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Umphrey's McGee Plays "25 or 6 to 4"
Mike McKinley
January 9, 2012
Check out Umphrey's McGee with guests Mad Dog's Filthy Little Secret Horns take on the Chicago classic "25 or 6 to 4" during their NYE show at the Pagaent in St. Louis, MO. And Jeff Waful's lights? Ridiculous.



Here's another ambitious and impressive cover from a month earlier -- the Rolling Stone's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" with the Chicago Mass Choir.

The Barr Brothers on Letterman
Mike McKinley
January 6, 2012
It's rare to see something this beautiful on TV.

Funky Monday: Sparkplug's A Full-Rage Christmas
Mike McKinley
December 19, 2011
Might as well make the holiday season funky‚ right? Sparkplug (The Music of Melvin Sparks) agrees. Here's A Full-Rage Christmas for your streaming or purchasing pleasure. Pick up a copy here.



Funky Monday: Herbie Hancock - "Hang Up Your Hang Ups"
Mike McKinley
December 12, 2011
It's Funky Monday... because Friday has been owning that shit for way too long.

When it comes to the funkier side of Herbie Hancock‚ people swear by Head Hunters and Thrust (see the album cover below -- how can you not dig a record with Herbie driving a keyboard spaceship?)‚ but the sleeper from that era is 1975's Man-Child.

The record's filled with groove gems and even Stevie Wonder makes a guest harmonica appearance. But the timing of the record was just on the brink of a sound evolution… you know‚ when warm sounding synths were slowly merging and being replaced with sonic cheese. On Man-Child‚ Herbie and his band were on top of their game‚ and even with the introduction to some less flattering sounds‚ Herbie uses them right.

The first track‚ "Hang Up Your Hang Ups‚" is the best on the record. A classic funk score with each moving part as tasty as it can be -- just listen to the guitar riff and then the synth's reaction to it. Complete polyphonic bliss. And then it shifts gears with an explosive acoustic piano outro that reminds you‚ "Oh shit‚ that's right! Herbie is a world class jazz pianist." "Hang Up Your Hang Ups"… words to live by.



Funky Monday: Grant Green - "The Final Comedown"
Mike McKinley
December 5, 2011
It's Funky Monday... because Friday has been owning that shit for way too long.

It only takes hearing one note to know Grant Green is playing guitar. It's not just his tone, it's the way he would play a note -- it's like you hear his soul too. Here's "The Final Comedown," a tune that I've always really dug from the latter part of his career, when he was doing more funk-oriented stuff. Even in its brevity, the playing is super tasty. And the hi-hat breaks just make this nugget irresistible and timeless…

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