July 2005

Playing with its classic lineup for the first time in more than 20 years, Pink Floyd dazzled the crowd of approximately 200,000 people at the London edition of Live 8. The group performed “Breathe,” “Money,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb,” which was introduced to a new generation of U.K. listeners last year via the Scissor Sisters’ top 10 hit cover.

Pink Floyd hadn’t played live at all since the 1994 tour in support of the album “The Division Bell,” and hadn’t performed with bassist Roger Waters since 1981. The latter artist’s dealings with fellow Pink Floyd principal David Gilmour have been rancorous in the ensuing years; Waters even sued Gilmour, unsuccessfully, for touring under the Pink Floyd name without him following the band’s initial split after the album “The Final Cut.”

But on stage at London’s Hyde Park, the group (which also includes drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright) was all smiles. Waters even dedicated “Wish You Were Here” to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, whose mental instability forced him to cede control of his band to Gilmour and Waters in the late ’60s.

Although no official statement has been made, the Live 8 reunion is expected to be a one-off affair for the members of Pink Floyd.

The group was followed on stage by Paul McCartney, who was joined by George Michael for the Beatles favorite “Drive My Car.”

Source billboard.com,

Blue Note Records has emerged the triumphant owner of a 1957 recording by the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, trumping the interest of Sony BMG’s Legacy Recordings and Verve Records. The tentatively titled “Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane: 1957 Concert” is due Sept. 27.

Jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum uncovered the coveted musical relic in January at the Library of Congress. Negotiations for commercial release rights were completed June 13. “This is one of the most important discoveries in jazz ever,” Blue Note president/CEO Bruce Lundvall says. “We’re thrilled to have it.”

Source billboard.com.

In addition to a Grateful Dead live set already in the pipeline, Rhino is readying a live album and DVD, each chronicling side projects helmed by the band’s late leader, Jerry Garcia. Due Aug. 9, one is a two-disc audio collection of live tracks from his mid-1970s jazz-leaning rock quintet Legion Of Mary, while the other is a video record of a 1990 Jerry Garcia Band show near San Francisco.

In Legion Of Mary, Garcia surrounded himself with an eclectic group of sidemen: keyboardist/vocalist and longtime compatriot Merle Saunders, one-time Elvis Presley drummer Ron Tutt, Martin Fierro (Quicksilver Messenger Service, Zero) on sax and reed instruments and bassist John Kahn (John Lee Hooker, Al Kooper). The group played around 60 shows between December 1974 and July 1975.

Seven of those shows produced the never-before-released recordings on “The Jerry Garcia Collection, Volume 1: Legion Of Mary.” Like many Garcia projects, the song selection is heavy on covers, including Bob Dylan’s “Tough Mama,” Ray Charles’ “Talkin’ ‘Bout You” and Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock.”

Meanwhile, the Jerry Garcia Band’s “Live at Shoreline,” captures a Sept. 1, 1990, show at the Bay Area amphitheatre that was originally meant to be a Dead performance, but was nixed due to keyboardist Brent Mydland’s death a few months earlier. The title is the first official JGB DVD release, and boasts two sets of music that includes covers of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue.”

As previously reported, Rhino will on July 12 release the two-disc Grateful Dead concert set “Truckin’ up to Buffalo, July 4, 1989.,” which is the soundtrack to the Monterey Video DVD of the same name.

Source billboard.com.