Blind Willie McTell was a country blues
singer/guitarist and probably the greatest performer of the Piedmont style of
blues playing. He also played ragtime music. McTell was born blind as William
Samuel McTier, in Thomson, Georgia, in 1898.
McTell learned to read and write music from
Braille, and acquired a six-string guitar in his early teens. He was born into
a musical family, and is a relation of gospel music pioneer, Thomas A. Dorsey.
When his mother died during the Twenties, the now parentless McTell began
wandering The South. He wound up in Atlanta,
Georgia, in
1927, and scored a recording contract with Victor Records. He would remain in Atlanta and record for
several record companies.
McTell’s best known song is “Statesboro Blues,”
which was recorded by the Allman Brothers Band. The White Stripes have recorded
two of his tunes, “Southern Can Mama” and “Lord, Send Me an Angel.”
McTell’s albums, “Atlanta Twelve String:
Blues Originals Vol. 1” (1972), “The Definitive Blind Willie McTell” (1994),
and “King of Georgia Blues” (2007) are all essential listening.
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 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.
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.”
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 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.
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).
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 20th 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.
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).
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).
Camel is a progressive rock band from Guildford, England.
The band came together in 1971, and had guitarist Andrew Latimer, bassist Doug
Ferguson, drummer Andy Ward, and keyboardist Peter Bardens as original members.
Their first album, the fine “Camel” was
released in 1973. The debut album was a very solid example of progressive rock
with tightly performed selections relying heavily on keyboards and lengthy
tracks that allowed the musicians space to solo and improvise. “Slow Yourself
Down” and “Mystic Queen” are standout tracks from this one.
Camel’s second album, “Mirage” (1974), proved
to be the band’s masterpiece with inspired arrangements, playing and songs.
“Free Fall,” “Supertwister,” and “Lady Fantasy” are the highlights here. The
album is one of the all-time classics of progressive rock.
Camel’s next two albums, “The Snow Goose”
(1975) and “Moonmadness” (1976) were both stellar efforts, and come close to
reaching the heights achieved on Mirage. The former album is an instrumental
showcase for the more brilliant arrangements and ensemble playing, and is
conceived as a concept album about the life cycle of the snow goose. The latter
album is more keyboard-driven, but is just as memorable. Camel’s outstanding
live album, “A Live Record” (1978), with its spot on live renditions of studio
material amply demonstrated the brilliance of this band’s individual members.
After falling on hard times in the Eighties,
Camel bounced back in the Nineties with several solid albums including, “Harbor
of Tears” and “Rajaz.”
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.
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, 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.
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 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.
Charlie
Poole was one of a handful of individuals recording country music in the days
before The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers made the music popular in the late Twenties.
Poole and his band, “The North Carolina Ramblers,” were one of the most popular
and prolific of the “hillbilly” bands to record in the mid-Twenties. Traditional
country was rich and colorful, and Poole was one of the best from its early
days.
Poole was
born in Eden, North Carolina, in 1892. He was a banjo player, and he and his
band, the North Carolina Ramblers, made their first recording, “Don’t Let Your
Deal Go Down.” in 1925. Poole wrote songs that reflected the harsh realities of
life for the southern poor and his own struggles with alcoholism, a disease
which would eventually kill him.
Songs
such as "You Ain't Talking To Me," “Can I Sleep in your Barn Tonight Mister,” “Take a Drink on Me,” and
“All Go Hungry Hash House” paint vivid pictures of that life. Poole even
dabbled in the political arena with his classic, “White House Blues.”
Several
compilations exist with these songs and many more.
Frankie
Trumbauer, born in Carbondale, Illinois, in 1901, is one of the first great
jazz saxophonists. He became famous as a player of the rare C-melody saxophone,
an instrument with a pitch that falls between an alto and tenor saxophone. Trumbauer
was a saxophonist of considerable influence who is credited by many later
greats of the instrument as an inspiration. Trumbauer was often referred to by
the moniker, “Tram.”
Trumbauer
began his career with the Paul Whiteman Band in the early twenties. When he
switched to the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, he met the great cornetist Bix
Beiderbecke with whom he would later become a close friend and collaborator.
In 1927,
Trumbauer formed his own orchestra and with Beiderbecke, Eddie Lang and Jimmy
Dorsey produced some of the best jazz ever recorded. In a series of legendary
sessions, the Frankie Trumbauer Orchestra would record, “Singing the Blues,”
“Clarinet Marmalade,” “For No Reason at all in C,” “Riverboat Shuffle,” Ostrich
Walk,” and others. Bix Beiderbecke’s work on these recordings is considered to
be his best ever work. On the brilliant side, “Trumbology,” Trumbauer delivers
one of the first true saxophone tour de forces in recorded jazz. Trumbauer died
in 1956.
Trumbauer’s
recordings can be found on the “Chronological Classics” series of jazz
compilations and his recordings with Beiderbecke were considered good enough to
warrant inclusion on the venerable collection of early jazz recordings, “The
Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz” (1973).
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)
Led Zeppelin was one of the first hard rock
supergroups, and a band which enjoyed unprecedented popularity in the hard rock
arena. The band came together from the ashes of the last incarnation of the
Yardbirds, which featured the young guitar hero, Jimmy Page. Page teamed up
with bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, but the new band needed a
lead singer to round out its line-up. Terry Reid was considered at first, but
when he proved to be unavailable, Robert Plant was brought in.
The new band was initially called, “The New
Yardbirds,” but changed their name to “Led Zeppelin” as a response to one
observer who predicted their doom by stating, “They’ll go down like a lead
balloon.” Like most other early hard rock bands, Zeppelin had a solid grounding
in the electric blues of Chicago,
especially where Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush and Howlin’ Wolf were concerned.
The band’s debut album, “Led Zeppelin”
(1968), clearly revealed that influence as the band recorded revolutionary
takes on a number of Chess standards such as “You Shook Me,” “I Can't Quit You,”
and “How Many More Times” with over-amplified bass, guitar and drums and the banshee-like
vocals of Robert Plant. The album remains today one of the all-time classics of
hard rock.
Their next effort, the superb “Led Zeppelin
2” (1969), contained fewer covers and moved more toward a mainstream hard rock
sound with classic tracks such as “Heartbreaker,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and
“Ramble On.” Their third release, “Led Zeppelin 3” (1970), was a more eclectic
affair featuring several acoustic performances by Page and the hard-driving,
“Immigrant Song.”
The band’s next release, “Led Zeppelin 4” (1971),
would ultimately become their masterpiece due in large part to the presence of
one of the most popular rock tracks ever, “Stairway to Heaven.” In addition to
this hard rock anthem, there were other gems such as the folk-rock of “The Battle
of Evermore,” featuring a vocal duet between Plant and former Fairport
Convention lead singer, Sandy Denny. This album remains one of the best-selling
and most-praised rock albums in history.
The first Led Zeppelin album to actually
bear a proper title, “Houses of the Holy” (1973), followed next. It was yet
another outstanding offering, containing the standout tracks, “The Song Remains
the Same,” and “Over the Hills and Far Away.” The double album, “Physical
Graffiti,” was next and continued Led Zeppelin’s almost unprecedented run of
fine albums. Another diverse release, the album contained the epic track, “Kashmir.”
The very solid, “Presence,” was released in
1976, followed by the somewhat disappointing, “In Through the Out Door,” in
1979. An excellent live album of material from the Seventies, “How the West was
Won,” would appear out of the blue in 2003.
Jazz
singer/songwriter/pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller was born in New York City, in
1904. While he is not a household name to the extent of fellow jazz legends,
Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, and Goodman, Fats Waller was no less important or
influential. In the opinion of his fellow musicians, especially Louis
Armstrong, he was a giant among giants.
As a
youth in New York City, Waller sought out the Harlem stride piano legend, James
P. Johnson, and became the great pianist’s understudy. Soon thereafter, Waller
was one of the best stride pianists in the city. The stride style is sort of
the jazz version of boogie-woogie, and as such, it is quite palatable to the
ears of rock music fans. Waller would eventually become one of the very best
pianists that jazz ever produced. Only the likes of Art Tatum, Earl Hines,
Teddy Wilson and Oscar Peterson could match his virtuosity.
In addition to being one of the finest musicians in early jazz, Waller was one
of the best and most prolific songwriters in jazz, penning the standards,
“Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain't Misbehavin.” Many of Waller’s compositions are
humorous, and display his penchant for writing clever lyrics laden with
double-meanings.
Waller’s first recording was made as early as 1922, with the sides, “Muscle Shoals
Blues” and “Birmingham Blues” recorded for the General Phonograph Company.
After a few more recording sessions in 1923, Waller’s recording career would
begin in earnest in 1927 with a solid string of classic sides that would
continue until his death in 1943.
Waller’s
first big hit, “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” appeared in 1929, and was followed by scads
of others including, “African Ripples,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Viper’s Drag,”
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie,”
“S’Posin’,” “You’re Feets Too Big,” “All That Meat and No Potatoes,” “The Joint
is Jumpin’,” and “A Good Man’s Hard to Find.”
These
recordings and more can be found on several excellent compilations of Waller’s
music such as the multi-volume “The Complete Fats Waller,” “The Very Best of
Fats Waller” (2000), and “The Centennial Collection” (2004).
Jazz
singer/songwriter/pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller was born in New York City, in
1904. While he is not a household name to the extent of fellow jazz legends,
Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, and Goodman, Fats Waller was no less important or
influential. In the opinion of his fellow musicians, especially Louis
Armstrong, he was a giant among giants.
As a
youth in New York City, Waller sought out the Harlem stride piano legend, James
P. Johnson, and became the great pianist’s understudy. Soon thereafter, Waller
was one of the best stride pianists in the city. The stride style is sort of
the jazz version of boogie-woogie, and as such, it is quite palatable to the
ears of rock music fans. Waller would eventually become one of the very best
pianists that jazz ever produced. Only the likes of Art Tatum, Earl Hines,
Teddy Wilson and Oscar Peterson could match his virtuosity.
In addition to being one of the finest musicians in early jazz, Waller was one
of the best and most prolific songwriters in jazz, penning the standards,
“Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain't Misbehavin.” Many of Waller’s compositions are
humorous, and display his penchant for writing clever lyrics laden with
double-meanings.
Waller’s first recording was made as early as 1922, with the sides, “Muscle Shoals
Blues” and “Birmingham Blues” recorded for the General Phonograph Company.
After a few more recording sessions in 1923, Waller’s recording career would
begin in earnest in 1927 with a solid string of classic sides that would
continue until his death in 1943.
Waller’s
first big hit, “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” appeared in 1929, and was followed by scads
of others including, “African Ripples,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Viper’s Drag,”
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie,”
“S’Posin’,” “You’re Feets Too Big,” “All That Meat and No Potatoes,” “The Joint
is Jumpin’,” and “A Good Man’s Hard to Find.”
These
recordings and more can be found on several excellent compilations of Waller’s
music such as the multi-volume “The Complete Fats Waller,” “The Very Best of
Fats Waller” (2000), and “The Centennial Collection” (2004).
