Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio: The Train Kept a-Rollin’

Singer Johnny Burnette was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1934, and was a boyhood friend of Elvis Presley. Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio is often credited as the “pioneers” of rockabilly music.

The legendary album, “Rock and Roll Trio” (1988), is one of the finest collections of early rock and roll. The album collects the early singles of Burnette and the Trio and contains at least three masterpieces, “The Train Kept a-Rollin’,” “Honey Hush,” and “Lonesome Train.” The title of the song, “Rock Billy Boogie,” is believed to be the origin of the name given to this style of music, “rockabilly.”

Burnette scored pop hits in the Sixties without the Rock and Roll Trio, including “You’re Sixteen,” in 1960, but his best work was during the birth of rock and roll about five years earlier. Burnette died in a boating accident in 1964, at the age of 30.

Joni Mitchell Albums and Songs

Among the ranks of female singer/songwriters, no woman has equaled the artistry or output of Joni Mitchell. Mitchell’s catalogue includes a slew of classic albums that run the musical gamut from folk to rock to jazz.

Mitchell was born in Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Canada, in 1943. She began her career as folk singer in her native Canada before moving south to Los Angeles to begin her recording career in California. She recorded her debut album, the pleasant folk effort, “Joni Mitchell (AKA Song to a Seagull)” in 1968. Another solid album,” Clouds” would appear the following year.

It was her third release, “Ladies of the Canyon” (1970) that established her as something special. The album was full of well-written story songs which were all presented with stripped-down production featuring just Mitchell on acoustic guitar. The album contained the first of the songs that would make Mitchell famous, “Woodstock,” a song which would become a hit for Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and “Big Yellow Taxi,” which would become a minor hit for Mitchell herself.

Mitchell’s next effort, “Blue” (1971), would be declared her first masterpiece. Blue is an often dark and emotional exorcism on heartbreak, although it is punctuated by lighter moments. “One song here, “This Flight Tonight,” would later become a hit for the Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth.

In 1974, Mitchell recorded another masterpiece, albeit a more upbeat one, “Court and Spark.” The album was critically-acclaimed as were her previous efforts, but this album had commercial legs that would see Mitchell establish herself as something of a pop star. Thanks to a pair of hits, “Help Me” and “Free Man in Paris,” Mitchell’s fame spread into the mainstream of the music-listening public. Another strong track, “Raised on Robbery,” featured the Band’s Robbie Robertson on guitar and received significant airplay.

Mitchell continued to record fine albums throughout the remainder of the Seventies including, “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” (1975), “Hejira” (1976), and collaboration with the legendary jazz bassist and composer, Charles Mingus, “Mingus” (1979).

The Mingus album would see Mitchell delve into jazz for a good part of the Eighties during which she acquired new fans, but lost more of her older fans. She returned to her folkier roots in the Nineties with the release of a couple of decent albums, “Night Ride Home” (1991) and “Taming the Tiger” (1998).

Mitchell continues to record sparingly. After she had announced that she was retiring completely from music, she returned in 2007 with the album, “Shine.”

Joni Mitchell in concert

Charlie Parker Ornithology

Saxophonist Charlie Parker is considered by many to be the best musician in the history of jazz. He is one of the few jazz musicians who could rival the technical brilliance and originality of Louis Armstrong and Art Tatum. Parker’s drug-addicted life and early demise is jazz legend and a tragic example which would be repeated by several jazz musicians who followed him.

Parker was nicknamed “Yardbird” which was eventually shortened to simply, “Bird.” Many of his compositions, including “Yardbrid Suite” and “Ornithology” would be inspired by that nickname.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1920. He began to play the saxophone at age 11, and had joined a musician’s union instead of attending high school. He practiced diligently in the late Thirties, and by 1938, he was good enough to join the band of pianist Jay McShann. While in his teens, Parker had become addicted to morphine after being administered the drug in hospital after a car accident. His morphine addiction would lead to a heroin addiction which would contribute to his early death at age 34.

Parker quit the McShann band in 1939, and headed to New York City to begin a solo career. In the early Forties, Parker was experimenting with soloing methods. His experimentation constituted some of the early developments of be-bop music, a subgenre of jazz with which he would forever be linked. He would soon be collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell, and others. In summer 1945, Parker and his friends recorded “Ko-ko” and other sides at a session for the Savoy label. That session and its recordings would become a watershed moment for bebop music.

By this time, Charlie Parker’s heroin addiction was causing him to miss gigs, and he resorted to busking on New York City streets to support his addiction. Parker then moved to Los Angeles where heroin was difficult to find, and he began to drink heavily to compensate. He was often in bad shape at recording sessions and needed, at times, to be physically supported by others. Parker moved back to New York City where he died, in 1955.

The best original albums and collections of Charlie Parker’s music include, “Charlie Parker with Strings” (1950), “Charlie Parker with Strings Vol.2” (1950), “Charlie Parker” (1953), “Big Band” (1954), “Summit Meeting at Birdland” (1977), “At Storyville” (1985), “The Genius of Charlie Parker” (1954), “The Charlie Parker Story” (1956), “The Genius of Charlie Parker” (1957), “Anthology” (1974), “Charlie Parker on Dial” (1974), “Bird/The Savoy Recordings (Master Takes)” (1974), “The Very Best of Bird” (1977), “The Complete Studio Savoy Recordings” (1978), “Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve” (1988), “Bird: The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker” (1988), “Masterworks 1946-47” (1990),”Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Collection” (1997), “The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings 1944-1948” (2000), “The Essential Charlie Parker” (2004).

Bird

Benny Goodman: The Birth of Swing

Benny Goodman and long-time rival, Artie Shaw, are the two greatest and best-known white clarinetists in the history of jazz. Both men achieved huge commercial and critical success during their respective careers. It was Goodman, however, who would forever be identified with the title, “King of Swing,” for his role in the invention of the most popular jazz subgenre during the height of the music’s popularity.

Benny Goodman was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1909. His parents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who struggled to provide for their large family. Despite the family’s relative poverty, David Goodman arranged for music lessons for three of his sons, including Benny, at a local Chicago synagogue. After a year’s training, Benny Goodman, aged eleven, joined a boys’ club band and received further musical training from the club’s director, and later from a classically-trained clarinetist. With this solid foundation, Goodman would launch a career that would span seven decades and would span musical genres from early classic jazz to classical music.

Goodman’s began his jazz career as a clarinetist in the Ben Pollack Orchestra at the age of sixteen. He would make his first recording with the Pollack Orchestra in 1926. He would continue performing and recording with the Pollack Orchestra and its various off-shoots until 1929. During this frenetic period, Goodman also recorded with nationally- known bands of Ben Selvin, Red Nichols, and Ted Lewis. He also recorded under his own name with trombonist Glenn Miller and others as “Benny Goodman’s Boys.”

In the early Thirties, John Hammond of Columbia records arranged for Goodman to record in the company of other stellar jazz musicians in a jazz “all star” band. Other members of the band included pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Kroupa, two musicians that would form the core of the rhythm section of Goodman’s later orchestra. In 1935, Goodman expressed interest in appearing on the nationwide radio dance music show, “Let’s Dance.” At the advice of John Hammond, Goodman secured “swinging” arrangements of songs from Fletcher Henderson, leader of one of New York’s best jazz orchestras. These arrangements helped make Goodman a hit with the West Coast audience that heard his performance.

On the strength of the Let’s Dance performance and the rave reviews of Goodman’s recordings of “King Porter Stop” and “Sometimes I’m Happy” with Fletcher Henderson arrangements, a large and enthusiastic crowd of young fans were waiting in Oakland, California when the band played a show there in August of 1935. When the Goodman band began to play, the crowd went wild. The same reaction greeted the band in Los Angeles during the debut of a three week engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in August, 1935. During the three-week engagement the “Jitterbug” dance was born, and along with it, the “Swing Era.”

In the wake of the tremendous success of the Goodman band in California, Fletcher Henderson disbanded his great orchestra and become Goodman’s full-time arranger. With the addition of Henderson and pianist Teddy Wilson, both African-Americans, Goodman’s band became the first racially-integrated jazz band in America. Goodman would later add another African-American, the great Charlie Christian, on guitar.

Goodman was coined, “The King of Swing” in 1937, and was secured as such when his orchestra became the first jazz band to play New York’s Carnegie Hall, in 1938. The concert, which included members of Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, was a true test for jazz music as an art form. If the high-brow Carnegie Hall set could be moved by jazz, the music would earn a much needed stamp of approval from the music establishment. After an uninspired start, the Goodman Orchestra slowly built momentum and climaxed with an epic version of “Sing, Sing, Sing” featuring spectacular solos by Goodman and pianist, Jess Stacy.

In 1939, John Hammond introduced the electric guitarist, Charlie Christian, to Goodman as a prospective band member. Despite initial doubts, Goodman was greatly impressed with Christian’s playing and included him in the Benny Goodman Sextet for the next two years. The sextet recordings with Christian including “Rose Room,” “Breakfast Feud,” and “Grand Slam” are some of the finest recordings in jazz history.

Goodman continued to have tremendous success as a big band leader until the mid-Forties when swing music began to lose steam. Goodman flirted with be-bop music and even formed a bebop band before finally denouncing the music. In 1949, at the age of 40, Goodman turned his back on jazz to devote himself to the study of classical music. Following a lengthy retirement from jazz, Goodman died of a heart attack in 1986.

A plethora of fine collections are available for Goodman’s recordings at various phases of his career including the fine four volume “Chronological Classics: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra” (1996) while “The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert Vol.1-2” (1950) is one of the finest live recordings of popular music ever made.



Benny Goodman (third from left) and his band















The Beach Boys Albums and Bio

The Beach Boys were the one band that could rival the commercial and artistic greatness of the Beatles during the Sixties. The two bands would become friendly rivals in that decade, trying to outdo each other in the studio by producing the most original and epic albums possible. This rivalry would produce the best works of both bands, including the Beach Boys classic, “Pet Sounds,” which is considered by many as the greatest pop/rock album of all time.

The Beach Boys were all native Californians and they would, in their early incarnation produce music which glorified the beachside lifestyle of surfing and hot rod racing particular to their home state.

The original Beach Boys lineup consisted of the Wilsonbrothers-Brian, Carl and Dennis, with cousin, Mike Love and friend, Al Jardine. Brian Wilson was the chief songwriter and creator of the Beach Boys image, while Dennis Wilson, the drummer and part-time surfer was the real life incarnation of that image.

They formed in Hawthorne,California in 1961 under the management and tutelage of Murray Wilson, father of the three Wilson brothers. Murray Wilson was a tough task master and ruled the band with an iron fist.

Originally called the Pendeltones, the band recorded their first single, “Surfin’,” for the Candix label in late 1961. When Candix released the single they changed the groups name to Beach Boys to make the band more marketable in the emerging surf music genre. The single became a modest nation-wide hit. Based on the success of the single, Murray Wilson was able to arrange a live appearance for the band at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance in Long Beach, California.

By summer 1962, the band had managed to get signed to Capitol records and released their first album, “Surfin’ Safari.”Starting with this album, the band found success, scoring a string of hits including, “Surfin’ Safari,” Surfing USA,” “Surfer Girl,” “409,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “I Get Around,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” The band would record sixteen hit singles in total from 1962-1965, and they become huge pop stars in America and abroad.

Along with hit records came concert tours, and the stress of touring led to an emotional breakdown for Brian Wilson and his withdrawal from live performing. Future country music star, Glen Campbell, was brought in as a replacement for several months, and then Bruce Johnson. Brian Wilson, freed from his touring duties, started to focus on his songwriting and the possibilities of the studio and record production and would begin working on music which would soon be hailed as among the greatest pop music ever recorded.

By 1964, Brian Wilson’s more adventurous compositions demanded talented studio musicians for recordings. Two songs from this period, “Help Me Rhonda” and “I Get Around,” would become the band’s first two number one hits. In 1965, Brian Wilson would begin to experiment with song structure on the “Today” album, and score hits with the unorthodox songs,“California Girls” and “The Little Girl I Once Knew.” The revolutionary use of silence, keyboards and brass on the latter tune would set the stage for the band’s next phase, one free of beach imagery and more in step with the burgeoning hippie movement.

1966 would see the Beach Boys, led by Brian Wilson; fully embrace baroque rock with the classic album, “Pet Sounds,” and the seminal single, “Good Vibrations.” Brian Wilson would employ surreal songs, classical instrumentation and complex arrangements in the production of this music.

When Brian Wilson heard the Beatles’ album,“Rubber Soul,” in late 1965, he was so impressed that he dedicated himself to outdoing them. He was impressed that Rubber Soul broke the mold of containing a few hits only to be filled out by throwaway material. Rubber Soul did not contain any filler, just great original tunes. With Rubber Soul as his inspiration, Wilsonset off to the studio with the intention of making the greatest rock album of all-time. Many claim that he succeeded in doing just that, as the resulting album, “Pet Sounds” (1966), is widely hailed as one of the greatest-ever albums of pop music.

Pet Sounds was full of sounds previously unheard on rock records before it. It featured a slew of instruments manned by the finest studio musicians in Los Angeles, complex vocal and instrumental arrangements, and more sophisticated songs from Wilson. Wilson’s muse, apparently, was partially fueled by psychedelic drugs. The album contains what is perhaps the Beach Boys’finest ever tune, “God Only Knows,” which was a hit. Other hits on the album included “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “Caroline No.”

Wilson continued to experiment in 1966, producing the groundbreaking single, “Good Vibrations” and the legendary album, “Smile.” The lukewarm reaction of the public to Pet Sounds, drug use, and underlying mental health problems led to the Smile album being shelved by Capitol records. Some of the material appeared on the next Beach Boys release, “Smiley Smile.”

The Beach Boys would undergo several lineup changes and continue to produce music throughout the rest of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Depending on the state of Brian Wilson’s mind, the Beach Boys’music varied from mediocre to brilliant. Among the brilliant moments were the albums, “Wild Honey” (1967), “Friends” (1968), “Surf’s Up” (1971), “Sunflower”(1970), and “Holland”(1973).

The Beach Boys on The Ed Sullivan Show-mid Sixties

Blind Lemon Jefferson: Matchbox Blues

Blind Lemon Jefferson was born in Coutchman, Texas, in 1893. He was an enormously influential country blues singer whose songs have been covered by rock performers as diverse as the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Dylan recorded Jefferson’s “See That My Grave is Kept Clean” on his debut album, while Beatles and others, recorded rocking versions of his “Matchbox Blues.”

After traveling around Texas with the legendary folk and blues singer, Leadbelly, Jefferson wound up in Chicago in the mid-Twenties. He secured a recording contract with Paramount Records and began laying down classic sides. Jefferson’s recordings proved for posterity that he was, in fact, one of the best singers and guitarists of early country blues.

Jefferson was a fast picking guitarist of tremendous facility, and he played in a wide variety of styles. Jefferseon’s recordings seldom become tiresome as is the case with many other country blues singers. Jefferson’s recorded classics include, “Hot Dogs,” “Jack O’ Diamonds Blues,” “Black Snake Moan,” and “Easy Rider Blues.” He was one of the first male blues singers to record solo with his own guitar accompaniment.

Jefferson died of exposure when he became lost in Chicago in December, 1929 during a bad snowstorm. Several fine compilations of Jefferson’s recordings are available including, “King of the Country Blues” (1985), “Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order” (Volumes 1-4) (1991), “The Best of Blind Lemon Jefferson” (2000), and “Classic Sides” (2003).

Blind Willie Johnson Dark Was the Night

Blind Willie Johnson was born near Brenham, Texas, in 1897. Johnson is one of the greatest guitarists in the history of blues music and likely the greatest slide-guitarist in the country blues genre. Johnson is considered a gospel performer by many, as most of his recordings were of a religious nature.

Johnson was not blind from birth. It is not entirely clear how he lost his sight, but it has been suggested that his step-mother threw lye in his eyes to exact revenge on his father.

Johnson began singing on street corners for tips as a youth. He continued busking for many years when this was apparently his only source of income. He busked in several Texas cities, but it seems he spent most of his time in the Texan town, Beaumont. Johnson only made 30 commercial recordings in his lifetime. These recordings were made for Columbia Records between 1927 and 1930.

Fortunately, Johnson recorded after the advent of microphones and his recordings are of high-fidelity. Among his best known sides are: ”God Moves on the Water,” about the sinking of the Titanic, “Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” which was recorded by Led Zeppelin, “Motherless Children,” which was recorded by Eric Clapton, and “John the Revelator” which has been recorded by many.

Johnson was poor throughout his life, and it was his status as an African-American resident of the American South that contributed to his early demise. After his house was destroyed by fire, Johnson, with no place to go, was forced to sleep in its scorched remains. He contracted malarial fever, and when his wife brought him to hospital, he was refused admittance, likely because he was black. Without treatment he succumbed to the fever on September 18, 1945.

Of several fine compilations of Johnson’s music, “Praise God I’m Satisfied” (1977), “Sweeter as the Years Go By” (1990), and “The Complete Blind Willie Johnson” (1993) are the best.

Blind Willie

Allman Brothers Albums and Songs

Southern rock and blues rock legends The Allman Brothers were formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. The band was named after brothers Greg and Duane Allman, the band’s lead singer and lead guitarist, respectively. The Allman Brothers are perhaps the quintessential example of “Southern Rock.”

Southern rock bands such as the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynard, and the Marshall Tucker Band all hailed from below the Mason-Dixon Line and infused their hard rock with elements of the blues and country music and often expressed the conservative or “redneck” outlooks.

The Allman Brothers were perhaps the most blues-influenced of southern rock bands. Their first two albums, “The Allman Brothers Band” (1968) and “Idlewild South” (1970) contained several blues cover tunes each. The ragged, soulful voice of Greg Allman and bluesy slide guitar of Duane Allman and Dickie Betts enabled the band to produce some of the best blues rock of the era.

The Allman Brothers Band was a tremendous live act, and live performances allowed the band’s instrumental highlight, Duane Allman to display his prodigious slide guitar technique. Two of the band’s finest albums, “Live at the Fillmore East” (1971) and “Eat a Peach” (1972) are live albums which feature long tracks which serve as vehicles for Duane Allman’s and Dickie Betts’ impressive chops.

Duane Allman died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 23.

Following the death of Duane Allman, Dickie Betts became the instrumental centerpiece of the band, and the Allman Brothers Band continued to record and tour. The band reached the height of their commercial success with the classic album, “Brothers and Sisters” which featured two of their best known tunes, “Ramblin’ Man” and the instrumental, “Jessica.”

Greg Allman in 1975

The Ink Spots: Gypsy

The Ink Spots were a hugely-influential jazz vocal group that forms a direct link from the jazz and popular music of the Thirties to the R&B music of the Forties and rock and roll of the Fifties. The group consisted of various members during a lengthy 20-year run, but the vocal lead was usually handled by singer Bill Kenny on most of the group’s recordings.

The original Ink Spots came together in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1933, with members Orville Jones, Ivory “Deeks” Watson, Jerry Daniels, and Charlie Fuqua. Bill Kenny joined the fold in 1936.

The group made their first recordings for Victor, in 1935, with versions of “Swingin’ on Strings” and “You’re Feets Too Big,” the Fats Waller song.

The early singles of the Ink Spots sold surprisingly poorly, but the group scored a huge hit in 1939 with the song, “If I Didn’t Care.” The single sold 19 million copies and featured the Ink Spots signature “top and bottom” style in which Bill Kenny sang the lead and Orville Jones performed the “talking bass” below the lead vocal.

During the Forties, the Ink Spots scored a slew of hits including many that hit the top position on the pop charts. Of these hits, “Gypsy” proved to be the biggest, remaining at the top of the charts for 13 weeks.

The original Ink Spots disbanded in 1953, just before the dawn of the rock and roll era. Many groups adopted the name, “Ink Spots,” and claimed kinship to the original group.

The original Ink Spots recordings are best heard via the following collections: “The Best of the Ink Spots” (1955), “The Best of the Ink Spots” (1965), “The Ink Spots in Hi-Fi” (1967), and “The Anthology” (1998).

Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes had a long career as a soul songwriter and session musician prior to the launch of his own solo career in the early Seventies. Hayes was born in Covington, Tennessee, in 1942.

Hayes began his professional career as part of the Stax Records songwriting team of David Porter and Isaac Hayes that produced soul hits for Stax Records’ legendary roster of singers. The songs that Hayes and Porter produced for Stax include, “B-A-B-Y” by Carla Thomas, “I've Got to Love Somebody’s Baby” by Johnnie Taylor, and “Hold On! I'm Coming!” “You Got Me Hummin’,” “Soul Man,” and “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” by Sam and Dave.

Hayes recorded his first solo album, “Presenting Isaac Hayes,” in 1967. The album contained pleasant soul numbers, but it was a tame effort compared to what was to come. When Atlantic Records bought out the Stax Records catalogue in 1968, Hayes was under pressure to write and record new material to replace what had been lost. He hurled himself into the task and while producing material for other artists, he also came up with the material for his brilliant sophomore album, “Hot Buttered Soul,” one of the greatest soul albums ever recorded.

The album contained four superb tracks-all of which clocked in at least five minutes. Covers of Burt Bacharach’s “Walk on By” and Jimmy Webb’s “By the Time I get to Phoenix” ran at 12 minutes and 18 and a half minutes, respectively. Hayes’ extended takes on these songs transcended the originals with their dreamy instrumental passages.

Hayes recorded two more fine albums in 1970, “The Isaac Hayes Movement” and “…To Be Continued.” Hayes’ excellent soundtrack for the film, “Shaft,” would appear in 1971 with the title track becoming a hit. Another quality Hayes album, “Black Moses,” would be released in 1971, featuring lush string accompaniments to soulful songs such as a cover of another Bacharach song, “Close to You,” and a cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Man’s Temptation.”

Hayes would continue to record throughout the Seventies and sporadically in the Eighties with lesser results. Hayes died in 2008 having achieved the status of a master among soul music figures.

The man in chains

Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours

Prior to the meteoric rise of Elvis Presley and rock and roll, Frank Sinatra was the biggest male singing phenomenon that popular music had ever seen. Sinatra’s rise to prominence was accompanied by the same female hysteria that would be heard with the rise of Presley and The Beatles in later decades.

Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1915. He got his start as a big band jazz vocalist with the Harry James Orchestra in 1939. His first recording with James was “From the Bottom of My Heart.” Sinatra would stay with James for about one year and record other sides such as “Here Comes the Night” and “My Buddy.” In 1940, Tommy Dorsey lured Sinatra away from James, and it was with Dorsey that Sinatra would find stardom. Sinatra’s first recording with Dorsey was, “The Sky Fell Down.” Sinatra would stay with Dorsey for five years and record dozens of hit singles including, “Stardust,” “It’s Always You,” “Blue Skies,” and “Embraceable You.”

By the time Sinatra left the Dorsey Orchestra, he was already a pop star and was ready to move on to recordings and performances with himself getting top billing. Sinatra continued to record scads of hit songs throughout the mid-late Forties and early Fifties and branch out as an entertainer by acting in movies. He eventually formed the infamous “rat pack” with show business cronies, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin.

By the mid-Fifties, when rock and roll was beginning to replace swing and vocal jazz as America’s new pop music, Sinatra openly railed against the new music for being primitive and crude causing Elvis Presley to publically express his dismay at the comments.

Sinatra would begin to record his own albums in 1945, with his first notable effort being “The Voice of Frank Sinatra” (1946) on Columbia Records with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Several albums would follow, and then in 1954, Sinatra would record his first

classic album, “Songs for Young Lovers” The following year Sinatra would record the album that is generally cited as his masterpiece, “In the Wee Small Hours” in which Sinatra delivers sixteen songs of heartbreak in inimitable style.

Numerous other essential albums would follow for the next twenty years with the best being, “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!” (1956), “A Swingin’ Affair” (1957), “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely” (1958), “September of My Years” (1965), and “Sinatra at the Sands” (1966).

Sinatra on the town

Ethel Waters: Sweet Man Blues

Ethel Waters was one of the most popular African-American singers and actresses of the Twenties. She was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1896. Waters attained success of a level that saw her eventually become the highest-paid female entertainer of her day, an unheard of accomplishment for an African-American woman in the early years of the 20^th century.

Waters moved to New York in 1919, following several years of touring in vaudeville shows as a singer and a dancer. In 1921, she made her first recordings for Cardinal Records. Later, she switched to the African-American run Black Swan label, and recorded “Down Home Blues” which would be the first blues recording for the label. Waters recorded blues and vaudeville numbers for the label including “Oh Daddy,” “Royal Garden Blues,” “Jazzin’ Baby Blues,” “Sweet Man Blues,” and “Sugar.”

Waters appeared in a number of musical productions and films during the Twenties including, “Check and Double Check,” featuring Amos and Andy and Duke Ellington. By the end of the Thirties, she was a big star on Broadway.

In 1949, Waters received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for the film, “Pinky.” Waters died in 1977. A series of compilations called, “The Chronological Classics” are the best sources of her classic recordings.

Ethel Waters in 1940

Billie Holiday: Lady Day

Billie Holiday’s life is the stuff of jazz legend. She rose from poverty and abuse to become one of the biggest stars of jazz during the Thirties and Forties. Holiday was a great singer who did not possess a great voice. She employed her voice like a horn player would his horn, and had a reputation for taking mediocre songs and transforming them into greatness. Her singing style was influenced by Bessie Smith’s singing and Louis Armstrong’s trumpet playing. Fellow jazz musicians referred to her as simply, “Lady Day.”

Holiday was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1915. In 1933, she was discovered by the legendary John Hammond, talent scout extraordinaire. Hammond signed her to Columbia Records, and she recorded for some of the company’s subsidiary labels.

Despite being offered only mediocre material to record, she was supported by some of the finest musicians in jazz, including pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist, Lester Young, who would coin her “Lady Day” and become her closest friend and musical collaborator.

In 1937, Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra and later joined Artie Shaw’s Orchestra. She stayed with Columbia Records until 1942, only leaving once for the Commodore label with which she recorded the classic and searing song about lynching, “Strange Fruit.” In 1942, she signed with Decca records and later ended up recording for Verve. One of her last sessions with Columbia produced the classic side, “God Bless the Child.”
In the late Forties, Holiday was convicted of heroin possession and spent several months in prison. Due to the conviction, she was unable to obtain a cabaret card, making it impossible for her to find work in New York City clubs. Suffering from both liver and heart disease, Billie Holiday died in a New York hospital, in 1959.

Holiday’s best recordings can be found on the following collections: “Lady Sings the Blues” (1956), “Songs for Distingue Lovers” (1958), “Lady in Satin” (1958), “The Billie Holiday Story” (1959), “The Golden Years” (1962), “Billie Holiday’s Greatest Hits” (1967), “Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944)” (2001), “Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday” (2001), “The Ultimate Collection” (2005), and “Lady Day: The Master Takes and Singles” (2007).

Lady Day

Artie Shaw: Begin the Beguine

Artie Shaw was the greatest white clarinetist of jazz, save perhaps, Benny Goodman. Like Goodman, Shaw was a classically trained musician that excelled at playing other styles of music besides jazz. Shaw had his own orchestra which rivaled Benny Goodman’s orchestra in popularity during the Thirties. Shaw had a huge pop hit with the song, “Begin the Beguine” in 1939.

Shaw was born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky in New York City. He faced a great deal of anti-Semitic discrimination during his youth in New Haven, Connecticut, so anglicized his name as Shaw. During the Thirties and Forties, Shaw was the rival of fellow clarinetist and band leader, Benny Goodman.

Shaw’s best work was with the small band he assembled called, The Gramercy Five. The Gramercy Five recordings are considered by jazz critics to be among the best ever jazz recordings.

Essential recordings by Shaw include the following studio albums and collections: The Great Artie Shaw” (1959), “This is Artie Shaw” (1971), “The Complete Gramercy Five Recordings” (1989) and “The Chronological Classics: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra 1938” (1998), and “The Chronological Classics: Artie Shaw and His Orchestra 1939” (1999).

Young Artie

Bob Seger: Old Time Rock 'n Roll

Bob Seger was one of the most popular and mainstream of the rock singers of the Seventies. Seger, born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1944, had, in his initial incarnation, been a blues-rock/soul singer in a band called “The Bob Seger System.” This band came together in 1968 and played gritty blues rock and R&B. The band’s debut album, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (1969), was a fine effort that had the title track become a minor hit. The band would record two more albums before folding in 1970.

Seger would reemerge as a solo artist, and several early Seventies albums were released under his name that garnered little commercial or critical attention. That would all change with Seger’s next supporting outfit, “The Silver Bullet Band.” Seger and his new backing band came together in 1974, and Seger would finally find the commercial and critical success that he had long been striving for. The first release of Seger and The Silver Bullet Band was a superb live album, “Live Bullet,” from 1976. The album features the new band playing a number of Seger’s older songs in inspired performances.

The band’s next release, “Night Moves,” (1976) would be the breakthrough that would turn Seger into an overnight success more than a decade after his career had begun. The album consisted of hard rock gems such as “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” “Come to Poppa,” and “The Fire Down Below,” but it was the folk-flavoured title track, “Night Moves,” that would become a massive hit. Another fine track, “Mainstreet” would become a minor hit.

Seger would follow-up one classic album with another with the release of “Stranger in Town” (1978). Like its predecessor, this album was a huge commercial and critical success thanks to outstanding tracks such as, “Hollywood Nights,” “Still the Same,” “Feel Like a Number,” and the hit ballad, “We’ve Got Tonight.”

Seger would record several more solid albums such as “Against the Wind” (1980) and “Nine Tonight” (1981) before drifting from the spotlight.

Bob Seger in 1977

Dizzy Gillespie Albums and Classic Sides

The great jazz trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie, was one of the musicians at the forefront of the development of be-bop music in the Fifties. He was born John Birkes Gillespie in Cheraw, South Carolina, in 1917. Gillespie earned the moniker, “Dizzy,” for his ebullient personality and antics while performing.

 After hearing the great Roy Eldridge on the radio as a child, Gillespie decide then and there that he, too, wanted to be a jazz trumpeter. Gillespie got his start in New York City, in 1935, playing in the bands of Teddy Hill and Edgar Hayes. It was with the Teddy Hill Orchestra that Gillespie would make his first recording, “King Porter Stomp.” Gillespie stayed with Hill for one year and then freelanced with several bands for a while before finally winding up in Cab Callaway’s Orchestra in 1939. Calloway would fire Gillespie three years later following an altercation between the two men.

In 1943, Gillespie would join Earl Hines band which featured Charlie Parker and was beginning to create a new music which would become bebop. From there, it was on to the Billie Ekstine band, which also featured Parker. He would later leave the Ekstine band because he wanted to play in a smaller ensemble.

In the mid-Forties, Gillespie, Parker and other jazz musicians such as Max Roach, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Kenny Clark would meet at clubs such as Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown to jam and experiment. It was at these jams that bebop was born.

Gillespie would become a member of the “Quintet,” the legendary be-bop supergroup formed in Toronto in 1953, with Parker, Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Following his one-show tenure with the Quintet, Gillespie would form his own Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra.

Among the best of the classic sides that Gillespie recorded in the Forties and Fifties are: “A Night in Tunisia,” “Salt Peanuts,” “Hot House,” “Manteca,” “Perdido,” and “Night and Day.”

Gillespie’s best albums begin with the Quintet. His “Salt Peanuts” from the album “Live at Massey Hall” is perhaps the best moment of many brilliant moments on that live recording of the Quintet’s only show. Other fine Gillespie albums include, “Dizzy In Paris” (1953), “For Musicians Only” (1958), ”Gillespiana” (1960), “Groovin’ High” (1953).

After Gillespie had had his fill of bebop, he became interested in Afro-Cuban music. Gillespie died in 1993.



Caravan Albums and Canterbury Classics

Caravan, from Canterbury, England, was a progressive rock band that reached the peak of its creative and commercial success in the late Sixties and early Seventies. The band was one of the cornerstones of the “Canterbury scene” of English progressive rock. They produced melodic and generally upbeat music which displayed great musicianship on songs that revealed a very active and ribald sense of humor.

The band formed in 1968, with guitarist/vocalist Pye Hastings and the Sinclair brothers, Dave and Richard, on keyboards and bass, respectively. Their debut album, “Caravan” (1968), was an auspicious start despite its psychedelic leanings that was the cliché of the day. Their sound would change significantly in the wake of the debut. The follow-up, “If I Could Do It All Over Again, I’d Do It All Over You” (1970), found the band drifting away from the psychedelic sounds of the debut and toward more fully-progressive ground.

On their third album, “The Land of Grey and Pink” (1971), Caravan made the full transition to progressive rock material. The album is often cited as their masterpiece, and includes a wide selection of inspired tracks. In 1973, they produced the last of their classic albums, “For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night.” 

Bob Marley and the Wailers Albums and History

Bob Marley is the most famous figure in the history of reggae music and the first “Third World” music superstar. Marley was not the first star of the indigenous Jamaican music, reggae, but he is largely responsible for it becoming internationally-known.

Marley was born in Nine Mile, Saint Anne Parish, Jamaica, and lived in the rough Trench Town part of Kingston. At the age of eighteen, he formed the band that would forever be associated with his name, “The Wailers.” The Wailers consisted of Marley as vocalist and guitarist, Bunny Livingston as singer and percussionist, and Peter Tosh as singer and guitarist. Livingston and Tosh would leave the Wailers in 1973 to pursue solo careers and would become reggae stars themselves. The band featured numerous other supporting musicians who came and went during the subsequent years. Guitarist Junior Murvin was a notable member during the final incarnation of the band.

During the Sixties, the Wailers recorded a number of hit singles in Jamaica including “Simmer Down,” “Love and Affection,” and an early version of “One Love,” the song that would become an international anthem in the Seventies. When these songs were released, the term, “reggae,” hadn’t been coined, and this jaunty dance music was referred to as “ska, and was later dubbed, “rocksteady.”

During the Seventies, the Wailers began to record albums on Upsetter Records with Lee “Scratch” Perry as producer. It was under Perry’s direction that the band began to distinguish itself from its ska/reggae competitors.

In 1971, the band released its first classic album, “Soul Revolution.” Another classic album followed in 1973, with “Catch a Fire,” containing the well-known Marley song, “Stir it Up.” By this time, the Wailers had been signed to Island records. The following year, 1974, saw the release of “Burnin,’” another solid effort containing the classic songs, “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot the Sheriff,” a song that would soon become a chart hit in a version by Eric Clapton.

By this time, Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh had left the band to pursue solo careers, and Bob Marley was left in full control. Marley was beginning to attract international acclaim, aided greatly by Eric Clapton’s success with “I Shot the Sheriff.” He would try to build on this foundation by adding rock record production and studio polish to his successive albums, but he never lost the gritty, soulful essence of his music. The Wailers’ next four albums, “Natty Dread,” Live,” “Rastaman Vibration,” and “Exodus” would see Marley at the height of his creative powers. It was during this run of albums that Marley would achieve international stardom.

“Exodus” (1977) is generally regarded as Marley’s finest original album with its catchy songs, fine arrangements, and its pop production values. Marley had practically made reggae a crossover genre with this album by rendering reggae palatable to pop music fans. Exodus contained a bevy of classic songs such as the song, “Exodus,” “Jammin’,” “Three Little Birds,” “Waiting in Vain,” and an updated version of “One Love.” Marley titled the album “Exodus” in recognition of his flight to sanctuary in England following an attempt on his life in Jamaica.

Another solid live album, “Babylon by Bus” followed in 1978, and then his final studio release, “Uprising,” appeared in 1981. “Redemption Song” from the latter album is especially haunting as it is the last song on the last album that Marley recorded.

Marley died at age 36 in 1981.

James Brown Albums and History

James Brown, born in Macon, Georgia, in 1938 was known by a number of titles including “The Godfather of Soul,” “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” “Soul Brother Number One,” and “Mr. Dynamite.” Brown is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of American popular music. In addition to being a major figure in the creation of funk music, Brown was a businessman and an inspirational leader in the American civil rights movement.

A number of musicians spent time in his back-up bands before finding success as solo artists including, Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, and Hank Ballard. Brown is frequently cited as an influence by hip hop artists, and he may be the single most sampled artist by hip hop producers.

James Brown was born in Barnwell, North Carolina, in 1933. He was born into abject poverty and was sent to live with an aunt. He dropped out of school in the seventh grade and began working odd jobs such as shoe shining and singing for the World War Two troops that were stationed at Camp Gordon near his aunt’s home. During this time, Brown taught himself to play the harmonica and received guitar lessons from the legendary bluesman, Tampa Red.

When he saw a film of the great jump blues master Louis Jordan performing his hit, “Caledonia,” Brown resolved to pursue a professional music career. However, when he was sixteen, Brown was charged with armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center. While serving a three-year sentence in a detention center, Brown became acquainted with Bobby Byrd, a future R&B star whose family arranged for Brown’s release from the center. After stints as a semi-professional baseball player and boxer, Brown focused his attention back on music.

In 1955, Brown joined his friend Bobby Bird as a member of Byrd’s singing group, the Avons. With Brown now a member, the Avons changed their name to the Flames and signed to Federal Records. Brown’s first recording, “Please. Please, Please” would come as a member of the Flames and present him as a soul singer of great depth and intensity.

Brown would record several more singles with the Flames during the Fifties, and the group would eventually become known as “James Brown and the Famous Flames.” Among thier big hits were the songs, “I’ll Go Crazy,” “Think,” “Lost Someone,” “Night Train,” and “Caledonia.” In 1965, Brown, in the opinion of many, would invent funk music with his hit, “Papa’s got a Brand New Bag.” For its recording, Brown told his band to “play it on the one,” transforming the traditional 2/4 beat heard in R&B recordings and giving the world something new.

Brown continued recording hit singles and albums consistently until the Nineties. Among Brown’s later hits were the songs, “I Got You (I Feel Good),” “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” “Licking Stick,” “Say it Loud-I’m Black and I’m Proud,” “Cold Sweat,” “Sex Machine,” and “Living in America.”

Brown died on Christmas Day, 2006, leaving behind him an awesome catalogue of recorded work.

Among Brown’s best studio albums and compilations are: “Please Please Please” (1956), “Live at the Apollo” (1963), “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (1965), “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (1966), “James Brown Live at the Garden” (1967), “I Can’t Stand Myself When You Touch Me” (1968), “Say it Loud-I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1969), “Sex Machine”(1970), “Revolution of the Mind” (1971), “The Payback” (1974), “Love Power Peace, Live at the Olympia, Paris1971” (1992), “James Brown Soul Classics” (1972), “Solid Gold 30 Golden Hits” (1977), “In the Jungle Groove” (1986), “Star Time” (1991), and “Gold” (2005)