As I'm watching old clips of Curtis Mayfield, Stanley Clarke & George Duke and Tom Petty play on the Old Grey Whistle test, there is no shows for singer-songwriters and instrumentalists to really shine and have a place to just jam. I don't dislike shows like 106 and Park, because there is a place in the market for shows dedicated to playing videos i.e. Total Request Live, Video Soul, American Bandstand. But the Old Grey Whistle Test was 3 decades ago, and I have a whole new perspective on a lot of cats I wrote off as being whitebread or vanilla. The last show that even came close to this concept was a show that ran on BET J for a couple years called Studio Jams.

The premise was to invite studio musicians from jazz, rock, funk, country and play. The episodes were mainly instrumental, but I learned how musicians talked to each other, and the importance of structure even in improvisational music. Chico Huff, Gerald Veasley, Jeff Lee Johnson, Jeff Berlin, Will Calhoun of Living Colour really inspired me to pick up the bass. American Idol has done a lot of damage to the music industry. It's like Star Search but it's propelling people who either can't sing or tries to sound like Patti Labelle by oversinging and shouting onto the public. As much I dig Prince, when he went on American Idol, I lost some respect for him, because AI is anything but being about "real music by real muscians".If I could I would kill American Idol with a firing squad one by one. Lastly, the camaraderie and teamwork that it takes to call out a tune, designate solos etc. is something that young people could learn and benefit from.

On PBS, there's shows like Austin City Limits and Soundstage.

...

I'm still lamenting the Sunday Night- Night Music and After New Years shows that David Sanborn helped to bring to NBC late night from 1988 to 1990 and briefly in 1997 and '98. That show was a revolving door of master musicians from all across the spectrum, playing separately and together in wild combinations. But even with the star power they had, it was still hard to get sponsors, a good time slot or a sizeable viewing audience. In fact, with a time slot like Midnight on Sunday nights, I'm sure most people had no idea it was on..

Just a sampling of musicians that guested on the show:

Miles Davis, D'angelo, Eric Clapton, Sun Ra, Bootsy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Screamin Jay Hawkins, James Taylor, Sting, Milton Nascimento, Al Green , Donald Fagen, Patti Austin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Curtis Mayfield, Todd Rundgren, Take 6, Sonic Youth, Arto Lindsay, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Marcus Miller, Al Jarreau, Boz Skaggs, Harry Connick, Jr., Was (Not) Was, George Duke, Robert Cray, Gang Starr, Branford Marsalis, Djavan, Cowboy Junkies, The Kronos Quartet, Jean Luc Ponty, The Pat Metheny Group, Cassandra Wilson, Deborah Harry, Betty Carter, Isaac Hayes, Jewel, NRBQ, John Sebastien, Stanley Turrentine, David Lindley, Taylor Dane, David Peaston, Rufus Thomas, Pere Ubu, Pharoah Sandars, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Sonny Rollins, The Roches, The Lounge Lizards, Joe Sample, Earl Klugh... just to name a few....

Probably wouldn't last on a network, but I'd like to see Cable try something like this again....

....

[Edited 4/18/11 14:11pm]

paligap said:

...

I'm still lamenting the Sunday Night- Night Music and After New Years shows that David Sanborn helped to bring to NBC late night from 1988 to 1990 and briefly in 1997 and '98. That show was a revolving door of master musicians from all across the spectrum, playing separately and together in wild combinations. But even with the star power they had, it was still hard to get sponsors, a good time slot or a sizeable viewing audience. In fact, with a time slot like Midnight on Sunday nights, I'm sure most people had no idea it was on..

Just a sampling of musicians that guested on the show:

Miles Davis, D'angelo, Eric Clapton, Sun Ra, Bootsy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Screamin Jay Hawkins, James Taylor, Sting, Milton Nascimento, Al Green , Donald Fagen, Patti Austin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Curtis Mayfield, Todd Rundgren, Take 6, Sonic Youth, Arto Lindsay, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Marcus Miller, Al Jarreau, Boz Skaggs, Harry Connick, Jr., Was (Not) Was, George Duke, Robert Cray, Gang Starr, Branford Marsalis, Djavan, Cowboy Junkies, The Kronos Quartet, Jean Luc Ponty, The Pat Metheny Group, Cassandra Wilson, Deborah Harry, Betty Carter, Isaac Hayes, Jewel, NRBQ, John Sebastien, Stanley Turrentine, David Lindley, Taylor Dane, David Peaston, Rufus Thomas, Pere Ubu, Pharoah Sandars, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Sonny Rollins, The Roches, The Lounge Lizards, Joe Sample, Earl Klugh... just to name a few....

Probably wouldn't last on a network, but I'd like to see Cable try something like this again....

Sadly that's the problem...we who care about "real music by real musicians" are the minority.

Not enough of us to keep advertisers paying money to the show.

paligap said:

...

I'm still lamenting the Sunday Night- Night Music and After New Years shows that David Sanborn helped to bring to NBC late night from 1988 to 1990 and briefly in 1997 and '98. That show was a revolving door of master musicians from all across the spectrum, playing separately and together in wild combinations. But even with the star power they had, it was still hard to get sponsors, a good time slot or a sizeable viewing audience. In fact, with a time slot like Midnight on Sunday nights, I'm sure most people had no idea it was on..

Just a sampling of musicians that guested on the show:

Miles Davis, D'angelo, Eric Clapton, Sun Ra, Bootsy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Screamin Jay Hawkins, James Taylor, Sting, Milton Nascimento, Al Green , Donald Fagen, Patti Austin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Curtis Mayfield, Todd Rundgren, Take 6, Sonic Youth, Arto Lindsay, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Marcus Miller, Al Jarreau, Boz Skaggs, Harry Connick, Jr., Was (Not) Was, George Duke, Robert Cray, Gang Starr, Branford Marsalis, Djavan, Cowboy Junkies, The Kronos Quartet, Jean Luc Ponty, The Pat Metheny Group, Cassandra Wilson, Deborah Harry, Betty Carter, Isaac Hayes, Jewel, NRBQ, John Sebastien, Stanley Turrentine, David Lindley, Taylor Dane, David Peaston, Rufus Thomas, Pere Ubu, Pharoah Sandars, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Sonny Rollins, The Roches, The Lounge Lizards, Joe Sample, Earl Klugh... just to name a few....

Probably wouldn't last on a network, but I'd like to see Cable try something like this again....

....

[Edited 4/18/11 14:11pm]

I agree, man.

Never heard of 106 & Park bruh!!

Sunday Night- Night Music and After New Years. I was a freshman in high school in '97, but now that I'm much older, I really appreciate the journey that musicians take to reach their creative peaks. I love books like 33 1/3 and that show that ran on VH1 about classic albums. I agree there isn't a sizeable enough market to keep a show like that on network tv, but cable could. But how did the Old Grey Whistle Test succeed, because weren't they on network tv?

As I recall, when Maxwell put out Black Summer's Night he had a 30 minute documentary that chronicled the making of his record, and I gained a new perspective of him. I thought of him as many a vocalist, but his understanding of music theory, and respect for music, deepened my respect for him.

I've heard about Bootsy Collins funk university and that's a start, but another thing would be have music clinics for inner city youths. I think young people, particularly us people of color have to widen the paradigm. There's more to music than rapping and using pro-tools to make a beat. And music clinics with respected musicians could go a long way affecting music for the better. I'm aware of music clinics but they are usually out of the city and not accessible for a lot of people who don't have a lot of money.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Never heard of 106 & Park bruh!!

Me neither. What's that?

[Edited 4/18/11 17:53pm]

bashraka said:

But how did the Old Grey Whistle Test succeed, because weren't they on network tv?

Isn't that a UK show?

Enough with Idol and The Voice. I'd like to see CBS or NBC to do a weekly show with artists performing live

I'd also like to see a revival or Soul Train or American Bandstand...or even a US version of Top Of The Pops

http://www.youtube.com/wa...-"Concrete Jungle" by Bob Marley

http://www.youtube.com/wa...WE6U-Bruce Springsteen

http://www.youtube.com/wa...mHaSQ-Gary Moore

Google the Old Grey Whistle Test

...

a few clips from Sunday Night/Night Music and After New Years

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[Edited 4/19/11 0:53am]

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[Edited 4/19/11 1:21am]

I agree that it would be great to have a show that featured bands and musician's on a regular basis. I did watch Austin City Limits a lot at one time.... but, it seemed that the diversity started running dry when they started featuring dudes with beards, strumming acoustic guitars, playing some sort of Eagles-Folk-Country-Rock hybird every week. I began to lose interest and drift away...

Old Grey Whistle Test was amazing...everything from Return To Forever to Judas Priest.

Those types of shows, as mentioned, never seem to last. Not enough people out there care about seeing bands and musicians perform.

As for American Idol... I don't mind it at all. I LOVE singers as much as I love instrumentalists. I have zero fault in Prince or anyone else appearing on a show that's watched by 20 million people. Most of us in the business would absolutely embrace such an opportunity.

The only issue I take is the "judging"..... I'd rather see these kids just perform, sing their hearts out and leave it at that..without the performances being picked apart. But, it IS a competition I guess.

Now that we're in the digital world, a show like Sunday Night/Night Music and After New Years could be broadcasted virally. Youtube and other websites could do a show that features live music for serious musicians. I think Darryl Hall did a show where folks would come to sing and play at his house every week. And the guests would be diverse from Smokey Robinson to Don Henley. It's a concept that would be good musically, creatively, and depending on who produces it, reap monetary benefits.

Live from Daryl’s House

Daryl Hall Jamming in home studio w/ guests. Seem to recall episodes aired on cable at some point but no longer. All 41 Episodes to date can be viewed online...

Past episodes of Live from Daryl’s House have featured a mix of well-known performers like Train, Rob Thomas, Smokey Robinson, The Doors’ Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, Nick Lowe, K.T. Tunstall, Todd Rundgren, Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, Finger Eleven’s James Black and Rick Jackett, the Bacon Brothers and country star Jimmy Wayne, along with newcomers such as Philly soul singer Mutlu, Canadian techno-rockers Chromeo, pop-rock phenom Eric Hutchinson, Cash Money rocker Kevin Rudolf, Wind-up Records’ Chicago rockers Company of Thieves, Bay Area singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson, Charlottesville, VA’s rising Parachute, Plain White T’s, Fitz and the Tantrums, Diane Birch and Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings.

^ I was gonna mention that but I forgot.

Props to Daryl Hall.

There was a show that took place in a Manhattan studio (think it was called studio sessions or something). Jams w/ Derek Trucks and company, Vernon Reid, John Bingam (Fishbone/ Miles Davis) guested a few times.

Tossed diverse musical backgrounds into the fishbowl and taped the results. VVG

Google is not my friend this afternoon and am at a loss for the show's title...

AKABubbleup said:

There was a show that took place in a Manhattan studio (think it was called studio sessions or something). Jams w/ Derek Trucks and company, Vernon Reid, John Bingam (Fishbone/ Miles Davis) guested a few times.

Tossed diverse musical backgrounds into the fishbowl and taped the results. VVG

Google is not my friend this afternoon and am at a loss for the show's title...

Yeah, that's it--actually, bashraka was talking about that show at the beginning of the thread---I love the way they would show the musicians working off of each other, listening to each other and getting the tunes down....

...

The name of the program is Studio Jams. Here's the website link: www.studiojams.com. This sho introduced me to the amazing world of studio musicians playing and interacting with each other. Stars get th fame and recognition, but without these guys there would be no music. The camaraderie and sense of brotherhood and togetherness is another reason why I dug this program.

bashraka said:

The name of the program is Studio Jams. Here's the website link: www.studiojams.com. This sho introduced me to the amazing world of studio musicians playing and interacting with each other. Stars get th fame and recognition, but without these guys there would be no music. The camaraderie and sense of brotherhood and togetherness is another reason why I dug this program.

Doh! thanks. Sat my violin studying nephew down to watch episode 15 (Tracy Silverman) back in the day. It was inspiration enough that I'm glad to say he's still in the game....

Just not feeling the concept of commercial interrupted corporate homogenization. Sometimes it's necessary to show new and interesting music on TV, but I'd rather have independently financed webisodes. Folks really need to get their cheap lazy asses out to nightclubs to see and hear live music.

Admittedly I'm biased cuz I'm going back for another 21 Nights gig!

PFunkjazz said:

Folks really need to get out to nightclubs to see and hear live music.

No thanks. I do not want to be around people drinking, smoking, fighting, cursing, or trying to pick up a date. Listening to my stereo is good enough for me.