#ella fitzgerald's cover of this song is also very excellent

[hooked-on-elvis]

"Blue Moon" (not specially from Kentucky)

"Blue Moon" is a song first release in 1934, written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and has become a standard ballad. Early recordings included those by Connee Boswell and by Al Bowlly in 1935. The song was a hit twice in 1949, with successful recordings in the U.S. by Billy Eckstine and Mel Tormé. — Wikipedia

— "Blue Moon" by Connee Boswell (1935)

This ballad was recorded and performed by many artists over the years including Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, The Platters, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald and many others, including our dear Elvis Presley.

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The first time I ever heard a bit of the song "Blue Moon" tho, was performed by actress Rebecca Lee Meza who played young Selena Quintanilla in the movie about the Mexican-American star, "Selena" released in 1997 — *Talk about Jennifer Lopez in that role! She's stunning and so lovely!* — I love that movie beyond words because it's a childhood memory I hold dear, watching this movie with my mom and sister, and I also got to know what Selena Quintanilla meant (who sadly was murdered the very year and month I was born, March 1995. I was just a few weeks old.). Later in life, when I was old enough to make my own choices, I got to learn and appreciate Selena's real self, her songs, admiring her career, her beauty, her talent and charisma, and that I do 'til this very day. The movie did great in portraying her life, but then... the song became something more to me — I'll get there but I wanted to share the the videos and other version of "Blue Moon".

— Oldies Medley: "Blue Moon/We Belong Together" from "Selena" movie (1997)

I didn't find a recorded version with Selena's real vocals, but The Vidal Brothers recorded the song which was featured in the opening credits in "Selena" (1997 movie). The song Selena used to sing as a child was an arragement by Abraham Quintanilla, Selena's father and manager. He performed the song when he was a member of the male group "The Dinos" in the 60s. He then passed it to Selena and her siblings, "Los Dinõs", who used it in home rehearsals, as the movie "Selena" (1995) shows (the scene above).

Abraham Quintanilla about The Vidal Brother's version below:

"This are the Vidal brothers from Kingsville texas, I brought them to Q productions Recording Studios taught them the kind of harmonies we used to  do  (The Dinos) they done an excellent job and we used their singing for the beginning of the SELENA movie, the song is a cover song that we The Dinos sang back in 1965." — Mr. Abraham Quintanilla, Selena's father. His comment is from 9 years ago, as he left it on this Youtube video with that song.

"Blue Moon" by The Vidal Brothers.

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As I said, "Blue Moon" was a familiar tune to me, which I already appreciated but I just had listened so far to the versions featured on the "Selena" movie. And then just a year ago or so, was the first time I heard Elvis singing that song (man, it happened a few times, listening to Elvis singing songs I knew previously from other artists) and my jaw dropped.

It did hit me home listening to my newfound favorite artist singing a song so dear to me.

"Blue Moon" by Elvis Presley, recorded at Sun Studio on August 19, 1954.

The song was released as single by RCA Victor in 1956 and then featured on Elvis' first LP "Elvis Presley" (1956). The tune gained its rightful place when released on "Elvis: Sunrise" (1999), a compilation album of Elvis Presley's SUN recordings and again on the album "A Boy from Tupelo: The Complete 1953 to 1955 Recordings" (2012).

Sun Records never released Elvis' version on Sun Records. It was among the unused Presley recordings turned over to RCA when it purchased Elvis’ contract in late 1955. It was released, along with three other discarded Sun cuts, on Presley’s first RCA album in March 1956. In September that year, RCA released Blue Moon as a single backed with another Sun recording, Just Because, as part of a mass singles release. It soon became apparent that of the seven singles, Blue Moon/Just Because was selling the best. In its September 22 issue, Billboard listed that single in both its “Coming Up Strong” and “This Week’s Best Buys” lists. “This disk, with emphasis on ‘Blue Moon,’ is stepping out and starting to move,” Billboard reported. Source: elvis-history-blog.com

Some may like Elvis' version, some not, but to me this is an all-time favorite song and Elvis Presley's version is one I'll forever cherish. In spite the sadness in the lyrics, it's a beautiful, loving ballad, and I love his voice on it.

♥

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JUST TO MENTION something I find cool about Selena and Elvis, both artists I high appreciate:

ELVIS AND SELENA AT THE HOUSTON ASTRODOME, HOUSTON, TX [1970/1995]

Selena had a great splendid moment in her career performing at one of the same venues as Elvis, coincidentally the same month even (not the same year tho), a place where he also had one of the greatest moments of his career: The Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas.

Selena performed there on February 26, 1995. While Elvis was much earlier (and a few times after his first performance there) on February 27, 1970.

Selena - "Como La Flor" at the Houston Astrodome, Houston, TX, on February 26, 1995.

Elvis at the Houston Astrodome, Houston, TX, on February 27, 1970.

In 1970, on February 27, 28 and March 1, Elvis Presley performed six times at the Houston Astrodome, setting a new attendance record - around 180,000 people attended.

#elvis presley #elvis #elvis the king #selena #selena quintanillla #selena and los dinos #houston astrodome #blue moon #Youtube #elvis fans #elvis fandom #selena quintanilla perez

[glennmillerorchestra]

burt bacharach i love you

#ella fitzgerald's cover of this song is also very excellent #but it's a straight bacharach sort of night tonight #burt bacharach #music

[bulletballet-arch]

REALLY LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY. RULES. repost ,   don’t  reblog !    tag 10 ! good  luck ! TAGGED. I took this from Minnie’s archived Bioshock blog. I’ve been looking for this meme all this month. TAGGING. @hammurabicomplex. @bluuxriising. @ Me - for Sal on @bulletsoverbensonhurst​. @immaterialed (charlie) @soypeor (bella) @svmmercmance​. @mrflayed. and you!

BASICS. FULL  NAME :  Eve Delores Littlejohn NICKNAME : Evie, Little Evie (by her maternal side of the family), Delores, Didi NAME  MEANING / S  Eve is from the ancient Hebrew name  חַוָּה (Chawwah), which was derived from the Hebrew word חָוָה (chawah) meaning "to breathe" or the related word חָיָה (chayah) meaning "to live". Delores is a variant of Dolores, meaning "sorrows", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary María de los Dolores, meaning "Mary of Sorrows." Littlejohn is a surname that has historically been found in England and Scotland. With potential origins being either ‘to distinguish a beloved child that was not the eldest.’ Or, ‘a contradictory nickname for a large man.’ HISTORICAL  CONNECTION? : She’s named after her grandmother, Evelyn Hollins.

AGE : 42 BIRTHDAY :  June 2 ETHNIC  GROUP : Black-American. Meaning she’s mixed with a lot (Some of her relatives are respectively Creole and Italian) but uses Black as a catch-all term. NATIONALITY :  American LANGUAGE / S : English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, some French SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :   Bisexual ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :  Biromantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : Verse dependent, usually married -or connected- to Salvatore Scozzari in some way. CLASS : Upper-Class HOME  TOWN / AREA :   Brooklyn. Spent time between Bedford-Stuyvesant - with her paternal grandfather and Park Slope - with her maternal grandparents.  CURRENT  HOME : In her childhood home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. PROFESSION : Ballet Instructor. Former Professional Ballerina. ( Other verses see her as a professional thief. )

PHYSICAL. HAIR : Black. In terms of her natural hair, Eve has springy, 3C hair she seldom shows off because she was raised in a family where straightened hair was deemed presentable and professional.  EYES : Thin almond eyes. Dark brown. NOSE : Straight and small. FACE :  She has a prominent, high forehead, that’s accented with high cheekbones and a pointy chin. LIPS :  Full. COMPLEXION : She has a light brown (tawny) complexion.  SCARS : None major. TATTOOS : None. HEIGHT : 5′4″ BUILD : Eve has a slender build. One of those people who have been small and petite since childhood. Despite this, she also stays skinny because she is obsessively conscious of the food she consumes. The older she gets the more she weighs, however. USUAL HAIR STYLE :  Her hair is cut short. Reaching her shoulders in a neat, even bob. She either curls it in a retro fashion or curls the tips. For work she wears it in a traditional, pinned bun. USUAL FACE LOOK : In public, she appears stoic for the most part. Any emotion shown (such as the length of a smile) is carefully calculated. She has to seem perfect.  USUAL  CLOTHING : Form fitting dresses. Incredibly chic and fashionable for the time. Shoes include heels - never open-toed, unless she has on stockings. Extravagant earrings. Jewelry that can include either necklaces, crosses, pearls, or dainty rings. Prone to wearing black sunglasses in public.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Thunderstorms, airplanes, creatures like weasels, snakes and ferrets, break-ins, men she doesn’t know, harm coming to her children ASPIRATION / S :  Formerly wanted to become a major [black] ballerina in the elite world of ballet, now she just wants to expose more [inner city children] to dance through her job. Personally, she wants her children to change the world in some form or fashion, too. Eve also has good ideas on improving the community, but at the moment has no idea how to go about these ideas. POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Generous, compassionate, patient, protective NEGATIVE  TRAITS : Strict, sullen, hard to read, represses her emotions, secretive MBTI :  Advocate - INFJ-T ZODIAC :  Cancer TEMPERAMENT :  Melancholic ANIMALS :  Lioness VICE / S :  Pride & Lust FAITH : Christian. Grew up Baptist, but Catholic influences have been around her since childhood. Attended a Catholic High School in Park Slope, her grandmother Evelyn was also a practicing Catholic.  GHOSTS ? : Yes and no. She feels that objects formerly owned by the deceased posses the essence of their previous owners and that they essentially live on through these pieces of property. AFTERLIFE ? : Yes. REINCARNATION ? :  No, but it’s a romantic concept. ALIENS ? : No. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :  Democratic ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE :  She likes being where she’s at now. But honestly, being upper class is all she’s ever known. SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : Bourgeoisie, basically. The Littlejohn’s represent The Historical Black Elite.  EDUCATION  LEVEL : College level. FAMILY.

FATHER :  William ‘Bill’ Littlejohn MOTHER : Linda Littlejohn ( nee Hollins ) SIBLINGS : None EXTENDED  FAMILY : Amos Littlejohn (paternal grandfather) Liza Littlejohn (paternal grandmother) Evelyn Hollins (maternal grandmother) Giuseppe D’Aietti (maternal grandfather) and a wide host of cousins, aunts and uncles.

FAVOURITES. BOOK :  Night Song by Beverly Jenkins. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Some sort of old, French erotic novel that was published before she was born. MOVIE : Eve watches films along the lines of...Waiting to Exhale, Beaches, The First Wives Club and Fatal Attraction. She loves Made-For-TV movies from the time period. In regards to plays, her favorite one is Sunday In The Park With George. 5  SONGS :  Meet Me On The Moon / Essence of Sapphire / No One In The World / People / The First Time I Saw Your Face  DEITY :  Persephone  HOLIDAY : New Years Eve, Christmas, Thanksgiving. Major holidays during the colder season. MONTH :  October SEASON :  Autumn PLACE :  The dance studio she works at. WEATHER : Sunny, but cool. SOUND : The voices of Anita Baker and Sarah Vaughn. A skilled hand running over piano keys. Soft trumpets. Running water. Cats making chipper little meows. SCENT / S :  Perfume, floral scented lotions, her partner’s cologne TASTE / S :  Caramel, the tang of dark chocolate, strawberries coated with either chocolate, or sprinkles of white sugar. Light Vinegar.  FEEL / S : Performing in front of an audience. Hot water engulfing your skin after a long day. Satin - whether it be the fabric of her clothes or sheets, your fingers tightly intertwined with another’s, feeling your significant other’s chest raise and lower against your skin with each breath they take. ANIMAL / S : Cocker Spaniels, Afghan Hounds, Cats, Birds - she loves all ( well, a majority ) of animals. NUMBER :  Doesn’t have one. COLOR :  White, Pink, Gold.

EXTRA. TALENTS :  Dance, Eve is trained in ballet when it comes to her main verse. She has attended ballet classes since the age of eight and ever since then she placed all of her focus into it. Similarly, Eve has always had the makings of a good artist - as a child she enjoyed drawing and had informal art lessons with a man who lived in the basement of her grandfather’s brownstone, but she never invested into that half of her. BAD AT : Singing, Being interviewed, Public Speaking (as in Speech Giving), Decision Making TURN  ONS :  Charisma, Leadership Skills, Temperature Play, Phone Sex, Heavy Kissing, Light Roleplay TURN  OFFS :  Public Sex, Tearing [ Her ] Clothes, Threesomes, Cruelty, Senseless Violence HOBBIES :  viewing plays & some musicals, reading romance novels, shopping, working out (she was into the whole celebrity VHS tape exercise trend), playing tennis, decorating AESTHETIC :  Vintage Black Glamour, Black Ballerinas, Champagne and Wine Glasses, Paintings by Melinda Byers and Edward 'Clay' Wright QUOTES :  "I'm bad with words, I hope you're good in reading eyes." / "There are truths I haven't even told God. And not even myself. I am a secret under the lock of seven keys."

FC INFO. MAIN  FC / S : Lynn Whitfield ( A Thin Line Between Love & Hate ) ALT  FC / S : Kylie Bunbury ( Twisted ) OLDER  FC / S :  Lynn Whitfield ( Greenleaf ) YOUNGER  FC / S : N/A VOICE  CLAIM / S : Lynn Whitfield

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?       A1 : Recently I decided that if/when I try to write anything serious about Eve again, it’ll center on her being a jewel thief because it presents me more fun, and emotionally diverse, opportunities. That and I have a very specific cover image in my mind. Ideally, her adventures would be a series of books. I have no title in mind, no idea about how ‘it would be filmed’ ( although a style replicating 90s films would be excellent, film grain and all. ) but, I do have a bunch of plots in mind that I really don’t feel like typing out here.  

Q2 :   what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?         A2 :  Her score would have a vintage sound (or a jazzy Spike Lee sound, if you will) with instrumentals by Dorothy Ashby (a Jazz Harpist) the Ahmad Jamal Trio, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef and Tarika Blue. For music with lyrics, the soundtrack would include the likes of Julie London, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dionne Warwick.

Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?   + Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ? A3 :  Whenever I make NPCs for my character’s lives I actually can’t just let them just be NPCs. I start thinking about them too much. Developing them too much. And then I’m like, ‘wow! I really like this character!’ Eve was a different character when I began writing her, and likely wouldn’t be considered the same character as she was previously, if I told someone in real life who knows about my writing (like my grandma) about all the changes she has undergone. Originally Delores was a university professor, because I thought it could lead to interesting interactions with college-age muses. And her previous history with the mafia was also something interesting to tap in. But then I started thinking about what was realistic, what wasn’t realistic, what did I feel comfortable/interested writing? What didn’t I feel comfortable/interested in writing?  So as time went on, things would alter about this character. And the new things I came up with attracted me more. 

Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.         A5 :  I have a love/hate relationship with Eve’s quiet demeanor. On one hand, I think quieter characters need love and the ability to be fully dimensional but on the other hand, writing louder characters has always been more fun for me. But really, Eve’s guarded behavior makes writing her stressful in some cases with others because sometimes...if I’m going to be honest...people don’t know how to carry a thread and interact with someone of her demeanor effectively. 

Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?       A6 : We’re both black, we’re both into art (although our exact interests and aesthetics with art differ)

Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?         A7 : Realistically she would think I need to take better care of myself.

Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions with ?   A8 :  We skippin’ this question.

Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?       A9 : Films such as, “Waiting to Exhale,” “The Kitchen” and “Widows.” Books by Alice Walker, like “The Third Life of Grange Copeland” as well as her short story, “Roselily.” The historical mob figure Stephanie St. Clair.

Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?       A10 : A few hours.

#long post #dash games. #headcanons.

[secretradiobrooklyn]

Get In Moses Edition | 2.13.21

Secret Radio | 2.13.21 | Hear it here.

art by Paige, liner notes mostly by Evan, *means Paige

1. Chantal Goya - “Tu m’as trop menti”

From the movie “Masculin feminin,” a DVD we borrowed from Tim. This is the film where Godard was whispering the lines into a headset of the actor, so they were learning their lines literally as they were saying them. This is the opening song. Not particularly Valentine’s Day, in that it’s about lying too much… but still there’s a dissatisfaction that is undeniably a part of French romance.

2. Human League - “(Keep Feeling) Fascination”

Such a square song! But the keys hook is so immortally beautiful, with its crucial warble. The rest of the song is sweetly and innocently ‘80s. It reminds me of being in art class in high school, fully participating in the aesthetic crimes of the era. 

3. Marijata - “Break Through” - “Afro-Beat Airways”

Analog Africa is just now releasing a repress of this long sold-out collection. I’d listened to it before, but I guess that was before I knew about Marijata (thanks again, Jeffrey!) because it was a shock to discover a track by one of our very favorite Ghanaian discoveries. So far as I knew, Marijata only released one album of four songs — which is fantastic — and then eventually started backing a guy named Pat Thomas. Those records, unfortunately, are nowhere near as vital and fascinating as their own record. So finding this song was a welcome revelation! I should also say that, no surprise, the whole collection is a banger from front to back, and will definitely show up again on the show.

4. Philippe Katerine (avec Gérard Depardieu) - “Blond”

This strange guy is a kind of joker songwriter in French pop, as far as I can tell. This song is all about what one can get away with if one is blond. He’s a really fascinating character, a tiny bit like Beck maybe, in the sense that he seems to have made a successful career of taking unexpected directions. He’s also an actor, working with Claire Denis (!), Jonathan Demme and Gille Lellouche among many others. He was also in “Gainsbourg - A Heroic Life,” which is an excellent movie that we highly recommend. (We had no idea who he was when we saw it at the St. Louis Film Festival.) Also, he appears to be married to Gérard Depardieu’s daughter, which would seem to explain this particular guest star.

- The Texas Room - “Cielito Lindo” 

Several years ago, a producer in St. Louis put together the amazing album known as “The Texas Room,” which brought together immigrants from all over the world who currently lived in St. Louis. That meant Bosnians, Cameroonians, Mexicans, and native-born Americans… including Andy Garces, a fellow Paige went to high school with — His mom was Paige’s voice teacher as a matter of fact — who recorded this strange and excellent version of “Cielito Lindo.” The release party for the album was one of the greatest nights we spent in that or any city, dancing our faces off to all kinds of music. At one point the Bosnians got so excited they took over the room, shouting along and hoisting up their guy in the air. Basil Kincaid did the art for the album, and I think that’s the night we finally met. We have one of his collages on our studio wall right now — right over there!

5. The Modern Lovers - “I’m Straight” *

When we got the current SK van (circa 2015) we were super excited because we could finally bring out other musicians on the road and we could also have folks from other bands that we were out with jump in the van with us for a stretch. That February we were on tour with Jamaican Queens, and our friend Andy Kahn came out with us to play guitar. Not only is Andy a rad musician and great guy to be around, but he was an excellent road DJ. Somehow I made it to 30 without getting into The Modern Lovers (I know, crazy!) Andy has great taste and had a well appointed iPod so he was the official van DJ pretty much right away. He put on this record one day and I just lost it. The thing is, after that I was like “Play ‘Roadrunner’ again!” all the time. When I hear this record I still think of that tour. Andy in the back seat DJing, Ben and Erik jumping in the van to come with to Baltimore, graduating to “truck” in the Holland Tunnel queue, so much snow, host Bentley, “Go cats?”, Aaaaaahhhhh!

6. Frances Carroll & the Coquettes - “Coquette / When I Swing My Stick / Jitterbug Stomp”

I think we learned about this band last year, when Coquettes drummer Viola Smith died at 107 years old (in Costa Mesa, not Silverlake, Paige would like you to know — her bad). The video link below is highly recommended — the whole band swings hard, and the interaction between them and Frances Carroll is well worth the watch. They were considered a curiosity at the time, being an all-female band, and man they could play. Viola Smith in particular had an insanely long career, playing from the 1920s straight through into 2019! She played with Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb, and in the original Broadway production of “Cabaret.” Her particular innovation was having two toms at shoulder height, on either side of her head, which she would roll and ricochet shots off. Very cool style, never copied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFDD_NxtKZ4

7. Pierre Sandwidi - “Boy Cuisinier”

Born Bad Records is one of the world’s coolest record labels, with a huge array of vintage discoveries as well as African albums as well as contemporary pop and noise bands. “Boy Cuisinier” is off Pierre Sandwidi’s album with them. It bears some definite relation to Francis Bebey but takes its own turns just as often. Sandwidi hails from Burkina Faso, known as the Upper Volta when he was growing up. We’re just now learning about him and his scene — I confess I didn’t even know Upper Volta was African; I thought it was Slavic — so I wouldn’t be surprised if some more Voltaic music shows up here soon.

8. Evan Sult avec Tracy Brubeck  - “The Cats Won’t Stay In”

Paige’s mom Tracy called while we were in the middle of the show, and they paused to have a conversation about, you know, whatever — the snowstorms, the neighbors, the news. She was on speakerphone so that we could all talk, and eventually I just started taking notes as fast as I could. This is the result. I find it fascinating. That’s Paige singing lead on the Marty Robbins tune.

9.  Kil Monnower Alimunna, Grup Hindustanbul - “Tadap Tadap” 

Years ago I saw the movie “Monsoon Wedding” by the director Mira Nair. It really stuck with me, particularly the gorgeous opening credits in maroon and orange and sky blue. I was trying to tell Paige about that sequence, so just in case we could catch a glimpse of those colors, we watched the trailer. This song is the soundtrack to the trailer. It’s really an amazing track — so Indian, of course, but with definite Western points of contact, like when it goes to the major chords unexpectedly in the post-chorus, which sounds practically American. And the final outro minute or so is full of delayed, reverbed vocals in a psychedelic style, til it reaches the strange and intoxicating sound that he makes with his voice as the song fades into the distance.

- Martial Solal “New York Herald Tribune” - “A bout de souffle” soundtrack 

10. Gillian Hills - “Tut Tut Tut Tut” 

Gillian Hills, probably more famous for “Zou Bisou Bisou.” This track is great, listen for those syrupy slides and harmonies. I just learned that she is English, and the music video for this song is definitely shot in Angleterre. Full of famous red phone booths (now famous little free libraries.) When we were doing this week’s show I asked Evan “Is this song too obvious?” He said no, it wasn’t too obvious. If you know why I’m asking, then you know. So is it? 

11. Jacques Dutronc “La Compapade”

We’ve been into Jacques Dutronc for many years now, because he’s a brilliant French songwriter and composer. But this one track has been a baffler for many years now. It shows up out of nowhere and sounds like… what? What the hell IS that? Is it African? It sounds African, but — is it? Is it just some strange lark on his part? Paige was apprehensive about playing it on the show, even though we both really enjoy it, because we couldn’t tell if it was somehow demeaning to someone. But eventually I argued that we don’t know what the hell most of the singers are saying in the songs we play, or which cultural taboos they’re transgressing, and the same is true in this case. If it is somehow offensive to anyone, I hope it’s clear that wasn’t our intention. But… I don’t know. I don’t think it is. I think it just comes from a cultural heritage and context that is French in a way Americans cannot understand or appreciate. In any case, it’s an amazing performance and recording!

12. K. Frimpong & His Cubanos Fiestas - Me Da A Ɔnnda”

Research into African rock and styles eventually brought us to K. Frimpong and His Cubanos Fiestas, which has turned out to be a satisfying step into the Ghanaian highlife/Cuban scene. I love the keyboard hooks in this one and the way the patterns just roll on and on with each other like a river, in no hurry but pulled forward by their own currents. He was also a visual artist — his art appeared on the cover of last episode’s Nyame Bekyere album. This was also the first time I’ve encountered the character “Ɔ” in the wild. I have zero idea how it is pronounced.

13. They Might Be Giants - “Birdhouse In Your Soul” 

“Not to put too fine a point on it / Say I’m the only bee on your bonnet / Make a little birdhouse in your soul.” I remember when I first realized that was a feeling I was feeling — hoping to build a birdhouse in the soul of another, to be inside one another in a little protected place. The rest of the song is a nerd-rock dream palace I love as much as any other nerd, but the chorus is where I discovered an emotion I hadn’t suspected was there when I first heard and fell for this song and this band in high school (thanks, Jeremy Peterson!). 

Paige adds: This song is blowing my mind. I don’t like writing lyrics, my ratio of melodies and harmonies to lyrics way out of whack. Evan brought this song back into our lives this week when Sleepy Kitty was asked what our favorite love songs are on a real radio show. We’ve been listening to it a bunch since Thursday and damn, these lyrics are good. It’s really reminding me that you can write about ANY.THING. Blue Canary in the freakin’ outlet by the light switch. Looking at the lighthouse picture. It’s a clinic. I learned something, and I can go home. 

On the original topic, I love thinking of this as a love song. If you hear a love song, it’s a love song. It’s a love song.

14. Sleepy Kitty - “Tu veux ou tu veux pas” *

I took two years of French in high school and missed out junior and senior year because of a scheduling lulu that made 3rd and 4th year French conflict with advanced painting which was the primary reason I was taking French in the first place. I’m still not over it. Years later, I’m at Electropolis (in my memory) and I hear this Brigitte Bardot song on Tim’s excellent sound system and I can understand…most?…some…of it! I fell in love with this song and with French again and started stumbling, scrabbling at it again. We started working up this cover. Thank you Suzie Gilb for helping with the pronunciation. We did a 7” of this song and it’s a rare SK track with me playing trombone on it. 

15. The Velvet Underground - “I Love You” *

I don’t really have much to say about this track except that it reminds me of flying to Germany because I got the 5 Disc set with all the extras on it a few days before leaving for a high school foreign exchange program. I was so happy to have those discs to absorb on the long flight, and come to think of it, it really inflected the whole trip.

16. Secret Song - “African Scream Contest”

The genesis of our love for African rock/funk/whatever (if for a moment we don’t count the profoundly influential “Graceland”) is the immortal collection “Legends of Benin,” put out by Analog Africa. As soon as we dug further for our favorites from that collection, we found “African Scream Contest” vols 1 and 2. I was drawn to the second one because it had a killer track by our hero Antoine Dougbé, but eventually spent as much time with the first volume. Both are absolutely fantastic. Part of what I love so much about them is learning how much of an impact James Brown and his band had on African music, which is super apparent throughout these collections and especially this track. The drums and the grunts and the hard stops and the horn blasts — it’s all there. 

One of the finest elements of these records is the hidden track at the end, tucked five or so minutes back from the last song. These are often some of the hottest tracks on the album, well worth the wait, and this mystery song is no exception. Unfortunately, though, that means we don’t know who made this track or what it’s called. Oh well — that only makes it cooler!

- Adrian from Brooklyn

17. The Beatles - “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”

We watched “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week” recently (totally worth a watch), and we were struck all over again by how insane their lives must have been at that time. Yes fame, yes sudden fortune, yes global supremacy, yes yes yes — the thing that I can’t get over is the shrieking, and how it wasn’t just present at their shows, it was EVERYWHERE THEY WENT, AT ALL TIMES ON ALL DAYS, EVERY SECOND THEY WERE OUTSIDE. How completely unsettling that must have been, to be the center of that howl, day after day, year after year. 

18. The Fall - “Sing! Harpy”

Dedicated to Adrian from Brooklyn and all those young women and men losing their minds over the Beatles so completely that all they could do was shriek, even at shows where the crowd’s sound completely obliterated the sound of the band they so desperately loved and came to hear. 

(This is also some of my favorite violin playing in any rock music, right up there with “Boys Keep Swinging” and The Ex’s “State of Shock.” I would LOVE to work with a violinist in this mode.)

19. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “Gnon a Gnon Wa”

So intense! That constant chord strike throughout the song is a kind of high-note drone that we find ourselves drawn to. It kind of reminds me of the sound of a casino, where you walk in and all of the machines are chiming the same note, promising to just take your mind away and keep it safe until you need it again.

- Tommy Guerrero - “El Camino Negro” - “Road to Nowhere”

20. Black Dragons de Porto Novo - “Se Djro” What a slinky number! I love how spare the instrumentation is, but how much power is contained in that one guitar part. This is side A of a 7” put out on Albarika Store, the label that T.P. Orchestre called home for many albums. 

21. Helen Nkume and Her Young Timers - “Time” This is (so far) the closest we’ve gotten to reggae on WBFF. I know nothing about the band or the music other than their fantastic name and sound — oh, and the fact that she is known elsewhere as Prophetess Helen Nkume. She appears to be Nigerian, or anyway her record label is. I love the guitar hook on this song, it just sneaks in and steals the show.

22. Anne Sylvestre - “Les Gens Qui Doutent”

23. Parvati Khan - “Jimmi Jimmi Jimmi Aaja Aaja Aaja Re Mere” A lucky find! Someone in one of my Facebook groups posted a video from this album, so I took note and returned later to check it out. This is from an Indian movie called “I’m a Disco Dancer” that looks like a real kooky thrill. The actors appear to have only the vaguest sense of what “disco” might be — or what a guitar might be, for that matter. It kind of looks like someone saw a single photo of a disco night and extrapolated a whole movie from it. Nonetheless, Parvati Khan is entrancing in the song and in the video, and we HAVE to see this movie, with or without subtitles. The smoldering look alone really requires investigation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdJQSUcK_Y

24. Nancy Sit - “Love Potion #9” * One thing I’ve always known about Evan is that he doesn’t like the song  “Love Potion #9.” When we stumbled across this, I thought it was awesome but I didn’t want to make Evan listen to a song he doesn’t like on Valentine’s Day! Evan says this song has little to do with “Love Potion #9” which makes me wonder, Evan, what’s the part you don’t like about “Love Potion #9”?

Evan adds: I honestly can’t remember what my issue with this song was. I swear, it was like… it was around the time of “Melt With You,” which I also found inexplicably irritating (and still do). I suspect now that there was an inept cover version that first steered me wrong… but luckily there’s a strange Chinese version to steer me right again! Oh life.

- Michel Legrand - “Solange’s Song (Instrumental)” - “The Young Ladies of Rocheforte”

25. The Velvet Underground - “I’ll Be Your Mirror” * This is the song that I said was the best love song of the western world on the real radio. I think it’s so beautiful and so adult. I don’t even know if I would have thought of this as love song a few years ago. When first got into the V.U. I thought it was a pretty song – a neat song, but I didn’t really know what it meant, what it could mean. What’s funny is when I think of this song, I have a Lou Reed version in my head – his voice, the harmonies. When I revisited the Max’s Kansas City live version (which as far as I know is the only one besides other more recent live versions and surely what I’m thinking of?) I realized that the version in my head is essentially that one but cleaned up, remastered, different EQ, and as far as I know entirely imagined.

Evan adds: (Paige has been playing this song recently around the apartment. I don’t even have to tell you how lovely it is.)

*p.s. If you want to hear the piece about musicians talking about favorite love songs on KWMU it’s here: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2021-02-11/listen-love-songs-to-keep-you-warm-on-cold-winter-nights

Super fun getting to talk about this stuff and in such good company!

[beatlebrainiacs-blog]

Issue Number 34, Part Two

Hello everyone! We’re getting back into issue 34 of the Beatles Book! 

We are loving the shot above of the four lads looking toward a very bright future!

Getting into the magazine, we’re starting at the “Letters from Beatle People” section. 

The letter we selected is from Miss Junko Nuta of Tokyo, Japan! She wrote asking the Beatles (George in particular) to please come to Japan so she could meet them! 

Junko’s American pen pal met the Rolling Stones, so she wanted to one up him by meeting the Beatles! She also promised to work on her English to be able to speak with them better.

George responded to Junko saying he hoped they would get to meet during their tour of Japan in July (1966).

Gotta love those lads!

The next section of the magazine is Johnny Dean’s “Behind the Spotlight.”

Dean took readers back to May of 1964. The band was earning high praise from fellow musicians at the time. 

Their friend and performer Cilla Black said that John and Paul were the best songwriters in the world.

George Martin had just returned from working with THE Ella Fitzgerald who sang Beatles songs with him and complimented Paul and John’s songwriting abilities too! Ella said she loved the lyrics and the way they would borrow from Jazz and Blues.

Our beloved John was the centerfold in issue 34!

Getting back to May of 1964, the boys were on holiday for most of the month. Reporters from America were constantly trying to track them down, but none of their handlers would give out any info!

The fab four did make time to perform on a TV show called “Around the Beatles,” where they tried to recite lines from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to great comedic effect.

George’s face in that shot is priceless.

In May of 1964, the Beatles were getting excellent reviews from critics. “Love Me Do” was crashing to the top of charts in America and several of their other tunes were rising on the charts there too!

John was excited to play around with a new instrument on the market called a guitar-organ. 

Brian Epstein, meanwhile, was bogged down with the minutiae of deciding what engagements the Beatles should accept and which they should reject. 

Georgie boy!

And finally, perhaps the biggest news from May 1964, was a review of the Beatles from Ed Sullivan himself.

Ed said the Beatles were some of the entire show’s staff’s favorite guests. They were very polite and fun to be around.

Ed also said the lads were the biggest hit his show had seen and that they were a the best shot in the arm the entertainment industry had in about 15 years!

And that is all we’ve got from issue 34, enjoy Paulie on the back cover!

#the beatles #The Beatles Book #john lennon #paul mccartney #Ringo Starr #George Harrison

[blackkudos]

Benny Carter

Bennett Lester "Benny" Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King. In 1958, he performed with Billie Holiday at the Monterey Jazz Festival - but, then, really, he performed with every major artist of several many jazz generations, and at every major festival you could possibly care to name.

The National Endowment for the Arts honored Benny Carter with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 1986. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and both won a Grammy Award for his solo "Prelude to a Kiss" and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. In 2000 awarded the National Endowment for the Arts, National Medal of Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton.

Biography

Born in New York City in 1907, the youngest of six children and the only boy, received his first music lessons on piano from his mother. Largely self-taught, by age fifteen, Carter was already sitting in at Harlem night spots. From 1924 to 1928, Carter gained valuable professional experience as a sideman in some of New York's top bands. As a youth, Carter lived in Harlem around the corner from Bubber Miley who was Duke Ellington's star trumpeter, Carter was inspired by Miley and bought a trumpet, but when he found he couldn't play like Miley he traded the trumpet in for a saxophone. For the next two years he played with such jazz greats as cornetist Rex Stewart, clarinetist-soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet, pianists Earl Hines, Willie "The Lion" Smith, pianist Fats Waller, pianist James P. Johnson, pianist Duke Ellington and their various groups.

First recordings

He first recorded in 1928 with Charlie Johnson's Orchestra, also arranging the titles recorded, and formed his first big band the following year. He played with Fletcher Henderson in 1930 and 1931, becoming his chief arranger in this time, then briefly led the Detroit-based McKinney's Cotton Pickers before returning to New York in 1932 to lead his own band, which included such swing stars as Leon "Chu" Berry (tenor saxophone), Teddy Wilson (piano), Sid Catlett (drums), and Dicky Wells (trombone). Carter's arrangements were sophisticated and very complex, and a number of them became swing standards which were performed by other bands ("Blue Lou" is a great example of this). He also arranged for Duke Ellington during these years. Carter was most noted for his superb arrangements. Among the most significant are "Keep a Song in Your Soul", written for Fletcher Henderson in 1930, and "Lonesome Nights" and "Symphony in Riffs" from 1933, both of which show Carter's fluid writing for saxophones. By the early 1930s he and Johnny Hodges were considered the leading alto players of the day. Carter also quickly became a leading trumpet soloist, having rediscovered the instrument. He recorded extensively on trumpet in the 1930s. Carter's name first appeared on records with a 1932 Crown label release of "Tell All Your Day Dreams to Me" credited to Bennie Carter and his Harlemites. Carter's short-lived Orchestra played the Harlem Club in New York but only recorded a handful of brilliant records for Columbia, OKeh and Vocalion. The OKeh sides were issued under the name Chocolate Dandies. His trumpet solo on the October 1933 recording of "Once Upon A Time" by the Chocolate Dandies (OKeh 41568 and subsequently reissued on Decca 18255 and Hot Record Society 16) has long been considered a milestone solo achievement.

In 1933 Carter took part in an amazing series of sessions that featured the British band leader Spike Hughes, who went to New York specifically to organize a series of recordings featuring the best Black musicians available. These 14 sides plus four by Carter's big band were only issued in England at the time, originally titled Spike Hughes and His Negro Orchestra. The musicians were mainly made up from members of Carter's band. The bands (14–15 pieces) include such major players as Henry "Red" Allen (trumpet), Dicky Wells (trombone), Wayman Carver (flute), Coleman Hawkins (saxophone), J.C. Higginbotham (trombone), and Leon "Chu" Berry (saxophone), tracks include: "Nocturne", "Someone Stole Gabriel's Horn", "Pastorale", "Bugle Call Rag", "Arabesque", "Fanfare", "Sweet Sorrow Blues", "Music at Midnight", "Sweet Sue Just You", "Air in D Flat", "Donegal Cradle Song", "Firebird", "Music at Sunrise", and "How Come You Do Me Like You Do".

Europe

Carter moved to Europe in 1935 to play trumpet with Willie Lewis's orchestra, and also became staff arranger for the British Broadcasting Corporation dance orchestra and made several records. Over the next three years, he traveled throughout Europe, playing and recording with the top British, French, and Scandinavian jazzmen, as well as with visiting American stars such as his friend Coleman Hawkins. Two recordings that showcase his sound most famously are 1937's "Honeysuckle Rose," recorded with Django Reinhardt and Coleman Hawkins in Europe, and the same tune reprised on his 1961 album Further Definitions, an album considered a masterpiece and one of jazz's most influential recordings.

Return to Harlem and a move to Los Angeles

Returning home in 1938, he quickly formed another superb orchestra, which spent much of 1939 and 1940 at Harlem's famed Savoy Ballroom. His arrangements were much in demand and were featured on recordings by Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, and Tommy Dorsey. Though he only had one major hit in the big band era (a novelty song called "Cow-Cow Boogie," sung by Ella Mae Morse), during the 1930s Carter composed and/or arranged many of the pieces that became swing era classics, such as "When Lights Are Low," “Blues in My Heart," and "Lonesome Nights."

He relocated to Los Angeles in 1943, moved increasingly into studio work. Beginning with "Stormy Weather" in 1943, he arranged for dozens of feature films and television productions. In Hollywood, he wrote arrangements for such artists as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Lou Rawls, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Slack and Mel Torme. In 1945, trumpeter Miles Davis made his first recordings with Carter as sideman on album Benny Carter and His Orchestra, and considered him a close friend and mentor. Carter was one of the first black men to compose music for films. He was an inspiration and a mentor for Quincy Jones when Jones began writing for television and films in the 1960s. Carter's successful legal battles in order to obtain housing in then-exclusive neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area made him a pioneer in an entirely different area.

Benny Carter visited Australia in 1960 with his own quartet, performed at the 1968 Newport Jazz Festival with Dizzy Gillespie, and recorded with a Scandinavian band in Switzerland the same year. His studio work in the 1960s included arranging and sometimes performing on Peggy Lee's Mink Jazz, (1962) and on the single "I'm A Woman" in the same year.

Academia

In 1969, Carter was persuaded by Morroe Berger, a sociology professor at Princeton University who had done his master's thesis on jazz, to spend a weekend at the college as part of some classes, seminars, and a concert. This led to a new outlet for Carter's talent: teaching. For the next nine years he visited Princeton five times, most of them brief stays except for one in 1973 when he spent a semester there as a visiting professor. In 1974 Princeton awarded him an honorary master of humanities degree. He conducted workshops and seminars at several other universities and was a visiting lecturer at Harvard for a week in 1987. Morroe Berger also wrote the book Benny Carter – A Life in American Music (1982), a two-volume work, covers Carter's career in depth, an essential work of jazz scholarship.

In the late summer of 1989 the Classical Jazz series of concerts at New York's Lincoln Center celebrated Carter's 82nd birthday with a set of his songs, sung by Ernestine Anderson and Sylvia Syms. In the same week, at the Chicago Jazz Festival, he presented a recreation of his Further Definitions album, using some of the original musicians. In February 1990, Carter led an all-star big band at the Lincoln Center in a concert tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Carter was a member of the music advisory panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1990, Carter was named "Jazz Artist of the Year" in both the Down Beat and Jazz Times International Critics' polls. In 1978, he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and in 1980 received the Golden Score award of the American Society of Music Arrangers. Carter was also a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1996, and received honorary doctorates from Princeton (1974), Rutgers (1991), Harvard (1994), and the New England Conservatory (1998).

One of the most remarkable things about Benny Carter's career was its length. It has been said that he is the only musician to have recorded in eight different decades. Having started a career in music before music was recorded electrically, Carter remained a masterful musician, arranger and composer until he retired from performing in 1997. In 1998, Benny Carter was honored at Third Annual Awards Gala and Concert at Lincoln Center. He received the Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence and his music was performed by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall and Bobby Short. Wynton accepted on Benny's behalf. (Back trouble prevented Benny from attending.)

Carter died in Los Angeles, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center July 12, 2003 from complications of bronchitis at the age of 95. In 1979, he married Hilma Ollila Arons, who survived him, along with a daughter, a granddaughter and a grandson.

Songs composed by Carter

"Blues in My Heart" (1931) with Irving Mills

"When Lights Are Low" (1936) with Spencer Williams

"Cow-Cow Boogie (Cuma-Ti-Yi-Yi-Ay)" (1942) with Don Raye and Gene De Paul

"Key Largo" (1948) with Karl Suessdorf, Leah Worth

"Rock Me to Sleep" (1950) with Paul Vandervoort II

"A Kiss from You" (1964) with Johnny Mercer

"Only Trust Your Heart" (1964) with Sammy Cahn

Other songs by Carter include "A Walkin' Thing", "My Kind of Trouble Is You", "Easy Money", "Blue Star", "I Still Love Him So", "Green Wine" and "Malibu". Of course there are, literally, hundreds more - he truly was one of jazz's greatest composers.

http://wikipedia.thetimetube.com/?q=Benny+Carter&lang=en

#Benny Carter

[merriammusicinc]

12 Great Jazz Piano Songs That Are Easy to Learn

Jazz piano songs are smooth and soulful pieces of music. But that's no reason to be intimidated by the genre. Here are some easy and beautiful jazz songs you can learn on the piano.

Are you new to piano but are beyond the beginner stages?

You're probably interested in learning advanced songs. If you're a fan of jazz sheet music, you may think learning jazz piano songs is difficult. But there are great jazz piano songs for all piano players to learn.

There are certain jazz songs that are easy piano play and are remembered by everyone. You can easily jam them yourself and team up with other musicians to play them. And of course, these songs are extremely fun to play.

Whether you're taking jazz piano lessons or are self-taught, here are the 12 jazz piano songs you should learn now. These songs will improve your piano playing skills while you learn your favorite jazz songs, watch a few of the piano tutorial videos to help you out a bit.

1. Snow White - "Someday My Prince Will Come"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0nfWH4jaTs You probably know this song from the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. But this song was reinvented in jazz form by many jazz musicians.

You can easily take the vocal leads and convert them to the piano, such as what Chick Corea did.

The striking feature of this song is the melody. But hearing the Disney version, you can tell the varying notes isn't an easy song to sing. Therefore, it's quite difficult to play on the piano.

The lead melodies captivate anyone who hears this song. But unlike the Disney song, the jazz piano version gives this song more complexity. This makes this song fun but challenging.

2. Ella Fitzgerald - "All the Things You Are"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJFYjnCdRcM If you're unsure where to start with jazz piano, always start with the classics. "All the Things You Are" is a perfect starting piece. Dating back to 1939, this song was played by Jerome Kern.

This song is the epitome of classic jazz composition. Chord progressions and other dynamic changes make this song challenging. But everything flows so naturally, so it's complex yet beautiful.

Most beginners find the intro difficult. But once you get past the challenging beginning, you get a better feel for the song. After you practice this song, the chord changes and other dynamics make more sense.

3. Herbie Hancock - "Dolphin Dance"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AJrR7QSoJA

You can't say "jazz piano legends" without mentioning Herbie Hancock. This is why his tune "Dolphin Dance" is on this list. Hancock is an influential pianist for his complex but individualistic writing style.

This song goes through a variety of chord changes but always manages to keep its melody. You're completely hooked throughout the song because it's unpredictable. There are also many intricate parts and parts that slow down.

Practicing this song not only enhances your piano playing skills but also improves your songwriting.

4. Bill Evans - "Waltz for Debbie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9qDO-KEhw

"Waltz for Debbie" is one of the most beautiful jazz piano pieces in history.

Performed by Bill Evans, this song is a classic. This song is perfect for a beginner and is constantly revisited by expert pianists.

This song doesn't do anything too complex but the song is enjoyable enough to play. The secret is the tune. The tune is so strong that it sticks with you. This makes this song easy to get stuck in your head so you'll recognize each note.

Last but not least, this song is still fresh today. This is why Evans was such a notable pianist for his time. This song is an example of modern jazz.

5. Thelonious Monk - "Round Midnight"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YGMJpmJJVc Thelonious Monk is one of the most influential jazz pianists and composers.

"Round Midnight" is one of his most well-known songs. This song has been covered by just about every great jazz pianist. And it's a perfect song to learn on piano.

"Round Midnight" isn't as complex as other jazz piano songs. It has a strong melody that you can easily follow. This song is very calm but has enough complexities to challenge a beginner piano player.

From the beginning to the end of the song, "Round Midnight" follows a distinctive but infectious tune. After playing this song, you can understand how Monk has influenced many pianists.

6. Red Garland - "On a Clear Day"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7usQX54PiGA This song is recommended for beginner jazz pianists because it isn't your traditional jazz song. There's a lot of swing influence that makes this song a lot of fun to play. The swing influence gives this classic tune a fun and upbeat vibe.

Legendary jazz pianist Red Garland performs this song and is a timeless tune.

The groove of the rhythm section and the fun piano melodies makes this song intoxicating.

This song is relatively simple to play but is fun enough for advanced jazz pianists.

This song is easy to learn for beginners but is challenging enough to improve their skill.

7. Ray Brown Trio - "Sweet Georgia Brown"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzgwaOXAyJM Back in 1925, Ray Brown Trio performed "Sweet Georgia Brown" with Gene Harris on piano. This song gives jazz its classic sound but makes the genre more fun.

Even with a dominating rhythm section, Harris' piano melodies stand out. This song is completely upbeat but still relaxing. It's an easy song to play but it's easy to get sucked into the song as you play.

The piano parts are polished and you'll feel great as you learn to play this song.

In this song, Harris uses piano styles from swing, gospel and blues to create a unique feeling. This makes "Sweet Georgia Brown" one of the most unique songs in jazz. If you want to excel as a jazz pianist, this song is a must.

8. Duke Ellington - "Take the "A" Train"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhsIgOuoIhw The famous jazz standard "Take the "A" Train" was written by Billy Strayhorn, and was performed by Duke Ellington, who regularly performed it with his orchestra.

This song was also recorded by countless other artists, including Ella Fitzgerald. The song is about the new subway in New York in the 1930s!

9. Dave Brubeck - "Take Five"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXPhL4LyuQ This song was composed by Paul Desmond for the Dave Brubeck Quartet during 1959, in which he uses saxophone. Two years later it became a surprise hit and the biggest-selling jazz single ever.

The quartet recorded the tune in two takes, and when it was done, Paul Desmond thought the song was a throwaway — so much so that he once joked about using his entire share of royalties from the song to buy a new electric shaver. The title "Take Five" was Brubeck's idea which became the A side of a 45 record.

10. Erroll Garner - "Misty"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxZYy-XZrb4 The pianist and composer who came to fame during what is often called the swing era of Jazz in the 1940s was Erroll Garner with his style of piano playing encapsulated the stride technique of earlier pianists but it was Garner’s abundant virtuosity and lyrical fluency that characterized his performances.

Misty is a jazz standard written in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. He composed it as an instrumental on the traditional 32-bar format and recorded it for the album Contrasts (1955).

11. Duke Ellington - "Satin Doll"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pS-khqMGNo This song was also written by  Duke Ellington last 1953.  Its chord progression is well known for its unusual use of chords and opening with a ii-V-I turnaround.

Duke Ellington used "Satin Doll" as the closing number in most of his concerts. Wherein it makes as a modest hit, entering the pop charts in June and rising to number twenty-seven.

12. Joseph Kosma - "Autumn Leaves"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iX_NbXQcho This is a 1945 popular song and jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French, and later by Johnny Mercer in English.

This song was listed as a number 1 best-seller in the US Billboard charts of 1955 by an instrumental version of the pianist Roger Williams.

Time to Learn These Jazz Piano Songs

If you want a unique challenge to your piano playing abilities, learning jazz piano is an enjoyable way to improve your piano skills. If you're unsure which songs you should learn, these jazz songs are perfect for any piano player to learn. Jazz piano makes ample use of improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and swung note, as well as aspects of European harmony, American popular music, the brass band tradition, and African musical elements such as blue notes and ragtime.

These songs are all fun to play but offer unique challenges. They're well-rounded and can help you improve on many areas of piano playing. From complex chord progressions to simple melodies, all of these songs are different but amazing.

Do you need piano lessons? Take a look at our piano lessons.

More Jazz Piano Songs

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#jazz standards #chord progression #jazz piano songs #piano lessons #jazz musicians #jazz songs for piano #jazz songs on piano #best jazz piano songs

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BDRPWriMo Task #6 - 10 Short-Short Stories

Task #6: Write ten short-short stories of no more than a paragraph long.

Franny Robinson’s musical influences; ten interview quotes about other musicians and singers that she says inspire her work

i. Jenny Lewis

“I dunno, there’s just-” Robinson paused and with her palms flat up, made claws with her hands as she searched for the words. “-something so honest about Jenny. I had the honor of performing with her once and I was just in awe. I think I have a little bit of a crush on her. I was first introduced to her work in 2001 by a great friend of mine from college, Dani Weiss [currently a member of the American-Canadian newgrass band The Weepy Willows]. We were...going on a little trip -

Q: Acid or shrooms?

“My husband is sitting right there, oh god. Acid. In moderation, I think things like that can be worthwhile experiences. In moderation. We were doing acid in her apartment and listenin’ to music and she [Weiss] put on their album Take Offs and Landings. I was real into it from Go Ahead [the first track]. Which. I always liked chill music when I dropped acid, anything too loud and busy made me anxious. And when the followup, The Execution of All Things came out, it was like - I was like - just like, ‘damn, this woman is amazing.’ Her songwriting ability is just phenomenal and her voice- I feel like I’m sittin’ across from her and she’s tellin’ me stories. There’s- again, the only thing I can think of is this honesty about her.”

ii. Hizuru

“Japan actually has a vibrant history with jazz music, so I’m familiar with a lot of Japanese jazz and have had the honor of working with many talented Japanese jazz musicians. I don’t know very much about Hizuru, actually, other than I love them. I have been experimenting with incorporating traditional Cambodian music with, you know, jazz and other western styles of music. That part of my culture is very important to me, so I want - I want to show the world how beautiful instruments like tro and chapei are. Anyway- I was struggling with a balance of sounds when in 2017 I stumbled upon a Hizuru song called - oh, god, I don’t speak Japanese, so I’ll probably butcher this. The song is called Ushiwakamaru. It is an instrumental piece, as is the entire self-titled album, and the blend of traditional Japanese music and modern jazz on that entire album is perfection. I hope they come out with more soon, I am hungry for more, truly.”

iii. Ella Fitzgerald 

Q: Of the early jazz vocalists, who inspires you the most?

“Oh my god, Ella Fitzgerald. Well - mm, no, absolutely her, no question. I am by no means implying I live up to her standard, in fact I never will, but I have channeled her. Especially in my earlier work when I was a bit more concerned with going what jazz fans want, expect, and love versus taking lessons from those who came before me and building on that with my own ideas, my own voice. If that makes sense? She was classic. It’s Only A Paper Moon was, I think, the first jazz song I heard when I was little. Or, it was the first that really struck me. [laughs] My oldest brother used his birthday money to buy an Ella Fitzgerald album for me on vinyl so I would stop running around the house singing the only lyrics I remembered. I think it was like [singing]- Say, its only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea...and I forgot the rest so I could just repeat cardboard sea like three times.”

iv. Patsy Cline

“I’m from Georgia,” laughs Robinson, running a hand through her hair as she pulls her feet up under her on the chaise lounge in her Swynlake home. “Like, out in the country in Georgia. You couldn’t grow up there in the eighties and not have known who Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton were. Dolly was more, like, relevant and current, but Patsy’s a classic. And as a woman whose natural register is lower myself, I really appreciated being able to sing along decently well without much effort. We don’t - we don’t get to see alto voices in popular music a lot. Pop, even the jazz music that gets a following outside of hardcore jazz fans. Hitting the craziest high notes does seem to be a current trend across the genre spectrum.”

When asked if that was a bad thing, Robinson simply shook her head. “I don’t think it;s positive or negative one way or the other. It’s just an observation.”

v. Ahmad Jamal

“I mean, if you want to talk jazz pianists, you can’t not talk about Ahmad Jamal. On Green Dolphin Street? Autumn Rain? F---, man, leaving him out is criminal. He’s been in the game for five decades, that’s longer than I’ve been alive. I only hope to be on his level. Like, I hear words from his piano. I understand what I’m supposed to be feeling, thinking, or seeing when I listen to his work. And with instrumental music, that’s a challenge. Classical? I struggle to listen to classical music. I think it’s beautiful, and I really respect classical musicians, but unless I’m explicitly aware of what picture this piece is supposed to paint in my head, when I tell a classical expert what a piece makes me feel, they’re usually like ‘ACTUALLY...’

vi. Édith Piaf 

“My father - well, he’s technically my stepfather,” Robinson said, scowling at the word like it was a swear. “But, he adopted me when he married my mother, and my biological father may as well have been a sperm donor. Anyway. My father is from Switzerland, and they have four official languages there. He speaks them all, plus English, plus he learned to speak Khmer when he married my mother. He’s so cool, my dad. He’s from a Francophone-Italophone Swiss family, so I grew up listening to a lot of old French, Italian, and some German music from him. I still don’t speak German and Italian though, [laughs] sorry Dad.”

“We listened to Édith Piaf a lot together. I was very protective of my mother as a child, you know how kids of single moms are? My mom was my superhero and I was used to American men thinking they had a right to touch her because she was just a poor foreign woman who owned a restaurant. So when my future dad started hanging around, I hated him. But he was determined to make me like him so I’d let him marry my mother, and he’d take me for ice cream and play Édith Piaf cassettes in the car. He’d tell me about what the love songs meant, and didn’t tell me about the songs that weren’t, and told me the love songs are how he felt about my mother. He was like, ‘Dara-’ my legal first name is Darareaksmey, it’s Khmer. My parents usually calls me ‘Dara.’ ‘Dara, if you let me, I’ll be good to your mother, and to you.’ I eventually got tired of him begging me to marry my mom so I let him. [laughs]

I asked if she ever regretted giving him her blessing.

“No, never. He’s my dad, and the two boys he brought into the marriage are my older brothers. I’m my Swiss grandparents’ only granddaughter, so they spoiled me even from Switzerland. No, we’re family.”

vii. Dolores O'Riordan

Interview date, 26th of January, 2018

Q: Let’s talk about something I just found out about you from your Twitter feed the other day.

A: Oh, no, should I tell my husband to cover his ears?

Q: No, it’s rated H for Husband. 

A: Excellent.

Q: You’re a huge fan of Dolores O’Riordan. Which, I wouldn’t have guessed. But on the day the tragic news of her passing broke, you Tweeted out a tribute to her including ffive meet and greet pictures of the two of you together- the first, correct me if I’m wrong, is from 1994?

A: Yes, yes I had actually seen then the year prior, when I was thirteen, but ‘94 was the first time I could afford a backstage package with my babysitting money. The other four are from 1999, 2002, 2010, and 2016. I loved The Cranberries, they were the first concert I dragged my husband to when we were dating.

Q: Safe to say you’ve been a hardcore fan for-

A: Two and a half decades, yeah. Yeah, The Cranberries are one of my all time favorites. Dolores O’Riordan’s voice was...everything.

Q: You’re a jazz artist, primarily. What’s consistently drawn you to The Cranberries?

A: [laughs] Other than being a teenager in the 90′s? I mean, her voice. She changed the game for what it meant to be a female vocalist in rock music. And up until my second year at NYU, I wasn’t sure where I was going with music. I loved rock, I loved jazz, I was into R&B, I loved bluegrass. I sang in several bands in high school and college, and The Cranberries were usually on the setlist. Her voice was amazing. I idolized her as a young vocalist, even if I ended up gravitating toward a different genre.

Q: You uploaded a cover of Dreams with Irish alt-rock singer and guitarist Padraig Chen, and Irish indie musician Siobhán Walsh as well. How did that collaboration come about?

A: Padraig’s been a friend of mine for a long time; we met through a mutual friend who is also an Asian-diaspora musician in the UK and Ireland and it was a match made in music heaven. We’ve collaborated a lot. Siobhán is a friend of Pat’s, and we all looked up to Dolores, so we just got together and made our little tribute to her.

viii. Badi Assad

“I was first introduced to bossa nova...probably during my sophomore year of college. Her voice is like butter, but frankly, that’s not the most interesting thing about her. She combines traditional jazz, bossa nova, other Latin music elements, and traditional Middle Eastern sounds. Anything that is a marriage of different tastes and cultures is interesting to me, and when its done as well as she does it? Forget it. She is one of the best jazz and jazz-adjacent guitarists out there today. I really admire her. I hope to perform with her one day, it’s genuinely a dream of mine.”

ix. Ros Serey Sothea

“One of my most unexpected musical influences...well, I don’t - I don’t think she’s so much unexpected, as any of my following outside of my small Cambodian or Khmer-American following won’t have ever heard of. Ros Serey Sothea is one of the most important singer in Khmer popular music history, she’s called the Golden Voice. My mother would sing her songs to me as a child, whichever of them she could remember. Under the Khmer Rogue, which my mother survived, something like 90% of Cambodia’s artists, dancers, musicians, and singers died or were executed. She was one of them. And my mother’s favorite singer. Most of the master recordings from her and other singers like Pen Ran and Sinn Sisamouth were destroyed by the Khmer Rogue, so whatever recordings we do have of Khmer rock and roll from that era are so, so vital to preserve and keep record of. Even though I am a jazz music educator, at my lower level, more generic classes where I have the wiggle room to do so, I talk about Khmer music of the 60s and early 70s for a class because I feel so strongly about the legacy of this music.”

“I went on a tangent,” Robinson said apologetically. “Where was I? Oh, Ros Serey Sothea. Right, so her voice was just-” Robinson put her arms out to her side and swayed to the imaginary music in her head. “-you could just kind groove like this to only her voice, nothing else needed. Her voice danced on top of the backing band. My mother managed to get her hands on some records, her siblings who remained in Cambodia sent some to us and her other siblings who were resettled, in the mid-eighties. So, I was six or seven before I heard my first Khmer song from a record player or a cassette instead of my mother’s voice, even though she’d been singing to me since I was born. These songs are still incredibly important to Cambodians today, and diaspora as well.”

I asked her if that had anything to do with the semi-viral success of her recent  cover of 70′s singer Sieng Vannthy’s ‘Console Me’. 

“Oh, for sure.” Robinson said.  "It’s the first time I professionally recorded a song in Khmer, a lot of people were surprised I spoke the language.”

x. Dolly Parton

“Okay, Dolly probably has less of an influence on my music than my persona, I’ll be honest. But her music means so much to me. At my wedding, during toasts, my mother mortified me by throwin’ in video footage of my first ever live performance from ‘89. Little nine-year-old Franny was on stage in little secondhand cowboy boots, this horribly 80s lookin’ frilly dress, my hair in little twin braids, singin’ and dancin’ to Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That. To this day, my husband still brings that up.”

Q: How do you mean Dolly Parton influenced your persona?

“Great question. So, our origins are similar. Kind of. She grew up poor one of twelve children, I grew up poor, one of three. My family eventually was lucky enough to make it out of the poverty I was born into but we were still always poor, you know? Like. I remember my mom rationing her food so I could eat enough until that stopped when I was about seven and my mom didn’t have to make a meal for herself last two meals.  And we’re both from the American South.”

“I grew up on Dolly. She’s the queen of our people [laughs] and I’m not even being facetious. We love her. Can’t get enough of her. And I include myself in that; Dolly Parton is an icon. She is unashamed of who she is and where she comes from, which really struck a chord with me. As the American-born daughter of a refugee, I was always caught between two cultures. Am I Cambodian, am I American? Which can I claim? My mother taught to me my Cambodian culture, our Vietnamese friends taught me about Vietnamese culture, but my white father was from Switzerland so I didn’t learn to be American until school. That’s when I started droppin’ my G’s, sayin’ y’all and ain’t, and asking my parents to make grits for breakfast when they’d never eaten them before in their immigrant lives. I wanted so badly to just be seen as American, to be seen as just a girl from Georgia. If it weren’t for my mother refusing to let me speak English to her at home I would have lost my Khmer. She spoke English just fine, but English was for Out There.”

“My mom taught me to be proudly Cambodian, but I’m not just Cambodian, right? I mean, I’m biracial, sure. But more importantly, I’m bi-cultural. I’m not just Cambodian, I’m American - Southern, if we wanna get real specific. Both of my cultures are vibrant, and beautiful, and are equally important to me. My mom taught me not to be ashamed to be the daughter of a refugee - she didn’t get into specifics until I was older, but she was always made it clear she had Been Through Some Shit and could handle anything. Even now, when I go through something difficult I just tell myself, ‘Mom survived genocide, you can do whatever this is.’ I knew how to be proudly Cambodian, I knew how to wear traditional dress to nice events, and wear Khmer wedding clothes for my wedding instead of a white dress. But I didn’t know how to embrace this other part of myself - because wasn’t raised in the default Middle America. Even my American side is a type of odd culture, isn’t it?

Dolly Parton taught me not to be ashamed of the other half of where I came from. She is unapologetic about bein’ who she is. She is proud of where she came from. And I want to be the Dolly Parton of my rural Georgia town. My identities as Cambodian and Georgian are more important to be than my identity as, like, an American person in general. I want people to think, ‘that’s a Georgia woman’ when they think of me, just like you look at Dolly and say ‘that’s a Appalachian girl’ before you just go ‘oh, she’s American.’

#bdrpwrimomckala #bdrpwrimo #&&...hc #// some of these got long fight me #franny has feelings about music

[merriammusicinc]

12 Great Jazz Piano Songs That Are Easy to Learn

Jazz piano songs are smooth and soulful pieces of music. But that's no reason to be intimidated by the genre. Here are some easy and beautiful jazz songs you can learn on the piano.

Are you new to piano but are beyond the beginner stages?

You're probably interested in learning advanced songs. If you're a fan of jazz sheet music, you may think learning jazz piano songs is difficult. But there are great jazz piano songs for all piano players to learn.

There are certain jazz songs that are easy piano play and are remembered by everyone. You can easily jam them yourself and team up with other musicians to play them. And of course, these songs are extremely fun to play.

Whether you're taking jazz piano lessons or are self-taught, here are the 12 jazz piano songs you should learn now. These songs will improve your piano playing skills while you learn your favorite jazz songs, watch a few of the piano tutorial videos to help you out a bit.

1. Snow White - "Someday My Prince Will Come"

You probably know this song from the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. But this song was reinvented in jazz form by many jazz musicians.

You can easily take the vocal leads and convert them to the piano, such as what Chick Corea did.

The striking feature of this song is the melody. But hearing the Disney version, you can tell the varying notes isn't an easy song to sing. Therefore, it's quite difficult to play on the piano.

The lead melodies captivate anyone who hears this song. But unlike the Disney song, the jazz piano version gives this song more complexity. This makes this song fun but challenging.

2. Ella Fitzgerald - "All the Things You Are"

If you're unsure where to start with jazz piano, always start with the classics. "All the Things You Are" is a perfect starting piece. Dating back to 1939, this song was played by Jerome Kern.

This song is the epitome of classic jazz composition. Chord progressions and other dynamic changes make this song challenging. But everything flows so naturally, so it's complex yet beautiful.

Most beginners find the intro difficult. But once you get past the challenging beginning, you get a better feel for the song. After you practice this song, the chord changes and other dynamics make more sense.

3. Herbie Hancock - "Dolphin Dance"

You can't say "jazz piano legends" without mentioning Herbie Hancock. This is why his tune "Dolphin Dance" is on this list. Hancock is an influential pianist for his complex but individualistic writing style.

This song goes through a variety of chord changes but always manages to keep its melody. You're completely hooked throughout the song because it's unpredictable. There are also many intricate parts and parts that slow down.

Practicing this song not only enhances your piano playing skills but also improves your songwriting.

4. Bill Evans - "Waltz for Debbie"

"Waltz for Debbie" is one of the most beautiful jazz piano pieces in history.

Performed by Bill Evans, this song is a classic. This song is perfect for a beginner and is constantly revisited by expert pianists.

This song doesn't do anything too complex but the song is enjoyable enough to play. The secret is the tune. The tune is so strong that it sticks with you. This makes this song easy to get stuck in your head so you'll recognize each note.

Last but not least, this song is still fresh today. This is why Evans was such a notable pianist for his time. This song is an example of modern jazz.

5. Thelonious Monk - "Round Midnight"

Thelonious Monk is one of the most influential jazz pianists and composers.

"Round Midnight" is one of his most well-known songs. This song has been covered by just about every great jazz pianist. And it's a perfect song to learn on piano.

"Round Midnight" isn't as complex as other jazz piano songs. It has a strong melody that you can easily follow. This song is very calm but has enough complexities to challenge a beginner piano player.

From the beginning to the end of the song, "Round Midnight" follows a distinctive but infectious tune. After playing this song, you can understand how Monk has influenced many pianists.

6. Red Garland - "On a Clear Day"

This song is recommended for beginner jazz pianists because it isn't your traditional jazz song. There's a lot of swing influence that makes this song a lot of fun to play. The swing influence gives this classic tune a fun and upbeat vibe.

Legendary jazz pianist Red Garland performs this song and is a timeless tune.

The groove of the rhythm section and the fun piano melodies makes this song intoxicating.

This song is relatively simple to play but is fun enough for advanced jazz pianists.

This song is easy to learn for beginners but is challenging enough to improve their skill.

7. Ray Brown Trio - "Sweet Georgia Brown"

Back in 1925, Ray Brown Trio performed "Sweet Georgia Brown" with Gene Harris on piano. This song gives jazz its classic sound but makes the genre more fun.

Even with a dominating rhythm section, Harris' piano melodies stand out. This song is completely upbeat but still relaxing. It's an easy song to play but it's easy to get sucked into the song as you play.

The piano parts are polished and you'll feel great as you learn to play this song.

In this song, Harris uses piano styles from swing, gospel and blues to create a unique feeling. This makes "Sweet Georgia Brown" one of the most unique songs in jazz. If you want to excel as a jazz pianist, this song is a must.

8. Duke Ellington - "Take the "A" Train"

The famous jazz standard "Take the "A" Train" was written by Billy Strayhorn, and was performed by Duke Ellington, who regularly performed it with his orchestra.

This song was also recorded by countless other artists, including Ella Fitzgerald. The song is about the new subway in New York in the 1930s!

9. Dave Brubeck - "Take Five"

This song was composed by Paul Desmond for the Dave Brubeck Quartet during 1959, in which he uses saxophone. Two years later it became a surprise hit and the biggest-selling jazz single ever.

The quartet recorded the tune in two takes, and when it was done, Paul Desmond thought the song was a throwaway — so much so that he once joked about using his entire share of royalties from the song to buy a new electric shaver. The title "Take Five" was Brubeck's idea which became the A side of a 45 record.

10. Erroll Garner - "Misty"

The pianist and composer who came to fame during what is often called the swing era of Jazz in the 1940s was Erroll Garner with his style of piano playing encapsulated the stride technique of earlier pianists but it was Garner’s abundant virtuosity and lyrical fluency that characterized his performances.

Misty is a jazz standard written in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. He composed it as an instrumental on the traditional 32-bar format and recorded it for the album Contrasts (1955).

11. Duke Ellington - "Satin Doll"

This song was also written by  Duke Ellington last 1953.  Its chord progression is well known for its unusual use of chords and opening with a ii-V-I turnaround.

Duke Ellington used "Satin Doll" as the closing number in most of his concerts. Wherein it makes as a modest hit, entering the pop charts in June and rising to number twenty-seven.

12. Joseph Kosma - "Autumn Leaves"

This is a 1945 popular song and jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French, and later by Johnny Mercer in English.

This song was listed as a number 1 best-seller in the US Billboard charts of 1955 by an instrumental version of the pianist Roger Williams.

Time to Learn These Jazz Piano Songs

If you want a unique challenge to your piano playing abilities, learning jazz piano is an enjoyable way to improve your piano skills. If you're unsure which songs you should learn, these jazz songs are perfect for any piano player to learn. Jazz piano makes ample use of improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and swung note, as well as aspects of European harmony, American popular music, the brass band tradition, and African musical elements such as blue notes and ragtime.

These songs are all fun to play but offer unique challenges. They're well-rounded and can help you improve on many areas of piano playing. From complex chord progressions to simple melodies, all of these songs are different but amazing.

Do you need piano lessons? Take a look at our piano lessons.

More Jazz Piano Songs

The post 12 Great Jazz Piano Songs That Are Easy to Learn first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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