Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

September has nearly gotten away from us. Things have been quiet here, I know. I've got a few posts up my sleeve - just no time to do them. So, with a few hours left in the month, a few versions of a simple and perfect pop classic.

Download:

"September Gurls" (Studio Rehearsal) mp3
by Big Star, 1974.
available on Nobody Can Dance

"September Gurls" mp3
by Superdrag, 1996.
available on I Know the Score

"September Gurls" mp3
by Alex Chilton, 1977.
Live at the Ocean Club
available on Beale Street Green

"September Gurls" mp3
by The Bangles, 1986.
available on Different Light

"September Gurls" mp3
by Big Star, 1974.
available on Radio City

Editors note: As pointed out by Will Rigby - Boogie Woogie Flu contributor, and author of our most popular post ever - The dB's did NOT back up Alex Chilton on this live version, as I had originally stated here. Considering that at least two members of the dB's read this blog, I apologize for not checking my facts first. The recording comes from a bootleg, and while they are often less than reputable in their liner notes, song titles, and recording information, I hastily took it for granted.

Here's what Will had to say: "Nope. Not us. No matter what the album says, the dB's did not exist until '78, and never performed that song with or without Alex. It's his 1977 band, Stamey on bass, Lloyd Fonoroff (sp?) on drums (Fran Kowalski was in the band on keys, although I don't think he's on this, sounds like a trio)."

I stand corrected.

Photograph by Garry Winogrand, World's Fair, New York, 1964.
© Estate of Garry Winogrand

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

Download:

"What A Crying Shame" mp3
by The Mavericks, 1994
available on What a Crying Shame

"Maverick" mp3
Theme Song, 1957.
available on Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

Jerry Reed 1937-2008

Another one done gone, son.

Jerry Reed, who put the funk into country, died Monday in Nashville. The first time I heard him was on a family road trip in an Oldsmobile station wagon the early-seventies. "When You're Hot, You're Hot" was in heavy rotation on the Delco radio and resulted in instantaneous family sing-a-longs, much to my Mother's dismay.

Flags in Fluville are flying at half mast.

Download:

"If The Good Lord's Willing" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1955.
available on Here I Am

"In My Own Backyard" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1957.
available on Here I Am

"You Make It, They Take It" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1958.
available on Here I Am



"Hully Gully Guitar" mp3
by Jerry Reed and The Hully Girlies, 1962.
out of print

"Guitar Man" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1967.
available on The Essential Jerry Reed

"Amos Moses" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1970.
available on The Essential Jerry Reed

"When You're Hot, You're Hot" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1971
available on The Essential Jerry Reed

"The Uptown Poker Club" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1973.
available on The Essential Jerry Reed

"The Crude Oil Blues" mp3
by Jerry Reed, 1974.
available on The Essential Jerry Reed

Early Bird...

gets the worm.

Charlie Parker would've been 88 today. This is his first session as a featured sideman. Guitarist Tiny Grimes put together this quintet of 52nd Street players for a Savoy date that was to feature him as a singer. Two vocal sides and two instrumentals. Bird had just arrived in New York after jumping ship from Billy Eckstine's Big Band.

Download:



"I'll Always Love You Just The Same" mp3
by Tiny Grimes Quintet, 1944.
Tiny Grimes, Vocals.
available on The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes



"Romance Without Finance" mp3
by Tiny Grimes Quintet, 1944.
Tiny Grimes, Vocals.
available on The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes



"Red Cross" mp3
by Charlie Parker, 1944.
available on The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes



"Tiny's Tempo" mp3
Charlie Parker, 1944.
available on The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes

Yes We Can

In case any of you out there misconstrued my disparaging remarks about the DNC yesterday, I'd like to clarify my position on the matter. This blog supports Barack Obama and is genuinely excited by the Democratic ticket this year. Folks, we have a candidate and tonite's speech was electrifying. Vote.

Download:

"Yes We Can" mp3
by Lee Dorsey, 1970.
available on Holy Cow!: The Very Best of Lee Dorsey

President Day

Tired of the goings on in Denver? Do you feel like you're watching an MTV sponsored high school pep rally? Do you feel like kicking a hole in your TV everytime you hear the pundits on CNN talk about the convention? Do you frequently ask yourself "Is this the best we can do?" Are you mad as hell and can't take it anymore?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then you may have a soul. In which case, I direct you to immediately listen to today's musical selections.

Lester Young, AKA "The President" or "Pres" or "Prez" would have been 99 years old today. Below we have his first recordings. This is a small group ensemble made up of the core of the Count Basie band. They recorded these under the moniker Jones-Smith Incorporated with John Hammond in 1936 for Vocalion. Lester's legend had been growing for years before these recordings were made, and Hammond after hearing a radio broadcast late one night in Chicago, coming from a bandstand hookup at The Reno Club in Kansas City, sent word to Basie that he wanted to record them. Unfortunately, before he could get there, Dave Kapp, pretending to be acting on Hammond's behalf signed them to record 24 sides with Decca. So, the pseudonym Jones-Smith Inc. was born out of contractual obligations, but Hammond recorded them first. The lyical depth and phrasing of Lester's solos on "Lady Be Good" and "Shoeshine Boy" are landmarks in Jazz and an early look at his genius as an improviser and soloist in a small band. In addition, I've included Lester's signature tune, "Lester Leaps In" and the musical conversation between him and trombonist Dickie Wells, "Dickies Dream". And if that's not enough, two recordings with Billie Holiday from 1939, Lester takes a solo on "The Man I Love" that should move you if you have a pulse. The flip side, Cole Porter's "Night and Day" doesn't have a solo but is so sublimely beautiful that it would criminal not to include it here.

It's time to get the swing states swingin'. You dig?

Download:



"Lady, Be Good" mp3
by Jones-Smith Incorporated, 1936.
available on The Lester Young Story



"Boogie Woogie" mp3
by Jones-Smith Incorporated, 1936.
Jimmy Rushing, Vocals.
available on The Lester Young Story



"Shoe Shine Swing" (AKA "Shoeshine Boy") mp3
by Jones-Smith Incorporated, 1936.
available on The Lester Young Story

*********************************************



"Lester Leaps In" mp3
by Count Basie and his Orchestra, 1939.
available on The Lester Young Story



"Dickie's Dream" mp3
by Count Basie and his Orchestra, 1939.
available on The Lester Young Story

*********************************************



"The Man I Love" mp3
by Billie Holiday, 1939.
available on The Lady Sings



"Night And Day" mp3
by Billie Holiday, 1939.
available on The Lady Sings

*********************************************

For more of this, tune into WKCR at 89.9 on the FM dial if you are in New York City - or streaming on the web if you are not - and listen to Phil Schaap and his colleagues who are right now in the middle of the annual Lester Young - Charlie Parker Birthday Broadcast - Aug-27-29.

Stormy Weather

Back in the early days of this blog, I did a post on Harold Arlen and his contribution to the American Songbook. In it, I included his version of "Stormy Weather" with Leo Reisman's Orchestra as well as one of my favorites by The Reigning Sound. After I posted it somebody pointed me to a link at the WFMU blog that contained a zip file with another 70+ versions. Here's a few of those as well as an unusually jaunty and swingin' version by Dave Bartholomew that I picked up recently. There must be hundreds of versions of this song. A standard is a standard and there's a reason for this. Anyone can get behind it and make it their own. While I was listening to the great Lena Horne version, I remembered one of my favorite episodes of Sanford and Son, where Fred bum rushes Lena's dressing room on an NBC studio tour. In their dressing room conversation Fred tells her "I saw your movie Stormy Weather thirty-eight times" to which she replies, "You mean to tell me you paid to see Stormy Weather thirty-eight times?" Fred comes back and says "No, I only paid once. I went in on a Saturday and came out on a Wednesday evening."

Hopefully your Monday isn't a stormy one.

Download:



"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Dave Bartholomew, 1951.
available on The King Sides

"Stormy Weather" mp3
by The Spaniels, 1958.
available on The Doo Wop Box, Vol. 2

"Stormy Weather" mp3
by The Reigning Sound, 2002.
available on Time Bomb High School



"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Harold Arlen with Leo Reisman's Orchestra, 1933.
available on Song Is Harold Arlen




"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Lena Horne, 1943.
available on Stormy Weather

"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Billie Holiday, 1952.
available on The Complete Billie Holiday On Verve, 1945-1959

"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1953.
available on Capitol Sessions 1953-1955

"Stormy Weather" mp3
by Eric Dolphy, 1960.
available on Candid Dolphy