It's time for some new music

Jens Johansson,

Psychedelia to the extreme. He will take you down a very twisting road, with some of the most amazing keyboard work imaginable.

It's funny but I have a thread now on good music to judge soundstage by, and Jens Johansson surely is on my list.

There is one cut that has his synth making what sounds like a whirling dervish running around in an 8 foot circle between the speakers and you, in 3D. His effects are really quite astounding, and I have no idea how he does it.

Jens is quite well known in the progressive rock/jazz world and has played with the likes of Jonas Hellborg, Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Allan Holdsworth among others.

Best,
Ron

With any luck a Google hunt should get a few short free samples for most of your list.

-Edmund Welles is a bass clarinet quartet put together by Cornelius Boots (no one in the band is named Edmund). The Agrippa's 3 Books CD refrences three books of occult philosophy and has versions of Spinal Tap's Big Bottom and Black Sabbath's Into the Void so you might not expect to be hit with an exceptionally high level of musicianship. It hits pretty hard...probably one of the heaviest bass clarinet discs around.

-Todd Sickafoose, excellent bassist/band leader. Dogs Outside and Blood Orange are interseting jazz rock keepers. Blood Orange may be a little more impressive (having Nels Cline and Ches Smith on the recording doesn't hurt).

-Preston Reed is obviously a phenomenal acoustic guitarist. If you have alot of Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke already Reed might not be hitting alot of new nerve endings.

Some of those artists are listed at cdbaby.com. If you haven't checked there I recommend it. I have found some interesting music there.

I have some live tapes of the Kevin Hays Trio. Kevin is the brother of Ken Hays. Ken was the owner of a CT company Terrapin Tapes. They sold blank recording media and accessories to the live taping community. In addition, Terrapin did it's share of concert promotion, including an annual event called "The Gathering of the Vibes" a three day event held each June in the Northeast.

The Kevin Hays Trio performed there several times and I had my decks rolling for their set. I believe it was around 1999 or 2000. They are a jazz trio that play a mix of original and jazz standard covers. Very enjoyable to listen to.

Thanks everyone. I knew about cdbaby.com and I heard samples of most of the artists. Your added comments helped me.

Rayd