She came as the headless fashionista, and she was a blast at the Halloween party. They loved her. But I think she may have partied too much. She was by herself alone when everybody left. Left in the dark, she is still waiting for a taxi to get home.
Monday, October 25, 2021
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Harry James Band - Blues Like (restored vinyl LP)
Harry James Band - Blues Like (restored vinyl LP)
From the vinyl LP "The Harry James Band". Don't get fooled by the hokey album cover. The young all American Midwestern blonde - who lives next door and whose father is the chief of police - is really a secret agent who works in the CIA. The music is from the era of big band.
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
Hope you enjoy.
INXDS. #bigband #jazz #vinylrecord #brass #woodwind /
I do not own the copyright to the music, the recording and the photos. (Image post and video art were appropriated from the original album cover.) This video is posted for educational use under Section 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
All posts are rendered in old school using restored vinyl LPs. This channel does not use recordings from CDs. As much as possible, I attempted to remove most of the pops and crackles from the original vinyl album. Some remastering was applied to make the performance cut through within the confines of the loudness wars.
Friday, October 22, 2021
The Message is the Medium
Image captured at the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. These are Duane Eddy's guitars. They're not the same, but kinda look the same. Both have the Bigsby bar, which is used to get the tremolo sound. (The correct term I'm told is vibrato but then the name stuck.)
I hated the Bigsby because the guitar almost never remains in tune. Once you yank the bar, the strings don't return to their original positions. I have a tremolo bar on my Strat, which I never used. I have another one on my Jaguar, which I had my guitar tech modify the mechanism so the tremolo is blocked and impossible to even move without breaking the guitar. This is what Eric Clapton did to his Strats. Children, don't buy the Fender Clapton Strat model. It costs twice as much as the regular Strat. Just insert a block of wood where the tremolo springs are located. Viola, your bargain priced guitar just doubled its value.
I digress. What's so important about Duane Eddy's guitars? Well, his guitar sound is famous for its twangy tone. His big hits are "Rebel Rouser", "Ramrod" and "Canonball". Back then he was using a Gretsch Chet Atkins, which I believe are these two guitar. Always wanted the Orange Gretsch. I just think it looks cool. I helped a buddy of mine score a brand new Gretsch replica, and it sounded so great. Just don't touch the Bigsby bar.
Hope your day is going well.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Gordon Dexter - Gotham City (1980 recording vinyl LP)
Gotham City is a jazz album by saxophonist Dexter Gordon recorded in 1980 and released by Columbia in 1981.
Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone
George Benson – electric guitar
Cedar Walton – piano
Percy Heath – bass
Art Blakey – drums
AllMusic Reviewer Scott Yanow's writes: "Tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was still in pretty good form at the time of this later recording. The veteran great is joined by an all-star rhythm section (pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Art Blakey) along with guest appearances from trumpeter Woody Shaw and guitarist George Benson. Although this boppish set is rather brief (just four songs totalling around 37 minutes), the quality of the solos is quite high. "
I love George Benson's guitar playing here. The solo is a killer. Then, he got famous. I think he is a better guitar player than a singer. Should have stuck to the guitar.
Hope you enjoy.
INXDS #bebop #jazzsax #vinylrecord #quoteoftheday /
All posts are rendered in old school using restored vinyl LPs. This channel does not use recordings from CDs. As much as possible, I attempted to remove most of the pops and crackles from the original vinyl album. Some remastering was applied to make the performance cut through within the confines of the loudness wars.
I do not own the copyright to the music, the recording and the photos. (Image post and video art were appropriated from the original album.) This video is posted for educational use under Section 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Illinois Jacquet - After Hours (1975 Vinyl LP How High the Moon)
Illinois Jacquet - After Hours (1975 Vinyl LP How High the Moon)
"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." - Lily Tomlin
From the vinyl LP How High the Moon - a fine sampler to Jacquet's music when it was released in 1975 and it features Illinois in a variety of settings (ranging from a quartet to a mini-big band). Highlights include "Bottoms Up," "The King," "How High the Moon" and Illinois Jacquet's haunting bassoon feature on "'Round Midnight."
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Although he was a pioneer of the honking tenor saxophone that became a regular feature of jazz playing and a hallmark of early rock and roll, Jacquet was a skilled and melodic improviser, both on up-tempo tunes and ballads. He doubled on the bassoon, one of only a few jazz musicians to use the instrument.
I do not own the copyright to the music, the recording and the photos. (Image post and video art were appropriated from the original album.) This video is posted for educational use under Section 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
All posts are rendered in old school using restored vinyl LPs. This channel does not use recordings from CDs. As much as possible, I attempted to remove most of the pops and crackles from the original vinyl album. Some remastering was applied to make the performance cut through within the confines of the loudness wars.
Hope you enjoy.
INXDS. #jazzblues #bebop #jazzsax #vinylrecord #quoteoftheday /
Monday, October 18, 2021
The Late Great Johnny Winter
If you are into Texas Blues and have never heard Johnny Winter performed, then you ain't heard nothing yet.
The first Winter LP I discovered was "Live Johnny Winter And". I was just learning to play the acoustic guitar and then I heard his tone and style of playing. It made me take blues guitar playing seriously. Ever since, all I wanted was to play an electric guitar like Johnny Winter.
In 1988, Winter became the first white musician named to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
Winter is widely recognized as being one of the greatest slide guitar players of all-time. And while many guitarists utilize odd items to run up and down their fretboards – Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band famously used old Coricidin glass pill bottles – Winter’s choice was similarly unique. “I used to play slide before this, but could never find a good slide,” he told Tom Guerra. “I'd use everything from a wristwatch crystal to broken-off test tubes to lipstick cases, bottles ... I tried everything, but nothing would work, until I found this conduit pipe, and I've used the same piece of pipe for 30 years for both acoustic and electric slide. Its just a piece of plumber's pipe that just fits my finger real good.”
Image taken at the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The guitar is real. So is the textured wall. The man in the photo is a cardboard cut out. Sometimes the best photo is the one already taken.
Hope your day is going well.
Saturday, October 16, 2021
Billie Holiday - Lover Man (restored vinyl LP The Billie Holiday Story)
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” - Desmond Tutu
From the vinyl LP The Billie Holiday Story.
I don't know why but I'm feeling so sad
I long to try something I never had
Never had no kissing
Oh, what I've been missing
Lover man, oh, where can you be
The night is cold and I'm so alone
I'd give my soul just to call you my own
Got a moon above me
But no one to love me
Lover man, oh, where can you be
I've heard it said
That the thrill of romance
Can be like a heavenly dream
I go to bed with a prayer
That you'll make love to me
Strange as it seems
Someday we'll meet
And you'll dry all my tears
Then whisper sweet
Little things in my ear
Hugging and a kissing
Oh, what we've been missing
Lover man, oh, where can you be
I've heard it said
That the thrill of romance
Can be like a heavenly dream
I go to bed with a prayer
That you'll make love to me
Strange as it seems
Someday we'll meet
And you'll dry all my tears
Then whisper sweet
Little things in my ear
Hugging and a kissing
Oh, what we've been missing
Lover man, oh, where can you be
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: James O. Davis / Jimmy Sherman / Roger J. Ramirez
Lover Man lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (often called simply “Lover Man”) was written by Jimmy Davis, James Sherman and her old pal Roger (“Ram”) Ramirez from their teenage years appearing at The Apollo Theater in Harlem together.
In her 1956 autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday recounts that “Jimmy [Davis] was in the Army when he wrote ’Lover Man’ and brought it straight to me.” Unfortunately, before she could record the song, Davis was shipped back to Europe and Holiday never saw him again. While the singer does not mention Jimmy Sherman she does lament “Ram Ramirez gets all of the credit for ‘Lover Man,’ but that’s only part of the story.”
The song is particularly associated with Billie Holiday, for whom it was written, and her 1944 version reached #5 on the R&B chart and #16 on pop in 1945, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1989.
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), known professionally as Billie Holiday, was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.
After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, where she was heard by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice. She signed a recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the late 1940s, however, she was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. Because of personal struggles and an altered voice, her final recordings were met with mixed reaction but were mild commercial successes. Her final album, Lady in Satin, was released in 1958. Holiday died of cirrhosis on July 17, 1959, at age 44.
Five Fascinating Facts About Billie Holiday
• Billie Holiday once worked in a brothel.
• Billie Holiday auditioned to be a dancer and ended up a singer.
• Billie Holiday was an early reality star.
• U2's "Angel of Harlem" is a tribute to Billie Holiday.
• Billie Holiday is responsible for the song of the century.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62880/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-billie-holiday
I do not own the copyright to the music, the recording and the photos. (Image art was appropriated from the original album.) This video is posted for educational use under Section 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
Hope you enjoy.
INXDS. #jazzsinger #vinylrecord #quoteoftheday #ballad /
All posts are rendered in old school using restored vinyl LPs. This channel does not use recordings from CDs. As much as possible, I attempted to remove most of the pops and crackles from the original vinyl album. Some remastering was applied to make the performance cut through within the confines of the loudness wars.
Tuesday, October 05, 2021
Art Blakey - April Jammin' (1960 recording vinyl LP Jazz Messengers vol 1)
Art Blakey - April Jammin' (1960 recording vinyl LP Jazz Messengers vol 1)
"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." - Desmond Tutu
Recorded NYC, April 23, 1960
Lee Morgan - trumpet
Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
Bobby Timmons - piano, co-writer
Jymie Merrit - bass
Art Blakey - drums, co-writer
The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the outset. "Art Blakey" and "Jazz Messengers" became synonymous over the years, though Blakey did lead non-Messenger recording sessions and played as a sideman for other groups throughout his career.
"Yes sir, I'm gonna to stay with the youngsters. When these get too old, I'm gonna get some younger ones. Keeps the mind active." - — Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2
The group evolved into a proving ground for young jazz talent. While veterans occasionally re-appeared in the group, by and large, each iteration of the Messengers included a lineup of new young players. Having the Messengers on one's resume was a rite of passage in the jazz world, and conveyed immediate bona fides.
Many former members of the Jazz Messengers established careers as solo musicians, such as Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Keith Jarrett, Joanne Brackeen, Woody Shaw, Chuck Mangione, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Mulgrew Miller. Some members, such as bassist Clarence Seay and Gregory Charles Royal, are documented to have played in the Jazz Messengers but did not record with the group.
Blakey, also called Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, (born October 11, 1919, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died October 16, 1990, New York, New York), American drummer and bandleader noted for his extraordinary drum solos, which helped define the offshoot of bebop known as “hard bop” and gave the drums a significant solo status. His style was characterized by thunderous press rolls, cross beats, and drum rolls that began as quiet tremblings and grew into frenzied explosions.
Blakey taught himself to play the piano while he was a teenager and performed on piano (and later drums) in jazz clubs in the evenings while working in the steel mills by day. Beginning in 1939, as a drummer, he performed with several bands, most notably (1944–47) with that of Billy Eckstine. Among the artists he met and performed with during that period were Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, and Billie Holiday. [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Art-Blakey]
I do not own the copyright to the music, the recording and the photos. (Image post and video art were appropriated from file donated to Wikimedia Commons by Riksantikvarieämbetet as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by Europeana. Riksantikvarieämbetet; http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16001000424176; @/record/91622/raa_kmb_16001000424176. Art Blakey, trummor och ledare för The Jazz Messengers, på Umeå jazzfestival.; Musik; Personer; Övrigt; http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/5449.) This video is posted for educational use under Section 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.
As much as possible, I attempted to remove most of the pops and crackles from the original vinyl album. Some remastering was applied to make the performance cut through within the confines of the loudness wars.
Hope you enjoy.
INXDS. #bebop #jazzdrums #vinylrecord #quoteoftheday #hardbop #drummer
Monday, October 04, 2021
The Medium is the Message
. . . a phrase coined by the Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan and the name of the first chapter in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964. McLuhan proposes that a communication medium itself, not the messages it carries, should be the primary focus of study. He showed that artifacts as media affect any society by their characteristics, or content.
McLuhan writes: The title "The Medium Is the Massage" is a teaser—a way of getting attention. There's a wonderful sign hanging in a Toronto junkyard which reads, 'Help Beautify Junkyards. Throw Something Lovely Away Today.' This is a very effective way of getting people to notice a lot of things. And so the title is intended to draw attention to the fact that a medium is not something neutral—it does something to people. It takes hold of them. It rubs them off, it massages them and bumps them around, chiropractically, as it were, and the general roughing up that any new society gets from a medium, especially a new medium, is what is intended in that title."
Woody Allen sums it well: 'Marshall McLuhan predicted books would become art objects at some point. He was right.'
From Annie Hall:
Alvy Singer : [the man behind him in line is talking loudly] What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it!
Alvy Singer : [to audience] Whaddya do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you?
Man in Theatre Line : Wait a minute, why can't I give my opinion? It's a free country!
Alvy Singer : He can give it... do you have to give it so loud? I mean, aren't you ashamed to pontificate like that? And the funny part of it is, Marshall McLuhan, you don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan!
Man in Theatre Line : Oh, really? Well, it just so happens I teach a class at Columbia called "TV, Media and Culture." So I think my insights into Mr. McLuhan, well, have a great deal of validity!
Alvy Singer : Oh, do ya? Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here, so, so, yeah, just let me...
[pulls McLuhan out from behind a nearby poster]
Alvy Singer : come over here for a second... tell him!
Marshall McLuhan : I heard what you were saying! You know nothing of my work! You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing!
Alvy Singer : Boy, if life were only like this!
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