Category: Music

Rhapsody in Blue

George Gershwin’s phenomenal blending of jazz and classical music, premiered at Aeolian Hall, in New York City, on February 12, 1924, 88 years ago tonight. Gershwin wrote the piece in three weeks, reportedly improvising some of the piano parts during the premiere.

Rhapsody in Blue was one of NPR’s 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. You can listen to the NPR report from NPR Music.

This video (audio with photographs actually) is an acoustic recording made in June 1924 with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra with Ross Gorman playing the clarinet opening as he did during the premier, and the composer at the piano.

I Will Always Love You

Her biggest hit gave the stage to “I,” a first person that is so easily recognized that if you even mumble “and I” with some kind of melody, whoever’s standing there will assume it’s “I Will Always Love You.” Originally written and recorded by Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You” was momentarily ceded to Linda Ronstadt, but Houston owns it now. The song broke through a dozen different ceilings because of the first person chorus, but just start with the first forty-five seconds, which is Houston singing without any accompaniment. She states the first verse, moving carefully through her own filters, not even hinting at how bright the lights can get. The second verse casually drops in some heavier flashes and then the second chorus comes out as if Houston is no longer any kind of regretful—she is using her magnanimous nature to flatten whoever’s chosen someone over her.

Whitney Houston’s Invincible Voice, Sasha Frere-Jones

1991 Super Bowl

Johnny Otis 1921-2012

Johnny Otis performs his monster hit “Willie and the Hand Jive” on his TV show with Marie Adams, the Three Tons of Joy, and at the end, Lionel Hampton.

Or, the original song:

Bandleader Johnny Otis has been called “the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues.” Over the years he has exhibited an uncanny ear for talent, and by bringing that talent to the fore has served to advance the growth and development of rhythm & blues. His R&B stage revues and the numerous recordings made under his name have included such singing discoveries as Little Esther, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Etta James and the Robins (who evolved into the Coasters). Beginning in the mid-Forties, Johnny Otis cut classic numbers including “Double Crossing Blues,” (a #1 R&B single for nine weeks!), “Mistrusting Blues,” “Barrelhouse Boogie” and “Rockin’ Blues” with his R&B orchestra. Otis recorded under his own name but also backed up acts on the Excelsior and Exclusive labels.

In addition to his skills as a producer, talent scout and songwriter (which led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nonperformer), Otis was an accomplished percussionist who joined jazz bands in the Forties and played drums on such early R&B recordings as the Three Blazers’ landmark “Drifting Blues,” featuring vocalist Charles Brown. In the Fifties, Otis scouted talent for Syd Nathan’s King and Federal labels, discovering the Midnighters – then known as the Royals, later as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters – whose “Work With Me Annie” became a rock and roll cornerstone in 1954. He also crossed paths with Johnny Ace (Otis produced and played on “Pledging My Love”), Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John and Big Joe Turner, to name a few. Otis’ various achievements make him a key figure in the rise of rhythm & blues and rock & roll in the Fifties.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I’m stuck in Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash performed his historic concert at Folsom Prison on this date in 1968.

I hear the train a comin’
It’s rollin’ ’round the bend,
And I ain’t seen the sunshine,
Since, I don’t know when,
I’m stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin’ on,
But that train keeps a-rollin’,
On down to San Antone.

The song itself was originally recorded at Sun in 1956.

Singing New Mexico’s Praises and More

From New Mexico Magazine, The Top 10: definitive tunes from the state’s first 100 years.

Hey, where’s “Lights of Albuquerque“?

Here’s Ten centennially quintessential New Mexican flicks.

I’d have included Crazy Heart.

And an essential reading list of 10 titles from the last century.

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of New Mexico statehood.

Christmas Music

On iTunes I have 468 tracks identified as Christmas music. I’ve created a playlist with them that automatically drops a track off after it’s been played. At this writing I have 106 left to hear this year.

The types of music vary widely from Classical to Country, Jazz and New Age, but include of course the usual standards of which I suppose Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the archetype. (Of the 468 tracks, 12 are in fact versions of “White Christmas” including two copies of Bing.)

I have a lot of favorites. I grew up in Catholic schools, so am nostalgic when I hear the carols, and have several albums of guitar versions by artists like John Fahey and Eric Williams. I particularly like Christmas in Santa Fe by Ruben Romero & Robert Notkoff, Winter Dreams by R. Carlos Nakai & William Eaton and Navidad Cubana by Cuba L.A. — it gets you dancing around the old tree.

And no collection is complete without Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.

But when it comes down to it, this may be my favorite. It’s a nothing video. Just enjoy Clyde McPhatter and Bill Pinkney’s bass.

Get Your Music On

According to Billboard, which has been charting these things for 75 years, these are the top 10 songs of 2011 ranked by airplay and streaming.

How many are on your iPod? (“Rolling in the Deep,” “Firework” and “Grenade” are nominated for the Record of the Year Grammy.)

  1. Rolling In The Deep, Adele
  2. Party Rock Anthem, Lmfao Featuring Lauren Bennett & Goonrock
  3. Firework, Katy Perry
  4. E.T., Katy Perry Featuring Kanye West
  5. Give Me Everything, Pitbull Featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer
  6. Grenade, Bruno Mars
  7. F**K You (Forget You), Cee Lo Green
  8. Super Bass, Nicki Minaj
  9. Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5 Featuring Christina Aguilera
  10. Just Can’t Get Enough, The Black Eyed Peas

Best line by someone turning 64 today

“I like to say I only got drunk once — for thirty years.”

Joe Walsh, quoted in “The Return of Joe Walsh, One of Rock’s Unsung Guitar Gods.”

Walsh goes on to say “Coke really allowed me to focus, and alcohol took the edge off the cocaine.”

And that he always wanted to do an American Express commercial “in a completely trashed hotel room, with smoking embers and things sparking. And I’d go, ‘Hi, do you know who I am? I don’t have a clue.'”

Walsh joined The Eagles in 1976. The first album with Walsh in the band was Hotel California, which says all you ever need to know about both The Eagles and Joe Walsh.

I have a mansion forget the price
Ain’t never been there they tell me it’s nice
I live in hotels tear out the walls
I have accountants pay for it all

They say I’m crazy but I have a good time
I’m just looking for clues at the scene of the crime
Life’s been good to me so far

My Maserati does 185
I lost my license now I don’t drive
I have a limo ride in the back
I look the doors in case I’m attacked

The Edmund Fitzgerald

… went down off Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, 36 years ago today (1975).

Recovered Bell at Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Whitefish Point, Michigan

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
©1976 by Gordon Lightfoot and Moose Music, Ltd.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the “Gales of November” came early.

The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang,
could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing.
And ev’ry man knew, as the captain did too
’twas the witch of November come stealin’.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the Gales of November came slashin’.
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’.
“Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya.”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
“Fellas, it’s bin good t’know ya!”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
and the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the “Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.”
The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call “Gitche Gumee.”
“Superior,” they said, “never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early!”

The ship was thirty-nine feet tall, seventy-five feet wide, and 729 feet long.

Lightfoot’s lyrics had one error — the load was bound for Detroit, not Cleveland.

There were waves as high as 30 feet that night; so high they were picked up on radar.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was only 17 miles from safe haven (Whitefish Point).

The captain and a crew of 28 were lost.

Rare photos of Edmund Fitzgerald | Detroit Free Press