Fit And Well June 2020

Irish Power Trio led by former Mama's Boys and Celtus guitarist/violinist,singer and songwriter Pat McManus. Band members are Pat McManus, Marty McDermott & Paul Faloon. Over the years Pat has also written, recorded and performed with a massive amount of other bands and artists. From such diverse artists as pop pin-up Samantha Fox to Trip Hop record producer, rapper and actor Tricky…..Prog-Rock icons Wishbone Ash to Grammy-nominated musician John Parr with award-winning film composer Harald Kloser and from Spike & The Quireboys to local traditional music projects “Hidden Fermanagh” & “Cool Celi”…… and so many more too numerous to mention.

L.A.-based Evildead was the thrash metal band founded by former Agent Steel guitarist Juan Garcia, following that group's apparent breakup in 1987. Alongside vocalist Phil Flores, guitarist Albert Gonzalez, bassist Mel Sanchez (previously his bandmate with Abattoir), and drummer Rob Alaniz, he signed with Germany's Steamhammer label, and by the close of 1989 they had released both an EP (entitled Rise Above) and a full album (optimistically named Annihilation of Civilization) of particularly brutal thrash metal…

‘On The Widow’s Walk’ is the new studio album from The White Buffalo, the touring / recording persona of Jake Smith – singer, songwriter, guitarist, teller of tales; the Emmy nominee whose voice, a timber-shakin’ baritone, seems fuelled by a greater truth. Of the half-dozen albums released under The White Buffalo banner, this latest 11-tracker – a loosely linked collection of dark thrills produced by Shooter Jennings, who also provides piano and keys – is the most collaborative and organic.

There’s been a gradual increase in genre bending bands emerging from the artful depths in recent years. KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD, RAKETKANON and GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! all spring to mind, and nestled within their ranks are Belgian five-piece THE GURU GURU. Their new album Point Fingers is a record that refuses to conform to any already established boundaries yet holds it’s own with some semblance of structure that feels like every single chaotic moment has been thought about deliberately.

Dancer, actor, and singer Fred Astaire worked steadily in various entertainment media during nine decades of the 20th century. The most celebrated dancer in the history of film, with appearances in 31 movie musicals between 1933 and 1968 (and a special Academy Award in recognition of his accomplishments in them), Astaire also danced on-stage and on television (garnering two Emmy Awards in the process), and he even treated listening audiences to his accomplished tap dancing on records and on his own radio series. He appeared in another eight non-musical feature films and on numerous television programs, resulting in an Academy Award nomination and a third Emmy Award as an actor. His light tenor voice and smooth, conversational phrasing made him an ideal interpreter for the major songwriters of his era, and he introduced dozens of pop standards, many of them written expressly for him, by such composers as Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Burton Lane, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Arthur Schwartz, Harry Warren, and Vincent Youmans.

Artists’ greatest inspiration often comes from sources that once surrounded them in their native communities. Pianist Lucian Ban, violist Mat Maneri and woodwind master John Surman come from different backgrounds but are connected by their focus on improvised music along with their appreciation of folkloric and classical styles.

The Octet Broadcasts is made up of two BBC sessions from 1969 and 1979 respectively. Taken and mastered from the original analogue tapes by Gearbox, the album offers a snapshot of a time when British jazz was at another high, featuring such names as John Taylor, Alan Skidmore, Paul Lytton, and Art Themen, who themselves were contemporaries of and collaborated with the likes of Evan Parker, Michael Garrick, Ian Carr, and Roscoe Mitchell.