duaneiac

Five tracks recorded in L.A. in 1953 and 9 recorded in Ann Arbor, MI in 1954 with Russ Freeman (p), Carson Smith (b) and Larry Bunker playing drums on the first concert and Bob Neel on the second.

Disc 3 of 4, which covers the period from June - Dec. of 1932. You have to give Cab Calloway his due. He led an incredibly successful band in the midst of the Depression, no mean feat in itself. This disc has 23 tracks recorded in just 6 months. That's a lot of recording activity, so the record company must have been confident they could sell a lot of his records -- again, in the midst of the Depression, when most folks had to watch their nickels and dimes very carefully. And like most bands, his was probably touring at the same time, with a popular "name" band like his typically touring and playing 200+ gigs a year, with some of those gigs being theater engagements where they had to do like 8 shows a day. And audiences who came to see his band expected to hear Cab Calloway sing. Just as most all the songs here feature his vocals, I'm guessing the same was true of his band's live performances. That's a lot of wear and tear on the human voice. -- and even when he wasn't singing, audiences expected to see him dance and lead the band in his characteristically energetic fashion. To keep up that level of activity year after year is quite impressive. As far as the music goes, sure there are some dud, throwaway tunes that I guess the record company pushed on him, but like Fats Waller, he infuses his personality into them and at least tries to make something out of nothing. There are some classics here like "Reefer Man", "Old Man of The Mountain", "I Got A Right To Sing The Blues" and 'Gotta Go Places and Do Things". The remastered sound seems very good for recordings of this vintage. The band sounds like a very well-rehearsed, tightly knit group. Probably the most notable names in the band were Doc Cheatham, Walter Thomas and Eddie Barefield. For some reason, guitarist Roy Smeck guested on 2 tracks

Fun album! I like the title track. Now playing: An excellent overview of the songs of Kurt Weill. The disc kicks off with Louis Armstrong's version of "Mack The Knife" and includes several other jazz or jazz related singers: Bing Crosby, Lee Wiley, Sarah Vaughan, June Christy, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett. Even Benny Goodman shares the vocal chores on "Jenny" with Helen Forrest. The lyricists who worked with Mr. Weill are quite an impressive group: Bertholt Brecht, Ira Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner, Ogden Nash, Langston Hughes and Maxwell Anderson.

That's one Mosaic set I wish I had bought. Unfortunately, I could not afford it back in the day when it was in print and, from what I've seen online, I sure can't afford it today.

Disc 2

It's been at least 20 years since I last watched this and I gotta say this is as close to perfect as a film can get. Everything about it is spot on -- the writing, the direction, the performances, the set & costume designs, the cinematography. Something like this could easily have crossed the line into camp melodrama, but it successfully holds its own as a comedy-suspense-horror-romance movie. I've only seen it once on the big screen and I recall the kind of uneasy, spooky feeling I got towards the end of the film when Norma Desmond refers to and gestures towards "all those wonderful people out there in the dark". She (and Billy Wilder) implicated each of us in the audience as having played a part in her psycho-dramatic downfall with our craving for putting performers on a pedestal and then tearing them down when we tire of them or they have the slightest hint of scandal about them. After this, I unfortunately watched La La Land, a glossy, vapid, hollow piece of eye candy. Are there any adults making major studio motion pictures any more? Where is Billy Wilder now that we need him more than ever?

As often happens on YouTube, one thing leads to another and voila -- here's video of Terry Gibbs jamming in his home at age 91! He looks amazingly spry and his playing is sharp and swinging. And I love the dog at the start just chillin' at his side and groovin' on the tune!!!

Thanks for posting this, I had heard about his new CD, but had not heard anything from it. I was kind of skeptical about it, first of all because he has been retired for a few years, so I wondered if he "still had it" after not playing for an extended time. Secondly, I remember how Lionel Hampton was but a shadow of himself in his later years. I remember he was a guest on Conan O'Brien's show once and I couldn't watch it, it was so sad seeing Hamp like that. But this track does swing and it could easily be mistaken for something Terry Gibbs might have recorded 20-25 years ago. He certainly "still had it" on this number. Now playing: Duke Ellington & His Orchestra with special guests Jimmy Rushing and Billie Holiday (whose voice was in very good shape here for 1958)

Wow -- that's surprising. Not even the Carnegie Hall "Sing, Sing Sing"? That seems to be such a classic recording, I'd suspect even some people who aren't jazz fans have been exposed to it on occasion.

That disc inspired me to listen to more Terry Gibbs so I got out this and am listening to Disc 1, which includes the albums Terry Gibbs and Mallets-A-Plenty. Both albums featured Terry Pollard on piano. There's a very good player who seems all but forgotten today. I wonder if Terry Gibbs himself gets all the recognition he deserves among vibes players. Whatever the context, whether big band or small group, he was (and I guess still is) a font of energy and swing.

Steve Allen must have still been in Benny Goodman mode a couple of years after he starred in that infamous biopic. Here he is leading a Goodman style sextet (with Gus Bivona on clarinet and GB was certainly no BG, nor was Steve-arino a Teddy Wison, Jess Stacy or Mel Powell for that matter) through a series of rather loose jams on this album originally recorded for Roulette. Terry Gibbs provided the most musical interest here for me.

More Booker T. & The MGs

From the Original Album Series 5 disc collection

A different sort of British Invasion from 1964, also on Capitol Records. Includes Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's classic "One Leg Too Few".

Among the cast of actors playing various bit parts in this 1972 play was Susan Sarandon.

While I trust and hope it was the right decision for her personally, I for one am really sorry that Esther Satterfield decided not to pursue her musical career longer than she did. She's probably best known for her singing with Chuck Mangione's band (particularly "Land of Make Believe"). Mangione produced this, her first album, and some associates of his are heard here: Gerry Niewood, Don Potter, and his brother Gap. The material ranges from the title track to "For Once In My Life' to "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to a Miriam Makeba song to this soulful (and perhaps prophetically titled) song: https://youtu.be/vbSpfwuQAW8