Concerts

Songs For Groovy Children assembles all four historic debut concerts by Jimi Hendrix’s newly assembled Band of Gypsys at New York’s Fillmore East on New Years Eve 1969 and New Years Day 1970. Presented in their original performance sequence and encompassing 43 tracks across 5 CDs or 8LPs, the set boasts over two dozen tracks that have either never before been released commercially or have been newly remixed plus the full extended versions of songs originally released on the 1970 Band of Gypsys album. Measured alongside his triumphs at Monterey Pop and Woodstock, Hendrix’s legendary Fillmore East concerts illustrated a critical turning point in a radiant career filled with indefinite possibilities. Earlier in 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had closed a musical chapter and the guitarist assembled a new trio dubbed Band of Gypsys, consisting of Hendrix, his longtime friend Billy Cox, on bass, whom he had befriended when both were serving with the 101st Airborne Division Cox and Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles, who would also contribute occasional lead vocals.

MK III: The Final Concerts, alternatively entitled Archive Alive, is a live album by Deep Purple, recorded during the band's 1975 European tour in support of the Stormbringer album. It was released in 1996. This double CD release is culled from the very last performances from Deep Purple MK III featuring Ritchie Blackmore before he left to launch his new band Rainbow with singer Ronnie James Dio. The album features for the most part material from the last concert of the tour held at the Palais des Sports, Paris 7 April 1975, with a few tracks taken from two shows in Graz, Austria, 3 and 4 April.

One of the things that hardcore jazz collectors love to do is fantasize about all of the live recordings by major artists that have gone unreleased but may surface eventually - performances that were taped and ended up in the private collection of an artist, promoter, club owner, manager, or soundboard person. Collectors are always hoping that a previously unreleased soundboard recording of a John Coltrane, Bud Powell, or Thelonious Monk gig will turn up somewhere, and in some cases, recordings that have gone unreleased for decades will see the light of day at some point. Take Concerts in the Sun, for example. This 2002 disc contains previously unreleased Cal Tjader performances from 1960 - live recordings that stayed in the can for 42 years…

Out of several live Hendrix albums, The Jimi Hendrix Concerts stands as one of the very best. Taken from shows at Winterland, The Royal Albert Hall, and from various venues in New York, Berkeley, and San Diego, the set includes hits like "Fire," "Voodoo Chile," and "Hey Joe," as well as fine blues like "Red House," "Bleeding Heart," and "Hear My Train a Comin'." Highlights include a definitive version of "Little Wing" and one of the most assured and driving versions of "Voodoo Chile" (these and four other stellar tracks come from what must have been an amazing concert at Winterland in the fall of '68). Another standout is "I Don't Live Today," which features a fine mix of jazz-inspired soloing and various feedback and distortion "tricks" (tricks that figure into Hendrix's way of "playing with the electronics," and which make up one of the more innovative aspects of his guitar playing). Hendrix gets adept and sympathetic support throughout from bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell (Band of Gypsies' bassist Billy Cox replaces Redding on "Red House" and "Hey Joe").

Transcriptions for string sextet of Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts of 1741, the Concerts en sextuor were published by Saint-Saëns in the monumental edition of Rameau’s works that he undertook in the nineteenth century for Durand. Hitherto they had existed only in a manuscript bearing the name Decroix and dated 1768 (four years after the composer’s death).

Keller & Schönwälder is the fusion of melodious movements with hypnotic spirals. In solo, they are very good and together they are even better. Released in 1998, two after the debut of the duo, Concerts shows that the chemistry between the two friends was already at its peak. Originally released on Manikin Music, Concerts is reissued on SynGate Music. As a bonus, we are entitled to nearly 30 minutes of EM recorded in concert in 2006.
It is some big EM with long, sometimes a little too much, evolutionary courses where the art of improvised music and the mastery of instruments converge in very good musical moments. The duo has the art of assembling unpredictable musical structures, which mesmerize and captivate with a superb game of percussion and solos as heartbreaking as delirious…

Drummer Jon Hiseman seemingly had low expectations for a Colosseum reunion. The group decided to re-form at keyboardist Dave Greenslade's 50th birthday party, although Hiseman wasn't sure the timing was right. He was hopeful his German bookers could maybe put together six shows; they swiftly found 30, with Colosseum going on to play over 100 gigs during 1994-1995. And why not? In their three-year lifespan, the group racked up three U.K. Top 20 albums, while simultaneously blowing the socks off of Germany and much of Europe. And coming back together after two decades was, judging by the music here, a lot like coming home…

The North American tour started on 8 April 2010 in Seattle, Washington, and included 28 concerts in 27 cities, ending on 9 May 2010 in Albany, New York. The European tour started on 9 September 2010 in London, UK, and included 60 concerts in 52 cities, ending on 31 July 2010 in Ávila, Spain.
The tour included a six-night run at the Royal Albert Hall in London.