[Dixielandjazz] One Never Knows, Do One

[Steve barbone]

What in the world do Steve Mann, Janis Joplin and C.O.R.E., have to do with
OKOM? Well, before deleting, read the last 4 line paragraph. :-) VBG.

Yes, "music should be always be an adventure" Coleman Hawkins.

Cheers,
Steve


Take It! Take Another Little Piece of the 60's

NY TIMES - By ANGELA FRUCCI - December 18, 2005

Remember Steve Mann, that seminal 60's guitar picker? Those who don't may
perhaps be forgiven: he played with the greats, but made very few
recordings. Then mental illness, made worse by drugs, cut his career short.
Some fans assumed he was dead.

As if to prove them wrong, he has just released a new CD - "Steve Mann,
Alive and Pickin' " (Bella Roma Music). But the biggest surprise of all may
be some long-lost tracks featuring Janis Joplin.

In 1964, Mr. Mann lived in Santa Clara, Calif., with Jorma Kaukonen (of
Jefferson Airplane and, later, Hot Tuna). Joplin was seeking an accompanist
for a Congress of Racial Equality benefit. "She called me at Jorma's, and I
answered the phone," he recalled. He'd met her a year before in Los Angeles
at a hootenanny at the Troubadour.

So he took his 30-pound Grundig reel-to-reel on a bus to her apartment in
San Francisco, where the duo recorded into the night. "Just a recorder, a
bottle of Southern Comfort and a guitar," he said. "She picked the songs;
she had the material ready to go, she was singing really clear."

He returned home the next morning and went on to Los Angeles. He thought he
had the reels with him, but they were left behind at Mr. Kaukonen's
apartment. 

Steve Mann never knew what happened to the songs until almost a year ago,
when a guitar student named Ken Edwards sent him a CD filled with various
guitar outtakes, including some of Mr. Kaukonen. At the end of the CD, there
was Joplin, accompanied by Mr. Mann's guitar.

Mr. Edwards says he'd been given the recordings, on digital audio tape, by
Mr. Kaukonen's informal archivist.

"Jorma probably re-used the tapes," Mr. Edwards said. "And all that survived
was at the end of the tapes."

"The beginning tracks were most likely recorded over," he added.

The scratchy, informal Joplin/Mann session includes "Winin' Boy Blues," "Two
Nineteen Train," and "Trouble in Mind." Despite the poor audio quality, the
recordings are precious, a rare relic of Joplin. Her voice is young,
soulful, sultry, with its signature nasal timbre.

"One take," Mr. Mann said, still impressed.