Joe Turner

An LP on the BluesTime label from 1969. In the wake of the British beat invasion of the USA and interest in the blues and R&B that followed a few of the old bluesmen that were still active re-made some of their old hits of the 40's and 50's. Arranged and conducted by Gene Page this is a similar update with lush big band playing with Joe but it's not all bad though not a patch on the originals.

"Born in Baltimore, Turner was first taught piano by his mother when he was five. He moved to New York around 1925 and enjoyed much popularity among musicians in Harlem, working with June Clark (1927-1928), Benny Carter (1929), and Louis Armstrong (1930). He accompanied the singer Adelaide Hall in a piano duo with Alex Hill and then with Francis Carter; he and Carter toured Europe with Hall in 1931. Turner performed as a soloist throughout Europe until 1939, and then in the USA. After working as a member of an army band led by Sy Oliver (1944-1945) and with Rex Stewart (1946) he returned to Europe and played in Hungary (1948) and Switzerland (1949-1962). He then settled in Paris, where from 1962 he held a residency at La Calvados; he also performed in Great Britain, Switzerland, and the USA. Turner was influenced mainly by James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, and Erroll Garner."

Tracks are as follows =

1. Shake Rattle and Roll

2. Lonesome Train

3. Corrina, Corrina

4. How Long, How Long Blues

5. Careless Love

6. Two Loves Have I

Joe Turner - Side One

Tudo E!...Bossa Nova

An LP on the Helium label from Brazil I found in a charity shop today. I was attracted to the odd cover which seems to depict a Latin orchestra made of pipe cleaners. Gentle MOR jazz with a latin beat.

"Parallel to the rise of bossa, climbed the charts to sambalanço that without coming to constitute a movement, has injected more tele-teco (as it was then) the old pace conceived in the Bahian Aunts house in downtown Rio at the beginning of century.Some suppliers and representatives of the sector: Elza Soares, Milton (graduate of the vocal group The Lovers), Ed Lincoln (who played in the Plaza nightclub, another stronghold of the inaugural bossa), Djalma Ferreira, Orlan Divo, Silvio Cesar Luis Flag (author of "samba whistle"), Peter Rodrigues, Luis Reis, Haroldo Barbosa, Luis Antonio, Jadir Roberto Castro and John Kelly.

But bossa was above all a movement of emergency in the country's urban developmental stage Kubitschek's presidency (1955-60) and concentrated in Rio in the apartments south of the future as the singer Nara Leão She headquartered in Copacabana gatherings of young writers and musicians such as Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Boscoli Ronaldo, Sergio Ricardo and Chico Feitosa, among others. The concerts of the group began in the university (it was the first Brazilian musical movement out of college) and added numerous other innovators. In Durval Ferreira (Sambop, different beat) the precursor Silvia Telles (whom some attribute another milestone inaugural was the Night, by Jobim and Newton Mendonça, 1957), Leny Andrade and the first of the new trend of instrumental led by people as Oscar Castro Neves (musicians and their brethren), Sergio Mendes, Luis Carlos Vines, JT Meirelles, beyond the instrumental / vocal Tamba Trio (Luis Eca, Bebeto, Hélcio Milito) that next to Bossa 3 (Vines, Tiao Netto, Edison Machado) would usher in a fever of sets of piano, bass and drums. It was a moment of excitement instrumental in the development of young musicians like Paulo Moura, Tenorio Junior, Dom Um Romao, Milton Banana, Edson Maciel, Raul de Souza and the rise of conductor and arranger Eumir Deodato and Moacyr Santos."

De Castro - Side One

An Evening Without ...

An evening of comedy songs and sketches performed by Clive Anderson, Martin Bergman, Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville and Griff Rhys Jones at Christchurch College, Canterbury, Kent in 1981. Released on ORA records the same year. Most of these artistes started out in the Cambridge Footlights.

Find out more about Footlights = http://footlights.org/

An Evening Without - Side One

Sophie Tucker

An LP on the Coral label from 1966 but suspect these songs were recorded in the 30's or 40's. Some are almost spoken rather than sung and remind me of Jimmy Durante and others who employed this style.

IMDb says -

What becomes a legend most? For the beloved Russian-born entertainer Sophie Tucker, it was most definitely the live stage. The stage was her home. She fed off a live audience and it's what made her the sensation she was. Seeing her up close and personal was to get the very best of her. Movies and TV were too restrictive to capture the true essence of Sophie Tucker. For well over five decades, she performed everywhere -- Broadway, vaudeville, cabaret, clubs and burlesque.

This gutsy, irrepressible "Jazz Age Hot Mamma" was born Sophie Kalish in Russia in 1884 just as her family was about to emigrate to the United States. They left when she was a mere three months old, settling in Hartford, Connecticut. She started performing as a youngster in her parent's small restaurant, occasionally singing and playing the piano for tips. Marrying in her teens to a ne'er-do-well, she was forced to continue at the restaurant to support a family of three (including baby boy Bert). Within a short time, however, she divorced, left her child with her parents, and headed to nearby New York with visions of stardom. Changing her name to the more suitable marquee moniker of "Sophie Tucker" (her ex-husband's name was Louis Tuck), she proceeded to take the town by storm.

Sophie started out in amateur shows. Not a beauty by any stretch, she was grossly overweight and quickly found that self parody and racy comedy, punctuated by her jazzy musical style, would become the backbone of her popularity. Playing at various dives, she earned a minor break in 1906 after earning a singing/piano-playing gig on the vaudeville circuit. Disguised in blackface, she played ragtime music. Her humor, of course, came at the expense of her weight but, with such ditties as "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love," she had audiences eating out of the palm of her hand."

1. Some Of These Days

2. You've Got To Be Loved To Be Healthy

3. The Older They Get The Younger They Want 'em

4. Who Wants Them Tall Dark and Handsome

5. You Can't Sew A Button On A Heart

6. Why Go To Havana

Sophie Tucker - Side One

The Everley Brothers

An LP form the market today. A rather battered sleeve but suprisingly few scratches. Released in 1960 and containing a nice mix of ballads and up tempo numbers from one of the best duos of that time.

Country Music Classics website says -

"The Everly Brothers have often been called "an overnight success," and although the duo became one of the most successful music acts between 1957 and 1962, that success did not happen overnight.

Their father, Ike Everly, moved to Chicago in an effort to sustain a career in country music, but wound up in the Midwest. In 1955, he brought his family to Nashville, Tenn., hoping his singing sons might find the success that had eluded him.

Don Everly did make some marks as a writer, penning "Thou Shalt Not Steal" by Kitty Wells, two songs recorded by Justin Tubb and one for Anita Carter.

Don and Phil signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, but after four songs the record label terminated their contract and released them. Then, the man who later became The Everly Brothers' record proÐducer turned them down the first time he heard them because he didn't like their sound.

Archie Bleyer, who initially turned them down, was searching for a country music act for his Cadence Records. But after a second listen, he gave them a recording contract.

Wesley Rose, of Acuff Rose Music, took the song "Wake Up Little Susie" to Bleyer, who immediately disliked the song because of the lyrics. The song was written by husband and wife team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. Bleyer said it sounded like Susie and her boy friend had slept together at the drive-in movie. But the Everly Brothers recorded the tune despite Bleyer's objection.

Although the record was banned by some radio staÐtions because of its "suggesÐtive lyrics," it entered the country music charts Sept. 30,1957, and quickly made it to the No. 1 spot, where it stayed for 22 weeks. The record was also No. 1 in pop music the week of Oct. 14, 1957.

The Everly Brothers were unique to the music business not only for their commerÐcially crafted recordings, but because they were one of the first consistently successful rock n' roll acts to come out of Nashville, Tenn. Their songs came from Nashville songwriters, were recorded in Nashville with Nashville musicians, yet left their mark on both the pop and country music charts."

Tracks are as follows -

1. So Sad ( To Watch Good Love Go Bad)

2. Just In Case

3. Memories Are Made Of This

4. That's What You Do To Me

5. Sleepless Nights

6. What Kind Of Girl Are You

The Everley Brothers - Side One

Charlie Gillett - Doctor Doctor

Another taped radio show with DJ Charlie Gillett from the 80's. This time a themed show with songs about Doctors and other related subjects. Please excuse poor quality of recording which has deteriorated over the years.

Part of the obituary in the Guardian by Richard Williams -

"Attempting to find a niche in journalism, he wrote for New Society, Anarchy and the soul music magazine Shout before securing a column in Record Mirror, in which he could express his enthusiasm for rhythm and blues and early rock'n'roll. But it was when The Sound of the City was published in the US in 1970, to great acclaim, that his reputation was established. The book looked beneath the surface of the first 15 years of rock'n'roll, tracing its antecedents and making thoughtful, typically unpretentious assessments, not just of the musicians but of the fledgling industry and its visionary hustlers. Its avoidance of received wisdom inspired countless authors to pursue its themes in the subsequent decades.

Four years later Charlie produced Making Tracks, a serviceable history of Atlantic Records. But writing books, it turned out, was not his true vocation. Honky Tonk was heard for the first time in 1972, and over the next six years it became compulsory Sunday listening for the kind of music lover to whom the intimate music of JJ Cale or Bobby Charles spoke louder than the pumped-up sounds of Led Zeppelin or Yes, and who were thrilled when Charlie played demos by Elvis Costello or Graham Parker.

Wisely, he turned down an offer to present BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test, realising that he would have little to say to musicians for whose work he cared nothing. The intimacy of radio suited him better, and he became a series consultant to Radio 1's well-received The Story of Pop. In 1972 he was also part of the writers' collective that founded Let It Rock, a monthly magazine.

It was in the mid-1970s that he and his dentist, Gordon Nelki, formed a partnership which led them to manage Kilburn and the High Roads (whose lead singer was Ian Dury) and to start a label and publishing company, Oval Music. Their successes included Lene Lovich's Lucky Number, Paul Hardcastle's 19 and Touch and Go's Would You...? Later he acted as a music consultant to film companies and advertising agencies.

In 1979 he moved from BBC Radio London to Capital, the city's commercial station, and began to feature music from around the world. Sacked in 1983, he was brought back by public demand and stayed until 1990. In May 1995 he returned with a show on GLR, Radio London's successor, and began his World Service series in 1999. He was also a regular presenter of Radio 3's World on 3.

In recent years he contracted a disease of the autoimmune system that forced him off the air and finally ended his Sunday-morning kickabouts on Clapham Common with players from an assortment of African and South American countries. It was followed by a stroke and, last week, a heart attack outside his home. He is survived by Buffy, their daughters Suzy and Jody, their son Ivan, and two grandchildren.

• Charles Thomas Gillett, radio presenter, author and music publisher, born 20 February 1942; died 17 March 2010"

Charlie Gillett - Doctor Doctor Side One

Charlie Gillett - Doctor Doctor Side Two

Empire State Observatories Souvenir (Re-Up)

I've been wanting to uplaod this for a while as i havent heard it myself. A very scratchy souvenir from a record making kiosk at the top of the Empire State Building. I imagine it to be at the top anyway. It was back in the 50's 40's when this was made.
A little girl talks to her Granma or Granpa with whispered encouragement from Mom. She talks about going back to England and then she misses Toronto so not sure where she is from. She misses her friends, school and her Dad. It's very touching and sad. The other side is completely flat but has the same label. I think I found it many years ago at Brick Lane market in the East End of London like so many of these old records it caught my eye.

Discover more about the Empire State Building HERE.

Empire State Observatories Souvenir - Side One

Shirley & Lee

Great double LP from 1983 on the United Artists "Legendary Masters " series, A compilation of great New Orleans r&b from the 50's and early 60's.

"Shirley & Lee are best remembered as a rock-and-roll duo from the 50's who came up with one great song that helps to define the era in pop music. One of them came back years later to usher in a different era in pop music history.

Sources vary as to their birthdates, but Shirley Mae Goodman and Leonard Lee were both born sometime from 1935 to 1937. In the early 50's they formed a rhythm-and-blues duo in New Orleans. They began to record for the Aladdin label in 1952 and became known as "The Sweethearts Of The Blues."

Shirley had a high voice and Lee's was big and booming, and the contrast between the two gave their act its appeal. They began to record songs that made the top ten on the rhythm-and-blues charts, such as their first big one I'm Gone in 1952, a song that was written by Leonard Lee and Dave Bartholomew. In their early songs they pretended as if they were sweethearts. Other hits followed, including Feel So Good in 1955 and I Feel Good two years later.

In late summer of 1956 the song with which Shirley & Lee are most often associated entered the charts. Let The Good Times Roll was a big hit at teenage parties everywhere. Some DJ's refused to play it, claiming that it had suggestive lyrics. The song crossed over to the pop charts, where it reached as high as number twenty.

Shirley & Lee continued to record together up until 1963, when Lee began to record songs for Imperial. Shirley developed an act with Jesse Hill which they called Shirley & Jesse, and they worked in New Orleans with Mac Rebennack and others.

In 1975 Shirley recorded a song called Shame, Shame, Shame with a group of studio musicians, and it was released on the Vibration label as by Shirley And Company. The song had links to rock-and-roll's glorious past -- in addition to Shirley's lead female vocal, one of the musicians included in the recording was Kenny Jeremiah, who had been a founding member of the Soul Survivors [Expressway To Your Heart] in the 60's. In addition, Shame, Shame, Shame was written and produced by Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson of Mickey & Sylvia [Love Is Strange]. The song reached number twelve and was regarded as one of the first disco hits of the 70's.

Leonard Lee died in 1976. Shirley married and changed her name to Shirley Mae Goodman Pixley. She passed away on July 5, 2005. The best songs recorded by the duo were compiled on Ace as The Best Of Shirley & Lee."

Tracks are as follows -

1. Come On & Have Your Fun

2. I'll Thrill You

3. Don't Leave Me Here To Cry

4. Before I Go

5. The Reason Why

6. I Didn't Want You

7. I'll Do It

8. Everybody's Rockin'

Shirley & Lee - Side Three