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Friday, April 30, 2021

Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass.....The Lonely Bull and S.R.O.

 

The Lonely Bull

Herb Alpert set up a small recording studio in his garage and had been overdubbing a tune called "Twinkle Star", written by Sol Lake, who would eventually write many of the Brass's original tunes. During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert happened to hear a mariachi band while attending a bullfight. Following the experience, Alpert recalled that he was inspired to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare. Alpert adapted the trumpet style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambience, and renamed the song "The Lonely Bull".

He personally funded the production of the record as a single, and it spread through radio DJ's until it caught on and became a Top 10 hit in the Fall of 1962. He followed up quickly with his debut album, The Lonely Bull by "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass". Originally the Tijuana Brass was just Alpert overdubbing his own trumpet, slightly out of sync. The title cut reached No. 6 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. This was A&M's first album with the original release number being #101, although it was recorded at Conway Records. For this album and subsequent releases, Alpert recorded with the group of L.A. session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, whom he holds in high regard.


 S.R.O. (Standing Room Only)

Saturday, April 24, 2021

The Chronological Cab Calloway and His Orchestra...1934-1937

 

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular big bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole.

Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). Calloway also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He had roles in Stormy Weather (1943), Porgy and Bess (1953), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Hello Dolly! (1967). His career saw renewed interest when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

Calloway was the first African American musician to sell a million records from a single and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1993, Calloway received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His song "Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2019. He is also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. . 


 Cab Calloway


Friday, April 16, 2021

Sing Me A Swing Song...Parade of Jazz Vocalists...original recordings from 1928-1939

 

1 Thursday - Helen Humes    
2 Restless - Helen Ward    
3 Don't Try Your Jive on Me - Una Mae Carlisle        
4 Drop in Next Time You're Passing - Elisabeth Welch        
5 I Wish I Were Twins - Valaida    
6 When I Grow Too Old to Dream - Putney Dandridge    
7 Loveable and Sweet - Annette Hanshaw    
8 Dream Man (Make Me Dream Some More) -    Fats Waller    
9 I Just Couldn't Take It, Baby - Jack Teagarden   
10 Ten Cents a Dance - Ruth Etting    
11 Sing Me a Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)- Ella Fitzgerald   
12 Zaz Zul Zaz - Cab Calloway    
13 Louisiana - Bing Crosby    
14 Three Little Words -    Rhythm Boys    
15 Troubled Waters - Ivie Anderson    
16 I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart - Connee Boswell    
17 Wha'd Ja Do to Me? - The Boswell Sisters    
18 Isle of Capri - Wingy Manone    
19 More Than You Know -    Mildred Bailey        
20 Am I Blue? -    Ethel Waters    
21 One, Two, Button Your Shoe -    Billie Holiday        
22 Thanks a Million - Louis Armstrong   
  


Sing Me A Swing Song

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