The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday and hard to believe another week has flown by. On the upside, this means the time has come again to embark on a little imaginary music time travel excursion. As always, the itinerary includes six stops in six different decades with music in different flavors.

Lester Young/I Can’t Get Started

This first pick, which takes us back to 1956, was inspired by fellow blogger and jazz connoisseur Cincinnati Babyhead, aka. CB, who the other reminded me of Lester Young. Nicknamed The President, the tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist was active between 1933 and 1959. Young first gained prominence as a member of Count Basie’s orchestra. I Can’t Get Started, initially a 1936 composition by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, was included on Young’s 1956 album The President Plays With the Oscar Peterson Trio. This smooth music is perfect to ease us into the trip!

Ramones/Blitzkrieg Bop

Hey! Ho! Let’s go! To April 1976, which saw the eponymous debut album by New York punk rockers Ramones. They had formed two years earlier in the Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. The band originally featured lead vocalist Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone), guitarist and backing vocalist John Cummings (Johnny Ramone), bassist and backing vocalist Douglas Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) and drummer Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone). Blitzkrieg Bop, co-written by Tommy and Dee Dee, was the band’s debut single. This fun music is my kind of punk rock. One, two, three, four!

Gary Moore/Story of the Blues

Time for some blistering electric blues with a nice soul touch by Gary Moore. Prior to releasing his solo debut Back on the Streets in 1978, the Northern Irish guitarist played with Irish bands Skid Row and Thin Lizzy. By the time he released his ninth solo album After Hours in March 1992, Moore had comfortably settled on blues and blues rock, which remained his main musical focus until his untimely death from a heart attack at age 58 in February 2011. Here’s Story of the Blues, a song he wrote.

Gregg Allman/Black Muddy River

Our next stop takes us down south and to the present century. In March 2016, Gregg Allman recorded what would become his final album Southern Blood. Initially, the Allman Brothers co-founder had planned a sequel to his 2011 solo album Low Country Blues with original songs. But Allman who had been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2012 was running short of time, so he worked with his manager Michael Lehman to pick “meaningful” songs to cover. Southern Blood was recorded over just nine days at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The album was released in September 2017, four months after his death. Speaking of the Allmans, on Thursday, Dickey Betts passed away from cancer and COPD, leaving drummer Jaimoe (John Lee Johnson) as the former group’s only surviving co-founding member. Here’s Allman’s incredible rendition of the Grateful Dead’s Black Muddy River, co-written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

The Hollies/Bus Stop

I always get weirdly emotional when listening to music from Southern Blood, so my next proposition is more upbeat. Enter a catchy ’60s song with sweet harmony vocals: Bus Stop by The Hollies. Initially formed in the late ’50s as duo comprised of Allan Clarke (vocals, guitar) and Graham Nash (vocals, guitar), they became The Hollies in December 1962, together with Vic Steele (lead guitar), Eric Haydock (bass) and Don Rathbone (drums). Bus Stop, released in June 1966 and penned by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman, was one of the group’s biggest hit singles and was also the title track of their fourth U.S. album. The Hollies exist to this day as a touring act and most recently were on the road in the UK last year. Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott, who played guitar and drums, respectively, on Bus Stop, are part of the current line-up.

Scorpions/Bad Boys Running Wild

And just as this trip is in full swing, we need to wrap up again. Let’s push the pedal to the metal with Scorpions and the great opener of March 1984’s Love at First Sting. The German metal band’s ninth studio album cemented their status as an internationally popular act. With approximately 3.5 million sold units worldwide, Love at First Sting became their second-highest seller after Crazy World (November 1990). Initially were formed in 1965, Scorpiona continue to rock on and are currently on the road. Here’s Bad Boys Running Wild, with music composed by guitarist and co-founder Rudolf Schenker and lyrics written by lead vocalist Klaus Meine and then-drummer Herman Rarebell.

Of course, I wouldn’t leave you without a Spotify playlist of the above track. Hope sometimes tickles your fancy and that you’ll be back for more!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday! It’s a rainy weekend in my neck of the woods of central New Jersey, U.S.A. Because of that and high winds, Rock the Farm, a great annual tribute music festival for an important cause I’ve frequently covered, most recently here, was rescheduled until next June – certainly the right decision under the circumstances but still a bummer!

All of that makes me feel even more like firing up the imaginary music time machine and escape the present reality for some time. Regardless of the weather or other things that may be on your mind, as always, I hope you’ll join me on the trip, and we can have a great time together!

Count Basie Orchestra/Splanky

For our first stop today, we shall set the time controls to January 1958. Picking a winter month in New York City may seem a surprising choice to escape bad present weather, but when the music is great, you can have sunshine on any rainy day. And greatness is certainly what jazz pianist Count Basie and the Count Basie Orchestra, delivered on The Atomic Mr. Basie. Initially titled Basie, aka E=MC² and reissued in 1994 as The Complete Atomic Basie, this studio album by Basie and his big band features compositions and arrangements by jazz trumpeter Neal Hefti. Here’s the groovy Splanky – feel free to snip along!

Humble Pie/I’ll Go Alone

Next let’s head to August 1969 and As Safe As Yesterday Is, the debut album by Humble Pie. While the English rock band had been formed in January that year by guitarists and vocalists Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, formerly of The Herd and Small Faces, respectively, the record’s release was delayed due Marriott’s Small Faces touring commitments and Frampton’s legal problems with his old management. By the time As Safe As Yesterday Is appeared, Humble Pie already had recorded enough material for at least three albums. I’ll Go Alone is one of two tracks solely written by Frampton who also sang it. Back in July, I finally caught him alive. While Frampton is battling a progressive muscle wasting disorder and performed seated, he still sounded great!

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes/If You Don’t Me By Now

Time to pay a visit to the ’70s, more specifically August 1972, which saw the release of an album featuring one of the most beautiful Philly soul ballads I can think of: If You Don’t Know Me By Now by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The song appeared on the group’s debut album I Miss You, which was later reissued as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Yes, it’s lush, but what a vocal gem – I don’t wanna sound overly sentimental, you just don’t hear much singing like this anymore. If You Don’t Know Me By Now was co-written by songwriting and production team Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff who formed their own label Philadelphia International Records and are credited for creating the Philly sound. In 1989, Simply Red recorded an incredible cover of that song and scored a major international hit.

Talking Heads/And She Was

It’s hard to follow the beauty of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, but our trip must continue. And on we go to June 1985 and Little Creatures, the sixth studio album by art pop and new wave band Talking Heads. Overall, it became their most successful album, with more than 2 million copies sold in the U.S. alone and top 20 chart positions in multiple countries, including no. 1 in New Zealand. The big hit single off that album was Road to Nowhere, which was very popular in Germany and got the group on my radar screen. Here’s the follow-up And She Was, which like Road to Nowhere and the majority of the other tracks was penned by front man David Byrne, a vocalist with a distinct style.

Lyle Lovett/She Makes Me Feel So Good

By now you may have noticed we’re going chronologically this time. Does the lack of the traditional zig-zag time travel reflect my reluctance to go back to the present? Perhaps a bit, though my primary thought is it can’t hurt to change things a little every now and then. Okay, on the ’90s and an artist I pretty much know by name only: Lyle Lovett. The singer-songwriter from Houston, Texas oftentimes appears to be categorized as country. While I no longer regard this label as terrible, I believe there’s much more to his music. Case in point: She Makes Me Feel So Good, a Lovett composition that has a neat jazzy groove with soulful vocals. This great track is from Lovett’s fourth studio album Joshua Judges Ruth, released in March 1992.

Melissa Etheridge/Juliet

For our sixth and final stop, we’re making a big jump back to the present and a great rock artist fellow blogger Dave from A Sound Day covered earlier this week, which inspired this pick: Melissa Etheridge who I instantly loved when I first heard Bring Me Some Water, off her eponymous debut album from May 1988. Etheridge is currently doing a 10-week residency at New York Broadway venue Circle in the Square Theatre. In an obvious nod to that engagement, she released a cover of On Broadway as part of an EP with the same title on August 25. In addition to the well-known song credited to Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Etheridge’s latest EP includes two originals. Here’s one of them, Juliet. It’s great she’s still out there rockin’!

While I enjoy shaking up The Sunday Six a bit every now and then, what hopefully will never change is including a Spotify playlist of all the tracks we visited during the trip, so here you go! Hope you’ve had some fun on today’s trip and will be back for more music time travel next Sunday!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday! Once again, I’d like to invite you to join me on another trip with the magical music time machine. As always, we shall visit six tracks from different decades and in different flavors. Hope you’re up for some fun!

The J.J. Johnson Quintet/Angel Eyes

Let’s ease into our journey with some soothing jazz by U.S. trombonist, composer and arranger J.J. Johnson, one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. After he initially had studied the piano at age 9, Johnson decided to pick up the trombone as a 14-year-old and only three years later began his professional career in 1941. He played as a sideman with Benny Carter, Count Basie and others before making his first recordings as a leader of smaller groups featuring Max Roach, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. By the mid-’50s, Johnson was leading his own touring groups ranging from quartets to sextets. This brings me to J Is for Jazz, an album released by The J.J. Johnson Quintet in 1956, and Angel Eyes. Composed by Matt Dennis in 1946, with lyrics by Earl Brent, the song was first featured in a 1953 drama film titled Jennifer.

Jackie Wilson/Don’t Burn No Bridges

Our next stop takes us to 1976. If you had told me the song I’m about to present was performed by The Temptations, I may have bought it. Until recently, I wouldn’t have guessed it was by Jackie Wilson, an artist I primarily had known for Reet Petite, one of his biggest international hits from 1957. But Wilson was pretty versatile and in addition to R&B and rock & roll also performed jazz, soul, doo-wop, pop and psychedelic soul. During a live performance in September 1975, Wilson suffered a massive heart attack, from which he never recovered. He passed away in January 1984 at age 49 from complications of pneumonia. From his final album Nobody But You, which was released in 1976 after Wilson had become incapacitated from his stroke, here’s the amazing Don’t Burn No Bridges featuring The Chi-Lites.

John Mellencamp/Last Chance

Time for a stop-over in the ’90s with a great tune by an artist who I trust needs not much of an introduction: John Mellencamp. In October 1991, the singer-songwriter from the heartland of Seymour, Ind. came out with his 11th studio album Whenever We Wanted, about 15 years into his recording career. It was the first released under his actual name, i.e., without the Cougar name, which had been imposed by his first manager Tony Defries who insisted Mellencamp was a name that was too hard to market. Today, more than 30 years later, he is still going strong. Here’s Last Chance.

U2/Vertigo

Let’s now pay a visit to the current century. In November 2004, Irish rock band U2 released their 11th studio album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Since the enormously successful The Joshua Tree, which appeared in March 1987, U2 had released five additional albums that topped the charts and reached multi-Platinum status in many countries. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb continued that trend, hitting no. 1 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, as well as the UK and various other European countries and becoming another huge commercial success. With almost 10 million copies sold in 2004 alone, it was the fourth-highest-selling album of the year. Here’s one of the reasons, Vertigo, the opening track and first of four singles.

The Outfield/Your Love

One of the decades we haven’t visited yet on this trip are the ’80s. Let’s set our magical music time machine to August 1985, which saw the release of Play Deep, the first album by British pop-rock band The Outfield. It was an impressive debut, especially in the U.S. where the album climbed to no. 9 on the Billboard 200 and reached 2x Platinum status (2 million certified units), as of February 1989, making it their best-selling album there. Here’s the catchy Your Love written by the band’s guitarist John Spinks. While the group apparently never officially disbanded, their final album Replay came out in 2011. Spinks died of liver cancer in July 2014. Lead vocalist and bassist Tony Lewis passed away in October 2020, leaving drummer Alan Jackman as the only surviving member from the group’s last line-up.

The Guess Who/No Time

Once again, we need to wrap up another music time travel excursion. Our final stop takes us to Winnipeg and September 1969. That’s when Canadian rock band The Guess Who released their fifth studio album Canned Wheat, only six months after the predecessor Wheatfield Soul. Canned Wheat also has the distinction of being the second album released as The Guess Who, i.e., without the question mark, which was part of their name for the third and fourth releases. The group’s first two studio releases appeared under Chad Allan & the Expressions (Guess Who?). You may know No Time from the more popular single version, which was also included on the band’s sixth studio album American Woman, released in January 1970. But the first and longer version of the tune, co-written by Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, appeared on Canned Wheat.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of all the above goodies. Hope there’s something you like and you’ll be back for more music time travel.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday! What do Bruce Cockburn, The Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson and Neil Young have in common? Apart from having written great songs, each was born in Canada, a musical treasure trove and the geographical destination of today’s journey. While the magical music time machine won’t visit any of them, the trip will feature six other great artists from the land of the maple leaf. Hope you’ll join!

Oscar Peterson/Blue and Sentimental

Our Canadian excursion shall start in 1956 with music performed by a virtuoso who is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time: Oscar Peterson. Peterson was born in Montreal and worked with the likes of Count Basie, Roy Eldrige, Buddy Rich and Ella Fitzgerald. Over a 60-year-plus career from the mid-1940s until 2007, the man Duke Ellington called the “maharaja of the keyboard” released more than 200 recordings and won multiple awards and honors. Blue and Sentimental, composed by Basie, Mack David and Jerry Livingston, appeared on a 1956 album titled Oscar Peterson Plays Count Basie. The track may not be particularly virtuous, but it sure as heck is a beautiful piece of music!

The Tragically Hip/New Orleans Is Sinking

After this smooth start, let’s rev up things with The Tragically Hip. Canada’s best-selling band between 1996 and 2016 remained largely obscure beyond the country’s borders, which continues to puzzle me. During their 33-year run from 1984 until 2017, the alternative rockers from Kingston, Ontario released 13 studio albums, one live album and one compilation, among others, and received multiple Juno Awards and other accolades. It all came to an end in October 2017 after the death of vocalist Gord Downie. New Orleans Is Sinking, credited to the entire band, is a charmingly crunchy tune that was included on their sophomore album Up to Here, which appeared in September 1989.

Sarah McLachlan/Angel

Our next stop takes us to July 1997 and one of the most stunning pop ballads I know: Angel by Sarah McLachlan. The singer-songwriter, who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, started playing music as a four-year-old with the ukelele and later studied classical guitar, classical piano and voice. At 19 years, she signed her first record deal and released her debut album Touch the following year in October 1988. McLachlan was inspired to write Angel after she had read press accounts about musicians getting into heroin to escape the pressures of the cutthroat music business. The intense ballad was the fourth single off her fourth studio album Surfacing. The tune enjoyed particular success in the U.S. where it climbed to no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also became McLachlan’s only hit to top the Adult Contemporary chart. Surfacing won four Juno Awards including Album of the Year.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive/Roll On Down the Highway

Let’s go back to the ’70s with a nice rock song by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, aka BTO. They were formed in 1973 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by brothers Randy Bachman (vocals, lead guitar), Tim Bachman (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Robbie Bachman (drums, percussion, backing vocals), along with C. Fred Turner (vocals, bass, rhythm guitar). The group, who after some interruptions and different line-ups disbanded for good in 2018, enjoyed their biggest success in the mid-’70s. BTO’s best chart and sales performance came with their third studio album Not Fragile, released in September 1974. Off that album, here’s Roll On Down the Highway, a tune co-written by Turner and Robbie Bachman.

Leonard Cohen/So Long, Marianne

No Sunday Six trip can skip the ’60s as long as I’m the conductor of the magical music time machine. This brings us to an artist AllMusic’s Bruce Eder called “one of the most fascinating and enigmatic — if not the most successful — singer/songwriters of the late ’60s”, an artist I sadly know much too little about: Leonard Cohen. Bob Dylan described the man, who was born on the Island of Montreal (Westmount), as the “number one” songwriter of their time. Remarkably, Cohen focused on poetry and novels in the ’50s and much of the ’60s, and already was in his thirties before he decided to make music his main career. So Long, Marianne, a song from his December 1967 debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen, immediately struck a chord with me when I first heard it many years ago.

Double Date With Death/Loin

The final stop of our little excursion to Canada acknowledges that French is the mother tongue of approximately 7.2 million Canadians or about 23% of the country’s population. This takes us back to the present and a group from Montreal you may not have heard of yet: Double Date With Death. From their Soundcloud profile: Double Date with Death (DDWD) is a psychedelic rock band with catchy melodies and thunderous riffs. On stage, the quartet led by Vincent Khouni and Julien Simard transports the audience with their explosive energy and contagious enthusiasm. DDWD is part of the art rock wave sweeping through the Montreal alternative scene. Notice to all fans of Ty Segall, the Oh Sees, Chocolat or Corridor: Portraits, their brand new full-length, is now out (March 17, 2023). And from that album, here’s Loin (far). While I would call it more dreamy than psychedelic, I liked this tune right away!

My work here is almost done except for one thing, as repeat fellow travelers know – a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Double Date With Death Soundcloud page; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another Sunday Six where I embark on time travel into the great world of music, six tracks at a time. If you’re in the U.S., celebrated Thanksgiving and had a long weekend, hope you had a great time with family and friends with no stress while traveling or cooking. Regardless of your situation, music can work its magic on pretty much any occasion, so I invite you to join me on yet another excursion.

Lester Young & Harry Edison/Red Boy Blues

Today, our journey starts in 1955 when two American jazz musicians, saxophonist Lester Young and trumpeter Harry Edison, teamed up for an album titled Pres & Sweets. Young, nicknamed “Pres” or “Prez”, was active between 1993 and 1959. He first gained prominence with the Count Basie Orchestra, in which he played from 1933 until 1940. After the Second World War, Young joined Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic and frequently toured with the troupe for the next 12 years. Harry Edison who started playing the trumpet as a 12-year-old became a member of the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra in 1933 before joining Basie’s orchestra in 1937. That’s where he played first with Young who nicknamed him “Sweets”. In the ’50s, he also toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic and played with other orchestras, in addition to leading his own groups. This brings me back to Pres & Sweets, and Red Boy Blues, a composition by Young. He and Edison got a little help from some formidable friends: Oscar Peterson (piano), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass) and Buddy Rich (drums).

The Wild Feathers/The Ceiling

My recent post for Thanksgiving reminded me of The Wild Feathers, a country rock band I first came across two years ago when featuring a tune from their then-latest album Medium Rarities. The group was founded in 2010 in Nashville. Their current line-up includes founding members Ricky Young (guitar, vocals), Taylor Burns (guitar, vocals) and Joel King (bass, vocals), as well as Ben Dumas (drums). The Wild Feathers began touring frequently in 2013, sharing bills with the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and ZZ Ward. Since the release of their eponymous debut in August 2013, they have released four additional studio albums, most recently Alvarado (October 2021), which I reviewed here. The Ceiling, co-written by King, Young and Burns, is a great tune from the band’s aforementioned first album.

Stevie Wonder/Sir Duke

Next, let’s pay a visit to the ’70s with an absolute soul gem by Stevie Wonder who I trust needs no further introduction. Sir Duke, off Wonder’s 1976 masterpiece Songs in the Key of Life, is a beautiful tribute to jazz great Duke Ellington who had passed away in 1974. The lyrics also mention Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Sir Duke was Wonder’s first tribute to people he admired. In the early 1980s, he also recorded Master Blaster, dedicated to Bob Marley, and Happy Birthday, which pleaded for what would eventually become the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in the United States. Sir Duke is one of these tunes that immediately put me in a great mood and make me move. Feel free to groove along!

Chuck Prophet/Credit

Are you ready for a stop-over in the ’90s? Ready or not, here we go with great music by Chuck Prophet. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is a relatively recent discovery for me. Blending rock, country, blues and folk, Prophet has released 16 solo albums since 1990, according to Wikipedia. Before launching his solo career in 1990, he was a member of rough-edged Paisley Underground band Green on Red and can be heard on 10 of their albums. He also been a guest musician on more than 20 albums by other artists, such as True West, Cake, Warren Zevon and Kim Carnes. Most recently, he worked with songwriter Jenifer McKitrick for her forthcoming album Road Call scheduled for December 1. Credit, penned by English singer-songwriter Pete Shelley, co-founder of early punk band Buzzcocks, is the opener of Prophet’s 1997 solo album Homemade Blood. The more I hear of Prophet, the more I like him!

The Impressions/It’s All Right

I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for some more soul, and I got a true beauty that takes us back to August 1963: It’s All Right by The Impressions. Written by the amazing Curtis Mayfield, the tune first appeared on the eponymous debut album by The Impressions. The gospel, doo-wop, R&B and soul group was co-founded by Mayfield and Jerry Butler in 1958 as Jerry Butler & the Impressions, along with Sam Gooden, Arthur Brooks and his brother Richard Brooks, who all had been members of doo-wop group the Roosters. After releasing 12 additional albums with The Impressions, Mayfield left them in 1970 to launch a solo career. The group went on without Mayfield until their retirement in 2018, after a 60-year career. It’s All Right was also released as a single in October 1963 and became The Impressions’ biggest hit, topping Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart and climbing to no. 4 on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100. In my book, it’s one of the most beautiful and uplifting songs I know. The tune also shows the magic music can do. Listening to it instantly makes you feel okay.

Pat Benatar/Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Once again, we’re reaching the final destination of yet another Sunday Six. My proposition for this week is a great rocker by 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Pat Benator. I was glad to see this great lady inducted. Hit Me With Your Best Shot, penned by Canadian musician Eddie Schwartz, first appeared on Benatar’s sophomore album Crimes of Passion, released in August 1980. It also became the album’s second single in September of that year and Benatar’s first top 10 U.S. hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Of her songs I know, I think it’s my favorite. Pat Benator, now 69 years and in the 50th year of her career, is still going strong. I happened to catch her recent Rock Hall induction performance and she was still kicking butt showing the younger cats how it’s done. So was her longtime partner in crime lead guitarist Neil Giraldo who also has been her husband since 1982.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tunes. Hope there’s something you dig!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Is it really Sunday again? What happened to the bloody week? Okay, let’s try this again: Happy Sunday and I hope everybody had a great week and is enjoying an even better weekend! Nearly anything you can do gets better with great music, so I invite you to join me on another time travel trip. As usual, I’m taking you to six different stops. Are you in? Let’s go!

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane/In a Sentimental Mood

What do you get when combining jazz piano great Duke Ellington and saxophone dynamo John Coltrane? Well, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane, a collaboration album released in January 1963, and the first stop on our journey today. Jazz artists love to team up, and this record is one of many collaborative efforts Sir Duke undertook in the early 1960s, which also included artists, such as Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Max Roach and Charles Mingus. Rather than a big band setting, it placed Ellington in a quartet, which in addition to Coltrane featured Jimmy Garrison or Aaron Bell (bass) and Elvin Jones or Sam Woodyard (drums). My specific pick is In a Sentimental Mood, which Ellington had composed more than 25 years earlier in 1935, with lyrics written by Manny Kurtz. I guess Ellington’s manager Irving Mills was in the mood for a percentage of the publishing and gave himself a writing credit!

The Jayhawks/Martin’s Song

Our next stop takes us to September 1992 and Hollywood Town Hall, the third studio album by The Jayhawks. Since “discovering” them in August 2020, I’ve come to dig this American alt. country and country rock band. Initially formed in Minneapolis in 1985, The Jayhawks originally featured Mark Olson (acoustic guitar, vocals), Gary Louris (electric guitar, vocals), Marc Perlman (bass) and Norm Rogers (drums). By the time Hollywood Town Hall was released, Rogers had been replaced by Ken Callahan. After four additional albums and more line-up changes, the group went on hiatus in 2004. They reemerged with a new formation in 2019, which still includes Louris and Pearlman. Going back to Hollywood Town Hall, here’s the album’s great closer Martin’s Song, penned by Olson and Louris.

Stephen Stills/Right Now

How ’bout some ’70s? Ask and you shall receive! My pick is Stephen Stills – yep the guy who co-founded Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield with that Canadian fellow Neil Young in 1966, and two years later got together with David Crosby and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. In 1969, they added Young, became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, played Woodstock and released the classic Déjà Vu in March 1970. Following CSNY’s success, Stills launched a solo career, just like the other three members of the group. In late 1971, he teamed up with Chris Hillman (formerly of The Byrds) to form the band Manassas. The group also included Al Perkins (steel guitar, guitar), Paul Harris (keyboards), Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels (bass, backing vocals), Joe Lala (percussion, backing vocals) and Dallas Taylor (drums). Their eponymous debut from April 1972 was the first of two studio albums the group released, as Stephen Stills/Manassas – I assume for name recognition reasons. Plus, Stills wrote or co-wrote all except one of the tunes. Right Now is among the songs solely penned by him – love that tune!

Paul Simon/You Can Call Me Al

In August 1986, Paul Simon released what remains my favorite among his solo albums: Graceland. Evidently, many other folks liked it as well, making it Simon’s best-performing album, both in terms of chart success and sales. It also won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year (1987) and Record of the Year (1988) – confusing titles! While the first honors an album in its entirety, the second recognizes a specific track. Graceland features an eclectic mixture of musical styles, including pop, a cappella, zydeco, isicathamiya, rock and mbaqanga. The album involved recording sessions in Johannesburg, South Africa, featuring local musicians. Therefore, it was criticized by some for breaking the cultural boycott of South Africa because of its policy of apartheid. One can only imagine what kind of firestorm a comparable activity would likely unleash nowadays with so much polarization boosted by social media! If I would have to pick one track from the album, I’d go with You Can Call Me Al, an infectious tune that among others features a crazy bass run by South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo.

Little Steven/Soulfire

Let’s keep the groove going with guitarist, songwriter, actor and (unofficial) music professor, the one and only Steven Van Zandt, aka Little Steven or Miami Steve. Van Zandt gained initial prominence as guitarist in various Bruce Springsteen bands, such as Steel Mill, Bruce Springsteen Band, and, of course, the mighty E Street Band. In 1981, Van Zandt started fronting an on-and-off group known as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. The following year, while still being an official member of the E Street Band, he released his debut solo album Men Without Women, credited as Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. In April 1984, just before the release of the Born in the U.S.A. album, Van Zant officially left and recorded a series of additional solo albums. After a brief stint in 1995, he permanently rejoined Springsteen’s backing band in 1999. He also got into acting, which most notably included his role as mafioso and strip club owner Silvio Dante in the American TV crime drama series The Sopranos. This finally brings us to Soulfire, his sixth solo album from May 2017. The great title track was co-written by Van Zandt and Anders Bruus, the former guitarist of Danish rock band The Breakers. Here’s a cool live version!

The Sonics/Cinderella

And once again, we’re reaching our final destination of yet another Sunday Six excursion. For this one, let’s go back to the ’60s with some raw garage rock by The Sonics – coz why not! Formed in Tacoma, Wa. in 1960, they have often been called “the first punk band” and were a significant influence for American punk groups like The Stooges, MC5 and The Flesh Eaters. Cinderella is a track from the band’s sophomore release Boom, which appeared in February 1996. The tune was written by Gerry Roslie, the group’s keyboarder at the time. The line-up on the album also included founding members Larry Parypa (lead guitar, vocals) and his brother Andy Parypa (bass, vocals), along with Rob Lind (saxophone) and Bob Bennett (drums). Based on Wikipedia, The Sonics still appear to be around, with Roslie, Lind and Larry Parypa among their current members.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of the above tracks. Hope there’s something for you!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Hump Day Picker-Upper

For those of us taking care of business during the regular workweek, I guess it’s safe to assume we’ve all felt that dreadful Wednesday blues. Sometimes, that middle point of the workweek can be a true drag. But help is on the way!

Today’s proposed remedy to chase the clouds away is Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder. While Wonder wrote that song as a tribute to musicians he loves, especially Duke Ellington, to me, it has a very happy feel that always lifts my mood instantly. And it’s also really groovy.

Sir Duke first appeared on Songs in the Key of Life, Wonder’s 18th studio album from September 1976, and a true masterpiece. The tune also became the record’s third single in March 1977. In the U.S., it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Best Selling Soul Singles (now called Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) charts. Among ex-U.S. chart placements, it also hit no. 1 in Canada and climbed to no. 2 in the UK.

In addition to Ellington, Sir Duke celebrates Louis Armstrong (“Satchmo”), Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Sodarisa Miller. “I knew the title from the beginning but wanted it to be about the musicians who did something for us,” Wonder said, according to Songfacts. “So soon they are forgotten. I wanted to show my appreciation. They gave us something that is supposed to be forever. That’s the basic idea of what we do and how we hook it up.”

Happy Hump Day, and always remember the wise words of George Harrison: All things must pass!

The Hump Day Picker-Upper will go on a short hiatus for the holidays and be back on Wednesday, January 5.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

James Taylor Releases American Songbook Cover Album

I suppose if you’re a cynic you could point out that when an artist releases a cover album of American standards or Christmas tunes for that matter, it’s a sign they’ve run out of ideas and may consider retirement, or they simply are trying make a quick buck. While in some cases this notion may not be unfounded, I feel differently when it comes to James Taylor. To me, his just-released new album American Standard is a legitimate undertaking by an artist who wants to highlight songs that have played an important role in his musical journey.

I’ve admired James Taylor for many years for his warm and soothing vocals and his impressive acoustic guitar chops. I wish I could play like that! His cover of Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend is one of my all-time favorite tunes. And, yes, Taylor has also written beautiful songs like Carolina in My Mind, Sweet Baby James and of course the amazing Fire and Rain. I realize this may make me a bit biased when it comes to his latest release.

So why come out with a cover album of American standards? Do we really need another version of Moon River and God Bless the Child? Here’s what the album’s liner notes say, as reported by American Songwriter: “These are songs I have always known. Most of them were part of my family’s record collection, the first music I heard as a kid growing up in North Carolina…Before I started writing my own stuff, I learned to play these tunes, working out chord changes for my favorite melodies. And those guitar arrangements became the basis for this album.”

James Taylor in his barn studio in Western Mass.

“My collaborator, John Pizzarelli, is a living encyclopedia of the best popular music that the West has ever produced. Like his father, Bucky, he is a master guitarist and a casual, matter-of-fact genius. I asked John to come out to Western Massachusetts, where I live and do my recording in a big barn in the middle of the forest, to help me put down some tracks. I’d show him what changes I had found for a handful of songs and we’d work up the arrangements.”

Call me naive, but to me Taylor doesn’t sound like some artist who is just out there to cash in on his big name late in his recording career. I won’t pretend I’m an expert on the American songbook. I’m not. It’s simply not the kind of music I typically listen to. I also doubt this will change all for a sudden. What I do know is that I love how Taylor and Pizzarelli arranged these tunes. I think it’s time to let the music do some of the talking or writing.

Teach Me Tonight was written in 1953 by pianist Gene De Paul with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. This jazz standard has been covered by Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau and Stevie Wonder, among other countless artists. I dig the beautiful arrangement, including the trumpet solo and percussion played by Walt Fowler and Luis Conte, respectively. Here’s the official video.

Another beautiful tune is Almost Like Being in Love. The music and the lyrics were written by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, respectively, for the score of their 1947 musical Brigadoon. The song was first performed on Broadway by David Brooks. Gene Kelly sang the 1954 film version. The tune was also recorded by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey. As a fan of old James Bond movies, she entered my radar screen with Goldfinger, perhaps the best 007 tune.

My Heart Stood Still was composed by Richard Rodgers in 1927, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was written for a British musical revue by Charles Cochran, which opened in London in May 1927. It was also featured later that same year in the American Broadway musical A Connecticut Yankee. Like with most other tracks on the album, it’s a tune that was recorded by many artists over the decades, including Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The lovely violin part is played by Stuart Duncan.

The last tune I’d like to call out is It’s Only a Paper Moon, which I previously only knew from the 1973 motion picture Paper Moon. But the song’s origin dates all the way back to 1932, when it was titled If You Believed in Me and first performed by Claire Carleton during a Broadway play called The Great Magoo. The music was composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. According to Wikipedia, the song’s lasting fame stems from its revival by popular artists during the last years of World War II, with hit recordings being made by Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman.

American Standard, which was released yesterday (Feb 28), is Taylor’s 20th studio album. It was co-produced by Dave O’Donnell, Taylor and Pizzarelli. O’Donnell has worked in different capacities (engineering, mixing, producing) with an impressive array of artists, who in addition to Taylor include Sheryl Crow, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and John Mayer, among others. Pizzarelli, a jazz guitarist and vocalist, isn’t exactly obscure either. According to Wikipedia, apart from recording more than 20 solo albums, he has appeared on more than 40 albums, including Paul McCartney, Rickie Lee Jones and Natalie Cole.

Taylor will be touring Canada and the U.S., starting in mid-April and featuring special guests. In Canada, it is going to be Bonnie Raitt, while for most U.S. gigs Jackson Browne will be his special guest. This surely does sound tempting to me. If Raitt would be the special guest in the U.S., I’d probably get a ticket right away. Don’t get me wrong, I dig Jackson Browne as well but saw him relatively recently in May 2018. My previous and so far only Bonnie Raitt show, on the other hand, dates back to August 2016. And, yes, I admit it, I do have a weak spot for her – she’s just an amazing lady!

Sources: Wikipedia; American Songwriter; James Taylor website; Dave O’Donnell website; YouTube

Leiber-Stoller, Songwriting Partnership Extraordinaire

I believe Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller first entered my radar screen as a 13-year-old when I got an Elvis Presley songbook for guitar. It was shortly after I had started taking lessons and was able to play a few chords. Elvis was my idol at the time. What I didn’t know then and frankly didn’t fully appreciate until conducting some research for this post was the enormous scope of Leiber-Stoller’s work, which goes far beyond some of the best-known early classic rock & roll tunes.

For some time, I had contemplated writing about important songwriting partnerships including Leiber-Stoller, but once I noticed how many songs these guys wrote and how many artists they worked with, I felt they warranted a dedicated post. I also decided to largely exclude their production work and primarily focus on their writing during the ’50s and early ’60s, which is their most exciting period, in my opinion.

Lyricist Jerry Leiber was born as Jerome Leiber on April 25, 1933 in Baltimore, Md. Composer Michael Stoller, who later changed his legal fist name to Mike, was born on March 13, 1933 in Belle Harbor, Queens, N.Y. In addition to being born the same year to Jewish families, Leiber and Stoller also shared a love for blues, boogie-woogie and black culture. They met in Los Angeles in 1950, while Leiber was a senior in high school and Stoller was a college freshman.

Mike Stoller (l) & Jerry Leiber in 1980

According to an extended interview Lieber and Stoller gave to NAMM Oral History Program in December 2007, Leiber had written some lyrics and knew he wanted to be a songwriter. What he didn’t know was how to write music. A drummer referred him to piano player Mike Stoller. Once they met and Stoller looked at some of Leiber’s lyrics, he noticed they were 12-bar blues. He said, “I love the blues” and started playing the piano, with Leiber singing along. And Stoller said, “Mike, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Okay, I made up that last quote, borrowing from one of my favorite black and white movies of all time. What is true is that day the two men agreed to form a partnership that would generate some of the best-known songs of the ’50s and ’60s.

The first artist who recorded a Leiber-Stoller composition was Jimmy Witherspoon, one of the blues singers the duo followed to help them develop their “black style” of writing music and lyrics. Real Ugly Woman appeared as a single in 1951. The words are just as lovely as the title! 🙂 A little excerpt: Well, she’s a real ugly woman/Don’t see how she got that way/Yeah, she’s a real ugly woman/Don’t see how she got that way/Yes, and every time she comes around/she runs all my friends away…

The following year in 1952, Leiber and Stoller scored their first hit with Hard Times, which was recorded by Charles Brown. The tune climbed to no. 7 on the Billboard R&B Chart.

1952 also saw one of Leiber and Stoller’s best-known songs, Hound Dog, which was first recorded by Big Mama Thornton. It was also the first time the duo produced music, though the production credits went to Johnny Otis, who was supposed to lead the recording session but ended up playing the drums on the tune. Released in February that year, it sold more than half a million copies and topped the Billboard R&B Chart. Three years later, Elvis Presley turned Hound Dog into a mega-hit. I like his version but have to say Thornton really killed it, so here’s her original.

Another early rock & roll classic penned by Lieber-Stoller is Kansas City, which according to Wikipedia is one of their most recorded tunes with over three hundred versions – they had to count them all! Initially, the tune was titled K.C. Loving and recorded by American boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield. It appeared in August 1952. While the song had some regional success, it didn’t chart nationally. That changed in April 1959 when Wilbert Harrison released his version, which became a no. 1 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 and R&B charts. Here’s the original. Feel free to shuffle along!

Going back to Elvis, while Leiber and Stoller didn’t mind having written a million-seller with Hound Dog, they weren’t particularly fond of Presley’s cover. But it led to writing more songs for Elvis, including one of my favorite ’50s rock & roll tunes of all time: Jailhouse Rock. Released in September 1957, is was the title track of the Elvis motion picture that came out in November of the same year. Leiber-Stoller played a prominent role in the making of the film’s soundtrack. Apart from Jailhouse Rock, they wrote three other tunes and worked with Elvis in the studio. Of course, I had to take a clip from the picture, which has to be one of the most iconic dance scenes ever captured on film. Doesn’t it feel a bit like watching an early version of a Michael Jackson music video?

Blues and rock & roll represent the early years of Leiber and Stoller’s songwriting. Beginning in the mid-’50s after they had started working for Atlantic Records, the duo branched out and became more pop-oriented. Among other artists, they wrote a number of songs for The Drifters and The Coasters. Here’s Ruby Baby, a great soulful, groovy, doo-wop tune from 1956. More than 25 years later, Donald Fagen became one of the other artists covering the song, when he included it on his excellent debut solo album The Nightfly from October 1982.

Next up: Yakety Yak by The Coasters. The song was released in April 1958 and topped the Billboard Pop Chart, Billboard R&B Chart and Cash Box Pop Chart. The track was also produced by Leiber-Stoller and became the biggest hit for The Coasters.

The last Leiber-Stoller tune I’d like to highlight is Stand By Me, which they co-wrote with Ben E. King. He first recorded it in April 1961, a year after he had left The Drifters to start a solo career. In addition to writing, once again Leiber-Stoller also produced the beautiful track, which remains one of my favorite ’60s songs to this day.

Asked during the above NAMM interview to comment on the fact that “nice Jewish boys didn’t really write a whole lot of hit records for blues singers at that point” (in the early ’50s), Stoller said, “Actually, they did later on, or at least later on we did know…It was considered to be somewhat peculiar at the time.” Added Lieber: “Black people always thought we were black until they came in contact with us and saw that we weren’t.” BTW, if you’re into rock & roll history, you may enjoy watching the entire interview, even though it’s close to 90 minutes. Again, you can do so here.

Altogether, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote or co-wrote 70-plus chart hits. According to lieberstoller.com, their songs have been performed by more than 1,000 artists, who in addition to the above include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, James Brown, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Joe Williams, Tom Jones, Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Luther Vandross, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin and even Edith Piaf, among others – wow, it almost poses the question which artists did not sing their songs!

Leiber-Stoller’s work has extensively and rightly been recognized. Accolades include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and 1985, respectively, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Songwriters in 1996. As reported by The New York Times, Jerry Leiber died from cardio-pulmonary failure on August 22, 2011 in Los Angeles at the age of 78. Mike Stoller is 86 years old and still alive. He can be heard introducing Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul on their great 2018 Soulfire Live! album for a gig at the Orpheum Theatre in New York – priceless!

Sources: Wikipedia; NAMM; Leiberstoller.com; The New York Times; YouTube