JSngry

The Astringents - Poking The Prod

Ed Eckstine, Billy's son: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/arts/music/ed-eckstine-blackout-tuesday-music.html Career facilitated by...Quincy Jones.

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.

I wonder if Quincy Jones is sentient enough to speak any truth to it.

Did RCA think they another Perry Como on their hands?

Do you have the Schaap mix?

The Polydor 1991 edition.

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

Stoney Dampwood - Truckin' On Down The Line

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.

These are great. More please! Next to Basie in the top photo is Kenny Clarke?

On that song, vocally, damn near everybody. MAKE IT MINE MAKE IT MINE MAKE IT MINE!!!!! Or so it seems...

No drama is far more compelling than manipulative drama.

Pizzicato easy-listening strings drenched in reverb are certainly psychedelic.

It's SO Horace Silver!

Why not!

I find that The Hollyridge Strings records have an ineffable air of peppiness that I continue to enjoy.

Hw is, but it's still a correct citation:

https://www.discogs.com/release/9592184-Billy-Eckstine-Benny-Carter-Helen-Merrill-Billy-Eckstine-Sings-With-Benny-Carter Apparently it's "wobbly" or some such, I guess. I don't hear it, it just sounds like an old guy with flawless pitch and time singing a song really well.

As they did Zamfir and Boxcar Willie.

Overwhelming? You mean, like, intimidating? To who? Or more, like, wow, things will never be the same after this! His pitch never faltered. His time never wavered. The vibrato was always in tune, no matter how wide it became. That's more than can be said about pretty much everybody.if the lived long enough. Even some/most "legends". All this noise about Great Interpreters Of The Great American Songbook is just that -noise - unless Billy Eckstine is given equal and serious consideration.

Questlove, are you listening? I also find it telling that the by-now antiquated Jazz at Lincoln Center has more or less ignored male vocalists that do not have some sort of overt "blues" image. But not TOO blues. Oh, Willie Nelson. Sorry. I forgot. There's something weird about the way that "jazz" overall processes deeper-voiced male vocals. Joe Williams being the exception that more or less proves the rule. And Joe Williams didn't always go low... R&B once had a place for the deep voice, but no more (please prove me wrong!). Like everything else, the bottom is either exaggerated and distorted or else it ain't there at all. Something very weird going on. What is going on with our natural depth, deepness. Everything is going upupupupup SNAP!!!!

Yeah. No words, but part of the song. Guess that wouldn't be "arrangement" though.

If this is romantic crooning, give me all there is And sometimes they have done nothing to deserve otherwise.

Whoa, dude. Nothing being aimed at you. However, erasure does occur, and it doesn't take a "1619 Project" to be aware of it. Find another word if you like, fine with me.