A decade after the death of renowned folklorist Alan Lomax, his vision of a "global jukebox" is being realized: his vast archive — some 5,000 hours of sound recordings, 400,000 feet of film, 3,000 videotapes, 5,000 photographs and piles of manuscripts, much of it tucked away in forgotten or inaccessible corners — is being digitized so that the collection can be accessed online. About 17,000 music tracks will be available for free streaming by the end of February. NYT article
here.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 30, 2012 -
39 comments
Chances are that sometime, somewhere, out of the corner of one ear, at least, you've heard the iconic (yet all-but-forgotten) "Willie and the Hand Jive". Set to a Bo Diddley beat, it was an infectious little number that made quite a splash back in its day. Here's a fun
live version of the bouncy tune, complete with the three largest dancing girls you're ever likely to see, and here's the
original 1958 recording. The composer of the tune, the son of Greek immigrants who decided that the world of black music was where he wanted to be, was one
Johnny Otis, who has just
died at the grand old age of 90. Shortly after its release, "Willie and the Hand Jive" was covered by early rock icons like
Bo Diddley and, across the pond in England,
Cliff Richard. But apart from his most famous tune, Johnny did a LOT of recording and performing throughout his lengthy career, so there's...
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 19, 2012 -
42 comments
If you ever caught NRBQ live, you were most likely treated to some
raucous,
pounding and
undeniably joyful roadhouse revelry that made you wanna drink another beer (at least) and bask in the divine glory of Rock. And. Roll. But it is with a sad heart that I relay the news to you today that the hard-hitting, deeply grooving powerhouse behind the drums, the man who drove America's Best Bar Band to ever more delirious heights of cathartic oneness with the Universe, has left us. RIP,
Tommy Ardolino.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 7, 2012 -
27 comments
New Year's Eve is fast approaching, and for lots of folks that means... drinking. Plenty of drinking. And since there's no shortage of singers and songwriters who've had a little something to say about that particular topic, maybe some of the following tunes can serve as an appropriate soundtrack to your own joyous (or not?) imbibing of spirits. For example, there's... Jimmy Liggins with his succinct rendition of
Drunk, and there's...
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2011 -
67 comments
In 1993 in Dharamsala I met for the first time that amazing music performer, perhaps he was a Rajhastan gypsy. Usually he sat on road side from McLeod Ganch to Dhalai Lama residence. This man-orchestra created great atmosphere, sometimes he sang from eternity even didn't notice listeners. In 2004 I came to Dharamsala and people told me that he passed away.
This video is dedicated to him and to people who knew him.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 29, 2011 -
7 comments
When most folks think of "Christmas music" it's doubtful that their next thought will be "the blues", but along with "my baby" or "bad luck" or "leavin' in the morning", bluesmen have long included Christmas as lyric inspiration. Which bluesmen? Well...
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Freddie King,
Blind Blake,
John Lee Hooker,
Lightnin' Hopkins,
Little Milton,
B.B. King,
Smokey Hogg,
Charley Jordan, and last but certainly not least, one of the most influential early bluesmen,
Blind Lemon Jefferson.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 20, 2011 -
23 comments
Never had a whole lotta use for the Lawrence Welk show, but man, when it came time for steel guitar wizard Buddy Merrill and his dazzlingly snazzy stringery to take center stage, the broadcast got a
hella lot better,
fast!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 19, 2011 -
24 comments
One of America's most idiosyncratic musical geniuses was, of course, the great Thelonious Monk (
Wiki), and what better way to celebrate his birthday today than viewing (in its entirety!) an excellent documentary on the man and his music?
Straight, No Chaser
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 10, 2011 -
25 comments
A unique (to say the least) musical voice from the past emerges, with a timely tune to those along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Yes, friends, it's Nervous Norvus, with
Evil Hurricane.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 26, 2011 -
19 comments
"Call me nuts, but I find extraordinarily endearing the improbable blend of country music traditionalism and tastefully restrained space-age guitar pyrotechnics that can be heard in these tunes." Yes, friends, the fine folks at WFMU are back with the long-awaited 2nd installment of the tasty and wonderful
Country Fuzz Spectacular!
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 24, 2011 -
8 comments
Happy birthday John Lee Hooker! Let's celebrate by listening to some of your older tunes! "Gonna take you down by the riverside, gonna tie your hands, gonna tie your feet, got the
mad man blues" ... "Now the
war is over, and I'm broke and I ain't got a dime" ... "You know I'm a
crawling king snake, baby, and I rule my nest" ... "Gonna get up in the mornin',
goin' down highway 51" ... "Well I
rolled and I tumbled, babe, I cried the whole night long" ... "
I feel so good, let me do the boogaloo"
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 22, 2011 -
19 comments
Somewhere along the line, you might've heard one of the biggest hits to ever come out of the world of jazz: it was a song originally made famous by Les McCann and Eddie Harris back in 1969, called
Compared To What. If you were in the right place at the right time, you might've even caught them doing it
live. Or, if you were born a little too late for all that, you might've heard the song performed by
John Legend and the Roots. Well, the man who wrote the song,
Gene McDaniels, has just
left us at age 76. RIP Gene McDaniels.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 2, 2011 -
25 comments
Zany Germans have crazy
nose flute fun! But, wait! Surprising and unexpected beauty can be coaxed from the
nose flute as well. And straight outta Vancouver, the
nose flute man will happily show you how it's done. Unfortunately, I've found that pretty much everything else on the internet featuring this particular type of
nose flute is, well... pretty awful. YMMV.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jul 29, 2011 -
16 comments
Marlon Brando. Yeah, sure, he could act. Very talented guy. But, hey, he also invented a radically innovative tuning system for conga drums. Played the congas, too. Yup.
That's right.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jul 3, 2011 -
23 comments
It's no secret that throughout their long career, the Rolling Stones have covered
lots of tunes by black singers and bands from the worlds of soul, blues, R&B, reggae and early rock'n'roll, and have, of course, been heavily influenced by these various genres in their own performance and songwriting. Perhaps a bit lesser known is that several of the most iconic and legendary figures in black music have covered Stones songs as well. Here's
Brown Sugar by
Little Richard,
Satisfaction by
Aretha Frankilin and
Otis Redding,
Under My Thumb by
Tina Turner,
Start Me Up by
Toots and the Maytals and, rather unexpectedly,
Let's Spend the Night Together by blues great
Muddy Waters
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 14, 2011 -
52 comments
Louisiana-born, Texas-based record producer
Huey Meaux, the so-called "Crazy Cajun", has
died. He was the man behind
Barbara Lynn's 1962 hit
You'll Lose a Good Thing. Three years later, in a move to cash in on the British Invasion, he created a faux-British rock band called "the Sir Douglas Quintet" around San Antonio-born singer-songwriter
Doug Sahm, and produced their hit,
She's About a Mover. Meaux also produced Tex-Mex rocker
Freddy Fender's bilingual hit
Before the Next Teardrop Falls as well as Fender's
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. Sadly, however, Meaux had a very ugly darker side: he was arrested not once but twice on child-sex charges, doing prison time in the late 60s, and an 11-year bid from '96 to '07. Some of the ugly details of this side of his life are detailed in this
Houston Press article from 1996, shortly after his arrest, which will pretty much make your skin crawl... Well, so long Huey.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 26, 2011 -
50 comments
The Birka Jazz Archive is a treasure trove of record jackets from all eras of jazz. American releases are grouped by label (for example,
Columbia,
Blue Note,
Atlantic, etc.) with, in some case, further sub-categorization by designers or visual artists (such as the amazing
David Stone Martin). European releases are sorted by country (
France,
Sweden,
Germany, etc.) and it all adds up to a fabulous online resource for jazz fans and graphic design fans alike.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 17, 2011 -
9 comments
Historical currents in American pop music, where nonsense syllables have always held a special place: Blind Blake, in 1929, recorded
Diddie Wa Diddie, which Ry Cooder
covered in 1974, and which Leon Redbone also
covered in 1977. Now, folks, that tune is not to be confused with Bo Diddley's 1956 recording
Diddy Wah Diddy, which a young Captain Beefheart
covered in 1966, and which was also
covered by Aussie garage rockers the Missing Links. Likewise,
that tune is not to be confused with a little ditty recorded in 1963 by the Exciters, called
Do Wah Diddy Diddy, which was
covered with great commercial success in 1964 by British band Manfred Mann.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Feb 27, 2011 -
38 comments
Within that small and very specific sub-genre of musical Americana identifiable as the
train imitation, there is one amazing performance, from 1926, that set the standard:
Pan-American Blues. The man who recorded it did a fine and fanciful job of evoking the sounds of a
fox chase as well, and his rhythmically compelling solo rendition of
John Henry stands as testament to the potential for musical greatness achievable by one man and a humble harmonica. He was an African-American who was a founding member of the Grand Ole Opry, a musical institution that we rarely (as in,
never) today associate with black people, and his touching and tragic story, documented
here, is one that will be of interest to those concerned with the racial, economic and socio-cultural history of American popular music. He stands at one of its more unexpected intersections: his name is
DeFord Bailey.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2010 -
15 comments
This is surely, without question, the best interpretation of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" ever recorded. The
best. Merry Christmas!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 25, 2010 -
24 comments
Blues Houseparty is a fun, entertaining and highly recommended 57 minute documentary that takes us into a Virginia houseparty of 1989, where the assembled
Piedmont blues and gospel musicians and their friends pick guitars, sing, dance and engagingly reminisce on the houseparties of old. Amidst hearty laughs, barbecue and general good times, the guests recount personal memories of fun and rowdiness, corn liquor, 500-pound hogs, the devil's music and the Lord's music. There's a whole lot of cultural history on display here, a slice of black American life that is all but gone now. The mood is infectious, to say the least, and the music just keeps getting better and better throughout the film. The next best thing to being there!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 10, 2010 -
13 comments
If you were to ask me "What is the most
artistic drum solo you've ever heard?", I'd say "You mean the one with the most exquisite sense of dynamics? One that doesn't bludgeon you over the head, but instead pulls you in with its subtlety and restraint? Where masterful technique is purely at the service of
musicality? That best conveys a musical vision and a deep understanding of the interrelationships of percussive timbre and tone that make up that remarkable instrument we call the drum set?" You'd say "Yeah." I'd say
this.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 24, 2010 -
49 comments
