Jump With Joey... Altruda

I've got two treats for you.

I first heard of Joey Altruda by way of an album called "What Is It?" by Tupelo Chain Sex. Jason Goodman of the world-famous Grave Diggers recorded that onto a cassette tape for me back in the 80's. It was the wildest mix of psychotic Jazz that I ever heard! That thing is so rare that when the Goodmans were here during Hurricane Gustav last year Jason and I searched for my copy of the tape, but alas, it is hiding amongst thousands of other tapes. I made Joey promise that he would let me know when he finally transfers the masters to CD (the vinyl, though much more preferable, is as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth). Joey is much better known (famous?) for his band Jump With Joey, an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G mixture of Swing, Jazz, and Ska and featuring Jason the Goodman on guitar. Joey is without a doubt one of the greatest upright bass players of our generation. And as everybody knows: if you can play Jazz you can play anything.

So, here's the first tip:

Joey has a blog called "Jump With Joey Altruda" that he updates regularly with great nuggets of the culture of by-gone eras. And thankfully Mr. Altruda isn't long-winded about it. A fact that a guy like me who wrestles with raging ADD can appreciate! Hey, I have the attention span of a squirrel; anything over a few hundred words had better be good if'n it's gonna keep me reading. Subscribe to his blog with your reader of choice and I guarantee you'll thank me!

The second tip is really a treat, so I can cheat and fit another one further down:

Here's a video of Jump With Joey performing with the legendary Roland Alphonso. Note Jason the Goodman on guitar.



Lastly, Joey also does a podcast called "Vinyl Meltdown" that you'd be sorry to miss. It's not available on iTunes yet, so you'll have to download it the old-fashioned way... but that's a small price to pay, don't you think?