago today: The Box Tops - The Letter My song pick seven years ago today: Azteca - Mazatlan My song pick eight years ago today: Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

From: Birds of Fire ; Year: 1973; Genre: Jazz Fusion/Funk Here's my nineteen-hundredth-and-seventy-third song picked, and as I've been doing as of late, this one from John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra was released in the year that coincides with today's pick number: 1973. There were a couple of other songs I was wanting to pick off this album, but I couldn't find them on YouTube, so I finally ended up picking this 10-minute funky jazz fusion instrumental. Not a bad song at all, actually on the contrary it's an excellent piece of music, it's just probably not appreciated as much by those who like a more mainstream sound. All and all an excellent song to close out 2012 with! Hear One Word on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Alan Parsons Project - The Raven My song pick two years ago today: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones - The Sinister Minister My song pick three years ago today: Rammstein - Reise, Reise My song pick four ...

1518 Trio of Doom - Continuum From: Trio of Doom , Year: 1979 Genre: Jazz Fusion Yesterday Max chose Spyro Gyra's Cayo Hueso and it got me thinking about this Fusion track that I've been meaning to pick for a bit now. This one comes off of the Jazz power trio/super group Trio of Doom's one and only album. This is a rather pretty track that features some excellent technical musicianship from all three members. Hear Continuum on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Jethro Tull - Aqualung My song pick two years ago today: Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys - Wayfaring Stranger My song pick three years ago today: Billy Squier - In The Dark My song pick four years ago today: Jethro Tull - Steel Monkey +

1456 Mahavishnu Orchestra - Can't Stand Your Funk From: Visions of the Emerald Beyond , Year: 1975 Genre: Jazz Fusion/Funk I haven't done a " Funky Friday " for a while now, so I thought I would get one in today with this song from John McLaughlin's Jazz Fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra. Even though it's only two minutes in length, it's still an awesome piece of funky Jazz. Hear Can't Stand Your Funk on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Styx - Suite Madame Blue My song pick two years ago today: Rush - Malignant Narcissism My song pick three years ago today: Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' With Disaster +

734 ( Trio of Doom - Dark Prince ) For those who are unfamiliar with the Trio of Doom , they were a very short-lived Fusion Jazz/Funk supergroup made up of three master Jazz musicians: John McLaughlin (guitar), Jaco Pastorius (Bass), and Tony Williams (Drums); this was their only album together. I can hear a lot of Mingus' influence among others in this song. An excellent piece of Jazz, however it gets just a bit busy at times; almost a musical three-ringed-circus. What do you expect with three Jazz musicians of this caliber playing together at the height of Jazz Fusion? Here is the studio version of Dark Prince with Para Oriente afterward on YouTube. Here is a live recording on YouTube. +