1924 - This is the day the song called Jelly-Roll Blues was recorded by Jelly Roll Morton and his band. Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer. Widely recognized by many musicologists as being a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton actually claimed to have invented it - in 1902. No doubt, he was a bad ass - his business card read "originator of jazz-stomp-swing." He had a diamond stud in his front tooth, and in between piano gigs dabbled in gambling for a living, enjoyed the fruits of being a pool shark, & was a competent comedian. He was certainly composer of the first jazz composition ever to be published, and that was Jelly Roll Blues, in 1915, and recorded on this day, nine years later. Here's a couple of Morton tasters.
1958 - Early rock'n'roll pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis took out a full-page ad in Billboard Magazine to explain about his second divorce and third marriage to his 14 year old cousin Myra. He had already gone through two marriages by 1957; he'd married Jane Mitcham, his second, 23 days before his divorce from his first wife, Dorothy Barton, was final. On December 12, 1957, Jerry married his cousin, Myra Gale Brown, making it a third marriage. A lot of film's been shot, judgemental ink spilt, and self-appointed moralists' arrogant tsks! tsks! stated about his close blood relationship with Myra, and the fact that she was only thirteen and still believed in Santa Claus when the pair were married. But for a man from his time and place, marrying at thirteen and marrying one's third cousin (twice removed) were both fairly commonplace occurrances, although Lewis further complicated matters by again marrying before the divorce from his second wife was final. Watch this interview with the couple on their return to USA following a controversial tour of the UK.
1962 - He'd performed in dozens of other venues, but the man with the golden voice, Tony Bennett, made his live Carnegie Hall debut almost half a century ago, today. After the success of his single I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Bennett was invited to appear at Carnegie Hall, the June 9 concert directed by Arthur Penn and Gene Saks. The mainstay entertainment at Carnegie Hall was mainly classical, and had not featured a pop performer until April 23, 1961, when Judy Garland recorded her legendary concert. Bennett was the original Mr. Cool. OK, this video is from the same year, 1962, but not the Carnegie Hall concert. It's from an unknown television show, but he is singing this live. Oh...and a bonus...Judy Garland joins him here.
1970 - Bob Dylan was awarded an honorary Doctrate in Music by Princeton University today, 41 years ago, and turned up at the ceremony to receive it, then decided to put down the whole event and snub academia in this following song - well, did he really? I don't know about that, but it's another piece of Dylanlore. Indeed, it has even been suggested by commentator Tim Riley that he only went through with the farce so he could write a song about it. I doubt it. Some critics say anything for a story. Nevertheless, later that year, in October, on what I personally think is Dylan's best album, New Morning, he wrote the following song called Day of the Locusts in which he refers to picking up his degree. The song title is also a reference to the 1939 novel by American author Nathanel West, The Day of the Locusts. West had worked for a time in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, and the book explores the seamy, evil underside of the American movie industry. The novel's title is thought to be a biblical allusion to certain passages in the Old Testament such as in the Book of Joel 2: 25, "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." OK, so, Day of the Locusts movie was directed by one of my favourite directors, John Schlesinger, one of my favourites all-time actresses, Karen Black, with Donald Sutherland. The movie was about the evil underbelly of the movie industry, no song more appropriate for this set of visuals from the film than Dylan's doctorate song. One of my all-time fave movies, one of my all-time fave songs.
1993 - The U.S. Postal Service debuted its Legends of American Music, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues stamp collection. The set featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington, and Elvis Presley. A year later and one of my favourites, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, set fire to her boyfriend's house. She had many personal problems, and was given headline news in 1994, when she set fire to boyfriend Andre Rison's tennis shoes in a bathtub, which ultimately set fire to their mansion, destroying it. Lopes claimed that Rison had beaten her after a night out, and she set fire to his shoes to get back at him. Her mug shot revealed a large bruise above her lip. Lopes, who was sentenced to five years probation and therapy at a halfway house, was never able to shake that incident from her reputation. Her relationship with Rison continued to make headlines, with rumours of an imminent wedding, which were later debunked. Lopes was the American rapper, singer, dancer, songwriter, and member of the R&B girl group TLC. Lopes contributed her own self-written raps to many of TLC's singles, including Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg, What About Your Friends, Hat 2 da Back, Waterfalls and Girl Talk. She was also known for wearing a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left eye lens in the beginning of her career, which was one of the ways she promoted safe sex. Lopes got the nickname "Left Eye" from a boyfriend who noticed that her left eye appeared slightly larger than her right. This was a solo song from Lisa...I just love her to death. Here is Lisa. For more on Lisa Lopes and her tragic death go to our archive search engine.
1998 - Brit girl group The Spice Girls played their first show since the departure of founding member, Ginger Spice. (Details of her departure can be found on archive editions of *MUSICBACKTRACK*, just go to our search engine). The event was a charity show, Pavarotti and Friends, the proceeds from which aided poor children in Liberia. And we'll take you right there, dear reader...stage right.
1998 - The Ronettes appeared in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York in their lawsuit against producer Phil Spector. The case charged that the producer, his record label, and successor labels breached a contract by not paying royalties since 1963. And this is just one of the songs they had a hit with in 1963. For mine, this was one of the greatest girl groups of all time, Ronnie Spector the premiere female rock'n'roll singer of all time.
1958 - Early rock'n'roll pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis took out a full-page ad in Billboard Magazine to explain about his second divorce and third marriage to his 14 year old cousin Myra. He had already gone through two marriages by 1957; he'd married Jane Mitcham, his second, 23 days before his divorce from his first wife, Dorothy Barton, was final. On December 12, 1957, Jerry married his cousin, Myra Gale Brown, making it a third marriage. A lot of film's been shot, judgemental ink spilt, and self-appointed moralists' arrogant tsks! tsks! stated about his close blood relationship with Myra, and the fact that she was only thirteen and still believed in Santa Claus when the pair were married. But for a man from his time and place, marrying at thirteen and marrying one's third cousin (twice removed) were both fairly commonplace occurrances, although Lewis further complicated matters by again marrying before the divorce from his second wife was final. Watch this interview with the couple on their return to USA following a controversial tour of the UK.
1962 - He'd performed in dozens of other venues, but the man with the golden voice, Tony Bennett, made his live Carnegie Hall debut almost half a century ago, today. After the success of his single I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Bennett was invited to appear at Carnegie Hall, the June 9 concert directed by Arthur Penn and Gene Saks. The mainstay entertainment at Carnegie Hall was mainly classical, and had not featured a pop performer until April 23, 1961, when Judy Garland recorded her legendary concert. Bennett was the original Mr. Cool. OK, this video is from the same year, 1962, but not the Carnegie Hall concert. It's from an unknown television show, but he is singing this live. Oh...and a bonus...Judy Garland joins him here.
1970 - Bob Dylan was awarded an honorary Doctrate in Music by Princeton University today, 41 years ago, and turned up at the ceremony to receive it, then decided to put down the whole event and snub academia in this following song - well, did he really? I don't know about that, but it's another piece of Dylanlore. Indeed, it has even been suggested by commentator Tim Riley that he only went through with the farce so he could write a song about it. I doubt it. Some critics say anything for a story. Nevertheless, later that year, in October, on what I personally think is Dylan's best album, New Morning, he wrote the following song called Day of the Locusts in which he refers to picking up his degree. The song title is also a reference to the 1939 novel by American author Nathanel West, The Day of the Locusts. West had worked for a time in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, and the book explores the seamy, evil underside of the American movie industry. The novel's title is thought to be a biblical allusion to certain passages in the Old Testament such as in the Book of Joel 2: 25, "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." OK, so, Day of the Locusts movie was directed by one of my favourite directors, John Schlesinger, one of my favourites all-time actresses, Karen Black, with Donald Sutherland. The movie was about the evil underbelly of the movie industry, no song more appropriate for this set of visuals from the film than Dylan's doctorate song. One of my all-time fave movies, one of my all-time fave songs.
1993 - The U.S. Postal Service debuted its Legends of American Music, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues stamp collection. The set featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington, and Elvis Presley. A year later and one of my favourites, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, set fire to her boyfriend's house. She had many personal problems, and was given headline news in 1994, when she set fire to boyfriend Andre Rison's tennis shoes in a bathtub, which ultimately set fire to their mansion, destroying it. Lopes claimed that Rison had beaten her after a night out, and she set fire to his shoes to get back at him. Her mug shot revealed a large bruise above her lip. Lopes, who was sentenced to five years probation and therapy at a halfway house, was never able to shake that incident from her reputation. Her relationship with Rison continued to make headlines, with rumours of an imminent wedding, which were later debunked. Lopes was the American rapper, singer, dancer, songwriter, and member of the R&B girl group TLC. Lopes contributed her own self-written raps to many of TLC's singles, including Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg, What About Your Friends, Hat 2 da Back, Waterfalls and Girl Talk. She was also known for wearing a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left eye lens in the beginning of her career, which was one of the ways she promoted safe sex. Lopes got the nickname "Left Eye" from a boyfriend who noticed that her left eye appeared slightly larger than her right. This was a solo song from Lisa...I just love her to death. Here is Lisa. For more on Lisa Lopes and her tragic death go to our archive search engine.
1998 - Brit girl group The Spice Girls played their first show since the departure of founding member, Ginger Spice. (Details of her departure can be found on archive editions of *MUSICBACKTRACK*, just go to our search engine). The event was a charity show, Pavarotti and Friends, the proceeds from which aided poor children in Liberia. And we'll take you right there, dear reader...stage right.
1998 - The Ronettes appeared in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York in their lawsuit against producer Phil Spector. The case charged that the producer, his record label, and successor labels breached a contract by not paying royalties since 1963. And this is just one of the songs they had a hit with in 1963. For mine, this was one of the greatest girl groups of all time, Ronnie Spector the premiere female rock'n'roll singer of all time.
