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Post by razorbacker on Apr 3, 2024 11:11:36 GMT
April in Paris is a song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Yip Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical Walk a Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin.
Count Basie's 1955 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song has become a jazz standard & has been performed by many artists, including Louis Armstrong, Billy Eckstine, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Joni James, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Alex Chilton, Wynton Marsalis, & Andy Williams, just to name a few.
Frank Sinatra’s version was included on his 14th studio album. It was called Come Fly With Me & it was released in 1958. The album hit #1 on the Billboard album chart and remained at the top for five weeks.
It was Frank’s 1st collaboration with arranger/conductor Billy May. The album was designed as a musical trip around the world with all of the songs being either about traveling to, or being in, various parts of the world.
At the inaugural Grammy Awards the album was nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year, but lost out to The Music From Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.
April In Paris by Frank Sinatra
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 3, 2024 19:14:41 GMT
Jonathan Richman is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Boston. He will turn 73 next month.
In 1970, he founded the proto-punk band Modern Lovers. Since the mid-1970s, he has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic and electric backing.
Jonathan as a solo artist has released 17 albums. There have been 4 Live albums, multiple compilations & many appearances with other artists.
This song comes from his 4th solo album, I, Jonathan released in 1992. The album contains mostly simple and sparse rock and roll arrangements, and straightforward lyrics about everyday topics, such as music, parties, summer, and dancing. It is widely-regarded as one of his best works, and is considered an influential album in the lo-fi genre.
Songs on the album addressed topics such as backyard parties ("Parties in the U.S.A"), & memories of neighborhoods in which he had lived ("Rooming House on Venice Beach" and "Twilight in Boston"). It doesn’t appear as though the album charted & there seems to have been no singles released, or if there were none charted.
That Summer Feeling by Jonathan Richman
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 4, 2024 11:11:13 GMT
Jaye P. Morgan is a retired singer, actress, and game show panelist from Mancos, Colorado. Jaye P. is still with us & she turned 92 last December. He real name is Mary Margaret Morgan.
In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after the banker J. P. Morgan).
From 1954 to 1955, she was a vocalist on the ABC television show Stop the Music. In November 1955, the British music magazine, NME, reported that she was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll.
To later generations she is probably best remembered for being a regular panelist on The Gong Show From 1976 to 1978, in which she achieved notoriety for flashing her breasts while on live camera; NBC banned her from the program following the incident.
She also appeared on Rhyme and Reason, Match Game, Make Me Laugh and the 1980 "behind-the-scenes" movie version of The Gong Show. She appeared on the Playboy Channel game show Everything Goes, and with her former Gong Show partner Jamie Farr on Hollywood Squares Game Show Week II in 2004.
As a vocalist she had her 1st hit single with the #22 song Just A Gigolo in 1953. Her 1st nine releases all hit the top 40 but she was largely relegated to the lower reaches of the Hot 100 by 1955. The song linked to here landed at #65 for her in 1959.
The song was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. It was recorded several times in 1927—first by Charles Hart. Elvis Presley will take his version to #1 in 1960.
Are You Lonesome Tonight by Jaye P. Morgan
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 4, 2024 11:12:52 GMT
Jaye P. Morgan is a retired singer, actress, and game show panelist from Mancos, Colorado. Jaye P. is still with us & she turned 92 last December. He real name is Mary Margaret Morgan.
In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after the banker J. P. Morgan).
From 1954 to 1955, she was a vocalist on the ABC television show Stop the Music. In November 1955, the British music magazine, NME, reported that she was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll.
To later generations she is probably best remembered for being a regular panelist on The Gong Show From 1976 to 1978, in which she achieved notoriety for flashing her breasts while on live camera; NBC banned her from the program following the incident.
She also appeared on Rhyme and Reason, Match Game, Make Me Laugh and the 1980 "behind-the-scenes" movie version of The Gong Show. She appeared on the Playboy Channel game show Everything Goes, and with her former Gong Show partner Jamie Farr on Hollywood Squares Game Show Week II in 2004.
As a vocalist she had her 1st hit single with the #22 hit Just A Gigolo in 1953. Her 1st nine releases all hit the top 40 but she was largely relegated to the lower reaches of the hot 100 by 1955. The song linked to here landed at #65 for her in 1959.
The song was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. It was recorded several times in 1927—first by Charles Hart. Elvis Presley will take his version to #1 in 1960.
Are You Lonesome Tonight by Jaye P. Morgan
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 4, 2024 15:52:14 GMT
I kept getting a message from the "admins?" saying this page was not available, they knew about it & were working on it. So instead of not posting the song, it posted twice. Sorry, didn't mean to.
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 4, 2024 17:32:56 GMT
Lead Belly, was folk and blues singer from Mooringsport, Louisiana. He died in 1949 at the age of 61. His real name was Huddie William Ledbetter.
His songs covered a wide range of genres, including gospel, blues, and folk, as well as a number of topics, including women, liquor, prison life, racism, cowboys, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes.
He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
All of these songs were recorded by him & they have all been added to The Library Congress 6 volume series by Rounder Records. Midnight Special, Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In, Let It Shine on Me, The Titanic, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, & Go Down Old Hannah.
He recorded a version of this song at Angola Prison for John and Alan Lomax in 1934. They mistakenly credited him as the writer. In their book, Best Loved American Folk Songs, John & Alan told a credible story identifying the Midnight Special as a train from Houston shining its light into a cell in the Sugar Land Prison. They also describe Ledbetter's version as "the Negro jailbird's ballad to match Hard Times Poor Boy. Like so many American folk songs, its hero is not a man but a train." The light of the train is seen as the light of salvation, the train which could take them away from the prison walls. It is highly reminiscent of the imagery of such gospel songs as "Let the Light from Your Lighthouse Shine on Me". Carl Sandburg had a different view. He believed the subject of the song would rather be run over by a train than spend more time in jail.
So many people of various styles have recorded the song over the years including Eric Clapton, Les Paul, Burl Ives, Bobby Darin, Mungo Jerry, Van Morrison, CCR, Little Richard, The Spencer Davis Group. The Kentucky Headhunters & Hoyt Axton, just to name a few.
Midnight Special by Lead Belly
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 5, 2024 11:17:31 GMT
The Modern Jazz Quartet was a jazz combo established in 1952 & continued off & on through 1997.
They were one of the first small jazz combos to perform in concert halls rather than nightclubs. They earned a variety of honors, including the first NAACP award for cultural contributions in the field of music in 1957, top billing on numerous jazz magazine polls, and honorary doctorates from Berklee College.
Two of the four founding members, pianist John Lewis and drummer Kenny Clarke, met and first performed together in 1944 while stationed with the US army in France during World War II. In 1946, they reconnected in New York, where Clarke, who had joined his friend Dizzy Gillespie's big band, introduced Gillespie to Lewis, who went on to replace Thelonious Monk as the band's pianist. The band's rhythm section now consisted of Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Ray Brown (bass), and Clarke (drums).
At the time of this recording, Ray Brown on the bass had been replaced with Percy Heath, but the other 3 remained involved. The actual sessions had taken place in June 1953, December 1954, and January 1955, and (as Prestige Records had yet to enter the 12-inch LP era) were first released on two 10-inch albums, entitled Modern Jazz Quartet. The 12" album was called Django & came out in 1956.
The song itself was written by Vernon Duke back in 1934 & has become a jazz standard & recorded multiple times over the years.
Autumn In New York by The Modern Jazz Quartet
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 5, 2024 23:06:46 GMT
June Christy was a singer from Springfield, Illinois. Her real name was Shirley Luster. She semi-retired in 1969, in part because of her battle with alcoholism. She died of kidney failure on June 21, 1990, at the age of 64.
She was known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. She first gained attention as a singer with The Stan Kenton Orchestra.
She began her solo career in 1954 and is best known for her debut album Something Cool. After her death, she was hailed as "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time."
This song was originally included on a ten-inch mono album that peaked at #8 on the Billboard Albums chart on January 8, 1955. That album was re-recorded in stereo, and released again under the same title in 1960. The 1960 stereo version had the same track listing in the same order as the 1955 mono version. This is the stereo version.
The song has been recorded & performed many times. Even by Bob Dylan who sang it on the second-to-last episode of The Late Show with David Letterman.
The Night We Called It A Day by June Christy
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 6, 2024 11:15:56 GMT
"Cannonball" Adderley was a jazz alto saxophonist from Tampa, Florida. He suffered a stroke from a cerebral hemorrhage in July 1975 and died on August 8, 1975, he was just 46. His full name was Julian Edwin Adderley.
In 1970, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood.
He formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1955. He was noticed by Miles Davis, and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group. He joined the Davis band in October 1957, three months prior to the return of John Coltrane to the group. Miles notably appears on Adderley's solo album Somethin' Else, which was recorded shortly after the two met.
That album, Somethin' Else, is where we pick up the story. It was released in 1958 & was his only album for the Blue Note label. The album was recorded during Adderley's membership in the Miles Davis' First Great Quintet, and it also marks one of the few recordings Davis made as a sideman after 1955. The reviewers gave the album the highest ratings possible all across the board.
Almost everyone gets a solo on the song & the players are, Alto Saxophone: Cannonball Adderley, Trumpet: Miles Davis, Double Bass: Sam Jones, Piano: Hank Jones & Drums: Art Blakey
The song itself was composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945. It has become a jazz standard and it is one of the most recorded songs by jazz musicians. More than a thousand commercial recordings are known to have been released by mainstream and jazz musicians.
Autumn Leaves by Cannonball Adderley
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 6, 2024 17:22:20 GMT
Rascal Flatts was a country group founded in 1999 in Nashville. The group consisted of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals).
On January 7, 2020, the band announced that they would be disbanding following a farewell tour after twenty years together. However, the tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the group's disbandment was officially confirmed in October 2021.
The band was named Vocal Group of the Year by the Country Music Association every year from 2003 to 2008, Top Vocal Group by the Academy of Country Music from 2003 to 2009 and won the American Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2006.
They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2011 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.
"Bless the Broken Road" was also named Best Country Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.
During their career they released 10 studio albums plus a greatest hits package. Their highest-certified albums are Feels Like Today and Me and My Gang, which are both certified 5× Platinum. Except for their 2000 self-titled debut and 2017's Back to Us, all of their albums have reached No. 1 on the Country Albums chart.
This song comes from their 2002 album, Melt. It was their 2nd studio album, their 1st album to hit #1 & it has been certified 3 X Platinum.
The song linked to here was the 1st single released from the album & was the group's first #1 hit Hot Country Songs charts. The follow singles, "Love You Out Loud" and "I Melt", respectively reached number 3 and number 2, while "Mayberry" went to #1.
Gary LeVox said, "We knew this was a special song. We’d already completed the album but we dropped a song that we wrote to put this on the album.”
These Days by Rascal Flatts
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 7, 2024 11:12:32 GMT
If it seems as though Frank Sinatra has popped up a lot lately, it’s because he has. But, it really wasn’t planned that way, he just seems to fit into where we are on the alphabetical list of songs at the moment. And, he will be heard from again, as will this particular song.
"Autumn in New York" is a jazz standard and popular song composed by Vernon Duke in the summer of 1934. It was written without a commission or for a specific show, but Duke offered it to producer Murray Anderson for his Broadway musical Thumbs Up! The play opened on December 27, 1934, where the song was performed by singer J. Harold Murray.
The song has been recorded numerous times over the years. But, the only version to chart as a single in the US was this version by Frank, which reached No. 27 in 1949.
Frank actually recorded the song twice. That version that charted in 1949 was recorded in 1947 & then he recorded it again in 1959. The 1st version was a non album track, the 2nd version was included on his Come Fly With Me album, that is the version we hear here.
Autumn In New York by Frank Sinatra
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 7, 2024 17:19:45 GMT
Dwight Yoakam is a country singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker from Pikeville, Kentucky. He turned 67 last October.
His musical style draws from neotraditional country, honky-tonk, Bakersfield sound, bluegrass music, country rock, and rockabilly.
He has won 2 Grammy Awards and 2 Academy of Country Music awards.
During his career he has released 17 studio albums, 2 Live albums & 9 compilations. His first three albums—Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., Hillbilly Deluxe, and Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room—all reached number one on the Country Albums chart.
He has two #1 singles on Hot Country Songs with "Streets of Bakersfield" (a duet with Buck Owens) and "I Sang Dixie", and 12 more top-ten hits.
This was the title song to his 5th studio album it was released on March 23, 1993. The album got to #4 & has been certified as 3 X Platinum.
Even though it didn’t hit #1 it was his most commercially successful album. Three of the singles from the album. "Ain't That Lonely Yet", "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "Fast as You", all landed at #2. The other two singles did pretty good as well "Try Not to Look So Pretty" hit #14 and "Pocket of a Clown" landed at #22.
This Time by Dwight Yoakum
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 8, 2024 11:12:11 GMT
Dizzy Gillespie was a much honored musician during his time but he also received many awards posthumously. He passed away in 1993 at the age of 75.
He was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, he received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Duke Ellington Award for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader.
In 2002, he was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame for his contributions to Afro-Cuban music. He was honored on December 31, 2006 in A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2014, he was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
During the 1964 United States presidential campaign, Dizzy put himself forward as an independent write-in candidate. He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed the Blues House, and he would have a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General). He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller.
I would love to be able to say when this was recorded & who else was playing, but his volume of recordings would take forever to go through & I may never find the correct version anyway.
It is a little known fact that his cheeks exploded just after the photo on this album was taken.
Autumn Leaves by Dizzy Gillespie
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 8, 2024 17:05:55 GMT
I have never heard of this band before, but based on their name I thought for sure they were a bluegrass band. That isn't the case. Supergrass is an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up has consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, backing vocals).
They were active until 2010, reformed in 2019 & are now on a hiatus.
Their catalog consists of 6 studio albums, 3 extended plays, 2 compilation albums, 26 singles and 24 music videos, with the most recent studio album coming out in 2008.
This song comes from their debut album called I Should Coco. It was released in 1995. The album got to #1 & has been certified Platinum in the UK, but they didn’t chart an album here in the states until their 4th release in 2002.
Their 1st singles released from the album were a double “A” side with one side being Alright & the other side being the song linked to here. The release hit #2 in the UK & the top 10 in a few other countries, but they did not have a charting single to land on the US charts until 1997.
Time by Supergrass
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 9, 2024 11:31:26 GMT
Hampton Hawes Jr. was a jazz pianist from Los Angeles. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1977, at the age of 48.
His mother, was the pianist at the Westminster's Presbyterian Church in LA. Hamptons' first experience with the piano was as a toddler sitting on his mother's lap while she practiced.
Struggling for many years with a heroin addiction, in 1958 Hawes became the target of a federal undercover operation in Los Angeles. Investigators believed that he would inform on suppliers rather than risk ruining a successful music career. He was arrested on heroin charges on his 30th birthday and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
In 1961, while at a federal prison hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, he was watching President Kennedy's inaugural speech on television, and became convinced that Kennedy would pardon him. With help from inside and outside the prison, he submitted an official request for a presidential pardon. In August 1963, Kennedy granted him Executive Clemency, the 42nd of only 43 such pardons given in the final year of Kennedy's presidency.
Evidently, he never did inform on anyone.
During his career he released multiple albums with his trio, as well as collaborations with other artists of the era. This song comes from his 2nd studio album. It was called This Is Hampton Hawes (subtitled Vol. 2, The Trio) & was released in 1955. The trio of players were Hampton Hawes - piano. Red Mitchell - bass, & Chuck Thompson - drums.
Autumn In New York by Hampton Hawes
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 9, 2024 16:58:01 GMT
Ben Webster was a jazz tenor saxophonist from Kansas City, Kansas. He died in 1973 at the age of 64.
As a kid he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from Pete Johnson, and received saxophone lessons from Budd Johnson.
He eventually became a soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra starting in 1940. His personality, however, proved difficult for most members of the orchestra and for Ellington. It was not possible, according to Mercer Ellington, for his father and the saxophonist to be in the same room without an argument developing. As baritone player Harry Carney recalled, "After he had a drink or two, he'd change". Ben left the band in 1943.
This song comes from an album called Soulville. It is the result of a recording a session on October 15, 1957, during which Ben played with the Oscar Peterson Trio.
The players on the song are Piano: Oscar Peterson, Guitar: Herb Ellis, Double Bass: Ray Brown, Drums: Stan Levey & Tenor Saxophone: Ben Webster.
Time On My Hands by Ben Webster
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 10, 2024 11:19:11 GMT
"Dooley" Wilson was an actor, singer and musician from Tyler, Texas. He died May 30, 1953, of natural causes, he was 57. His real first name was Arthur.
By 1908 he was in Chicago in the repertory company of the Pekin Theatre, the first legitimate black theatre in the United States. By then he had earned the nickname "Dooley", for his whiteface impersonation of an Irishman singing a song called "Mr. Dooley".
In 1914 he was with Charles Gilpin's stock company at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem in 1915. He performed in James Reese Europe's band, and after World War I he toured Europe with his own band, The Red Devils, throughout the 1920s.
In May 1942, Warner Bros. was casting its production of Casablanca and borrowed him from Paramount Pictures for seven weeks at $500 a week. Per the studio custom of the day, Wilson received his contract salary, $350 per week, and Paramount kept the balance.
The phrase "Play it again, Sam", is never heard in Casablanca. The line was, "Play it, once, Sam."
Dooley was a singer and drummer, but not a pianist. The piano music for the film was played off-screen, and dubbed.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. The music was written by Max Steiner, who wrote scores for King Kong and Gone with the Wind. The song "As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld had been part of the story from the original play; from January, 1942.
The film won Oscars for Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Director & Best Screenplay. Humphrey Bogart was nominated for Best Actor but lost out to Paul Lukas for Watch On The Rhine, Claude Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but lost out to Charles Coburn in The More The Merrier & Max Steiner was nominated for Best Score but he lost out to Alfred Newman for The Song Of Bernadette.
As Time Goes By by Dooley Wilson
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 10, 2024 17:13:18 GMT
Cold Chisel is an Australian rock band, formed in Adelaide in 1973. They have stopped & started many times & included many different members, but the group is still out there.
The current lineup includes: Ian Moss – lead guitar, backing and lead vocals , Don Walker – keyboards, backing vocals, Jimmy Barnes – lead and backing vocals, occasional guitar, those three have been there since the beginning, Phil Small – bass guitar, backing vocals, he joined in 1975 & Charley Drayton – drums, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, he is the newcomer joining up in 2011.
The band was renowned as one of the most dynamic live acts of their day and from early in their career concerts routinely became sell-out events. But the band was also famous for its wild lifestyle, particularly the hard-drinking lead vocalist Jimmy Barnes, who played his role as one of the wild men of Australian rock to the hilt, never seen on stage without at least one bottle of vodka and often so drunk he could barely stand upright. Despite this, by 1982 he was a devoted family man who refused to tour without his wife and daughter.
During their career they have released 9 studio albums, 9 Live albums, & 31 singles. This song comes from East. It was their 3rd studio album & was released in June 1980. The album charted at #2 in Australia & #195 here in the states. It was their only charting album here & they have never charted a single here.
The cover art was inspired by the 1793 painting The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David. The photo of Barnes was taken at Roger Langford's apartment in Elizabeth Bay, where the video for "Cheap Wine" was later shot. Barnes had purchased the headband in Japan, and years later discovered he had worn it upside-down.
Tomorrow by Cold Chisel
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 11, 2024 11:11:28 GMT
Kenny Dorham was a jazz trumpeter, composer, and occasional singer from Fairfield, Texas. He died from kidney disease, on December 5, 1972, he was 48.
Early in his career, he played in the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, and Mercer Ellington, and in Charlie Parker's quintet. He joined Parker's band in December 1948. He also recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, and he replaced Clifford Brown in the Max Roach Quintet after Brown's death in 1956.
Kenny never received the kind of attention or public recognition from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did. For this reason, writer Gary Giddins said that Dorham's name has become "virtually synonymous with 'underrated'."
We have heard many versions of this song in the past & there are more to come, but this version was recorded Live in 1956 & added to his album 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia.
The musicians are: Kenny Dorham – trumpet, J. R. Monterose – tenor saxophone, Kenny Burrell – guitar, Bobby Timmons – piano, Sam Jones – bass, & Arthur Edgehill – drums.
Autumn In New York by Kenny Dorham
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 11, 2024 16:48:46 GMT
The Soft Boys were a rock band from Cambridge, England.
Like many of these bands we have seen they have broken up & reformed many times with many different members over the years but they seem to have quit for good in 2003.
They broke up for the 1st time in 1981 after the release of the album that includes the song linked to here. The albumt was called Underwater Moonlight. It was their 2nd studio album & it was released in 1980.
Initially unsuccessful, the album has gone on to be viewed as a psychedelic classic, influential on the development of the neo-psychedelia music genre and on a number of bands, especially R.E.M. It is included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
At this point in their career the band included Robyn Hitchcock – guitar, vocals, rhythm bass, Kimberley Rew – guitar, vocals, bass, synthesiser, Matthew Seligman – bass, & Morris Windsor – drums, vocals.
Robyn Hitchcock wrote all the songs on the album & went on to have a good solo career releasing multiple albums beginning in 1981 & continuing into 2023.
Kimberley Rew went on to become a member of Katrina & The Waves. He wrote their hit single Walking On Sunshine.
Matthew Seligman became a part of The Thompson Twins & was a sideman for Thomas Dolby. He passed away in 2020 as a result of Covid. He was 64.
Morris Windsor seems to have fallen through the cracks, I find no further info on him. Tonight by The Soft Boys
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 12, 2024 11:17:47 GMT
Sarah Vaughan was a highly awarded singer both during her life & posthumously. She passed away in 1990 at the age of 66.
Her album Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown and the single "If You Could See Me Now" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 1978, she was given an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Berklee College of Music. In 2012, she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. She was given the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at the UCLA Spring Sing in 1990.
Evidently she recorded this song in 1956 accompanied by Hal Mooney and His Studio Orchestra, but I can find no evidence of it being released as a single or even included on an album until it was put on a Greatest Hits album in 1958.
Autumn In New York by Sarah Vaughan
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 12, 2024 17:53:47 GMT
Don Williams was a country singer, songwriter, from Floydada, Texas. He died on September 8 of emphysema, he was 78.
He began his musical career with the group the Pozo-Seco Singers alongside Susan Taylor and Lofton Cline. He remained with the group until 1969; it disbanded the following year.
He was a 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
He won multiple Country Music awards including 1978: ACM Single Record of the Year for the song linked to here.
He was voted Top Male Vocalist from the Academy Of Country Music 1976- 1980 & from the Country Music Association from 1976 – 1981 with the only exception being 1978.
During his career he released 25 studio albums & 62 singles, 21 of which hit #1. This was #1 hit in 1978 & was included on his album called Expressions. It was the 1st single from the album & was his 8th #1 hit. The album got to #2 on the Country Chart & #161 on the Top 200.
The album also included a #3 hit, Lay Down Beside Me & another #1 hit, It Must Be Love.
Tulsa Time by Don Williams
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 13, 2024 11:25:14 GMT
It seems like everyone has recorded this song at least once, but every version seems to have something different including this recording by Duke Ellington.
Duke & the Orchestra recorded this version on October 1, 1957 & it appears on a 1958 album called Ellington Indigos. The vocalist listed is Ozzie Bailey, Ray Nance plays the violin.
There was another release called Autumn Leaves that came out only in France, the vocalist is still Ozzie who sang with the orchestra all through the late 50’s.
Ray Nance was a trumpeter & violinist who was originally hired to replace Cootie Williams on the trumpet, but he became the violin player & was the only violin soloist ever featured in Ellington's orchestra.
Autumn Leaves by Duke Ellington
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 13, 2024 16:54:48 GMT
Grizzly Bear was/is a rock band from Brooklyn, formed in 2002, they have been on hiatus since 2020.
The name of the group began as a moniker for songwriter Ed Droste's music in the early 2000s. Regarding the band's origins as a solo project, Droste noted, "It was just like doing a little home project, and I thought "oh, this is fun, I'm just going to call this stuff Grizzly Bear. [...] Our name was actually just a nickname for an old boyfriend of mine.
Group members are/were: Ed Droste – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, omnichord, autoharp, Christopher Bear – drums, percussion, glockenspiel, xylophone, keyboard, lap steel guitar, backing vocals, Chris Taylor – bass guitar, backing and lead vocals, keyboard, wind instruments, producer, & Daniel Rossen – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, autoharp, banjo.
So far they have released 5 studio albums, 5 extended plays and 8 singles. This song comes from their 2009 album, 'Veckatimest'. It was their 3rd studio album & was released on May 26. The album got to #8 on the Top 200 & was their 1st time to chart. The song linked to here got to #25 & was also their 1st charting single. It also landed at #8 on the US Dance charts.
The album's title is a reference to Veckatimest Island, a small island in Dukes County, Massachusetts and a member of the Elizabeth Islands, a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Naushon Island, another member of the Elizabeth Islands, is owned by the Forbes family and Grizzly Bear's founding member, Ed Droste, is connected to the Forbes family through his mother Diana Forbes.
Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 14, 2024 11:09:39 GMT
Albert King was a blues guitarist and singer from Indianola, Mississippi. He died of a heart attack on December 21, 1992, he was 69. His real name was Albert Nelson, or was it?
He stated in interviews that he was born in Indianola on April 25, 1923 (or 1924), and was a half-brother of B.B. King (whose hometown was Indianola), but documentation suggests otherwise. Albert stated that whenever he performed at Club Ebony in Indianola, the event was celebrated as a homecoming, and he cited the fact that B.B.'s father was named Albert King. However, when he applied for a Social Security card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as "Aboden" (most likely Aberdeen, Mississippi) and signed his name as Albert Nelson, listing his father as Will Nelson. Musicians also knew him as Albert Nelson in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Albert is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He, B.B. King, and Freddie King, all unrelated, were known as the "Kings of the Blues".
He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983. Then he was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame & the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
During his career he released 15 studio albums, 15 Live albums, 22 compilations & 47 singles. This song comes from his 2nd compilation album. It was called Born Under a Bad Sign & was released in 1967.
The album did not chart but it is often cited as one of the greatest blues albums ever made. It has been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry.
The backing musicians are all the Stax studio musicians including the members of Booker T. & The MG’s & Isaac Hayes.
As The Years Go Passing By by Albert King
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 14, 2024 21:20:23 GMT
Class Action and Phreek were disco and post-disco musical projects. The original Phreek comprised Christine Wiltshire, Leroy Burgess, Patrick Adams, Stan Lucas, Ken Mazur and others.
Class Action was directed by Larry Levan and also featured Christine Wiltshire as vocalist. Both groups are best known for their club hit "Weekend", written by James Calloway and Leroy Burgess.
The song was originally recorded on Atlantic Records by Patrick Adams' studio group Phreek. The song was heavily played by Larry Levan yet it was commercially unavailable so it did not enter any charts. In the early 1980s, William Socolov, the co-owner of Sleeping Bag Records, invited Levan to make a new version of "Weekend". This version, recorded by the studio group Class Action, which also featured Wiltshire, became more successful than the original version, peaking at No. 49 on the British pop chart and No. 9 on the Billboard Dance chart.
The combining force behind these two groups was Patrick Adams. He was music arranger and record producer. He earned 32 gold and platinum records. He worked with such artists as Coolio, Cathy Dennis, Keith Sweat, Teddy Riley, R. Kelly, Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa,& Shades of Love.
Weekend by Phreek
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 15, 2024 11:06:37 GMT
Johnny Nash Jr. was a singer, actor from Houston. He died of natural causes on October 6, 2020, after a period of declining health. He was 80.
He was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.
He had his first chart hit in early 1958 with a cover of Doris Day's "A Very Special Love", but for those who can remember the show, he sang the theme song to the syndicated animated cartoon series The Mighty Hercules, which ran on various television stations from 1963 to 1966.
A Very Special Love landed at #23, but he didn’t hit the top 10 until Hold Me Tight came in at #5 in 1968. I Can See Clearly Now was his only #1 hit & that happened in 1972. He continued to release new singles as late as 1989, but charted for the final time in 1971 with a song called Loving You that barely got into the Hot 100 at #91.
The song linked to here was released as a single in in 1959 & just missed out on the top 40 by stalling out at #43. It was a non album track.
As Time Goes By by Johnny Nash
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 15, 2024 17:21:39 GMT
Family was na English rock band, active from late 1966 to October 1973.
The band's sound has been variously described as progressive rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock, folk rock, jazz fusion, "British art rock," and hard rock.
The band had a rotating membership during their relatively short existence with lead vocalist Roger Chapman the only member who stayed in the band throughout its existence. The group has been described as an "odd band loved by a small but rabid group of fans".
During their career they released 7 studio albums between 1968 & 1973. They charted just 2 of those albums in the US, but neither one got any higher than 177.
This song comes from Music in a Doll's House. It was their debut album & was released on 19 July 1968. The album, was co-produced by Dave Mason who was at the time a member of Traffic. The album got to 35 in the UK but did not chart here in the states.
At the time of this record, the original lineup was still intact & included:
Roger Chapman – vocals, harmonica, tenor saxophone, the only member to remain in the group from start to finish, he is now 82.
John "Charlie" Whitney – lead and steel guitars, he continued in rock music and formed a group called Axis Point in 1978. He now lives in Greece & is 79.
Jim King – tenor and soprano saxophones, vocals, harmonica, he left Family in October 1969 owing to health problems and 'musical disagreements'. As well as session work for Dave Mason and Gordon Jackson, he joined the jazz-rock band Ring of Truth for a brief period, doing a few gigs, then concentrated on composing and playing solo concerts, mostly classical sax with some jazz. In February 2012, he died while living in Cheshire, at the age of 69.
Ric Grech – bass guitar, vocals, violin, cello, he became a member the supergroups Blind Faith and Traffic. He also played with ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker in Ginger Bakers Air Force. He died on 17 March 1990, aged 43, of liver failure as a result of alcoholism.
Rob Townsend – drums, percussion, he continued to perform mostly in the blues genre he is still with us & is now 76.
Winter by Family
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 16, 2024 11:17:13 GMT
Nat King Cole, was a singer, jazz pianist, and actor from Montgomery, Alabama. He died of lung cancer & emphysema on February 15, 1965, at the age of 45. His real name was Nathaniel Adams Coles.
Nat's career started in the late 1930s as a jazz pianist/ vocalist when he formed The King Cole Trio which became the top-selling group (and the only black act) on Capitol Records in the 1940s. During the next three decades he recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.
If there is a music hall of fame he is probably included. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1992, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013. He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2020.
During his career he released 27 studio albums & 1 Live album. This song comes from his 1957 album called Love Is The Thing. The album was certified Gold in 1960 & after many re – releases over the years it finally hit Platinum in 1992. This was the 1st time he had worked with arranger Gordon Jenkins, but they would be together for his next 3 albums as well.
At Last by Nat King Cole
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Post by razorbacker on Apr 16, 2024 17:02:00 GMT
Yesterday is one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music. Guinness World Records states that, by January 1986, 1,600 cover versions had been made. The song was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners and was also voted the No. 1 pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone the following year.
In 1997, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century.
I was living in a little flat at the top of a house and I had a piano by my bed. I woke up one morning with a tune in my head and I thought, ‘Hey, I don’t know this tune – or do I?’ It was like a jazz melody. My dad used to know a lot of old jazz tunes; I thought maybe I’d just remembered it from the past. I went to the piano and found the chords to it, made sure I remembered it and then hawked it round to all my friends, asking what it was: ‘Do you know this? It’s a good little tune, but I couldn’t have written it because I dreamt it.’ Paul McCartney Well, we all know about ‘Yesterday’. I have had so much accolade for ‘Yesterday’. That’s Paul’s song and Paul’s baby. Well done. Beautiful – and I never wished I’d written it. John Lennon
The song was included on the soundtrack to their movie HELP! In 1965. We were shooting Help! in the studio for about four weeks. At some point during that period, we had a piano on one of the stages and he was playing this ‘Scrambled Eggs’ all the time. It got to the point where I said to him, ‘If you play that bloody song any longer have the piano taken off stage. Either finish it or give up!’ Richard Lester Despite it being credited to The Beatles, this is a Paul solo effort. After attempting an unrecorded arrangement of ‘Yesterday’ with John Lennon on Hammond organ, George Martin suggested to Paul that they use a string quartet – a first for The Beatles. Here are the members of that quartet: Tony Gilbert: violin Sidney Sax: violin Kenneth Essex: viola Francisco Gabarro: cello
The song hit #1 all around the world & has sold millions of copies. Although it was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards, it lost out to Tony Bennett's "The Shadow of Your Smile".
Yesterday by The Beatles
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