A Century of Music

[Zeeba Neighba]

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt - Sonny Side Up (1958)
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (1958)
Ray Charles & Milt Jackson - Soul Brothers (1958)

Almost at the end of my 1958 listening - breaking out two albums I've had for a long time (but haven't spun them recently). What a lineup in Sonny Side Up. I'm mentioned the story before of Gillespie going between the two tenors and lying to each of them that one wasn't respect the other in order to get some fiery, competitive playing.

Enjoy Blakey and enjoy Monk but for whatever reason, I've never gelled with their collaboration here. Still happy I'm getting to it here
An aside: although it's impossible to listen many years to all the albums one owns, it's fun to think that this exercise finds me revisiting a large chunk of my collection.

In looking for albums, I discovered Soul Brothers with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson pairing up with Ray Charles - how have I missed this one in the past?! No vocals here from Ray just some wonderful bluesy jazz.
From allmusic

This one is a real historical curiosity. Not only does vibraphonist Milt Jackson double here on piano but he plays guitar (for the only time on record) during "Bags' Guitar Blues." In addition Ray Charles is heard in a purely instrumental role on piano and, during two songs, on alto sax. Charles's fine playing makes one wonder why he so rarely picked up the horn in later years. Billy

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Great week of listening for 1958 - was hoping to get a few more albums over the weekend - left a few on the table (I think this is going to be an issue as we approach the 1960s

Today starting 1959 first, as always, with a singles playlist

Top Singles of 1959
1) "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton
2) "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin
3) "Personality" by Lloyd Price
4) "Venus" by Frankie Avalon
5) "Lonely Boy" by Paul Anka
6) "Dream Lover" by Bobby Darin
7) "The Three Bells" by The Browns
8) "Come Softly to Me" by The Fleetwoods
9) "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison
10) "Mr. Blue" by The Fleetwoods
11) "Sleep Walk" by Santo & Johnny
12) "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" by Paul Anka
13) "Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price
14) "Donna" by Ritchie Valens
15) "Pink Shoelaces" by Dodie Stevens
16) "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by The Platters
17) "Charlie Brown" by The Coasters
18) "Quiet Village" by Martin Denny
19) "My Heart is an Open Book" by Carl Dobkins, Jr.
20) "(Til') I Kissed You" by The Everly Brothers

Other greats from 1959:
"Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips
"A Teenager in Love" by Dion & the Belmonts
"16 Candles" by The Crests
"There Goes My Baby" and "Dance with Me" by The Drifters (Ben E. King era)
"El Paso" by Marty Robbins
"A Big Hunk O'Love" and "A Fool Such As I" by Elvis Presley
"What I'd Say" by Ray Charles
"Shout" by The Isley Brothers ("Otis, My Man!")
"Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong (released on Tamla - which would become Motown. Berry Gordy's first hit)
"Poison Ivy" by The Coasters
"Love Potion #9" by The Clovers
"Take Five" by Dave Brubeck Quartet
"Back in the U.S.A" and "Memphis, Tennessee" by Chuck Berry
"Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin
"Dedicated to the One I Love" by The Shirelles
"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" by Buddy Holly
"Let It Be Me" by The Everly Brothers
"Only Sixteen" by Sam Cooke
"White Lightning" by George Jones

What a year! So many singles that I love here. All in a "down year" - Elvis was drafted into army March 1958 but still has some singles RCA and Colonel Parker (who Tom Hanks is about to play in a film) parsed out to keep Elvis in the public eye. Of course, on Feb 3, 1959 (coming up on 60th anniversary) Buddy Holly along with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash.

Despite this, as you know, there did not signal the death of music - great singles this year by The Everly's, The Coasters, Dion, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin, Chuck Berry plus the first "Motown" hit (then on Tamla).

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Busy day yesterday that interfered with truly important things like posting about music, but between yesterday and today did get in some 1959 album listening

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Frank Sinatra - Come Dance with Me
Cannonball Adderley - In San Francisco
The Genius of Ray Charles
Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs

I've said it before but from a jazz perspective, 1959 could be the greatest year in music (akin to say 1967 or for younger listeners 1991 in rock). In addition to the tremendous albums I've listened to above, we still have yet to get to Miles (including Kind of Blue) and Ornette Coleman. Time Out, Ah Um, and Moanin' (technically Blakey/Jazz Messengers self titled album) are giant albums of jazz that I enjoy and play often. "Moanin'" and "Take Five" are two songs that (along with "Sing Sing Sing", "Body and Soul", "II BS" are in my top ten jazz singles list.
Plenty of other great jazz albums this year (and to come) - hadn't spun Cannonball's live San Francisco album (with cornetist and brother Nat) - five lengthy pieces that show how strong Cannonball's own combo (he was also playing with Miles at this time) truly was.

As for the non-jazz items. Sinatra's Come Dance with Me isn't as strong as his earlier Capitol outings as a whole but has some great high points. Many of Ray Charles' earlier albums focused on his talents as an instrumentalist but her on Genius he asserts himself as the confident vocalist we all know and love. Finally nothing quite like Marty Robbins ballad of Western ballad - even for non-country fans, songs like "El Paso" and "Big Iron" are always enjoyable.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1959)
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon (1959)
Jerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (1959)
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Side by Side (1959)

Lots more jazz for the rest of the day.
Workin' could be my favorite Miles album (certainly play it more than many others)
Organist Jimmy Smith was incredibly prolific - this was his 15th album in 3 years. Centerpiece of the album is the 20+ min title track. Organ jazz isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it - Smith so influential in the organ-filled soul of the 1960s (e.g. Booker T & the MGs)
Finally two wonderful albums for sax lovers - Mulligan's baritone, Webster's tenor - mellow, cool vibe. Then Duke's fun album with altoist Johnny Hodges (Webster and other former big band greats like Roy Eldridge and Harry "Sweets" Edison here too)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959)
Elvis Presley - A Date with Elvis (1959)
Henry Mancini - The Music From Peter Gunn (1959)

Started my day with Ella and Elvis
Ella's Gershwin song book isn't my favorite of the song books - it's so massive (59 songs), and there's a lot of mediocre songs amidst the classics. Furthermore, Ella had already done an album of Porgy and Bess with Louis Armstrong, so the classic numbers from that opera ("Summer Time", "I Got Plenty of Nuthin", etc.) are left out of this set. Verve went all out with the set even starting the set with two instrumental suites. Ella's always in fine form though and still a nice listen
I always seem to forget George Gershwin passed away at 38, and still had such a massive output

A Date with Elvis is a hodgepodge of songs (including some of his original Sun recordings which RCA acquired) meant to fill the gap while Presley was in the army. Lots of energy but the public wasn't buying its 23 minute length - it was Elvis' lowest selling LP of the 1950s

Mancini's Peter Gunn is just too cool - at work, a partner came in to ask me a question and got caught in by the swingin' music.
Trivia: this soundtrack was the first Grammy winner for Album of the Year and in 2010 was selected by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry (hey, awhile back, wasn't I gonna go through all those - ah well, some listening projects don't stick)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Sound of Music (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Gypsy (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

The two biggest musicals (and most enduring) of 1959 - Although I LOVE The Sound of Music's songs, Gypsy is arguably the stronger musical especially given the depth of the main character Rose allowing for a number of interpretive directions - out of its incredible 5 Broadway runs (original and 4 revivals), three of the leads have won Best Actress Tonys. Oddly not Ethel Mermen who is a POWERHOUSE even given the limitations of a cast recording. Mary Martin as Maria in The Sound of Music won the Tony for best actress but really lacks (at least on the soundtrack) the charisma that Julie Andrews brings to the film (granted a lot may be familiarity with the film)
What's incredible is that for the 1960 Tonys, Sound of Music split the win, not with Gypsy, but with Fiorello - a musical about LaGuardia
I always forget that the lyrics (not music) of Gypsy were by Sondheim

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

Next up, two giants of the years that along with Ah Um, Time Out, and Blakey's Moanin' again IMO make 1959 the greatest year in jazz. Oh the directions the genre would go in the decade ahead

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Oh the directions the genre would go in the decade ahead

Just think what might have happened if the marijuana they were smoking had only been stronger.

 

[axolotl]

Just think what might have happened if the marijuana they were smoking had only been stronger.

Heaven forfend! They might never have made it into the recording studio.

 

[Ojai Sam]

In looking for albums, I discovered Soul Brothers with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson pairing up with Ray Charles - how have I missed this one in the past?! No vocals here from Ray just some wonderful bluesy jazz.

This one is new to me too. Gotta check it out.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Mary Martin as Maria in The Sound of Music won the Tony for best actress but really lacks (at least on the soundtrack) the charisma that Julie Andrews brings to the film (granted a lot may be familiarity with the film)

I think Mary vs. Julie may be a generational thing too. I saw TSOM for the first time on the big screen as an 11 year old. Talented as she was, Mary just doesn’t work for me in that role.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Mancini's Peter Gunn is just too cool - at work, a partner came in to ask me a question and got caught in by the swingin' music.

This was one of the first albums I bought on CD. It blew away so many of my friends that it became my demo disc.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Let‘s see. What label was Marty on? Which network carried HGWT? Eye wonder....

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Finished up my 1959 listening over the weekend with these albums:

Harry Belafonte - Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (1959)
Gerry Mulligan - What Is There to Say (1959)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem - The Rising of the Moon and Come Fill Your Glass with Us (1959)
Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' in the Moonlight (1959)
Cannonball Adderley Quintet In Chicago (1959)

Was able to get through a ton of 1959 albums - great year, but starting to see there are going to be some great albums left unlistened to each week
Belafonte's live Carnegie Hall album is just so good and so fun highlighting Belafonte's humor and charisma. It's one of those albums all of us have that we love and want so many others to love (yet many might not be familiar with)

Some great jazz with Gerry Mulligan and Cannonball both who had other albums I spun earlier in the week. Adderley especially had a prolific year both as a leader and will Miles. This album is a sax-lover's dream - once released as Cannonball & Coltrane because 'Trane is on all but one track

Although Moanin' in the Moonlight is a compilation of Howlin' Wolf's earlier singles on the Chess label, this compilation was so important at introducing many (including future 60s blues/rock legends) to Howlin' Wolf. I'm not a big blues fan but love Howlin' Wolf and "Smokestack Lightning" is my favorite blues track

Finally, its not yet March, but you knew I was gonna include the early Clancy Brothers albums from that year (The Rising of the Moon was actually first recorded/released in 1956 then RE-recorded in 1959 which is the version that has remained - the original '56 album has never been re-released)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Another decade in the books - onward and upward to 1960

Starting with my playlist of the year - 83 songs today
Including
Top singles of 1960
1) "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" by Percy Faith & His Orchestra
2) "He'll Have to Go" by Jim Reeves
3) "Cathy's Clown" by The Everly Brothers
4) "Running Bear" by Johnny Horton
5) "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning
6) "I'm Sorry" by Brenda Lee
7) "It's Now or Never" by Elvis Presley
8) "Handy Man" by Jimmy Jones
9) "Stuck on You" by Elvis Presley
10) "The Twist" by Chubby Checker
11) "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" by Connie Francis
12) "Wild One" by Bobby Rydell
13) "Greenfields" by The Brothers Four
14) "What In the World's Come Over You" by Jack Scott
15) "El Paso" by Marty Robbins
16) "Alley Oop" by The Hollywood Argyles
17) "My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own" by Connie Francis
18) "Sweet Nothin's" by Brenda Lee
19) "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" by Brian Hyland
20) "Only the Lonely" by Roy Orbison

Plus these other tremendous singles:
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles
"Chain Gang" by Sam Cook
"Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs
"Georgia On Your Mind" by Ray Charles
"Spanish Harlem" by Ben E. King
"Spoonful" and "Back Door Man" by Howlin' Wolf
"New Orleans" by Gary U.S. Bonds
"At Last"and "All I Could Do Is Cry" by Etta James
"He Will Break Your Heart" by Jerry Butler
"This Magic Moment" by The Drifters
"A Fool In Love" by Ike & Tina Turner
"You Talk to Much" by Joe Jones
"You Can Have Her" by Roy Hamilton
"Think" by James Brown
"Gee Whiz" by Carla Thomas

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots (1960)
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1960)
Hank Mobley - Soul Station (1960)

Starting out with some 1960s jazz - another banner year for the genre.
The first two albums wowed me from the first moment I heard them. In college, I only had a handful of jazz albums as I grew into jazz-listening, but Giant Steps was one of them - grabbed a rock fan like me from the get go. Listening chronologically, I've spun a lot of Coltrane especially with Miles Davis, but with this album and beyond, it's like your listening to a whole different saxophonist - sure the talent was there, but with his "sheets of sound" here, he takes a big leap.

As much jazz as I enjoy, I have still never heard anything as raw and exciting as Mingus' "Wednesday Night Prayer Reading", a raucous combination of jazz, blues and gospel (for that matter, not much as exciting and dynamic as "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" or "Moaning". 1959's Ah Um would be the perfect introductory Mingus album as its more accessible, but if you want to blow someone away as to what jazz can be, I'd play them Blues & Roots

Finally something less daring and experimental, Soul Station is just an excellent hard bop album. Unlike the other two artists/albums, introduced to Mobley 10 yrs ago when multiple people were on a Mobley kick on the old MG site. Enjoyed this and scooped up many more Mobley albums after that one. Great tenor

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Elvis Presley - Elvis Is Back! (1959)
Etta James - At Last! (1959)
Frank Sinatra - Nice 'n' Easy (1959)

For the afternoon, moved from jazz to vocals. It's a shame, Sinatra was too nice and easy to include an exclamation point, or I would've had a trifecta. Ah well!
Though RCA gave the illusion that Elvis had never left repackaging old Sun songs, Elvis Is Back! was The King's first new recordings since his Christmas album in 1956. Overall solid album
Love all three of these - Etta's voice is just incredible and, in addition to the fantastic title track (and wedding dance standard), At Last! is fantastic throughout. And although I tend to like Sinatra a bit o' bounce, this is my favorite of Sinatra's mellow, downtempo Capitol album (killer title track)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960)
Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife (1960)
Joan Baez (1960)
Nat Adderley - Work Song (1960)
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (1960)

Today's 1960 journey - all wonderful albums. Ella's live album brings her charisma front and center. Love Nat Adderley's tone on his cornet
Though I'm not a big fan of the third stream movement that reached its peak with Sketches of Spain, Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" is one of my favorite 20th century classical pieces (delighted to have seen an orchestra play this live and love Miles' and Jim Hall's jazzy takes)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960
Camelot (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Bye Bye Birdie (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

Finishing today's listening first with Muddy's essential live Newport album then with two classic soundtracks of the year. Bye Bye Birdie with Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera would win the Tony for Best Musical the next year. Camelot which was tremendously popular and ran for 873 performances, wasn't even nominated for Best Musical (though Richard Burton won Best Actor and Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Actress)
Trivia: although musical theatre fans know about Robert Goulet's breakout role as Lancelot, Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred was played by none other that Roddy McDowell

 

[axolotl]

Trivia: although musical theatre fans know about Robert Goulet's breakout role as Lancelot, Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred was played by none other that Roddy McDowell

That was back when Roddy McDowell was punching above his weight.