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Bruce Cockburn’s Life Short Call Now album

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I just ran into a Bruce Cockburn album that I was not aware of until right now! The album is titled Life Short Call Now (2006).

The song that caught my eye and had my feet a tapping is called Different When It Comes To You.

It has a hint of pop and the regular challenge that he regularly provides us is not here in this song. He’s still better then most out there in the industry today!

I find this video quite appealing, visually that is. Some folks out there may think that he is selling out, but as in the past, that is not his end game! The singer/port Ani DiFranco does a guest appearance on this tune as well!

I just thought I’d share it with you all, enjoy!

Keep on Jammin’





The magic of Scott Merritt lives on

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I just found out through a buddy of mine on Facebook that one of the greatest musicians that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Scott Merritt, was playing at this years Guelph Jazz Festival today.

Three Parades, by Guelph artists/multi instrumentalists/producers Scott Merritt and Jeff Bird, will orchestrate a performance by three different bands, each made up of 10-20 musicians, that will approach the St. George’s Church’s bell tower from different directions. All three bands will play a Merritt composition in counterpoint with one another and with the tolling church bell (played by Guelph player Jeff Bird), which will act as both a time pulse and key center for the composition.

Along the three routes, road signs will provide supplementary cues for the musicians to change what they are playing. The bell tower will house a PA system, which will project a pre-recorded score for solo voice that is reminiscent of a muezzin, who delivers the Muslim call to prayer from mosques. Once the bands converge at the tower and play together for several minutes, they will turn around and recede to their original starting positions.

The compositions for the three bands, the bell, and recorded voice work both independently and in concert, regardless of the listener’s position.
The Guelph Jazz Festival

The man was always a head of the curve. How he composed his songs were brilliant and very innovative. He did it such a way that I have never heard of before. I guess this is what peaked my curiosity with his overall body of work. In 1986 he was a nominee for the Juno award of Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year!

He was the kind of guitarist that when he entered the local music store, Music and Sound, everyone who was holding a guitar put it down making it look like they didn’t play it at all! We all just had so much respect for him that we felt a little bit insecure about playing in front of him. The man was always a gentle giant in person and Scott’s interviews were always insightful.

My wife and I feel in love with his Gravity is Mutual album when we first heard it. We still have our original vinyl copy downstairs!

I will leave you with a video that he did to support his album and I know that you’ll all enjoy it!

Scott Merritt, Keep on Jammin’ PLEASE!!!

More things about Scott Merritt

The band Toto

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Toto is one of those bands from the late 70’s to the present day that has produced one or two certain song(s) that everyone attaches some fond memories to or just really like the band! The level of musicianship, the jelling of the band members, that sound and rhythm they had was truly unmistakable. Toto was such a polished band that some people may have viewed them in too harsh a light. Their first self titled album, Toto, was the best one they ever put out.

I had all these musical emotions fly directly into my mind the other day by an unexpected force, my god-son Jeffery! He had been talking about this TOTO Greatest Hits (Steel box collection) that he just picked up and he talked about some of the tunes that he liked on it.

The songs he was referring to were some of Toto’s newer releases. They were the ones that I had heard over and over again on the radio. They were nice and all that but, not always as complex and intricate as I liked in comparison with their first project.

So yesterday a few of us went off to help my cousin, Jeffery’s aunt and her husband, put in a retaining wall in their back yard. On the drive over there, Jeffery told me he brought his Toto CD and asked me if I wanted to hear it, so I sheepishly said ok?!

When he placed it in the car CD player and hit play, a few of the songs on it instantly brought me back to my early years as a young progressive guitar player. I honestly love how they formed all their chord/vocal progressions in each of their songs. All though I could not for the life of me figure them out back then, I could certainly appreciate the talent that was needed in performing these difficult pieces live on stage.

Does anyone out there have their self titled album Toto in their collection? If not, then here is what they played on this classic album in order!
Child’s Anthem, I’ll Supply the Love, Georgy Porgy, Manuela Run, You are the Flower, Girl Goodbye, Takin’ it Back, Rockmaker, Hold the Line and Angela.

The members of the band for this album were Bobby Kimball, Steve Porcaro, David Hungate, David Paich, Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro.

These bunch of musicians were everything that I could ever want in a band’s style. They guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and percussion are all seasoned studio players. Just imagine how many ways they could come up with in playing a song?

I used to listen to them everyday in my early years. The only song I ever played of theirs was Hold the Line, with a Brantford band called Duece. No other musicians wanted to venture off in that direction. I used my sister’s old stereo a QueOn some much that I went through 3 stylists! I listened to each song taking it apart instrument by instrument in my mind. It’s amazing how much time a young kid can have on his hands isn’t it!

BTW the word toto means all encompassing in Latin! This is so great because it really represents the true essence of the band because of all the contrasting musical styles that they cover.

Keep on Jammin’

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