Harold Arlen

Great songs are timeless and great songwriters know this. Harold Arlen was one such songwriter. Below are a few selections of his songs spanning 70 years. Arlen was born Hyman Arluck, the son of a cantor from Buffalo, New York. He started his career playing piano in the red hot jazz band The Buffalodians, and moved on to the Cotton Club, Broadway and later Hollywood. If you don't know his name, you know his songs: "One For My Baby (And One For The Road)," "Blues in the Night," "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," "It's Only A Paper Moon," "That Old Black Magic," as well as the music from The Wizard of Oz and the selections below. Arlen was a fine soulful singer and a great interpreter of his own songs made famous by others. Check out his vocal performance on "Stormy Weather." The vocals come in at about a minute and a half into the number. Also, we get a reprise of Charlie Parker, playing with Red Norvo's All-Stars; Keith Richards and Bobby Keys on his most famous composition; and Memphis' Reigning Sound, from my favorite record of 2002.

For further reading on Arlen, check out this article from the New Yorker by John Lahr.














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Listen: GONE mp3 - Keith Richards and Bobby Keys

Listen: GONE mp3 - Reigning Sound
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Blue Bird

Sixty years ago today, Charlie Parker entered C.P. MacGregor Studios in Hollywood for his first session in over seven months. Two fine ballads were recorded: "Dark Shadows" and "This Is Always" with singer Earl Coleman, who was there at Parker's insistence and Ross Russell's dismay. His previous session, on July 29th, 1946 yielded two of the most harrowing and tortured ballads ever recorded, "Lover Man" and "The Gypsy". There was a panic on Central Avenue and Bird, strung out and dope-sick suffered a breakdown, that landed him at Camarillo State Hospital the following day. As painful as they are are, these two records, which Bird pleaded with Ross Russell not to release, are extraordinary. On "Lover Man", Bird misses his intro and the piano plays on while he finds his place only to unleash the most anguished solo of pure and heartbreaking beauty. Without taking time to playback the take, Russell had the band led by trumpeter Howard McGhee start the next selection, "The Gypsy". Here they are, coupled with the 1947 Earl Coleman session in all their pain and glory, one take each, for eternity.














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Photo: © William P. Gottlieb 1946















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*** For the sake of fidelity, all selections here are taken from the out of print 1989 Stash Records' The Legendary Dial Masters, Volume One. These are, in my opinion, the best sounding versions of these available on compact disc, and mastered from somebody elses 78's in much better condition than mine.

Around The World With Hank Snow

Alright folks, back to the shellac. Let's get one thing straight. Hank Snow loves women, and he doesn't discriminate. In the sampling below, he's got a Spanish fireball: who "made a perfect date and in her Cadillac-8 love began to expand"; an Arabian Baby; and in my personal favorite, Hank falls for a multi-instrumentalist of stringed instruments fom Memphis, Tennessee. I think I see what he means.














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Cupid

Photo: Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo © Don Huntstein

It's Valentine's Day.
It's snowing in New York City.
Bob Dylan sings Sam Cooke.

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More Songs About...

Okay. Here's another group of small records with big holes loosely themed for romance and matters of cupid. Dion sings "Love Came To Me" with a cool Bronx swagger. Joe Jeffrey pledges his love. Anyone know anything about this guy? Arthur Conley sings "Let's Go Steady", the B-Side of his smash 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music". I always liked this one better. Produced by Otis Redding, it's a killer, with a funky Booker T and the MG's backing. George Jones, America's greatest soul singer gives us "Take Me". Check out how he flubs the first line. Doesn't matter- it's great anyway. And finally, Don Covay whips himself into a frenzy trying to get back to his woman, singing a duet with himself and accompanied by a young and uncredited Jimi Hendrix on guitar.

Happy Valentine's Day























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Bonus mp3: Keef :REAL GONE

Strangelove

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"How do you call your loverboy ?"...

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I Found A Love

Let's just declare this Valentine's Week. Valentine's Day is is for greeting card companies, florists, Al Capone, chocolatiers, and restaurants that would like to sell you a prix-fixe meal.
No songs of ill will at the flu this week. Below are a few testimonials of love. First off, The Falcons from 1962 Featuring Wilson Pickett on lead vocals. There's a lot of talent in this group, joining him are, among others, Eddie Floyd, Sir "Mack " Rice, and Robert Ward on guitar leading the excellent Ohio Untouchables. Then, we get "I Found A Love" Pts. 1 and 2, that Pickett recorded five years later for Atlantic, at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. And last but not least, Al Green spells it out. Wilson Pickett started out singing in church. Al Green ended up there a few years after this record.























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Moody's Mood

Photo: James Moody, 1951 © Herman Leonard


When I was a teenager, whiling away in my lonely purgatory and waiting 'til I could get the fuck out of St. Louis, I used to hang out at a record store called Vintage Vinyl. It was a small place back then with records everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling. The proprietors must have taken pity on me. Everyday I was in there looking through the stacks of used records, seeing what came in, what I had never heard, asking stupid questions, listening and learning. Most of the time I bought from the middle rack which was loosely Punk/New Wave. On the right side of the store was the Rock section; I also bought a lot of the records there. On the left side were the Jazz, Blues, R & B, and a very well stocked selection of Jamaican imports. I dabbled in all of these sections, but without exactly knowing what was what. Around the time I was sixteen or so, I started buying Jazz records. Mostly the obvious. Bird. Miles. Monk. One day, Lew Prince, one of the owners, foisted a James Moody album on me. I didn't know what it was, but I trusted his opinion and bought it. I took it home, played it, and felt like I'd been sold a bill of goods that wasn't for me. It sounded tame and a little boring. I was an ignorant kid trying to expand my horizons, but I wasn't gonna have any of this. So, having fewer scruples than cash I scratched the record and took it back. To this day, I feel guilty about this every time I listen to James Moody. So, Lew, if your reading this, I'm sorry and I think I get it now.














"The Flight" mp3
by James Moody and his Quartet, 1949.
available on James Moody 1949-1950














"I'm In The Mood For Love" mp3
by James Moody and his Band, 1949
available on James Moody 1949-1950

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"Moody's Mood For Love" mp3
by King Pleasure with Teacho and Blossom Dearie, 1952.
available on Moody's Mood for Love

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"Lester Leaps In" mp3
by James Moody and his band, 1949.
available on James Moody 1949-1950














"Out of Nowhere" mp3
by James Moody and his Band , 1949.
out of print

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"Lester Leaps In #1" mp3
by Lester Young, 1946.
available on Prez Conferences

"Out of Nowhere" mp3
by Charlie Parker Quintet, 1947.
available on The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings

Jumpin' With Symphony Sid

Okay, time to shift gears. Two examples of vocalese (lyrical vocal interpretation of a jazz solo) and an R & B record by a jazz singer. King Pleasure wrote these lyrics to Lester Young's solo on "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid". Annie Ross interprets Wardell Gray, with a swinging rythym section of Percy Heath and Art Blakey, and Billie Holiday makes a rocking record with Tiny Grimes. Set your dial to "right there close to eighty on the dot".















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Doug Sahm and The Dell Kings

Update to Larry Williams post: This is (pre- Sir Douglas) Doug Sahm doing his version of "Slow Down". Thanks to Will Rigby for hipping me to this. Taken from the Norton Records collection San Antonio Rock / The Harlem Recordings 1957-1961.



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Larry Williams

Larry Williams only recorded for a couple of years at Specialty. From those handful of sessions some of the most influential early rock 'n roll tunes were recorded. Both of these numbers as well as "Bad Boy" were all recorded by The Beatles a few years later. The Stones did their take on "She Said Yeah". The version of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" here is a continuation of my earlier Guitar Slim post. Once again, chaos reigns supreme at Specialty. This take is vastly different than the version I know from the CD reissue. A studio full of musicians all vying for attention and careening out of control. I love it. It reminds me of Jim Dickinson's production on Big Star's version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On". "Slow Down" from an earlier session is a little more refined, although I don't know if that's the right word to describe it. Earl Palmer is on the drums, Rene Hall on guitar, horn section led by Plas Johnson on tenor, and Larry Williams on piano. Williams was cut loose by Specialty a year later after a narcotics conviction. He continued to record into the seventies, until he was found dead from what was ruled a suicide. However, those who knew Larry Williams will tell you he was murdered. The likelihood of a left-handed piano player shooting himself in the right temple is slim.















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BONUS: Taking their cue from Williams, The Beatles, Booker T. and the MG's, and perhaps The Sonics, The Young Rascals released "Slow Down" as the b-side to their first Atlantic single in 1965.


















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Guitar Slim

Listening to these old records requires a certain leap of faith. They are, after all, mostly beat up, juked, worn and somewhat distorted. However, I have found in some circumstances, they are a totally different listening experience than the flattened remastered versions I have come to know and mostly love. This record here is a case in point. I've probably listened to the CD reissue of Slim's Specialty sides a hundred times. They are some of the greatest records made by one of New Orleans' greatest showmen of the fifties. The recordings featured here sound very different than the versions I and maybe you know. This session apparently took a couple of days, as Slim brought a lot of chaos with him wherever he went. One of the musicians needed to be bailed out of Jail. The piano player was Ray Charles, whose arrangements here are more than familiar. You can hear him yell "Yeah!" at the end of the "A"side. When Johnny Vincent sent the tapes to Art Rupe at Specialty he was not impressed, and said it was the worst shit he'd ever heard. Rupe released it anyway, and had Specialty's biggest hit to date, in 1954. Stay tuned for more Slim.














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Special Bonus mp3: REAL GONE

Step It Up And Go

Blind Boy Fuller says "...can't stand pat, swear you gotta step it up and go." And this record does just that-it moves. The first time I heard this song was on Bob Dylan's excellent and often overlooked Good As I Been to You from 1992, the first of two records comprised entirely of standards and old folk and blues numbers. Bob recorded them in his garage in Malibu after an aborted group of sessions in Chicago with David Bromberg, also entirely of other people's songs, including "Kaatskill Serenade"
which I was blown away by twice when first hearing it: first, by thinking it was a great lost Dylan track, and secondly by discovering that Bromberg had written it. Bob has a way of making these songs his own. Stay tuned for a Gene Austin post.


















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Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke would've been 76 years old today. It's hard to imagine. This is a sweet recording, one of his last releases on Specialty, and came out concurrently with his first Keen single "You Send Me". The band features Rene Hall on guitar, and the great Earl Palmer on drums.















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