duaneiac

With Ralph Sutton, Ernie Figueroa, Vernon Alley and Joe Dodge.

An approximately 5 or 6 disc set of all new, previously unreleased live recordings of Terry Gibbs' Dream Band. I have no idea if Mr. Gibbs has any more private tapes of that band in his personal archives, but I'd like to hope so. Love that band.

What a great album - and not just "great for a guy his age and condition". I listened to it three times through. I'd say it is his best new material in years.

Disc 2 of 4.

Disc 3 of 4.

It's early for Christmas music, but I just got this Bear Family compilation and had to give it a listen:

Currently only one copy left on Amazon for $5.81. Currently available at Deep Discount for $4.25.

Disc 1 of 2.

"Nightmare" by Artie Shaw "New Year's Eve In a Haunted House" by Raymond Scott "Old Man Mose Is Dead" by Louis Armstrong

I was just glancing through the personnel listed for the tracks on Discs 4 & 5 that I listened to. I don't recall seeing his name, but maybe Connie Kay was on songs on the other discs. It would make sense since the MJQ was already an Atlantic recording group.

After an initial listen to the new album, I like it. The standout track for me is "Dark Night Of The Soul", which, if there were no post-production wizardry involved, displays a remarkable fluidity to Mr. Morrison's voice for a singer of his age. Whatever else he has done during the past 50+ years as a rock star, he has taken good care of his voice. This is made even more apparent as this song follows a duet with Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers fame. Mr. Medley's voice is not bad, but it does sound weathered, more like one might expect the singing voice of a 78 year old man to sound. "Up On Broadway" is kind of cool because it's not the Broadway you're thinking of. This song is about Broadway and the North Beach area in San Francisco which is apparently a favorite spot of his. Mr. Morrison includes another grumpy old man song (how young was he when he first began singing grumpy old man songs?) here called "Nobody In Charge". To spare you from having to listen to this diatribe, let me just summarize it as a variation on the middle-aged white man blues called, "I Demand To Speak To The Manager". It's a good album overall.

I'm not saying the Coasters' songs are bad. I used to like the Coasters' songs when I was younger. Used to sing along with those tunes and love 'em. But at this point in my life, they did nothing but irritate me. Maybe the songs have not aged well or maybe I have not aged well (my knees will certainly attest to that). The Drifters, on the other hand, I could listen to forever. I was blissfully unaware of the "cultural baggage" carried by strings. They are only musical instruments. Perhaps the cultural baggage is carried by listeners and their preconceptions and not the instruments themselves.

Discs 4 & 5 of 8. It has been a long time since I have revisited some of this music. Some artists, such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Booker T. & The MGs, are fairly regular parts of my listening habits. For many other performers on here, it was great to hear their hits once again. The only exception was The Coaters -- I find I just can't take their stuff any more. I found myself skipping each one of their tracks. Their songs seemed so hokey and inconsequential, especially when compared to some of the other songs included on the same discs. Why waste my limited listening time on them when right next door is Barbara Lewis! "Hello Stranger" indeed! Wow, it does seem like a mighty long time since I've heard her gorgeous voice. She was 19 when she recorded that?!? Remember when 19 year old singers could exhibit a maturity and sophistication beyond their years? Nowadays we have 30-something singers still trying to pretend they are teenagers. Sad. For you folks who hate strings in jazz, does the same apply to strings in r&b for you? Strings are so vital to some of these songs. "This Magic Moment" and "Stand By Me" -- it's difficult to imagine those records without the strings. They add so much to these songs/performances. Why do strings have a bad rep? The one track which had me hitting the replay button the most was "Cry To Me" by Solomon Burke. That song really hit the sweet spot for me at this time. Love the Art Davis bass line and a rockin' Hank Jones on piano! (it's interesting just looking at the musicians who played on so many of these sides: people like Hubert Laws, Jimmy Cleveland, Clark Terry, Buddy Morrow, Milt Hinton, George Barnes, Taft Jordan, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mundell Lowe, Osie Johnson, Budd Johnson and Panama Francis.)

This is kind of nice in a Latin/lounge/jazz kinda way. Anybody know if this 1966 album ever found its way to a CD release?

Disc 1 & 2 of 2.