2007

Jennifer Hartswick is best known for playing with a variety of jambands, but that isn’t necessarily the style of music that’s always been true to her heart.

On True, her second album, Hartswick explores more traditional jazz music that more defines who she is as an artist. Jen’s voice combines power with polish, a formula that draws you in and makes you want to hear more. The new album features a mix of both familiar and a bit more obscure standards, plus a beautiful original love song entitled You Own Me.

Photo by Regan Teti

True is the first release on Rubber Jungle Records, a label founded by her old bandmate Trey Anastasio. The album is available now on Jen’s website, and soon it’ll be up for download on iTunes. We caught up with the Vermont native as she prepared for her first record release party to discuss the making of True…

Scott Bernstein: Why did you call the album ‘True’?

Jennifer Hartswick: Jazz is what I grew up listening to. This album features music that is true to who I am. The way that everything occured was real. There were no overdubs; everything is live. We never did more than two takes. I made sure to choose musicians who feel the same way about this music that I do.

Read on after the jump for more from Jen and Scotty’s conversation…

Ever wanted to learn how to play drums from a loose-limbed wizard that looks like a fair-haired Trey? Now’s your chance: Sir Joe Russo’s teaching the public.

Sure we may call this column MP3 Boot Camp, but we’ll also highlight any shows that bloggers put up in a lossless format. Sadly, there aren’t many of them pumping

We explained back in August that we’ve been suckers for bootlegged live concert videos since we were mere newbs. Nay, n00bs. This week we’ve come across another batch of amazing videos freely available for the taking on the torrent sites, so it’s time for another All-DVD edition of Grousing The Aisles.

David Byrne 11/15/1997 Pro-Shot [DVD]:

David Byrne keeps everyone happy at his shows by playing a nice mix of his wonderfully cool solo songs and the Talking Heads classics we all love. In 1997 Byrne and his band performed on Sessions at West 54th, a television show he hosted at the time. We were hoping Byrne would interview himself a la the Stop Making Sense extras, but John Hiatt does the honors this time around. Thankfully a kind collector taped an airing of the show and uploaded the DVD files to a torrent site so we can all enjoy Byrne’s energetic performance.

When you watch this DVD, you’ll notice that everyone in the crowd sits down during the performance. The show’s producers must have fed the audience valium, as I couldn’t help but dance when I watched this video on my computer. No one can get my ass shaking like David Byrne can (no homo). David opens the show with Freaky Fuzzy, a tune from 1997’s Feelings that has a catchy chorus and a funky beat. Miss America and Dance on Vaseline are two other Feelings songs that Byrne and his band absolutely tear through at this taping. Byrne will never shake his billing as “ex-Talking Head,” but his solo stuff really deserves much more credit. That being said, the best tune of the night was Making Flippy Floppy. David assembled quite the backing band for this tour, and they add new life to a buncha old nuggets from the Heads’ catalog. Read on after the jump for more DVDs from Neil Young, the White Stripes and some pretty cool indie bands on late-night TV…

Radiohead in the wee small hours of last night/this morning digitally shipped off In Rainbows to nearly 756 million people. We don’t have the actual sales figures in front of

Medeski Martin and Wood have targeted a new audience, seeing as how most of the hip hipsters moved on to The Bad Plus. This album’s for your kids: Let’s Go

Say what you will about moe. — and most people take every opportunity to do so — but the self-described “indie-jam rockers” know how to throw a fine festival for