The Safari finds Progressive Metal? in France from Spheric Universe Experience – Mental Torments!

One of the albums that has been on the iPhone for a while now is Spheric Universe Experience‘s 2005 debut album Mental Torments. I had started my explorations of the band’s music with their 2012 release New Ere  and after the fist listen I wasn’t quite sold on the band. So I went back and listened to Mental Torments, which was their highest rated album at the  Prog Archives. I liked that album a lot more. Now I need to explore the two albums released in between number one and number four to know if I’m completely sold on the band! Read More

This Day in Music – January 30, 1930 – Wes’ baby brother – Buddy Montgomery was born!

Buddy MontgomeryOn this day in 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several  years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings. Read More

Buddy Montgomery Wes’ baby brother -born January 30, 1930

Buddy Montgomery – Primary Instrument – Vibraphone

On January 30. 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several  years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings. Read More

The Safari Re-Explores Re-explores Progressive Metal from the UK’s Maschine – Rubidium!

Tonight, I re-explored the album Rubidium from Maschine. I say re-explored because I had listened to the album for the first time several months ago and really enjoyed it. The band hails from the United Kingdom and is labeled at Prog Archives as progressive metal. Personally, I don’t think that they are as heavy as many of the progressive metal bands I’ve listened to. The band’s name seems to have been derived from the founder of the band vocalist and guitarist Luke Machin. Machin who had played with both Tangent and It Bits formed the band in  at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music in 2008. The line-up for the band includes: Elliot Fuller on guitar, Dan Mash on bass, James Stewart on drums and Georgia Lewis on keyboards. Read More

Today in Music – Jan 29, 1968 – Noel Lorica – Jazz Guitarist and Vet is born!!

Whenever I look down the list of Jazz artists birthdays for that day, I always keep a special eye out for guitarists. Today that eye landed on the name of Noel Lorica. Noel was born on this day in 1968 in Manila in the Philippines.. As an accomplished guitarist and Latin jazz artist he has received acclaim for his playing resulting in 21 Grammy Ballot entries! Read More

The Safari – meets Philadelphian, Chicagoan, New Yorker, pianist, organist Ben Paterson!!

So on Sunday while I was exploring the music and legacy of Lester Young, I also listened to the music of a new musician, Ben Paterson. His Trio’s new album Essential Elements is currently,number 4 on the Roots Music Reports Jazz Chart. On Sunday I put the album on while I was reading and I really didn’t notice the album as the first two songs went by, but then the songs and Paterson’s piano playing got stronger and stronger and by the end of the album I was a fan! I listened to the album again tonight and was more impressed the second time around! Now I’m listening to his second release Blues for Oscar, which is pretty good, too. Now, I only have to go and listen to his first album Breathing Spaces! From his biography at his website: Read More

The Safari Explores the Music of Lester Young – better late than never!

Lester Young died when I was 7 years old. His last performance was in Paris, at the tail end of an abbreviated European Tour in March of 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke. During that tour, Young ate next to nothing and virtually drank himself to death. He died on March 15th, only hours after arriving back in New York. He was 49 years old!!. Yesterday, Lester’s name came up, as I surfed the web looking for music. When I saw the name, I said you know I really don’t know much about Lester other than he played the saxophone.When I went to Wikipedia here’s what I found. Read More

Neo Prog from the Kingdom of Bahrain – Osiris – Tales of the Divers!!!

Ok so I can’t remember how I came across this band,but somehow I was surfing around looking for Osiris. I think it was from Progstreaming or maybe Just for You on MOG. Anyway the first thing that I found were two albums The Remnants of Life and Lost by a band that I thought was Osiris. I started to listen it was some good Prog Space Rock. When I went to Prog Archives and this is what I got when I typed in Osiris…… Read More