Old School Music Lover

“Do The Funky Chicken” Performed by Rufus Thomas (1970)

SonDan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:01:21 +0000

#5 R&B, #28 Pop

Earlier this summer Philadephia celebrated the 50th anniversary of the sixties dance craze “The Twist.” The Twist was a worldwide phenomenon that was danced by young, old and in between!

With that in mind there is a new month on the calendar and a new musical post theme here at OSML … “Dance To The Music” with the operative word being DANCE!

There were so many dances in the sixties and very early seventies other than the Twist, and I am not sure which came first, the dances or the songs (LOL). But we shall take a look at some of these awesome hit tunes honoring the dances of the boomer era during the month of September here at OSML.

I shall begin with another Stax artist that was beloved by one and all — Mr. Rufus Thomas.

Thomas began creating his own dances and songs in 1963 with “Walking The Dog.” He also made up dances and songs for: “The Breakdown”, “The Push & Pull”, “The Funky Penguin” and my favorite to watch performed “The Funky Chicken”.

I bet Mr. Thomas was quite a hoot in person and that his daughter Carla has super fond memories of this composer , musician, and performer that she was lucky enough to call Dad.

Prior to being the Crown Prince of Rock & Soul, Thomas was a successful Memphis DJ at one of the few black-owned stations of the era.

Here is a partial video of Thomas performing “Do The Funky Chicken” on a TV program. It is followed by a complete live performance of the song. Enjoy dancing to the music.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e9uk0fMNow

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDbXu_X_I7c

Musically Yours,

“Mr. Big Stuff” Performed By Jean Knight (1971)

SonDan — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:00:37 +0000

#1 R&B, #2 Pop

Almost every wedding reception I have ever been to plays three songs that get the entire crowd up to dance. Those songs would of course be Marcia Griffin’s “Electric Slide,” Betty Wright’s ” Clean-Up Woman” and of course Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.”

“Mr. Big Stuff” was one of the largest selling singles to ever come out of the Stax label and yet it was rejected by the Stax “suits” before it was finally accepted for release. Once management came to their senses and released the song, it sat at the top of the R&B charts for 5 weeks! It also stayed on the Pop charts at #2 for two weeks.

“Mr. Big Stuff” was composed by Joseph Broussard, Carrol Washington, Carol Washington and Ralph Williams. It was to be Knight’s only top ten hit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRweLRiLchI

In October 2007 Knight, born Jean Calista, was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. This video is of her performance at the induction ceremony.

Check out these additional live performances of “Mr Big Stuff” at OSML’s sister site EOINA.

Musically Yours,

“I’ve Been Lonely For So Long” Performed By Frederick Knight (1972)

SonDan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:59:08 +0000

#8 R&B USA, #27 Pop USA, #22 UK

Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, singer-songwriter Frederick Knight was with a few other record labels before he came to Stax.

“I’ve Been Lonely For So Long” was his first of two hit singles while with the Stax label. Composed by Knight and Weaver, the song also appeared on Knight’s Stax Album of the same name. Released in 1973, the LP charted #58 in 1974.

TRIVIA: Frederick Knight’s “I’ve Been Lonely For So Long” LP contained a cover of “Someday We’ll Be Together,” the one and the same Johnny Bristol, Jackey Beavers and Harvey Fuqua penned song, that was the last Supremes 1969 hit recorded by Diana Ross.

After a second hit, Stax folded and Knight started his own record label Juana Records, where singer Anita Bell had a 1979 #1 Pop and R&B hit with the Knight penned song “Ring My Bell” here in the USA and across the pond in the UK.

Musically Yours,

George David Weiss, Writer of Hit Pop Songs, Dies at 89

SonDan — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:25:08 +0000

By MARGALIT FOX
Published: August 23, 2010

George David Weiss, a songwriter who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of midcentury pop music, recorded by some of the biggest stars, died on Monday at his home in Oldwick, N.J. He was 89.

The death was of natural causes, his wife, Claire, said.

Among his most famous numbers were “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” recorded by Elvis Presley; “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” recorded by the Tokens; and “What a Wonderful World,” recorded by Louis Armstrong.

“Can’t Help Falling in Love,” introduced in Presley’s 1961 film “Blue Hawaii,” was a million-seller. It has words and music by Mr. Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore.

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (1961), based on a South African Zulu song first recorded in the 1930s, was given a reworked melody and new lyrics (“In the jungle, the mighty jungle/The lion sleeps tonight”) by Mr. Weiss, Mr. Peretti and Mr. Creatore.

Their adaptation, which kept the refrain — “Wimoweh, wimoweh” — popularized in a 1950s version by the Weavers, became a million-selling hit for the Tokens. Widely recorded since, the song has been used in many motion pictures, including “The Lion King” (1994).

“What a Wonderful World” (1967), with words and music by Mr. Weiss and Bob Thiele, came to renewed attention after Armstrong’s recording of it was featured on the soundtrack of the 1987 film “Good Morning, Vietnam.” The Armstrong version has since become a contemporary standard.

Mr. Weiss’s other standards include “Lullaby of Birdland” (1952), the vocal version of George Shearing’s jazz standard, and many songs with his frequent collaborator Bennie Benjamin, among them “Surrender” (1946), recorded by Perry Como; “Confess” (1948), recorded by Patti Page; and “Wheel of Fortune” (1952), recorded by Kay Starr.

He collaborated on several Broadway musicals, the best known of which is “Mr. Wonderful” (1956), starring Sammy Davis Jr., for which Mr. Weiss contributed original music and lyrics with Jerry Bock and Larry Holofcener.

His other Broadway credits include “First Impressions” (1959), an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” starring Polly Bergen, Hermione Gingold and Farley Granger, for which Mr. Weiss wrote music and lyrics with Robert Goldman and Glenn Paxton; and “Maggie Flynn” (1968), starring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, with book, music and lyrics by Mr. Weiss, Mr. Peretti and Mr. Creatore.

Mr. Weiss was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. As president of the Songwriters Guild of America from 1982 to 2000, he spoke widely about copyright issues and testified before government bodies.

George David Weiss was born in Manhattan on April 9, 1921. He wanted to be a musician. His mother wanted him to be a lawyer. The ensuing emotional battle, he later said, drove him to consult a doctor.

As Mr. Weiss recounted in a 1995 interview with The Miami Herald, the prescription was simple. The doctor asked: “Mrs. Weiss, what would you rather have? A live bum of a musician or a dead lawyer?”

Mr. Weiss, who played the violin, piano, saxophone and clarinet, earned a bachelor’s degree in music theory from the Juilliard School and afterward served as a military bandleader in World War II before beginning his songwriting career.

Mr. Weiss’s first marriage, to Bea Foster, ended in divorce, as did his second, to Rosalyn Marks. In addition to his wife, the former Claire Nicholson, whom he married in 1976, he is survived by a sister, Harriet Harbus; two sons, Barry and Jeffrey, and a daughter, Peggy Self, from his first marriage; a son, Robert, from his second marriage; and eight grandchildren.

In an interview with The Santa Fe New Mexican in 1995, Mr. Weiss described the making of one of his early hits, “Oh! What It Seemed to Be” (1946), written with Mr. Benjamin and Frankie Carle.

After finding a publisher for the song, the writers went in search of a singer. They called on Frank Sinatra, and a nervous young Mr. Weiss played it through for him.

“Before I had finished it Sinatra was on the phone calling the record company and telling them he just heard a great song and wanted to record it,” Mr. Weiss recalled. “You can imagine what happened to me — I froze at the piano. I just kept playing. See, the publisher had told me that no matter what happens, I should keep playing to make sure the tune got into their heads.”

He continued: “So everyone sat down and discussed horses and women and gossip for a half hour or so, and I’m still playing that song at the piano. Finally, the publisher comes over to me, lifts me up under the armpits and says, ‘Say goodbye to Frank.’ I said goodbye and they led me out like a zombie.”

SOURCE: NY Times

OSML is now on Tumblr.

SonDan — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:17:10 +0000

I joined up today because I am finding so many Old School Music Lovers are on Tumblr via my OldSchlMusicLvr Twitter account.

Interestingly enough, when I joined up today, the headline of my first memo from the Staff read:

Today, Tumblr passed one BILLION posts!

So better late than never for me. It will take me a while to get used to how to maneuver my way around the community there, but I did manage to “favorite” a few posts and “re-blog” a great Temptations video. Please be patient with me until I feel my way around and pretty the place up. Right now I am using a plain vanilla theme.

I think this will be a much better venue for me to meet fellow OSMLvrs. Twitter seems to be down (because it is “Over Capacity”) whenever I want to sit down and work with it, so I haven’t been able to meet as many folks as I would like to over there.

This also affords me the opportunity to speak on classic cuts that I am listening to at any given moment, that are not in line with the current month’s theme here on this main blog.

I am looking forward to this new venture.

My Tumblr location is http://OSML.tumblr.com

Hope to see you there in the weeks to come once I get rolling along with it.

Oh, and just one more thing — today is my Blogiversary! I started this blog 8/23/2007, making it 3 years old today. I just realized that OSML Tumblr will have the same Blogiversary as Old School Music Lover. Yeah me!

Musically Yours,

“I Can’t Stop” Performed by William Bell & Carla Thomas (1968)

SonDan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:00:39 +0000

#106 Pop

You may remember Carla for her 1967 chart topping duet (#2 R&B, #26 Pop) with Otis Redding, “Tramp,” but she was also William Bell’s third duet partner.

“I Can’t Stop,” composed by Carla and William Bell, is another track from the 1968 William Bell “Duets” LP.

In 1969, the song also appeared on another Stax album of duets that included all of the Stax Artists. The LP, “Boy Meets Girl,” did not do very well on the charts.

I came to know the songs when the LP was re-released by Stax in 2009 as “Classic Soul Duets: Boy Meets Girl.”

If you haven’t heard the set I highly recommend it: real soul music at its best!

Musically Yours,

“Strung Out” Performed by William Bell & Mavis Staples (1968)

SonDan — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:00:20 +0000

William Bell, like Motown’s Marvin Gaye, had more than one duet partner while at Stax: Judy Clay was his first. But after she went back to Atlantic Records there were other partners.

The LP pictured above, “William Bell Duets,” was released in 1968 and included “Strung Out” along with all of the duet projects Bell had recorded in the Sixties with female artists at Stax.

The Staple Singers family group had been with five labels before signing with Stax Records in 1968. The group was made of three sisters (Mavis, Cleotha and Yvonne), their brother Pervis, and the father of them all — Roebuck “Pops” Staples. The group had great success with Stax on hits led by sister Mavis with her powerful, soulful voice.

Two Mavis and William duets from the LP were released as a single in 1969. “Love’s Sweet Sensation” was backed with “Strung Out.” Neither were hits, but I wanted to share with you this sweet soul ballad.

“Private Number” Performed By William Bell & Judy Clay (1968)

SonDan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:00:28 +0000

#17 R&B USA, #75 Pop USA, #8 UK

This is one of the classic oldies that I had completely forgotten about until I heard it playing on Sirius Satellite Radio “Soul Town” a few years ago. As soon as I heard it I was taken back to another era: I recalled every lyric and the carefree feeling of being a teenager, trying to be grown and in puppy love sharing your phone number with that special boy.

I have listened to it many times since I heard it playing in the car during my morning commute that day, and I wanted to share it with you here, so that you will all be reminded that Motown’s Marvin & Tammi didn’t have a complete lock on the soulful pop love ballad genre in the Sixties!

Bell and Booker T. Jones wrote this song for Otis Redding: unfortunately he passed on before the scheduled recording session.

William Bell had a respectable solo artist and writing career at Stax, but Judy Clay basically is remembered for this duet with Bell and the followup “My Baby Specializes.”

Judy Clay started her musical career with the gospel oriented Drinkard Singers that later became know as the secular Sweet Inspirations.

Before dueting with Bell, Clay recorded duets with writer/singer Billy Vera, whom she also dueted with again after leaving Stax for Atlantic records.

Read more about Miss Clay at Spectropop Presents Judy Clay Specializes by Mick Patrick.

Musically Yours,

Abbey Lincoln, Jazz Singer and Writer, Dies at 80

SonDan — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:23:11 +0000

August 14, 2010
By NATE CHINEN

Abbey Lincoln, a singer whose dramatic vocal command and tersely poetic songs made her a singular figure in jazz, died on Saturday in Manhattan. She was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side.

Her death was announced by her brother David Wooldridge.

Ms. Lincoln’s career encompassed outspoken civil rights advocacy in the 1960s and fearless introspection in more recent years, and for a time in the 1960s she acted in films, including one with Sidney Poitier.

Long recognized as one of jazz’s most arresting and uncompromising singers, Ms. Lincoln gained similar stature as a songwriter only over the last two decades. Her songs, rich in metaphor and philosophical reflection, provide the substance of “Abbey Sings Abbey,” an album released on Verve in 2007. As a body of work, the songs formed the basis of a three-concert retrospective presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002.

Her singing style was unique, a combined result of bold projection and expressive restraint. Because of her ability to inhabit the emotional dimensions of a song, she was often likened to Billie Holiday, her chief influence. But Ms. Lincoln had a deeper register and a darker tone, and her way with phrasing was more declarative.

“Her utter individuality and intensely passionate delivery can leave an audience breathless with the tension of real drama,” Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times in 1989. “A slight, curling phrase is laden with significance, and the tone of her voice can signify hidden welts of emotion.”

She had a profound influence on other jazz vocalists, not only as a singer and composer but also as a role model. “I learned a lot about taking a different path from Abbey,” the singer Cassandra Wilson said. “Investing your lyrics with what your life is about in the moment.”

Ms. Lincoln was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago on Aug. 6, 1930, the 10th of 12 children, and raised in rural Michigan. In the early 1950s, she headed west in search of a singing career, spending two years as a nightclub attraction in Honolulu, where she met Ms. Holiday and Louis Armstrong. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she encountered the accomplished lyricist Bob Russell.

It was at the suggestion of Mr. Russell, who had become her manager, that she took the name Abbey Lincoln, a symbolic conjoining of Westminster Abbey and Abraham Lincoln. In 1956, she made her first album, “Affair … a Story of a Girl in Love” (Liberty), and appeared in her first film, the Jayne Mansfield vehicle “The Girl Can’t Help It.” Her image in both cases was decidedly glamorous: On the album cover she was depicted in a décolleté gown, and in the movie she sported a dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe.

For her second album, “That’s Him,” released on the Riverside label in 1957, Ms. Lincoln kept the seductive pose but worked convincingly with a modern jazz ensemble that included the tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the drummer Max Roach. In short order she came under the influence of Mr. Roach, a bebop pioneer with an ardent interest in progressive causes. As she later recalled, she put the Monroe dress in an incinerator and followed his lead.

The most visible manifestation of their partnership was “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” issued on the Candid label in 1960, with Ms. Lincoln belting Oscar Brown Jr.’s lyrics. Now hailed as an early masterwork of the civil rights movement, the album radicalized Ms. Lincoln’s reputation. One movement had her moaning in sorrow, and then hollering and shrieking in anguish — a stark evocation of struggle. A year later, after Ms. Lincoln sang her own lyrics to a song called “Retribution,” her stance prompted one prominent reviewer to deride her in print as a “professional Negro.”

Ms. Lincoln, who married Mr. Roach in 1962, was for a while more active as an actress than a singer. In 1964 she starred with Ivan Dixon in “Nothing but a Man,” a tale of the Deep South in the 1960s, and in 1968 she was the title character opposite Mr. Poitier in the romantic comedy “For Love of Ivy,” playing a white family’s maid. She also acted on television in guest-starring roles in the ’60s and ’70s.

But with the exception of “Straight Ahead” (Candid), on which “Retribution” appeared, she released no albums in the 1960s. And after her divorce from Mr. Roach in 1970, she took an apartment above a garage in Los Angeles and withdrew from the spotlight for a time. She never remarried.

In addition to Mr. Wooldridge, Ms. Lincoln is survived by another brother, Kenneth Wooldridge, and a sister, Juanita Baker.

During a visit to Africa in 1972, Ms. Lincoln received two honorary appellations from political officials: Moseka, in Zaire, and Aminata, in Guinea. (Moseka would occasionally serve as her surname.) She began to consider her calling as a storyteller and focused on writing songs.

Moving back to New York in the 1980s, Ms. Lincoln resumed performing, eventually attracting the attention of Jean-Philippe Allard, a producer and executive with PolyGram France. Ms. Lincoln’s first effort for what is now the Verve Music Group, “The World Is Falling Down” (1990), was a commercial and critical success.

Eight more albums followed in a similar vein, each produced by Mr. Allard and enlisting top-shelf jazz musicians like the tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and the vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. In addition to elegant originals like “Throw It Away” and “When I’m Called Home,” the albums featured Ms. Lincoln’s striking interpretations of material ranging from songbook standards to Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

For “Abbey Sings Abbey” Ms. Lincoln revisited her own songbook exclusively, performing in an acoustic roots-music setting that emphasized her affinities with singer-songwriters like Mr. Dylan. Overseen by Mr. Allard and the American producer-engineer Jay Newland, the album boiled each song to its essence and found Ms. Lincoln in weathered voice but superlative form.

When the album was released in May 2007, Ms. Lincoln was recovering from open-heart surgery. In her Upper West Side apartment, surrounded by her own paintings and drawings, she reflected on her life, often quoting from her own song lyrics. After she recited a long passage from “The World Is Falling Down,” one of her more prominent later songs, her eyes flashed with pride. “I don’t know why anybody would give that up,” she said. “I wouldn’t. Makes my life worthwhile.”

SOURCE: NYTIMES OBITUARY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=broBk28AK6M

Miss Lincoln talks about Billie Holiday.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymADIxHsx40

The beautiful Miss Lincoln in the 50s … long before here dreads.

Jazz Profiles From NPR -- Abbey Lincoln

Miss Lincoln’s Verve Website

“I Forgot To Be Your Lover” Performed by William Bell (1968)

SonDan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:00:24 +0000

#10 R&B, #45 Pop, #31 UK

Composed by singer songwriter William Bell and musician Booker T. Jones, this classic soul ballad had been covered and sampled over and over again by artists from many different genres: reggae, pop, hip hop and back to soul. But of course the original is the best IMHO. And here it is for those of you who only know one of those many covers and not the classic original.

Jamaican singer George Faith remade the song in 1977 as “To Be a Lover (Have Some Mercy)”.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnvzL-s6s-M

Here is a remake into a U.S. Top 10 pop hit by Billy Idol in 1986 as “To Be a Lover.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mEbczpvLIs

The song is sampled by Ludacris on his song “Growing Pains” from “Word of Mouf” in 2001.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSwkNQFxOH8

Last, but not least, Jaheim sings “Put That Woman First” from 2002′s “Still Ghetto” and brought the song back fill circle to it’s soulful roots.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs8RGLTEtow

I would love to hear what you think of all of the covers in relation to original.

Were you familiar with the original? Had you heard any or all of these hit covers?

“I Forgot To Be Your Lover” has also been covered by other artists, including but not limited to, Chuck Strong, The Mad Lads, Tommy Tate and Robert Tillman. Do you know any of those covers?

Please drop a comment to share your thoughts.

Musically Yours,