DAY 8.
The "Chirping Crickets" (1957)


Enjoyed this one, will put it in my collection, here's a selection of fun facts if anyone is interested?
IF NOT FOR HOLLY’S BAND, THE CRICKETS, THERE’D BE NO BEATLES.John, Paul, George, and Stu Sutcliffe (who played bass for the band during the Hamburg days) were all huge Buddy Holly fans. When trying to come up with a new name for their band (The Quarrymen, their original name after the school they went to, was growing long in the tooth), they thought of the Crickets. Then insects. Then beetles. Then eventually, after several variations, as a pun … Beatles."It was beat and beetles, and when you said it people thought of crawly things, and when you read it, it was beat music,” John Lennon explained in 1964. 

Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's songs.

In Don McLean's "American Pie," "The day the music died" is the plane crash that killed Holly.
Buddy Holly and The Crickets were the first big-name white group to play the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They were booked there in 1957 by a promoter who assumed they were black (this happened from time to time, since most acts were heard long before they were seen). Their show went over well.

The Crickets' 1957 debut album, The "Chirping" Crickets was the only LP to feature Buddy Holly that was released during his lifetime.
Bob Dylan: ‘He was a poet - way ahead of his time.’  
Bruce Springsteen: ‘I play Buddy Holly every night before going onstage. It keeps me honest.’  
Mick Jagger: ‘You could learn from Buddy Holly how to write songs, the way he put them together. He was a beautiful writer.’  
Eric Clapton: ‘Of all the music heroes of the time, Buddy Holly was the most accessible, and he was the real thing. He was one of us.’





 

Last edited by arabchanter (18/8/2017 5:31 am)

Never been too sure about Frank Sinatra: aye, he's a fine signer, but a bad character of the two faced variety, I believe. 

Thanks for your replies Pat really appreciate them, maybe when we get out of the 50's we'll get more people posting their views?

Last edited by arabchanter (18/8/2017 10:14 pm)

Looking forward to the 60's onwards Mr C.

Not a huge fan of any 50's stuff tbh.

DAY 10.
Thelonious Monk 
Brilliant Corners (1957)

Not a clue?
Jazz pianist by all accounts
I think someones at it but I'll give it a listen. 

DAY 11.
Sabu.    Palo Congo (1957)

Louis "Sabu" Martinez was one of the most prolific conga players in the history of Afro-Cuban music. In addition to his own albums, Martinez recorded with such influential jazz musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Buddy DeFranco, J.J. Johnson, Louis Bellson, Art Farmer, and Art Blakey, and jazz vocalists including Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis, Jr. Emigrating to Sweden in 1967, he continued to apply his highly melodic rhythms to a lengthy list of recordings by top-notch Swedish performers.
Interesting
.No.TitleLength
1."El Cumbanchero"5:38
2."Billumba-Palo Congo"6:06
3."Choferito-Plena"4:02
4."Asabache"4:22
5."Simba"5:55
6."Rhapsodia del Maravilloso"4:39
7."Aggo Elegua"4:28
8."Tribilin Cantore"5:19


     


 
 

DAY 11.
Sabu.    Palo Congo (1957)

Surprisingly I enjoyed this, I was expecting more jazz drivel , but as Pat said it's Latin American and that's one hell of a difference imho.
I will be adding this to my collection, but I don't know how often it will get played, probably late on at a summer barbeque when I'm pished and feel the need to make an arse of myself trying to dance.
Just a little note about him which I found quite interesting.

Sabu was left-handed. This came in handy when teaching conga rhythm patterns, since you could sit face-to-face and see a mirror image of how to move the hands. He placed his drums in a manner not seen otherwise. The quinto was in the middle, the conga to the left (left-handed, remember) and the tumba to the right. If you analyze some of the solos, you will see that they would be hard to play in another way. They would be hard to play anyway, admittedly. On some recordings he used five congas to produce fantastic rhythms -- not just scales going up and down.

This track reminds of the Circus when I was a kid.


 

DAY 12.
Miles Davis   Birth Of The Cool (1957)

• 

[url=https://www.last.fm/music/Miles+Davis/Birth+of+the+Cool/+images/a9d39dcba5394f0799039d29bc645a72]Beginning to dislike the 50's or at least the choices in this book,

To be fair the album wasn't that bad just a bit too elevator/film background like for me

I really can't wait to get out of the 50's, surely it can't be so jazz orientated as this book would have you believe?

Trouble is I'm only in 1957
Just a couple of snippets about old Miles.[/url]
 
1 \\ Miles Davis was a keen boxer; he credits boxing with helping him to fight his drug addiction in the fifties, often training with his friend, the renowned boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
2 \\ That raspy voice didn’t always belong to Miles; it was the result of him arguing with another musician too soon after having an operation to remove polyps from his larynx in 1955.
3 \\ Michael Jackson, Prince and Frank Sinatra were all keen to release music with the trumpeter. Whilst Miles was keen on the idea with the former two, he said he’d rather just listen to Franky S.

Last edited by arabchanter (10/9/2019 9:50 pm)

PatReilly wrote:

arabchanter wrote:

  

I really can't wait to get out of the 50's, surely it can't be so jazz orientated as this book would have you believe?

.

You should jump to around 1962, I'd hardly miss the years before that. It'll take you almost 3 years to post about this book! 

Miles Davis isn't really my cup of tea either.

Had a quick check Pat and 11 more then hit the 60's, feel I'd be cheating if I missed any albums and as I've said before maybe find something I didn't know I liked.
I know it'll take just under 3 years but it's only a couple of posts a day!
 

 

DAY 13.
Machito    Kenya  (1957)



Thought this one was ok, but I don't know if it's because I'm enjoying it or that Thelonious bloke has done something to my ears?
I have learned in this short period of time that there are many types of jazz
I've also learned that I don't particularly like most forms of jazz,
but in saying that I've found that Latin-American and Afro-Cuban, Mambo and Salsa I can take, but in small doses.

A little bit about Machita
Machito and his Afro Cubans was an absolute powerhouse unit that lay the foundation for Latin Jazz, a seminal force in the original fusion of Cuban clave rhythms and the melodies and harmonies of jazz. They were the original Mambo Kings in New York in the ‘40’s and are considered the most innovative and influential orchestra in the genre.

They did not slow down throughout the fifties, doing live broadcasts from the famed Birdland, and recording for the Tico/Roulette label with notable jazz figures as Doc Chetham, Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Griffin, and Herbie Mann sitting in. The were the premier Latin dance band in NYC, and covered all the bases with rumbas,mambos, guarachas, sones, guajiras, afros, congas and boleros.
During the sixties they kept apace of the changing times, gigging and recording up to 1965, when there was a winding down, as popular demands took a noticeable turn with the advent of salsa. They were suddenly old fashioned and the music of the last generation. The young dancers were into the new salsa beats. Machito tried to go a different direction and did a Latin Soul record in ’68 but things started to quiet down. Ironic as it seems, salsa was a direct result of the music he was playing all along, which was picked up by the young Puerto Ricans as Machito alumnus Tito Puente, also Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, and Willie Colon. They turned it into an international phenomenon.

Machiti died after suffering a heart attack while performing at Ronnie Scott's in London on April the15th 1984.
.

 

Last edited by arabchanter (23/8/2017 9:25 am)

PatReilly wrote:

Out of all the jazz stuff you've highlighted arabchanter, I most liked Sabu and Palo Congo. Maybe because of the familiarity of El Cumbanchero, right enough.

I mind Liberace playing that on the black and white telly.

Have to agree with you Pat out of all the jazz albums,  Sabu and Louis Prima are the only ones I have added to my collection (so far)
You may be right about familiarity El Cumbanchero and Just a Gigolo/Buona Sera, I'm sure were played in my house as a kid, but maybe not by the same artists though.
 

DAY 14.
Little Richard    Here's Little Richard (1957)








Well that livened things up, never really listened to Little Richard much but gotta say that album went by really quickly, that normally means for me at any rate that I must have enjoyed it.
Will be adding this, his debut album into my collection.
Confession to make, the first time I heard "Slippin' and Slidin' " was on the brilliant 1975 John Lennon album Rock 'n' Roll

A little bit of trivia you may or may not know?

Little Richard’s family was super religious. His dad-- who sold bootleg moonshine and owned a club--was a deacon at the church and his mother was a member. And like countless Black singers and musicians, Little Richard started singing in the church. He loved the Pentecostal church mostly for its worship and live music. His family was completely against R&B or secular music as they referred to it as the “devil’s music.”

As a teen, Richard's father kicked him out for allegedly being too effeminate. He began singing in Macon’s small nightclubs. He’d later join a few bands and go on to perform as a solo act on the chitlin’ circuit. Eventually he’d meet a manager, record a demo and land a No. 1 R&B Billboard hit with “Tutti Frutti.” If his dad had never kicked him out, he may not have become the famous Little Richard.
[list=1]
[*]Little Richard would take off his clothes during performances and throw them to the audience. A shirt, shoe, maybe even a mink coat
[*]Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, and Billy Preston all played behind Little Richard In the 50's,
[*]James Brown would impersonate Little Richard at performances, when Richard was double booked.
[/list]
Little Richard kicked Jimi Hendrix out of his band for stealing the spotlight.

Little Richard was on a comeback tour in Germany in November 1962 when he shared the spotlight with an up and coming band called The Beatles at Hamburg's Star Club in Hamburg.  Little Richard did tour England with The Rolling Stones in October of 1962.
He also said 'Elvis may be the King of Rock and Roll, but I am the Queen'
.
According to producer Nile Rodgers, Richard was the initial inspiration for Bowie's biggest ever album, "Let's Dance" (1983).
Richard overcame a debilitating drug habit and eventually became an ordained minister.
In 1987 Little Richard presided over the second wedding of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore




 

Last edited by arabchanter (10/9/2019 9:53 pm)