Jump to content

JSngry

Moderator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    85,148

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

  • Donations

    0.00 USD 

 Content Type 

Posts posted by JSngry

  4. Blue Note's TONE POET series.

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    So the tnor in question was not likely isolatd during the original recording, right? Or was it maybe fairly isolated by baffles?

    I mean, there's all sorts of digital trickery afoot and available these days, but yeah, if it's there it should always be there, I would think. not a now you hear it now you don't type thing.

  12. Billy Eckstine

    in Artists

    Posted

    Quincy knew/knows how power works and no doubt learned some lessons from Eckstine. 

    Glad he's doing well. There were a few interviews around the time of his autobiography where he seemed a little...bouncy. 

  17. Billy Eckstine

    in Artists

    Posted

    Of course, but I mean, c'mon, that particular niche continued to be served by other names of the past.

    And some didn't.

    But it seems like if you had an advocate somewhere that you had a safety net. Eckstine had one at Mercury with Quincy Jones, but after that....was Berry Gordy going to go all in on Billy Eckstine? Or Al Bell at Stax? That they were in at all still

    His Motown & Stax records were not all Lost Treasures or anything, but they did have some cuts that were radio-friendly for the same stations that were playing Sinatra & Dino & Dino & Martino & Vale and all those other people. 

    It's not that he was forgotten that irks me, it's that he was forgotten so damn easily. It's like, once he was forgotten, he was TOTALLY forgotten. It would be one thing if there was a total loss of skills, but there was not that (perceived "wobble" to the contrary).

    Somebody else who had somewhat the same fate, if on a parallel track was Dick Hames. Some of his mid-50s Capitol material is bone-chillingly dark. But he was already "the guy whose place Sinatra took" and there was no getting over that.

    But - Dick Haymes got buttloads of movie and TV shots for a good long time. Eckstine never did.

    Hell, Rudy Valee kept popping up on TV for DECADES after he was a national sensation, and Rudy Vallee was, not a novelty act, but certainly not a serious talent.

    I stand by "erasure" because there was no support system to keep Billy Eckstine in the broader popular eye after his greatest fame had passed. I'm in no way saying that this erasure has been intentional (although that Life photo certainly had to have triggered something in some parts of the industry, how could it not have?). But things do get erased from the popular culture when there is no visibility.

    Safety net, support system, call it what you will. Sinatra was left for dead until "From Here To Eternity" and somebody at Capitol taking a chance. Show me where Billy Eckstine got more than a chance to make records for labels where he was not going to be a priority. Show me where Billy Eckstine got some bit parts in a move. Show me where Billy Eckstine got sitcom roles (although, Redd Foxx did like to do an imitation form time to time on Sanford).

    The guy began as a larger-than-life talent, and even if life had it's way with his fame, it did not have his way with his talent. And....did anybody care? DOES anybody care? It's not like the guy died destitute or anything, just...my god, what an instrument, all the way to the end.

     

     

     

     

    l

  19. Tony Williams Lifetime - EMERGENCY

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    I've gotten totally reengaged with this one via the Phil Schaap (sic!) remix/remaster. All I can say is - it works.

    It's 50+ years gone now, so no sense in looking at things like "wow, how did they screw up the recording that much", "Tony's vocals, wtf? is THAT all about", "missed opportunities abound", stuff like that. It happened, and there it is.

    And jezz...is it a mess? Yes, a huge one.

    But is it also glorious? Most definitely!

    Schapp's mix really clears up the parts (as best he can) and first and foremost - Tony is larger than life every second. From a drumming standpoint, this record is...beyond category,

    McLaughlin has cleaned up a little bit, and for the better. He's got that howl in his playin, an all-in quality that seems to be the sound of somebody not knowing for sure where they're going, but still hurrying to get there, normalcy be damned.

    And Larry Young - not salvageable too much apparently, but he, like everybody else, is just in there doing it...whatever "it" was going to be.

    Crank it up and let Tony drive your bus.

  21. Billy Eckstine

    in Artists

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

    Excellent performance, but what or whose much less compelling "manipulative drama" do you have in mind as a point of comparison? 

    On that song, vocally, damn near everybody.

    MAKE IT MINE 

    MAKE IT MINE 

    MAKE 

    IT 

    MINE!!!!!

    Or so it seems...

     

     

     

     

     

    28 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

    BTW that photo of Eckstine with that blond girl burying her curls in his shoulder is something else. A gemlike point in time.

     

×
×
  • Create New...