Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Jazz

"Soul Vibrations"
Zeroto180

Dorothy Ashby’s Jazz Harp

Just as Rufus Harley expanded the musical possibilities of the bagpipes, Dorothy Ashby likewise liberated the harp from its orchestral internment.  Dorothy Ashby was, as it says on her 1957 debut album, a “jazz harpist” — though not strictly.  1968’s “Soul Vibrations” as you can hear, also incorporates funk and

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"Scotch and Soul"
Zeroto180

Rufus Harley’s “Scotch ‘n’ Soul”

Rufus Harley‘s sole 45, “Bagpipe Blues” on Atlantic Records — an original amalgamation of Scottish highland and African-American musical traditions from 1965 — was undoubtedly the first of its kind.  45Cat‘s carey jeggs notes that Harley is “[p]robably the first jazz musician to play the bagpipes, although Albert Ayler also

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"Cruise Control"
Zeroto180

First Steinberger Bass Sighting?

Q:  Do you remember where were you the first time you encountered that newfangled electric bass of the 1980s made out of some kind of industrial epoxy — and invented by an industrial furniture designer who had no prior experience with musical instruments? Home video of The Dixie Dregs playing

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"Elephant Talk"
Zeroto180

Alphonso Johnson + The Emmett Chapman Stick

I was having a rare meal out alone and needed something to read, so I purchased a Rolling Stone back issue (September 6, 1979 edition – mostly likely at Joe’s Record Paradise) that included Michael Barackman‘s article about a new and somewhat radical 10-stringed electric instrument invented by Emmett Chapman

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"Joaquin"
Zeroto180

Freddie Roulette’s Sweet, Funky Steel

Freddie Roulette coaxes all manner of sweet, funky feeling out of his doubleneck lap steel guitar on the track “Joaquin” from his debut solo album: “Joaquin“ Freddie Roulette (1973) Steel Guitar:  Freddie Roulette Bass, Acoustic Guitar:  Victor Conte Drums:  Paul Lagos Guitar:  Coleman Head Saxophone:  Richard Aplanap Mixed by Fred

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"Triple Threat"
Zeroto180

King Records: Oddball Historical Tidbits

Triple Threat – the debut album by jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk – was originally released on the King label in 1956, rereleased on Bethlehem as Third Dimension, and on the Affinity label as Early Roots.  Kirk on tenor sax, stritch, manzello, & siren (!), with James Madison on piano, Carl

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"South Side Strut"
Zeroto180

“South Side Strut”: Grateful Funk

Today’s piece is a birthday tribute to my college roommate, Gavin Martin, who once rescued me from a very unpleasant housing situation, when he advocated successfully on my behalf for a vacancy that suddenly popped up in his much cooler adjoining dorm suite – and for that, I will be

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"Bumpin' on Sunset"
Zeroto180

“Bumpin’ on Sunset”: Organ + Strings

Thanks to brother Bryan for tipping me to a book that, amazingly, has only been written in the last couple years:  Rock ‘n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip.  Most of us music fanatics who live on this side of the Mississippi, sadly, have never had the opportunity to see

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"Jamaican Boy"
Zeroto180

“Jamaican Boy”: Jazz Fusion Reggae Instrumental

Three musicians – Stanley Clarke, Jeff Beck, and Steve Gadd – with keyboard embellishments from a fourth, Bayeté Todd Cochran: “Jamaican Boy“ Stanley Clarke (1979) * “Jamaican Boy” was a 45 release from 1979’s I Wanna Play for You studio/live hybrid LP and one of Record World‘s “Single Picks” for

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"Countryside"
Zeroto180

“Countryside”: Jim Henson’s Word Jazz

Would love to know how Jim Henson, so early in his career, was able to get Frank Sinatra to conduct the orchestra backing him on his first single, a playful word jazz piece entitled, “The Countryside“: Jim Henson’s first (and only) solo 45 Released January 1960 on Signature Records “Tick-Tock-Sick“,

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