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Gypsy Guitar Django Reinhardt VV-012

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In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some early vinyl records that showcase GYPSY GUITARIST GREAT DJANGO REINHARDT. Many of these will be original compositions by Django Reinhardt . These recordings of Django are found on Vinyl LP Record compilations of his recordings between 1937 and 1949.  Today I will  divide the show into three segments, DJANGO Songs Pre-WW2, Songs During WW2 and Songs after WW2. In all, I will SHOWCASE ten of the great works of GYPSY GUITARIST DJANGO REINHARDT.

  1. When Day is Done (R. Katscher-B. de Sylva), rec 4/22/1937, ____, 3:10 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]
  2. Minor Swing (S.Grappelli-D.Reinhardt) , rec 9/9/1937, _____, 3:14 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]
  3. Naguine (D. Reinhardt), rec 6/30/1939, Paris, 2:25 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]
  4. Djangology (D. Reinhardt), rec 5/8/1942, Brussels, 3:04 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]
  5. Blues Clair (D. Reinhardt), rec 2/26/1943, _______, 3:01 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]
  6. Belleville (D. Reinhardt), rec 2/1/1946, London, 3:15 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]
  7. Nuages (D. Reinhardt-J. Larue), rec 2/1/1946, London, 3:15 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]
  8. Swing 48 (D. Reinhardt), rec 7/6/1947, Paris, 2:45 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]
  9. Brick Top (D. Reinhardt-S. Grappelli), rec Feb 1949, Rome, 3:42 [Djangology remaster 1961]
  10. Night and Day (C. Porter), rec 3/10/1953, Paris, 2:51 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]

 

Django Reinhardt, Jean Vaissade – La Caravane – Paris, 20.06.1928

L’Accordéoniste Jean Vaissade –
Jean Vaissade (acc); Django Reinhardt (bj); unknown (slide whistle) –
1928 June 20 – Paris

DJANGO REINHARDT is so well known in Jazz and Guitar circles that perhaps he needs no introduction…. yet there is much cultural and personal background about this fascinating guitarist and his place in music history in the context of world events of the 1940s !!!

Jean Reinhardt, nicknamed “DJANGO, a gipsy word for “I AWAKE”, was born 1/23/1910, in a caravan, in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, about 60km south of Brussels, into a family of Manouche gypsies. This was just 4 years before the German invasion of Belgium in 1914 and Germany’s declaration of war on France, in WW1.

Starting at age 8, Reinhardt spent most of his youth in Romani, or Gypsy encampments close to Paris, playing banjo, guitar and violin. His brother Joseph Reinhardt, two years younger, was an accomplished guitarist. Django Reinhardt played the violin at first, then at the age of 12, he learned to play a “banjo-guitar”. A banjo-guitar looks like a banjo, and sounds like a banjo, but is tuned like a guitar and can be played by guitarists. By the age of 13, Reinhardt was able to make a living playing music. His first known recording (in June 20, 1928, AGE 18) is of him playing the banjo –guitar with accordianist Jean Vaissade

Not long after this first recording, also when he was 18, Reinhardt was severely injured in a caravan fire. (For those non-europeans, the term “caravan” refers to a small trailer in which one can live while traveling. In the context of 1928 Belgium, these were horse-drawn caravans.)

In this fire, Django received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralysed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burned. He was able to walk within a year with the aid of a cane. And he relearned his guitar-playing skill … even though his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralysed. He played all of his guitar solos with only two fingers, and used the two injured digits for playing chords. This is an amazing fact, when you hear the speed, clarity and musicality of his guitar solos

Between 1929 and 1933 Django abandoned the banjo-guitar for the classical guitar….. Django somehow was able to acquire an extraordinary guitar, a Selmer Maccaferri. This is a large body steel-string, arched-top guitar with a “D”-shaped soundhole and a wide neck, like a classical guitar. The body had an internal resonator, invented circa 1931 by guitarist and luthier [loo-ti’-er] Mario Maccaferri, the resonator wwas designed to increase the volume of the guitar.

In 1934, Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Grappelli were invited to form the “Quintette du Hot Club de France” with Reinhardt’s younger brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass. The guitars also served as percussion instruments—-they had no true drums or percussion section. The Quintette du Hot Club de France (or QHCF) jazz ensemble was composed only of STRING instruments.

Today I will  divide the show into three segments, DJANGO Songs Pre-WW2, Songs During WW2 and Songs after WW2. In all, I will SHOWCASE ten of the great works of DJANGO REINHARDT,

 

In our first segment, we look at three of DJANGO REINHARDT’s SONGS PRE-WW2, defined as the time leading up to September 1939, the invasion of Germany into Poland

M1 When Day is Done (R. Katscher-B. de Sylva), rec 4/22/1937, ____, 3:10 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]

When Day is Done performed by Quintette du Hot Club de France recorded in April 1937 with a beautiful octave stle lead-in by Django and a lovely solo intro, followed by a tempo change for stephane grapelli’s violin solo.

Recorded in: 4/22/1937

Personnel of the Quintette du Hot Club de France included

  • Stephanie Grappelli VN
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Marcel Bianchi RG
  • Pierre Ferret RG
  • Louis Vola B

M2 Minor Swing (S.Grappelli-D.Reinhardt) , rec 9/9/1937, _____, 3:14 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]

In Minor Swing we hear the great expression in Django’s lead including fantastic runs up and down the neck.

“Ahhhh Yeah!” THAT WAS Minor Swing (S.Grappelli-D.Reinhardt) ,

Recorded in: rec 9/9/1937

Personnel of the Quintette du Hot Club de France included

  • Stephanie Grappelli VN
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Joseph Reinhardt RG
  • Eugene Vees RG
  • Pierre Ferret RG
  • Louis Vola B

M3 Naguine (D. Reinhardt), rec 6/30/1939, Paris, 2:25 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]

This is a very easy-going solo demonstration of chorded guitar melody, a studio recording from June of 1939. The name of the song, Naguine, is also his second wife’s middle name, Sophie “Naguine” Ziegler, whom he married fours years later, in central France, and with whom he had a son, Babik Reinhardt, who became a respected guitarist in his own right.

  • Personnel Django solo performance

SONGS DURING WAR (1939-1945)

When WWII broke out, (or September 1939) the original quintet was on tour in the United Kingdom. Reinhardt returned to Paris and Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war (six years, or May 1945). Reinhardt reformed the quintet in Paris, with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet replacing Grappelli’s violin.

Just a few months after returning to Paris, in May of 1940, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands fell to the Nazis. Reinhardt’s problems were compounded by the fact that the Nazis officially disapproved of jazz. Jazz was prohibited by the Nazis at the beginning of the war. The Nazi regime even passed edicts banning jazz records and muted trumpets calling them…. degenerate art!! He made several attempts, unsuccessful, to escape occupied France.

Reinhardt survived the war unscathed, unlike many Gypsies who perished in the Romani holocaust. Nazi Germany, the Independent State of Croatia, the Kindom of Hungary and their allies, attempted to exterminate the Romani people of Europe during World War II…..both Roma and Jews were defined as “enemies of the race-based state” by the Nuremberg laws; ….and the Nazi regime systematically murdered several hundred thousand European Gypsies.

There may be two reasons why Django succeeded in surviving persecution, after all he was living in France and a key musician of “Quintette du Hot Club de France” now for six years. One reason is that Eastern European Romani communities were less organised than Jewish communities, and therefore not well documented. The other reason is that supposedly, Django enjoyed the protection of one jazz-loving Nazi, Luftwaffe officer Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, nicknamed “Doktor Jazz.

Our first wartime song is DJANGOLOGY, recorded in Brussels, May 8, 1942. At this time, Belgium had fallen to the Nazis along with France and the Netherlands, two years earlier. The Battle of Britain had also passed, and Belgium is occupied at this time.

Djangology leads the piece with a brief solo, then the Stan Brenders and Son Grand Orchestra performers are added in, and Django is prominently mixed to be in the front of the orchestra. Note the lack of violinist Stephan Grappelli. He remains in London during the WW2. Here is an early example of jazz guitar with a LEAD role within a large orchestra. The very young jazz guitarist Charlie Christian has died two months earlier in New York.

Without further adieu, Djangology (composed by D. Reinhardt), recorded in 1942

Djangology (D. Reinhardt), from the VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994

Recorded in: Brussels May 8, 1942

  • Personnel Included members of the Stan Brenders and Son Grand Orchestra

M5 Blues Clair (D. Reinhardt), rec 2/26/1943, _______, 3:01 [Capitol-Bluenote Compilation 1996]

Blues Clair is a 12-bar blues format but in a happy major scale and without the commonly used Pentatonic scale of American Blues. Django demonstrates a number of bizaar techniques here, including some fabulous fast-strumming chords , the use of ringing harmonics, and picking strings beyond the guitar bridge. Listen to these strange techniques, all played together, mid song…

We also hear Django’s high paced single-note guitar lead delivery. There is a drum part in this song, not commonly done, in earlier recordings of Quintette du Hot Club de France, the guitar strumming and bass provided all of the percussion.

Recorded in: 1943

Personnel Included

  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Eugene Vees RG
  • Gaston Leonard D
  • Jean Storne B

Now we switch gears and go to SONGS POST WW2. It is now early 1946, eight months after the capture of Berlin by Polish and Soviet forces.

M6 Belleville (D. Reinhardt), rec 2/1/1946, London, 3:15 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]

We start with Belleville, a Django composition. We are back with the Quintette du Hot Club de France and Stephane Grappelli again, recording in LONDON. There are two rhythm guitarists and a bass.

Belleville (D. Reinhardt composition),

Recorded in: London, 1946

Personnel of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with

  • Stephanie Grappelli VN
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Jack Llewellyn G
  • Alan Hodgkiss G
  • Coleridge Goode B

M7 Nuages (D. Reinhardt-J. Larue), rec 2/1/1946, London, 3:15 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]

Nuages, French for Clouds. Nuages is another jazz standard, it is frequently played and has been reincarnated or emulated in two other songs, for example,

Melancholy Serenade, the theme song of the Jackie Gleason Show, and

Sand, the Hawaiian sounding steel guitar instrumental by Jerry Byrd.

And now the original classic, NUAGES, with a unique guitar introduction, recorded in 1946 in London

 

Recorded in: 1946 in London

Personnel Included

  • Personnel of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with
  • Stephanie Grappelli VN
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Jack Llewellyn G
  • Alan Hodgkiss G
  • Coleridge Goode B

M8 Swing 48 (D. Reinhardt), rec 7/6/1947, Paris, 2:45 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]

Next up is SWING 48. Another Django original composition. We are back in Paris now. The personnel have changed. We have Hubert Rostaing on CLARINET, instead of Grappelli on violin. Now DJANGO is performing on ELECTRIC GUITAR. This I different kind of sound all together. Recorded in 1947, Django is BLAZING on guitar. His younger brother Joseph is on rhythm guitar. And we have the jazz drummer Andre Jourdan … Swing 48, composed by Django, performed on an electric / acoustic guitar.

Recorded in: Paris, 1947

  • Personnel of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with
  • Hubert Rostaing CL
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Joseph Reinhardt G
  • Ladislas Czabanyck B
  • Andre Jourdan D

M9 Brick Top (D. Reinhardt-S. Grappelli), rec Feb 1949, Rome, 3:42 [Djangology remaster 1961]

M10 Night and Day (C. Porter), rec 3/10/1953, Paris, 2:51 [VERVE Jazz Masters Compilation 1994]

Next up is Night and Day (C. Porter), rec 3/10/1953, Paris. In the Django Reinhardt et Ses Rythmes we hear PIANO, DRUM, BASS and GUITAR. In the electric guitar work, we hear a prediction of the sounds of SUSTAIN and DISTORTION effects. For DJANGO, this is both a demonstration of his TECHNICAL PROWESS and wonderful MUSICAL CONTENT. Just two months after this recording, while walking from the Fontainebleau-Avon railway station after playing in a Paris club, he collapsed outside his house from a brain hemorrhage. Reinhardt was declared dead on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau at age 43.

Recorded in:Paris, 1953, just two months before Dango’s untimely death in France.

  • Personnel of the Django Reinhardt et Ses Rythmes
  • Django Reinhardt G
  • Maurice Vander P
  • Pierre Michelot B
  • Jean Louis Viale D

Jazz Guitarist Charlie Christian VV-011

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PROGRAM NOTES

  1. Hotter Than That, (Lil Hardin) Louis Armstrong Hot Fives, Lonnie Johnson guitar, 1927 (Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz CBS 1973)
  2. Mahogany Hall Stomp (Spencer Williams) (excerpted), Louis Armstrong & Orchestra, Lonnie Johnson guitar, 1929, Parlophone R571
  3. All Star Strut, (R. Mergentroid) Metronome All Star Nine, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, NYC, Columbia Records, 1940
  4. Gone With What Wind, (C. Basie, B. Goodman) Benny Goodman Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, NYC, 1940
  5. I Got Rhythm, (I + G Gershwin) Charlie Christian Quintet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Minneapolis, 1940
  6. Tea For Two, (I. Caesar, V. Youmans) Charlie Christian Quintet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Minneapolis, 1940
  7. Benny’s Bugle (B. Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia, NYC, 1940
  8. Royal Garden Blues, (C. Williams, S. Williams) Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia, NYC, 1940
  9. Gilly (B. Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia NYC, 1940
  10. Blues Sequence / Breakfast Feud (B. Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Sextet Charlie Christian amplified guitar Columbia NYC, 1940
  11. I Found A New Baby (Jack. Palmer, Spencer. WIlliams) Benny Goodman & his Sextet Charlie Christian amplified guitar Columbia NYC, 1941
  12. Solo Flight (Charlie. Christian, James Mundy, Benny Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Orchestra, Charlie Christian amplified guitar Columbia NYC, 1941

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some early vinyl records that showcase guitarist great Charlie Christian. These performances of Charlie Christian are found on Vinyl LP Record compilations of his recordings between 1939 and 1941. Often you will hear remarks from today’s jazz, pop, blues, even rock guitarists ….like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton ….that their BIGGEST INFLUENCES came from two or three early guitarists — DJANGO REINHARDT, LONNIE JOHNSON and CHARLIE CHRISTIAN. You will hear this many times.

The former, DJANGO REINHARDT, the BELGIAN jazz guitarist, is well known for his EUROPEAN style of jazz, the so-called “HOT JAZZ” or “GYPSY JAZZ” or “ROMANI” style of music, that has become a living musical tradition within FRENCH GYPSY CULTURE. DJANGO’s “GYPSY JAZZ” style is widely emulated by today’s jazz guitarists. DJANGO lived 43 years, between 1910 and 1953, and some of his most popular ORIGINAL compositions, such as MINOR SWING, DAPHNE, BELLEVILLE, DJANGOLOGY, SWING 42 and NUAGES…are jazz standards today. DJANGO REINHARDT is widely recorded, with SIX recordings during his lifetime, and a total of 23 recordings all together, many of which are compilations of his works. So DJANGO as a cultural influence, is a fascinating subject in and of itself, and will be the subject of an upcoming VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast!

LONNIE JOHNSON, ANOTHER Jazz and blues guitarist, is credited with PIONEERING the ROLE of jazz guitar …..and for being perhaps the FIRST recorded case of playing single-note guitar solos. He had an extensive discography and lived to be 71, so Lonnie Johnson is well recognized, having being extensively recorded AND after having a long-standing career, performing as late as 1966, or at age 67 years.

But WHAT ABOUT THIS THIRD INFLUENTIAL GUITARIST …the AMERICAN guitarist CHARLIE CHRISTIAN…NAMED SO OFTEN…..OF WHOM WE KNOW SO LITTLE ??? CHARLIE CHRISTIAN. Who is that??? What are his songs? What was his guitar style? How can CHRISTIAN be cited so often as a strong influence, when there are relatively few recordings to play? IS CHARLIE CHRISTIAN LOST IN JAZZ MUSIC HISTORY?

I am going to bring to light some of this lesser known work of Charlie Christian, and feature some of the first recorded examples of his jazz guitar. More importantly, jazz guitar where the instrument is amplified and the guitarist is playing a lead role. This is truly unusual, in retrospective. Today, I feature the young guitarist genius born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, named Charlie Christian.

So who is guitarist Charlie Christian?? It’s a fair question ….because Charlie Christian played professionally a very long time ago, and one would only hear this guitarist in the context of music from the AMERICAN SWING ERA. Christian was recorded in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He was captured in …at most…25-30 distinct songs, in which he is primarily captured as a sideman with his catalyst, band leader Benny Goodman. Christian lived to be only 25 years of age, having succumbed to the infectious disease tuberculosis, in Staten Island New York, in 1942.

What makes Charlie Christian so unusual is how much influence and groundbreaking guitar work he did achieve in just 8 to10 years of his adult lifetime.

This guitar work represents one of the FIRST recorded examples of SINGLE-NOTE AMPLIFIED GUITAR, WHERE THE GUITAR IS BEING PLAYED AS A LEAD INSTRUMENT IN A SEXTET or in a BIG BAND. This is very unusual, because of the nature of the jazz guitar.

Until the time of Charlie Christian, the jazz guitar was strictly an acoustic instrument, perhaps a classical guitar, with gut strings, playing a RHYTHM part in the band, with the pronounced strumming of chords in time or double time with the bass line. Often a banjo was used as the rhythm instrument, it was brighter in sound, and projected better than a guitar.

 

So, for the jazz guitar circa 1938, THAT WAS IT…just rhythm strumming. No pickups. No amplifiers, no instrument microphones and definitely no SOLO role for the guitarist. Pretty cozy, really, for the guitar work. No pressure at all…..

M1 LONNIE JOHNSON HOTTER THAN HOT in background…

TEN YEARS BEFORE CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, THERE IS ONE OTHER EXAMPLE OF LEAD GUITAR IN A JAZZ BAND , RECORDING STARTING IN 1925.   —Lonnie Johnson.

  1. Hotter Than That, (Lil Hardin) Louis Armstrong Hot Fives, Lonnie Johnson guitar, 1927 (Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz CBS 1973)

LONNIE JOHNSON was born in 1899 in NEW ORLEANS. He was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos. Johnson’s discography is ENORMOUS with 192 songs recorded between 1925 and 1942, 65 of which are his original compositions. He recorded on OKEH (‘OKAY’), BLUEBIRD and DECCA labels. Johnson lived to be 71 and he performed, off and on, even later in life, and he performed as late as 1966 in Toronto.

Now let’s go back in time to 1927, in Chicago, Lonnie Johnson, from New Orleans, is just 28 years old, and here he is being recorded as a guest artist with Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, the song is “Hotter than That”. This is an experimental jazz improvisation, played in the New Orleans “DIXIE” style of Jazz. LONNIE JOHNSON is playing lead guitar side-by-side with a 26-year old Louis Armstrong,   and Armstrong is doing his SCAT style of singing.

Louis Armstrong has to be credited with the innovation of emphasizing a solo guitarist, ……who would know that this would be the natural future state of jazz bands??? For this particular recording session, the Hot Fives became, in effect, the Hot Six, based on the addition of guitarist Lonnie Johnson. Thank you Louis Armstrong !!

note— LONNIE IS LEAD GTR AT 1:21-1:33 and 1:54-2:07

M2 Mahogany Hall Stomp (Spencer Williams) (excerpted), Louis Armstrong & Orchestra, Lonnie Johnson guitar, 1929, Parlophone R571 (78 RPM record0. Here is another example of Lonnie Johnson in Mahogany Hall Stomp (Spencer Williams), another DIXIE JAZZ style of music.

Lonnie Johnson is credited on this 78RPM album with being “GUITAR SOLOIST“. … this is thought to be a FIRST in CREDITS (GUITAR SOLOIST) in jazz guitar history.

Personnel included

  • Louis Armstrong ~ Trumpet and Vocal
  • Lonnie Johnson ~ Guitar
  • J.C. Higginbotham ~ Trombone
  • Albert Nicholas ~ Alto Saxophone
  • Charlie Holmes ~ Alto Saxophone
  • Teddy Hill ~ Tenor Saxophone
  • Luis Russell ~ Piano
  • Eddie Condon ~ Banjo
  • Pops Foster ~ String Bass
  • Paul Barbarin ~ Drum

M3 SOME TRACKS FEATURING CHARLIE CHRISTIAN ON SOLO GUITAR

Many of the tracks I will play today are from the compilation double album “Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian”. This is a 1972 LP 2-album set, collecting the few recordings that captured performances of this little-known artist.   Most of the recorded works are of songs performed as SIDEMAN from sessions with Benny Goodman’s bands. The INNOVATION is that Benny Goodman, (like Louis Armstrong with guitarist Lonnie Johnson) saw the future of amplified guitar as a solo instrument.

THIS FIRST SONG, ALL STAR STRUT is performed by the Metronome All Star Nine, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, this was recorded in NYC in 1940. The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by Metronome Magazine. All Star Strut has the Dixie Jazz flavor to it.   You can clearly hear Christian’s amplified guitar, the traditional rhythm strumming, it is in time with the bass line. The clarinet is first to solo then amazingly, the GUITAR is the second to solo. This is groundbreaking to employ the guitar at a peer level with the other band instruments — clarinet–trombone-piano -bass-trumpet-saxophone-and drums- Christian’s ONE guitar solo is clear and stands up well with these other instruments

 

Personnel

  • recorded in New York, Feb 1940 with the Metronome All Star Nine:

▪       Benny Goodman — clarinet

▪           Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

▪           Harry James — trumpet

▪           don’t read

▪           Jack Teagarden — trombone

▪           Benny Carter — alto saxophone

▪           Eddie Miller — tenor saxophone

▪           Jess Stacy — piano

▪           Bob Haggart — bass

▪           Gene Krupa — drums

M4 GONE With WHAT Wind, (C. Basie, B. Goodman) featuring the Benny Goodman Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar

Charlie Christian is 21 years old, and has the third lead solo, following the Benny Goodman clarinet (age 31) and Count Basie on piano (age 36)           Christian plays his solo for 28 seconds, and is followed by Lionel Hampton, then age 32, on the Vibrophone. This is true Swing Era music. Perhaps the Song title …GONE with WHAT wind….exemplifies the nature of swing, which is emphasis on the first and third beat of a four beat pattern. GONE with WHAT wind, contracted with the later BOP style whack emphasized TWO and FOUR, such as …..salt PEANUTS salt PEANUTS.

Gone With What Wind, (C. Basie, B. Goodman) Benny Goodman Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, NYC, 1940

from the Benny Goodman Sextet …

Personnel included …

▪       Count Basie — piano

▪           Benny Goodman — clarinet

▪           Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

▪           Lionel Hampton — vibes

▪           don’t read the rest

▪           Artie Bernstein — bass

▪           Nick Fatool — drums

M5 I Got Rhythm, played by the Charlie Christian Quintet, with Christian on amplified guitar, Minneapolis, 1940

Now this is a stretch for recorded material, that is…..case in point on how little material there is from Charlie Christian. Christian is just 23 years old. The so-called “Charlie Christian Quintet” is being recorded privately at a club in Minneapolis, MN, early Mar 1940, on acetate discs, by a local disc jockey. The sound quality is not as good as a studio / professional recording. But there is a lot of solid Charlie Christian guitar work here. Being the lead of his own Quinte, Christian can mix in his guitar at any loudness he wants. In this case….LOUD !!!! Even his rhythm strumming is quite loud in the mix. This is a George Gershwin composition from 1930.

I Got Rhythm,  performed by the Charlie Christian Quintet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Minneapolis, 1940

Personnel included (Charlie Christian Quintet):

▪       Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

▪           Jerry Jerome — tenor saxophone

▪           Frankie Hines — piano

▪           unknown — bass, drums

M6 Tea For Two, (music by Vincent Youmans) the song from the 1925 movie “NO NO NANETTE”, performed again by the Charlie Christian Quintet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Minneapolis, 1940,

This is another track that was recorded privately at a club in Minneapolis, MN, It is again a highly distorted track, but Charlie Christian shows his chops on this song. Toward the last few measures of this song, in the final guitar solo, are TWO of Charlie Christian’s lead guitar techniques were later reincarnated in the music of two very different and great guitarists — Buddy Guy, and Larry Coryell, respectively. Here is a sample of those two segments…..

Tea for Two, performed by the Charlie Christian Quintet):

▪           Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

▪           Frankie Hines — piano

▪           Jerry Jerome — tenor saxophone

▪           unknown — bass, drums

 

M7 Benny’s Bugle (B. Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia, NYC, 1940

This is a REAL recording. Following the Cootie Williams bugle call on this quintessential SWING ERA song, Charlie Christian is the FIRST to SOLO on this track.

Benny’s Bugle….(B. Goodman) Personnel included:

Benny Goodman and His Sextet featuring

  • Cootie Williams — trumpet
  • Benny Goodman — clarinet
  •   Count Basie] — piano
  •   Charlie Christian — amplified guitar
  •  George Auld — tenor saxophone
  • Artie Bernstein — bass
  • Harry Jaeger — drums

M8 Royal Garden Blues, (Clarence Williams, Spencer Williams (no relation), 1919). Royal Garden Blues is a jazz standard from Swing Era music..

Performed by Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia, NYC, 1940

Royal Garden Blues starts out with the muted trumpet, and Charlie Christian’s brief guitar solo is in two parts, mid song. The song is primarily a Benny Goodman showcase, with Charlie Christian having an easy, mis-song solo.   You have to have songs like that.

Performers:

▪           Cootie Williams — trumpet

▪           Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

M9 Gilly, pronounced “JILL-Y”. Gilly (B. Goodman) Benny Goodman & his Sextet, Charlie Christian amplified guitar, Columbia NYC, 1940

We hear some innovative work on guitar and trumpet—-Charlie Christian’s lead guitar work on “Gilly” is unusual, his single-note lead guitar playing opens the song, followed by Cootie William’s toilet-plunger “wow” trumpet style. The guitar work includes bold open-string harmonics, a few fat-shaped chords, and there is also single-note harmony playing between clarinet and guitar. The interplay between piano, clarinet and guitar is fun to hear. Another Swing Era classic.

 

Notable performances in the Benny Goodman and His Sextet were

▪     Benny Goodman — clarinet

▪       Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

▪       Cootie Williams — trumpet with the WOW effect

M10 Blues Sequence /Breakfast Feud

This next song “BREAKFAST FEUD – BLUES SEQUENCE” is a series of jazz guitar solos from Benny Goodman’s song and features Charlie Christian in a big way, he is the dominant player, with a SMOKING HOT guitar part. This track was obtained from a compilation by the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz , and published as an LP BOX SET in 1973 by CBS.  Breakfast Feud–Blues Sequence, B. Goodma recorded in 1940

  • Benny Goodman — clarinet
  • Charlie Christian — amplified guitar
  • Cootie Williams — trumpet

 

M11 I Found A New Baby  Benny Goodman & his Sextet

This is one of Charlie Christian’s later recordings, recorded in NYC in January, 1941 on Columbia.. An ultra-clean song in terms of each of the instrument lines, and relatively restrained sound level. Christian has the first mid-song, guitar solo, followed by piano, muted wow-trumpet of Cootie Williams, tenor sax by George Auld. A shortie at 2 minutes 55 seconds. Recorded in New York 15 Jan 1941.

I Found A New Baby (Jack Palmer, Spencer WIlliams)

Personnel from Benny Goodman and His Sextet included

  • Benny Goodman — clarinet
  • Cootie Williams — trumpet
  • George Auld — tenor saxophone
  • Count Basie — piano
  • Charlie Christian — amplified guitar

M12  Solo Flight Background

Our final track in this podcast is the song Solo Flight one of the only songs credited to CHARLIE CHRISTIAN as composer. Many have suspected that more of the Benny Goodman hits were Charlie Christian composition, but this is speculation, and it was not reflected in the form of song credits, copyrights or royalties.   SOLO FLIGHT is credited as a collaboration song…Charlie Christian, James Mundy, Benny Goodman. Charlie Christian begins to solo early in this song, and plays single note lead guitar on amplified guitar continuously to the end. The title is appropriate because he does fly solo for the entire 2 minutes and 45 seconds. By the time of this recording, March of 1941, Charlie Christian knew he had Tuberculosis. But Christian remained busy, not only with the national fame of the Benny Goodman Band and the Benny Goodman Sextet, but also he was busy with a night club in Harlem called “Minton’sPlayhouse”, where he was incubating the next wave of jazz music — BE-BOP music. In June 1941 he was admitted to Seaview Hospital, a sanitarium on Staten Island in New York City. Christian declined in health and died March 2, 1942. He was just…25 years old.

Guitarists-Jazz Fusion Greats VV-010

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some LP records that showcase guitarist greats in the emerging jazz fusion music era. These performances are found on Vinyl LP and today’s show is called GUITARISTS – JAZZ FUSION GREATS. In today’s podcast, we will hear jazz and jazz fusion guitarists from the 17-year period of 1960 to 1977, including…

 

1 Charlie Byrd Trio The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd Nuages (Rheinhardt) Riverside 1960

2 Wes Montgomery Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery Four On Six (Montgomery) Riverside-OJC 1960

3 Frank Zappa Chunga’s Revenge Chunga’s Revenge (Zappa) Reprise-Warner Bros 1970

4 Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) 1973 Columbia

5 Pat Metheny Bright Size Life Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) ECM 1975

6 Larry Coryell Philip Catherine Twin-House Guitar Duos Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) WEA Musik 1977

7 Al Di Meola Elegant Gypsy Suite Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) Columbia 1977

We will hear examples of guitarists playing various forms of jazz, leading up to the emerging jazz-rock fusion genre of the 1970s. These are LP records, produced between the years 1960 and 1977. We will hear influences of gypsy jazz in Reinhardt, ear-trained Montomery, zany Zappa, mahavishnu McLaughlin, modal Metheny and elegant gypsy DiMeola …as composers of the songs in this podcast.

M1 Charlie Byrd Trio, Nuages. Charlie Byrd was born in Suffolk, Virginia, in 1925. He was an American guitarist playing the genres of bossa nova, brasilian jazz, latin jazz and swing. Byrd played fingerstyle on a classical guitar. His father, a mandolinist and guitarist, taught him how to play the acoustic steel guitar at age 10. In 1943 he was drafted into the United States Army for World War II, and was stationed in Paris in 1945 where he played in an Army Special Services band. Byrd’s greatest influence was the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, whom he saw perform in Paris. After the war, Byrd returned to the United States and went to New York, where he studied composition and he began playing a classical guitar. In 1954 he became a pupil of the Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia and spent time studying in Italy with Segovia. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, Charlie Byrd collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music. This song, Nuages is one of the best-known compositions by Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt recorded about thirteen versions of the song, and today it is a jazz standard and a main portion of the gypsy swing repertoire. It was originally an instrumental piece.

Charlie Byrd Trio, The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd , Nuages (Django Rheinhardt) , Riverside OLP 1960, 3:05

Personnel

  • Charlie Byrd guitar  1925-1999
  • Keter Betts  bass
  • Buddy Deppenschmidt  drummer

M2 Wes Montgomery , Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery , Four On Six (Montgomery) , Riverside-OJC 1960, 6:14

Personnel

  • • Wes Montgomery- electric guitar
  • • Tommy Flanagan – piano
  • • Percy Heath – bass
  • • Albert Heath – drums

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis. and came from a musical family. Two brothers were also jazz performers. Monk on bass and Buddy on vibraphone and piano. The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers, on the Pacific Jazz label. As a band leader, Wes produced many albums, 31 albums over a 10 year period, with three labels, Riverside, Verve and A&M. He also is recorded only three times as a guitar sideman- – showing that Wes Montgomery preferred to lead his own band. Montgomery toured with Lionel Hampton early in his career, age 25-27, however he returned home to Indianapols to support his family of eight. Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am.  Montgomery’s created a unique guitar sound, and his tracks can be identified almost immediately based on his signature technique. Some points you may not know, about Montgomery’s jazz guitar technique:

  • 1. Wes could learn complex melodies and riffs by ear. Montgomery played a 4-string tenor guitar from the age of 12 and then started learning the six-string guitar at the relatively late age of 20 by listening then learning the recordings of his idol, guitarist Charlie Christian. Montgomery had the ability to play Charlie Christian’s solos note for note, and in 1948 Wes was hired by Lionel Hampton for this ability. He was just 25, and toured almost two years with Hampton, then returned home to Indianapolis. He did not record for 7 years until his first release, “Fingerpickin”, in 1958.
  • 2. Wes had 3-tiered solo technique, and it worked like this.  First, he would start a solo with single-note lines, [Four on Six EXAMPLE1 at 0:39] then he would follow with his trademark octave sound, [Four on Six EXAMPLE2 at 3:00] and then begin using block chords or chord melodies, often triads, in his solos [Besame Mucho Take 2 (iTunes) EXAMPLE at 2:30 ].
  • 3. Montgomery’s trademark octave sound was dubbed in the music world as the “naptown sound”, a reference to the nickname of his home town of Indianapolis. Here is another example of that “naptown” sound [Four on Six EXAMPLE3 at 1:34].
  • 4. Instead of using a guitar pick, Montgomery played the guitar strings with his thumb. This technique created a mellow, expressive tone. According to jazz guitar great, George Benson, Wes had a two-part thumb. A soft part, used for playing the mellow notes, and giving that mellow sound, and another area that had developed a corn from extended playing. This corn served as a sort of pick, giving the string a plucked or bright or pointed sound

Today we hear a track from Wes’s FOURTH album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, released in 1960, at age 37. It took just two recording sessions in New York City to make this LP, which was recorded as a quartet, with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath, who at the time was with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath. The album featured two of Montgomery’s most well-known compositions, “Four on Six” , which we will hear, and “West Coast Blues.  This is song 4 of 8 on that LP. I believe this is Wes Montgomery’s finest record. This recording put Wes Montgomery on the map and earned him Down Beat magazine’s “New Star” award in 1960. Montgomery’s jazz guitar sound is just as fresh today, over 50 years after this recording.

 

M3 Frank Zappa, Chunga’s Revenge is the album and title song, Chunga’s Revenge, Reprise-Warner Bros 1970, 6:16

Personnel

  • • Frank Zappa guitar
  • • Ian Underwood electric alto sax with wah-wah pedal
  • • Sugar Cane Harris organ
  • • Max Bennett bass
  • • Aynsley Dunbar drums

Frank (1940 –1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar.This LP album was produced by Frank Zappa. And all selections were written and published by Zappa. It is a strange album, not just because it is all Zappa, but because of how eclectic these songs are, a mix of songs from POP, JAZZ FUSION, BLUES and ROCK music forms. The title track, Chunga’s Revenge, is a song about a small mutant Gypsy vacuum cleaner, the protagonist of the title song of this album. On the LP front cover is this bit of Zappa story prose about ..the Chunga.. “A Gypsy industrial vacuum cleaner dances about a mysterious night time camp fire. Festoons. Dozens of imported castanets, clutched by the horrible suction of its heavy duty hose, waving with marginal erotic abandon in the midnight autumn air.” The inside panels of this folding LP cover displays a the gypsy vacuum cleaner playing through an amplifier, in front of a campfire, in a camp of caravans, horses, castanets, microphones, and a recording studio control panel. Bizaar indeed. Zappa’s electric guitar work is strong here. The song has a jazz format, with formal beginning and ending and extended improvisation midsection, giving Zappa a long runway to show his colorful wah-wah, compressed guitar style. This marries up well with the wah-wah electric alto sax of Ian Underwood.  Zappa was innovative with his use of tone control, alternating between high distortion and sustain to wah-wah pedal effects.  Zappa would open his show with this slow and very deliberate piece, with an ELEGANT lead melody line. Zappa was 30 at the time of this recording. Thirty years later, Chunga’s Revenge was recorded by Parisian tango revival group Gotan Project for their 2001 debut album La Revancha del Tango.

M4 Mahavishnu Orchestra , Birds of Fire, Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) , Columbia 1973, Side two, track 3., 3:54.

Personnel

  • • John McLaughlin guitar
  • • Rick Laird bass
  • • Billy Cobham percussion
  • • Jerry Goodman violin
  • • Jan Hammer keyboard

This is an example from the “first” Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup, this ensemble recorded two records with Columbia between 1971 and 73. This is the second, and last album with that lineup. The band’s original lineup featured “Mahavishnu” John McLaughlin on acoustic and electric guitars, Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on bass guitar, Jan Hammer on electric and acoustic piano and synthesizer, and Jerry Goodman on violin. This was a multinational group: McLaughlin being from England; Cobham from Panama; Hammer from Prague, Goodman from Chicago; and Laird from Dublin. McLaughlin and Cobham met while performing and recording with Miles Davis during the Bitches Brew sessions. In a word, this song is ELEGANT, with a simple melody and theme.  The sound is a blend of GENRES — the high-volume electrified rock sound (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix), clearly there is an interest in both Indian and Western Classical Music, and another McLaughlin favorite, the feel of funk music.  The music on this early Mahavishnu album was all instrumental.

In “Open Country Joy,” recording starts with a sort of pastoral scene, in which the composer employs various techniques to create a simple and peaceful mode, and starts with the familiar and relaxing sound of the jangley guitar chords of Mclaughlin – – – similar to that jangly sound from the song “Mr. Tambourine Man!” by the BYRDs in 1965 [Example 1 0:00-0:10 Mr Tambourine Man—iTUnes][Example 2 Open Country Joy LP].  4/4 time. Then add in the beautiful electric violin work of Jerry Goodman. The pastoral mode continues for just over a minute. Then, at 71 seconds, all chaos begins, as instruments are turned up, the tempo is doubled, and for another minute there is an incredible energy level, and then at 2:30, we return back to the serene, pastoral scene.

Recorded in 1973 in New York and London, the jazz fusion guitar work of John McLaughlin and the first Mahavishnu Orchestra, performing OPEN COUNTRY JOY.

M5 Pat Metheny , Bright Size Life , Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) , ECM Records 1976, 4:13

Personnel

  • • Pat Metheny 6 and 12-string guitars  b1954
  • • Jaco Pastorious bass (fretless)
  • • Bob Moses drums

BRIGHT SIZE LIFE must have been an expression that defined a very exciting time in Pat Metheny’s early career. He was 21, and although he had been recording earlier, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE was his first big album. The album was not produced on an American label, but a German label, ECM Records, and recorded in, Ludwigsburg, West Germany in 1976.

All songs but one were composed by Metheny, just a kid from the suburbs of Kansas City.  Metheny was able to assemble some great talent for this first LP. For example the bassist, is another fusion pioneer, Jaco Pastorius, borrowed from Epic records. Pastorius, as you might remember, was one the first to bring the electric fretless bass to fusion. [example Missouri Uncompromised 0:25 to 0:30] And Bob Moses on drums, who had performed with Larry Coryell in The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and in the Gary Burton Quartet. The song “Missouri Uncompromised” is a very strange assembly of ideas. An abstract sound, for all parts, drums, bass, and the strange melody of this song. The lines are angular, and the song has a rhythmic drive.

Perhaps the song is as strange as the namesake Missouri Compromise. From U.S. history, the Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, on the regulation of slavery in the new, western territories. Is there historical symbolism in this song? Or was the song just a random title, pulled from one of Metheny’s college textbooks.  Three years earlier before this album, Metheny had been attending the University of Miami, when, as a Freshman, he was struck by a great opportunity. Should he continue at the University, or take an opportunity to be a teaching assistant. Not just any school. The Berklee College of Music. And not just any teaching assistant, he would be the assistant to none other than jazz vibraphonist great, Gary Burton.  It was 1972, Gary Burton was a BIG jazz player, and already had recorded 17 albums as the leader. And at the time of the recording of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE 1975-1976, Pat Metheny was in already Gary Burton’s band.

Pat Metheny, age 21, his debut LP, Bright Size Life, the song “Missouri Uncompromised”. 

M6 Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine , Twin-House – Guitar Duos, Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) , WEA Musik 1977 (Hamburg), 3:00

Personnel

  • • Larry Coryell acoustic guitar
  • • Philip Catherine acoustic guitar

The song Mortgage on My Soul (Wah Wah) is a Kieth Jarrett composition from his 1971 Atlantic album “Birth”.  In this arrangement of “Mortgage”, the song is actually mis-named on the Twin House album as “Mortgage on Your Soul”.  The Twin House version is played as an acoustic guitar duo, and the guitarists are Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine. In opening the song, they play the same bass line in unison, while the third guitar, which is Coryell overdubbed, takes the first solo. Catherine follows with his guitar solo. Here is some of the song opening sound. Coryell, from Texas, came into prominence in 1967 with Gary Burton Quartet , and is still an active jazz guitar performer today, with his signature fiery sound. Catherine is from Brussels, and like Coryell, draws his influences from Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.  This track was recorded in London in 1977 by WEA Musik GmbH, and released by Elektra / Warner records.

M7 Al Di Meola  b1954, Elegant Gypsy Suite , Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) , Columbia 1977, Producer: Al Di Meola

Elegant Gypsy Suite is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, Born in 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey. At 17, in 1971 he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1974 he joined Chick Corea’s band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.

In 1977, DiMeola was just 23, and the Elegant Gypsy Suite was recorded as a studio album, which he self-produced. The Genre is Latin jazz, jazz fusion. Di Meola was still a member of Return to Forever at the time of this recording. No wonder the sound of the Gypsy Suite piece is remarkably similar with Return to Forever’s Chick Corea leading on keyboards, compared to Jan Hammer on Gypsy. Return’s Bill Connors guitar on compared to Al Di Meola. And Return’s Stanley Clark on bass as compared here to Anthony Jackson.

Di Meola has a distinctive, though not a virtuoso, sound to his guitar artistry. One of his techniques is his Sweep Picking technique, in which he produces a rapid and specific series of notes with a fluid sound, evident in his lead work here. Here is an example of sweep picking: [EXAMPLE ELEGANT GYPSY SUITE iTunes 3:20 – 3:30] a form of shred guitar. Elegant Gypsy Suite delivers a fusion of rock and latin jazz. with lightning-fast unison playing betweem Hammer, DiMeola and drummer Steve Gadd.

Personnel

  • • Al Di Meola: Electric guitars, Acoustic Guitars
  • • Anthony Jackson: Bass guitar.
  • • Jan Hammer: Keyboards, synthesizer.
  • • Steve Gadd: Drums

 

Rock the Classics VV-009

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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PROGRAM EPISODE: ROCK THE CLASSICS

PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour LP records from the 1960s and 1970s where the rock or pop artist is performing classical music, or giving a new dimension to classical music. These performances are found on Vinyl LP and today’s show is called ROCK THE CLASSICS ! We will hear from Frank Zappa, Blood Sweat & Tears, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Deodato, Steely Dan, today … on ROCK THE CLASSICS.

INTRO to ROCK THE CLASSICS (narrate only the names of the groups)

Today we hear ROCK THE CLASSICS …  we will hear…

  • Zappa entertain us with time riddles from Stravinsky
  • Wendy Carlos reinvents a Cantata from JS Bach, 
  • Blood Sweat & Tears soothes us….with music from Erik Satie
  • Jethro Tull and a jazz rendition of a dance from JS Bach
  • Emerson Lake & Palmer rocks us with Bela Bartok
  • Deodato provides fanfare from Richard Strauss … and
  • Steely Dan celebrates a ragtime classic from jazz great, Duke Ellington

Tracks Today:

M1 Petrushka (I. Stravinsky), Frank Zappa, ‘Tis The Season To Be Jelly

M2 Cantata 147, 10th mvt) (J.S. Bach), Wendy Carlos

M3 Trois Gymnopedies On A Theme (Erik Satie), Blood Sweat & Tears

M4 Bouree (J.S. Bach), Jethro Tull

M5 The Barbarian (Bela Bartok) Emerson Lake & Palmer

M6 Also Sprach Zarathustra 2001, (Richard Strauss) Deodato

M7 East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, (Duke Ellington) Steely Dan

In today’s podcast we will hear seven examples of a rock or pop artist, in one case a classical music rocker, performing classical music, and with striking interpretations, new instruments or technology, or change to the musical meter as influenced by pop or rock rhythm… produced between 1965 and 1977.

M1 Song  Petrushka, Album ‘Tis The Season To Be Jelly, Album Artist Frank Zappa, Composer I. Stravinsky (1911), Year 1967, Released By – Bootleg album

Petrushka is a ballet with music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, composed in 1911. It was premièred in Paris and although the production was a success, music was reviewed as brittle, caustic and even grotesque. Two years later, in 1913, the Vienna Philharmonic initially refused to play the score, considering the score as “dirty music”.

As for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, the album ‘Tis the Season to Be Jelly was recorded at Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden on September 30, 1967. Pretty cool really, because The Stockholm Concert Hall (Konserthuset) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden, it is the home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Bringing us back to the design of this hall for classical music. Was Zappa compelled or inspired by this great house to include SOMETHING classical? This song, Petrushka, was originally recorded by Zappa and distributed on a bootleg album. So now, going back to the 1913 sentiment about Petrushka being “dirty music”, interesting that the bootleg album cover features a caricature of Zappa’s foot and a smelly sock. Perhaps this truly is… “dirty music”?

At the time of this recording, Zappa was 26 years old, so this is very early in his recording career. Only one year earlier, in 1966, Zappa released his debut album FREAK OUT with The Mothers of Invention. And only a week before this concert performance, Frank Zappa wed Gail Sloatman, with whom he was married and produced four children, right until his untimely death in 1993.

Today we hear a short rendition of Petrushka, as arranged for rock band, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and as performed in the Konserthuset in Stockholm, in 1967.

M2 Song Cantata 147, (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life), 10th mvt, Album Switched On Bach, Album Artist Wendy Carlos, Composer Johann S. Bach (1716), Year 1968, Released By Columbia Masterworks Records

Cantata 147, is written by Johann Sebastian Bach. A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often with a choir. Cantatas were in great demand for the services of the Lutheran church. This cantata, numbered 147 by Bach, was written for the beginning of the 1716 church year, the Season of Advent. It was one segment of a 20-minute Church hymn, as is typical of cantatas of the Baroque period. The 10th movement is named … “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

Wendy Carlos—is an American composer and a highly proficient musician and studio engineer, born Walter Carlos, in Pawtucket Rhode Island, in 1939. Wendy Carlos, in the mid 1960s — worked closely with music synthesizer designer Robert Moog throughout the development during commercialization of the MOOG Synthesizer. You may be familiar with some of Wendy Carlos work if you saw the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film, “A Clockwork Orange”. That musical score is a powerful example of the use of an electronic synthesizer to render classical music.

Three years before “A Clockwork Orange” soundtrack, Wendy Carlos released her revolutionary album, “Switched-On Bach”. This album played a key role in popularizing classical music performed on an electronic synthesizer. It one the first albums to clearly demonstrate the use of the synthesizer as a genuine musical instrument. As an early user of Robert Moog’s first commercially available synthesizer modules, Wendy Carlos helped pioneer the technology, which was not user-friendly at that time.  In producing Switched On Bach, the technique of multitrack recording played a critical role – – because each part, and each note of a chorded part, needed to be recorded individually. Switched-On Bach went gold in 1969, and Platinum in 1986. The success of Switched On Bach fostered an increased interest in electronically rendered music, and the MOOG synthesizer as a new type of musical instrument. In the 1970 Grammy Awards, Switched On Bach took three prizes: Best Classical Album, Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist and Best Engineered Classical Recording.

From the 1968 album, Switched on Bach, Wendy Carlos electronic rendition of Johanne Sebastian Bach’s “Cantata 147, 10th movement”, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

M3 Song Trois Gymnopedies On A Theme By Erik Satie, Album Blood Sweat & Tears, Album Artist Blood Sweat & Tears, Composers Éric Satie (published 1888), Year 1969 , Released Sony BMG Music

Eric Satie born 1866 in Paris, was an eccentric by French composer and pianist, his most famous composition is the Gymnopédies.  The Gymnopédies, published in Paris, is three piano compositions. ..short pieces written in 3/4 time, and today are regarded as the precursors to modern ambient music, or …”Furniture Music” as this was once known. Today we use the term “Background Music”.  Speaking as a music composer, I consider the term “background  music” a perjorative expression. First, much of the elevator and office background music programmes leave much to be desired in terms of the quality of the selections, and secondly, who would want their music relegated to the background, to not be on the front of the stage, not the main attraction?? Over the years following the Gymnopedies, music did find significant reinvention through its use as the movie soundtrack, as jingles in modern advertising and program theme songs, and some of the worst arrangements have found their way to true elevator background music.

One of the finest ambient music examples, Gymnopedies has survived the test of time, some 123 years running. It is peaceful and mellow, and you can multitask to this music.

Almost 100 years after this song’s debut, in 1968, Blood Sweat & Tears released their second album, which included an adaptation of Gymnopédie #1 (arranged by Dick Halligan) which they titled as Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (First and Second Movements). The first movement is a straightforward elaboration of the basic theme using flutes, an acoustic guitar and a triangle. The second is an abstract variation using brass instruments and sound EQ and FX. Halligan is the song arranger, very versatile, he plays Flute, Trombone Organ, Piano, and Vocals on this album. In 1970 this song earned BS&T a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance. Now Gymnopedies as performed by Blood Sweat & Tears.

M4 Song Bouree, Album Stand Up, Album Artist Jethro Tull, Composer  J.S. Bach, Year 1969 Morgan Studio London, Released Reprise in US and Canada

The bourrée is a dance of French origin in the 17th century. “Bourrée in E minor” is a popular lute piece, the fifth movement from “Suite in E minor for Lute”, written by Johann Sebastian Bach. Believed to be the most famous piece among guitarists, “Bouree in E minor” demonstrates counterpoint, as the two voices of the piece, the song’s part and counterpart, move independently of one another, so typical of J.S. Bach’s work organ work.

In 1969, the progressive-rock band Jethro Tull included an instrumental track inspired by “Bouree in E Minor” on their album Stand Up. Leader of Jethro Tull, flautist great Ian Anderson, is a unique, world-class, progressive rocker, featuring the modern flute as the lead instrument within a rock format. Ian Anderson’s tremendous flute expressions, self-learned technique, and vox- flute effects, within a rock framework, clearly set him apart. And almost 45 years following the release of the Stand Up LP, Jethro Tull continues to tour.

On this song, Jethro Tull is made up of:

  • • Glenn Cornick: bass guitar
  • • Clive Bunker: drums
  • • Martin Barre: electric guitar,
  • • Ian Anderson: flute

And now “Bouree” from the 1969 album “Stand Up”, as arranged by Ian Anderson and performed by Jethro Tull.

M5 Song The Barbarian, Album Emerson Lake & Palmer, Album Artist Emerson Lake & Palmer, Composer Béla Bartók, “Allegro Barbaro” (1911), Year recorded 1970, London, Released 1970 Island, Atlantic records and Manticore (UK)

This composition appears on the 1970 debut release of “Emerson Lake & Palmer” on the very first track, “The Barbarian”. This song is an arrangement for rock band of Bartók’s 1911 piano composition, ‘Allegro Barbaro’. Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary’s greatest composer . Béla Bartók was born in a small town in Hungary in 1881. At age 21, in 1902, Bartok met Richard Strauss, at the Budapest premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra, and this meeting strongly influenced Bartok’s early work.

‘Allegro Barbaro’, composed in 1911, is one of Béla Bartók’s most famous and frequently performed solo piano pieces. The composition is typical of Bartók’s style, utilizing folk elements. The work combines Hungarian and Romanian scales; Hungarian peasant music is based on the pentatonic scale, while Romanian music is largely chromatic.

The opening melody of Allegro Barbaro is largely pentatonic (the first 22 notes of the melody use only a tone and a minor third, the building block of the pentatonic scale).

The album, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, is the 1970 debut album of British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The Barbarian opens Side One of this LP. This is a reflection of Keith Emerson younger piano repertoire, now, arranged for a rock band. The Barbarian tracks very closely to Bartok’s “Allegro Barbaro” piece, with the arrangement adding in the four parts of … lead guitar, bass, organ and drums.

Personnel

  • • Keith Emerson: Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer
  • • Greg Lake: acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, vocals
  • • Carl Palmer: drums, percussion

 

M6 Song  Also Sprach Zarathustra 2001, Album  Prelude, Album Artist  Deodato, Composer  Richard Strauss, Year  1972, Released By CTI

“Also Sprach Zarathustra” is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896. Richard Strauss conducted its first performance in 1896, in Frankfurt. A typical performance of Also Sprach lasts 30 minutes. Over seventy years later, the “initial fanfare” movement in Also Sprach became well known to the public because it was used as the opening theme in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato (pron. ew – m ih r) covered the “initial fanfare” under the title “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” on his 1972 album Prelude. It is a jazz-influenced rendition of the introduction from the Richard Strauss composition .Released as the album’s single in 1972, Deodato’s nine-minute funky rendition peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #7 on the UK Singles Chart. It won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

On this song, Personnel

  • • Eumir Deodato – piano, electric piano  (pron  ew – m ih r)
  • • Stanley Clarke – electric bass (solo on “Also Sprach Zarathustra”)
  • • Billy Cobham – drums
  • • John Tropea – electric guitar (solo on “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, )

M7 Song East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, Album Pretzel Logic, Album Artist Steely Dan, Composer Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1927), Year 1974 , Released By ABC

East St Louis Toodle-Oo is a song by written by pianist “Duke” Ellington and trumpeter Bubber Miley, and recorded in New York in 1927. This song is of the RAGTIME style, Ragtime’s main characteristic is its syncopated, or “ragged,” rhythm, hence the term “rag-time”. This back-beat style of music began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans many years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Familiar to many is the early ragtime song from Scott Joplin, his 1899 composition, the “Maple Leaf Rag”.  East St. Louis Toodle-Oo was the first charting single for Duke Ellington in 1927. The song is structurally perfect, and it is considered by many, to be a jazz masterpiece.

This song was covered by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan on their 1974 album Pretzel Logic. You probably did not see much of Steely Dan between 1975 until 1993. Their early tour history was brief, and the tour in support of Pretzel Logic would be the LAST TIME Steely Dan appeared live until 1993. Becker and Fagen disliked touring and wanted to concentrate solely on writing and recording. This led Becker and Fagen to move to a studio process on all later albums, but still under the name Steely Dan.

This version of East St Louis Toodle-Oo is a note-for-note rendition of the original composition. For Steely Dan, there are many reasons this song is unique. This is the only instrumental ever done by Steely Dan, the only Steely Dan song, until that time, to feature a banjo, and is the only song on which Donald Fagen is credited with playing the saxophone. Fagen also plays the piano lead. This album also marks the first time Walter Becker would play guitar on a Steely Dan album.

Musicians on this song:

  • Donald Fagen, saxophone, piano solo
  • Walter Becker lead guitar
  • Jeff “Skunk” Baxter pedal steel guitar
  • Jim Hodder drummer

Side 2 Track 2 from Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, their rendition of Duke Ellington’s East St. Louis Toodle-Oo