Conventional wisdom dictates that if you set out to form your basic Ajax Acme Do Good B-flat rock and roll outfit, about all you need is a guitar, a bass, and some drums.  Okay, a singer might be good and maybe somebody on keyboards or saxophone but after that you start getting into weird territory.  In other words, there’s a reason you’ve never heard of a rock band with a lead bassoon or a xylophone.  But the founding members of McKendree Spring weren’t discouraged by that sort of narrow thinking.  In 1969 they formed a drummer-less quartet with a violin up front and they played everywhere from Fillmore East to Radio City Music Hall and they shared those stages with everybody from Frank Zappa to Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys.  And they weren’t alone.  When you talk about violins in rock, twenty-five years before the Dave Matthew’s Band, anyway, you have to mention Seatrain with Richard Greene and Sid Page with Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.  And of course Charlie Daniels plays a pretty mean fiddle too.  But we’ve only got half an hour so we won’t get to hear from everybody. 

Still, today’s batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl flips the power on the electric violin.  Jean Luc Ponty steps away from the Mahavishnu Orchestra to take us on an “Imaginary Voyage.”  David LaFlame rosins up his bow with It’s a Beautiful Day.  The late, great Papa John Creach flies in on the Jefferson Airplane and the track “When the Earth Moves Again.”  But the focal point of the set is a composition by McKendree Spring’s violin player, Michael ‘Doc’ Dreyfus.  “God Bless the Conspiracy.”  An eight-and-a-half minute epic from their third album.  It consists of several movements of differing moods and tempos with a bed of psychedelic sound effects in the middle.  I broke “God Bless the Conspiracy” into six parts then reassembled them into one of our favorite sets ever.  Pay particular attention in the middle of the set as we play Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” over those psychedelic sound effects for an extended mix that’s astounding.  Bill Graham said they were “one of the best unknown bands in the world.”  So, from the Way Back Studios, here’s McKendree Spring.

That’s Michael “Doc” Dreyfus with what the Village Voice at the time called “the most original use of the electric violin we’ve heard.”  From 1972 -- McKendree Spring with the finale to “God Bless the Conspiracy,” a song we broke into six parts and hand mixed with several other electric fiddlers along with one from Santana, just because it sounded so cool.  The bulk of “God Bless the Conspiracy” was written by Dreyfus while the Overture and Finale are credited to his band mates, Fran McKendree and Martin Slutsky.   McKendree Spring released seven albums and played all over the world but never had huge commercial success.  I read on some website that before he joined the band Dreyfus earned degrees in physics and medicine, taught anatomy, and, I’m not making this up, did research into limb regeneration in newts.  Sounds like a lyric from a Frank Zappa record.  And speaking of Frank, earlier in the set we heard an excerpt from Part 4 of Jean Luc Ponty’s “Imaginary Voyage.”  Ponty was a violinist on the leading edge of jazz-rock fusion, having played with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra.  He also spent a lot of time with Frank Zappa, playing on several of his albums including Hot Rats and Overnight Sensation.  In fact Ponty did an entire album of Zappa covers, the centerpiece of which is a track called “Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra.” 

In the middle of the set, a Latin surprise.  While I’d planned to do a batch of songs all featuring electric violin, when I heard those sound effects in the middle of “God Bless the Conspiracy” I just knew it needed some percussion.  Grabbed Santana’s first record and came up with that mix with “Soul Sacrifice.”  Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.  Then we returned to the theme of the set with “Hot Summer Day” from It’s a Beautiful Day.  That’s David LaFlamme on electric violin.  And in the middle of that, we mixed over to Papa John Creach fiddling around with Jefferson Airplane from the “Bark” album.  Papa John went on to play with Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna and released several of his own albums on the Airplane’s Grunt label.  Well, we’ve fiddled away all our time for today, thanks for listening.  I’m Bill Fitzhugh back next time with a fresh batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl, and I hope you’ll join us, right here, in the Deep Tracks.

Once upon a time there was just rock ‘n’ roll.  Then those pesky artists started mixing different kinds of music to create hybrids.  And before we knew it there was country-rock, progressive-rock, folk-rock, psychedelic-rock, blues-rock, and jazz-rock, to name just a few.   Jazz-rock fusion has taken as many forms as the number of artists who have tried to mix the two.  From the Mahavishnu Orchestra and what the Penguin Guide to Jazz called the “gigantic torso of burstingly noisy music” of Miles Davis and “Bitches Brew” to the more accessible branch on the tree with the big horn bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ballinjack, and Chicago.  Further complicating matters in the mid 70’s, FM rock radio opened the door for another type of fusion, the jazz-R&B records of Ronnie Laws, Grover Washington, the Crusaders, and others.  In the meantime, artists like Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell were seamlessly integrating jazz elements into their songs.  And perhaps the band most adept not only at creating a true jazz-rock fusion but in creating popular music at the same time was Steely Dan.

Having said all that, what about Spirit and Blind Faith?  Probably not the first bands that come to mind when you think of jazz-rock fusion.  But these two very different bands had one thing in common.  Both of their drummers had jazz on their resumes.  Before Ed Cassidy helped form Spirit, he’d been in rhythm sections behind legends like Cannonball Adderly and Thelonious Monk.  And before joining Blind Faith, Ginger Baker came from a string of traditional jazz bands in the UK.  So today’s batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl takes a stab at showing the various forms that jazz-rock fusion can take.  We’ll hear from Spirit, the Crusaders, and the L.A. Express, without Tom Scott.  From Blind Faith, we’ll hear an excerpt from Ginger Baker’s composition, “Do What You Like” followed by Ronnie Laws and wrapping up with Steely Dan.  From the Way Back Studios, here’s some fresh fusion.

If you joined us somewhere in the middle of that set you may have found yourself wondering, ‘what’s with all the saxophones?’  The answer, they reveal, life is unreal.  Just throw out your gold teeth and see how they roll.  Steely Dan wrapped up that jazzy little batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl from their album Katy Lied, as fine an execution of jazz-rock fusion as you’re likely to find.  The fusion of those two forms being the whole point of that set.  Joining Becker and Fagen on “Your gold teeth II” were Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder, who stepped out of The Crusaders long enough to do studio work for countless other bands, including Steely Dan.  Near the top of the set we heard Carlton and Felder with The Crusaders doing “Stomp and buck dance” from their 1974 album Southern Comfort.  And in the middle of the set, from their debut without Tom Scott, The L.A. Express, produced by and featuring Wilton Felder, we heard “Midnight Flight.” 

At the top, on either side of the Crusaders we looked beneath the lid to see the things we didn’t quite consume.  Spirit’s “Fresh Garbage” done in two parts for your listening enjoyment.  In the middle of the set, we took a slice out of Blind Faith’s fifteen minute “Do What You Like” lifting the part that proved the point I was trying to make in the first place.  Then, during the bass solo, we slipped over to Ronnie Laws so smoothly, you didn’t notice.  From his album Pressure Sensitive, produced by Crusader, Wayne Henderson, we heard “Mis’ Mary’s Place.”  Which brings us to the question of who are these strangers who pass through the door, who cover your action and go you one more in the Way Back Studios?  I’m Bill Fitzhugh, thanks for listening.  We’ve to the set lists and show commentaries posted on billfitzhugh.com, so drop by and check ‘em out if your curious.  I’ll be back next time with a fresh batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl, and I hope you’ll join us, right here in the Deep Tracks.

Let’s say this is your first trip to the Way Back Studios.  You might be wondering what’s it’s all about, Alfie?  Well, I’ll tell you.  It’s a reminder of the possibilities long ago forsaken by terrestrial rock radio.  It’s about playing with the music and with your musical expectations.  Sometimes it’s a complicated mash-up of the familiar and the exotic.  Other times it’s just about finding the right sequence, Kenneth, or the frequency which is superior to amplitude modulation, sound-wise speaking.  In other words it’s like FM versus AM from back in the day when you had to get a third class license from the FCC just to spin records.  And after Big Daddy Tom Donahue showed us the way, there was no turning back.  And now that the satellites are in geosynchronous orbit and the consultants have been locked away, we just do it on principal.  We simply refuse to leave well enough alone.  

Today’s batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl is a perfect example and a great place to start if this is your first time.  The first half of the set rides in on some spicy south-of-the-border horns augmented by the sequencing and the momentum you can gain from doing it right. And best of all it answers the question: Is it possible to build a coherent set featuring Los Lobos, Doug Sahm, Johnny Cash, and The Steve Miller Band?  (Here’s a hint: yes.)  The tricky part was getting to the second half of the set, which revolves around a classic from the Moody Blues.  So you’re probably asking yourself how do you get from mariachi horns to progressive art rock without pulling an ear muscle?  It’s a good question of balance, as it were.  And we found the answer on Catch Bull at Four.  After that, we break the Moody’s track into three parts, inserting Simon and Garfunkle in one and another track from Cat Stevens in the other to come up with something new.  So take your protein pills and put your sombreros on because “I got to let you know.”

The story goes that Justin Hayward had parts for two different songs but he couldn’t finish either one.  Normally that wouldn’t be a problem but the Moody Blues were scheduled to record the songs the next day.  So Mr. Hayward did what anybody might, he took the parts from the two songs and assembled them into one, which explains why it sounds like two songs stitched together with guitar strings.  We broke the song back into the original parts and inserted Simon and Garfunkle’s “ America” in the first break, and Cat Stevens’ “Bitterblue” into the second.  The first half of the set was all mariachi horns and Tex-Mex melodies.  Starting with Los Lobos, from their must-have album How Will the Wolf Survive, a song called “I Got to Let You Know.” 

After that, the late, great Doug Sahm, with half of Creedence Clearwater Revival.  We heard “La Cacahuata” from one of the lost gems in the Deep Tracks, an album called Groover’s Paradise.  Doug Clifford produced and played drums while Stu Cook handled the bass.  The horns were courtesy of Link Davis, Jr. and they led us naturally into that “Ring of Fire” with Mr. Johnny Cash.  A song co-written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and first recorded by June’s sister, Anita.  After hearing it, Johnny said he had a dream where he heard the song with these Mexican horns, so he did his version.  After that, keeping with that flavor, The Steve Miller Band served up a bowl of “Hot Chili” from the Number Five album.  Then it was Cat Stevens’ “Angelsea” whose upbeat acoustic guitars with the Spanish overtones helped bridge the two halves of the set.  Now, if you’ve ever wondered why we never get an answer when we’re knocking at the door to the Way Back Studios, it’s probably because I’ve got my headphones on.  Or I’m busy posting the set lists and show commentaries on the website, bill Fitzhugh.com.  I’m Bill Fitzhugh, thanks for listening.  I’ll be back next time with another batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl and I hope you’ll join us.  Right here in the Deep Tracks.