With Don occupied in the recording studio, two members of his band aren’t having any trouble keeping busy in between evenings at the Hotel California.

Frank Simes literally has had his hands full as Roger Daltrey’s lead guitarist and musical director, most recently in London performing with Daltrey at the gala Teenage Cancer Trust benefit. You can catch Frank back in California live in concert with his new band “Topcat” on April 2 at the Mozambique in Laguna Beach.

Steve “Stevie D.” Di Stanislao, is manning the drum kit as a regular in the Crosby/Nash solo tour ensemble. The legendary duo launched its 2011 concert series this week, with shows scheduled throughout the U.S. and Europe. The tour stretches into November, meaning Stevie’s biceps will get a good workout.

Creed Taylor Incorporated, “one of the most influential independent labels in the history of modern jazz,” celebrates its 40th “anniversary” with Masterworks’ release of the CTI Records: The Cool Revolution box set. The now defunct CTI spent the 70′s securing a niche in jazz recording history and also helped launch the career of entertainer George Benson. By the way, the label’s very first production in 1970 was an album by an unknown free-form jazz quartet featuring a young crack guitarist by the name of Don Felder. . . . . .Sony Pictures Home Entertainment plans to release the 1981 animated cult film Heavy Metal in blu-ray technology on January 25. The nice side effect: fans of the soundtrack will be able to enjoy Don’s contribution “Heavy Metal – Takin’ a Ride” in 5.1 DTS-HD master audio. . . . Speaking of listening to Heavy Metal. Get tickets to Don’s upcoming California show on November 20 in Coachella at the Spotlight 29 Casino Showroom here.

One of several notable Elektra artists!

Elektra Records is sixty, as in the big 6-0.

Expert Eagles fans shouldn’t have much trouble identifying Warner Brothers’ Elektra or Elektra/Asylum. Its logo has spun countless times on turntables and graces the small print on the band’s album jackets, cassettes and CDs. Alongside those Eagles discs were probably several other Elektra artists, perhaps Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Ian Matthews, Harry Chapin, David Lindley, Andrew Gold, Carly Simon or Warren Zevon.

Worth checking out on the slicked-up birthday website is a media rich online timetable chronicling the history of the Elektra label.

While perusing the list of 100 essential Elektra artists, we subconsciously inventoried a substantial part of our album collection. Made us feel kinda old. But only briefly, because 60 is the new 20.

We’ve been Gordon Lightfoot fans for a long time. Even back before it was hip.

But asking us to name our favorite from his 250+ song catalog is like, well, asking us to choose a favorite child. We can, however, easily place “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” in our top five without having to second guess, simply because THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR ARRANGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS TUNE IS AWESOME, whether it’s a studio recording or live version. The song demonstrates how Gord basically put the word “song” in “songwriting.”

So what do we care that the Trilogy, which Lightfoot was commissioned to write by the CBC for a 1966 television documentary commemorating the railway’s centennial, will be made into an illustrated book for release later this year?

Because the lyrics are damned awesome as well. You see, Lightfoot was also responsible for putting the word “writer” in “songwriter.”

Nurtured in the big band era and best known for his thirty-year stint behind the drum kit of the Johnny Carson Tonight Show Band, Ed Shaughnessy‘s percussion credentials can only be termed galactic. Goodman, Dorsey, Basie. How about being able to drop those names at a job interview?

Shaughnessy’s work has appeared on over 500 (in writing: five-hundred) albums, among them a 1970 release from the obscure improv-jazz-quartet FLOW which featured a crack guitarist by the name of Don Felder.

At age 80, Ed literally still hasn’t missed a beat. You can catch him over the Memorial Day weekend as a panelist at the L.A. Jazz Institute’s East Coast Sounds festival on May 29. He will perform later on in the afternoon with the Mundell Lowe Orchestra in a tribute to composer Alec Wilder.

L.A. Jazz Institute – East Coast Sounds Festival
Recent interview at Jazz Times