My favourite blues piano player, Otis Spann, performing "Ain't nobody's business what I do..."
And with Willie Dixon, doing "The blues don't like nobody"
Here's the great Slim Gaillard with Slam Stewart on bass and Rex Stewart on trumpet, plus awesome swing dancers, from the 1941 movie HELLZAPOPPIN.
Colorized footage of Josephine Baker dancing. You can leave the sound off, since it's not original.
A clip of Question Mark and the Mysterians doing "96 tears," indubitably one of the greatest two chord (G and G minor) songs ever. Check out the 1965 version too! (The roots of Velvet Underground?)
Smokey Robinson on American Bandstand, ca 1970, doing "Tears of a Clown"! ... "Just like Pagliacci!" Righteous.
Etta James, backed by Dr John, doing "I'd rather go blind"
The 10 year old daughter of an acquaintance playing Monk's "April in Paris" far better than I could!
I don't think there is any footage extant of James P. Johnson playing the piano, but I came across a hoard of performances by Jim Hession, a veritable monster on the keys. "The Charleston" seems as good a place as any to start. And since Johnson used a Habañera rhythm does that make this "world music"?
The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, truly brilliant!
Ray Charles, from 1963, doing "In the Evening."
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band doing "Click Clack" in Paris, 1973.
Papa Freddy sends this outrageous version of a Snoop Dogg song by The GOURDS: Gin and Juice. Low tech, tasteless, unreal, and great banjo picking. Bubonic chronic and Tanqueray, who'd a guessed it? Sick!
Cee-Lo does "Fuck You" live with hot all-female band & even hotter pink zoot suit on BBC TV's Later with Jools Holland.
DENGUE FEVER
"One thousand tears of the tarantuala" live
JAMAICA
Sugar Minott, Jamaican dancehall singer, died in July 2010, aged 54. He had a distinctive Little Rascally look with his missing front tooth and bowler hat. Here is a live appearance covering the Jackson Five, "Good thing going", on Top of the Pops! from 1981.
The Viceroys Inna de Yard, rehearsing "My mission is impossible". Poor camerawork but a real feeling of immediacy.
A clip from the documentary Roots Rock Reggae showing the Gladiators in the studio.
Gregory Isaacs & Roots Radics in concert from 1983 doing "Cool down the pace."
Same team, at Sunsplash in Jamaica, doing "Night Nurse"
BRAZIL
Bebo Valdes with Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown, performing "Musico" from the movie "El milagro de candeal" -- exquisite (Thanks again to Fred).LATIN
A fanciful video of "Buscandote", one of my favourite Latin Brothers' songs. That sent me scouring about in there, and here's the great Piper Diaz, in his prime fronting the Colombia All Stars, doing "Cañaveral." Poor sound, but a brilliant performance. Fruko and Joe Arroyo are on there too.I don't like Depeche Mode, as you can image; in fact I actively dislike them. And thereby hangs a tale: Back when I was a civilian in the music world I used to call my local college radio station to win tickets to concerts. So around 1981 I won tickets to see a hot new band from England called Depeche Mode who were playing the Kabuki in San Francisco. They had three synthesizers and a giant reel-to-reel tape and their performance stank to high heaven. But to add insult to injury I kept getting groped by gay guys in the crowd. I left vowing never to win tickets again unless it was to a band I actually knew and liked. Consequently I have not exactly followed their career. However along comes a Mexican cover band (forwarded to me by Alicia C-J): a guy named Dicken Schrader and his two kids who totally shred on these tunes! This is must-see stuff: Everything Counts. I love how he deconstructs the originals and uses xylophone and recorder for clarity, as well as the minimal effects and creative percussion (toys, kazoo): my kinda band. If you dig that, here's Shake the Disease, note the squeeze bottles, and Strangelove. When you anatomize the music, it's very simple, almost childlike which is why these new arrangements surpass the originals.