Eddie Floyd is headed back to the future.
The soul legend known for "Knock on Wood" has recorded songs he wrote for other artists in the 1950s and '60s for his return to the Stax label.
Some date back to his years with the Falcons (“You’re So Fine,” “Since You’ve Been Gone”) and his earliest solo days (“Never Get Enough of Your Love”). Among the songs he wrote for other Stax artists but never recorded until now: “’Til My Back Ain’t Got No Bone” (William Bell); “I Will Always Have Faith In You” (Carla Thomas) and “You Don’t Know What You Mean To Me” (Sam & Dave). Also on the the disc is “I Don’t Want to Be With Nobody But You,” which Dorothy Moore recorded on her 1976 "Misty Blue" album.he also has a couple of new tunes.
Album, titled "Eddie Loves You So," will be released on July 29 on Stax Records.
Cool as that is, the powers that be should know the world will be a better place if they afford the same opportunity to fellow Stax vet William Bell, a man who still sings with the power and passion of a young man getting his heart broken.   

After two years of releasing the debut albums from “American Idol” winners in the Christmas rush, BMG is returning to a fall release for the newest champ, David Cook.
Cook has been signed to 19 Recordings/RCA Records and is preparing to start recording his debut album which is due for release in the fall.
Cook, whose first single, "The Time Of My Life" skyrocketed to No. 1 on iTunes, will be recording his album over the summer while on the road with the American Idol Live tour. Tour kicks off on July 1 in Glendale, Ariz. — hometown of last year’s winner Jordin Sparks — and wraps Sept. 13th in Tulsa, Okla.
“The Time Of My Life” sold 236,000 digital tracks in four days, making it the best single debut of an “American Idol” since season two. Cook currently has 17 tracks on the top 100 digital songs chart, a record for a single artist.
Sparks, who won season 6, posted all-time lows for first week sales and chart position when her self-titled Jive album was released on Nov. 20 (119,000/No. 10). Sparks has had a slow and steady build in her sales; album is currently No. 19 and has sold 778,000 copies.
Contrast that with Taylor Hick's debut, which was released Dec. 16, 2006 and sold nearly three times as many albums as Sparks's disc did in its first week - 298,000 - but has current cumes of slightly more than  700,000 sold. He is no longer signed to BMG.
After the label signing spree of season 5 - Daughtry, Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee and Mandisa (she's singing gospel) - season 6 finalists were greeted with considerable caution as only the top two received contracts with BMG. The winner gets one automatically with the distributor; the only decision is which label gets the winner.
It is highly likely that runner-up David Archuleta will wind up within the label group - he seems like a natural for Arista Records. Beyond that, it seems unlikely that the tour will result in major label deals.

Time to take another look into the lower reaches of this week's Nielsen Soundscan top 200 and see how those albums with little airplay, yet substantial media exposure did in their debut week.

94. Dresden Dolls "No Virgina" 7,000
126. Scarlett Johansson "Anywhere I lay My Head" 5,000
140. Mates of State "Re-Arrange Us" 5,000
147. Ting Tings "We Started Nothing" 4,000
152. Cool Kids "The Bake Sale" 4,000
200. Islands "Arm's Way" 3,000

When eBay first launched, I saw it as a golden opportunity to secure vintage - and most likely bootleg - concert posters from San Francisco's psychedelic days at the Fillmore, Winterland and the Avalon. I am hardly alone.
Wolfgang's Vault has capitalized on the enduring appeal of the material, however dicey their intellectual property rights may be. Rhino Entertainment, on the other hand, is going the high-art route, launching a line of 18 limited-edition remastered lithographs of Family Dog Presents posters.
Rhino has acquired the copyrights and logos to all graphic works created by the Family Dog Presents, signing a deal with the estate of Family Dog founder Chet Helms.
The 18 lithographs are some  of the most recognizable Family Dog posters, including shows by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Signed and numbered, the lithographs will be produced in cooperation with the  creators and will be sold at Jack Gallery locations.
Artists Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Wes Wilson and Victor Moscoso will attend a launch event June 18 at the Jack Gallery located at L.A.'s the Grove.
Family Dog was created Helms, who moved to SF from Texas with Janis Joplin and became manager of Big Brother and the Holding Company. Beginning in 1966, he organized a series of weekly dance hall revues at the Avalon Ballroom, which became the premier venue for psychedelic happenings.

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" will be honored as a Towering Song at the 2008 Songwriters Hall of Fame gala on June 19 at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel.
As a fan of the tune - and what's more fun than inserting the names of teams that are not on the field (Devil Rays, anyone?) - it is vital that everyone sing the song when they visit the ballpark.   
Maybe it's a bit trivial, but few things are more annoying than a seventh-inning stretch turned over to some jingoistic, pro-America tune instead of the 100-year-old classic by Albert von Tilzer and Jack Norworth. Is it not a bit un-American to not sing "root, root-root" at a ballgame on North American soil?
Anyhow, a bit of "Take Me Out" trivia: Norworth was inspired to write the lyrics by a sign that read "Baseball Today -Polo Grounds" in the subway.
Neither Norworth nor Von Tilzer had ever attended a baseball game before writing the song.
It was first sung by Norworth's wife, singer Nora Bayes, and popularized by various vaudeville acts.
The Haydn Quartet singing group, led by tenor Harry Macdonough, recorded the definitive popular hit rendition for Victor Records.
It was one of the most popular hits of 1908.
Perhaps the event will settle one score: The lyrics are "I don't care if I never get back" and not "ever."
One of my favorite versions is below

Neil Diamond opened his 2008 world tour Saturday at the 10,000-seat Ahoy Rotterdam arena in the Netherlands. Performing on the heels of securing the No. 1 album in the States, he's in Europe through June 27 and comes to the U.S. starting July 19. On opening night, Diamond performed four songs from his new album "Home Before Dark"; two from his 2005 album with Rick Rubin, "12 Songs"; a trio of obscurities; one song from his true 1968 debut "Velvet Gloves and Spit"; and eight of the songs that were performed on "American Idol" four weeks ago.
The set list:
One More Bite Of The Apple > Holly Holy / Street Life / Beautiful Noise / Lady Oh / If You Know What I Mean / Cherry Cherry / Thank The Lord For The Nighttime / Hello Again / Love On The Rocks / Home Before Dark / Don't Go There / Pretty Amazing Grace / Crunchy Granola Suite / Done Too Soon / Forever in Blue Jeans / Brooklyn Roads / I Am I Said / Solitary Man / I'm A Believer / You Don't Bring Me Flowers / Song Sung Blue / Man Of God / Hell Yeah / Sweet Caroline / Cracklin' Rosie / America / Brother Love

Considered one of the finest festivals in all of Europe, Italia Wave Love Festival will settle in at the Tuscan seaside town of Livorno, about 200 kilometers from its former home in Arrezo, from July 16 to 19.Last year was held in Florence.
The bands we have heard of: the Chemical Brothers, the Verve, Gnarls Barkley, Wombats, the Ting Tings, Konono No. 1.
The Italians: Sud Sound System, Elio e le Storie Tese,  Linea 77, Sergent Garcia, Tricarico, Bugo, Pivot, Stereo Total, Ralf, Radici nel cemento, Paolo Benvegnù, Carlo Lucarelli, il Vernacoliere, Paolo Migone, rock lessons.
International acts:  Vanessa de Mata from Brasil,John de Leo, Saba from Somalia, Freshlyground from South Africa, Deti Picasso from Russia. Then there's the whole dance scene  in the Elettrowave section.
Here's where they get crazy: The day starts at 10 a.m. on the Wake up Stage (there's a Psycho Stage in the afternoons) with  bands that won a national contest.
Mainstage concerts are presented in the A. Picchi Football Stadium.
A four-day pass is all of 40 euros, or about 60 bucks.

R.E.M. opened their tour in support of "Accelerate" on Friday in Vancouver, B.C. at Deer Lake Park. Here's a positive review from the Vancouver Sun. Band's official site is here.
They played:

Living Well Is The Best Revenge / What's The Frequency, Kenneth? / Ignoreland / Second Guessing / Gardening At Night / Man Sized Wreath / Disturbance At The Heron House / Hollowman / Accelerate / West Of The Fields / Houston / Electrolite / Losing My Religion / Time After Time / Let Me In / The One I Love / Country Feedback / Bad Day / Walk Unafraid / Horse To Water / Supernatural Superserious / Sweetness Follows / Get Up / I'm Gonna DJ / Man On The Moon

The Hal Willner-supervised soundtrack to Abel Ferrara’s “Chelsea on the Rocks” will be released by Atlantic Records.
The documentary will receive its world premiere Friday in a special screening at Cannes.
Film's score is by G.E. Smith, Tony Garnier, Robert Burger and Jim White with additional music by Sonic Youth, Love and Rockets and Ferrara.
Vintage music and archival footage of the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and Sid Vicious appear in the documentary along with actors Bijou Phillips, Jamie Burke, Adam Goldberg, Giancarlo Esposito and Grace Jones re-enacting events from the Chelsea Hotel’s past.
Soundtrack will include music featured in the film as well as songs inspired by it. Variety's reviewer enjoyed the film more than I did.

The Grammy Awards are staying with Los Angeles and a Sunday night ceremony, announcing a Feb. 8 show at Staples Center. Nominations will be announced Dec. 4.

Jonathan Demme is taking over from Martin Scorsese as the director of an authorized Bob Marley documentary.
Docu is produced by the Marley family’s Tuff Gong Pictures and Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Entertainment and has a target release date of Feb. 6, 2010, the 65th anniversary of Marley's birth. Fortissimo Films is handling international sales.
Scorsese, who announced in February that the untitled pic would be the follow-up to his Rolling Stones concert pic “Shine a Light,” dropped out for scheduling reasons.
Demme has long history of music-related pics, chronicling the Talking Heads in “Stop Making Sense,” Robyn Hitchcock in “Storefront Hitchcock” and Neil Young in “Heart of Gold.” He is currently editing a new concert film, “Neil Young Trunk Show.”
“I am thrilled and humbled by this extraordinary opportunity to participate in fashioning a motion picture that can serve as a worthy vessel for the spiritual and musical brilliance of Bob Marley, who, most everybody agrees, is one of the greatest human beings of modern times,” Demme said in a statement.
Ziggy Marley, one of the film's executive producers, said: “His empathy with my father's body of work and his unique understanding of the musical documentary form makes me confident that this film will be the ultimate celebration of my fathers' life."
Jonathan Demme recently completed post-production on his upcoming Sony Pictures Classics release “Rachel Getting Married.”

He goes over important movies and songs, the problems of the world, irony and sounds he likes, such as headlights being hit by a shotgun and he might even be pulling his own leg with regards to some new song title. Back in the '70s, though, one of Waits' great spoken word interludes involved taking himself out on a date; he's a master of self-amusement.
Oddly enough, his list of influences seems rather obvious: Kerouac, Dylan, Bukowski, Rod Serling, Don Van Vliet, Cantinflas, James Brown, Harry Belafonte, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thorton, Howlin Wolf, Lead Belly, Lord Buckley, Mabel Mercer, Lee Marvin, Thelonious Monk, John Ford, Fellini, Weegee, Jagger, Richards, Willie Dixion, John McCormick, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, Hoagy Carmichael, Enrico Caruso.
Full interview after the jump

A bonus track on a book?
Joe Boyd, who led a bit of a "Forrest Gump" life in jazz, folk music and rock circles from the late 1950s through the 1970s, has posted another chapter to his superb autobiography "White Bicycles."
The cut chapter involves his involvement in films, specifically with Don Simpson and the smart and stylish pic about the Profumo affair, "Scandal." In typical Boyd fashion, getting from point A to point B involves a collection of figures and artistic projects, this time Monty Python, Michael Eisner and Toots & the Maytals. Once again, though, Boyd's perseverance ends in triumph. 

While we cannot yet confirm the existence of a title or release date for Beck's upcoming album, we can at least confirm that there will be music on it. "Chemtrails," the first track from the singer/songwriter's collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, premiered today on BBC Radio 1, and can now be heard on MySpace and Beck's official website.

Claiming inspiration from late '60s psych-pop, the ethereal quality of Beck's vocals are reminscient of Brian Wilson, kicked up a notch halfway through with a Beta Band-esque guitar riff. Only a minute and thirty seconds long, this sample is barely a taste of whatever aural journey Beck will be taking us (and concert audiences) on this summer, but promises a new and exciting (if not extremely commercial) flavor of pop.

-- Liz Shannon Miller

Brian Wilson will return to Capitol Records - his original label home with the Beach Boys - with the Sept. 2 release of "That Lucky Old Sun."
Last summer, Wilson became inspired by the 1949 song, “That Lucky Old Sun.” He bought Louis Armstrong’s version of the track and was inspired to again collaborate with former crony Van Dyke Parks and bandmate Scott Bennett to create spoken narratives.
Wilson describes That Lucky Old Sun as an “interwoven series of ‘rounds’ with interspersed spoken word,” and as an autobiographical travelogue of sorts. Album was produced by Wilson.
Wilson debuted "That Lucky Old Sun" at London’s Royal Festival Hall in September. It has been described as a musical love letter from Southern California; “Midnight’s Another Day” was termed by Mojo magazine as “glorious.”
The track listing:
1. That Lucky Old Sun
2. Morning Beat
3. That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
4. Good Kind Of Love
5. Forever My Surfer Girl
6. That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
7. Live Let Live
8. Mexican Girl
9. That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
10. California Role
11. That Lucky Old Sun (narrative)
12. Oxygen
13. Can’t Wait Too Long (vocal excerpt)
14. Midnight’s Another Day
15. Going Home
16. Southern California

Paul Westerberg tells Pitchfork: "We've been offered... Chris (Mars), he doesn't want to play. He's moved on with his life to the point where he won't move back and do this. So that leaves essentially Tommy (Stinson) and I. I don't think we would go back and use any of the other Replacements guys. We'd probably find someone else. That's what's kept us wondering, the magic question: who's going to come and play the lead guitar? We could dismiss it, like we did on 'Pleased to Meet Me.' That was our fucking 'Let It Bleed,' where I played all the guitar. But I don't know."

   Mention Richie Havens by name and an image locked in by time — the late ‘60s — and celluloid — the “Woodstock” film — most likely emerges. List his ideals, accomplishments and methodology and he sounds like a role model for the current generation: He has played at every significant musical festival in the world; founded his own label and generated hit records; protested and improper war; and made the environment a cause long before his peers.
He’s a fan of the written word, a believer in connecting the dots between generations who tips his hat repeatedly to everyone from Allen Ginsberg and Fred Neil, who encouraged him to learn guitar, up through Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, whose music he admires. After chatting with him for an hour, and getting a keen sense that he is tapped into the communicative powers of music within a community and not just the ones he came of age in, Havens beams with an undeterred and enchanting spirit. He likes to raise questions to make a listener think and laugh simultaneously: "How is it," he queries in a riff on Superman, "truth and justice and the American way are two different things?"
Havens’ 27th album, “Nobody Left To Crown,” was released in Europe in February and a summer release date in the U.S., Canada and Japan is expected to be announced soon by Verve Records. At 67, he still performs most weekends and has dates booked for the next 12 months. His shows are improvised affairs: “I know the first song and the last song. It’s what I’m feeling and no matter what comes up, (the band) can mosey into where I’m going to go. The cellist may sit out the first verse and then brings a burst of energy into the room.”
Havens made a solo appearance at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival to perform “Freedom” for Sean Penn, head of the Cannes jury, a fan of Havens and the song he became associated with after the release of the “Woodstock” movie. (The performance can be seen here).
“I have had to sing it at every single show since the movie came out,” Havens said in a midday interview in his hotel room on the French Riviera. “Forty years is coming up. The interesting thing is how it is a building block — every year a new group of high school and college students discover the movie and a whole generation discovers this things. They get the story watching this movie and attach themselves to something they missed that interests them.”
The enduring appeal of Havens’ shining moments — “Freedom” at Woodstock and his interpretations of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” — have evolved into history lessons, documents of inspired interpretation and performance. Havens, and this holds true for Nina Simone, fused practically every musical style they came in contact with to create their own unique sound. Haven, a Brooklyn native, sang gospel and doo-wop until he moved to Greenwich Village where he drew portraits and recited poetry until singer-songwriters Fred Neil and Dino Valenti encouraged to learn the guitar and joining the growing “folk scare” of the early 1960s.
“We were the ones who went to every major festival — and got asked to come back,” he notes.
Those fests included a string of landmark events: the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, ‘67 Monterey Jazz Festival, Miami Pop in ‘68, Isle of Wight Festival and, in 1970, the first Glastonbury Festival.
The festivals, he says, “were a very interesting exchange — people from the West and people from the East discovering each others’ performers.”
He offered thoughts on a host of subjects — the intricacies of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” making albums, his earliest inspirations and the one song he won’t play.
(Olivia Hemaratanatorn took the great photos)

On the heels of U.K. dates and their performance at Stagecoach, the Eagles opened their U.S. tour in in Alpharetta, Ga., outside Atlanta. At the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park on May 14 the performed a show that ventured close to three and a half hours.
Kick-off of the "Road to Eden" tour saw the Eagles playing:

How Long / Too Busy Being Fabulous / I  Don’t Want To Hear Anymore / Guilty Of The Crime / Hotel California / Peaceful Easy Feeling / I Can't Tell You Why / Witchy Woman / Lyin' Eyes / Boys of Summer / In the City / Long Run / No More Walks In The Woods / Waiting in the Weeds / No More Cloudy Days / Love Will Keep Us Alive / Take It To The Limit / Long Road Out of Eden / Somebody /  Walk Away / One Of These Nights / Life’s Been Good / Dirty Laundry / Funk 49 / Heartache Tonight / Life in the Fast Lane / Rocky Mountain Way / All She Wants To Do Is Dance / Take It Easy / Desperado

Special thanks to Jonathan Beacher for reporting.

Lou Reed will perform his 1973 landmark album “Berlin” in its entirety throughout Europe in June, a precursor to the July 25 U.K. release of Julian Schnabel’s film “Lou Reed's Berlin.”
Reed, performing with a 30-piece ensemble, will start June 23 in Cork, followed by dates in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Belgium and Spain. “Berlin” will be performed twice in London, Brussels and Paris.
U.K. dates are Edinburgh Playhouse on June 25, Nottingham Opera House on June 26 and London Royal Albert Hall on June 30.

  A reunion of Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom - Handsome Dick Manitoba, Andy Shernoff, Ross the Boss and JP Thunderbolt - will be among the key acts at the eighth annual Joey Ramone Birthday bash on Monday at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza.
Mary Weiss of the Shangri-La's and Television guitarist Richard Lloyd will headline.
Celebrating what would have been Joey's 57th birthday, party will conclude with the Joey Ramone Birthday Bashers featuring Jesse Malin, Cheetah Chrome, Walter Lure, Tish & Snooky, Jean Beauvior, Shernoff, Joe McGinty, Thunderbolt, Al Maddy, Ivan Julian, Bobby Steele and Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh.  Also appearing are Charm School, Semi-Precious Weapons, the Independents, Local H, L.E.S. Stitches and Rachel Newman. Sean O’Sullivan's Punk Pipers will round out the night on the bagpipes.   “Little Steven” Van Zandt, Matt Pinfield and Peter Aschner will be the emcees. Tickets are $25 ($30 day of show).

Great ideas born out of desperation again have a pay-off. The winner this time is Phil Roy, a native Philadelphian and singer-songwriter whose 25 years in the music business have been filled with not-quite-filled promises by major labels in L.A., enough song placements to keep the lights on and an uncorrupted sense of artistic control.
The moment of desperation came in late 2005. He was in the state of a dual separation: Divorce was final with a label and pending with a wife; he needed a way to pay rent without hitting the road yet again.
He visited a musical instruments shop downstairs from his apartment to inquire about performing in the shop. Tops, he could get 20 people in the store which led to him hatching a plan: Cook dinner for them before the show, move the folks downstairs for the show and back up for dessert. Sell a ticket for $100.
“I was angry,” said Roy, whose spent the ‘80s and ‘90s  in L.A. and whose apartment was a communal dining room for  the artists who lived near him.  “I didn’t feel like making music, didn’t feel like traveling and I’m out looking for work.  I had always really been into culinary arts — cooking had always been a big part of my life. I thought why not try it, sent out an email and within 48 hours every seat was taken.”
It caught on – 14 people at a time. He was able to bring in an audience without touring and began work on an album that he nearly handed over to Brit indie Cooking Vinyl, a delayed deal that was canceled when Universal Music’s Decca came knocking. Decca will release his album “The Great Longing” on May 20; he began his first foray into cooking and concertizing outside Philly earlier this month.
“It was odd letting strangers in the house, but it was about putting strangers together instead of just friends,” Roy says days before heading to Grand Rapids, Mich., where chicken and songs from “The Great Longing” were the main courses for a party of 24. “Heading out, I have no idea what people’s kitchens are like. I hire two people at each location and give them a shopping list. I think I’ve got this corner of the market cornered — it’s become a cottage industry.
“I’m as serious about my cooking as I am about making a record. It’s an artform.  It’s two separate skills but I find they have a lot in common. I’m curing salmon for three days, turning it every 12 hours, braising for days. If someone is spending $100, I feel obliged to give them something as special as I can.”
He calls the tour “Moving the House” with events this month in Tampa, Fla., and San Francisco. CD release parties will be held May 19 at L.A.’s Hotel Café, in Ambler, Pa., on June 14 and Joe's Pub in New York on June 24. His New York gig goes under the header of “Naked Soul”: He will perform without microphones or amplifiers on July 25 at the Rubin Museum of Art.

This summer's reunion tour of Return To Forever will be accompanied by a two-CD compilation, "The Anthology," being released May 27 by Concord. Disc will contain works released by the Columbia and Polydor labels during the band's most rock-oriented electric phase.In a twisted way, it's the fusion equivalent of the recent Pixies reunion, a chance for those who missed them the first time-around and a chance for fans of acts that RTF influenced to hear the original. From my perspective, when tackling solid material, few bassists are as exciting to watch as Stanley Clarke; the man knows how to up his game.    
"Anthology" runs from RTF's third album, 1973's groundbreaking "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" through the hit "Romantic Warrior" of 1976. Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White  and Al Di Meola discuss the reunion.

A tip of the hat to the 40th anniversary of the protests that shut down the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, Richie Havens will perform "Freedom" at the fest's opening ceremonies of the 61st edition on Wednesday.
Havens, whose marathon performance of "Freedom"' was one of the glorious moments at Woodstock 39 years ago, released his  27th album, "Nobody Left to Crown," in Europe in February. Announcement of a  U.S. release date and label is expected soon. Havens has U.S. dates into next year scheduled after the jump.

First they were campaigning for Obama, now the Arcade Fire are reportedly lending their talents to Hollywood. According to Pitchforkmedia, the acclaimed Canadian rock group will score Richard Kelly's new horror movie, 'The Box.'

The film, starring Cameron Diaz and Frank Langella, is written and directed by Kelly and is based on the Richard Matheson short, 'Button, Button.'  Story revolves around a couple (Diaz and James Marsden) who open their door to find a box containing a button. If they push the button, they will receive $1 million. Only thing is--someone will die if they press it.

Although no official confirmation has come from Arcade Fire or Kelly's camp, the film's music engineer, Markus Dravs, apparently spilled the beans on his blog recently. ".... off to Canada to work with Arcade Fire on a Sound-track for the forth coming Richard Kelly film.....," he writes.

'The Box' has finished lensing and is slated for a fall 2008 release.

--posted by Stuart Oldham

After finishing an exhaustive article on Phil Schaap the radio host, author and Charlie Parker expert, New Yorker writer David Remnick set out to create a list of 100 titles that "are meant to provide a broad sampling of jazz classics and wonders." The most essential jazz recordings list includes virtually every phase of the music, from  early New Orleans jazz, swing, bebop and cool jazz through modal jazz, hard bop and fusion.
He does not mess with the jazz canon much, but the inclusion of boxed sets in lists like these is always a bit dicey: All of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic albums make it into the list via a box, for example, but John Coltrane is limited to only one from his days at the label, “My Favorite Things.”  Duke Ellington and Miles Davis are represented by five each; Parker four; Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus are in with three.
Among the interesting, perhaps off-the-beaten-path, choices:

Fats Waller, “Handful of Keys” (Proper, 2004; tracks recorded 1922-43).
John Kirby Sextet, “Night Whispers: 1938-46” (Jazz Legends, 2005).
Thelonious Monk, “Live at the It Club, 1964” (Sony, 1998).
Miles Davis, “Highlights from the Plugged Nickel” (Sony, 1995; tracks recorded 1965).
Charles Mingus Sextet, “Cornell 1964” (Blue Note, 2007).
Sun Ra, “Greatest Hits—Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel” (Evidence, 2000; tracks recorded 1956-73).
Abbey Lincoln, “That’s Him” (Riverside, 1957).
John Coltrane, “Ascension” (Impulse!, 1965).
Jackie McLean, “A Fickle Sonance” (Blue Note, 1961).
Albert Ayler, “Spiritual Unity” (ESP, 1964).
Betty Carter, “Betty Carter’s Finest Hour” (Verve, 2003; tracks recorded 1958-92).
World Saxophone Quartet, “World Saxophone Quartet Plays Duke Ellington” (Nonesuch, 1986).
Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, “Steal Away” (Polygram, 1995).
Cassandra Wilson, “Traveling Miles” (Blue Note, 1999).
The Bill Charlap Trio, “Live at the Village Vanguard” (Blue Note, 2007).
The full list is here.

Metallica will perform a benefit show for Flea's musical school, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, on Wednesday at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
Money raised will go toward programs, operations and scholarships for low-income students whose families would otherwise not be unable to afford instruments and/or lessons. The school’s summer camp program and new building initiative will also benefit from the proceeds.
Also appearing will be Scars On Broadway, the band fronted by Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan from System of a Down.
Tickets go on sales Sunday at 10 a.m. for $200 each. A limited number of VIP tickets at $500 each will be available only  at Silverlake Conservatory of Music, 3920 Sunset Blvd.

Coldplay has no use for Los Angeles, at least in the announcement of 29 cities they will play in North America int he summer and fall.  "Viva La Vida"  will be released June 17; the tour,  produced by Live Nation, will kick off June 29 in Philadelphia.
Coldplay will play free concerts in London (June 16th at the Brixton Academy) and New York (June 23 at Madison Square Garden). Information on how to win tickets to these shows will be available here.  Contest will run through June 1; winners will receive notification on June 5.
The album's lead single "Violet Hill" was downloaded by 2 million people in its first week of release.
Tour dates after the jump.

It would not surprise me if many people who went to their first concerts in the 1970s or earlier remember being taken aback the first time they saw a corporate sponsor on a bill. Case in point: the Who on their alleged final trek under the sponsorship banner of Schlitz. It was not the quality of the product that troubled music fans, it was the idea that an entity not in the business of concert promotion was now involved in a show, forcing its agenda, possibly stealth-like, and somehow tampering with the fans’ altruistic idea of the performer.
Twenty five years later and distrust out the door: We’re shocked when there is not a sponsor listed on the ticket along side the name of the promoter. Oddly enough, this week saw two events that may well become new models for the concert business and I’m not sure if the one that involves just the standard promoter is the safer bet for consumers.
First, Alicia Keys came to Los Angeles on a tour overseen by Lexus. Not Lexus and a promoter, just the car company. Call it subliminal propositional marketing: You came for a concert, but you need a car and if you can afford these tickets, you might well soon want a bit of affordable luxury in your next vehicle. Care to test drive an ES or IS?
On Thursday Madonna announced her first tour with Live Nation under her 10-year, $100 million pact with the concert promoter. The dates themselves were of paramount concern, but deep in the details on the trek was a note that can be translated thusly: In Europe, Madonna and Live Nation are in bed with a company that facilitates the resale of concert tickets, aka, the secondary marketplace. It’s not scalping per se, just a facilitator of the resale of tickets, most likely at a price significantly above face value.

Epic, extended sets are being promised on My Morning Jacket's 27-date tour that features a June 20 gig at New York's Radio City Music Hall and then a straight run from a hometown gig Aug. 16 in Louisville, Ky, to Oct. 10 in Chicago.
They play "Saturday Night Live" for the first time on Saturday. ATO will release "Evil Urges" on June 10.

THE TOUR DATES:
JUNE
20  New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
AUGUST
16  Louisville, Ky @ The Great Lawn at Louisville Waterfront Park
18  Kansas City, Mo. @ Uptown Theatre
19  Council Bluffs, Iowa @ Stir Cove
21  Morrison, Colo. @ Red Rocks Amphitheater*
23  Dallas @  Palladium Ballroom
24  Austin @ Stubbs
27  Atlanta @ Fox Theatre-Atlanta
29  Miami @ The Fillmore Miami Beach@ the Jackie Gleason Theater
30  Lake Buena Vista, Fla. @ House of Blues- Orlando
31  Myrtle Beach, S.C. @ House of Blues- Myrtle Beach
SEPTEMBER
2  Charlottesville, Va. @ Charlottesville Pavilion
3  Washington, D.C. @ Constitution Hall
5  Philadelphia @ Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing
6  Boston @ Bank of America Pavilion
19  Berkeley, Calif. @ Greek Theatre
21  Los Angeles @ Greek Theatre
23  Tempe, Ariz. @ The Marquee
24  Las Vegas @ The Joint
25  San Diego @ SDSU Open Air Theater
27  Portland, Ore. @ McMenamins Edgefield
28  Seattle  @ McCaw Hall
OCTOBER
2  Minneapolis @ Orpheum Theatre
3  Milwaukee @ Riverside Theater
4  Detroit @ The Fillmore Detroit
9/10  Chicago @ Chicago Theatre

"Hard Candy" is the album, "Sweet & Sticky" is the name of the tour.
Madonna will tour Europe before coming to the States in October, where she will perform 18 shows at stadiums and arena from Oct. 3 through Thanksgiving weekend.
Tour starts  Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales and hits  London on Sept. 11 and Paris on the 20th.
U.S. legs opens in the basketball arena at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on Oct. 3. She plays New York's Madison Square Garden on Oct. 6 and 7. She will be at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 6. (Brrrrrr). Mexico and South America dates will follow.
On sale dates start as early as May 16 (London, Paris, Cardiff and Nice), 17 (Amsterdam, Boston and Chicago) and 19 (E. Rutherford, N.J.) and New York. Tour is the first one under her $100 million deal with Live Nation.
Tickets will be as high as $300 and, of course, there will be "premium tickets" and VIP packages sold as well.
Jamie King will direct the show; Kevin Antunes is musical director.
The tour dates followed by on sale date:

AUGUST
23 Cardiff Millennium Stadium - Fri. May 16
26 Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann - Fri. May 16
28 Berlin Olympic Stadium - Wed. May 21
SEPTEMBER
02 Amsterdam Arena - Sat. May 17
04 Dusseldorf LTU Arena - Wed. May 21
06 Rome Olympic Stadium - Fri. May 23
09 Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena - Wed. May 21
11 London Wembley Stadium - Fri. May 16
20 Paris Stade de France - Fri. May 16
OCTOBER
03- E. Rutherford Izod Center - Mon. May 19
06 New York City Madison Square Garden - Mon. May 19
07- New York City Madison Square Garden - Mon. May 19
15 Boston TD BankNorth Garden - Sat. May 17
18 Toronto Air Canada Centre - Sat. May 24
22 Montreal Bell Centre - Sat. May 24
26- Chicago United Center - Sat. May 17
30 Vancouver BC Place Stadium - Sat. May 24
NOVEMBER
01 Oakland Oracle Arena - Sun. June 1
04 San Diego Petco Park - Sun. June 1
06 Los Angeles Dodger Stadium - Sun. June 1
08 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena - Sat. May 31
11 Denver Pepsi Center - Sat. May 31
16 Houston Minute Maid Park - Sat. May 31
19 Philadelphia Wachovia Center - Mon. June 2
22 Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall - Mon. June 2
24 Atlanta Philips Arena - Sat. May 31
26 Miami Dolphin Stadium - Sat. May 31

Anticipation of the upcoming Waits tour takes me back to October 1977. Beacon Theater. New York City. The show that got me completely hooked on Tom Waits after seeing him at a benefit in Philadelphia and at the Bottom Line the year before.
Not sure exactly what Waits played that night at the Beacon - he did open with the Dean Martin classic "Standing on the Corner " - but at My Father's Place on Long Island on Oct. 10, 1977, he played:
Standing On the Corner Watching / I Never Talk to Strangers / Pasties & a G-string / Invitation to the Blues>Eggs & Sausage / Depot Depot / Jitterbug Boy / Step Right Up / I I Wish I was in New Orleans / Small Change / The Piano Has Been Drinking / Emotional Weather Report / Muriel / Jack & Neal / Tom Traubert's Blues

Since Tom Waits announced his tour with a "press conference," a few details have emerged.
Longtime bassist Larry Taylor is on board along with Omar Torrez (guitar), Patrick Warren (keyboards) and son Casey Waits (drums and percussion). A reed player will be hired.
Waits' website will soon have all tour info, including a detailed explanation of the ticket policy. U.S. booking agent and longtime tour director Stuart Ross is working on a plan to cut down on ticket scalpers' access.
Waits did offer a comment on why hit really warm cities in the summer. “We’re going to the deep south where they still love a man who wears red pants and they make him feel welcome.”

Radiohead opened their US. tour at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday. They played:
All I Need / Bodysnatchers  / There There / Reckoner / The Gloaming / Morning Bell / Nude / How To Disappear Completely / 15 Step / Weird Fishes>Arpeggi / Idioteque / Bulletproof…I Wish I Was / Where I End And You Begin / Airbag / Everything In Its Right Place / The National Anthem / Videotape / Optimistic
/ Just / Faust Arp / Exit Music (for a film)  / Bangers + Mash / House of Cards / Street Spirit
The Reviews:
Rolling Stone
Pitchfork
Palm Beach Post
New York Times

Richard Cromelin of the L.A. Times wrote a spot-on review of Alicia Keys' concert in Orange County; I reviewed the Monday show at Staples Center, the ninth date in her 30-city tour. It appears Keys is pretty much sticking to the same set each night with only slight variations. According to my notes scribbled during the L.A. show, she played:

Ghetto Story / Waiting for Your Love / Where Do We Go From Here / You Don't Know My Name / Teenage Love Affair / Lady Marmalade (backup singers only) /  Heart Burn /   Sure Looks Good to Me / How Come You Don't Call Me / Butterflies /  Goodbye / Prelude to a Kiss / Superwoman / I Need You / Diary / Tender Love /  Unbreakable / Like You'll Never See Me Again / A Woman's Worth / Karma / The Thing About Love / Fallin'>It's a Man's, Man's Man's World / No One / If I Ain't Got You /

Neil Young's 10-CD set of never released recordings has a new lease on life.
Long rumored and long delayed, Reprise will release the collection of recordings from 1963-1972 on Blu-ray in the fall.   
Young, an audio fanatic who released his greatest hits on PCM 24/96 and recently assisted in an acoustic revamp of Red Rocks in Colorado, says “It is important for me that the user experience the high resolution music along with the archival visual material."
Through Blu-ray and Java technology, viewers will be able to navigate through Young's music, movies, videos, personal archives, memorabilia, photographs, letters, handwritten manuscripts and more while the high resolution 192/24 audio is playing. Announcement was made at the JavaOne conference in Northern California Tuesday.
"Previously, there was no way to browse archival material on a disc and listen to a song in high resolution at the same time" Young said in a statement. “Previous technology required unacceptable quality compromises. I am glad we waited and got it right.
"And here is something really new, we will be able to add content to already released Blu-ray Disc archive volumes by downloading it, whether it is music, film or vintage recording sessions, recently found photographs, or other archival materials that were located after the release of that volume. Users will be able to download any of these archival materials and they will automatically be assigned to their place in the chronology timeline.”
Java.com will be featuring the work with Neil Young and the archive project in a special Java + Neil Young segment. Java + Neil Young will include links to Young's appearance at JavaOne, as well as links to more information about the upcoming Blu-ray Disc package.

Major labels and a retailer have finally found a way to keep mostly forgotten titles available: Print the CDs on demand.
A unit of Amazon, CreateSpace, is introducing its “Disc on Demand” service,  a partnership between Amazon, Sony BMG and EMI Music that will bring back hundreds of popular out-of-print jazz, blues and  rock-and-roll titles.
The new CDs are manufactured on-demand and shipped when customers place an order.
First offerings include  the "Hatari Soundtrack” by Henry Mancini, “Earthquake Weather” by Joe Strummer, “Motorcade of Generosity” by Cake and the Blue Note releases “Telepathy” by Bill Stewart, “Foreign Intrigue” by Tony Williams and “Carryin’ On” by Grant Green.
Now let's get real here: Green's 1969 album "Carryin' On," from the guitarist's boogaloo period, was released  as part of Blue Note's Rare Groove CD series in 1995.Why not release the truly OOP "Gooden's Corner" and "Nigeria"? Those titles have never been released in their original form as they only appeared as part of Mosaic's stunning "Complete Grant Green with Sonny Clark," which is no longer available, and Blue Note's "Complete Quartets" package.
In addition, labels and content providers are using Disc on Demand to release new titles on Amazon.com, including the next KCRW “Sounds Eclectic” release and the soundtrack to the ESPN program “World’s Strongest Man.”

Warner Music Group has seemingly come to the realization that recorded music is too expensive for most people and will begin studying variable pricing with the hopes of finding "sweet spots" for consumers.
WMG has give Digonex Technologies the task of studying certain titles and certain retailers - no specifics yet - to generate recommendations on varying wholesale prices for select digital album downloads. Idea is to get prices in line with "perceived market value."
Apple's iTunes have long fought the idea of variable pricing, a concept that has been a mainstay in the brick-and-mortar world.(Wal-Mart, for example, wants only five prices for music, starting as low as $5.99). If wholesale prices vary and iTunes sticks to its one-price-fits-all, the music company can raise their hands and proclaim "hey, not our fault that music is so expensive." 
Digonex uses its a dynamic commerce engine DigitalOnlineExchange, which suggests changes to prices based upon behavioral principles. The principle: Sell as many as possible and make sure the customer feels like they got their money's worth.

Does Eric Clapton miss the days of Derek and the Dominos? He kicked off his U.S. tour Saturday in Tampa, Fla., with a set that leaned more heavily on "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" than any other album in his storied career.   
Some of it might owe to his band  - Doyle Bramhall II on guitar, Chris Stainton on keyboards and Pino Palladino on bass - as well as the spirit of the opening act, Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
At the Ford Amphitheater on May 3, Clapton played:
Tell The Truth /  Key To The Highway / Hoochie Coochie Man / Little Wing /  Double Trouble /  Don't Knock My Love / Outside Woman Blues / Nobody Knows You / Rockin' Chair / Motherless Child /  Traveling Riverside Blues / Running On Faith / Motherless Children /  Little Queen of Spades / Before You Accuse Me / Wonderful Tonight / Layla /  Cocaine /  Crossroads (with Robert Randolph)

Tom Waits is using the constellation Hydra to guide his U.S. tour and a collection of stars that might only exist in his mind to plot a Spain to Dublin European trek, which translates to no gigs west of Phoenix or north of Atlanta along the East Coast. 
His "press conference" spells out details below. Tour dates:
June
17/18  Orpheum, Phoenix
20  Plaza Theater, El Paso, Tex.
22  Jones Hall, Houston
23  Palladium, Dallas
25  Brady Theater Tulsa, Okla.
26  Fox Theater, St Louis
28 Ohio Theater, Columbus, Ohio
29 Civic Theater, Knoxville, Tenn.
July
1 Moran Theater, Jacksonville, Fla.
2 Saenger Theater, Mobile, Ala.
3 Alabama Theater, Birmingham
5 Fox Theater, Atlanta

Absence can be a tricky gambit in music, one taken in the past week by Portishead, Tom Petty’s first significant band and Steve Winwood. All three released impressive albums on April 29 with different attitudes toward past lives: Winwood is reconciling ‘70s and ‘80s personae; Mudcrutch reflects Petty’s take on a 1971-72 milieu; and Portishead discards its own history to create a take on the Nico-Dagmar Krause aesthetic with abundant industrial textures.
Portishead’s “Third,” the Brit trio’s first album in more than 10 years, is not only the most daring of the three, it may well be the most adventurous major label release of the year. Thematically dramatic and dark, with the enthralling Beth Gibbons singing about self-doubt and romance with an overriding sense of vulnerability, Portishead leaves its past in the dust. “Third” is a reinvention of a band, a second phase that occurred organically and was not forced to happen as the first phase lost artistic  or commercial currency.
That dilemma reached up and bit Winwood after his 1982-1990 reinvention as a purveyor of contemporary British blue-eyed soul and, whether planned or not, made his albums few and far between: “Nine Lives” is only his third album in 17 years, but the first to honestly connect Spencer Davis Group and Traffic with the more polished solo artist.
Winwood returned to his spot behind the keyboard after the release of 1997’s “Junction Seven.” Six years later, when String Cheese Incident’s label released his “About Time” album, which Sony later picked up, Winwood was positioned as a patriarch of the jam band scene. His handful of recent shows with Eric Clapton reconnected with the initial incarnation of the jam band universe, Blind Faith, again raising hope that Winwood connect the dots between past and present.
“Nine Lives” could use a little more organ and a couple of sax solos veer too close to smooth jazz, but otherwise the collection is full of smart, potent and forcefully delivered tracks. The presence of Clapton as a soloist suggests that relationship has the ability to still bear fruit and as white-boy funk goes, Winwood remains a master. Released by Columbia, it is a far better sounding record and more focused effort than “About Time,” the result of time and money.
Those two attributes are in evidence on the debut album of “Mudcrutch,” recorded in 10 days about 32 years after the band broke up. Mudcrutch features Heartbreakers Petty on bass, Mike Campbell on guitar and Benmont Tench on keyboards along with Tom Leadon on guitar and Randall Marsh on drums. They recorded a single for Asylum after moving to L.A. from Gainesville, Fla., that went nowhere; the band never got to release its version of “Don’t Do Me Like That.”
Beyond a reunion, Mudcrutch gave Petty a chance to experiment with doing things the old-fashioned way – write tunes in a hurry, record songs in a single take and do everything live. The procedure yielded a nine-minute Allmans-esque jam, Crystal River, about a half-dozen twists on the Flying Burrito Brothers including the bluegrass-inspired flatpicking on “June Apple” and a pop tune, “Oh Maria,” that could be part of the Heartbreakers’ arsenal.
Live, Mudcrutch and Portishead re-produced their records. Mudcrutch, at the Troubadour, was a tight country-rock band with a few fun covers (Dylan, the Killer), while Portishead was impressive in each individual performance but has yet to figure out a way to smoothly segue from their past to their present. Winwood will be opening shows this summer for Petty & the Heartbreakers; it may well be the season’s most interesting rock timeline on display.
Of the three albums, Portishead is the likely top-seller with predictions hovering around 50,000. Mudcrutch should do about half of that.

Since the last post, I have attended four concerts and seen 28 acts leaving me with 72 concerts and 184 acts to go on the path to 100/300.
On the stereo:
Car: Daniella Cotton “Rock N Soul”; Esperanza Spalding; Cinematic Orchestra “Live at the Royal Albert Hall”; Duffy “Rockferry”; Scarlett Johansson “Anywhere I Lay My Head”; Hayes Carll “Trouble in Mind”
Home: Jacob Young “Sideways”; Raconteurs “Consolers of the Lonely”; David Grisman Quintet “DGQ-20” (disc 2); Steve Miller Band box set (disc 2); Billy Bragg “Mr. Love & Justice”

...will be announced before the sun rises in the U.S. on Monday. Or so we are led to believe. Tour is being called "Glitter and Doom." His "under construction"website will apparently launch with the announcement around 6 a.m. on the East Coast.
Not sure where the "doom" comes in, but in the song "Fannin Street," Waits sings:
"Once I held you in my arms, I was sure
But I took that silent stare through the guilded door
The desire to have much more, all the glitter and the roar,
I know this is where the sidewalk ends."

Neil Young, a longtime technology fanatic, will do a special demo of a new multi-media, interactive music project being introduced at the JavaOne confab next week.
Young will join Sun Microsystems executives during the opening keynote session of JavaOne at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.The JavaOne conference, which runs May 6-9, is mostly attended by software developers.

Madonna performed Wednesday at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. David Sprague reports:
Despite the fact that the gig fell into the blink-and-you-missed-it category — Madge was on and off the stage in less than 40 minutes — there wasn’t a whole lot missing, other than a few of the singer’s bigger hits. Since the show was designed to wave the flag for “Hard Candy,” which was released the day before, four of the set’s six songs came from that album.
Hitting the stage promptly at 10 p.m. -- in deference to MSN, which was airing a live webcast -- Madonna led her four-piece band through a bump ‘n grind “Candy Shop," exuding a sensuality that seemed utterly natural (a contrast to the often forced burlesque of her recent live oeuvre). Momentum seemed to flag a bit when she picked up an acoustic guitar to strum through the wistful ‘Miles Away,” a song that would’ve made for a nice interlude midway through a lengthier perf, but seemed misplaced at the front end of such a brief program.
Things got back on track quickly, however, when she -- not entirely unexpectedly -- called on Justin Timberlake to join her on “4 Minutes,” the duet they recorded for “Hard Candy.” Timberlake proved an admirable foil, both vocally and in a bit of pantomime that cast him as a submissive in a realm ruled by the woman of the hour.
The peripatetic singer exorcised her inner rock star on a deconstructed “Hung Up,” strapping on an electric guitar for some riffing that was intended to elicit head-banging, but merely brought on some mild nods. She recovered nicely with a one-two closing salvo that culminated with an animated “Music” that showcased some dazzling choreography and an outsized light show, both of which bode well for the arena jaunt that’s likely to follow.

Largo, one of my favorite venues since it opened in 1992 and was booking acts like the Wild Colonials and Love Jones, will shutter its 120-seat Fairfax Avenue location after a final comedy show Monday and open June 2 at the Coronet Theater space on La Cienega. Aimee Mann, who will release an album June 3, will be the first performer.
Move is motivated by wanting to get away from the bar business and having more space.
“You get tired of turning people away,” Largo owner Mark Flanagan said while we toured the new space Wednesday afternoon. The news has been out there for a little while, but the renovations taking place in the two performance spaces make it clear this will quickly become a reality.
Since Flanagan took over as sole owner in 1996, Largo has been known as a haven for singer-songwriters, such as Fiona Apple, Grant Lee Phillips and Nellie McKay, as well as comedians.
The Coronet has been a legit theater since it was built in the mid-1940s and once housed the West Coast offices of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The bar space next door, the former Coronet Pub, is slated for renovation and reopening as well.
New venue boasts two performances spaces — a 280-seat theater and a smaller room that can accommodate up to 70 — as well as a lobby space and a courtyard. The stage from Largo will be placed in the Little Room as it is being called. Unlike the current venue, it will not serve food beyond pastries and gelato and will only have a beer and wine license for the smaller room. Tickets will be sold as they are now, via a phone reservation system, and through a box office that is expected to be open in the afternoons.
“Different is good,” said Jon Brion, the composer-performer whose Friday-night residency, which has lasted 12 years, will continue in the new home dubbed Largo at the Coronet. “Here it is obvious that (the evening) is about the performance. It will be more focused.”
Coincidentally, as the doors on the original Largo are closing, a documentary on the venue will be starting to make the festival rounds. “Largo” has been accepted at the Los Angeles Film Festival — screening June 22 —  and the Times BFI London Film Festival.
The trailer: