Tune Tuesday

Happy 108th birthday to a jazz legend – Dizzy Gillespie!

Dizzy was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. His accomplishments alone could be the subject of 5-20 blogs. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop.

Gillespie’s trademark trumpet featured a bell which bent upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. According to Gillespie’s autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by a couple of dancers falling onto the instrument while it was on a trumpet stand on stage. The constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. He had the trumpet straightened out the next day, but he could not forget the tone. Gillespie sent a request to the Martin Band Instrument Company to make him a “bent” trumpet from a sketch produced by his wife, Lorraine, and from that time forward played a trumpet with an upturned bell.

The Rough Guide To Jazz describes his style this way: “The whole essence of a Gillespie solo was cliff-hanging suspense: the phrases and the angle of the approach were perpetually varied, breakneck runs were followed by pauses, by huge interval leaps, by long, immensely high notes, by slurs and smears and bluesy phrases; he always took listeners by surprise, always shocking them with a new thought. His lightning reflexes and superb ear meant his instrumental execution matched his thoughts in its power and speed. And he was concerned at all times with swing—even taking the most daring liberties with pulse or beat, his phrases never failed to swing.”

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis says this about Dizzy: “His playing showcases the importance of intelligence. His rhythmic sophistication was unequaled. He was a master of harmony—and fascinated with studying it. He took in all the music of his youth—from Roy Eldridge to Duke Ellington—and developed a unique style built on complex rhythm and harmony balanced by wit. Gillespie was so quick-minded, he could create an endless flow of ideas at unusually fast tempo. Nobody had ever even considered playing a trumpet that way, let alone had actually tried. All the musicians respected him because, in addition to outplaying everyone, he knew so much and was so generous with that knowledge…”

Dizzy wrote “A Night in Tunisia” in 1942 while he was playing with the Benny Carter Band. Gillespie called the tune “Interlude” and said “some genius decided to call it ‘A Night in Tunisia'”. It would become one of his signature songs of his bebop band. In January 2004, The Recording Academy added the 1946 Victor recording by Gillespie to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Tune Tuesday

Happy 51st Birthday to Natalie Maines of The Chicks (Formerly the Dixie Chicks).

In 1995, Natalie got her lucky break when she was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their lead singer, Laura Lynch. Things turned around quickly for the band. With Natalie as lead vocalist, the band earned 10 CMA Awards and 13 Grammy Awards.

Their album Wide Open Spaces offered up five singles. All of them were Top 10 and three of them went to number one. The fifth and final single was my favorite from the album – Tonight, The Heartache’s On Me.

It was a song that had been previously recorded in 1994 by Joy Lynn White. The Chicks version sounds so much better. I think the reason for this is the groups amazing harmonies. Their voices blend so nicely. I’m not sure what chord they are hitting when they sing the line, “Bartender, pour the wine …” but there is something about that line that gives me goosebumps. LOL

Happy Birthday, Natalie – the birthday wish is on me.

Tune Tuesday

The Nostalgic Italian would feel terrible if he did not honor the birthday of another Italian. So today, we wish Jasper Cini a Happy Heavenly Birthday. We know him as Al Martino. Al was born on this day in 1927.

Long before his days as a popular singer, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was wounded when he took part in the Iwo Jima invasion. In 1949, he won Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts singing a Perry Como song. This is how he got his first recording contract.

Mario Lanza was a family friend of Al’s. Mario was having great success as a singer and Al took notice. Mario, who changed his name from Alfredo Cocozza, encouraged “Jasper” to change his name too. So Jasper became Al Martino.

In 1965 he recorded one of his biggest hits – Spanish Eyes. The song was originally called “Moon Over Naples” which was a song composed by Bert Kaempfert. The song was first recorded by Sergio Franchi and was a Neapolitan song and contained the original lyrics. However, a second set of lyrics were written

Martino said Kaempfert was interested in him recording the song, and sent him a copy of the instrumental version of “Moon Over Naples”, which Martino thought had the potential to be a hit. However, Martino did not like the lyrics of a vocal version he later heard, and told Kaempfert’s publisher so.

Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder, the original lyricists, were employed to rewrite the lyrics. Martino, satisfied with the new lyrics, contacted Bert to request that he come and help with the recording in New York because he liked the sound of Kaempfert’s recording. Martino recorded the song as “Spanish Eyes”, with Bert also playing on the record.

“Spanish Eyes” was released in the late 1965 in the United States, and it reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. It also spent four straight weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening Chart.

Happy Birthday, Al!

Tune Tuesday

It was on this day in 1987 that Roy Orbison got some friends together and recorded A Black and White Night. It would air on Cinemax in January of 1988.

The performance was recorded at the Ambassador Hotel’s Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles California. It would include many of Roy’s early hits and, as the title suggests, it was filmed entirely in black and white.

Appearing with Roy or Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, JD Souther, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, and kd Lang. The performance was almost lost.

The following day in Los Angeles an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit the Los Angeles area. The earthquake caused some of the chandeliers to fall on the master video that recorded the entire evening. Thankfully, after they went in to clear the debris, they found that no damage had been done to the recording. It remains one of the last, if not the last, of Roy’s performances as he passed away about 14 months later.

One of the things I love to see in this performance, is the respect and awe that the other performers felt. You can see that especially When Roy performs Ooby-Dooby. Bruce Springsteen for example not only looks like he’s having fun, but he almost can’t believe he’s performing with Roy Orbison.

Tune Tuesday

It was on this day in 1967 that the Box Tops started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Letter’, a No.5 hit in the UK. The record went on to sell over four million copies and receive two Grammy nominations. It was also a Top Ten hit for Joe Cocker in 1970.

Nashville songwriter Wayne Carson Thompson wrote the song after his father gave him the line, “Give me a ticket for an aeroplane.” Thompson gave the song to The Box Tops on the recommendation of his friend, Chips Moman, who ran ARS Studios. Moman liked the sound of an unnamed band headed by Alex Chilton (who was 16 at the time) who auditioned for him in 1967.

Thompson played guitar on the recording. He didn’t like the singing, believing the lead vocal was too husky, and wasn’t fond of the production either. The addition of the jet sound “didn’t make sense” to him. When producer Dan Penn added the airplane sound to the recording, Wayne Carson Thompson clearly thought that Penn had lost his mind. He hadn’t – several weeks later it became one of the biggest records of the ’60s.

The Box Tops went on to score with a few other Thompson compositions, including their follow-up release, “Neon Rainbow” (#24, 1967), “Soul Deep” (a #18 hit in 1969) and “You Keep Tightening Up On Me” (their last chart hit, which peaked at #74 in 1970). A few years later, Thompson won a Grammy for co-writing the hit “Always On My Mind.”

When the group recorded this they still did not have a name. One band member suggested, “Let’s have a contest and everybody can send in 50 cents and a box top.” Producer Dan Penn then dubbed them The Box Tops.

Fun Fact: At 1:58, the Box Tops’ version of this was the last #1 hit to be shorter than two minutes in length.

Fun Fact #2: The title is never sung in this song: his baby writes him “a letter.”

I always got a kick out of one particular parody of The Letter. “Vanna Pick Me a Letter” is the title of a 1987 single by the artist Dr. Dave (who reminded me of Cheech from Cheech and Chong). It, of course, references Vanna White, Pat Sajak and the game Wheel of Fortune. The phrase itself became an iconic catchphrase associated with the show and White’s role as a letter-turner.

Tune Tuesday

Happy 100th birthday to the King of the Blues – BB King! He was born in the Mississippi Delta and was attracted to music and taught himself to play guitar. The beginning his career was in juke joints and on local radio. It was later that he lived and performed in Memphis and Chicago.

One of my favorite BB King stories is how his guitar got its name. It happened in Twist, Arkansas one night during one of his shows. A brawl broke out between two men and caused a fire. He left the building with the rest of the crowd but ran back in to get his guitar. He said he later learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named the guitar Lucille as a reminder not to fight over women, or run into any more burning buildings.

The song The Thrill is Gone was written and originally recorded by the blues musician Roy Hawkins in 1951. In the 1950s, BB was a Memphis radio DJ who played the Roy Hawkins original on the air. The song is about moving on from a relationship that has gone bad.

King recorded the song several times but didn’t like any of the results. Producer Bill Szymczyk (most famous for producing the Eagles) called King at 4:00 a.m. and suggested the addition of strings (King later said that he’d agree to just about anything at that time of the night). The addition polished up the recording that gave him his first million-selling record.

The song won him a Grammy in 1970 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. In 1980 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame while in1987 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. Those are just a few of his many accolades.

BB King passed away on May 14, 2015 at age 89. He was one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Allmusic recognized King as “the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century”. I would agree!

Happy Birthday, BB!

Tune Tuesday

Happy 50th birthday to Michael Buble’!

Michael is often referred to as a crooner. This is because he helped to renew public interest and appreciation for the Great American Songbook and those traditional pop standards.

He readily admits that he is a “great cover artist.” His albums feature him covering the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and Mel Torme’. But he is also a great songwriter and the songs he has written have done well on the charts, too.

Bublé has sold over 75 million records worldwide, and won five Grammy Awards. He has also won fifteen Juno Awards.

His first album was released in 2003. It did well in Canada and the UK. In 2005, his album It’s Time brought him more world wide attention. In total, he’s recorded nine albums. He’s about due for a new one since his last one was released in 2022.

Right around the time of his first album, he made the rounds at radio stations. My buddies Tim and Jeff had them on their show in Arkansas. They said he was a blast.

They said he was very funny and down to earth. They hung out with him that evening, I think they all went to a hockey game together. They said he was one of the coolest artists they’d ever met.

He seems like a pretty cool guy. He has no problem poking fun at himself and always seems to be having fun. I would love to meet him one day.

I have featured his music a few times on this blog. Feelin’ Good, The Theme From Spiderman, and Cry Me a River are some of my favorites. Today I picked another one that I like – Call Me Irresponsible.

I was hooked as soon as I heard the opening bass line. When the drums and band join in, it’s just “smooth.” He has a Dean Martin vibe here – relaxed and effortless.

Let’s swing together and wish Michael a Happy 50th!

Tune Tuesday

Billy Preston was born on this day in 1946.

Preston was a keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed many genres of music. He was R&B, rock, soul, funk, and even gospel.

Preston started off at the age of 10 playing keyboards for gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Later he joined Ray Charles’ touring band before recording with The Beatles on several of their tracks including “Get Back” and “Let It Be” (The Beatles considered him to be the fifth Beatle). He also played on a number of Sly & The Family Stone recordings and went on to have a successful solo career with five Top 10 US hits.

He was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing artists like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones! He also made a name for himself as a solo artist. Today let’s look at two of his hits.

Will It Go Round in Circles

This funky soul number was Billy Preston’s first #1 solo single. The virtuoso keyboardist, who was credited on the Beatles’ “Get Back” and joined them for their iconic 1966 rooftop concert, was briefly signed to the Fab Four’s Apple Records but found success with a switch to A&M Records. Music Is My Life was Preston’s second album on the LA-based label; his first, I Wrote A Simple Song, yielded the Grammy Award-winning instrumental “Outa-Space, which narrowly missed the #1 slot.

This was born out of a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner, Bruce Fisher, about having a song but no melody. The comment inspired the opening refrain, “I got a song that ain’t got no melody, I’m gonna sing it to my friends,” and set up similar proclamations, such as having a story with no moral and having a dance with no steps.

Nothing From Nothing

Billy Preston started writing this one night in the dressing room of an Atlanta nightclub where he was performing. He wanted to write a song based on the saying, “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing,” a variation on Bob Dylan line: “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

“The saloon piano gave it character,” Preston explained, “and I had a feeling it would be a hit because it was a singalong kind of thing.”

Bruce Fisher, who was Preston’s songwriting partner (he co-wrote “Will It Go Round In Circles”), added a second verse.

Fun Fact: The B-side of the single was another song Preston wrote with Fisher: “You Are So Beautiful,” which was later a hit for Joe Cocker.

Bonus Fun Fact: “Nothing From Nothing” was the first song performed on Saturday Night Live. Preston and Janis Ian were the musical guests on the October 11, 1975 debut of the show.

The later years of his life were plagued by substance abuse, health issues and legal issues. In 1997 he was sent to prison on drug charges. He suffered from kidney disease and hypertension. In 2005, he voluntarily entered a drug rehab center where pericarditis led to respiratory failure. He was in a coma from November of 2004 until he died in June of 2006 at age 59.

Tune Tuesday

Happy 76th birthday to Bob Cowsill of the Cowsill.

Wikipedia says: The band was formed in early 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry Cowsill; their brother John joined shortly thereafter. Originally Bill and Bob played guitar and Barry played the drums. When John learned to play drums and joined the band, Barry began playing bass. After their initial success, the brothers were joined by their siblings Susan and Paul along with their mother, Barbara. A seventh sibling, Bob’s fraternal twin brother Richard, was never part of the band during its heyday, although he occasionally appeared with them in later years.

Between 1967-1970, the band released 5 albums. In their career, they chatted 8 singles that made the Hot 100 chart. They never had a number one song, but came close. Hair and The Rain The Park and Other Things both made it to number 2.

The Rain, The Park and Other Things was the breakthrough hit for the group. The song is known to many as “The Flower Girl.”

The Cowsills were the forerunner of The Osmonds, a group that would appear on the same record label a few years later. Unlike the Osmonds, the boys’ mother Barbara also features on the recordings. The Cowsills also made many television appearances during the late 1960s and the early 1970s and they were an inspiration for the Partridge Family.

Studio musicians were brought in for the recording, a practice that continued until 1969, when the Cowsill family were allowed to play their own musical instruments. (No, the Wrecking Crew did not play with the group.)

Olivia Newton-John recorded an upbeat version of this song for the 2011 movie soundtrack A Few Best Men. The soundtrack album is all cover songs recorded by Newton-John and mixed by various producers.

Sources: Songfacts.com, Wikipedia

Tune Tuesday

Happy 56th birthday to country music’s Clay Walker!

Clay was one of the nicest guys in the business. I never felt rushed when he was doing a Meet and Greet. He was always happy to sign something or record a line for me. He was the same way with listeners. Someone would come out and tell folks “One picture and one signature per person,” and Clay would sign everything a listener brought back for him.

Clay had his share of ballads over the years, but A Few Questions is one that really struck a chord with people.

It was released in April 2003 as the lead-off single and title track from his album of the same name. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hit Country Singles & Tracks Charts.

When the song was just hitting radio, Clay said, “‘A Few Questions’ is touching people the way it touched me the first time I heard it. The choruses come right out of the Book of Job. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 1996, the Book of Job is part of the Bible I read over and over, trying to understand what I needed to do. And every time I sing the song, it lifts up my own spirits as much as it lifts those of others. My favorite line in the song is “When you look down on me, can you see the good through all the bad.” That’s a powerful thought.” He told Country Weekly “It’s a very deep song to me. It really relates to me in a lot of ways, because I think everybody has questions in life.”

During an interview with CMT, Clay revealed that philosophical songs like “A Few Questions”, “The Chain of Love” and “It Ain’t Pretty”, are not his favorite form of songs when he said, “Those kinds of story songs are the ones that choke you up. I’m not a person that tends to listen to those songs a whole lot because they are deep. I like something with a little more vocal range in it. But those three songs really do make me think. It takes great songwriters to write them because they’re totally lyric-based. They’re not standing on production. They’re standing on the story and the words.”

As a man of faith, I can tell you there is a lot of stuff that I don’t understand. All I know is that while I don’t know the answer, God does. When people come to me and tell me of their struggles, I will often tell them that. It’s not in the easy times that people question God, it’s during the tribulations we go through.

I remember when my Grandpa died. I was 11 and standing on the driveway crying. I looked up and asked, “Why did you have to take him? Why do good people have to die?” I had no idea, but He did. If you have ever found yourself questioning “Why?” then you will be able to relate to this one.

Happy Birthday, Hoss!