The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another installment of imaginary music travel. If you’re a frequent visitor of the blog or are familiar with my music taste otherwise, you know how much I dig great vocals, especially when sung in perfect harmony. So this time, I thought to challenge myself and put together an itinerary of instrumental tracks only. I think I found some good stuff, so stay with me!

Jeff Beck/Declan

Starting us off today is Jeff Beck, who undoubtedly was one of most amazing guitarists of our time with an incredible tone. Apart from music with various groups like The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice, he released a series of albums under his own name. Sadly, Beck’s nearly 60-year career came to an end in January 2023 when he passed away from bacterial meningitis at age 78. Off his seventh solo album Who Else! from March 1999, here’s the beautiful Declan, a composition by Irish folk musician Dónal Lunny.

The Allman Brothers Band/Jessica

This next track takes us to August 1973 and Brothers and Sisters, the fourth studio album by The Allman Brothers Band. During the recording sessions, co-founder and bassist Berry Oakley who had been struggling with addiction and depression in the wake of Duane Allman’s death weirdly was also killed in a motorcycle accident. The group carried on, bringing in Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams on piano and bass, respectively, with guitarist Dickey Betts becoming their de facto leader. Betts also composed the bouncy Jessica, a tribute to gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, named after Betts’ infant daughter.

Horace Silver Quintet/Señor Blues

Just because we didn’t start today’s trip with jazz doesn’t mean we skip it altogether. This time, I’ve picked a track by pianist, composer and arranger Horace Silver who is especially known for hard bop, a style he helped create in the 1950s. After leaving The Jazz Messengers, who Silver had co-founded with drummer Art Blakey in 1954, he formed his own quintet. One of their early albums, 6 Pieces of Silver, appeared in late 1956. Here’s Señor Blues, a composition by Silver. He was backed by Donald Byrd (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone), Doug Watkins (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums).

Booker T. & the M.G.’s/Time Is Tight

One of the coolest ’60s backing bands I can think of were Booker T. & the M.G.’s. As house band of Memphis soul label Stax, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Albert King. Starting in the early ’60s, Booker T. & the M.G.’s also released instrumentals under their own name. Their best-known is Green Onions, the title track of their October 1962 debut album. Time Is Tight became another hit single released in February 1969. Credited to all four members – Booker T. Jones (organ), Steve Cropper (guitar), Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass) and Al Jackson Jr. (drums) – the tune was included on the soundtrack album UpTight for the 1968 drama picture of the same title.

Jan Hammer/Crockett’s Theme

Next let’s pay a visit to the ’80s and one of the biggest instrumental hits of the decade I can recall: Crockett’s Theme by Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer Jan Hammer who had gained prominence in the early ’70s as keyboarder of jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. Hammer also wrote scores for film and television. The latter included the ’80s U.S. crime drama series Miami Vice, which also became popular in other countries including Germany. Here’s Crockett’s Theme, which was released in 1986 and topped the charts in Belgium and The Netherlands, reached no. 2 in the UK and Ireland, and no. 4 in Germany. By comparison, it peaked at a moderate no. 42 in the U.S. on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.

Peter Frampton/Isn’t It a Pity

For our sixth and final stop we shall head back to the present. In April 2021, Peter Frampton released his most recent all-instrumental album appropriately titled Frampton Forgets the Words. The English-American guitarist turned 74 on Monday. The day before, he was announced as one of the 2024 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Leading up to it I had read Frampton had really hoped he would make it in. The induction of the man, who with Frampton Comes Alive! delivered one of the most iconic ’70s rock live albums, is well-deserved! Coming back to the above-mentioned album, here’s a beautiful rendition of George Harrison’s Isn’t It a Pity, a great song from his first post-Beatles solo album All Things Must Pass, which came out in November 1970.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of the above tunes. Hope there’s something for you and you’ll be back for more. While I can’t exclude the possibility of future twists, I don’t think you’ll see another all-instrumental installment of The Sunday Six anytime soon!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify