Happy Sunday and welcome to more music time travel. Picking six tracks from six different decades and different genres in a random fashion feels very liberating and is my favorite activity each week. With that said, let’s do it again!
Nat Adderley/Sister Caroline
Today, our little excursion starts in December 1958 with music from Branching Out, an album by jazz cornetist Nat Adderley. After starting to play the trumpet in 1946 as a 15-year-old, Adderley switched to the cornet in 1950. Together with his older brother, saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, he co-founded Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1956 and frequently played with the group until they disbanded in 1975. Adderley also worked with Kenny Clarke, Wes Montgomery, Walter Booker, Ron Carter and Sonny Fortune, among others, and recorded albums as a leader. Branching Out is an example of the latter. Here’s the great Adderley composition Sister Caroline. He was backed by Johnny Griffin (tenor saxophone) and The Three Sounds: Gene Harris (piano), Andy Simpkins (bass) and Bill Dowdy (drums).
Joe Ely/Fingernails
Next we shall kick it up a few notches with some sizzling honky tonk rock & roll by Texas singer-songwriter and guitarist Joe Ely. Fingernails is a neat song fellow blogger Cincinnati Babyhead, aka. CB, recommended to me the other day. Penned by Ely, the track is from his sophomore album Honky Tonk Masquerade, released in February 1978. Ely is generally classified as country, but his music also includes high-energy blues, rockabilly and honky tonk swing. Fingernails sure as heck ain’t no country!
Pretenders/Never Do That
In May 1990, the fifth album by British-American rock group Pretenders came out, and that’s where we’re headed next. Packed! only pictured bandleader Chrissie Hynde on the cover, which was no coincidence. Together with drummer Blair Cunningham, she was the group’s only remaining member. Cunningham had replaced original drummer Martin Chambers in 1986. Chambers returned in 1993 and has played on all subsequent albums except for 2016’s Alone, a Hynde solo effort released under the Pretenders name. From the aforementioned Packed!, here’s the opener Never Do That, written by Hynde. In general, I think it’s great listening to her, and this song is no exception.
Pernice Brothers/Bechamel
Time to pay a visit to the current century with Pernice Brothers. I only learned about this indie rock band last week when I featured a song from their new album Who Will You Believe. The group was formed by Joe Pernice in 1998 after his old group Scud Mountain Boys had broken up. Pernice Brothers who also include Joe’s brother Bob Pernice released their first album Overcome by Happiness in May 1998. Bechamel takes us to the band’s July 2010 album Goodbye, Killer.
Carla Thomas/B-A-B-Y
Now I’m in the mood for some Stax soul and hope so are you. In 1966, the Memphis label released the third album by Carla Thomas. In the summer of 1960, the Queen of Memphis Soul had been the first artist to record a single with her father Rufus Thomas in the new Memphis recording facility of the label, which then was still called Satellite. By the time her third album Carla appeared in 1966, Satellite had changed their name to Stax – the first two letters from the founders’ and siblings’ last names (Jim) Stewart and (Astelle) Axton. The opening track B-A-B-Y, co-written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, also was released separately as a single in July of that year and became one of Thomas’ hits. My kind of music!
Neil Young/Rockin’ in the Free World
I can’t believe we’re once again at the point where we need to wrap things up. Let’s make it count with a true rock anthem by Neil Young, one of my favorite artists: Rockin’ in the Free World, off his 17th studio album Freedom, which came out in October 1989. Freedom relaunched Young’s career after a largely unsuccessful decade. Undoubtedly, this epic track had something to do with it. I’m talking about the electric version that closes Freedom. An acoustic live version of the same song, which I like as well, opens the album.
Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tracks, including Neil Young who is back on the platform. As always, I hope there’s something you dig. See ya!
Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify
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