BARBRA AND RAY…WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
RAY AND BARBRA
Here’s a remarkable duet featuring Ray Charles and Barbra Streisand that dates back many years. My guess is that comes from one of Streisand’s TV spectaculars. The energy is remarkable as Ray is his regular self and Barbra is content singing as one of the Raelets…or so it would seem. Give her credit because Ray steals the show and she smiles and lets it happen.
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CARL SAUNDERS…MY FAVORITE OF THE CURRENT TRUMPET PLAYERS
CARL SAUNDERS
There are a number of great trumpet soloists out there …Bobby Shew, Wayne Berguron and Carl Saunders are only a few. However, several years ago, I found a particularly noteworthy performance by Carl Saunders featured in a recording with arranger/conductor Bob Florence.
Saunders’ solo on a cut called “Now Playing” is a masterpiece. Tribute must also go to Florence for the composition and arrangement. You’ll find it on the Limited Edition Serendipity 18 CD which won a Grammy.
BOB FLORENCE
Florence passed a few years back and I was reminded of him today in a Facebook posting by Gordon Goodwin, leader of the Big Phat Band commenting on an old Florence vinyl by Bob that Gordon received for a Fathers Day present.
Anyway, if you admire great trumpet solos, listen to this masterful performance by Carl Saunders on “Now Playing” written and arranged by Bob Florence.
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THE YEAR WAS 1960. WHAT WOULD WE CALL THE NEW WIP FORMAT? JUST SAY IT’S MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.
The City of Philadelphia
The year was late 1959. Harvey Glascock was calling me in Akron, Ohio where I was programming Radio Station WCUE.
“No never mind Cleveland and WHK, Dick…we’re going to Philadelphia instead.”
A few days after he hired me to join Top 40 formatted WHK Cleveland, Glascock said there was a change in plans. Yes, I would be joining the company, but he had just received a call from John W. Kluge. Metropolitan Broadcasting, which would soon go public and become Metromedia, had just received FCC approval on the purchase of WIP from a Philadelphia group headed by Ben Gimbel, the department store heir. Glascock’s instructions from company Chairman Kluge were to turn over the WHK management reins to Jack Thayer who would be arriving in Cleveland from Minneapolis the next day. Harvey was then was to move to Philadelphia and take over the new acquisition, WIP.
“OK,” I said more than a bit startled. “I’ll go to WIP, but what will be my job?”
Harvey was quiet for a few seconds and then spoke,
“You’ll do the mid day on-air shift shift and help me make format decisions…you’ll handle music and we’ll go from there. You have to trust me, Dick. I’m not sure whether WIP will be another WHK or follow WNEW’s programming.”
WOW! While thinking about growing up with WNEW as a a teenager but also being very familiar with WHK and having learned how to program Top 40 in Buffalo at WBNY and Akron at WCUE, I was a little nervous but said,
“I’m with you Harv.”
Metropolitan Broadcasting, later to become Metromedia, Inc, owned two hugely successful but differently programmed radio stations…legendary, adult programmed WNEW in New York and Top 40 WHK in Cleveland. It took Harvey almost a year to decide on the WIP format. There were a few hiccups. Would WIP be another WHK or try to become another WNEW?
We chose the WNEW path and struggled for a while until we hired some very good disc jockeys and began turning them into adult personalities. We then hit on a music mix that was devined from a list of current non rock & roll single records and album cuts. About a year later, WIP hit its groove with a typical hour of music that sounded like this.
Come Dance With Me, Frank Sinatra (album)
Theme From A Summer Place, Percy Faith
Pretty Blue Eyes, Steve Lawrence
Beyond The Sea, Bobby Darin
It Was Just One of Those Things, Ella Fitzgerald (album)
Tonight, Ferrante & Teicher
El Paso, Marty Robbins
Moon River, Henry Mancini
Baby, You Got What It Takes, Brook Benton and Dinah Washington
Lullabye Of Birdland, George Shearing (album)
Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles
Sometime in late 1960, I remember being asked by Harvey to attend a sales meeting run by WIP Sales Manager, Bob Mounty and attended by six or seven WIP salesmen. It was Mounty who called on me, “Dick, how would you describe the WIP format? Our clients are asking us.”
Speaking carefully I said,
“Well, we not quite WNEW yet…maybe a bit more like KMPC in Los Angeles and KSFO in San Francisco. But, we’re certainly not like Top 40 WHK in Cleveland or WIBG here in Philly. Just tell them we’re somewhere in the middle…we have strong personalities…we play new music…but not rock & roll. Tell them we’re like middle of the road…that’s it. Tell them we’re middle of the road.”
REMEMBERING THE “HITS” FROM 1950-1969….OR WHEN I STOPPED LISTENING TO MARTIN BLOCK ON WNEW
I remember when the music Martin Block was playing on WNEW became boring and unremarkable. It was about 1952 when I began to feel silly listening or dancing to songs like these…
Blue Tango by Leroy Anderson
A Guy Is a Guy by Doris Day
I Went To Your Wedding by Patti Page
How Much Is That Doggie In The Window by Patti Page
Eh Cumpari by Julius LaRosa
But, even though I stopped listening to Block I still loved WNEW…but for other reasons. I didn’t stop listening to WNEW in the morning with Gene Rayburn and Dee Finch (Klavan came later) or Jerry Marshall handling the Music Hall in the early afternoon, or Lonnie Starr hosting Sinatra With Strings. And certainly no one else compared to Al Jazzbo Collins afternoons with Collins on a Cloud or coming from the Purple Grotto at night…and then The Milkman’s Matinee. That’s when I realized the depth of WNEW and how they broadly mixed the Standards and Jazz and still found time to play the hits.
Then I remember the excitement of a new music phenomena, music from concerts recorded live called Jazz At The Philharmonic. The series was an innovation of Jazz promoter, Norman Granz. I remember Granz for several important reaons. He was an impressario that promoted Jazz worldwide with his continuing, traveling concert serties called Jazz At The Philharmonic. (JATP) No one did more to make Jazz International than Granz, regularly employing the top names in Jazz for a decade or more just as the big bands began their decline. The feature of JATP was Granz’ idea to pit small group soloists against each other in long improvisations before wildly cheering fans.
Just for fun, I reviewed the history of hit singles according to Cashbox from 1950 to 1969. It shows who the top 40 artists were over the 20 year period.
The most chart hits per artist:
Elvis Presley…131
James Brown…81
Ray Charles…70
Beatles…63
Connie Francis…58
Perry como…55
Fats Domino…55
Frank Sinatra…55
Paul Anka…54
Pat boone…53
Aretha Franklin…52
Marvin Gaye…52
Brenda Lee…52
Rick Nelson…51
Jackie Wilson…49
Brook Benton…48
Nat King Cole…48
Beach Boys…46
Four Seasons…46
Temptations…46
Andy Williams…46
Neil Diamond…45
Dionne Warwick…44
Stevie Wonder…44
Supremes…43
Miracles…41
Rolling Stones…41
Here is a list of the most weeks at #1 by artist
Beatles…68
Elvis Presley…56
Bee Gees…24
Perry Como…22
Patti Page…22
Four Aces…21
Tony Bennett…20
Monkees…18
Rolling Stones…18
Diana Ross & Supremes…18
Percy Faith…17
Four Season…17
Guy Mitchell…17
Elton John…16
Diana Ross…16
Stevie Wonder…16
Gordon Jenkins…13
Olivia Newton – John…13
Rod Stewart…13
Blondie…12
Nat King Cole…12
Everly Brothers…12
Paul McCartney/Wings…12
THE SONG HITS OF 1950…DID YOU BUY THEM?
MARTIN BLOCK
THE JUKE BOX
Yesterday I remembered how music came into my life. It’s not that there was none at all before 1947. On the contrary, whenever my Mom was around there was always music in our house. She listened to the radio, memorized songs from 5 & 10 cent store music sheets and loved to dance. When I heard the sound of music I turned to her to see her reaction. Was it any good? Did she like it…endorse it…or even recommend it? My own taste had not been formed yet.
But on that night of my first teenage neighborhood dance, music suddenly began to actually mean something to me personally. I could feel it…even dance to it like she did. It started with Tommy Dorsey’s Opus One, something began to happen…the record made me move and it made me want to hear more like it. After Opus One, my appreciation grew far beyond Tommy Dorsey. I even began collecting records:…78s by Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Gene Krupa and a few others.
Strange how I only bought records by big dance bands. That’s because the popular vocals were on the local juke boxes and Martin Block, the WNEW disc jockey played them almost exclusively. I didn’t want to waste my money on any of them for my collection. In fact, I don’t remember ever buying a pop record. I didn’t need to. The pop hits were everywhere.
In 1950, all of these songs were number one hits at one time or other. But they were not something I would buy for myself. Did you?
Music Music Music………………………………………… Theresa Brewer
If I knew You were Comin’ I’d Have Baked a Cake…Eileen Barton
Third Man Theme……………………………………………Anton Karas
My Foolish Heart……………………………………………Gordon Jenkins
I Wanna Be Loved…………………………………………..The Andrew Sisters
It Isn’t Fair……………………………………………………Sammy Kaye
Mona Lisa……………………………………………………..Nat Cole
Harbor Lights……………………………………………….. Sammy Kaye
Tennessee Waltz……………………………………………..Patti Page
MY FIRST TEENAGE DANCE AND A RECORD BY TOMMY DORSEY…AFTER THAT, EVERYTHING CHANGED
That’s Artie and Marie on the left
Do you remember your first teenage church dance?
For me, it was the summer of 1947 and very hot weather for the New York Metropolitan area. The main focus in my life was our sandlot baseball team consisting of a dozen St. Peter’s parish adolescents who lived in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island. We were a socially inept group of boys barely into our teens who rotated activities around baseball, chores, errands, weekly allowance, movies, the public swimming pool and discussions about girls. It was an odd time for those of us who had not yet secured working papers and part time jobs. Amazing how our time was spent with too much to do on one hand, and nothing to do on another.
I don’t remember who first had the idea to check out the dance at the parish hall that Saturday night. There was no advanced intelligence on what went on there but we had heard we would meet girls. None of us danced so we argued over a choice of three things to do…it was either the John Wayne movie…the amusement park at South Beach or the dance in the basement hall of St. Peter’s. The dance was the least expensive choice of all the alternatives…the dance was free.
It was a not a popular decision but my best friend and I made the choice to go to the dance. I kept the thought to myself but I considered the chance that Marie Pitman would be there.
It was very unfamiliar territory alright…there was no charge to get in. The music was on records, of course and they were being played behind a curtain on stage at the end of the hall.
Remarkable how most of the girls were on one side of the dance floor and practically all of the boys on the other. The majority of dancers were girls paired with one another except for a few mixed couples. Clearly they knew how to dance.
But the most extraordinary sight of all was Artie Caruso. Artie was disliked immensely by my baseball team members because he seemed to be very popular with girls. And I’ll be damned…he was dancing with, of all people, Marie Pitman. And it happened several times. I’ll never forget the music I first saw them dance to. It made me feel that I was definitiely missing out on something. It was called Opus One by Tommy Dorsey and after hearing it, my life never was the same again.
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Tommy Dorsey and Opus One Music Video
THE SCAT SINGERS…ELLA AND MEL WERE THE BEST
What is “scat” singing?
‘Scat’ singers merely substitute wordless, improvised sounds in place of lyrics against uptempo versions of familiar melodies. Simplistically, it’s the singers choice to improvise the lyric by substituting sounds verses the words.
Why would they do that?
It’s a liberty Jazz singers can use to show off their unusual skills to improvise just as instrumentalists do. Many singers employ this technique but I’ve never heard any “scat” as well as Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme. Some will say that Louis Armstrong introduced the concept. Probably so because, in my view, without Louis there would be no music known as Jazz.
Syllables, speed and articulation are the elements of a great “scat” performance. One of the foremost examples of Ella’s “scat” singing virtuosity can be found in her Ella In Berlin Album and her version of “How High The Moon.” Below you’ll find a Music Video featuring Ella.
In a tribute to Ella, Mel Torme also exhibits his skill in another Music Video of “Lady Be Good.”
(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 WAS I BORN? NOT THE GREATEST JEROME KERN SONG, HOWEVER KENNY BURRELL AND JOHN COLTRANE ARE SENSATIONAL
BURRELL AND COLTRANE
In 1929, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote a song for the Broadway show, “Sweet Adeline” called “Why Was I Born.” The questions lyricist Hammerstein asks are not easily answered.
“Why was I born…why am I living? What do I get…what am I giving?”
HAMMERSTEIN AND KERN
Good questions…but I have another. What would inspire John Coltrane and Kenny Burrell to record such a song in the first place? Perhaps they heard Jazz singers Billie Holliday and Helen Morgan popularize it during the 30s and 40s. Whatever the reason, Coltrane and Burrell never worried about the lyric. They turned out a masterful instrumental version on March 7, 1958. In my view, this is one of the great examples of Jazz and the Standards combining for something special.
“Why Was I Born” is not my favorite song but Trane and Burrell do some of their finest work with the help of Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Here’s music video.
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WHY WOULDN’T I HAVE GUESSED THAT FRANK WESS WAS BORN IN KANSAS CITY?
FRANK WESS…JAZZ MASTER
So many Jazz musicians come from Kansas City…it’s one of my favorite places and home of KCMO. I lived on the Country Club Plaza during the years I managed the station.
Anyway, this is about Frank Wess and his new CD, Magic 101. His sax and flute has Frank’s stamp all over the Basie reed section during the ten years that began in 1953. Wess is on most of my favorite Basie records and CDs. And one familiar with the genius of Frank Wess need not be reminded of his years with Clark Terry and his very large list of recordings and other gigs.
Although the music video to follow features Frank in front of a big band, his new release also includes a performance of Ray Noble’s The Very Thought of You. The new CD allows Kenny Barron’s piano, Winard Harper’s drums and Kenny Davis’ bass to join with Frank on a very tasty new package of Jazz Standards.
Here’s that video of The Very Thought of You by Frank.
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BURLINGTON, VERMONT, THE GREEN MOUNTAINS, LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND THE EXCITING EDMAR CASTANEDA
One thing about a big family, there are always wonderful visits all year long. We have kids in Manhattan, Washington, Western Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Boston and Burlington, Vermont.
Viewing The Adirondacks From Vermont
Vermont is as green now as you could ever imagine with the lush mountains and country side bordering Burlington and wonderful Lake Champlain. Wednesday, we drove east on the NY Thruway then cut through the Adirondacks to Ticonderoga, NY and on through the Green Mountains to visit our children in the Burlington area.
Mitch and Kim were wonderful hosts and they added to the pleasure by inviting Phyll’s sister, Linda Stern from Chicago for the weekend. Linda and I were colleagues at the ABC Radio Network during the 1980s. She has been in Chicago for more than a few years with WGN and now WFMT.
THE BURLINGTON DISCOVER JAZZ FESTIVAL
Especially noteworthy were the musical events of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival with an unmatched lineup of Bobby McFerrin, Branford Marsalis, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Poncho Sanchez, Eliane Elias, Ivan Neville, Dave Douglas and much more including the riveting Jazz harpist, Edmar Castaneda and his trio.
Edmar Castaneda
I was particularlystartled by Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda who can fairly be called a musical revolutionary possessing a virtuosic mastery that has transformed the way both audiences and professionals view the instrument. His vibrant performances are saturated with grooving bass lines, running counterpoint melodies, and dazzling triplet figures that rival the most accomplished flamenco guitarists, a style described by Jazz Times as “a kind of Charlie Hunter or Joe Passian approach to the harp.” When adding drummer Dave Silliman and the soprano sax of Schlomi Cohen, the trio becomes the most exciting new act I have seen in years.
Here is Edmar at the Jazz Standard in NYC. Dave Silliman is on drums and Marshall Gilkes substitutes his trombone for Schlomi Cohen’s sax
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