Christmas In Hollywood

Over the years, many jazz artists have ended up detouring into pop when they recorded Christmas albums. But listeners can rest assured that Christmas in Hollywood is both a Christmas album and a true jazz album. Plas Johnson, of course, could have easily made this a pop recording -- the versatile tenor saxman has certainly backed his share of non-jazz artists, and is probably most noted for his performance on Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme”. Christmas in Hollywood, however, is very much a hard bop/soul-jazz recording.
It was a great pleasure for me to work with Plas once again on the production of this CD, as well as legendary balladeer and blues shouter Ernie Andrews.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/plas3

Royal Crown Revue Drummer Has New Book.

I recently interviewed Royal Crown Revue drummer Daniel Glass for an upcoming episode of Vinyl Meltdown (my podcast). It was a great hang as we played many sizzling sides, highlighting the evolution of Rhythm & Blues from the 1940s through the early 60’s.
Daniel has just released a great book, co-authored with fellow drummer/educator Zoro, entitled 'The Commandments of Early Rhythm & Blues Drumming'” (Alfred Music) . This long awaited publication has been eight years in the making, and delves into the rhythm and blues of the 1940s and '50s, a wonderful musical era when shuffles ruled the airwaves and modern groove playing was still in its infancy.
The duo's comprehensive book is loaded with in-depth historical information, photos, graphics, exercises, and transcriptions. I found the book to be highly engaging and a very cool read even for non-musician fans of retro cool music and history.
For ordering info please visit http://www.danielglass.com/