MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND RADIO SHOW
I’m a former Captain, U.S. Army Reserves discharged in 1965. We’ll marke the Memorial Day weekend with our three hour Internet Radio tribute to family members and friends of those who lost their lives in WW2, Korea and Viet Nam. The three hour commemoration features sound bites and music from those years. The sound bites vary from war to war but the music features Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Doris Day, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Eberle and Helen O’Connell, Gene Krupa and many others.
Metromedia Radio Internet times are Saturday, 11 am-2 pm EDT and Sunday evening 6 pm-9pm. Here’s the ink.
(http://www.live365.com/stations/wnewradio1130
MARC MYERS, BENNETT AND BRUBECK IN THE WSJ
Marc Myers has it right again today. He’s marking another important milestone in Jazz… the 1962 collaboration between Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck. (See Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2013, Page. D5)
Marc talks to Bennett about his 1962 Washington, DC appearance with Brubeck. The Myers piece is headlined the “LOST IMPROV FROM 1962”…it’s below the fold and makes an important point for me.
Bennett’s history is so far-reaching! And, it’s still going on…performing with Brubeck is another peek at Bennett in a typically “unplugged” snapshot. Tony has traveled a path so wide, long and varied, that even Sinatra’s journey can’t compare.
Marc quotes Bennett. “Dave knew a lot about showmanship…he always made songs happen. That wasn’t just extraordinary talent. He reinvented songs each time he played them and always took the listener on that ride.”
Funny, but Tony Bennett might just as well have been talking about himself.
Check out Marc Myers’ article in todays WSJ, but hang on for a minute while I play the music video memorializing that performance by Tony and Dave.
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)
MORE ABOUT LOCAL NEWS
I’ve been part of a vocal group or radio oldtimers calling out for more local music personalities. However, my views are changing. I have a feeling that local radio station combos are more in need of a capable News Director to supervise local and network content even more so than they need a Program Director. There are always lots of Program Directors on a corporate level, anyway.
Corporate management should consider giving local program content responsibility to an experienced newsman or newswoman and have them take full responsibility for programming. Let the General Manager worry about music formats and get help from a group authority. Music is less local than ever before anyway.
MUSIC STATION GROUP WITH STRONG LOCAL NEWS PRESENCE
Is radio dying, dead or somewhere in between? There are few positive stories on the state of local radio so, the old war horse that I am, worries about the future of those once vibrant voices of our communities.
Wait…I found a positive story yesterday.
While hosting a visiting grandson this week who is working on a thesis having to do with media bias, we toured a local station group owned by a large national broadcasting company and were received by the News Director, a former employee of mine who I hadn’t seen for years.
The studios were clean, modern and airy. But, it appeared to me that, if not for this News Director and two other newscasters on overlapping shifts working out of an ample, well served news room, there were no other on-air people to be seen midst the four or five studios serving the combo. I’m talking about four FM music stations, a music AM and a news/talk AM.
Here was a local radio operation that values news gathering and secures the overall operation with a constant presence of news people who serve as guardians, to varying degrees, of all stations. Computers sing merrily along with various formats in the music studios, yet the newsroom is a live overseer for at least 18 hours a day.
After leaving the station group, I silently made a wish that radio will indeed survive and avoid having it’s plug pulled. Having a local newsroom anchoring a variety of formats fed by music machines might be the best way to go.
GRANDCHILDREN, OKLAHOMA, MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND AND SINATRA
Everything changes for you when your grandchildren are making college and career choices. Suddenly you think twice about guiding them…it’s no longer do as I do or do as I say. Now the conclusions have to be theirs and all you can do is help them gather the facts.
I spent considerable time in Oklahoma and there is a soft spot in my heart that aches today. Scrap books bring memories of special times in Guthrie, Tulsa and Fort Sill, As a matter of fact, my choice of college was almost the University of Oklahoma. I didn’t know where Moore was until yesterday and now my heart is there. Life is so unpredictable and there are times like these when we realize how vulnerable children really are.
Memorial Day comes early this year. Our weekend starts at 11 am Saturday EDT with Big Bands Ballads and Blues on the Metromedia Radio Channel, Live 365. It’s all about WW2, Korea and Viet Nam. We’ll bring you sounds and the music of those days. There are many no longer with us who made the ultimate sacrifices in those wars. But, there are also many still with us who served…give them a hug.
I continue to marvel at Frank Sinatra and how he continues to be revered. His album with Duke Ellington brought a few of us to arguing last week. Some thought it was special…others not so great. It doesn’t matter when you consider the size of his fan base over the generations. Consider that he recorded “I’ll Never Smile Again” with Tommy Dorsey and the Pied Pipers on May 23, 1940. And even today deejays Sid Mark, Leo Rayhill and Mark Sudok are only three of the many who continue to devote weekly shows to his music and memories.
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND IS COMING UP…I’LL BE THINKING ABOUT FAMILY MEMBERS AND BUDDIES WHO SACRIFICED IT ALL IN THE FORGOTTEN WARS…WORLD WAR 2 AND KOREA
Dunkirk, Omaha Beach, The Rhine, Pearl Harbor, Bataan, The Bulge, Tarawa, Pusan, the 38th Parallel, The Yalu, Pork Chop Hill and all the other places.
The sounds…
and the music…
Big Bands Ballads and Blues…
Saturday morning at 11 EDT http://www.live365.com/stations/wnewradio1130.
IT’S WOODY HERMAN’S BIRTHDAY!
WOODY, THE BIRTHDAY BOY
It would be convenient if I could say that Woody Herman’s band is my favorite. I can’t say that because I have four favorite bands and can’t decide which should be number one. The four are Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington and, of course Woody Herman. Now, with that choice how coud I possibly declare any of those to be number one? So I won’t.
“The band that played the blues.” That’s how Woodrow Charles Thomas Herman identified his band in the beginning…I guess it was about 1944. Chubby Jackson, Allen Eager and Ray Wetzel were among the outstanding players in that band.
It was George Simon, the Downbeat Magazine editor who changed that by referring to the aggregation as a “Thundering Herd.” In that first herd, the new harmonic patterns of bebop were coming on to the music scene and they influenced Neal Hefti’s compositions. When arranger Ralph Burns joined Woody, it was 1945 and the First Herd quickly became a potent swinging machine.
The last time I saw Herman, I had the pleasure of producing both Woody and Basie one night for the Mutual Radio Network Live from Epcot Center at Disneyworld in Orlando. He was on first…gave the cue from backstage and the band went into “Blue Flame.” Then Woody slowly made his way on stage wearing something more casual than the hundreds of revelers in the crowd…a virtual sea of black ties, tuxes and beautiful gowns. I handed Woody the mike and he said, “Thank you…It’s lovely to be here…we’re happy to be with you tonight…let’s get things started.” Woody counted down “a one and a two and a three” and sailed into “Things Aint What They Used To Be.” I wonder just how many times he opened with that tune.
Here’s the night Woody introduced trumpeter Byron Stripling.
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)
REMEMBERING BARCELONA
Vacation memories. It was only a few weeks ago and it went so fast. We flew in to Barcelona from JFK and had only a day to see the city before boarding our cruise ship for Monte Carlo and the remainder of the Mediterranean and Adriatic cruise. Not enough time…but we vowed we would return to Spain some day.
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)
LARRY GOLDINGS…PIANO AND HAMMOND B3 STANDOUT
The Hammond B3 organ is such a musical force in the hands of the right people. There have been so many Jazz organ players who have made wonderful music on this instrument. Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Jimmy McGriff, Shirley Scott and others…but this is about my current topic, Larry Goldings. He was inspired by the classics, learned piano and gravitated to people like Errol Garner, Bill Evans and Red Garland and Larry still plays wonderful piano. At some point he added to his skills by playing the Hammond B3 organ and began to gain notice in New York City.
Goldings is still quite young, as Jazz musicians go but steeped in style and good taste. I first became aware of the stylish Hammond B3 work of his because of the support Larry gave to blues singer Curtis Stigers on It Amazes Me. Goldings is a very busy man.
You should go to Larry’s web site (larrygoldings.com) for a review of what he has produced recently. And if you happen to be in Los Angeles this weekend, you can enjoy Larry with guitarist Pete Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart at Vitello’s in Studio City.
Here’s an interesting piece of work by Larry in a collaboration with drummer, Steve Gadd playing Jobim.
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)
WHY IS JAZZ SOMETIMES JUST A BORING MUSICAL EXCERCISE?
Lengthy improvisations full of nimble runs that never turn into a memorable tune or “hook” irritate the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, Jazz is my dedication, but so are the Standards and with good reason. As a radio programmer, a music mix made up of interesting servings of both genres suits me best because wonderful memories and variations always survive and keep the music alive in our minds and hearts.
The songs of the great Broadway and Hollywood composers are not the only Standards I employ each week on the Big Bands Ballads and Blues internet channel of Metromedia Radio There are the others…the tasty JAZZ Standards which are the product of intelligent design not normally created to be a “show stopper” in musical theater or for Fred and Ginger’s dance on film. Jazz Standards were most always created to be introduced on record, in a club or on the concert stage. They came from a musician’s idea, not a songwriter. So who can we point to as creators of what have become Jazz Standards? Well, Bill Evans for one. Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Todd Dameron, Monk… they are a few of the creators.
JOHN LEWIS OF MJQ
But, let’s talk about John Lewis. Lewis is most known to us as the piano genius of the Modern Jazz Quartet who combined with Milt Jackson on vibes, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums. John wrote a number of Jazz Standards but my favorite composition by Lewis’ is “Django,” written in memory of the Belgian gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt. Here is a music video of a performance.
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DJANGO
(Clicking on this link will direct you to a third party web site. Dick Carr’s Big Bands Ballads and Blues is not affiliated with any third party web site and is not responsible for the content or security thereof.)