Gov't Mule | The Deepest End is a live album recorded at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, a place where some of the best bassists in the world annually spend their first weekend in May. The album is a celebration of a long bass player search to replace the late Allen Woody, and features a who's who of bassists like Les Claypool, Dave Schools, Mike Gordon, Victor Wooten and Rob Wassterman, as well as guests like Bela Fleck, David Hidalgo and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. It's an epic double album, and no matter who is sitting in on what track, guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes is always the central focus of whatever Gov’t Mule does. He’s a naturally soulful singer, and an equally ripping guitarist. If somehow you are not familiar with Gov't Mule, start here. - tk

My Life In The Bush of Ghosts is part Talking Heads, part talking chickens without heads. In 1981, Brian Eno and David Byrne randomly taped politicians, ethnic folkies and exorcists (you must hear "The Jezebel Spirit") off the radio, treated and cut up their voices, and combined them with dark, dance music. They did everything with tape and knife that people now do with samplers; nobody has ever done it quite like Eno/Byrne. With today's new technology, probably no one ever will. There's still nothing like it. - Nick D.

Patterson Hood | killers and stars is the dark solo debut from the leader of the Drive By Truckers. Stripped down and angry, Killers and Stars finds Hood with only his acoustic and a world of pain. Dealing with divorce and all around life trouble, Hood recorded this album as a means to exorcise his demons. Not the happiest of material, but damn fine for whiskey and heartbreak.
-Kayceman

Hands down the highlight of my day was talking with uber bassist Reed Mathis of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Reed and I talked about some of the artists that influenced and inspired him for an upcoming Celebrity Playlists feature on JamBaseRhapsody. I won't give away the entire dialogue here, but definitely stream Reed's playlist featuring some of his favorite tracks from Prince, David Byrne, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Bobby McFerrin, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Joni Mitchell and John Coltrane. Good stuff. - TK

I, Elizabeth l. Bridge, do adore this album because of Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and the lovely Sting. Synchronicity has a greatest hits type of flavor to it, pretty much every song is great! If you slept through the 80's, you can make up for lost time by clicking here. - EB

I just got off the phone with legendary guitarist Fareed Haque, we spoke for the first installment of JamBaseRhapsody: Celebrity Playlists. Fareed had so many great albums to recommend, starting here with Pat Martino | We'll Be Together Again. This album is a wonderfully intimate duo with electric pianist Gil Goldstein, totally introspective and gorgeous. Fareed says, "Pat was the guitarist's guitarist. He came to fusion from bebop, not via rock-n-roll, and that was so profound to me. I modeled my electric guitar tone after Pat." - TK

Widespread Panic's new joint, Uber Cobra is now streaming on Rhapsody. This album is their second live release from the November 2003 House of Blues run, and Widespread Panic has released 12 acoustic tracks that allow George McConnell to display his strength on guitar. Mixing Panic staples like Neil Young's "Walk On," and "Can't Get High" with reworked bluegrass versions of "Imitation Leather Shoes" and "Mercy" shows a Panic beast that is adapting to it's new lineup. Toss in a few rare nuggets like "Party At Your Mama's House" and "Geraldine & the Honeybee" and all of a sudden you have a must have for any Panic fan.  - The Tall Boy

If you're new to the game of Panic, you might want to start with this Widespread Panic Sampler.

Get on the Funkfoot! Have yourself a Funky Friday and let Grover Washington Jr's Live At The Bijou kick out the groove for you. As funkateer Nick D put it, "Washington always cut loose live and this incredibly funky 1978 date is no exception. The saxophonist is so famous for trailblazing smooth jazz that people forget what an exciting and uniquely gifted musician he was. This album, like so much of his work from the 1970s, is a great reminder." If you want to dig deeper into Grover's catalog, this link is to Grover's Anthology: The Best Of Grover Washington, Jr. GWJr also plays on the Four Tops Fourever Box Set as well as Lean On Me: The Best Of Bill Withers.

Check out the latest from The Roots, The Tipping Point. Intelligent vocalism and neck-breaking beats still abound, and the Philly crew impresses as usual. They've cut through the crap on this, their 8th LP, and have put together a hell of a hip-hop album. - G$
 

 

Anniversary Playlist: It was one year ago this weekend that Adam had a Rhapsody party and turned dozens of people on to the celestial jukebox we love so much. Click andl listen to the playlist selected by late night Rhapsody Ragers at the post phish party at Adam's. Some goods in here, from Common to Talking Heads to OutKast to Parliament to Mos Def to Flaming Lips, come and get your groove on! Relive the glories...