A Century of Music

[Zeeba Neighba]

Lee Konitz - Subconscious - Lee (1950)

I haven't listened to alto saxophonist Lee Konitz in years - he has an interesting style quite influential on the cool jazz movement (in fact, he was in Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions of 1949-50 (released piecemeal in 1954 and 1957 though perhaps I should spin them this year). Wikipedia has a great line that Konitz was "notable during this era as one of relatively few alto saxophonists to retain a distinctive style when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence". I've never thought of it that way but it's true - Bird cast such a big shadow over the bop era and beyond that most saxophonists found it difficult to break away from his influence (e.g. Sonny Stitt). Konitz certainly was influenced by Parker and bop but took the music into some unique directions (even some early avant garde ones) especially his work with pianist Lenny Tristano

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Trio Los Aguilillas - Sones of Mexico

Two world music albums from 1950 - the first Sones of Mexico was a Folkways label release of three farmboys who moved to Mexico City in the 1940s to make their name as musicians. Ethnomusicologist and anthropologist Joseph R. Hellmer aka Raúl Hellmer recorded them ca. 1950 as “Trio Aguilillas”
Montoya was a major developer of modern flamenco guitar style performing throughout Europe in the 1920s and 1930s then relocating in the U.S. in 1939 incorporating elements of jazz and blues into his guitarwork.

Both albums were new to me and both were wonderful

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman - Music For Peace of Mind (1950)

If I continue this series, I'm gonna rival Sam for weird-ass albums

Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman was a theremin player who happened to be the only musicians union theremin player in 1945 when Miklos Roszka wanted to put one in the soundtrack of Hitchcock's Spellbound. A career in sci-fi (ex. The Day the Earth Stood Still) and horror followed.
Rick will be interested to know that Dr. Hoffman's last recordings were two tracks for Capt. Beefheart's Safe as Milk

Oh, and Dr. Hoffman is not a Ph.D is music. His title comes from the fact that he was a podiatrist. A theremin playing podiatrist - You can't make these things up

Wild cover art by the way

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Pearl Bailey - Pearl Bailey Entertains (1950)

Bailey's album debut (though her career started in clubs in the 30s, on Broadway and on the USO circuit in WWII) filled with her characteristic humorous sass

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Miles Davis - Complete Birth of the Cool (recorded 1949-50)

Although Miles' Birth of the Cool album wasn't released until 1957 (when he was releasing his recordings with his First Great Quintet), 8 of the 10 tracks were released in 1954. Still despite the delay in release, Davis' nonet was playing around NYC in the late 1940s so the music was out there and had a big influence on the development of cool jazz/West Coast jazz (Gerry Mulligan from the nonet moved to CA and would team with Chet Baker). Other musicians seen here like Lee Konitz and John Lewis would also advance this style (quite distinct from the bop that Davis came out of). Since we'll see a lot of this style in the decade to come, feels appropriate to hear it here when it was recorded rather than the later release - paints Miles as more of the trailblazer he was rather than coming into cool jazz at the time of all the others

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Doris Day - Tea For Two (1950)

A little more Doris who scored a hit with this one in 1950. This is from her film Tea For Two, a film of the musical No No Nanette (which includes the song "Tea for Two"). Because co-star Gordon McRae was on Capitol, the two stars couldn't do a true cast album. Doris sound great but she is backed by a date male background group (The Ken Lane Singers) which was all the rage in 1950 but detracts a bit.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Charlie Parker - Bird At St. Nick's (1950)

Finishing 1950 the way I ended 1949 with some Charlie Parker
Allmusic's thoughts:

Veteran Charlie Parker collectors generally know that they should avoid all but his most famous live sessions. It is not that Parker plays badly (in fact his solo on "Confirmation" is quite miraculous) but, as is often the case with these privately recorded sets, the recording quality is horrible.

But tell us how your really think

It's true though - the sound quality stinks but for fans of Parker, there are still some great solos to be gleaned here.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Finishing 1950 the way I ended 1949 with some Charlie Parker
Allmusic's thoughts:
But tell us how your really think

I’m with you, Zeeb. Sound quality is always less important to me than performance quality. I have enjoyed a lot of live Bird despite dismal fidelity.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Well, here I am at 1951
Starting the week as I did last year with a playlist of the top 30 songs of the years as well as some of the great/important singles of the year. And boy it's quite a year - starting to get some key R&B and the earliest Rock n Roll numbers ("Rocket 88" by Jackie Breston). Not only is "Rocket 88" in the discussion for first rock record, but it's success gave one Sam Phillips the capital to start Sun Records in 1952.

Top Singles of 1951
1) "Too Young" by Nat King Cole
2) "Because of You" by Tony Bennett
3) "How High the Moon" by Les Paul and Mary Ford
4) "Come On-a-My House" by Rosemary Clooney
5) "Be My Love" by Mario Lanza
6) "On Top of Old Smokey" by The Weavers
7) "Cold, Cold Heart" by Tony Bennett
8) "If" by Perry Como
9) "The Loveliest Night of the Year" by Mario Lanza
10) "The Tennessee Waltz" by Patti Page
11) "Jezebel" by Frankie Lane
12) "I Get Ideas" by Tony Martin
13) "Mockin' Bird Hill" by Les Paul
14) "Mockin' Bird Hill" by Patti Page
15) "My Heart Cries for You" by Guy Mitchell

Of note, "Because of You" and "Cold, Cold Heart" were Tony Bennett's first and third singles released ever and both hit #1. I found it interesting that so early in his career, he went for a country crossover with the Hank Williams classic (only released this year as well).

As for other big numbers of the year:
a) Some more prime Hank Williams this year with "Cold Cold Heart", "Hey Good Lookin" and "I Can't Help It (if I'm Still in Love with You)". Williams would die the next year in 1953
b) "Cry" by Johnny Ray and the Four Aces is just fantastic
c) although his first single was in 1949, one B.B. King had his first success with #1 on the R&B chart with "3 OClock Blues")
d) Yes, Johnny Burnette, The Yardbirds and Aerosmith would have more famous versions, but the first version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" was this year by Tiny Bradshaw
e) also on the list some good blues by Muddy Waters ("Long Distance Call" and "Still a Fool") and Howlin' Wolf ("How Many More Years")
f) Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" may be iconic but really only charted when the posthumous remake came out with daughter Natalie (#14 in 1991). The original is here on my playlist

 

[Ojai Sam]

Another great lid lifter for a new musical season, Zeeb.

It was sure an eclectic time. But darned if my mom and plenty of mainstreamers like her didn‘t enjoy both Mario Lanza and Rosey Clooney. Can’t wait for the flood of albums!

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Les Barker - Ritual of the Savage (1951)

As far as "Exotica" - lush orchestral/band music that evokes (as Wiki states) a "ersatz good, the non-native, pseudo experience" of exotic places like the tropics, Pacific islands, Africa, Southeast Asia. Cheesy? Sure! And yet, like so many 50s listeners when this genre had significant popularity, I dig it.
Baxter's Ritual of the Savage is like the Are You Experienced of exotica albums influencing the next decade of the genre.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Duke Ellington - Masterpieces of Ellington (1951)

Particularly excited about this listen today - as much Ellington as I've listened to over the years (per last.fm he's my 24th most listened to artist with almost 800 scrobbles over the past 10 years), I've never played this one, Ellington's first long player (12"). One of the reasons Duke had a wondrous 50 yr career is that he always kept experimenting and here he approaches the new longer format records by taking old singles like "Mood Indigo", "Sophisticated Lady" and "Solitute" and extending them into 10+ minute works. Per allmusic "this was also one of the last sessions to feature the classic Ellington lineup with Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, and Sonny Greer, before their exodus altered the band's sound ". Sounds fantastic too.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell /J.J. Johnson

A compilation of tracks with altoist Stitt, pianist Powell and trombonist Johnson but not all together like the CD would have one believe. These are different recording sessions from 1949 and 1950 - Sonny Stitt is on all of them. Powell on the first 9 tracks, Johnson on the the last 8 (drummer Max Roach is on all of them). This was all compiled together in 1957 on Prestige
Still I'm listening here because the Stitt/Powell tracks were released in 1951 - dang good set despite the confusion

 

[axolotl]

^ Is this the genesis of Angry Birds?

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2

In getting an overall feel of music of each year, jazz provides some challenges in this era - in many cases like Birth of the Cool and this album (as well as Vol 1), I've chosen recording date over release date because it's more helpful at seeing the music that was "out there" being played and showing how jazz developed.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Machito - Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite (1951)

What a lineup - Charlie Parker, Sweets Edison (trumpet), Buddy Rich, Chano Pozo on bongos. Machito's big band in the 1940s had a major impact on jazz as bop artists like Parker and Gillespie in the late 40s/early 50s adopted Latin themes in their music. This influence continues even today as Cuban influences plus the bossa influence in the early 60s still appear in modern jazz.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Dizzy Gillespie - School Days (1951)

Nice swinging album with vocals on each song by Joe Carroll and, interestingly, Milt Jackson (who doesn't play vibes here at all but sings and plays some piano). No extended solos here (all songs less than just over 3 min) - still Dizzy shows off his powerful blowing just fine.
Also notable as it's one of the earliest albums where one John Coltrane appears (on the closing track "We Love to Boogie"). Will see what becomes of this young saxophonist.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Louis Armstrong & The All-Stars - Satchmo at Symphony Hall

From one important jazz trumpeter to another - even in the 1950s, Armstrong was still going strong with a number of strong albums including some great live sets. Yes, this was actually a 1947 concert and yes I'm listening to the "Complete Performances" not released until decades later, but the original concert album was released on Decca initially in 1951 - wonderful "classic" jazz/Dixieland performances. Fun album for those who wanna hear good ol' jazz done right.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Blessed Assurance (1951)

After a jazz-heavy day yesterday, want to mix it up a bit today
The guitar-toting gospel singer Sister Rosetta was a big influence of early rock n roll (she was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017 as an early influence). Not much of her trademark electric guitar here (just on a couple of tracks). Instead, straightforward gospel typically with organ and a small gospel backup group ("The Rosettes"). Traditional hymns but quite good

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The King and I (Original Cast Recording) - 1951

Winner of the Tony for Best Musical the next year, obviously this musical was all the rage back in 1951 and made the career of Yul Brynner who would do revivals until right before his death in 1985 four months after his 4625th time in the role. My father (who introduced me to musicals general through movies) loved this one - much more than I do probably because of Yul himself rather than the music (we shared our adoration of My Fair Lady and The Music Man). I was fortunate to see Yul in one of his later revivals though for the live of me can't remember if it was the 1977 or 1984 - leaning toward the last revival because I remember that it was known he was ill. Ah fickle memory. Still it was pretty cool