Song of the Week: "Don't You Honey Me", Wilco

We learned yesterday of the death of Jay Bennett at the very tender age of 45.  Just three weeks ago, we here at On The Flip-Side, sang the praises of Mr. Bennett and his multi-instrumentalist contributions to the ground breaking band Wilco.

We are not going to offer up a lengthy or emotionally driven eulogy for Jay, instead, we'll just let his great work speak for himself. Our Song of the Week is a song about which I know little. It's an early-era Wilco bootleg that features Jay Bennett on a warbly lead guitar that is posited front and center. That's also Jay doing some fine harmonizing. The song is Don't You Honey Me (Bumble Bee).

If you know more about the song, or just want to say something about Jay Bennett, please post a comment.

Thanks, Jay.

Video Diary: The Yardbirds - "I Wish You Would"

Original Song Project: "Tres Piedras", Morgan Young

Here is a tune I have had kicking around my head since about 1994 when I was just a wee pup. I finally put it down on tape about 2 months ago. It's called Tres Piedras, which is a tiny town in northern New Mexico I used to frequent.

Song of the Week: "II B.S.", Charles Mingus

Baby's got back! Bassist Charles Mingus was one of the most inventive arrangers to come out of the hard bop movement in the 50's and early 60's. He was also one hell of a bassist that garnered the attention of fellow jazz greats such as Max Roach, Eric Dolphy and Duke Ellington. In short, Mingus was one of the giants of the jazz world for about 20 years until his death of Lou Gherig's disease. He was also known for his extreme mood swings, violent outbursts and struggles with depression. Each of which translated to an uneven output.

Today we feature an original composition by Mr. Mingus, as it appeared on his 1963 album for Impulse Records, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus. The song is II B.S. and it is one hard-driving, bass-centric song, I'm sure you'll agree. Starting with a gentle bass introduction, and a far off percussion piece of ambience, the pace is quickly changed by one of the all-time great bass riffs ever recorded. Trumpets, trombones and a Tuba begin building over each other in big band layers. Faster, harder, more textured with each turn. Then around 1:27 we break into a hard-charging saxophone bop lead by Mr. Charlie Mariano followed by a beautifully punctuated piano lead. And back again we go, starting with a slight variation on that bass lead until drummer Dannie Richmond breaks it all down to finish the song. 

Enjoy.

Video Diary: Calexico, "Ballad of Cable Hogue"