ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM-TIDE AND STONE FLOWER.
Antonio Carlos Jobim-Tide and Stone Flower.
Label: BGO Records.
Nowadays, Brazilian pianist, singer and songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Bossa Nova in fifties, which he internationalised in the sixties with the help of some American jazz musicians. They fused Bossa Nova and jazz to create a new and successful sound which featured on the groundbreaking and award-winning 1965 album Getz/Gilberto which won three Grammy Awards including Best Album Of The Year and Best Jazz Instrumental Album. This was a game-changer for Antonio Carlos Jobim who had enjoyed a meteoric rise since the early sixties. There was no stopping Antonio Carlos Jobim.
By 1970, Antonio Carlos Jobim was already regarded as one of the finest purveyors of Brazilian music and was signed to Creed Taylor’s CTi Records which was an imprint of A&M Records. This was fitting as Creed Taylor had produced the award-winning Getz/Gilberto, and whenever they worked together seemed to bring out the best out of Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Creed Taylor and Antonio Carlos Jobim were planning to work together in the spring and summer of 1970, and that would result in two albums Tide and Stone Flower which have just been reissued by BGO Records as a two CD set.
Tide.
When Antonio Carlos Jobim began work on Tide, over two years had passed since he released his previous solo album, Wave in October 1967. It had reached 114 on the US Billboard 200 and number five in the US Jazz charts making Wave his most successful album. While this was a lot to live up to, music had changed since October 1967 and it was a very different musical landscape as he began work on Tide.
For Tide, Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote seven new tracks and covered The Girl from Ipanema which he had written with Vinicius de Moraes and Norman Gimbel. The other song Antonio Carlos Jobim decided to record for Tide was Pedro Berrios, João de Barro and Pixinguinha’s Carinhoso. These nine tracks became Tide, which were arranged by Deodato and produced by Creed Taylor, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey during May 1970.
Joining producer Creed Taylor and Antonio Carlos Jobim who played guitar, electric piano, piano and added vocals were some of the top session players of the early seventies. The rhythm section featured drummer João Palma, double bassist Ron Carter and pianist Deodato. They were joined by percussionist Airto Moreira, conga player, Joseph DeAngelis, Ray Alonge on French horn and flautists Everaldo Ferreira, flautists Hubert Laws, Romeo Penque, Hermeto Pascoal and Joe Farrell who also played soprano saxophone. He was joined in the horn section by alto saxophonist Jerry Dodgion, trumpeters Marvin Stamm and Burt Collins plus trombonists Garnett Brown and Urbie Green. Sweetening the sound of Tide was a string section which added the final piece of the jigsaw.
Six months passed before Tide was released by A&M Records in November 1970. By then, Antonio Carlos Jobim had returned to the studio in June 1970 to record his next album Stone Flower. It had a lot to live up to.
When Tide was released, it was to plaudits and praise with critics hailing Antonio Carlos Jobim’s latest album of jazz-tinged Bossa Nova as a fitting followup to Wave, which had been released three years earlier in October 1967. Sadly, Tide didn’t replicate the success of Wave which was Antonio Carlos Jobim’s most successful solo album upon its release on November 1970. By then, music had changed and maybe Antonio Carlos Jobim’s fans had moved onto other types of music. They missed out on what’s an underrated album from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tide.
Tide opens with the familiar strains of the classic The Girl from Ipanema which was revisited and reinvented by Antonio Carlos Jobim and takes on a much more dramatic sound thanks to Deodato’s structured arrangement. This sets the bar high for the rest of Tide, which includes an understated but graceful cover of Carinhoso, which gives way to the brisk and breezy Tema Jazz which is one of Tide’s highlights, partly thanks to the contribution of maverick flautist Hermeto Pascoal. The tempo drops on the memorable ballad Sue Ann, before Antonio Carlos Jobim switches between piano and Fender Rhodes on Remember where the track veers between an irresistible Bossa Nova to a samba beat.
Melodic, orchestrated and full of contrasts describes Tide where Antonio Carlos Jobim plays piano and acoustic guitar on a song that owes much to the title-track to his previous album Wave. There’s a return to Bossa Nova on Takatanga where Urbie Green’s rasping trombone plays a leading role in the sound and success of the track. The tempo drops on the romantic sounding Caribe, where Urbie Green and flautist Joe Farrell join forces and play starring roles. Later, the meandering melody becomes fragmented as Antonio Carlos Jobim’s piano punctuates Deodato’s arrangement on another masterful addition to Tide. Closing Tide is Rockanalia, which is built around Ron Carter’s standup bass line while Antonio Carlos Jobim’s plays as a starring role before horns add the final piece of this musical jigsaw. In doing so, they ensure Tide ends on a high.
Stone Flower.
While Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote and recorded Tide during the first half of 1970, he was also working on his next album Stone Flower. He had written eight new songs and decided to cover Ary Barroso’s Brasil for Stone Flower. Just like Tide, Stone Flower was arranged by Deodato and produced by Creed Taylor, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey during June 1970.
This time around, it was a much smaller band that accompanied Antonio Carlos Jobim who played guitar, electric piano, piano and added vocals. The rhythm section included drummer João Palma, double bassist Ron Carter and guitarist Deodato. They were joined by percussionist Airto Moreira and Everaldo Ferreira, flautist Hubert Laws, soprano saxophone, trombonist Urbie Green and violinist Harry Lookofsky. Antonio Carlos Jobim and his band spent much of June 1970 recording Stone Flower which was released by CTi Records in July 1971.
When Antonio Carlos Jobim’s sixth album Stone Flower was released in July 1970, the album stalled at a disappointing 196 in the US Billboard 200. However, when Stone Flower reached eighteen in the US Jazz albums chart this pleased Antonio Carlos Jobim and producer Creed Taylor.
Stone Flower opens with Tereza My Love which was a paean to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s wife, that initially is intimate but as the arrangement floats and meanders along, but ultimately becomes sensuous. Initially, the enchanting Children’s Games is airy and intricate as the arrangement waltzes along as Antonio Carlos Jobim’s piano locks into a groove with the guitar before becoming intense and almost dramatic. Against a backdrop of syncopated rhythms, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s piano take centre-stage on Choro where his fingers fly across the keyboard. He then turns his attention to Brasil which is the unofficial Brazilian anthem. The arrangement’s drive along by a samba beat while Antonio Carlos Jobim delivers a lived-in, worldweary vocal.
Very different is the progressive sounding Stone Flower, which opened the second side of the original album and veers between dramatic, rueful and urgent, but later, becomes intense and cinematic. It’s a similar case on Amparo, which sometimes sounds as if it’s been influenced by classical music, before veering between dark, dramatic and romantic as Antonio Carlos Jobim toys with the listener’s emissions during an emotive, cinematic track full of tension. The ballad Andorinha soon takes on a late-night sound as Antonio Carlos Jobim plays Fender Rhodes and delivers a tender vocal against an understated arrangement that gradually builds and provides the perfect accompaniment to the founding father of Bossa Nova. God And The Devil In The Land Of The Sun lasts just over two minutes, and is an innovative track where Antonio Carlos Jobim turns his back on Bossa Nova with the help of Joe Farrell’s blazing jazz saxophone and pulsating rhythm section as the arrangement dances joyously along. Closing Stone Flower is Sabia which is captivating, laid-back but also hypnotic and sometimes is otherworldly and allegorical that is one of the album’s highlights.
Sadly, Stone Flower was the last album that Antonio Carlos Jobim ever released on Creed Taylor’s CTi Records and he recorded one album for MCA Records before resigning with Warner Bros. However, during his short spell with CTi Records Antonio Carlos Jobim released two albums, including Stone Flower which is one of the finest albums that Antonio Carlos Jobim released during the late-sixties and seventies.
For anyone yet to discover Antonio Carlos Jobim’s solo career, Tide and Stone Flower which have just been remastered and reissued by BGO Records as a two CD set is the perfect opportunity to don so. Tide is a hugely underrated album which failed to find the audience it deserved when it was released on the main A&M Records label. It’s also a reminder of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s trademark jazz-tinged Bossa Nova sound, which started to evolve on the followup album Stone Flower.
When Stone Flower was released on Creed Taylor’s CTi Records imprint it marked the new chapter in Antonio Carlos Jobim’s career. Some of the music had been influenced by new his life in America, and saw him move away from his trademark jazz-tinged Bossa Nova sound. Especially on God And The Devil In The Land Of The Sun which was far removed from the Bossa Nova that made Antonio Carlos Jobim one of the most successful Brazilian musicians of his generation. However, for much of Stone Flower Antonio Carlos Jobim stays true to his jazz-tinged Bossa Nova sound, adding samba and worldweary vocals that have a soulful quality. This was a potent and memorable combination that resulted in critics calling Stone Flower one of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s finest albums.
Tide and Stone Flower are a reminder of Antonio Carlos Jobim as he continued to introduce his unique brand of jazz-tinged Bossa Nova to an international audience. This he had been doing since the fifties. Antonio Carlos Jobim was one of the founding fathers of the Bossa Nova in fifties, and in the sixties internationalised the genre when he introduced the music to a worldwide audience. By the time he released Tide and Stone Flower in 1970 and 1971 Antonio Carlos Jobim was at the peak of his powers and one of finest exponents of Brazilian music.
Antonio Carlos Jobim-Tide and Stone Flower.
BOB STANLEY AND PETE WIGGS PRESENT PARIS IN THE SPRING.
Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring.
Label: Ace Records.
People across Europe were shocked when they saw the pictures in newspapers and reports on television of the civil unrest in May 1968, and couldn’t believe that Paris was burning and at one point, it looked as if the French government was about to fall. The police had lost control of the situation and were powerless as anarchy reigned in the French capital. Political commentators shook their head in disbelief that this had started with students occupation protests.
The students were protesting about everything from capitalism and consumerism right though to American imperialism. They all rallied against traditional institutions as well as values and order. French students were angry frustrated and had decided to make their presence felt as they raged against the machine.
Before long, an unlikely alliance was formed when the student’s strike spread to French factories and suddenly, eleven million people had withdrawn their labour for two weeks. This amounted to 22% of the population and had a disastrous and crippling effect on the French economy.
With the students, factory workers and high school students were now brothers in arms, and wildcat strikes taking place across France, the government knew they had to take actions. Especially as the students and factory workers took to the streets to protest and make their demands.
The students had a list of three things that they wanted to the government to agree to. They wanted all criminal charges against arrested students to be dropped; the police leave the university and the Nanterre and Sorbonne to be reopened. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and his government considered these demands.
Meanwhile, President De Gaulle decided to mobilise the French police, who were told to quell the strikes. This had the opposite effect, and soon, there was a confrontation between the two sides on the ‘10th’ of May 1968. Pitched battles took place on the streets of Paris’ Latin Quarter, and before long, it was obvious that the police who were heavily outnumbered, were fighting a losing battle. Try as they may, the police couldn’t control the situation, and watched on, as Paris burnt and looting took place in parts of the capital.
After the riots, and what was perceived as a heavy-handed approach by the government, there was a huge wave of sympathy for the strikers. This lead to many French poets and singers joining forces with the strikers in a show of solidarity. and layer, a number of American musicians voiced their support for the protesters.
Three days later, on May the ‘13th’ 1968 a million people marched through Paris, while the police kept a low profile. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou announced the release of the prisoners and the reopening of the Sorbonne. This it was hoped would stabilise a situation that was rapidly getting out of control.
When the Sorbonne reopened, it was occupied by students who referred to the famous institution as an autonomous “people’s university.” By then, public were supportive of the students, but this soon changed as the students started to speak of their plans to destroy the consumer society. This lead to public opinion turning against the utopianist students.
By the ‘17th’ of May 1968, there had been an increase in militancy and 200,000 people were on strike and this grew to two million on the ‘18th’ and ten million on the ‘19th’ of May. With the country at a standstill, the trade unions demanded a 35% increase in the minimum wage and 7% increase for other workers. However, within the protest movement the trade unionists weren’t popular, and were jeered.
Over the next twelve days, negotiations took place between the various sides, and eventually, on the ‘28th’ of May 1968, François Mitterrand of the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left announced that he was ready to form a new government. Just a day later, on the ‘29th’ of May 1968 Pierre Mendès France also announced that he was willing to form a government, and was wiling to include the communist party that had in excess of 20% of the vote. However, by then, there was a complicating factor.
On the ‘29th’ of May 1968 President De Gaulle had postponed his meeting of the Council Of Ministers, and fled France. This shocked the French nation, who watched as their country ground to a halt.
It turned out that President De Gaulle had travelled to Baden Baden in Germany to visit General Jacques Massu. He managed to persuade President De Gaulle to returned to France on the ‘30th’ of May 1968, as 500,000 people marched through Paris chanting “adieu, De Gaulle.”
Upon President De Gaulle’s return to France, the meeting of the Council Of Ministers took place, and he met Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. He persuaded President De Gaulle to dissolve the National Assembly, and call a new election by threatening to resign. This worked, and although President De Gaulle refused to resign during a broadcast on the ‘30th’ of May 1968, he announced an election for the ‘23rd’ of June 1968. When the communists agreed to the election, this was enough to stop a revolution in France.
May 1968 was one of the most turbulent in France’s modern history, and although there wasn’t a political revolution, a cultural revolution took place. Music in France was transformed after May 1968, and some of the music from this cultural revolution features on Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring, which has just been released by Ace Records.
Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring features twenty-three tracks, that range from chanson and jazz, to pop and tracks from film soundtracks. There’s contributions from Karl Heinz Schäfer, Bernard Lavilliers, Ilous and Decuyper, Brigitte Fontaine, Nino Ferrer, Françoise Hardy, William Sheller, Triangle, Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Léonie on Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring which was the start of a new chapter in French music. This new music was dark, broody, moody and ruminative and seemed to match the mood of the French people. In a way, the new music was the polar opposite to yé-yé music that provided to soundtrack to France earlier in the sixties.
Opening Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring is Karl Heinz Schäfer’s composition La Victime which is taken from his soundtrack to the film Les Gants Blancs Du Diable, which was released by Eden Roc in 1973. It’s a moody cinematic track with a Gallic seventies sound. Having said that it’s a timeless track that has stood the test of time and sounds just as good forty-five years later.
Four years after Janko Nilovic released his debut album Psych Impressions in 1969, the Montenegrin-French arranger, composer, conductor, musician, producer and vocalist returned in 1973 with his fifth album Supra Pop Impression on the Editions Montparnasse 2000 label. It featured Roses And Revolvers which was a genre-melting track where Janko Nilovic and his band combined funk, jazz, psychedelia and rock during a quintessentially French sounding track that could only have been recorded in the seventies.
In 1972, Ilous and Decuyper released their debut single L’Elu on the nascent Flamophone label. Later in 1972, Ilous and Decuyper returned with their much-anticipated eponymous debut album and one of the highlights was the pastoral sounding L’Elu. It featured a carefully crafted keyboard led arrangement and featured harmonies that suggested a Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Despite the English and American inferences L’Elu was an undeniably French sounding release. Sadly, Ilous and Decuyper never released another album and their eponymous debut album and single L’Elu are to be cherished.
After releasing two highly regarded albums, Brigitte Fontaine returned with Brigitte Fontaine Est…Folle in 1968. It was released on the Saravah label, and was Brigitte Fontaine’s first album after turning her back on ye-ye. Brigitte Fontaine Est…Folle which featured Dommage Que Tu Sois Mort was a very different album, that included ambitious and innovative music which saw Brigitte Fontaine successfully embrace avant-garde.
Having worked on two soundtracks with Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Vannier decided the time had come for him to embark upon a solo career. Just a year later in 1972, Jean-Claude Vannier released his debit solo album L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches on the Suzelle label. Critical acclaim accompanied this groundbreaking album which featured Les Gardes Volent Au Secours Du Roi. However, it’s an alternate version of this moody disconcerting track that is included, and is a reminder of Jean-Claude Vannier’s seminal genre-melting album which belongs in any self-respecting record collection.
When Nino Ferrer released Nino And Radiah on CBS in 1974, it featured many of his own compositions including Looking For You. It also featured ‘actress’ and vocalist Radiah Frye who would later forge a career as a disco singer. However, in 1974, one of the finest songs on Nino And Radiah was Looking For You where effects were deployed effectively to create a sensuous and soulful song.
By 1971, Françoise Hardy’s recording career was nearly a decade old, when she released her eponymous debut album on the Sonopresse label. Her career began in 1962, and nine years later the twenty-seven year old multilingual singer was a vastly experienced singer. Françoise Hardy was her eleventh album and featured the beautifully orchestrated song Viens where the chanteuse delivers a breathy sensual vocal.
William Sheller was born in Paris, but grew up in Ohio which was home to his father. Later, William Sheller returned to France where he studied music at the Paris Conservatoire. This training he put to good use when he wrote and released several baroque psych singles including Leslie Simone in 1969 which was one of William Sheller’s finest hours.
In 1973, English actress and singer Jane Birkin released her debut album Di Doo Dah on Fontana, which was produced by Alain Hortu. Much of the album was written by Serge Gainsbourg who collaborated with Jean-Claude Vannier to write Encore Lui. It features a breathy, sensual vocal from English rose turned femme fatale Jane Birkin.
During a lengthy career, Serge Gainsbourg was no stranger to the world of soundtracks, and in 1969 he was asked to write the soundtrack to the comedy Slogan. In June 1969, Serge Gainsbourg et Jane Birkin released the single La Chanson De Slogan which was billed as Bande Originale Du Film “Slogan.” On the B-Side was the instrumental ruminative instrumental Evelyne which has Serge Gainsbourg’s name written all over it.
Two years after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 with Poupée de cire, poupée de son, former ye-ye singer France Gall released the Teenie-Weenie-Boppie EP in late 1967. It featured Pour Que Tu M’aimes Un Peu which the following year, featured on Frances Gall’s new album 1968. By 1968, the twenty-one year old had turned her back on ye-ye and was in the process of reinventing herself musically. Frances Gall was hoping that her music would attract a more mature audience and this would help prolong her career. Sadly, after the May uprising, France Gall’s record sales and popularity fell and the former ye-ye singer was no longer as popular as she once was. That was despite releasing songs of the quality of Pour Que Tu M’aimes Un Peu which are a reminder of truly talented singer, France Gall.
Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli released La Canzone D’Helene as a single on Phillips in 1970. It’s taken from the soundtrack to La Choses De La Vie which was also released in 1970. It finds Romy Schneider singing the beautiful, heart-rending love song La Canzone D’Helene to Michel Piccoli, and this is the perfect way to close Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring.
The events of May 1968 transformed France politically, and also resulted in a cultural revolution. After that, French music was never the same again, and seemed to have been shaken to its very foundations. It seemed that the uprising in May 1968 acted as a catalyst, and was also a force for good that brought about much-needed change.
Over the next few years, French music became much more eclectic, as artists and groups released albums of ambitious and innovative music. Proof of that can be found on Ace Records new compilation Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring which features everything from avant-garde, baroque psych, chanson, funk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, rock, soul and even a couple of tracks from soundtracks. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring features a tantalising taste of what was a brave new world for French music.
Suddenly, French artists, arrangers, composers and producers realised that they had been left behind and their British and American counterparts had stolen a march on them. Not any more, as albums of groundbreaking music were released by artists and groups who seemed to be reinvigorated after the events of May 1968 shook up the old order and nearly resulted in a political revolution.
While French protesters stopped short of a revolution, there was a cultural revolution which meant that music was never the same again. It was the start of a brave new world when anything seemed possible for French musicians who are celebrated on Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring, which is another lovingly curated compilation from Ace Records, where the emphasis is on quality.
Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs Present Paris In The Spring.
ON THE SOUL SIDE.
On The Soul Side.
Label: Kent Soul.
Thirty-five years ago in 1983, Kent Records, which had been founded a year earlier in 1982, released their sixth release, On The Soul Side on vinyl. It was the fourth compilation that Ady Croasdell had compiled for Kent Records. The previous compilations had all been well received and commercially successful, so Ady Croasdell and the staff at the nascent Kent Records had high hopes for their latest release.
On The Soul Side surpassed everyone’s expectations and went on to become of one of Kent Records iconic releases. That was no surprise, as On The Soul Side struck a nerve with soul fans across Britain, and especially in the capital London.
Some soul fans in the capital noticed smiled knowingly when they noticed that the 6T’S logo featured on the newly released On The Soul Side. These soul fans knew that 6T’S club was one of the most fashionable soul clubs in London. However, the 6T’S club was much more than a place for the soul fan about town to be seen, and was also a club where DJs with impeccable musical taste played the best in soul music. That was the attraction of 6T’S to soul fans, who were passionate about the music that they loved.
So much so, that many soul fans spent much of their time and money looking for and buying soul music, and were willing go to great lengths to find new music. Some collectors and DJs had even used cheap flights to travel to America on crate-digging trips. However, for many soul fans that wasn’t an option and they had to make do with the latest releases in 1983.
The only problem was that there wasn’t the same amount of reissues and compilations being released by record companies thirty-five years ago. That came much later, when record companies realised just how lucrative the reissue and compilation market was.
One of the first companies to realise the potential of the compilation market was Kent Records, which was founded and was being run by soul fans who knew that their was a market for lovingly curated compilations like On The Soul Side. This was just the start for the label, and now several hundred compilations and thirty-five years later Kent Soul as the label is still going strong.
Kent Soul’s latest release is reissue of On The Soul Side, which has been released on CD and features twenty-six tracks. That is twelve more than the vinyl version released back in 1983. The newly released CD version of On The Soul Side features Patrice Holloway, Bobby Sheen, Homer Banks, The O’Jays, Garnet Mimms, The Showmen, Ginger Thompson, Ellie Greenwich, Timi Yuro, Bobby Womack, Lou Rawls and Merry Clayton. These are just a few of the names that feature on the CD version of On The Soul Side.
Opening On The Soul Side is the first of two tracks from Patrice Holloway, Love And Desire. It was written by Billy Page who produced the track with his brother Gene Page. Love And Desire was released by Capitol Records in November 1966, and is guaranteed to entice even the most reluctant dancers onto the dancefloor. Once there, they can enjoy Patrice Holloway’s impassioned and emotive vocal. Later, Patrice Holloway returns with the previously unreleased The Thrill Of Romance which is stomping dance track that is a reminder of a truly talented vocalist.
When Bobby Sheen released Sweet Sweet Love as a single on Capitol Records, in June 1966, hidden away on the B-Side was a cover of Nicholas Caldwell’s Dr Love. It was arranged by Gene Page and produced by Al De Lory, while Bobby Sheen delivers joyous and almost sassy vocal on this hidden gem of a dancer.
In May 1968, Homer Banks released 60 Minutes Of Your Love as a single on the Minit label. On the B-Side was A Lot Of Love which was written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes who unleashes a powerhouse of a vocal against Gene “Bowlegs” Miller’s arrangement which features harmonies and horns.
Way before The O’Jays signed to Philadelphia International Records they released Naomi Neville’s Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette) as a single on the Liberty label in June 1965. It was arranged by Harold Battiste and produced by Tom Lipuma and Joe Saraceno, who are responsible for a very different sounding single to the slick Philly Soul that made them famous. However, Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette) reached number twenty-eight in the US R&B charts and showcases a truly talented band who later, would write their names into the history of soul music.
Garnet Mimms released the ballad It Was Easier To Hurt Her as a single on United Artists in June 1965. It was arranged by Garry Sherman and produced by Jerry Ragovoy and features a rueful vocal that is full of regret.
When Benny Spellman released Lipstick Traces on the London label in June 1962, it featured the uptempo track Fortune Teller on the B-Side. It was written by Naomi Neville, which was a moniker Aaron Neville often used. Fortune Teller became a favourite nit just soul fans, but also mods who embraced a song that is a reminder of another era.
Ginger Thompson released Boy Watcher as a single on the 123 label in September 1968, and this was her reply to The O’Kaysions’ Girl Watcher. It’s a catchy, uptempo dance track where horns playing a leading role as Ginger Thompson delivers lyrics that were regarded as quite racy at the time.
Ellie Greenwich wrote I Want You To Be My Baby with Jeff Barry and released the song as a single on United Artists in April 1967. It was arranged by Hutch Davie and produced by Bob Crewe and is a quite irresistible slice of carefully crafted uptempo soulful pop.
In October 1968, Jimmy Holiday released his composition Baby I Love You as a single in Britain on the Liberty label. Cal Carter and Hal Picken took charge of production on this soul-baring ballad where heartache and regret gives way to hope on what’s one of the highlights of On The Soul Side.
Jerry Riopelle wrote and produced If You Were A Man What You Gonna Do (When Your Love Is Gone) for Clydie King. He released If You Were A Man What You Gonna Do (When Your Love Is Gone) as a single on Imperial in May 1965. Sadly, this hidden gem of a ballad with a vocal full of emotion and sadness failed to trouble the charts.
Bobby Womack was signed to Minit in February 1968 when he released What Is This. Tucked away on the B-Side was What You Gonna Do (When Your Love Is Gone) which was also produced by and features some of Memphis’ top session musicians. They provide the perfect backdrop Bobby Womack, one of the legends of soul as he delivers a vocal tinged with emotion and regret.
As September 1966 dawned, Lou Rawls released Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing as a single in the UK on Capitol Records. It was penned by Ben Raleigh and Dave Linden, while David Axlerod took charge of production as a rueful Lou Rawls lays bare his soul for all to hear.
Closing On The Soul Side is Merry Clayton’s Nothing Left To Do But Cry which was released as a single on Capitol Records in the UK in 1964. It’s a beautiful ballad featuring a tender vocal full sadness and emotion as realises that her relationship is over and that she’s been betrayed. Just five years later, Merry Clayton would add backing vocals to the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter which is the song that brought her to the attention of a wider audience. However, Nothing Left To Do But Cry is a reminder that Merry Clayton’s career began long before Gimme Shelter.
Thirty-five years after Kent Records as the label was then known, released On The Soul Side on vinyl, the compilation has been issued by Kent Soul, an imprint of Ace Records. This time round, ten new songs have been added to On The Soul Side, taking the total to twenty-six.
Expanding what was one of the best of Kent Records’ early releases could’ve been risky. However, original compiler Ady Croasdell returned and chose the new tracks and to quote The Beatles “takes a good thing and makes it better.” That is something of an understatement as the version of On The Soul Side is one of the best soul compilations of recent months.
On The Soul Side finds familiar songs and hits singles rubbing shoulders with hits and hidden gems that come courtesy of well known names, superstars of soul and artists and groups that didn’t enjoy the success their talent deserved. However, these artists play their part in the success of On The Soul Side which is a lovingly curated compilation that was compiled by the hardest working man in soul music Ady Croasdell, and released by Kent Soul which continues to release top quality compilations thirty-six years after releasing their first release in 1982.
On The Soul Side.
CHANCHA-VIA CIRCUITO-BIENAVENTURANZA.
Chancha Via Circuito-Bienaventuranza.
Label: Wonderwheel Records.
Four years after Chancha Via Circuito released his critically acclaimed third album Amansara which introduced his genre-melting music to a new and wider international audience, one of music’s mavericks returns with the eagerly awaited followup Bienaventuranza which has just been released by Brooklyn based Wonderwheel Records. Bienaventuranza marks the welcome return of Chancha Via Circuito whose recording career began thirteen years ago in 2005.
That was when Pedro Canale, who was then living in Southern Buenos Aires, began his production career. Initially, he recorded instrumental tracks where he combined electronics with acoustic instruments. Soon, he began adding vocals to these tracks as he continued to hone his production skills and in by 2007, was ready to release a mini album.
By then, producer Pedro Canale came to prominence as part of Buenos Aries’ famous digital cumbia scene and dawned the moniker Chancha Via Circuito, who was already gaining a reputation for pushing musical boundaries.
Soon, Chancha Via Circuito was gaining a reputation as a musical alchemist who fused the unlikeliest of musical genres. Brazilian rhythms were combined the music of the Andean mysticism, Argentinean folklore and the Paraguayan harp. To this mix Chancha Via Circuito added elements of avant-garde, electronica and post dub-step. The result was music that’s futuristic and innovative music for ‘21st’ Century dancefloors. It was also music that caught the imagination of other artists and music lovers.
In 2007, Chancha Via Circuito released the mini album Kumbia$ Gauchito which showcased the skills of one of the rising stars of the Buenos Aires’ digital cumbia scene. Buoyed by the response to Kumbia$ Gauchito, Chancha Via Circuito began work on his debut album Rodante, which was released a year later in 2008.
Rodante.
When Chancha Via Circuito released his debut album Rodante in 2008, it featured a cast of guest artists. This included Khumba Keta, Jahdan and Rancho MC and with their help, Chancha Via Circuito who created an ambitious and innovative album where they reinvented cumbia on Rodante.
Rodante was a genre-melting album, and saw Chancha Via Circuito and his friends take cumbia in new directions on what was akin to a magical mystery tour. It was a case of expect the unexpected during what was a truly refreshing and innovative album, which caught the imagination of other artists.
Cumbia, other artists realised, was only the starting point for Chancha Via Circuito, and was just one of many musical building blocks on the album. What he added to cumbia made all the difference. This inspired other artists to follow in Chancha Via Circuito’s footsteps of the young musical alchemist, whose futuristic sounding music would fill dancefloors. It was a similar case with Chancha Via Circuito’s sophomore album Rio Arriba.
Rio Arriba.
Tree years later, in 2011, Chancha Via Circuito returned with his much-anticipated sophomore album, Rio Arriba. By then, other artists and music fans were keen to hear what direction Chancha Via Circuito’s would head on Rio Arriba.
Pedro Canale had also been releasing music as Universildo, and in 2009, had released the album Luces del Aire. After that, Pedro Canale concentrated on Chancha Via Circuito’s sophomore album Rio Arriba which saw his music continue to evolve. Standing still wasn’t an option for Chancha Via Circuito
He created what was a remarkable album by taking obscure Latin rhythms, chopping them up, and combining them with native drum beats and South American folklore. All these ingredients were given a contemporary twist by Chancha Via Circuito on Rio Arriba, which was an ambitious album.
Rio Arriba was released to critical acclaim and hailed as a groundbreaking album from Chancha Via Circuito. His star was in the ascendancy, and critics believe Chancha Via Circuito had a big future in front of him. That proved to be the case.
Following the commercial success and critical acclaim of Rio Arriba, Chancha Via Circuito was asked to remix several high profile tracks. This included tracks from The Ruby Suns, The Gotan Project and a track for Giles Peterson’s Havana Remixed project. Still Chancha Via Circuito found time to release new music, and in 2012, the Semillas EP was released. The following year, 2013, Chancha Via Circuito contributed the track Lacandona to the Sub Pop 1000 compilation. It seemed that the success of Rio Arriba had transformed Chancha Via Circuito’s career. He returned in 2014 with his third album
Amansara.
Amansara was worth the three-year wait and saw Chancha Via Circuito return with an album that fuses a myriad of disparate musical influences. As a starting point, Chancha Via Circuito uses cumbia, and adds to that avant-garde, electronica, experimental, hip hop, industrial, Latin and soul. The soul comes courtesy of Lido Pimienta and Miriam García who add deeply soulful. They provide a contrast to Chancha Via Circuito’s arrangements which are all different.
That was also the case with Rio Arriba and on which was released to plaudits and praise, musical maverick continued to reinvent his music. He succeeds in doing so on Amansara which is a genre-melting, musical journey that features ambitious and innovative music that is captivating and found Chancha Via Circuito reaching new heights. However, the big question was what was next from Chancha Via Circuito?
Bienaventuranza.
During the four years since Chancha Via Circuito released Amansara, critics and music fans were wondering what direction the digital cumbia pioneer’s music would head on his fourth album. Meanwhile, Chancha Via Circuito was writing the twelve tracks that would eventually feature on his new album Bienaventuranza. It was recorded with the help of a Chancha Via Circuito’s friends.
This includes Mateo Kingman, Miriam Garcia, Gianluz, Lido Pimienta and Kaleema. Just like Chancha Via Circuito, they’re among the leading lights of the digital cumbia scene. Other musicians who joined Chancha Via Circuito in the studio are percussionist Federico Estevez and Manu Ranks whose one of the finest purveyors of Colombian dancehall. He just happened to be in Buenos Aries and had some free time, and headed into the studio to record La Victoria which also features Lido Pimienta’s radiant voice. Just like all the collaborations on Bienaventuranza, they were recorded quickly and before long all the pieces of the jigsaw started to fall into place.
The vocals were part of Chancha Via Circuito’s carefully crafted musical tapestry which includes a myriad of samples, dancefloor friendly drum beats and the Andean instruments which have become part of his trademark sound. Chancha Via Circuito adds an Andean flute and charango as he continues to combine Latin folk music, cumbia, dancehall, electronica and house. Gradually, Bienaventuranza started to take shape, but it was a couple of years before it was complete. If Bienaventuranza was a meal, it would’ve been cooked in a slow cooker. However, Bienaventuranza was a delicious dish that is guaranteed to tantalise the music lover.
That was the case from the enchanting multilayered instrumental Los Pastores which opens Bienaventuranza and showcases Chancha Via Circuito’s trademark sound. Mateo Kingman, a kingpin of the digital cumbia scene steals the show on Ilaló as his vocal veers between heartfelt, impassioned, tender and emotive. It’s delivered against an arrangement that features a myriad of acoustic instruments, percussion, samples and crispy drumbeats.
It’s all change on Barú where Chancha Via Circuito deploys samples, Andean instruments and beats as digital cumbia, folk, hip hop and cinematic sounds are combined. Just like previous tracks, Chancha Via Circuito throws the occasional curveball during one of the highlights of Bienaventuranza. Nadie Lo Riega features Miriam Garcia’s vocal which provides the perfect contrast to the lo-fi and percussive arrangement as digital cumbia, electronica and folk are combined. Just like on Barú, eerie, haunting samples and Andean instruments are combined before marching to the beat of pied piper Chancha Via Circuito’s drum on this joyous track.
Very different is Niño Hermoso where a buzzing bass synth sets the scene for Gianluz’s vocal as another of the leading lights of the digital cumbia scene takes a bow. Here, Chancha Via Circuito takes a less is more approach to the arrangement allowing Gianluz’s vocal to play a starring role. This is followed by the short keyboard led interlude El Señor Del Flautín, which breaks the album up nicely, and sets the scene for La Victoria which features one of the biggest names on the Colombian dancehall scene, Manu Ranks. He’s joined by Lido Pimienta a star of the digital cumbia scene who delivers a radiant, soulful that is the perfect foil for Manu Ranks. This she does against a carefully crafted and distinctive multilayered arrangement that makes La Victoria one of the highlights Bienaventuranza.
Kawa Kawa roots can be traced to an improvised jam that took place during a rehearsal when Chancha Via Circuito was joined by vocalist Kaleema and percussionist Federico Estevez. Little did they realise that this would end up in beautiful, haunting, percussive track with a contemporary sound where Kaleema’s ethereal spiritual vocal takes centre-stage.
Alegría is a mixture of the ancient and modern, where Chancha Vía Circuito deploys hypnotic beats, eerie cinematic samples, synths and traditional percussion. They play their part in the sound and success of this irresistible genre-melting track. Indios Tilcara has much in common with the previous track as traditional folkloric instruments and percussion joins forces with Andean instruments and cinematic samples on this dubby, filmic track that is full of surprises. Closing Bienaventuranza is Gira Gira which veers between dramatic to spiritual as a drum accompanies the vocals during this ruminative and meditative track that closes the album on high.
Four years is a long time to wait for any album, but Chancha Vía Circuito’s fourth album Bienaventuranza has been well worth the wait. Just like his last couple of albums, Bienaventuranza is another carefully crafted, genre-melting album from musical alchemist Chancha Vía Circuito as he continues to create ambitious, innovative and interesting music. This is what critics and music fans have come to expect of Chancha Vía Circuito since he released his sophomore album Rio Arriba in 2008.
Since then, Chancha Vía Circuito’s career has been on an upward trajectory as one of the leading lights of the digital cumbia scene continues to reinvent himself with each album he releases. That is the case with Bienaventuranza which has just been released by Wonderwheel Records and finds the Buenos Aries producer returning with what may well be his finest hour.
Chancha Via Circuito-Bienaventuranza.
WESTBOUND DISCO.
Westbound Disco.
Label: Westbound Records.
By 1969, Armen Boladian was a familiar face within the Detroit music scene, and the musical impresario was about to launch a new label Westbound Records. This came as no surprise to those that knew Armen Boladian who previously, had founded and run the Fascination label and the Record Distribution Corporation. However, when Armen Boladian’s latest venture Westbound Records opened its doors in 1969, he had no idea that it would become a musical institution.
In a way, that was no surprise, as Armen Boladian brought onboard talented arrangers, musicians, producers and songwriters to work with the artists he would sign to Westbound Records over the next few years. This included CJ and Company, Denis LaSalle, Dennis Coffey, Funkadelic, The Detroit Emerald and The Ohio Players. These artists would bring commercial success and critical acclaim the way of Westbound Records.
When Denise LaSalle released Trapped By A Thing Called Love in 1971, it reached number thirteen in the US Billboard 100, topped the US R&B charts and was certified gold. Denise LaSalle then enjoyed hits with Now Run and Tell That which reached number three in the US R&B charts, while Man Sized Job reached number four in the US R&B charts. Having just enjoyed three consecutive top ten hits in the US R&B charts, Denise LaSalle was one Westbound Records most successful signings.
Not to be outdone, The Detroit Emeralds also enjoyed three consecutive top ten hits in the US R&B charts between 1971 and 1972. This began with Do Me Right which reached forty-three in the US Billboard 100 and seven in the US R&B charts. Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) reached thirty-six in the US Billboard 100 and five in the US R&B charts, before You Want It, You Got It reached twenty-four in the US Billboard 100 and four in the US R&B charts. Armen Boladian’s Westbound Records was going from strength to strength.
Another of Westbound Records’ signings The Ohio Players, had released their sophomore album Pain in 1972, which was certified gold. Then in 1973 Funky Worm reached fifteen in the US Billboard 100 and topped the US R&B charts. Despite this success, The Ohio Players weren’t Westbound Records most successful signing.
That honour fell to Funkadelic, who released eight albums on Westbound Records. This began with Funkadelic in May 1970 and six years later, Tales of Kidd Funkadelic was released in September 1976 just before the P-Funk pioneers signed to Warner Bros. By then, music and Westbound Records was changing.
Armen Boladian had already launched Eastbound Records, which started life as a jazz label and signed artists of the calibre of Bill Mason, Caesar Frazier, Houston Person and Melvin Sparks. Later, Catfish Hodge, Fantastic, Pleasure Web, Robert Lowe and The Houston Outlaws would all sign to Eastbound Records. However, by 1975 Eastbound Records was no more and all the artists on the label’s roster became part of Westbound Records.
As 1975 gave way to 1976, disco was growing in popularity, and like many record labels, Westbound Records were keen to embrace disco. This was a perfect opportunity for artists and groups to reinvent themselves, especially any artists whose career was at a crossroads and needed kick-started. Disco had the potential to kick-start ailing and failing careers, while new stars were born and embarked upon musical careers.
This includes the artists and groups that feature on Westbound Disco, which was recently released by Westbound Records, an imprint of Ace Records. Westbound Records features ten tracks including contributions from C&J and Co, Fantastic Four, Dennis Coffey, The Detroit Emeralds, The Clark Sisters, The Crowd Pleasers, Eramus Hall and Caesar Frazier. These artists and groups are a reminder of the Westbound Disco era.
Opening Westbound Disco is C&J and Co’s Devil’s Gun which was released as a single in 1977, and reached thirty-six in the US Billboard 100 and two in the US R&B charts. Later, in 1977, C&J and Co released their debut album which reached sixty in the US Billboard 200 and twelve in the US R&B charts. Devil’s Gun was produced by Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore, and mixed by Tom Moulton. This was the latest trend in music, with the remixer seen as the man who could sprinkle magic dust on the music. A single of the quality of Devil’s Gun that was soulful, funky, tough and dancefloor friendly didn’t need magic dust or snake oil as it oozed quality and forty-one years later has stood the test of time.
By 1978, the Fantastic Four had jumped on the disco bandwagon and released B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Funk). This was also the title of The Fantastic Four’s fourth album which was released in 1978. It was produced by Dennis Coffey and one of the highlights of the album B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Funk). Although it has a tougher sound that many disco songs released in 1978, it’s funky, soulful and guaranteed to tempt even the most reluctant dancer onto the dancefloor.
Although Dennis Coffey was busy producing other artists and groups signed to Westbound Records, he still found time to record the single Wings Of Fire which was released in 1977, and later that year, featured on his fourth album Back Home which was mixed by Tom Moulton. The standout track on Back Home was Wings Of Fire, a carefully crafted combination of disco, funk, jazz and proto-boogie where Dennis Coffey’s guitar plays a leading role in the sound and success of the track which reached number ten in the US Disco charts.
During the disco era, many disco orchestras were founded in cities across America, and followed in the footsteps of Vince Montana Jr’s Salsoul Orchestra. This included The Mike Theodore Orchestra who released their sophomore album High On Mad Mountain in 1979. It featured the eight minute epic High On Mad Mountain, which epitomises everything that is good about the disco orchestra including rasping horns, harmonies and sweeping strings who march to the beat of Jerry Jones and Lee Marcus’ drums.
In 1977, Westbound Records released King Errisson’s single Manhattan Love Song, which later that year, featured on his LA Bound album. It was produced by Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore, and mixed by Tom Moulton. Manhattan Love Song is a reminder of the soulful side of disco, although stabs of horns interject as strings sweep and swirl. Together, they play their part in one of the highlights of Westbound Disco.
The Detroit Emeralds had originally released Feel The Need In Me as a single in 1972, which released twenty-two in the US R&B charts and number four in the UK. By 1977, the hits had dried up for The Detroit Emeralds, and they needed to kickstart their ailing career. To do this, it was suggested that they record Feel The Need In Me which became Feel The Need and was released in 1977, reaching ninety in the US Billboard 100 and seventy-three in the US R&B charts. Across the Atlantic, Feel The Need reached number twelve. When The Detroit Emeralds released their new album Feel The Need, which was produced by Abrim Tilmon and mixed by Tom Moulton, it failed to even trouble the charts. However, Feel The Need which is a mixture of soul and disco is without doubt the highlight of the album.
The Clark Sisters were an American gospel group whose recording career began in 1973, when they released their debut album Jesus Has A Lot To Give. Eight years later, The Clark Sisters recorded You Brought The Sunshine which was the title-track to their 1981 album on Sound Of Gospel Records. By then, disco had been consigned to musical history and boogie was flavour of the month amongst DJ and dancers. Despite that, when Westbound Records licensed You Brought The Sunshine (Into My Life) in 1983 and had the track remixed for the post disco dancefloor, the result was fusion of disco, gospel and soul where The Clark Sisters who are unlikely disco divas testify and then some.
By 1979, disco was on its last legs, but still record labels continued to release singles and albums hoping that the bubble wouldn’t burst. Disco had been a cash cow for many record labels, and Westbound Records had enjoyed its fair share of hits. In 1979, The Crowd Pleasers released Freaky People on Westbound Records, which was a track from their eponymous debut album. One of the highlights of Crowd Pleasers, which was produced by Leroy Emmanuel and Bernie Mendelson was Freaky People which was fusion of disco and P-Funk that sounds as if it has been inspired by Funkadelic and Parliament.
Chicago-based Eramus Hall were founded in the late-seventies, but only released two albums during their career, including their 1981 debut Your Love Is My Desire. It featured Beat My Feet which was produced by Joel Martin and Rudy Robinson, and is a fusion of smooth soul, jazz-funk and a post P-Funk sound that hints at boogie. This is a potent combination and one reason to investigate Eramus Hall’s debut album Your Love Is My Desire.
Closing Westbound Disco is the instrumental Song Of The Wild from an unlikely and most possibly reluctant disco star Caesar Frazier. He released a trio of albums for Eastbound Records and Westbound Records, including his 1978 swan-song Another Life. However, Song Of The Wild didn’t feature on Caesar Frazier’s triumvirate of albums and was released as a single in 1978 and finds the funky soul-jazz organist from Indianapolis reinventing himself as a disco star. In doing so, the hugely talented Caesar Frazier shows another side to his music which is well worth investigating.
Westbound Disco which was recently released by Westbound Records, which is an imprint of Ace Records, features ten tracks that are a reminder of the disco and post disco era. During this period, the artists and groups on Westbound Records’ roster embraced disco fully.
For some it was a case of necessity as they attempted to kickstart their career, while other artists were just beginning their career, and keen to secure that all important hit single. Some of the artists signed to Westbound Records, and brought further success to Armen Boladian’s Detroit-based label. That was no surprise.
Some of the artists signed to Westbound Records stuck with a winning formula, with strings, horns and harmonies playing their part in the sound and success of the single. However, other artists knew that this sound would eventually sound dated, and were keen to reinvent the disco sound. They knew that if disco didn’t evolve, it risked becoming irrelevant, and artists and groups started incorporating elements of gospel, P-Funk, proto-boogie and post-P-Funk into the music they were releasing. While the music wasn’t always commercially successful, just like the rest of the music on Westbound Disco it’s stood the test of time, and even today would tempt the most reluctant dancer on to the dancefloor.
Westbound Disco.
KRONIKI FILMOWE: POLISH LIBRARY MUSIC 1963-1978.
Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78
Label: GAD Records.
Over the last few years, there’s been a resurgence of interest in library music, with British and European independent record labels releasing lovingly curated compilations that are welcomed by a coterie of musical connoisseurs who have a passion for library music. This includes DJs, producers and record collectors who are willing to pay large sums of money to add rare releases to their collections of library music.
Many of the British collectors of library music started off collecting releases by labels like KPM, De Woife, Amphonic, Conroy and Sonoton from the sixties, seventies early eighties, which is regarded by many collectors as a golden age for library music. This is ironic as albums of library music were never meant to fall into the hands of collectors.
Originally, library music was meant to be used by film studios or television and radio stations, and was never meant to be commercially available. The music was recorded on spec by music libraries who often hired young unknown composers, musicians and producers. This ranged from musicians who were known within publishing circles, to up-and-coming musicians who later, went onto greater things, and look back fondly at their time writing, recording and producing library music. This they now regard as part of their musical apprenticeship.
For the musicians hired to record library music, their remit was to music libraries with a steady stream of new music, which was originality referred to as production music. During some sessions, the musicians’ remit was write and record music to match themes or moods. This wasn’t easy, but after a while they were able to this seamlessly. Soon, the musicians were able to enter the studio and write and record a piece of music that matched a theme or mood for a film or television show.
Once the library music was recorded, record libraries sent out demonstration copies of their music to advertising agencies, film studios, production companies, radio stations and television channels. If they liked what they heard, they would license a track or several tracks from the music libraries. That was how it was meant to work.
Sometimes, copies of these albums fell into the hands of record collectors, who realising the quality of music recorded by these unknown musicians, started collecting library music. However, it always wasn’t easy to find copies of the latest albums of library music. That was until the arrival of the CD.
Suddenly, record collectors and companies across Britain were disposing of LPs, and replacing them with CDs. It didn’t matter that the prices of LPs were at all-time low, some record collectors just wanted rid of their collection they were replacing with CDs. With people literally dumping LPs, all sorts of musical treasure was available to record collectors who didn’t believe the hype about CD. This included everything from rare psych and progressive rock right through to albums of library music. These albums were often found in car boot sales, second-hand shops and charity for less than a skinny latte macchiato.
This was the case throughout the period that vinyl fell from grace, and suddenly, it was possible for collectors of British library music to add to their burgeoning collections. Gradually, longtime collectors of library music had huge and enviable collections and were almost running out of new music to collect. Some of them decided that the time had come to see what European library music had to offer.
Now these collectors had a whole continent’s worth of library music to discover. Some collectors were like magpies buying albums from all over Europe, while others decided to concentrate on just one country or company. Although it was more expensive to collect European library music, gradually, enviable new collections started to take shape. However, despite a continent’s worth of library music to collect, some collectors bemoaned the availability of what they regarded as the holy grail of European library music.
This was Eastern European library music that had been recorded during the sixties and seventies, which for collectors is the golden age of library music. For many collectors, the Eastern European library music of the sixties and seventies is their holy grail and what they dreamt of discovering. That dream has just come true with the record release of Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 by GAD Record on vinyl.
Originally, Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 was released as a CD in 2017, and a year later, has just been released on vinyl as a limited edition release. There’s only 500 copies available, including 300 on black vinyl and 200 on multicoloured vinyl. Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 which was compiled by the Soul Service DJ Team, features a total of twelve tracks. There’s contributions from Grupa Organowa Krzysztofa Sadowskiego, Klan, Czterech, Polish Jazz Quartet, Augustyn Bloch, High Water Mark, Zespół Instrumentalny Mateusza Święcickiego and SBB. These artists offer a fascinating insight into the world of Polish library music between 1963 and 1978.
Side A.
Opening side one of Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 is Grupa Organowa Krzysztofa Sadowskiego’s Niebo Z Blachy Fałdowanej which was written by composer, pianist and organist Krzysztof Sadowski. It’s a joyous soul jazz jam with a hint of lounge that was recorded in April 1971 and released later that year.
Polish rock band Klan were fronted by singer and songwriter Marek Alaszewski, who wrote Nie Stało Się Nic. This slow burner was recorded in March 1971, and was licensed later that year. It’s slow and moody cinematic track where elements of funk, soul-jazz progressive rock are combined. Sadly, Nie Stało Się Nic doesn’t feature on Klan’s 1971 debut album Mrowisko, which was the only album they recorded before splitting up. Since then, Klan has reformed on a couple of occasions and released a number of albums.
Having released their debut single in 1967, Czterech recorded Trzecia Katarakta, which was penned by Polish composer and guitarist Marek Bliziński during January and February of 1968. Later that year, this guitar lead hidden gem was licensed and heard by a wider audience for the first time. It makes a welcome return on Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 and allows a new audience to hear some incredible guitar licks.
The first of Kwintet Bogusława Rudzińskiego’s two contributions is a cover of Rahat Łukum, which was written by composer, pianist and organist Krzysztof Sadowski. Kwintet Bogusława Rudzińskiego recorded Rahat Łukum in February 1962, and a year later this urgent, and evocative slice of cinematic jazz made its debut.
After releasing their eponymous debut album in 1965, the Polish Jazz Quartet entered the world of library music in 1966. They recorded Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski’s Złośnica, which made its debut later that year. It bursts into life as the Polish Jazz Quartet play with speed, fluidity and invention as they showcase their considerable skills.
Very little is known about Zespół Instrumentalny Waldemara Parzyńskiego who recorded Waldemar Parzyński’s in 1974. It was released later in 1974, and is a roller coaster of a track. Initially, the tracks takes on a liturgical and gothic sound before heading in the direction of jazz which is a totally unexpected a welcome surprise.
Side B.
Composer and organist Augustyn Bloch wrote and recorded Kosmos in March 1964, but it wasn’t released until 1966. Now fifty-two years later, the futuristic, otherworldly and cinematic sounding Kosmos is a reminder of musical pioneer Augustyn Bloch, who sadly passed away in 2006 aged seventy-six.
Zespół Instrumentalny Waldemara Parzyńskiego recorded Halo Wenus which was written by MateuszŚwięcicki, Ryszard Szumlicz in March 1974 and released later that year. It sounds as if it belongs on the soundtrack to a little known seventies sci-fi film.
High Water Mark entered the studio in May 1975 and recorded the Janusz Bogacki composition Wysoki Poziom Wody. It’s a slower track where a violin, keyboards, guitar and saxophone all plays a starring role in this captivating jazz-tinged jam that was released later in 1975.
Ryszard Siwy wrote Złota Czerń which was recorded by Zespół Instrumentalny Mateusza Święcickiego in February 1976. It’s a genre-melting, percussive track where elements of rock and jazz are combined to create a memorable and melodic offering to the musical gods.
Despite being behind the Iron Curtain in 1977, Poznańska Orkiestra Rozrywkowa Polskiego Radia I Telewizji’s cover of Aleksander Maliszewski’s Chcę Być Taki, Jaki Jestem sounds as if it was recorded in Philly or New York. It’s a carefully crafted fusion of disco, funk, jazz and soul that sounds as if it’s been inspired by Salsoul Records and Philadelphia International Records.
Closing is SBB’s genre-melting cover of Fortepian Na Jednej Nodze which was written by composer and multi-instrumentalist. The track which was recorded and licensed in 1978 bursts into life, and SBB play at breakneck speed as they switch between and combine elements of funk, jazz and rock during this innovative track that closes the album on a high.
For anyone with even a passing interest in library music, Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 which has just been released on vinyl by GAD Records as a limited edition of 500, will be welcome addition to their collection. This is one of the first compilations of Polish library music that has been released, and offers a tantalising taste of the type of music largely unknown composers, musicians and producers were writing, recording and producing between 1963 and 1978.
Just like their British counterparts, these composers, musicians and producers were talented and capable of writing, recording and producing an eclectic selection of music. Proof of this is Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78, which showcases the skills of those writing, recording and producing library music during this fifteen year period. Many of these composers, musicians and producers were capable of going on to bigger and better things, but that wasn’t possible between 1963 and 1978.
During that period, Poland was a communist country, and there was very little money to be made writing and recording music behind the Iron Curtain. Indeed, musicians just like writers, poets and artists were viewed with a degree of suspicion by the secret police who saw them as potential subversives. Like as a musician in Poland and in other parts of Eastern Europe was very to different to the life of musician in Britain.
In Britain, many British composers and musicians made a comfortable living recording library music, and enjoyed working as session musicians. Some of these composers and musicians who began their career writing and recording library music went on to enjoy long and successful careers, while their Polish counterparts were struggling to make ends meet. These musicians neither enjoyed the recognition nor financial reward they deserved between 1963 and 1978. Sadly, that was the case right up until the fall of communism, when belatedly composers, musicians and producers were properly rewarded and received the recognition that they deserved.
Despite not being properly rewarded for the music they wrote, recorded and produced, the Polish musicians still took the utmost pride in the library music that the recorded behind the Iron Curtain. The library music that they recorded was of the highest quality, and was eclectic, genre-melting, innovative and often is timeless. A tantalising reminder of Polish library music recorded during the sixties and seventies, can be found on Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78 which for many collectors of is akin to the holy grail of library music.
Kroniki Filmowe: Polish Library Music 1963-78.
OLA KVENBERG-STEAMDOME.
Ola Kvernberg-Steamdome.
Label: Grappa.
Release Date: June ‘8th’ 2018.
Three years after award-winning Norwegian fiddler Ola Kvernberg released his critically acclaimed album The Mechanical Fair, he will return with the much-anticipated followup Steamdome, which will be released by Grappa on June the ‘8th’ 2018. Steamdome is another album of innovative and imaginative music from Ola Kvernberg, which he recorded with a handpicked band that features the great and good of Norwegian music. They play their part in what’s one of the most ambitious albums of Ola Kvernberg’s musical career, which began when he was a teenager.
Ola Kvernberg was born in Fræna, in the region of Romsdal, on the ’16th’ of June 1981, and was introduced to music at an early age. Before long, Ola Kvernberg was playing folk music, although he was classically trained when he attended the local municipal music school. This stood him in good stead when he embarked upon a musical career as a teenager.
By the time he was fourteen, Ola Kvernberg was a member of the group Fear Of Flying, who released their debut album in 1995. Just two years later, in 1997, Ola Kvernberg changed direction musically and started playing jazz.
The Early Years.
Just three years later, in 2000, Ola Kvernberg came to prominence after he met and jammed with the Belgian-American jazz musician Toots Thielemans at the annual Django festival in Oslo. That was also where Ola Kvernberg met the Norwegian string jazz quartet Hot Club de Norvège which resulted in him collaborating on the album Hot Club De Norvege Featuring Ola Kvernberg and Jimmy Rosenberg which was released later in 2000.By then, nineteen year old Ola Kvernberg had come a long way in a short space of time.
The following year, 2001, Ola Kvernberg enrolled on the prestigious two-year jazz program at the Trondheim musikkonservatorium, which has produced many top Norwegian musicians. However, Ola Kvernberg wasn’t willing to put his musical career on hold during his studies.
Just like many previous graduates of the jazz program, Ola Kvernberg was able to juggle his studies with his musical career, and later in 2001, released his debut album Violin to plaudits and praise. Little did anyone realise that it would be another thirteen years before he returned with the followup to Violin.
Ola Kvernberg Trio.
Having just released his debut album, Ola Kvernberg decided to form his own trio and brought onboard was bassist Steinar Raknes and American guitarist Doug Raney. They were soon recording their debut album, and in 2002 the Ola Kvernberg Trio released Cats and Doug. Sadly, this was the only album that this lineup of the Ola Kvernberg Trio released.
In 2003, twenty-two year old Ola Kvernberg graduated from the Trondheim musikkonservatorium and continued his musical career. The composer, bandleader and sometime solo artist was often asked to play with other artists and had already worked with Hot Club de Norvège and Angelo Debarre. This was all good experience for Ola Kvernberg and helped him to mature as a musician.
By 2005, Doug Raney had left the Ola Kvernberg Trio and was replaced by drummer Erik Nylander, who made his debut during a production of Eboue Seck’s Wolof Experience at Moldejazz 2005. In 2006, the new lineup of the Ola Kvernberg Trio played with guitarist Vidar Busk and accompanied drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen during the Vossajazz festival. The Ola Kvernberg Trio also released their much-anticipated sophomore album Night Driver in 2006. This was the first recording to feature the new lineup of the Ola Kvernberg Trio.
Three years later, and the Ola Kvernberg Trio returned with their third album Folk, which found favour with critics. Just like Night Driver it was written and produced by Ola Kvernberg, who was about to embark upon a new chapter in his career.
A New Chapter.
This was writing film music, and in 2010 Ola Kvernberg was nominated for an Amanda Award for the soundtrack to movie Nord. While Ola Kvernberg didn’t win the Amanda Award, his career writing soundtracks was about to blossom.
Before that, Ola Kvernberg released his new jazz album Liarbird in September 2011. Critical acclaim accompanied the release of Liarbird, which later in 2011, won a Spellemannprisen Award, the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy Award for the best jazz album. This was first of several awards that Ola Kvernberg received over the next couple of years.
In 2012, Ola Kvernberg won the prestigious Kongsberg Jazz Award, and in 2013, won the Kanon Award and Amanda Award for his soundtrack the movie Jag etter vind. Ola Kvernberg’s career as a film composer was blossoming, but be still he found time to record and release a new album with his trio.
Four years after the release of Folk, the Ola Kvernberg Trio returned with their eagerly awaited fourth album Northern Tapes. It was released to critical acclaim in 2013, and is regarded as one the Ola Kvernberg Trio’s finest albums. Buoyed by the success of Northern Tapes, Ola Kvernberg decided that the time was right to record a new solo album.
The Mechanical Fair,
This was The Mechanical Fair which was credited to Ola Kvernberg and The Trondheim Soloists. It was a groundbreaking album that had been recorded during April and August 2014. When it was released, The Mechanical Fair was described as a masterful album from Ola Kvernberg that was innovative and imaginative. It wasn’t going to be easy to surpass The Mechanical Fair, but if anyone was capable of doing so it was Ola Kvernberg.
Steamdome.
Buoyed by the commercial success and critical acclaim that The Mechanical Fair received, Ola Kvernberg began work on a new solo album. This would eventually become Steamdome which was written by Ola Kvernberg, who then began putting together an all-star band who would record the followup to The Mechanical Fair.
Ola Kvernberg took great care choosing the musicians that would accompany him on Steamdome, and eventually, had put together a band that featured some of Norway’s top musicians. However, playing a leading role in the sound and success of Steamdome was a triumvirate of innovative drummers.
The drummers that Ola Kvernberg chose were Hans Hulbækmo, Børge Fjordheim and Erik Nylander, who were brought in to add the rhythmical patterns, beat and groove that are the dominant elements on Steamdome. To do this, the three drummers also used deployed bongos, pandeiro, percussion and tambourine which ensured that the arrangements barrelled, charged and galloped along before changing tack and heading in a different direction.
Joining the three drummers in the rhythm section were bassist Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen and guitarist Øyvind Blomstrøm who also plays pedal steel and baritone guitar. They were joined by Daniel Buner Formo who plays Hammond organ. This was a much smaller band than featured on The Mechanical Fair. That was no surprise as bandleader, composer and producer Ola Kvernberg was about to become a one man band as he switched between violin and viola to drums, guitar, Hammond organ, harmonium, percussion, synth and theremin as Steamdome sessions began at Ocean Sound Studio, Giske, on January the ’29th’ 2017.
By the ‘31st’ of January 2017 Ola Kvernberg and his small but talented band had completed Steamdome. This left Ola Kvernberg to take care of some post production which was completed in March and May 2017. After that, Mattias Glavå mixed Steamdome, which was mastered by Morten Stendahl.
Once the mastering was complete, Ola Kvernberg could begin working towards the release of Steamdome in Norway, and then internationally. Now just over a year after Steamdome was completed, Ola Kvernberg’s much anticipated followup to The Mechanical Fair is about to be released. Steamdome has been worth every minute of the three-year wait.
Opening Steamdome is Prologue, a slow, moody and cinematic soundscape that sounds as if it’s been inspired to one of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. Ola Kvernberg’s experience writing movie soundtracks is apparent as this ruminative filmic track unfolds and reveals its secrets.
A lone organ is panned on And Now before the drums enter and scamper along, before the track heads in the direction of fusion. By then, the arrangement is being powered along by the three drummers, who play with urgency as a searing guitar soars above washes of swirling organ. Meanwhile, Ola Kvernberg’s haunting violin drifts in and out and sometimes, is accompanies by a shimmering guitar. Still there’s urgency as drums drive the arrangement along, while the guitar and organ frame the hauntingly beautiful violin solo as folk meets fusion. When it drops out, sci-fi sounds and the guitar are added as the track heads in the direction of hard rock and progressive rock. Soon, Ola Kvernberg returns as the track heads towards a crescendo after seven magical minutes of genre-melting music.
Rocky guitar licks open Caterpillar as the rhythm section complete with three drummers, join forces with the organ which adds a lo-fi sound. By then, the rhythm section have locked into the tightest of grooves, and when the organ drops out, a guitar and percussion join the frae. The effects laden guitar solo is inventive, and seems to inspire the band as they reach new heights. Cymbals crash and the bass enjoys a brief moment in the sun before keyboards and percussion are added. However, it’s Ola Kvernberg’s emotive, soul-baring violin solo that plays a starring role. Meanwhile, the band play as if their very life depended upon it, combining power, urgency and a degree of drama, whilst fusing folk, fusion and progressive rock on what’s one of the highlights of Steamdome.
The tempo drops on Black Lemon, which initially, features an arrangement that is dubby, mesmeric and lysergic.This is very different from the previous track, as effects are used effectively while a guitar weaves its way across the arrangement adding a hypnotic backdrop. Meanwhile,a Hammond organ synths, drums and later, Ola Kvernberg’s haunting violin are added and play its part as the arrangement eventually, builds and evolves. Soon, band is enjoying the opportunity to stretch their legs as washes of Hammond organ combine with the mesmeric guitar as the trio of drummers power the rocky arrangement to this carefully crafted and captivating metamorphic track along.
There’s a Baroque influence to Go Up which also features a cinematic sound as Ola Kvernberg and his band combine elements of folk, funk, fusion, jazz and progressive rock over six minutes. To do this, a guitar, Hammond organ and the triumvirate of drummers join forces, before Ola Kvernberg pays homage to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. Later, the arrangement is stripped bare, and the rhythm section take centre-stage before fragments of guitars, washes of Hammond organ and synths are added and charge along. After being stripped bare one more time, the arrangement rebuilds, and before long, the band is in full flight. Sci-fi sounds and percussion are added to the genre-melting arrangement as it gallops along, as Ola Kvernberg continues to paint pictures music that is rich in imagery.
Although there’s ten tracks on the Steamdome, Interlude and Above The Dance Part I feature on the sixth track. Bubbling futuristic synths and an organ combine while Ola Kvernberg’s saws and plucks his violin during what sounds like the soundtrack to a merry-go-round. The result is a dreamy, dramatic, lysergic and otherworldly soundscape.
Above The Dance Part I gallops along, and its filmic sound sounds as if it’s been inspired by Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. As the trio of drummers provide a galloping backdrop, a Hammond organ joins forces with a weeping pedal steel and Ola Kvernberg’s violin. The pedal steel and violin proves to be a potent and hauntingly beautiful combination, and tugs at the heartstrings. That is the case when the tempo drops, and the bass provides the heartbeat to this beautiful and haunting cinematic soundscape where Ola Kvernberg and his band ride into the sunset.
Just an organ Ola Kvernberg’s wistful violin opens Through The Mantle which initially has an understated sound, but gradually, builds as an effects laden guitar threatens to cut through the arrangement as the drama builds. Eventually, having toyed with the listener, a swirling Hammond organ joined forces with percussion and a fleet fingered guitar solo during a track that seems to have been influenced by classic rock from the seventies. Having reached a crescendo, just the organ remains as the tempo drops and the music becomes ruminative and liturgical.
Closing Steamdome is Credits, where the triumvirate of drummers take centre-stage and soon, are joined by a Hammond organ as the arrangement gallops along. Soon, a freewheeling guitar is added to the mix, and by then, the band is in full flight. Later, sci-fi synths join the blistering guitar as thunderous drums power the arrangement along as Ola Kvernberg and his band take their final bow.
After Ola Kvernberg released The Mechanical Fair three years ago, many critics hailed the album a masterpiece as his finest solo album. It wasn’t going to be easy to followup an album of the quality of The Mechanical Fair. However, Ola Kvernberg is no ordinary musician, and has been releasing albums for twenty-three years. He put all of his experience to good use when he recorded Steamdome which will be released by Grappa on June the ‘8th’ 2018. This is a new chapter in the Ola Kvernberg story.
Steamdome is a very different album to Ola Kvernberg’s previous album The Mechanical Fair where strings featured heavily. Not this time around though. However, just like on The Mechanical Fair, Ola Kvernberg was backed by a talented band that features a triumvirate of drummers who helped him record a truly ambitious, imaginative and innovative genre-melting album.
To record Steamdome Ola Kvernberg and his band fused elements of ambient, avant-garde, dub, electronic, folk, funk, fusion, jazz, progressive rock, psychedelia and rock. Ola Kvernberg also draws inspiration from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns during an album that veers between cinematic to hard rocking. Other times, the music on Steamdome is beautiful, lysergic, melancholy, ruminative and rich in imagery as Norwegian bandleader, composer and multi-instrumentalist Ola Kvernberg paints pictures with music that is rich in imagery on his much-anticipated followup to The Mechanical Fair.
Ola Kvernberg’s fans have been waiting a long time for Steamdome, and it’s an album that has been well worth the three-year wait. Steamdome is a career defining opus from Ola Kvernberg, who reaches new heights on what’s without doubt the finest album of a solo career that has already spanned two decades.
Ola Kvernberg-Steamdome.
GRANT GREEN-FUNK IN FRANCE FROM PARIS TO ANTIBES 1969-1970.
Grant Green-Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970.
Label: Resonance Records.
In 1967, thirty-five year old guitarist Grant Green was in the throes of heroin addiction, and it looked as if he was fighting a battle he had no chance of winning. Grant Green was a shadow of the man who had arrived in New York in 1960, to meet Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records.
By then, Grant Green who was born on the ‘6th’ of July 1931, was twenty-nine, had been a professional musician since he was a teenager and for the early part of his career had played in his home town of St Louis and around East St Louis. Initially, he had no inclination to move to New York until Lionel Hampton persuaded him to make the move in 1959.
A year later, in 1960, Grant Green was introduced to Alfred Lion the cofounder of Blue Note Records, who signed the twenty-nine tear old guitarist to one of jazz’s premier labels.
Between 1960 and 1965, Grant Green recorded a total of twenty-two albums for Blue Note Records as bandleader leading trios, quartets, quintets and sextets. Fourteen of these albums were released between 1960 and 1965, with the remainder released by Blue Note Records during the seventies and eighties. However, by 1965 Grant Green was already one of jazz music’s rising stars and had come a long way in five years.
Although Grant Green was a prolific recording artist between 1960 and 1965, he also found time to work with many of the other artists signed to Blue Note Records. This was akin to the great and good of jazz, and before long, Grant Green was the go-to-guitarist for many artists signed to Blue Note Records. However, within the space of two years Grant Green’s life had been transformed.
As 1967 dawned, Grant Green was in throes of heroin addiction which was threatening to derail his burgeoning career. Just like so many jazz musicians before him, Grant Green had succumbed to heroin, not knowing how addictive the drug was. By 1967, heroin had sunk its claws into Grant Green who was desperate to free himself from its grasp. That was why in 1967, Grant Green made the decision to move to Detroit where he would turn his back on the local music scene while he tackled his heroin addiction.
Grant Green moved his family to Detroit which became his home for the next two years as he set about beating his addiction to heroin. During 1967 and 1968, Grant Green deliberately avoided the local music scene, where he knew drugs would be freely available. He wasn’t willing to put temptation in his way having come so far, and beaten his addiction to heroin. By 1969, he was ready to return to the Big Apple, and rebuild his career.
After two years away, Alfred Lion resigned a newly reinvigorated Grant Green to Blue Note Records in 1969. By then, Grant Green was a changed man, and although he looked older, and his hair was starting to thin, he looked much healthier than he had two years previously.
Grant Green had also put together a new band and was moving in a new direction musically. Rather than jazz, Grant Green’s new band were playing a much funkier type of music. This new music would be showcased by Grant Green and his band over the new year or so, and features on Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970 which was recently released as a two-CD set by Resonance Records.
Having resigned to Blue Note Records, Grant Green joined Larry Ridley and Don Lamond on a European tour, where each of the three guitarists took to the stage with the band that travelled with them, and played a short set. After the three sets, the three guitarists joined forces, and played together showcasing their considerable skills. Grant Green enjoyed the tour and when he left Europe, had no idea that he would return to France in October 1969. However, before that, Grant Green had his comeback album to record.
On the ‘3rd’ of October 1969, Grant Green and his band headed to Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, to record his comeback album Carryin’ On. It found Grant Green leading a sextet on an album which marked a stylistic change for the thirty-eight year old guitarist. Carryin’ On was the first album of jazz-funk that Grant Green recorded, and this was the sound he embraced for the remainder of his career.
Having recorded Carryin’ On, which was released in the spring of 1970, Grant Green started preparing to return to Paris, France, later that month. This latest journey came as something of a surprise for Grant Green.
In the October 1969 edition of Jazz Magazine, an announcement that ORTF’s Guitar Night was due to take place at the headquarters of French National Radio with a ‘dream lineup’ of Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell and Tal Farlow all featuring on the ‘26th’ of October. As soon as the event was announced, French jazz fans were looking forward to three of their favourite guitarists. That was until one was forced to withdraw from the event.
This was Tal Farlow, who had been suffering from asthma attacks and was unable to make the journey to France. For the organisers this was a disaster, but by the time next edition of Jazz Magazine was published, a replacement had been found…Grant Green.
While Grant Green was one of the biggest names in American jazz, French jazz fans didn’t appreciate the talented St Louis born guitarist. When Jazz Hot ran its reader’s poll, Grant Green ended up in eighth place in the list of guitarists. As a result, the announcement of Grant Green as Tal Farlow’s replacement was greeted with a lack of enthusiasm. It was going to take a lot for Grant Green to win over the French jazz fans.
When Grant Green arrived in Paris to play at the ORTF’s Guitar Night on the ‘26th’ of October 1969, he was joined by a slightly different, and slimmed down lineup of his band. Grant Green was about to lead a trio, which didn’t feature his usual drummer Idris Muhammad, who was unable to make the trip. Instead, drummer Don Lanond, bassist Larry Ridley and Grant Green would take to the stage at Studio 104, La Maison De Le Radio.
Disc One-Live At La Maison De Le Radio.
Only 852 patrons could be seated in Studio 104, La Maison De Le Radio, which was situated on the banks of the Seine. On the night of the ‘26th’ October 1969, it was decided that Grant Green who was perceived as the least popular of the three guitarists by the French promoters should take to the stage first. Grant Green was relegated to the warmup act, but was determined to win over the audience.
Thirty-eight year old Grant Green opened his set with a cover of James Brown’s I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door I’ll Get It Myself), which he had recorded for his new album Carryin’ On. Straight away, the emphasis is on funk as the rhythm section lock into a groove, before Grant Green showcases his majestic rhythmic skills, before covering Oleo which was written by Sonny Rollins. He was one of Grant Green’s favourite composers, and Oleo allowed the guitarist to experiment and improvise, unleashing his trademark spitfire single sound during this journey into jazz funk.
Very different is Antonio Carlos Jobim’s How Insensitive (Insensatez), which seems an unlikely track for Grant Green to cover. Unlike many other jazz guitarists, Grant Green hadn’t embraced samba, but with the help of his band delivers a sympathetic cover of a familiar track which allows the guitarist and bandleader to showcase his talent and versatility.
Grant Green is back on familiar territory on the improvised Untitled Blues, before covering another Sonny Rollins’ composition Sonnymoon For Two. It’s reinvented with the help of the rhythm section, who showcase their skills during the solos and when they join forces with Grant Green, help him reach new heights. After that, Grant closes the set with the oft-covered I Wish You Love, where guitarist Barney Kessel joins the trio. This sparking cover was the perfect way for Grant Green to close his set and by the time he left the stage, he had won over the audience.
This was ironic, because the Paris audience weren’t exactly enthusiastic when they heard that Grant Green was Tal Farlow’s replacement. However, what the audience didn’t realise was that Grant Green’s music was changing, and he had embraced funk and jazz-funk, which would become his new trademark sound. The audience in Studio 104, La Maison De Le Radio, were privileged to hear Grant Green’s new sound, albeit he was accompanied by what slimmed down lineup of his band. However, this was enough to give French jazz fan’s a tantalising taste of Grant Green’s new sound.
Buoyed by the reception at Studio 104, La Maison De Le Radio, on the ‘26th’ October 1969, Grant Green headed home, and this new chapter in his career continued apace. This included recording a new album.
Green Is Beautiful was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on January the ’30th’ 1970, and featured a very different lineup of Grant Green’s band. This time around, Grant Green led an octet that featured drummer Idris Muhammad, bassist Jimmy Lewis and conga player Cándido. The expanded lineup of Grant Green’s band worked their way five cover versions as the bandleader continued his journey into jazz-funk.
In the spring of 1970, Carryin’ On was released and showcased Grant Green’s new jazz-funk sound. Carryin’ On was well received, although some of Grant Green’s older fans weren’t won over by the album. They preferred his earlier albums, although a new audience embraced Grant Green’s newly updated sound. Later, Carryin’ On proved popular amongst collectors of acid jazz and rare groove.
By July 1970, Green Is Beautiful was released and found Grant Green growing into his new sound on an album that featured a tougher, funkier, brand of R&B. This new sound Grant Green was about to showcase at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, in 1970.
Disc Two-Haute Funk.
Grant Green had been invited to the prestigious Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, which took place between the ‘18th’ and ‘20th’ of July 1970. By then, Grant Green had fully embraced jazz-funk which was growing in popularity. However, he hadn’t turned his back on his jazz roots as the four lengthy workouts on Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970 show.
When Grant Green arrived at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, the bandleader and guitarist was forty, and was due to appear on the ‘18th’ and ‘20th’ of July 1970. Joining him was a band that featured drummer Billy Wilson, organist Clarence Palmer and tenor saxophonist Claude Bartee. They joined musical chameleon, bandleader and guitarist Grant Green who by July 1970 was at the peak of his powers.
Grant Green’s performances of at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes on the ‘18th’ and ‘20th’ July 1970 opened with sizzling versions of one of his own compositions Upshot. The first version closes disc one and lasts eighteen majestic minutes, while the second version that features on disc two is extended to nearly twenty minutes. Just like the first version, Grant Green and his band ensure that Upshot sizzles and swings during this latest journey into jazz-funk. Hurt So Bad which had given Little Anthony and The Imperials a hit in 1965 was a favourite of Grant Green’s and was often included in his live sets. He stays true to the original, and unleashes a breathtaking solo during this melodic cover of a familiar song. Closing disc two is a twenty-seven minute epic version of Hi-Heel Sneakers, that veers between joyous, uplifting and celebratory to explosive when Grant Green unleashes his solo during a track that fuses elements of funk, gospel, jazz and jazz funk. In doing so, Grant Green and his band reinvent a familiar and oft-covered track.
For fans of Grant Green, Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970 which was originally released by Resonance Records as a three LP set for Record Store Day 2018 and recently released as a two CD set is a welcome reminder of one of the great jazz guitarists of his generation. By July 1970, when four of the tracks on Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970 were recorded, Grant Green was enjoying a new chapter in his career after reinventing himself as a jazz-funk guitarist in 1969. This became his trademark sound for the rest of his career.
Sadly, following Grant Green’s performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes he only recorded another eight albums between August 1971 and April 1978. After that, his health deteriorated in 1978, and Grant Green was forced to spend much of that year in hospital. During this period, Grant Green wasn’t earning money, and before long the guitarist’s finances were in a perilous state.
Against doctor’s advice, Grant Green headed back out on the road to try to make some much-needed money. His final gig was at his fiend George Benson’s Breezin’ Lounge in New York, but sadly, Grant Green collapsed in his car of a heart attack and died on January the ’31st’ 1979 aged just forty-three. That day, jazz music lost one of its great guitarists.
His recording career belatedly began in 1960 when twenty-nine year old Grant Green signed to Blue Note Records for the first time. This was the label that Grant Green called home for the majority of his career, and where he recorded the best music of his career. Grant Green was signed to Blue Note Records when he recorded the music on Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970, which is a reminder of the early part of his jazz-funk years, which was a new chapter in the career of this talented and versatile guitarist, bandleader and composer.
Grant Green-Funk In France From Paris To Antibes 1969-1970.
MILLIE JACKSON-STILL CAUGHT UP.
Millie Jackson-Still Caught Up.
Label: Southbound Records.
There’s nothing worse than not hearing how a story ends, and that was how many record buyers felt after hearing Millie Jackson’s critically acclaimed fourth album Caught Up, which was released in 1974. Caught Up was essentially a concept album, but in truth was like a musical soap opera about a love triangle, where Millie Jackson played the leading roles.
On side one, Millie Jackson plays the role of “the other woman,” before assuming the role of the woman whose husband has cheated on her on the second side. Although Millie Jackson breathes life, meaning and emotion into both roles, when Caught Up drew to a close, there was seemed no conclusion, no real ending. It was one of these cliffhangers where the listener wondered what happened next? Did the husband leave his wife, or did they stay together, and if so, what became of them? In modern parlance, there was no there was no ‘closure,’ and over half-a-million record buyers were left hanging, wondering what became of Mille Jackson’s two characters?
Little did anyone realise that the story that began on Caught Up was about to conclude on Millie Jackson’s fifth album Still Caught Up, which has just been reissued on vinyl by Southbound Records, an imprint of Ace Records. Still Caught Up was a much-anticipated album, that was released in 1975. That was all in the future.
Buoyed by the success of Caught Up, which had just been certified gold after selling in excess of 500,000 copies, Millie Jackson began work on her much-anticipated fifth album Still Caught Up. Millie Jackson and her songwriting partner King Sterling penned The Memory Of A Wife, Tell Her It’s Over and Do What Makes You Satisfied which were joined by five cover versions that concluded the story that began on Caught Up.
This included You Can’t Stand The Thought Of Another Me and Leftovers which were written by singer, songwriter and producer Phillip Mitchell. They were joined by Tom Jans’ Loving Arms, Richard Kerr and Gary Osborne’s Making The Best Of A Bad Situation and Mac Davis and Mark Davis’ I Still Love You (You Still Love Me). These songs would complete the story of Still Caught Up, which was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida.
Fortunately, for Millie Jackson and Brad Shapiro who had produced Caught Up, they were once again able to secure the services of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section for the recording of Still Caught Up. This included drummer Roger Hawkins, bassist Barry Hood and guitarist Jimmy Johnson. They were augmented by keyboardist Barry Beckett, guitarist Pete Carr and percussionist Tom Roady. Adding backing vocals were Charles and Sandra Chalmers, Sandy and Donna Rhodes and Janie Fricke. This was the band that accompanied Millie Jackson as she played the wronged wife and the other woman on Still Caught Up.
Once Still Caught Up was completed, Spring scheduled the release for 1975, hoping that it would replicate the success of Caught Up. That wasn’t going to be easy as Caught Up has reached twenty-one in the US Billboard 200 and four in the US R&B charts, which resulted in Millie Jackson’s first gold disc. However, with over 500,000 record buyers waiting to hear how the story that began on Caught Up ended on Still Caught Up, Spring had high hopes for Millie Jackson’s fifth album.
Especially, when critics hailed Still Caught Up as a fitting followup to Caught Up. Even the self-styled dean of rock critics gave Still Caught Up a B+, which was high praise indeed. However, it was the record buyers who would have the final say when Still Caught Up was released later in 1975.
Despite having won over critics, when Still Caught Up was released in 1975, it stalled at a lowly 112 in the US Billboard 200 and twenty-seven in the US R&B charts. This was a far cry from the success of Caught Up a year earlier. For Millie Jackson the commercial failure of Still Caught Up came as a huge blow, as Caught Up had transformed her fortunes, and had launched her career.
Things didn’t improve when Loving Arms was released as a single, and it failed to trouble the charts. Loving Arms was the one that got away for Millie Jackson. When Leftovers was released as a single, it struggled to eighty-seven in the US Billboard 100, which was another disappointment for Millie Jackson who had hoped to build on the success of Caught Up. In a way, Still Caught Up was the one that got away for Millie Jackson.
Still Caught Up opens with Making the Best of A Bad Situation, where Millie Jackson’s ex-husband knocks on the door and delivers a short monologue reminding her it’s their anniversary. Millie Jackson then delivers a worldweary vocal against a slow backdrop of lush strings, piano, rhythm section and guitars. By then, there’s a degree of drama and sense of sadness, as the arrangement sweeps along and Millie Jackson reflects upon how she feels, admitting that she misses her husband, and although free, she is at a loss without him to share her life. Later, strings, chiming guitars, piano and soaring backing vocalists combine as Millie Jackson’s vocal is full of emotion and sadness as she continue to lay bare her soul.
A short monologue opens The Memory of A Wife, before the arrangement grows in power and drama as the rhythm section, rasping horns, swirling strings, guitars and a piano combine to produce a punchy, dramatic arrangement as Millie’ Jackson delivers an angry, vocal. Midway through the track, calmness descends, and just twinkling keyboards, rhythm section and slow strings accompanying Millie Jackson’s monologue. It’s almost a warning shot fired across the bows of her husbands new lady, warning her about the pitfalls of their relationship. She even dispenses marital advice, on how to spot a straying husband, and the pitfalls of being the “other woman” against a meanders arrangement. After a second monologue, the song heads towards a dramatic conclusion, with blazing horns, piano, rhythm section and guitars accompanying Millie Jackson as she unleashes a vocal that is a mixture of power, anger and frustration as this emotional roller coaster draws to a close.
The rhythm section and acoustic guitar accompany Millie’ Jackson’s monologue on Tell Her It’s Over, and quickly, she tells her ex-husband to tell his new girlfriend that their relationship is over. Meanwhile, her vocal grows both in power and emotion, while rapid-fire bursts of backing vocalists combine with guitars, keyboards as the rhythm section provide the heartbeat. Later, rasping horns and a Hammond organ accompany Millie Jackson’s confident and assured vocals as she lets her husband know just who is in charge. By now it seems, Millie has gained the upper hand in the relationship, during this emotionally charged track, but how long will this last?
Just chiming guitars and slow, sweeping strings combine with the rhythm section and piano as What Makes You Satisfied meanders melodically along. Soon, it’s all change as Millie Jackson unleashes a swaggering vocal as soulful backing vocalists accompany her, as a piano, slow, moody bass and melancholy strings are key to the arrangement’s success. Meanwhile, rasping horns and crystalline guitars provide backdrop as Millie Jackson tells her husband to do what makes him satisfied, and if that means leaving her, so be it. She knows that it won’t last, because his new lover isn’t the faithful kind, and that will hurt his ego. As Millie sings this, it’s with a mixture of bravado and resignation, as deep down, she’s worried, that she might be wrong, and he won’t come back. It’s a powerful portrayal and one of the highlights of Still Caught Up.
After the bravado of the previous track, it’s a much more confident Millie Jackson that opens You Can’t Stand The Thought Of Another Me as it bursts into life. The tempo is quicker with the rhythm section, piano, wah-wah guitars and cooing backing vocalists accompany a defiant Millie Jackson. She sings that her husband can’t stand the thought of another man now loving her. Later, a punchy rhythm section, sweeping string and braying horns add to the emotion, drama and defiance as Mille Jackson proves takes revenge on her husband who betrayed her.
Just when it seems Millie Jackson seems to have the upper hand in the situation, things take a turn for the worse on Leftovers, when her new man announces he’s leaving, and going back to his wife. He’s not for changing his mind, and Millie Jackson reveals that she knows that he’s been cheating on her with his wife. This monologue between Millie and her lover is set against a backdrop of keyboards, chiming guitars and blazing horns as the rhythm section provide the heartbeat. Later, the doorbell rings, and when Millie opens the door is greeted by her lover’s wife. Millie’s response is to throw everyone out, before she asks her love rival how she could stand being second best to her? By now Millie’s vocal is powerful, full of emotion and anger as the arrangement grows in power, during this mixture of music and theatre, where tension and drama are omnipresent.
I Still Love You (You Still Love Me) closes the love triangle that is Still Caught Up. By then, Millie Jackson’s husband has left her, and it seems she’s slowly unravelling. After a monologue, there’s a sense of sadness and even melancholy as the arrangement meanders along, the rhythm section, guitars, keyboards and backing vocalists accompanying Millie who is sad, lonely and lost as flute flutters above her. By then, her voice is full of sadness and regret, with almost a sense of grief in her voice caused by the loss of her husband. Towards the end of the track, Millie unravels, and sadly, becomes unstable and mentally ill. Millie Jackson portrayal of mental illness is far from sympathetic and is in poor taste. So much so, that this spoils the ending of what was a compelling and intriguing love triangle.
Unfortunately, Millie Jackson didn’t live happily ever after on Still Caught Up, which completes the story that began on her previous album Caught Up. This was the album that launched Millie Jackson’s career in 1974, and forty-four years later, is still one of the finest albums of her career.
A year later, Millie Jackson’s much-anticipated fifth album Still Caught Up was released by Spring Records, and it was hoped would replicate the success of Caught Up. Although that wasn’t the case, Still Caught Up is a powerful and moving album where Millie Jackson’s plays every part in this love triangle.
The drama that is played out in front of the listener on Still Caught Up is so realistic, that the listener is bound to end up feeling sorry for the characters and taking sides in the various scenarios. Millie Jackson breathes life, meaning and emotion into each and every part on Still Caught Up, regardless of what part she’s playing during an album that is a mixture of music and theatre.
Still Caught Up which was released in 1975, features a mixture of monologues and music, which works well and proves a powerful and captivating combination as Millie Jackson plays every role in the second part of this love triangle. It’s an emotional roller coaster, where Millie Jackson veers between heartbroken and hopeful to defiant and confident, to angry and frustrated. Millie Jackson plays each character perfectly, whether it be the wronged woman, to the defiant and newly in love, to the other woman and latterly, the woman who is unravelling emotionally.
Sadly, there was to be no happy ending on Still Caught Up, which is a captivating and emotionally charged concept album which is a mixture of music and drama which brought to an end Millie Jackson’s two part love triangle that began with the classic soul concept album Caught Up in 1974
Millie Jackson-Still Caught Up.
KETIL BJORNSTAD AND ANNELI DRECKER-A SUITE OF POEMS.
Ketil Bjørnstad and Anneli Drecker-A Suite Of Poems.
Label: ECM Records.
Nowadays, part of the modern music industry is populated by third-rate wannabes, who in truth, have no right whatsoever to call themselves musicians. Many of this new breed of musicians, are DJs who also laughingly refer to themselves as a ‘producer’ despite having absolutely no musical training, and being unable play an instrument. Instead, these musical illiterates make music on a digital audio workstation and use samples to make music on their laptop. This gets round the producer’s lack of musical knowledge and inability to play a musical instrument. However, eventually, their lack of talent and musical knowledge is bound to catchup with them.
Sometimes, the ‘producer’ has to bring onboard someone in to lay down a vocal on their latest Magnus Opus, but given their lack of talent and knowledge, no vocalist with an ounce of talent will be willing to work with them. As a result, the producer is left to bring onboard a third-rate vocalist who lays down a vocal that is hopelessly out of tune. Not that the ‘producer’ notices this, until someone points this out. The now desperate ‘producer’ then tries to rescue the situation with Melodyne, and failing that, a myriad of effects that disguise the vocal. With the track now complete, the ‘producer’ then mixes and masters their masterpiece which is a hook free zone.
Once the mastering is complete, the ‘producer’ has destroyed what little dynamic range the track had, and it’s fallen victim to the loudness wars. Not that there’s any chance of the track being played in a club, never mind radio. However, the ‘producer’ is the ultimate optimist.
They even pay a little known hipster PR company to write a puff piece, which is circulated before the track is released online as a digital download. This proves to be its final resting place, as the online shop is the musical equivalent of the elephant’s graveyard, where bad music goes to die.
Meanwhile, week after week, talented musicians and vocalists release much-anticipated and critically acclaimed albums of ambitious and innovative music. This includes Ketil Bjørnstad and Anneli Drecker’s album A Suite Of Poems which was recently released on ECM Records. It’s a collaboration two of the leading lights of the Nordic music scene Ketil Bjørnstad and Anneli Drecker.
Ketil Bjørnstad.
Sixty-six year old pianist, composer and author Ketil Bjørnstad, was born in Oslo, Norway, on the ’25th’ of April 1952, and growing up, was a prodigiously talented musician. He initially trained as a classical pianist in London and Paris, in and in 1966 and 1968 won the prestigious title Youth Piano Master. Later in 1968, Ketil Bjørnstad made his debut as a concert pianist, and this looked like the start of a long and successful career.
That was until Ketil Bjørnstad discovered and embraced European jazz and which by then, was growing in popularity and then jazz. Soon, Ketil Bjørnstad was working with the Norwegian rhythm section of drummer Jon Christensen, bassist Arild Andersen, guitarist Terje Rypdal, bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Jon Christensen who were joined by the American cellist David Darli. This was the start of Ketil Bjørnstad’s musical career.
Ketil Bjørnstad wasn’t just a talented composer and pianist, he was also a poet writer, and in 1972, published his first volume of poetry Alene Out, which was followed by a second volume, Closer in 1973. The following year, Ketil Bjørnstad’s first novel Nattsvermere was published in 1974. By then, his recording career was well underway.
In 1973, Ketil Bjørnstad released his debut album Åpning on Phillips, with Berget Det Blå following in 1974 and Tredje Dag in 1975. This was the start of a prolific recording career, with Ketil Bjørnstad often releasing two albums a year.
When Ketil Bjørnstad released Finnes du noensteds i kveld in 1976, it reached number nine in the Norwegian charts and was his album that charted. This was the start a of successful period for the Oslo based pianist and author.
By the time that Ketil Bjørnstad signed to ECM Records, and released Water Stories in 1993, seven of his albums had charted, and he was regarded as a musical pioneer who released ambitious and innovative albums. Some of these albums that were released on ECM Records would feature his old friends Jon Christensen, Arild Andersen, Terje Rypdal and David Darli. They formed a formidable partnership during the nineties and into the noughties.
In 2003, Ketil Bjørnstad released The Nest, which was his first collaboration with thirty-four year old Anneli Drecker, who had started her career as the lead vocalist for the dream pop band Bel Canto in 1985. The Nest was released to critical acclaim and was just the latest successful album to bare Ketil Bjørnstad’s name.
Fifteen years later, and sixty-six year old Ketil Bjørnstad is a prolific author and recording artist, who has released in excess of fifty albums, and countless collaborations with the great and good of music. This includes A Suite Of Poems which is his second collaboration with Anneli Drecker.
Anneli Drecker.
Anneli Drecker was born 12 February 1969, and in 1985, the sixteen year old became the lead vocalist of Bel Canto in 1985. By the time Anneli Drecker was seventeen, she had left her Arctic hometown of Tromsø and was to embark upon a successful musical career.
In 1987, Bel Canto released their debut album White-Out Conditions, with their sophomore album Birds Of Passage following in 1989. It was released to critical acclaim and won Bel Canto the prestigious Spellemannprisen award, which is the equivalent of a Grammy Award.
History repeated itself when Bel Canto released their third album Shimmering, Warm and Bright to critical acclaim in 1992 and again, it won a Spellemannprisen award. By then, critics were comparing Anneli Drecker’s ethereal vocal to Liz Fraser’s which was high praise indeed.
Having released three albums on indie label Crammed Discs, Bel Canto were signed to Atlantic Records, and in 1995 released their fourth album Magic Box on the Lava imprint Lava which won another Spellemannprisen award. The rise and rise of Bel Canto continued, and in 1998 they released their firth album Rush to plaudits and praise. After that, Anneli Drecker decided to take a sabbatical from Bel Canto and embark upon a solo career.
In March 2001, Anneli Drecker released her critically acclaimed and genre-melting debut album Tundra. Critics were forecasting a bright future for Anneli Drecker as a solo artist, but she decided to put her solo career on hold.
Anneli Drecker was asked to join Röyksopp, and wrote and performed Sparks which featured on their debut album Melody A.M. which was released in September 2001. Melody A.M. was certified platinum in Norway, Britain and Holland, and later in 2001, was nominated for, and won, the Spellemannprisen for the best electronic album.
Following the success of Melody A.M, Anneli Drecker toured with Röyksopp, before recording Bel Canto’s sixth album Dorothy’s Victory which was released in 2002. This proved to be Bel Canto’s swan-song as far as studio albums were concerned.
Three years later, and Anneli Drecker released her sophomore album Frolic in April 2005,which marked a change in direction. Frolic was a much more downtempo album and this appealed to many critics, who lauded Anneli Drecker’s decision to reinvent herself
Another ten years passed before Anneli Drecker’s thoughts turned to her third album, and during that period she had embarked on two world tours with A-Ha and worked with toured and recorded with Röyksopp. However, in 2015 Anneli Drecker returned with her long-awaited third album, Rocks and Straws, which was a career defining album. It was followed by her critically acclaimed fourth album Revelation For Personal Use in May 2017. By then, Ketil Bjørnstad and Anneli Drecker had collaborated on a new project.
A Suite Of Poems.
This was A Suite Of Poems written by Norwegian-Danish author Lars Saabye Christensen, who is one of Scandinavia’s top contemporary writers. He’s also been a friend of Ketil Bjørnstad since the pair were teenagers, and nowadays, when Lars Saabye Christensen travels the world, he always sends his old friend what he calls “hotel poems” which explore a range of moods. Lars Saabye Christensen invites Ketil Bjørnstad to make music out of these “hotel poems.”
Ketil Bjørnstad remembers that: “I started writing music to his poems more than 20 years ago” and say that Lars Saabye Christensen’s: “ability to expose the inner conflicts we all bring with us in our suitcases is striking.”
That is apparent on the thirteen songs on A Suite Of Poems, which was recorded by pianist Ketil Bjørnstad and vocalist Anneli Drecker in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in June 2016. It’s a powerful, poignant and thought-provoking song cycle that deserves to be compared to Ketil Bjørnstad’s critically acclaimed projects like 2013s Sunlight and 2014s A Passion For John in Donne.
The thirteen songs that feature on A Suite Of Poems document Lars Saabye Christensen’s travels including a stay at the Mayflower, New York, then the Duxton, Melbourne, Kempinski, Berlin, L’Hotel, Paris and Palace, Copenhagen. By then, it’s apparent that there’s a connection between composer and pianist Ketil Bjørnstad who admits: “I feel very connected to the lonely, existential perspective of these poems, made in different hotel rooms.”
They’re brought to life by Anneli Drecker’s ethereal vocal which breathes life, meaning, emotion and existential angst into the songs which explore a range of moods. Ketil Bjørnstad’s choice of Anneli Drecker to interpret songs on A Suite Of Poems was inspired, and proof of that is the rueful Astor Crowne, New Orleans which threatens to swing.
Soon, Anneli Drecker is delivering a ruminative, heartfelt vocal on The Grand, Krakow, which is tinged with sadness and loneliness.There’s a similar sense of sadness on the cinematic Palazzo Londra, Venice and Vier Jahreszeiten, Hamburg which is rich in imagery. One of the most poignant songs is Savoy, Lisbon which features one of Anneli Drecker finest vocals. She then lays bare her soul and secrets on Mayday Inn, Hong Kong as she admits: “big rooms make me nervous” in a song that tells the story the lonely globetrotting traveller. They arrive in Lutetia, Paris where Anneli Drecker delivers a vocal that is a mixture of sadness and hope, before Schloss Elmau which is a poignant and wistful showcase for Ketil Bjørnstad’s piano completes the song cycle A Suite Of Poems.
Although A Suite Of Poems features just Ketil Bjørnstad’s piano and the ethereal vocal of Anneli Drecker, this proves hugely effective and is further proof that sometimes, less is more. It would’ve been easy to add strings which would add to the emotional impact of the song cycle, but this may have distracted the listener. The focus of their attention is Anneli Drecker’s vocal, as she tells the story of the lonely globetrotting traveller who spends their life living in a suitcase far from home. She’s accompanied by Ketil Bjørnstad’s piano and the pair are like yin and yang, on A Suite Of Poems which is one of the finest albums released on ECM Records during 2018.
A Suite Of Poems features thirteen tracks that between beautiful and confessionals to poignant and powerful to rueful and ruminative to thought-provoking and sometimes are full loneliness and existential angst. Together, the music on A Suite Of Poems is spartan and understated, but also breathtakingly beautiful as Anneli Drecker plays a starring role and breathes life, meaning and emotion into Lars Saabye Christensen’s “hotel poems” which were turned into songs by composer and pianist Ketil Bjørnstad on this captivating and enchanting album.
Ketil Bjørnstad and Anneli Drecker-A Suite Of Poems.
RYO FUKUI-SCENERY AND MELLOW DREAM.
Ryo Fukui-Scenery and Mellow Dream.
Label: We Release Jazz Switzerland.
Ryo Fukui, who was born in Biratori, Hokkaido, in Japan, on the ‘1st’ of June 1948, was a late starter when it came to the piano and unlike most of the musicians he encountered during a career that spanned five decades, had never learnt to play the instrument as a child. Instead, Ryo Fukui had just turned twenty-two in 1970, when he announced that he wanted to learn to play the piano, and was going to teach himself.
If Ryo Fukui’s friends thought that his decision to teach himself to play the piano was bound to end in tears, they were soon proved wrong as he turned out to be a talented pianist. So much so, that the self-taught pianist was good enough to embark upon a career as a professional musician, playing the music that he loved…jazz.
As September 1976 dawned, twenty-eight year old Ryo Fukui was living in Sapporo, where he led his own trio who were a familiar sight in local jazz clubs. Ryo Fukui had also just signed to Trio Records, and was preparing to record his debut album Scenery, which like the followup Mellow Dream, have just been reissued by We Release Jazz Switzerland. These albums are a welcome reminder of a remarkable musician.
Scenery.
For his debut album Ryo Fukui had written the title-track Scenery, and the rest of the album comprised cover versions. This included Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke’s It Could Happen To You, Billy Eckstine’s I Want To Talk About You, Hideo Ichikawa’s Early Summer, Ann Ronell’s Willow Weep For Me and Joseph Kosma and Jacques Prévert’s Autumn Leaves. These tracks became Scenery, which Ryo Fukui planned to record at Yamaha Hall, Sapporo.
The recording of Scenery took place at Yamaha Hall, Sapporo, on the ‘7th’ of September 1976, pianist Ryo Fukui leading a trio that featured drummer Yoshinori Fukui and bassist Satoshi Denpo. Taking charge of production were Masataka Ito and Ryo Fukui who worked well together, and Scenery like many jazz albums was recorded quickly, with just a day spent laying down the tracks. This was how countless classic albums had been recorded during the fifties and sixties.
Scenery was released in late 1976, and was regarded as an important album by Japanese jazz critics, who called the album a game-changing release that was one of the finest of the seventies. Despite receiving widespread critical acclaim in Japan, Scenery passed American jazz fans by, and they missed out on hearing what was a remarkable debut album.
Ryo Fukui opens his 1976 debut album Scenery with It Could Happen To You, which was the first of four oft-covered classics that he set about reinventing. It was a similar case on I Want To Talk About You, Willow Weep For Me and Autumn Leaves where with the help of drummer Yoshinori Fukui and bassist Satoshi Denpo, pianist Ryo Fukui ensures that these classics take on new life and meaning. This isn’t easy given who often these tracks had been recorded by 1976. However, the twenty-eight year old pianist who had only been playing for six years by the time he recorded Scenery, plays with maturity that belies his relative inexperience.
For much of the time, his playing is smooth, subtle and effortless as his fingers glide and flit across the piano keyboard as he plays with fluidity ensuring the songs swing. Other times, he plays with speed and energy, and isn’t afraid to improvise and innovate. Stylistically, Ryo Fukui sometimes sounds like Bill Evans, and especially during the energetic modal rework of Early Summer. By then, Ryo Fukui and his trio play with a newfound urgency, before closing the album with the title-track Scenery. It was Ryo Fukui’s only original composition on Scenery and is a reminder of a talented bandleader, composer and pianist as he began his career with game-changing album which is a glorious fusion of bop, cool jazz and modal jazz.
Buoyed by the critical reaction and success of Scenery, Ryo Fukui continued to hone his skills as a pianist, and before long, he was already beginning work on his sophomore album Mellow Dream.
Mellow Dream.
While Scenery only featured one Ryo Fukui composition, he wrote half of the tracks on his much-anticipated sophomore album Mellow Dream. This included the title-track Mellow Dream, Baron Potato Blues and Horizon, which were joined by covers of Victor Young’s My Foolish Heart, Johnny Burke’s What’s New and Richard Rodgers’ My Funny Valentine. Mellow Dream was a mixture of the new music and much-loved classics and just like Scenery, was recorded at Yamaha Hall, in Sapporo.
This time, Masataka Ito took charge of production when Mellow Dream was recorded on August the ’17th’ and ’18th’ 1977. Joining pianist Ryo Fukui was drummer Yoshinori Fukui and bassist Satoshi Denpo, which was the same lineup of the trio that featured on Scenery. They took just two days to record Mellow Dream, which was mixed during two days in September 1977 and was ready for release.
Mellow Dream was released in late 1977, to plaudits and praise, with critics calling the album a fitting followup to Scenery. By then, Ryo Fukui had a matured not just as a pianist and bandleader, but as a composer.
The twenty-seven year old’s pianist sophomore album Mellow Dream, found Ryo Fukui continuing to combine and explore bop, cool jazz, modal jazz, post bop and even a hint of blues on what was a much mellower, soulful and ruminative album that allowed time to reflect, especially on Mellow Dream and the reinvention of My Foolish Heart. Other times, the music on Mellow Dream packs a punch and swings as Ryo Fukui grabs Baron Potato Blues and Horizon by the scruff of the neck. His fingers fly across the piano keyboard as he plays with speed and fluidity as the rest of the trio match him every step of the way. Meanwhile, the music on Mellow Dream is an emotional roller coaster as it veers between vibrant to joyous and melancholy and rueful. Ryo Fukui it seems is a man for all seasons on his sophomore album Mellow Dream.
Following the success of his sophomore album Mellow Dream, Ryo Fukui continued to hone his skills and mature and improve as a musician, but made the decision to concentrate playing live. This included in the Slowboat jazz club in Sapporo, which Ryo Fukui owned and ran with his wife Yasuko. With Ryo Fukui concentrating on playing live, it was eighteen years before he returned with a new album.
Ryo Fukui returned with My Favorite Tune in 1995, and followed this up with Ryo Fukui In New York in 1999. It was another sixteen years before Ryo Fukui released A Letter From Slowboat in 2015, which proved to be his swan-song.
Sadly, Ryo Fukui passed away on March the ‘15th’ 2016, aged just sixty-seven. That day Japanese jazz was in mourning at the loss of one of its great pianists, who although self-taught was a masterful performer who played with grace, fluidity and invention during a career that spanned five decades.
Although Ryo Fukui enjoyed a long career, he only released five albums, including Scenery and Mellow Dream which are his finest outings, and have just been released by We Release Jazz Switzerland. Scenery and Mellow Dream are reminder of bandleader, composer and pianist Ryo Fukui who sadly, was and still is one of jazz’s best kept secrets outside of his native Japan. Hopefully, that will change with the release of Scenery and Mellow Dream and Ryo Fukui’s music will be discovered by a new audience.
Ryo Fukui-Scenery and Mellow Dream.
CUASARES-AFRO-PROGRESIVO.
Cuasares-Afro-Progresivo.
Label: Pharaway Sounds.
In 1972, a new Argentinian band Cuasares, entered the recording studio and began work on what became their debut album Afro-Progresivo. This was the latest project that was masterminded by arranger, composer and pianist Waldo Belloso who previously, had been a member of Los Abrodo Brothers and recorded a sexploitation soundtrack in 1969. However, Afro-Progresivo was totally different from anything that Waldo Belloso had previously worked on and was a truly ambitious project.
That was why Waldo Belloso took great care selecting the musicians that would become members of Cuasares. They had to be able to carry out Waldo Belloso’s instructions to the letter, as he guided them through the recording of Afro-Progresivo, teasing nine performances out of the nascent lineup of Cuasares. This took time, it wasn’t until 1973 that Waldo Belloso had managed to coax an album’s worth of music out of Cuasares.
With Cuasares’ debut album complete, Waldo Belloso called this groundbreaking and genre-melting release Afro-Progresivo, which was released on the short-lived Pais label later in 1973. Sadly, when Cuasares released Afro-Progresivo the album failed to find the audience it deserved. It didn’t help that Pais was a small label, and didn’t have the marketing expertise or financial muscle to promote Afro-Progresivo. However, the main problem was that Argentinian record buyers neither understood nor appreciate such an innovative album.
Following the commercial failure of Afro-Progresivo in 1973, copies of Cuasares’ debut album became almost IMpossible to find in record shops. Very occasionally a lucky record collector would stumble across a copy of Afro-Progresivo in the racks of a second-hand record shop. However, as the years passed, Afro-Progresivo became one of the rarest Argentinian rock albums which copies changing hands for excess of £600. Sadly, that meant that a copy of Cuasares’ groundbreaking album Afro-Progresivo was beyond the budget of most record collectors. That was until recently.
Pharaway Sounds, an imprint of Guerssen Records recently reissued Cuasares’ debut album Afro-Progresivo, for the first time since its release in 1973. Somewhat belatedly, record buyers across the world are album to discover this groundbreaking rarity for the first time.
The man who masterminded Cuasares was Waldo Belloso, who was born in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, on April the ‘4th’ 1933. By the age of six started studying the piano, which was the instrument that Waldo Belloso would later make his name playing.
Soon, Waldo Belloso was studying the roots of Argentinian folklore music, which before long became his passion. Over the next few years he spent much of his studying the studying and practising Argentinian folklore music, and by the time he was a teenager, was regarded as an expert in the subject. Later, Waldo Belloso would become a professor at Alberto Williams Conservatory, and later, became the chair at the National Dance School. By then, Waldo Belloso’s musical career was starting to take shape.
Waldo Belloso became a member Los Abrodo Brothers, and before long, became an important figure within the band. This was all part of his musical apprenticeship.
By then, Waldo Belloso wasn’t content to work as a musician, and was also an aspiring composer, who would spend years honing his craft. This would eventually payoff in the future, as would Waldo Belloso’s academic studies.
Although Waldo Belloso’s life seemed to revolve around music, he qualified as an ophthalmologist during the second half of the sixties. After that, Waldo Belloso’s twin careers in medicine and music continued apace.
In 1969, Waldo Belloso completed the soundtrack to one of the most controversial projects he worked on, the sexploitation movie Juegos De Verano. When it was rated by Argentinian film board, it received a triple-X rating and it four years passed before the premiere of Juegos De Verano took place in 1973. By then, Waldo Belloso had just completed his latest project.
This was Cuasares’ debut album Afro-Progresivo which Waldo Belloso began working on in 1972. By then, the thirty-nine year old arranger, composer and pianist had already written the album Waldo Belloso had written eight of the ten tracks himself, including Transmigración, Colisión, Mutación, Ancestral, Evanescente, Amalgama, Pentatonik and Simbiosis. The other two tracks Cuasares and Vertical were penned by Waldo Belloso and Hector Quattromana a talented and versatile multi-instrumentalist who dawned the moniker Mingo. These ten tracks were recorded by a carefully selected group of musicians, and later, became Cuasares’ debut album Afro-Progresivo.
After carefully choosing the musicians that would become Cuasares, just drummer and percussionist Enrique “Zurdo” Roizner and sixteen year old guitarist Tomás Gubitsch joined Waldo Belloso in the studio. They began recording Afro-Progresivo in 1972, and eventually, the album was completed in 1973. By then, Waldo Belloso had coaxed and encouraged performances out of his small band and now, Afro-Progresivo was ready for release.
Having spent so long recording Afro-Progresivo, Waldo Belloso made a decision he would surely live to regret when he decided to release Cuasares’ debut album on the Pais label. It was a new label and unlike the major labels, didn’t have the marketing expertise or financial muscle to promote Afro-Progresivo, and it was no surprise when upon the release of Afro-Progresivo later in 1973, the album sunk without trace. Part of the problem was that Argentinian record buyers neither understood nor appreciated such an innovative album. For Waldo Belloso this was a huge disappointment.
Just when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse for Waldo Belloso it did, when the Pais label closed its doors after releasing just two albums in less than three months. This included Cuasares’ debut album Afro-Progresivo.
Now forty-five years after Cuasares released Afro-Progresivo, the reissue by Pharaway Sounds allows record buyers to discover what was a groundbreaking and genre-melting album that was masterminded by Waldo Belloso who combined elements of Afro-Latin, jazz, psychedelic funk and European library music. Especially, French and Italian library music, and sometimes, fusion, which was growing in popularity in America, Britain and Europe. As Cuasares flitted between and fused disparate musical genres, they deployed an eclectic musical arsenal.
This included a lysergic fuzzy guitar, futuristic sci-fi synths, an effects laden Hammond organ, flute, vibraphone and a myriad of disparate effects that added a psychedelic vibe to an album that drew inspiration from Africa, America, Europe and Latin America as musical alchemist Waldo Belloso and his band of brothers recorded an album that was way of its time.
That was the case from Cuasares which opens Afro-Progresivo and elements of psychedelic funk, fusion and instrumentation usually found on a progressive rock album are combined to create an ambitious and otherworldly track. The tempo drops on Transmigración which initially, seems an understated track, but that soon changes as lo-fi synths, a marimba and urgent Carlos Santana inspired guitar solo are unleashed. Effects are added to the guitar which joins forces with the marimba on this urgent, hypnotic and funky track. After percussion opens Cuasares head in the direction of fusion during this mesmeric, percussive rocky and urgent genre-melting track that incorporates elements of Latin and psychedelia. Cuasares slow things down on Mutación, which sounds as if it’s been inspired by Santana, as the guitar organ and percussion play starring roles in this beautiful, melodic and memorable offering. Ancestral is a genre-straggling workout with Cuasares play with speed and fluidity and seamlessly combine elements of Latin, psychedelia, fusion and rock on what’s one of their finest moments.
Vertical features Cuasares at their most innovative as they fuse elements of Latin, progressive rock, psychedelia, fusion and library music. Effects are sometimes deployed adding to the lysergic sound while the track veers between dramatic, hypnotic and repetitive. Vibes set scene for another Santana-inspired guitar solo on Evanescente, while the dusty organ solo hints at late-sixties R&B. Later, the searing guitar solo take on a more contemporary sound as Cuasares play with a fluidity, with guitarist Tomás Gubitsch stealing the show. Amalgama finds Cuasares combining an Afro-Latin groove with rocky guitar licks during this breathtaking jam. It’s a similar case on Pentatonik as Cuasares combine vibes, organ, percussion, a rocky guitar, and sometimes deploy effects on a track that sounds as if it was recorded far from Argentina. Simbiosis which closes Afro-Progresivo is an ambitious, genre-melting track where everything Afro-Latin, fusion, jazz and psychedelic rock on one of the highlights of the album.
Forty-five years after Cuasares released their debut album Afro-Progresivo in 1973, this oft-overlooked hidden receives a welcome reissue by Pharaway Sounds, who are an imprint of Guerssen Records. This is the first ever reissue of Afro-Progresivo which nowadays, is an extremely rare album that is a prized possession amongst record collectors who appreciate this groundbreaking, genre-melting album.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case when Afro-Progresivo was released in 1973, and failed to find an audience, as record buyers didn’t understand an album that was way ahead of its time. Waldo Belloso who founded Cuasares, had his handpicked band of musical brothers combine elements of Afro-Latin, European library music, fusion, jazz, psychedelic funk and rock on this innovative album. Afro-Progresivo found Cuasares pushing musical boundaries to their limits as they fused music genres and influences and sometimes beyond in an attempt to create a groundbreaking album, that somewhat belatedly, is receiving the recognition and is finding the audience it deserves.
Cuasares-Afro-Progresivo.
GEORGE JONES AND THE JONES BOYS-LIVE IN TEXAS 1965.
George Jones and The Jones Boys-Live In Texas 1965.
Label: Ace Records.
By 1985, singer-songwriter George Jones was approaching his fifty-fourth birthday and was once again, one of the giants of country music, and had thirteen number one country hits to his name. This included the four he had released since he made his comeback in 1980. The first of these was the seminal country single He Stopped Loving Her Today. For George Jones this was a game-changer and relaunched a career that not long ago seemed in terminal decline.
The problem began in 1964, when George Jones began a fifteen year battle with the bottle. By 1967, things had gotten so bad, that George Jones’ binge drinking and use of amphetamines had caught up with him, and he had no option but to enter a neurological hospital for treatment for his addictions.
Sadly, the treatment wasn’t a success and after he left the hospital, George Jones’ second wife Shirley Corley would go to great lengths to stop him drinking. She even tried hiding his car keys, but George Jones drove his lawnmower eight miles to Beaumont, Texas, where he was able to buy liquor. Shirley Corley was fighting a losing battle in her attempt to save George Jones from himself.
Two years later, in 1969, George Jones was married Tammy Wynette who was eleven years his junior, and had grown up listening to her future husband’s records. It was a case of love at first sight on George Jones’ part, and he even bought himself out of his contract with Musicor Records so he could tour with Tammy Wynette. However, by 1970 George Jones was once again fighting his demons.
In October 1970, Tammy Wynette and George Jones’ daughter had just become parents for the first time, which was something to celebrate. However, George Jones embarked on a drunken bender, which resulted in him being committed to the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, for ten days. When he was released, George Jones had been prescribed Librium, and although he enjoyed periods of sobriety, as the seventies progressed, his drinking worsened and his behaviour became erratic. By 1976, Tammy Wynette had divorced George Jones and country music first couple were no more.
They still toured for the rest of the seventies, and in 1980 released the album Together Again, but by then, George Jones had given up any hope that he would be reconciled with Tammy Wynette. However, in 1980 George Jones embarked upon a comeback after fifteen turbulent years when he had battled his demons.
Having signed to Epic, George Jones’ comeback began and in 1980 he released the classic He Stopped Loving Her Today, which gave his first number one country hit in three years. There was no stopping George Jones who in 1981 released Still Doin’ Time which topped the US Country charts. At last, George Jones luck was changing.
By 1981, George Jones had met a new partner, Nancy Sepulvado who helped transform his life. She helped him sort out his finances and kept George Jones away from the drug dealers, who took revenge on Nancy Sepulvado by kidnapping her daughter. Despite this she continued to help her new partner transform his life.
In 1982, George Jones and Merle Haggard joined forces and duetted on Yesterday’s Wine, which topped the US Country charts. George Jones then enjoyed his thirteenth US Country number one with I Always Get Lucky with You in 1983. By then, it looked as if George Jones’ had turned his life around.
Sadly, George Jones was still drinking and was addicted to cocaine, and when he tried to quit the drug in the autumn of 1983, went on a drunken rampage, in Alabama. This resulted in the police being called and George Jones being committed to Hillcrest Psychiatric Hospital, where he was diagnosed as delusional and suffering from malnutrition. For a man who was one of the giants of country music, his career was once again at a crossroads.
This must have been a wakeup call to George Jones, who managed to quit drinking and in Alabama in March 1984, the fifty-two year old played his show sober since the early seventies.
Meanwhile, George Jones and producer Billy Sherrill had formed a formidable and successful partnership at Epic that resulted in number one country singles and successful albums, including 1980s I Am What I Am which was certified platinum and 1981s Still The Same Ole Me which was certified gold. Billy Sherrill had helped transform George Jones’ career, as he released six albums between 1980 and 1984. However, executives at Epic noticed an omission from George Jones’ musical CV…a live album.
For one of the most prolific artists in the history of country music, the lack of a live album was a glaring omission from George Jones’ CV and Epic were keen that he rectified this. First Time Live which was produced by Billy Sherrill was released in 1985 and reached forty-five in the US Country charts. However, after the release of First Time Live, it turned out that it was actually a case of Second Time Live for George Jones.
Twenty years previously, George Jones’ manager and producer was Houston-based HW Daily, who was a well known within country music circles. He had cofounded the Texas-based record label Starday Records and during the fifties and sixties, worked with some of the top country singers. This included George Jones who Pappy Daily had mentored since he recorded his debut single No Money In This Deal which was released in February 1954. For George Jones and Pappy Daily this was the start of a fruitful partnership.
Eleven years later, in 1965, and George Jones had spent the best part of ten years touring and recording non stop and this had paid off. Now George Jones was a successful recording artist, and had already enjoyed number one country singles with 1959s White Lightning, 1961s Tender Years and 1962s She Thinks I Still Care in 1962. George Jones who was a prolific recording artist had already released over twenty album. However, he still had to release a live album, and Pappy Daily had decided that the time had come for George Jones and The Jones Boys to record a live album the next time they were in town.
Pappy Daily hired the Houston venue Dancetown USA, which was where George Jones and The Jones Boys would record their first ever live album. This wasn’t going to be the usual type of live album where applause was later overdubbed onto a studio recording. Instead, Pappy Daily future generations to hear George Jones and The Jones Boys at the peak of their powers, on what he belied was a musical equivalent of a historical document. It features on George Jones and The Jones Boys’ Live In Texas 1965 which was originally released by Ace Records in 1992, and was recently remastered and reissued in 2018. Live In Texas 1965 is an important reminder of George Jones and The Jones Boys during what was an important period for the legendary bandleader.
As 1965 dawned, George Jones had twenty-five top twenty hits to his name, including nineteen top ten hits and three number ones in the country charts. He signed to Musicor Records in February 1965, and began what was a new chapter in his career. Little did he know that while he would continue to enjoy commercial success, the next fifteen years would be turbulent and troubled. However, that was all in the future, and in 1965, George Jones was preparing to record his first live album.
The exact date of the concert at Dancetown USA is unknown, and it’s speculated that the recording took place in either late February or March of 1965. Joining George Jones was his usual backing band The Jones Boys which is thought included drummer Glen Davis, bassist and backing vocalist Donald Lyle, guitarist Jerry Starr, fiddler Charlie Justice and Sonny Curtis on steel guitar. However, it wasn’t just The Jones Boys that would take to the stage with George Jones.
To augment The Jones Boys, George Jones and Pappy Daily bought pedal steel player Buddy Emmons and fiddlers’ Rufus Thibodeaux and Red Hayes. This begs the question were Sonny Curtis and Charlie Justice given the night off or were they even part of the band when the live album was recorded at Dancetown USA? Sadly, that isn’t clear, and speculation surrounds the lineup of the band.
When the night came for George Jones and The Jones Boys to record their first live album, Pappy Daily had wisely decided that two sets should be recorded. This meant that they would be able to choose the best songs when they came to release the album. However, despite spending a considerable sum on hiring the venue and bringing guest artists onboard, one of Pappy Daily’s stipulations was to keep things tight and lay off the chatter between songs which would save tape. This was all part of George Jones’ act, especially by 1965 when many of his performances were alcohol fuelled. However, Pappy Daily was protective of George Jones, and want his friend on his best behaviour.
For most of the performance, that was the case, but during the two sets, there were several false starts and the sometimes, George Jones and his band stumbled through announcements. To make matters worse, there were problems with the PA system picking up the sound of the audience which could be heard on the tape. As Pappy Daily watched on, he must have wondered how much tape George Jones and The Jones Boys were going to use by the end of the night and what it would cost him?
By the end of the night, Pappy Daily packed up the pile of tapes that had been used to record George Jones and The Jones Boys and took them back to his office, where they were stored in his vaults. When he took time to listen back to what later became Live In Texas 1965, he eventually came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to release George Jones and The Jones Boys first live album.
When George Jones and The Jones Boys heard this, it was a huge disappointment, as they knew that within the tapes of the two shows, there was plenty of quality material for a live album that would be a reminder of the group at the peak of their powers. George Jones and The Jones Boys were disappointed in Pappy Daily’s decision, and couldn’t quite work out why he decided not to release the album.
This seemed strange to George Jones and The Jones Boys as Pappy Daily wasn’t in the habit of wasting money, and he had spent a lot of money recording their two sets at Dancetown USA, in Houston. By not releasing what became Live In Texas 1965, he had no chance of recouping any of the money he had spent.
Pappy Daily never made any attempt to release George Jones and The Jones Boys’ first live album, and in 1985 Epic released First Time Live. By then, Pappy Daily was eighty-three, and his sons and grandson were now working in the music business. However, they had made no attempt to release what was George Jones and The Jones Boys’ 1965 live album.
Sadly, two years later, Pappy Daily passed away on December the ‘5th’ 1987, aged eighty-five, and by then George Jones’ comeback was continuing apace. George Jones was a giant of country music, thanks in part to Pappy Daily who had discovered him and guided him during the early years of his career.
Five years after Pappy Daily’s death, Ace Records released a compilation that featured twenty-five of the tracks George Jones and The Jones Boys had recorded during the two sessions at Dancetown USA, in Houston in 1965. They became as Live In Texas 1965, which was released in 1992, and rather belatedly, the songs that had lain in the vaults for twenty-seven years were available for everyone to hear.
Since then, Live In Texas 1965 has been long out of print, and a new generation of music fans have been unable to discover what should’ve been George Jones and The Jones Boys’ first live album. However, twenty-six years after the original release of Live In Texas 1965, Ace Records decided to remaster and reissue this compilation which is a remarkable musical document that is a reminder of George Jones and The Jones Boys at the peak of their powers.
Despite his hard living lifestyle, George Jones is in remarkably good voice on Live In Texas 1965 as he works his way through twenty-five tracks that he originally recorded at Starday Records between 1954-1958, then Mercury Records between 1959 and 1961, and finally, for United Artists between 1962 and 1965. These tracks featured George Jones and The Jones Boys plus some special guests.
After the introduction to Live In Texas 1965, George Jones and The Jones Boys revisit his first number one singe White Lightning, which was released in 1959, which is followed by Something I Dreamed from 1964 and two singles from 1961 Achin’, Breakin’ Heart and She Thinks I Still Care. By then, George Jones is breathing life and meaning into the lyrics and continues to do so on Accidentally On Purpose from 1960 before changing this around on Who Shot Son? which closes the first set on a resounding high.
Following the intermission and C Jam Blues, an introduction gives way to Please Talk To My Heart and Sing A Sad Song which are played by Don Adams and The Jones Boys. They join forces with Gene Emmons on Pan Handle Rag, before Don Adams and The Jones Boys are reunited on Pan Handle Rag. After that, George Jones makes a welcome returns, and takes centre-stage.
George Jones opens this part of the set with I’m Ragged But I’m Right which was originally recorded in 1958, and follows this with A Poor Man’s Riches, Your Tender Years and Where Does A Little Tear Come From? Then like any good bandleader, George Jones lets his backing band The Jones Boys enjoy another moment in the sun.
The Jones Boys are joined by Buddy Emmons on pedal steel and fiddlers Rufus Thibodeaux and Red Hayes on an immersive rework of the Cajun national anthem Jole Blon. After this, George Jones returns and closes the second set on a high with Big Harlan Taylor from his 1960 album Singing The Blues, She’s Lonely Again and a medley of The Race Is and Hold It.
Little did George Jones and The Jones Boys realise that it would be twenty-seven years before the two live sets they had recorded at Dancetown USA in 1965 would eventually be released by Ace Records as Live In Texas 1965. This was a popular release, and a reminder of George Jones and The Jones Boys at the peak of their powers in 1965.
This was quite a feat, as the period between 1964 and 1979, saw George Jones go into what looked like a terminal decline. However, he was still holding things together during early 1965 when Live In Texas was recorded. However, after that, George Jones was still a successful artist, and regarded as one of the giants of country music, but he was a troubled soul who was continually battling his demons. He tried to dousing the flames with alcohol and when this didn’t work resorted to drugs, having originally taken amphetamine to cope with a gruelling touring and recording schedule. This was a huge mistake and one he would regret.
Despite his hard living lifestyle, George Jones continued to enjoy a successful recording career, and became the comeback King in 1980 when he joined forces with producer Billy Sherrill. This was the start of ten-year period where man who is nowadays regarded as the greatest living country singer enjoyed an Indian Summer that lasted until 1990. That wasn’t the end of George Jones by a long shot.
George Jones recording career drew to a close in 2005, when he released his fifty-ninth studio album Hits I Missed…And One I Didn’t. By then, he had amassed nearly 160 hit singles and was one of the most successful country singers, who was known for his distinctive voice and phrasing which can be heard on Live In Texas 1965.
Sadly, George Jones, a true giant of country music passed away on April the ’26th’ 2013, aged eighty-two. He was a prolific recording artist who left behind a rich musical legacy, including his fifty-nine studio albums, collaborations and live albums like Live In Texas 1965 which features the greatest living country singer at the peak of his powers.
George Jones and The Jones Boys-Live In Texas 1965.
DON ELLIS-SHOCK TREATMENT AND DON ELLIS AND HIS ORCHESTRA AUTUMN.
Don Ellis-Shock Treatment and Don Ellis and His Orchestra-Autumn.
Label: BGO Records.
Bandleader, composer and trumpeter Don Ellis’ life was changed forevermore in 1974, when he was diagnosed with an abnormal heart condition, and a year later, in 1975, suffered his first heart attack which very nearly cost him his life. Fortunately, Don Ellis recovered and by 1977 signed to Atlantic Records.
Later in 1977, Don Ellis released his Atlantic Records’ debut Music From Other Galaxies and Planets, which was his first album in three years. Don Ellis was back, and his comeback was complete after playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland on July the ‘8th’ 1977. That concert was recorded and was released in 1978 as Don Ellis Live At Montreux and was a poignant release.
By 1978, all the years of touring were taking a toll on Don Ellis. After what was his final concert on April the ’21st’ 1978, Don Ellis’ doctor advised him to stop touring and playing the trumpet, as the strain on his heart was proving too great.
Sadly, just under eight month later, on December the ’17th’ 1978, Don Ellis returned from a Jon Hendricks concert and suffered what proved to be a fatal heart attack at his North Hollywood home. Don Ellis was just forty-four and that day, jazz lost one of its great trumpeters.
Nearly forty years after his death, Don Ellis’ music is often overlooked by the majority of jazz fans, and sadly only a small but appreciative audience remember a man who was one of the great jazz trumpeters. A reminder of this talented and innovative bandleader, composer and trumpeter can be found on BGO Records’ new two disc set, which features remastered versions of Don Ellis’ 1968 album Shock Treatment and Don Ellis and His Orchestra’s album Autumn, which was released in 1969. That was all in the future.
As 1968 dawned, Don Ellis was already regarded as an innovative bandleader, composer and trumpeter within jazz circles due to his use of willingness to experiment, and particularly due to his use of different time signatures. That had been the case since he released his debut album How Time Passes in 1960. Eight years later, and Don Ellis was preparing to record Shock Treatment which was his ninth album and second for Columbia Records.
Shock Treatment.
Don Ellis had signed to Columbia after leaving Pacific Jazz, and in 1967, released the critically acclaimed album Electric Bath, which was nominated for a Grammy Award and won the Down Beat Reader’s Poll. Electric Bath was produced by John Hammond and saw Don Ellis’ band incorporate the use of electronics and was influenced by rock music. This was a first for Don Ellis, and the perfect way to start his career at Columbia.
Just like many artists before him, the problem that Don Ellis was faced with after releasing such a groundbreaking album as Electric Bath, was following it up. While Don Ellis knew that wasn’t going to be easy, he was keen to build on the success of Electric Bath, and began work on his ninth album Shock Treatment.
Don Ellis wrote five new tracks Homecoming, Star Children, Beat Me Daddy, Seven To The Bar, Milo’s Theme and The Tihai. He also joined forces with Kelly MacFadden to write Night City. John Magruder a member of Don Ellis’ band wrote Zim, which was joined by four cover versions. This included Hank Levy’s A New Kind Of Country and Mercy Maybe Mercy and Howlett Smith’s Opus 5 and Seven Up. These eleven tracks would eventually become Shock Treatment, which was produced by John Hammond.
It took just two days to record Shock Treatment, with Don Ellis and his twenty-four piece orchestra recording the eleven tracks on the album on February the ’14th’ and ’15th’ 1968. It was an impressive sight and sound with the rhythm and horn sections combining with keyboards, percussion and Eastern instruments as bandleader Don Ellis played a starring role and unleashed a series of trumpet solos. Once again, John Hammond took charge of production on Shock Treatment, which was the much-anticipated followup to Electric Bath.
Shock Treatment opens with A New Kind Of Country, which becomes funky, energetic and vibrant in the hands of Don Ellis and his orchestra who play part of a composition in 7/4 time. Briefly, the tempo drops on Night City, but soon builds and reveals its secrets as lysergic soulful harmonies combine with Don Ellis and his orchestra, and play their part in the sound and success of this genre-melting track. Straight away, the soulful blues Homecoming takes on a late-night sound, and is played in 3/4 time, before bandleader Don Ellis seamlessly changes to 7/4 time on Mercy Maybe Mercy, where drummer Steve Bohannon provides the heartbeat as horns and Hammond organ play leading roles. Very different is Zim, which is a more ruminative piece, while Opus 5 finds Don Ellis and his orchestra showcase their versatility and talent by switching to 5/4 time during this nine minute modal jazz epic.
Star Children could only have been recorded during the late-sixties, with its captivating mixture of cosmic sounds, Eastern influences, drama and the Don Ellis’ Hispanic-tinged trumpet interjections. Don Ellis then switches to 7/4 time on Beat Me Daddy, Seven To The Bar and takes centre-stage for the first thirty-seconds, before he and his orchestra combine jazz and Latin influences during this six-minute propulsive opus which eventually reaches an explosive crescendo. Milo’s Theme offers the opportunity for experimentation as Don Ellis plays electric trumpet and effects are deployed during this ambitious and innovative piece. Seven Up finds Don Ellis returning to 7/4 time during this dazzling, jaunty and lively composition. Closing Shock Treatment is The Tihai which is played in 9/4 time and initially is mellow before becoming exuberant and ultimately a complex rhythmic piece that allows Don Ellis and orchestra to showcase their considerable skills while combining elements of jazz and Latin.
When critics heard Shock Treatment, they realised that it was an ambitious and innovative album, where Don Ellis incorporated elements of blues, experimental, funk, Indian Latin, psychedelia and rock into his ninth album of jazz. Shock Treatment which was Don Ellis’ much-anticipated followup to Electric Bath, was the album that he hoped would transform his fortunes.
While Don Ellis was a popular live draw by the time Shock Treatment, was released in 1968, his albums never sold in huge quantities. Sadly, that was the case with Shock Treatment which failed to trouble the US Billboard 200. That was despite Shock Treatment being another ambitious and innovative album. After nine albums, Don Ellis had still to make a commercial breakthrough. Maybe Don Ellis’ next album would result in a change in fortune for the thirty-four year old?
Autumn.
In August 1968, Don Ellis and His Orchestra were preparing to enter the studio to record their next album Autumn. This time, there was no sign of producer John Hammond, who had been replaced by Al Kooper, of Blood, Sweat and Tears and it was hoped that he would transform the fortune of Don Ellis and His Orchestra.
Autumn featured five pieces penned by bandleader Don Ellis, including Variations For Trumpet, Scratt and Fluggs, Pussy Wiggle Stomp, Child Of Ecstasy and Indian Lady which like the cover of Charlie Parker’s K.C. Blues, had been recorded live at Stanford University. The rest of Autumn was recorded by Don Ellis and His Orchestra in the studio with producer Al Kooper.
The mind-blowing Magnus Opus Variations For Trumpet opens Autumn, and is a six-piece movement that is essentially a showcase for Don Ellis’ trumpet. He delivers a musical masterclass as his playing veers between to dark and wistful to explosive, powerful, urgent and always inventive as he plays with a freedom. Meanwhile, his orchestra switch seamlessly between 9/4 to 7/4 and incorporate elements of fusion, avant-garde and Latin music as bandleader Don Ellis continually throws curveballs during what’s now regarded as one of his finest hours. Very different is Scratt and Fluggs which bursts into life with Don Ellis and His Orchestra playing with urgency and in 5/4 time while an enthusiastic studio audience whoop and holler and encourage them to create what sounds like a coke-fuelled soundtrack to an old-time barn dance. The swinging and joyous Pussy Wiggle Stomp is played in 7/4 time and incorporates elements of gospel and jazz, and when the solos arrive, Don Ellis allows his members of his band to take centre-stage and showcase their considerable skills.
It’s a similar case on the live version of Charlie Parker’s KC Blues, which was recorded by a big band and reaches a dramatic ending. Trumpeter Glenn Stuart plays a starring role on Child Of Ecstasy, and unleashes a breathtaking performance and latterly, plays with power and control. This is a performance that bandleader Don Ellis would be proud of. Closing Autumn is the second live track Indian Lady, which originally featured on the 1967 album Electric Lady. Here it’s extended to eighteen minutes during what’s an urgent, frenetic and innovative reworking that closes a future genre classic.
What at the time must have seemed like a gamble replacing John Hammond with Al Kooper as producer turned out to be a masterstroke, when critics haled Autumn as a genre classic. However, the big question was would Don Ellis and His Orchestra’s genre classic Autumn be a commercial success and transform their fortunes?
When Autumn was released in 1969, Don Ellis and His Orchestra’s latest album wasn’t the commercial success that they had hoped. Just like many jazz artists before him, Don Ellis had released a cult classic that slipped under the musical radar and never came close to troubling the charts.
Just nine years after the release of his cult classic Autumn, Don Ellis passed away on December the ’17th’ 1978 aged just forty-four. That day, jazz lost one of its great bandleader, composer and trumpeter.
Sadly, nearly forty years after Don Ellis’ tragic death, his music is almost forgotten amongst jazz fans. His recording career began in 1960 and continued right up until his death in December 1978. During that period, Don Ellis released eighteen albums and composed nine soundtracks, including his Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to The French Connection in 1971. It’s a reminder of a truly talented bandleader, composer and musician.
So are Don Ellis’ 1968 album Shock Treatment and the Don Ellis and His Orchestra’s 1969 genre classic Autumn which were recently remastered and reissued as a two CD set by BGO Records. These two albums feature Don Ellis at the peak of his powers as a bandleader, composer and trumpeter, and are the perfect introduced to this oft-overlooked jazz musician whose music sadly never reached the wider audience that it so richly deserved, and is still one of jazz music’s best kept secrets.
That is a great shame as Don Ellis was a talented, imaginative, inventive and innovative compeer and musician, but never enjoyed the success his talent deserved. Incredibly, even winning a Grammy Award didn’t transform Don Ellis’ fortunes, and although he was a popular live draw, his albums weren’t huge sellers and sadly slipped under the radar. Maybe that will change, and a new generation of music fans will discover Don Ellis’ music after BGO Records’ latest reissue of Shock Treatment and his cult classic Autumn?
Don Ellis-Shock Treatment and Don Ellis and His Orchestra-Autumn.
NUKE THE SOUP-DEEPER.
Nuke The Soup-Deeper.
Label: Meteor Records.
Released Date: ‘30th’ of May 2018.
Singer, songwriter and musician Mark Davison founded Cubic Feet in the eighties, and his new band released their debut single Across The River in 1989, which was the start of a recording career that spanned three decades and saw the band enjoy a degree of mainstream commercial success.
Two years later, Cubic Feet returned with their debut album Across The River, with their sophomore album Passenger in Time following in 1995. Cubic Feet returned with their third albums Inside Rail in 1997 and four years later, returned with their fourth album Superconnector, which was also their swan-song.
After a gap of eight years, Mark Davison returned in 2009 with a new band Nuke The Soup, who released their debut album Make Waves Not War on Meteor Records. The album was well received and was a new chapter in Mark Davison’s career. However, he still had unfinished business with Cubic Feet.
In 2011, Cubic Feet returned with the retrospective The Living End-Then And Now, which featured a mixture of their best known songs and previously unreleased material. This brought the curtain down on the Cubic Feet story, and meant that Mark Davison could concentrate on his new project Nuke The Soup.
Despite that, the best part of seven years will have passed before Nuke The Soup, return with their sophomore album Deeper, on the ‘30th’ of May 2018. Joining Mark Davison is an experienced band of musicians, who play their part in what’s a carefully crafted album that reflects on the subject of mortality, and its anguish and exultation. However, Deeper which is a very personal album from Mark Davison doesn’t descend into darkness and despair, and there’s a degree of hope on Nuke The Soup’s sophomore album.
Just like all songwriters, Mark Davison has his own approach to songwriting, and he admits that: “I never sit down and write a song. I have to be distracted and let the creativity come. Surfing worked great for that. I had a leftover song from the first Nuke The Soup record. I started to sense a theme there, and decided to write the whole record around the song and theme ‘Deeper.’”
“I did not set out to write an album with a recurring theme as dark as mortality, but that’s where the muse led.” That come as no surprise as life hasn’t been easy for Mark Davison him over the last few years.
He’s been forced to think about the big issues in life and indeed, his own morality “After a big number birthday, in the middle of a bunch of family stuff and stressing over mixes, I started having serious anxiety, to the point of almost panic. I never experienced anything like that. A couple of good friends had died suddenly, and I had this feeling of impending doom. It felt like a rite of passage, coming to grips with my mortality…Fortunately, there was a minor health issue I addressed and that was it. I read about anxiety and learned to understand it, and I kept writing and recording to push through it.”
Having overcome these issues, Mark Davison was able to get back to what he’s been doing for four decades, writing and recording songs. This he’s been doing with songwriting partner Woody Lissauer, and the pair penned Oceans and Mountains, which was inspired by Feel Of The Ocean which is another song on Deeper. Oceans and Mountains was completed in the mountains of Colorado and became part of an album that has been inspired by a variety of sources.
Joining Oceans and Mountains and Feel Of The Ocean are the occasional orphan song from Mark Davison’s time with Cubic Feet. When these songs were written, they weren’t suited to previous albums, but were perfectly suited to Deeper. Other songs, were inspired by a variety of subjects, including mortality and political figures right through to Mark Davison’s love of water, outdoor sports, including surfing and his joie de vivre. These songs would become Nuke The Soup’s long-awaited sophomore album Deeper, which was recorded over a two-year period.
Recording of Deeper took place at Mark Davison analog studio, which is situated in his basement, and is stocked with vintage equipment. This was put to good use by the group of talented and experienced musicians who were part of Nuke The Soup. This included drummer Chester Thompson who has previously worked with Frank Zappa and Genesis, while guitarist Gerry Leonard was once part of David Bowie’s band. Taking charge of production of Deeper was Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and Kevin Killen whose worked with Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie. They play their part in what’s a carefully crafted album that features elements of rock, reggae pop and blues which took shape over a period of two years.
During that two-year period, the world became a different place, and Mark Davison comments on these changes during Deeper. It featured eleven songs by the time Nuke The Soup’s sophomore album Deeper was completed.
Deeper opens with Network, which comments on how the media has managed to commercialise human tragedy over the last few years. This is something that musicians like Gil Scott Heron forecasted forty years ago, and sadly, has come true. Nuke The Soup pick up the story, and against a skanking and rocky arrangement Mark encourages viewer to turn off television and engage more fully with life itself.
Very different in the cinematic sounding Feel Of The Ocean has been inspired by Mark Davison’s love of surfing. There’s a degree of urgency to I’m Not In Love as drums crack and power the arrangement along, as washes of organ accompany Mark Davison’s defiant vocal on this anthem. Island is rocky and full of social comment as Mark Davison comments on the problems facing an ever-changing world. Deeper finds Mark Davison reflecting on his life, and indeed mortality, as he delivers an emotive vocal against another rocky arrangement. It’s all change on the ska-tinged Bugs, which deals with subject of addiction, while Mark Davison sings about ageing on the poppy Better Than I Was. Caught Inside is rich in imagery as elements of rock, pop and funk are combined by Nuke The Soup who don’t spare the hooks.
Hilary is proof that Nuke The Soup don’t always take themselves seriously, as they fuse pop rock, blues and satire. Feed The Fire finds Nuke The Soup heading in the direction of ska, while Oceans and Mountains which closes Deeper is another song full of imagery inspired by Mark Davison’s love of the outdoor life.
After a nine-year absence, Nuke The Soup return with their sophomore album Deeper, which will be released on Meteor Records, on the ‘30th’ of May 2018. To some extent, Deeper is a very personal album from Nuke The Soup founder Mark Davison.
Having said that, Mark Davison doesn’t descend into darkness, despair or self-pity on Deeper, and instead reflects and ruminates as he realises that middle-age has crept up on him. This is a sobering realisation and can be hard for some people to come terms with. However, there’s a degree of hope and sometimes joy on Deeper as Mark Davison reflecting on life and his own morality, while other times he addresses the problems facing the world. Other songs offer light relief and have been inspired by Mark Davison’s love of the outdoor life, and hobbies like surfing.
Indeed, some of the songs on Deeper were written whilst surfing in the Dominican Republic. In between catching waves, Mark Davison wrote the lyrics, and this was the start of a two years musical journey. The next part of that journey took place in Mark Davison’s basement studio which was filled with vintage equipment, and was where he wad joined by an experienced, talented and versatile band who recorded Deeper, which is a carefully crafted genre-melting album.
Nuke The Soup fuse elements of rock, reggae, blues, funk, pop and ska on eleven new tracks on what’s their first album in nine years, Deeper. It’s an album of carefully crafted songs that are variously melodic, thought-provoking and full of social comment, where Nuke The Soup don’t spare the hooks on their long-awaited followup to Make Waves Not War.
Nuke The Soup-Deeper.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END: THE EXISTENTIAL PSYCHODRAMA IN COUNTRY MUSIC (1956-1974)-RECORD STORE DAY 2018.
The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974)-Record Store Day 2018.
Label: The Iron Mountain Analogue Research.
For Records Store Day 2018, staff at record labels all over the world had been working hard for many months on nearly 500 reissues and lovingly curated compilations, which were due to be released on the ‘21st’ of April 2018. For many record buyers, this is one of the highlights of the year, and some are willing to camp outside their favourite record shop in the hope that they can secure their lengthy wish-list of reissues and compilations. This has become something of a tradition in recent years, and there’s a degree of community spirit as they queue during the wee small hours of the morning. However, as the time comes for record shops to open, suddenly, the atmosphere changes, and it’s a case of every man or woman for themselves.
Suddenly, as the doors open, the once orderly queue lurches forward, and people try gain an advantage over the person next to them, as they attempt to find every reissue and compilation on their wish-list. For many this included the two compilations of country music released by the Australian label, The Iron Mountain Analogue Research Facility, including The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974). It was billed as” “sixteen tales of existential angst wrought from backwoods outsiders and Nashville Misfits,” and was a compilation many people were keen to add to their collection. There was only one problem, finding a copy, as only 500 albums had been pressed.
Sadly, many people struggled to find a copy of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974), which features sixteen songs from the likes of Whitey Gallagher, Bobby Grove, Jimmy Griggs, Ed Bruce, Ray Sanders, Billy Rufus, George Kent, Johnny Dollar, Lonnie Holt, Tex Wayne and Bob Fry. They’re just some of the names on The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974), and are a reminder of what was a golden age for country music.
Side One.
Tennessee born Whitey Gallagher opens The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974) with Searching (I’m Always Looking, which was the B-Side of his 1967 single for Republic, Gotta Roam. Searching (I’m Always Looking) features a jaunty arrangement and a vocal that is a mixture of frustration, sadness and angst. So much so, it’s as if Whitey Gallagher has lived the lyrics he’s singing, during this powerful example of existential psychodrama in country music.
Another is Bobby Grove’s Whistle At The End Of The Gravy Train, which was the B-Side of his single To Protect The Innocent which was released on King in January 1957. Louise Webb penned which Whistle At The End Of The Gravy Train which features a soul-baring vocal that that bristles with emotion from the man from Worley, Kentucky.
When RCA Victor, which was home to many of the biggest names in country music, signed Jim Ed Brown in 1965, they had had high hopes for their newest signing. Three years later, Jim Ed Brown was paired with producer Felton Jarvis when he recorded The Enemy. It was released April 1968, and reached number thirteen in the US Billboard 100. That is no surprise given the quality of the single. It’s a mixture of drama and emotion as Jim Ed Brown paints pictures of The Enemy that taunts and haunts him.
Ed Bruce was born in Keiser, Arkansas, in 1929, and by the time he released Song For Ginny as a single in December 1968, was signed to the Monument label. Tucked away on the B-Side was the Sandy Neese composition Puzzles, which was produced by Fred Foster. When Ed Bruce of his album Shades Of Ed Bruce in 1969, it also featured Puzzles which features an angst ridden vocal
Eight years after releasing his debut single in 1958, Ray Sanders released My World Is Upside Down in May 1966. It was penned by Ron Mason and is a Bettye Jean Production that was released on Tower. It’s a poignant track that features a hurt filled vocal full where the heartbreak seems very real.
Closing the first side of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974) is Billy Rufus’ 1967 Low Down Blues, which was produced by John Capps and released on K-Ark Records. It’s a hard luck story from the honky-tonk where everything that could go wrong for Billy Rufus does.
Side Two.
Sammi Smith from Oklahoma City, opens side two with the ballad Saunders Ferry Lane, which produced by Jim Malloy and was released as a single on Mega Records in August 1971. Sadly, Saunders Ferry Lane which was taken from Sammi Smith’s 1971 album Help Me Make It Through The Night failed to trouble the charts. Saunders Ferry Lane which is a beautiful poignant ballad was the one that got away for Sammi Smith.
In 1969, Johnny Dollar released a cover Liz Anderson’s Meeting Of The Bored as a single on Chart Records. This was a song from his album Big Rig Rollin’ Man which was also released in 1969. During Johnny Dollar’s almost raucous version of Meeting Of The Bored, it sounds as if he’s enjoyed a drop of something golden to wash away the angst and heartbreak.
Singer-songwriter Curly Putman was born in Princeton, Alabama, and by 1969 was signed to ABC Record and released his sophomore album World Of Country Music. It featured Talking To The Grass where angst is omnipresent as he delivers a vocal that is akin to a confessional.
Lonnie Holt released a cover of Paul Bowman’s Water Under The Bridge as a single on the Tennessee-based Breeze Records in 1970. Sadly, this rueful sounding single was one of a trio of singles Lonnie Holt released.
Tex Wayne was born Guy Costello in Duncan, Oklahoma, 1933, and in February 1960, released I’d Climb The Highest Mountain as a single. Tucked away on the B-Side was Deep Deep Blue, which is a hidden gem that features a ruminative sounding vocal.
When Bob Fry released What A Pity on the Maryland based Rebel label in 1965, I’m Gonna Be Gone was on the B-Side. He’s accompanied by a fiddle and steel guitar, as he warns his partner: “you can’t have your cake and eat it.”Having fired this warning shot, he tells her: “I’m Gonna Be Gone” during what’s one of the highlights of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974).
These twelve tracks are just part of the story of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974), which was released for Record Store Day 2018 as a limited edition of 500 by The Iron Mountain Analogue Research. Sadly, finding a copy of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974) won’t be easy, as it was a hugely popular release, with supply exceeding demand. Fortunately, there’s another way to discover the delights of one of the best compilations released during Record Store Day 2018.
Soon, The Iron Mountain Analogue Research will release a CD version of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974) that features thirty tracks. This is fourteen more than on the LP released for Record Store Day 2018 and given the quality of the music on the compilation, many music fans will also want to add a copy of the CD version of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974) to their collection.
Especially if it’s as good as the LP version of The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974), which is lovingly curated compilation that features a mixture of singles, B-Sides and hidden gems that were recorded by: “backwoods outsiders and Nashville Misfits” and are a reminder of the golden era of country music.
The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974).
THELONIOUS MONK-MONK RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EDITION.
Thelonious Monk-Monk.
Label: Music On Vinyl.
By the time Thelonious Monk began recording Monk, which was his seventh album for Columbia Records, the forty-seven year old pianist was a vastly experienced musician who had already released over twenty albums on Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside Records. However, since Thelonious Monk signed to Columbia, he had recorded and released some of the finest music of his career, including Monk’s Dream and Criss-Cross in 1963, and It’s Monks Time earlier in 1964. Thelonious Monk was keen to continue this hot streak when he entered the studio with his quartet and producer Teo Macero and began recording Monk which was released by Music On Vinyl for Record Store Day 2018. Monk is a welcome reminder of one of the greats of jazz.
Although Thelonious Monk is now regarded as one of the great jazz pianists, he wasn’t without his critics with poet and jazz critic Phillip Larkin dismissing him as: “the elephant on the keyboard.” Sadly, it seemed not everyone appreciated Thelonious Monk’s innovative approach to jazz music.
That is despite Thelonious Monk as now being the second-most covered jazz composer of all time. That is pretty good going as Thelonious Monk composed only seventy pieces. These compositions and improvisations featured dissonances and what are best described as angular melodic twists, which are an accurate representation of his unique approach to the piano. Initially, it was described as hard swinging, but evolved over the next twenty years.
Those that had followed Thelonious Monk career watched his style evolve, and his extremely percussive attack which featured abrupt and dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, pauses and hesitations, which divided the opinion of jazz critics and fans. What they forgot, was that Thelonious Monk was a relative latecomer to jazz, and had started his career accompanying a touring evangelist on an old church organ. In some ways, Thelonious Monk was making up for lost time, as he was already twenty-four before he first started playing jazz.
Despite arriving to the party late, Thelonious Monk was soon making up for lost time, and from the early fifties, was working as bandleader, sideman and collaborating with other future giants of jazz. He had started off at Blue Note Records between 1948 and 1952, before moving to Prestige Records where he spent two years between 1952 and 1954. After that, Thelonious Monk moved to Riverside Records which was his home between 1955 and 1961, and by then, his star was in the ascendancy.
This was quite remarkable given everything that Thelonious Monk had been through since the early fifties. He had his New York cabaret card revoked in 1951, when he became the latest victim of a trumped narcotics charge. This meant that Thelonious Monk was unable to play in New York’s club’s for six long years. During that time, Thelonious Monk signed to Riverside Records in 1955, which was his home until 1961.
Although Thelonious Monk was held in high regard by critics and commentators, sadly, for someone so talented, his records weren’t selling well. In 1955, he agreed to release an albums of jazz standards, Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington in the hope that this would increase his profile and record sales. However, later in 1955 tragedy struck for Thelonious Monk.
Towards the end of 1955, Thelonious Monk’s mother passed away, and the following year, 1956, a fire destroyed the pianist’s apartment in West ‘63rd’ Street, New York. Thelonious Monk and family were left destitute, and his family of five had no option but to stay with friends for several months, with fifteen people shoehorned into a three room apartment. Meanwhile, Thelonious Monk continued to live with an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which nobody was aware at the time. Despite this, he released Brilliant Corners an album of hard bop in late 1956, which was one of the finest albums he released for Riverside Records.
In 1957, Thelonious Monk’s run of bad luck continued when he was involved in a car accident, and when the police discovered him unresponsive, took him to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, where he spent three weeks. By then, Thelonious Monk was unaware that his father had been living in a psychiatric hospital for the past fifteen years.
Things got worse for Thelonious Monk in May 1957, when his wife Nellie became ill, and required a thyroidectomy. After the operation, she became frail and depressed, which affected Thelonious Monk’s wellbeing. The last two years had been hard on the couple, but at least Thelonious Monk was about to get his New York cabaret card back, and could start playing live in the Big Apple.
By then, Thelonious Monk had a manager, and started a six-month residency at the Five Spot Café, and had formed a friendship with John Coltrane. This was a coincidence as many of John Coltrane’s band had served their music apprenticeship Five Spot Café.
During Thelonious Monk’s residency at the Five Spot Café during 1957 and 1958, the sharp dressed and sartorially elegant pianist took to the stage with his carefully cultivated look. Thelonious Monk wore suits, hats and had taken to wearing sunglasses which hid the window to his troubled and weary soul. Still, he dazzled patrons with his unique playing style as he switched between standards and his own compositions. Thelonious Monk was back in the Big Apple, after a six-year absence.
With Thelonious Monk’s albums still not selling well by 1958, he was asked to release a second album of jazz standards. It was hoped that The Unique Thelonious Monk would increase his profile and record sales. Ironically, later, in 1958, Thelonious Monk’s face was all over American newspapers, after his latest brush with the law.
Thelonious Monk had been hired to play for a week at the Comedy Club, in Maryland, and on his way to the gig, he and Nica De Koenigswarter were stopped by the police in Wilmington, Delaware. When Thelonious Monk refused to answer or cooperate with the police officer, who beat him with a blackjack. During an authorised search the car drugs were found, and suddenly Thelonious Monk was looking at some serious jail time. Fortunately, Judge Christie of the Delaware Superior Court ruled that the pair had been unlawfully detained, and that the beating of Thelonious Monk meant that the consent to the search void as given under duress. Forty-one year old Thelonious Monk survived to fight another day.
As the fifties gave way to the sixties, Thelonious Monk’s relationship with Riverside Records had gone south, after a disagreement over royalty payments. While Riverside Records released two live albums recorded in Europe, Thelonious Monk hadn’t recorded a studio album since 5 By Monk By 5 in June 1959. Fortunately, Columbia Records one of the four major labels were keen to sign Thelonious Monk.
The negations between Thelonious Monk and Columbia Records, were protracted, and it wasn’t until 1962 that a contract was signed. At last, Thelonious Monk could get back into the studio and do what he did best…make music.
In 1963, Thelonious Monk released Monk’s Dream, which was his Columbia Records debut. Critical acclaim greeted the release of Monk’s Dream, and it was a similar case with the classic Criss-Cross. By then, Thelonious Monk was on a roll, and recorded Monk In Tokyo which was relaxed in 1973. Miles and Monk At Newport and Big Band and Quartet In Concert were both released during 1963 and released in 1964. So was one the finest albums Thelonious Monk recorded for Columbia Records, It’s Monk’s Time which was released to widespread critical acclaim in 1964. It wasn’t going to be easy to surpass It’s Monk’s Time, but Thelonious Monk was determined to do so when he began work on Monk later in 1964.
Monk.
For Thelonious Monk’s seventh recording for Columbia Records, he wrote two new compositions, Pannonica and Teo which was a tribute to producer Teo Macero. They were joined by the traditional song Children’s Song (That Old Man), and four standards. This included Irving Berlin’s Just One Way To Say) I Love You, Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg’s April In Paris and Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away) which George and Ira Gershwin wrote with lyricist Gus Kahn. These tracks were recorded by Thelonious Monk with what’s regarded as a classic quartet.
The quartet featured a rhythm section of drummer Ben Riley, bassist Larry Gales and pianist Thelonious Monk. Tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse was the final piece of the jigsaw, and he would be part of Thelonious Monk’s band for over ten years. Producing this classic quartet which stayed together for the remainder of Thelonious Monk’s time at Columbia Records was Teo Macero.
Side A.
He watched on as Thelonious Monk opened Monk with a brisk version of Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away) during what was a future classic album of hard bop. A walking bass and hissing hi-hats accompanied Thelonious Monk’s fleet fingered and almost flawless piano solo as he reinvents this familiar standard. Latterly, though, the tempo drops and the music becomes wistful and briefly dramatic, before Thelonious Monk ends with a flamboyant flourish. Thelonious Monk and saxophonist Charlie Rouse’s had already formed a formidable partnership and play leading role in the sound and success of April In Paris which is one of the highlights of Monk. Children’s Song (That Old Man) was an obscure traditional song that benefited from a reworking by this talented quartet who breath new life and meaning into it. Closing the first side was a Just One Way To Say) I Love You, which features a piano solo that could only have been played by the inimitable Thelonious Monk. Initially, his playing isn’t fluid, and sometimes, he seems to hesitate as he picks out notes. This is deliberate and calculated, and gradually, his playing is confident and assured as he delivers a breathtaking performance.
Side B.
There’s no stopping Thelonious Monk as he leads his quartet during Just You, Just Me, and soon, they’re moving through the gears. Saxophonist Charlie Rouse’s saxophonist soars above Thelonious Monk’s piano while the rhythm section, complete with walking bass, provide the heartbeat during this joyous and swinging standard. This leaves just the two Thelonious Monk compositions, including the beautiful mid-tempo Pannonica, where the piano and saxophone play leading roles. Teo which closes Monk, was Thelonious Monk’s tribute to Teo Macero, and offers further opportunities for invention and innovation from this classic quartet. They close Monk on a resounding high, and Thelonious Monk’s career at Columbia Records continued to go from strength to strength.
After signing to Columbia Records, Thelonious Monk embarked upon what was one of the most productive and fruitful periods of his career, where everything he recorded was released to critical acclaim. What made all this all the more remarkable was that very few people, even within the jazz community were aware that tragedy had touched Thelonious Monk’s life and he was constantly battling his own personal demons.
Somehow, Thelonious Monk was able to dig deep, and in 1964, continued to write and record several albums a year. This included Monk, which would later be considered a classic album, and one of the finest albums Thelonious Monk recorded for Columbia Records. Monk features Thelonious Monk at the peak of his powers as he leads his classic quartet, which stayed together throughout the rest of his time at Columbia Records.
Sadly, after leaving Columbia Records in 1968, Thelonious Monk’s recording career was almost over. He had brief stays at Far East Records and Black Lion Records, releasing an album on each label. After that,Thelonious Monk never recorded another solo album, and by the mid-seventies he had turned his back on jazz and living in obscurity.
During what was the final decade of his life, Thelonious Monk remainder a private man, and sadly, the mental health problems that had suffered throughout his life resulted in him being hospitalised on several occasions and belatedly, he received the medication he required. Latterly, his health declined and he spent the last six years of his life in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he was cared for by his long-standing patron and friend, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, right up until his death on February the ‘17th’ 1982, aged just sixty-four. That day, jazz lost one of its greats, who let behind a rich musical legacy.
This includes the albums Thelonious Monk and classic quartet released on Columbia Records between 1964 and 1968. Thelonious Monk’s classic quartet wrote their way into jazz history after releasing a series of outstanding albums. Crucial to the success of the classic quartet was the interaction between Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse, with the two men constantly on the same wavelength, and anticipating their every move. That was the case on parts of Monk, which along with Monk’s Dream, Criss-Cross and It’s Monks Time are the perfect introduction to the early years of Thelonious Monk’s time at Columbia Records, where this unique and inimitable jazz stylist showcases his considerable talents as the man once dismissed as: “the elephant on the keyboard” matures and becomes one the top jazz pianists of the sixties.
Thelonious Monk-Monk.
SHIRLEY DAVIS AND THE SILVERBACKS-WISHES AND WANTS.
Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks-Wishes and Wants.
Label: Tucxone Records.
Two years after Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks released their critically acclaimed debut album Black Rose in March 2016, the London-born soul diva her backing band return with their much-anticipated sophomore album Wishes and Wants which has just been released by Tucxone Records. The release of Wishes and Wants marks the welcome return of one of Europe’s top soul singers, Shirley Davis who has a remarkable story to tell.
Shirley Davis was born in 1974, to Jamaican parents, and grew up in North West London, not far from Wembley Stadium. By the age of twelve, Shirley Davis got her first job, which was selling programs and tee-shirts at concerts Wembley Stadium. This was her “best job ever” and allowed her to hear some of the giants music including Pink Floyd, Prince, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and his sister Janet Jackson. However, it was Stevie Wonder that inspired Shirley Davis, who was already dreaming of stardom and taking to the stage at Wembley Stadium. However, things didn’t work out that way.
When Shirley Davis was fifteen she met and fell in love with her future husband, and what can only be described as a whirlwind romance ensued. Within a year, the young couple were married, and sixteen year old Shirley Davis and her new husband decided to emigrate to Australia.
Rather than settle in one Australia’s major city’s where there were vibrant multicultural communities, Shirley Davis and her new husband moved to the Outback. For a young black woman who up until then had spent her entire life in London, this was a culture shock. However, Shirley Davis was determined to make go of her new life, and wasn’t going to head home where people would doubtless say: “ I told you so.”
Shirley Davis tried her best to overcome the difficulties that she had experienced, and got used to her new home. Four years later, she was twenty and still living in the Australian Outback when her daughter was born. However, by the time she was twenty-three, Shirley Davis was divorced and had moved to Melbourne to start over.
Despite the fresh start in Melbourne, Shirley Davis who was now a single mother, felt like a stranger in a foreign land and was unsure of what the future held for her. Fortunately, one of her friends suggested that she tried singing, and within a matter of a few weeks, she was the lead singer of a soul and funk band. This was the start of a new chapter in Shirley Davis’ life.
Before long, Shirley Davis was encouraged to start studying music, and began taking classes in blues, jazz and various other styles of black music. Shirley Davis benefited from her musical studies, and it wasn’t long before she was a familiar face on the Melbourne music scene singing with two of the city’s top soul and funk groups as Deep Street Soul and Grand Wazoo. This was just the start for Shirley Davis, who was soon be rubbing shoulders with the great and good of soul.
Soon, word was spreading about Shirley Davis, and when artists and groups were playing or recording in Melbourne and needed a backing vocalist, she was their first port of call. Shirley Davis was asked to accompany soul giants like Wilson Pickett and Marva Whitney, and also worked with Lee Fields and the soul band Osaka Monaurail when they toured Australia. By then, Shirley Davis’ life had been totally transformed, and would get even better.
In 2005, the Australian pop-dance group Deepface invited Shirley Davis to become their vocalist, and soon, the band were enjoying chart success. Buoyed by several hit singles, Deepface was soon playing in front of crowds in excess of 30,000, which was a dream come true. However, what happened next was like something out of a dream.
When Sharon Jones played in Melbourne in 2007, Shirley Davis who was a fan of the American soul singer went along to one of her favourite singers in concert. During her show, Sharon Jones often chose a member of the audience to join her on stage and sing with her. That night, Sharon Jones picked Shirley Davis to join her on the stage. For once, Sharon Jones had invited onto the stage who could sing, and the two divas sung together. This was the start of a friendship that lasted right up until Sharon Jones’ death on the ’18th’ of October 2016. During that nine-year period, Shirley Davis admits: She was a mentor to me. She told me I could sing…she encouraged me. She had the biggest impact on my life.”
In 2011, Shirley Davis’ daughter decided to emigrate to London, which impacted on her life, and left her feeling lonely and directionless. When Shirley Davis saw an advert for a singer on a cruise ship she decided to apply, and got the job. What had been a spur of the moment decision saw Shirley Davis leave her life in Melbourne behind, and start a new adventure that lasted three years.
Three years later, in 2014, Shirley Davis was vacationing in Madrid, Spain, when saw that her mentor Sharon Jones was playing. Shirley Davis decided to go along, and when Sharon Jones saw her friend in the audience, invited her onto the stage to sing with her. Little did Shirley Davis know that Alberto “Tuco” Peces and Genesis Candela from Tucxone Records were watching and were blown away by her performance.
After her vacation, Shirley Davis returned home to Melbourne, after three years sailing the high seas. Meanwhile, Alberto “Tuco” Peces and Genesis Candela from Tucxone Records were trying to track Shirley Davis down, to ask her if she would like to return to Madrid and record an album. Eventually they found Shirley Davis, who didn’t take long to make her mind up, and was soon, flying back to Madrid where the hard work began.
Once Shirley Davis met with Alberto “Tuco” Peces and Genesis Candela from Tucxone Records, they introduced the soul diva to her new backing band The Silverbacks. Straight away, they hit it off and from the get-go, and during the rehearsals, Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks formed a formidable partnership. This augured well for Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks, and just a few short weeks later, they began recording their debut album Black Rose in late-2015.
When Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks released Black Rose in March 2016, it was to critical acclaim, with critics and commentators bowled over by an album of contemporary soul and funk. Many critics were forecasting a bright future for Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks.
Buoyed by the success of Black Rose, soon, Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks’ thoughts turned to their sophomore album. This is regarded as the most difficult album of a band’s career, and many artists and groups have laboured long and hard with their “difficult second album.” However, that wasn’t the case with Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks, when they began writing what eventually became Wishes and Wants.
It was written by Shirley Davis with The Sliverbacks’ bandleader and lead guitarist Eduardo Martínez and songwriter Marc Ibarz. Shirley Davis explains that: “we write together-they understand my life story and all I’ve been through.” The result was a captivating album that documents the struggle of a black woman in life, love and loss. Wishes and Wants tells Shirley Davis’ story in ten songs which she recorded with her backing band The Sliverbacks.
When Shirley Davis with The Sliverbacks entered the studio to record Wishes and Wants, they combined sweet soul music with funk and Afrobeat. Shirley Davis delivered a series of impassioned, emotive and soul-baring vocals that channel the spirit of everyone from Gladys Night, Marva Whitney and her mentor Sharon Jones. The result is a truly powerful and autobiographical album Wishes and Wants, which tells the story of soul diva Shirley Davis with the help of her backing band The Sliverbacks.
Wishes and Wants bursts into life with the tough, funky horn lead, title-track where The Silverbacks’ rhythm section and organ provide the perfect backdrop for soul diva Shirley Davis, as she unleashes a powerhouse of a virtuous vocal.
The Silverbacks then drop the tempo as funk meets Southern Soul and later rock on Like Fire. It’s something of a slow burner, where Shirley Davis’ vocal veers between soulful to sassy and needy before the track reaches a crescendo and becomes dramatic, explosive and truly memorable.
Chiming guitars and washes of organ open the soulful stomper as a searing guitar is unleashed and Shirley Davis fires a warning shot across the bows of her man on Treat Me Better. She issues the ultimatum Treat Me Better as The Silverbacks fuse funk and soul while drawing inspiration from The Isley Brothers. By then, horns soar above the arrangement and Shirley Davis plays a starring role, breathing life and meaning into the lyrics.
Stabs of horns combine with thunderous drums and washes of organ as the funky dancer Kisses unfolds. Soon, Shirley Davis describes her new beau as: “ugly but he kisses so good!” Meanwhile, a stomping beat, funky guitar and blazing horns are provide the perfect backdrop to Shirley Davis as she unleashes a needy, soulful and sassy vocal.
During Silverbacks Theme, Shirley Davis lets her backing band take centre-stage as they create a funky and cinematic instrumental, that is a tantalising taste of this uber funky combo in full flight.
It’s all change on Nightlife where Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks unleash a glorious slice of Afro-funk, that sounds as if it was recorded in Lagos, rather than Madrid.
Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks change tack, and head in the direction of Southern Soul on All About Music. It comes complete with stabs of horns and washes of swirling organ as Shirley Davis delivers one of her finest vocals on what’s one of the finest tracks on Wishes and Wants.
Horns combine with the rhythm section on Smile, before Shirley Davis issues another ultimatum to her partner, as the arrangement swings. Meanwhile, washes of organ and the bass play leading roles, as the horns occasionally punctuate the arrangement. Later, backing vocalists accompany Shirley Davis as she delivers a soulful and emotive vocal during this irresistible track.
From the get-go, Shirley Davis combines power, emotion and hurt on Troubles and Trials as horns accompany and the rhythm section provide the heartbeat. They combine with the organ and occasional rasping horns as Shirley Davis unleashes a soul-baring vocal that is full of emotion. The Silverbacks realising that something special is unfolding, and raise their game as the drama builds during this soul soap opera.
Soul diva Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks close Wishes and Wants with Woman Dignity. It’s an uptempo track with some of the best and most powerful lyrics on the album. Shirley Davis unleashes a vocal powerhouse as The Silverbacks’ rhythm and horns sections combine with a swirling organ and searing guitar. Later, it’s all change as the tempo drops and becomes understated, jazz-tinged and sultry which allows the listener to ruminate on Woman Dignity, and the rest of Wishes and Wants.
Two years after Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks released their debut album Black Rose, they return with the much-anticipated followup Wishes and Wants, which has just been released on Tucxone Records. Wishes and Wants marks the welcome return of a truly talented soul diva Shirley Davis, whose accompanied every step of the way by The Silverbacks who provide the perfect backdrop on what’s a very special album.
It’s also a very personal album, with Wishes and Wants documenting the struggle of a black woman in life, love and loss, and essentially, tells Shirley Davis’ story in ten songs. Meanwhile, The Silverbacks seamlessly switch between and sometimes combine Afrobeat, funk, rock and soul. The result is an album that veers between deeply soulful to funky and dancefloor friendly. Other times, the music is thought-provoking, tugs at the heartstrings or is uplifting or tinged with humour. Wishes and Wants is an emotional roller coaster where Shirley Davis and The Silverbacks don’t spare the hooks on this carefully crafted album of contemporary funk and soul, which showcases a truly talented soul diva.
Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks-Wishes and Wants.
STEVE TIBBETTS-LIFE OF.
Steve Tibbettss-Life Of.
Label: ECM Records.
Although Minnesota born composer and guitarist Steve Tibbetts signed to ECM Records in 1981, the pioneer of sound-forming has only released nine albums for Manfred Eicher’s Munich-based label. This includes Life Of which has just been released by ECM Records, and is the much-anticipated followup to Natural Causes, which was released in 2010, and was a collaboration between Steve Tibbetts and Marc Anderson. Eight years later, and Steve Tibbetts makes a welcome return with Life Of which is the latest chapter in the career of a musical innovator.
Steve Tibbetts was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1954, and growing up, was introduced to the music of the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger and Johnny Winter by his father, who worked at the University of Wisconsin School for Workers and also taught labour law around the state. Sometimes, Steve Tibbetts’ father invited anything up to twenty union workers and organisers to the family home, where they would eat, and later, would enjoy an impromptu jam session. Initially, Steve Tibbetts would watch as his father and his friends played an assortment of instruments, including autoharps, banjos, flutes, guitars, psalteries and recorders. Before long, Steve Tibbetts found the confidence to standup and take part in the musical evenings, which were good practise for the future.
By 1975, Steve Tibbetts was a student at Macalester College, and spent much of his time listening to music with friends in his dorm. Days were whiled away smoking and listening to everything from John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders, to Mountain, and sometimes, Paul McCartney and Todd Rundgren. When Steve Tibbetts heard an album that was recorded solely by Todd Rundgren, he believed that he could record a similar type of album. Usually, that would’ve been easier said than done.
Fortunately, Steve Tibbetts was offered a work-study placement at Macalester College’s recording studio, and this allowed him to learn how a studio operated. It was akin to a musical apprenticeship and would prove invaluable as Steve Tibbetts learnt how to operate the equipment, splice and join tape and between 1975 and 1976 record his debut album. By then, the recording studio had become a second home for Steve Tibbetts, and although latterly, he was no longer officially a student, he completed his eponymous debut album in Macalester College’s recording studio.
Steve Tibbetts.
Having completed his eponymous debut album, Steve Tibbetts was released in 1977 on the Cuneiform label. By then, one of the tracks on Steve Tibbetts, Jungle Rhythm, was being used by the ice hockey team the Bay Area Bombers. There was even a rumour that Clive Davis at Arista was interested in signing Steve Tibbetts, and he spent the best part of two weeks waiting for the phone to ring. Despite that disappointment, Steve Tibbetts sold enough copies of his debut album that he was able to but an eight-track tape recorder and set up his own recording studio.
Yr.
In his new recording studio, Steve Tibbetts recorded his sophomore album Yr on his new eight-track tape recorder, and once the album was completed, he began shopping the album to record labels. This proved a thankless task, as Steve Tibbetts the rejection letters dropped through his letterbox. Eventually, they numbered 200, and it wasn’t until 1980 that Frammis released Yr, which was heard by one of the most influential men in European jazz and experimental music.
This was Manfred Eicher, the founder of the Munich-based label ECM Records, who spotted Steve Tibbetts’ potential and signed him in 1981. Since then, ECM Records has been home to Steve Tibbetts, who continued to pioneer sound-forming on his major label debut.
Already, Steve Tibbetts had realised that it was possible to use the recording studio itself as a tool for creating sounds, and this was something that he would pioneer during his career. However, having signed to ECM Records in 1981, he was soon in the studio with Manfred Eicher, who took charge of production.
Northern Song.
Previously, Steve Tibbetts had spent a great deal of time recording his first two albums, but that wasn’t the way that ECM Records’ founder and in-house producer worked. He was used to working quickly, and recording albums over a two or three days. This way of recording worked for most of the artists signed to ECM Records and the label had released many critically acclaimed albums. However, when Steve Tibbetts’ third album and ECM Records’ debut Northern Song was released in 1982, the reviews of what was an adventurous, ambitious and thoughtful album were scathing and critics were far from impressed by the album. For Steve Tibbetts and Manfred Eicher who produced Northern Song, this was a huge blow.
Safe Journey.
Two years later, in 1984, multi-instrumentalist Steve Tibbetts returned with his fourth album Safe Journey. By then, he had returned to his tried and tested way of recording an album, and had spent months recording Safe Journey, which was released to critical acclaim and was the most eclectic album of his career. It featured elements of folk, jazz, modern classical, psychedelia, rock and world music which were combined to create an ambitious and innovative album. Safe Journey was the album that launched Steve Tibbetts’ career at ECM Records.
Exploded View.
When Steve Tibbetts recorded his fifth album Exploded View, he was once again joined by percussionist Marc Anderson, who had played on every album since Northern Song. Marc Anderson’s percussion played an important role in the sound and success of Exploded View, which was released in 1986, and was another eclectic and melodic album, which has been inspired by African, Indian and Moroccan rhythms, and to some extent, the psychedelic and progressive music of the late-sixties and seventies. However, stealing the show was Steve Tibbetts delivers a series of explosive and inventive performances on guitar during this carefully crafted album of soundscapes. It was released to critical acclaim and further enhanced Steve Tibbetts’ reputation.
So did the reissue of Steve Tibbetts’ ECM Records’ debut Northern Song in 1988, which resulted in the album being reappraised by critics. Not for the first time, critics rewrote history, after realising that Northern Song was an ambitious and groundbreaking release that showcased a pioneering musician as he embarked upon his career. Seven years later, and Steve Tibbetts was about to release his sixth album, and fourth for ECM Records, Big Map Idea.
Big Map Idea.
Despite his star being in the ascendancy, Steve Tibbetts seemed in no hurry to release a new album, and his sixth album Big Map Idea wasn’t released until 1989. It was worth the wait and featured a myriad of exotic and ethnic instruments that play their part in an intriguing, mysterious and to some extent, mystical album that is full of twists and turns, as the music on Big Map Idea ebbs and flows, and gradually reveals its secrets. Critics hailed the album as a welcome addition to Steve Tibbetts’ burgeoning discography
The Fall Of Us All .
The next addition to Steve Tibbetts’ discography was The Fall Of Us All, which was released in 1994, five years after Big Map Idea. By then, Steve Tibbetts continued to explore and pioneer sound forming and used the recording studio as an instrument as he continued to create ambitious and innovative music.
Proof of that was The Fall Of Us All, which was another eclectic album that veered between explosive, urgent, uplifting and spiritual as Steve Tibbetts fused elements of Arabian music, art-pop, Eastern sounds, modal jazz, psychedelia, rock and even rock ’n’ roll. The Fall Of Us All was released to widespread critical acclaim and hailed as one of Steve Tibbetts’ finest hours.
Following the success of The Fall Of Us, Steve Tibbetts wasn’t tempted to rush release a new solo album and decided to spend the next few years collaborating with other artists. This included recording a new album with Nepalese Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma. In 1997, Steve Tibbetts and Ani Choying Drolma they released their first collaboration Chö, which was well received by critics.
After completing Chö, Steve Tibbetts began recording a new album with Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player, Knut Hamre. Eventually, Steve Tibbetts and Knut Hamre completed the album Å, which was released to plaudits and praise in 1999.
A Man About A Horse.
Eight years after the release of his last solo album Steve Tibbetts returned with A Man About A Horse, which was his sixth release for ECM Records and his eighth solo album. A Man About A Horse was another album with an Eastern influence, and finds Steve Tibbetts eschewing Western scales as the he carves fluid, jagged, rocky and experimental soundscapes. Joining Steve Tibbetts on what was another groundbreaking offering, were percussionists Marc Anderson and Marcus Wise, who play a part in the sound and success of A Man About A Horse. It seemed that Steve Tibbetts’ music was maturing like a fine wine.
Two years after releasing his eighth solo album, Steve Tibbetts and Nepalese Buddhist nun Ani Choying Drolma returned in 2004 with their sophomore album Selwa, which was the followup to their 1997 album Chö. Selwa was an almost flawless collaboration where Eastern and Western music combines seamlessly. It was without doubt, the finest collaboration of Steve Tibbetts’ twenty-seven year career.
After the release of Selwa, Steve Tibbetts didn’t seem in a hurry to release a new album, and preferred to work slowly, as he honed and perfected another ambitious and innovative album. Steve Tibbetts remembered recording Northern Song, which had been in a matter of days, and the scathing reviews were a reminder of the album. That taught him an important lesson, and since then, he worked at his own speed and did things his own way.
Natural Causes.
That was the case when he recorded Natural Causes with his friend Marc Anderson during 2008. In 2010, Steve Tibbetts released his ninth album Natural Causes, which was his first solo album in eight years, and was very different from previous albums. Steve Tibbetts had switched to his father’s Martin D-12-20 12-string acoustic guitar on Natural Causes, which was recorded when he was rethinking his approach to music. This resulted in him studying Bach, Bartók and music theory on a daily basis as he tried to improve himself as a musician.
This paid off, and Natural Causes was released to widespread critical acclaim. Just like his previous albums for ECM Records, Steve Tibbetts was joined by Marc Anderson and they deployed an eclectic array of exotic instruments that accompanied the Martin D-12-20 12-string acoustic guitar. The resulting album, Natural Causes, featured enchanting and captivating multilayered soundscapes that were full of Eastern sounds and was another welcome addition to his discography.
Life Of.
Following the release of Natural Causes, Steve Tibbetts’ fans were already looking forward to his tenth solo album, but deep down, they knew that they were in for a long wait. Steve Tibbetts seems to only release a new solo album every eight years. He had released The Fall Of Us All in 1994, with A Man About A Horse following in 2002 and Natural Causes in 2010. The smart money was on Steve Tibbetts returning with his tenth solo album in 2018. That was the case, with Life Of, being released by ECM Records in May 2018, which marks the octennial appearance of musical pioneer Steve Tibbetts.
For his tenth solo album Life Of, Steve Tibbetts composed thirteen new soundscapes which he decided to record in St. Paul, which was where he had recorded so many of his previous albums. This time, though, it was just a small band that would accompany as he recorded Life Of.
Although Steve Tibbetts is a talented multi-instrumentalist, he decided that he would only play piano and his father’s fifty year old Martin D-12-20 12-string acoustic guitar, that had served him so well on Natural Causes during the recording of Life Of. Joining Steve Tibbetts, was his old friend and percussionist Marc Anderson, who had played on every solo album he had released for ECM Records. The only other musician that joined Steve Tibbetts and Marc Anderson was cellist Michelle Kinney also adds the drones that feature on Life Of. Together, the three musicians began recording what was Steve Tibbetts’ tenth solo album, Life Of which was then mixed at his old alma mater Macalester College. Gradually, Life Of took shape, and was released in May 2018.
The music on Life Of is a quite different from some of Steve Tibbetts’ earlier albums, and features a much more understated and minimalist sound. Life Of features elements of ambient, avant-garde, experimental music, jazz and world music as Steve Tibbetts and his band carefully craft what’s best described as an album of dreamscapes.
Most of these dreamscapes are relatively short, and last under six minutes, and veer between melancholy to meditative and ruminative as the music invites reflection. That is the case on Bloodwork, while other dreamscapes showcase a cinematic sound, including the moody, multilayered and airy Life Of Emily. It’s the first piece of music that was named after friends, relatives or even a complete stranger that Steve Tibbetts met while he was writing and recording Life Of. These people inspired these tracks, including Life Of Mir, which is an enchanting and melodic feel-good dreamscape.
Very different is Life Of Lowell where there’s a sense of sadness and darkness during this beautiful dreamscape. Life Of Joel is spacious, ruminative and moody, while Life Of Alice soon takes on a cinematic sound and reveals its breathtaking beauty and a degree of drama. There’s then a sense of sadness to the slow, minimalist Life Of Dot which meanders along, tugging at the heartstrings. So does Life Of Carol, where Steve Tibbetts’ weeping guitar takes centrestage during this ruminative dreamscape.
The filmic Life Of Joan and Life Of El sound as if they belong on the soundtrack to a spaghetti western. However, both dreamscapes offer the opportunity to reflect, while End Again has a fuller, and more hopeful and latterly, dramatic sound. Closing Life Of is Start Again, another cinematic dreamscape where beauty and hope seem omnipresent during what’s the perfect track to close the album.
Although Steve Tibbetts seems to only release a new solo album every eight years, Life Of which has just been released by ECM Records is well worth the wait. It features thirteen understated and minimalist dreamscapes, most of which are relatively short, and are best described as part of an album of mood music where less is more.
These carefully crafted dreamscapes veer between melancholy to meditative and ruminative as the music invites reflection. Other times, the music is broody and moody, or dark and dramatic, while other dreamscapes are cinematic, hopeful, melodic and rich in imagery as Steve Tibbetts and his band paint pictures during Life Of which is a powerful and poignant album that is almost flawless. Life Of is a captivating and rewarding album that is well worth discovering, and features musical pioneer Steve Tibbetts, as he reaches new heights on what is one of the finest albums of a long and illustrious recording career that has lasted five decades.
Steve Tibbettss-Life Of.
MOTOWN FUNK 2-RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EDITION.
Motown Funk 2-Record Store Day 2018 Edition.
Label: UMC.
By 1959, Detroit based songwriter, producer and future musical impresario Berry Gordy Jr had already discovered The Miracles and started to build a successful portfolio of recording artists. There was only one problem, what would Berry Gordy Jr do with these talented artists and groups? It was Smokey Robinson, the leader of The Miracles, that came up with the answer, when he suggested that Berry Gordy Jr found his own record label.
Straight away, this made sense to Berry Gordy Jr, and he borrowed $800 from his family to form his own R&B label. Originally, Berry Gordy Jr planned to call his new label Tammy Records, after a song that had been recorded and released by Debbie Reynolds. There was only one problem, someone had beaten Berry Gordy Jr to the punch, and had already registered the name Tammy Records. This was a huge blow for Berry Gordy Jr, who suddenly, had to think of a new name for his nascent record label.
After some thought, Berry Gordy Jr came up with the name Tamla Records, which was incorporated on January the ‘12th’ 1959, in Detroit, Michigan. That day musical history was made.
Nine days later, Tamla Records began trading on January the ‘21st’ 1959, and not long after that, Marv Johnson’s single Come to Me was the label’s first release. Tamla Records second release was another single by Marv Johnson, You Got What It Takes, which was released later in 1959 and reached number two in the US R&B charts. This was a huge boost to the nascent Tamla Records.
Buoyed by this success, Berry Gordy Jr was already making plans to expand his musical empire, and formed a new record label, Rayber. Its first release was Wade Jones’ single Insane, which sunk without trace and nowadays, one of the rarest singles that was released by one of Berry Gordy Jr’s labels.
Later in 1959, Berry Gordy Jr’s next label, Motown Records released The Miracles’ single Bad Girl, which was released nationally by Chess Records. Little did Berry Gordy Jr realise that his new label Motown Records would become one of the most successful and iconic soul labels.
In the spring of 1960 Berry Gordy Jr decided to merge his two small labels, and on April the ’14th’ 1960 Tamla Records and Motown Records were merged into one label new company, Motown Record Corporation.
Six months later, The Miracles released their single Shop Around nationally on the ‘15th’ of October 1960, which topped the US R&B charts late in the year, and reached number two in the US Billboard 100 in early 1961. By then, Shop Around had become Tamla Records’ first million-selling hit single, and Berry Gordy Jr’s labels were about to provide the soundtrack to America over the next decade.
During the next ten years, Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music, and became one of the most successful soul labels in America. Between 1961 and 1971, Motown Records enjoyed 110 top ten singles, and twenty-eight singles released on Berry Gordy’s labels topped the US Billboard 100. Berry Gordy Jr was regarded as the man with the Midas touch.
One of Berry Gordy Jr’s greatest gifts was the ability to surround himself with talented people, including A&R men, arrangers, musicians, producers and songwriters who ensured that Motown Records continued to thrive while other labels faltered. They also ensured that Motown Records remainder relevant as music started to change, and funk grew in popularity.
Realising that funk was here to stay, Motown Records embraced the new genre, which provided the label with further success during the seventies and early eighties. This includes Eddie Kendrick, Commodores, Stevie Wonder, Rare Earth, Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr, Puzzle, Grover Washington Jr and Dazz Band who all feature on Motown Funk 2, which was released as a double album on transparent yellow vinyl, by UMC for Record Store Day 2018.
Side A.
Opening Motown Funk 2, is Valerie Simpson’s Drink The Wine which featured on her 1972 eponymous sophomore album on Tamla. Just like the rest of the songs on Valerie Simpson, Drink The Wine was penned and produced by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. They’re responsible for a carefully crafted slice of sultry soulful funk which is very different to the music that Motown Records had been releasing just a few years earlier.
In 1973, former Temptation Eddie Kendricks released his third album Eddie Kendricks, which featured Keep On Truckin’ which was written by Anita Poree with Frank Wilson and Leonard Caston. Keep On Truckin’ which became synonymous with Eddie Kendricks was co-produced by Frank Wilson and Leonard Caston, and went on to become a favourite of DJs and compilers. That is no surprise as the album version of Keep On Tuckin’ that features on Motown Funk 2 is an eight minutes epic that is tough, funky, jazz-tinged and soulful sounding.
When Earl Van Dyke released his debut solo album Earl Of Funk, on Berry Gordy Jr’s Soul label, one of the tracks he covered was Sly Stone’s Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin. This tempo rises and there’s an urgency as Earl Van Dyke and the Funk Brothers reinvent this familiar song and take it in a new direction.
Side B.
When American funk rock band Rare Earth released their fourth album Ecology, on the Motown imprint Rare Earth in 1970, it featured a cover of (I Know) I’m Losing You, which was written Eddie Holland, Cornelius Grant and Norman Whitfield, who took charge of production. The result was an eleven minute opus where Rare Earth fuse funk and psychedelic rock during what’s one of their finest hours.
The Jerry Ross Symposium only released two albums for Motown, during the early seventies. This included The Jerry Ross Symposium Volume II which was released in 1972 and features It’s The Same Old Love. It features swathes of lush strings and backing vocals which play their part in this enchanting marriage slice of soulful easy listening.
When the Blaxploitation movie Trouble Man was released in 1972, it featured a soundtrack that was written by Marvin Gaye. This included Closing Jimmy’s which is a tantalising taste of the uber funky music that features on Marvin Gaye’s Blaxploitation soundtrack Trouble Man.
Side C.
Although Syreeta had signed to Motown in the mid-sixties, she never made her recording debut until 1972, when she released her debut album Syreeta on the Mowest imprint. By then, Syreeta was married to Stevie Wonder who produced her eponymous debut album. Just like so many of the tracks from the early seventies, the Motown sound has received a much-needed makeover, and proof of this To Know You Is To Love Her. Gone is the stomping beat which for too long had been a feature of many Motown releases. In its place, was a slicker and much polished sound with dancing strings playing their part in this beautiful and memorable marriage of soul and funk which features a vocal powerhouse from Syreeta.
Just like Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr dipped his toe into the world of Blaxploitation soundtracks when he wrote the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hell Up In Harlem. It was released on Motown in 1974, and features Runnin’, which is one of the funkiest tracks on Motown Funk 2, and epitomises everything that is good about Blaxploitation soundtracks.
While many music fans of a certain age remember the Commodores for the soulful ballad Easy, aficionados of funk remember them for tracks like Brick House. It was written by the Commodores, who arranged and produced Brick House with James Carmichael. Brick House then featured on the Commodores’ debut album Machine Gun, which was released on Motown in 1974, and reached 138 in the US Billboard 200 and thirty-six in the US R&B charts. One of the highlights of Machine Gun was Brick House with its tough, funky, soulful sound. Even today, it’s still a favourite of DJs and compilers, and can be found on many compilations.
Side D.
Chicago-based Puzzle signed to Motown in 1972, and released two albums between 1973 and 1974. This included their sophomore album, The Second Album which was released in 1974 and included Haiku. It’s a captivating combination of funk, fusion and soul that is a reminder of this oft-overlooked, talented and versatile band. Sadly, The Second Album was Puzzle’s swan-song, as their album How Do We Get Out Of This Business Alive which was scheduled for release in late 1974 was cancelled.
By 1975, saxophonist Grover Washington Jr was signed to Creed Taylor’s Kudu label in North America when he released the album Mister Magic. However, the album was released in Britain and Europe by Motown. One of Grover Washington Jr’s finest moments on Mister Magic was the title-track where the Reed Man plays with speed, fluidity, power and control as he and his all-star band seamlessly combine elements of fusion and jazz funk. After leaving Kudu, Grover Washington Jr signed to Motown and released a triumvirate of albums.
Closing Motown Funk 2 is the single version of the Cleveland-based Dazz Band’s Let It Whip, which featured on their fourth album Keep It Live. It was released on Motown in 1982, and by then, music was changing, and boogie was flavour of the month amongst dancers and DJs. There’s a boogie influence to Let It Whip, which is also funky, soulful and dancefloor friendly.
For anyone yet to discover the funky side of Motown Records, then Motown Funk 2 which was released for Record Store Day 2018, is the perfect starting place. Motown Funk 2 features a tantalising taste of the funky music that Berry Gordy Jr’s label was releasing during the seventies and early eighties.
By then, Motown Records was based in LA, and had come a long way from the early days in Detroit. Despite moving across the country in 1972, some of the artists that had played an important part in the rise and rise of Motown Records, including Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Eddie Kendricks who was now a solo artist, were still signed to Berry Gordy Jr’s label. What had changed was the music that they were making.
Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder had matured and were making much more grownup music, that was slicker and had a much more polished sound. Although the music was still soulful, much of it was funky and some of it was dancefloor friendly. That was the case with much of the music that features on Motown Funk 2, which includes contributions from familiar faces and what will be new names to many record buyers. Some of these artists were only passing through Motown Records, and only released a couple of albums. However, often these albums are oft-overlooked hidden gems and are a reminder of what might have been? These groups also played their part in reinventing the formulaic Motown sound.
Berry Gordy Jr must have realised that if the Motown sound didn’t change, it risked becoming irrelevant. By signing new artists and groups to Motown Records and its various imprints, Berry Gordy Jr ensured that his musical empire not only survived but thrived as it released funky, soulful and dancefloor friendly music during the seventies and early eighties, including the nineteen tracks on Motown Funk 2
Motown Funk 2-Record Store Day 2018 Edition.
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