DJ Ian Head

Cannonball would have turned 97 this month were he still with us. His records were some of the first I collected - there are so many and so varied, his dedication to recording live sets for his albums and playing with countless amazing musicians, infusing politics into his music and his "raps" in-between songs, is all legendary. I had not realized until now that all of this was done in such a shor...

The world is spinning and it's hard to keep up with everything right now! Been out digging though, shopping and selecting a nice stack of favorites and obscurities the past month. Hope everyone is holding tight and not giving up! There are still paths to victory, don't let the naysayers stop any of us. Tracklist: Spanky Wilson, Irma Thomas, Nucleus, Osmar Milito, Natural Four, Freidrich Gulda, Jan...

A brief tribute to the legend Eddie Palmieri, whose music and politics were inspiring and incredible, especially right now in this moment! Brilliant and beautiful music, these are just a few of my favorites from his records.

Short mix of some of my favorite G-funk instrumentals, with several from the originator himself, Warren G, as well as a couple other LA producers. Something for the late summer, windows down, city streets at twilight.

Recent jazz-related aquisitions from various digging adventures. Big shout to Paradise Trading Post in Lompoc - found an Ahmad Jamal album I'd never seen before! Dig in. Tracklist: Ahmad Jamal, Kenny Barron, John Wood, Horace Silver, Ted Vining Trio, Jack Walrath

Another celebration of the beautiful and revolutionary music from the Indigenous, Latin and Afro-Latin diaspora - only other thing to say right now is FUCK ICE and stay strong everyone! Donate to CHIRLA here: https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/ Tracklist: El Chicano, Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Rivera, Willie Bobo, Fania All Stars, Bobby Guajardo and the Latin Breed, Grupo Irakere, Mongo Santamaria, Los...

Some recent digs and old records. Sending strength to everyone dealing with these ICE raids. Stay safe out there! If you have the funds, I recommend donating to the Coalition for Humane Human Rights - https://www.chirla.org/ Tracklist: Gil Scott Heron, Herb Drury Trio, Peter Herbolzeimher, Charles Tolliver, Masaru Imada and George Mraz, Paco Rossana

There was a time when I owned 4-5 copies of Sly Stone's "FRESH" album, it was so vitally important to me. I remember hearing it for the first time in the 90s and it blew my mind. I preached the Sly gospel since to many friends of my age in the years since. That album will always be a cornerstone of musical history and importance to me, and helped me on my record digging journey forward. So many pe...

A few jazz digs and tracks this time around, as I continue to get my set-up together. Dig in! Tracklist: Grant Green, Peter Duchin, Los 5-U-4, Les Demerle, Karen Hernandez, John Wood

Been a couple weeks - I had to replace my old desktop that was starting to crash too frequently and move all the music files etc to the new machine. Back up now with an episode I recorded a week or so ago! Just a few longer tracks from recent records found and purchased. Hope to be back on schedule soon! Enjoy. Tracklist: Keifer Trio, Pete Jolly, Chris Barber, Les DeMerle, Airmen of Note

I was late to the library game, and only own a short stack of these gems, but for folks unaware, some amazing studio musicians (especially in Europe) recorded some of the funkiest and weirdest music on "library" records, that were available to radio and tv producers to use on their shows or elsewhere. Recently I discovered that one of the iconic sound effects associated with the early days of Port...

Went back to the "Jazz 45s" box and pulled a few things out that I hadn't played in awhile. Spring is here and it felt right. A short set of selections, new and old - enjoy! Tracklist: Sam Hankins, Eric Kloss, Nautilus, Quincy Jones, Charles Mingus, Takumi Moriya, Phi-Psonics, Unknown artist, Eddie Harris, Jukka Eskola Trio, Mary Lou Williams

Spent a week on a work and mini-birthday trip, and got some serious digging in at a number of spots, both places I'd been and some I'd never been to before. Some great come-ups and here's just a few of stack I brought back with me! Hope you dig it. Tracklist: Alvin Queen, Oscar Peterson Quartet, Al Hobbs, Howard University Jazz Ensemble, Jasmine, Manfredo Fest Trio, The Great Jazz Trio, Nathan Dav...

It felt important right now to come back to the words and teachings of Howard Zinn, when the U.S. government is causing and propagating so much fear and racism and oppression and just plain meanness, and things seem tilted toward hopelessness. This is the third in my series of mix-tributes to Zinn, and the vocal samples here come from a few great interviews and programs you can find on Youtube, in...

Two legends have passed on recently - Roberta Flack and Gwen McCrae, both of whom had records that have been important to me for many years. Unfortunately some of my Roberta Flack records were damaged in a flood years ago, and so I tried to pull a few favorites from what I still have, and mostly less obvious pieces from both artists catalogs. That being said, I still included two big hits on here...

Back this week with some amazing pianists covering jazz (?) standards (?) old and new! Some recent digs and some old favorites. Enjoy. Tracklist: Tony Lee, Johnny Costa, DJM Trio, Eugen Cicero, Ashley Henry, Herbie Hancock

Ok, this is a really special one. The amazing artist Josh MacPhee, of http://JustSeeds.org and many other places, has dug deep into his collection of revolutionary wax and put together an incredible and inspiring mix for Pullin from the Stacks! Everything from funk, free jazz, hard rock, folk, nu-wave and more, from all parts of the globe, all off original pressings. Commie Freaks!! (Josh's name b...

I love records. But I love records because I love music. And sometimes, in fact often, great music doesn't get pressed on vinyl. And that's ok! That's why Bandcamp is so great. It's endless in how much great stuff is available there. Here's just a small sampling of the beautiful music I've found that as far as I know, has not been pressed onto vinyl, but is available digitally if you seek it out....

Some music for these extremely troubled times. Hope everyone is staying as safe and healthy as possible. Tracklist: Adrienne Rich, Dollar Brand, Melvin Sparks, Sly5thAve, Ill Considered, Latarnik, Dezron Douglas and Brandee Younger

Seemed like a good moment to salute the city of LA, a city I never thought I'd end up residing in as a kid but where I now live and don't plan on leaving. A huge city, where horrible fires and climate change have destroyed the homes of thousands of people including some of those featured on this mix. If you are looking to support folks in need, check out: https://mutualaidla.org/ I recorded this m...

Spent the holidays in Portland with the family, had some good adventures at the record shops and thrift stores - one of these records I pulled out from underneath an old rug at a Goodwill for a dollar. Was fun getting back into the sale bins and antique stores rather than just shopping at the fancy places. Grabbed all of these while on the trip, with one being gifted to me by the homie while there...

Ending the year with a number of my favorite purchases this past year. Maybe one or two of these I actually "dug" up somewhere - the Dick Drew Trio was something I pulled out from deep under other record racks in a store in Las Vegas last May, for instance, but I also bought several of these via Discogs. Record collecting continues to change in ways that make it less familiar to me - many records...

RIP the legendary Nikki Giovanni. Here is a great album of her poetry from the 1970s. An excerpt from her liner notes on the back of the cover: "The reason I like chocolate is when I was in 5th grade 5 cents would buy a Sugar Daddy which would last all day long. It always seemed to me that happy occasions brought forth a chunk of chocolate. I have a fondness also for peppermint but for a different...

Putting together a mix of my favorite digs this past year, but first, a few more recent finds and classic selections! Tracklist: David Axelrod, Howard Wales, Visioneers, Barbara Carroll, Don Randi, Patrice Rushen

RIP to the legends Lou Donaldson and Roy Haynes, who passed recently. I play a couple of their records on the bookends of this episode. The Lou Donaldson joint that starts things off, a cover of "Everything I Play Gonh Be Funky," reminds of my very early days of digging, finding this at an East Village bookstore in 1997 or so, and always treasuring it. I didn't get hip to Mr. Haynes later on even...