The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and, to readers in the U.S., happy long Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer in this country. While the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere doesn’t occur until June 21, temperatures in my neck of the woods in central New Jersey have felt summer-like over the past week. On to the actual topic of this post, another music time travel excursion. Hope you’ll join me.

Charles Mingus/Back Home Blues

Our trip today starts in November 1957 with jazz upright bass virtuoso, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus. Over a three-decade career, Mingus who is considered a pioneer of post-bop, collaborated with the likes of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Max Roach. This brings me to Mingus Three, aka. Trio, which in addition to Mingus (bass) featured Hampton Hawes (piano) and Dannie Richmond (drums). Let’s listen to Back Home Blues, one of the album’s tunes composed by Mingus. Good stuff!

Lenny Kravitz/Paralyzed

The next stop takes us back right to where we left with brand new music by Lenny Kravitz. Following challenges in his early career, where some clever music industry officials told him he didn’t sound “black enough” while others opined his music embraced too many influences of artists like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and actor stood the course. Kravitz also proved them wrong, with more than 40 million albums sold and various music awards. Off his 12th and latest studio album Blue Electric Light, which dropped on Friday, May 24, here’s the neat rocker Paralyzed, co-written by Kravitz and longtime collaborator Craig Ross.

Tim Hardin/If I Were a Carpenter

Time to go back, to the ’60s, coz why not! In April 1967, folk artist Tim Hardin released his sophomore album Hardin 2. The opener If I Were a Carpenter, a song I’ve always loved, is one of his best known. It also was recorded and became a hit for various other artists, such as Bobby Darin, The Four Tops and Johnny Cash. In the U.S., Darin’s version enjoyed the biggest pop chart success, reaching no. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. Sadly, Hardin passed away in December 1980 at age 39 from a heart attack caused by a heroin overdose. He had struggled with addiction for more than a decade.

Lou Reed/Vicious

Next we travel to November 1972, which saw the release of Lou Reed’s second solo album Transformer. That was about two years after he had left experimental rock band The Velvet Underground, where he first had become prominent as the group’s vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter. While they were one of the most influential bands of the underground scene, they lacked commercial success. Reed did better during his solo career, gaining some mainstream recognition. Transformer became his most successful album, fueled by his biggest hit single Walk On the Wild Side. Produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson, the album was a glam rock landmark. Here’s the cool opener Vicious.

Carlos Santana/Watch Your Step

This brings me to today’s ’80s stop and yet another great tip from my dear longtime German music buddy Gerd: Watch Your Step, a song included on an April 1983 solo album by Carlos Santana titled Havana Moon. It mostly features covers, as well as collaborations with Booker T & the MGs, Willie Nelson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Watch Your Step is a song by blues rock guitarist Bobby Parker who released it in July 1961. Carlos Santana wasn’t the first artist to cover it. The main riff also inspired a number of other songs like The Beatles’ I Feel Fine and Day Tripper and Led Zeppelin’s instrumental Moby Dick – not exactly the type of song I expected from Santana, but it’s smoking hot!

Alanis Morissette/Hand in My Pocket

Once again we’re reaching the sixth and final stop. This time, our little excursion shall end in June 1995 in the land of the maple leaf. That’s when Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette released her third studio album Jagged Little Pill. With sales of over 33 million worldwide, it became one of the best-selling albums of all time and made Morissette the first Canadian to achieve double diamond sales. Here’s Hand in My Pocket, one of six singles. It was co-written by Morissette and album producer Glen Ballard.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of the above songs. As always, I hope there’s something that tickles your fancy and you’ll be back for more.

Sources: Wikipedia; Acclaimed Music; YouTube; Spotify