February 13, 2005 - RAY CHARLES won eight posthumous Grammy awards for his final album, Genius Loves Company. The awards were given to him at the 47th Grammy Awards, held on Sunday February 13. Following is a short promo for the album, one of the best, from one of the best...piano players...song writers...singers of all time. Some of us were lucky enough to see the genius of Charles in person, me at the Chevron Hotel in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia, too many years ago to even remember which decade! Here's that promo with Elton John, Michael McDonald, B.B.King, Norah Jones, Elton John and many more. For more Ray Charles, B.B. King, Norah Jones and Elton, go this daily blog.
1867 - JOHANN STRAUSS' magnificent Blue Danube Waltz was played for the first time at a public concert, in Vienna, Austria, according to many references. Originally performed at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was only a mild success, however, and Strauss is reputed to have said, "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!" The waltz originally had an accompanying song text written by Josef Weyl. Strauss then adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the World's Fair in Paris that same year, and it became a great success in this form. The instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today. It is reported by composer Norman Lloyd in his book, Golden Encyclopedia of Music, that when asked by Frau Strauss for an autograph, the composer Johannes Brahms autographed Ms. Strauss's fan by writing on it the first few bars of the Blue Danube. Under it he wrote: "Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms." This following video is a scene extract from the Zdenek Mahler television mini-series, Strauss Dynasty in 1990.
1940 - EARL 'FATHA' HINES was one of a small number of pianists whose playing actually shaped the direction and, therefore, history of jazz; indeed, Hines was playing his unique style way before the word jazz was invented. On December 28, 1928, the ever-immaculate Hines opened at Chicago's Grand Terrace Cafe leading his own big band, which was seen as the pinnacle of jazz ambition at the time. "All America was dancing and for the next 12 years and through the worst of the Great Depression and Prohibition Earl Hines was 'The Orchestra' in The Grand Terrace. The Hines Orchestra - or Organization as Hines preferred it - had up to 28 musicians and did three shows a night in The Grand Terrace, four shows every Saturday and sometimes did Sundays. Earl Hines and The Grand Terrace were to Chicago what Duke Ellington and The Cotton Club were to New York. The Grand Terrace was controlled by gangster Al Capone - so Hines became Capone's Mr Piano Man with the Grand Terrace upright piano soon replaced by a white $3,000 Bechstein grand piano. From The Grand Terrace, Hines and his band broadcast on open mikes over many years, sometimes seven nights a week, coast-to-coast across America. Chicago was well placed to deal with the popular live-broadcasting in terms of time-zone problems. Earl Hines became the most broadcast band in America, and this was the day, 72 years ago, that he and his orchestra recorded the classic Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues. OK, we can't find this original version, so here is a version from the man himself, in 1979, at a concert in France.
1961 - FRANK SINATRA unveiled his own recording label, Reprise, 51 years ago, one of the label's founding principles under Sinatra's leadership being that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work - including publishing rights. This is the reason why recordings of early Reprise artists such as Dean Martin, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, are (in most cases) currently distributed through other labels. Reprise president Mo Ostin was retained as the head of the label when it was sold to Warner Brothers in 1963, the label renamed Warner-Reprise. Executives began targeting younger acts beginning by securing the American distribution rights to the Pye Records recordings by The Kinks in 1964. Through direct signings or distribution deals, the Reprise roster grew to include Lee Hazlewood, Jill Jackson, the early Joni Mitchell recordings, Neil Young, The Electric Prunes, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Greenbaum, Tom Lehrer, Tiny Tim, Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, the early 1970's recordings by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Nico's Desert Shore, The Fugs, Jethro Tull, Pentangle, T.Rex, The Meters, John Cale, Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Franks, Richard Pryor, Al Jarreau and the early '70s recordings of The Beach Boys. the label later being the home for acts such as Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, & Jimi Hendrix. Here's a little bit of Nico, narrated by John Cale.
1970 - OZZY OSBOURNE, is seen here, in his naive and sober and ambitious youth, shaking his head and singing on key in this following video, live from Paris in 1970. This was the same year as the band's self-titled debut album was released, 42 years ago today. The song is Iron Man and very early, very metal! It was the band's debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records in the UK. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognised as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.
1972 - LED ZEPPELIN dropped by Singapore for scheduled warm-up shows on their way to Australia for concerts today, in 1972, but were forced to cancel when officials wouldn't let them off the plane because of their long hair. The concert at Sydney Racecourse went ahead, however, and here is some absolute gem-footage, shot in 8mm, in colour. This is The Immigrant Song, and pure gold magic. Not sure if the sound is live from that concert. It could well be from an American concert, but it's brilliant footage.
1976 - HERB ALPERT is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass or TJB. Albert is also a heavyweight recording industry executive - he is the A of A&M Records (a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold). Alpert's musical accomplishments include five number one hits, twenty-eight albums on the Billboard charts, eight Grammy Awards, fourteen Platinum albums and fifteen Gold albums. Alpert sold around 75 million albums worldwide, and as musician, entrepreneur and television host, Alpert also had an eye for hits and talent of others, and in 1976 his label scored what was then the biggest-selling live album of all time, Frampton Comes Alive. This was the title of the album for England's sensational Peter Frampton, who was the world's number one act for a couple of years. Frampton is still performing live, sans hair, and, despite his magnificent success, remains one of pop rock's most underrated success stories. Here he is with one of the many hit songs from that 36-year-old album, but first howzabout this one from his label boss?
1978 - AL GREEN DAY was declared today by council officials in Los Angeles as a mark of respect for the singer's popularity and stature in tinsel town. Al Green remains one of the greats of modern music, singing absolutely perfectly on one of the most beautiful songs of all time, from exactly 40 years ago.
1983 - MARVIN GAYE Marvin sang the American national anthem at the NBA All-Star game, 29 years ago today, certainly one of the better versions of the song. What do our American readers think? What's the best version of your national anthem have you heard? The Hendrix version, for instance? One thing's for sure, there'll never be another Marvin Gaye..
1988 - MICHAEL JACKSON bought a ranch in Santa Ynez, California, 24 years ago today the ranch most famous for being the home of Jackson from 1988 to 2005. It is named after Neverland, the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. The ranch is located about five miles (8 km) north of unincorporated Los Olivos, and about eight miles (13 km) north of the town of Santa Ynez. What the people and the media did to Michael Jackson is an other pointless tragedy. Have a look at this video of the ranch.
1993 - PATRICK WAITE, founding member of Musical Youth, died aged 24, today, of natural causes, mainly an hereditary heart condition, whilst awaiting a court appearance on drug charges. His group Scored the 1982 UK #1 song, and Grammy-nominated single Pass the Dutchie. Based on the Mighty Diamonds Pass The Koutchie (a song about cannabis), the title had been subtly altered to feature the patois "dutchie", referring to a type of pot used for cooking. This idea is reinforced throughout the political and economic overtones throughout the song about extreme poverty and Musical Youth asking the question, "How does it feel when ya got no food?" The record went to sell over four million copies, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Contrary to what you may have heard about which black act was first played on MTV, it was the following video that ensured Musical Youth be amongst the first black artists to be played on MTV, along with fellow countrymen, the Specials.
2010 - DOUG FIEGER, singer, songwriter with power-pop group, the Knack, died just two years ago today, after a long battle with cancer. He and his group scored the 1979 world chart topper, My Sharona. Following clip is the original, grainy quality video, mixed with bits and pieces from the 1994 movie Reality Bites, starring Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller, Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder and others. Fieger had battled lung and brain cancer since 2006.
1867 - JOHANN STRAUSS' magnificent Blue Danube Waltz was played for the first time at a public concert, in Vienna, Austria, according to many references. Originally performed at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was only a mild success, however, and Strauss is reputed to have said, "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!" The waltz originally had an accompanying song text written by Josef Weyl. Strauss then adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the World's Fair in Paris that same year, and it became a great success in this form. The instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today. It is reported by composer Norman Lloyd in his book, Golden Encyclopedia of Music, that when asked by Frau Strauss for an autograph, the composer Johannes Brahms autographed Ms. Strauss's fan by writing on it the first few bars of the Blue Danube. Under it he wrote: "Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms." This following video is a scene extract from the Zdenek Mahler television mini-series, Strauss Dynasty in 1990.
1940 - EARL 'FATHA' HINES was one of a small number of pianists whose playing actually shaped the direction and, therefore, history of jazz; indeed, Hines was playing his unique style way before the word jazz was invented. On December 28, 1928, the ever-immaculate Hines opened at Chicago's Grand Terrace Cafe leading his own big band, which was seen as the pinnacle of jazz ambition at the time. "All America was dancing and for the next 12 years and through the worst of the Great Depression and Prohibition Earl Hines was 'The Orchestra' in The Grand Terrace. The Hines Orchestra - or Organization as Hines preferred it - had up to 28 musicians and did three shows a night in The Grand Terrace, four shows every Saturday and sometimes did Sundays. Earl Hines and The Grand Terrace were to Chicago what Duke Ellington and The Cotton Club were to New York. The Grand Terrace was controlled by gangster Al Capone - so Hines became Capone's Mr Piano Man with the Grand Terrace upright piano soon replaced by a white $3,000 Bechstein grand piano. From The Grand Terrace, Hines and his band broadcast on open mikes over many years, sometimes seven nights a week, coast-to-coast across America. Chicago was well placed to deal with the popular live-broadcasting in terms of time-zone problems. Earl Hines became the most broadcast band in America, and this was the day, 72 years ago, that he and his orchestra recorded the classic Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues. OK, we can't find this original version, so here is a version from the man himself, in 1979, at a concert in France.
1961 - FRANK SINATRA unveiled his own recording label, Reprise, 51 years ago, one of the label's founding principles under Sinatra's leadership being that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work - including publishing rights. This is the reason why recordings of early Reprise artists such as Dean Martin, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, are (in most cases) currently distributed through other labels. Reprise president Mo Ostin was retained as the head of the label when it was sold to Warner Brothers in 1963, the label renamed Warner-Reprise. Executives began targeting younger acts beginning by securing the American distribution rights to the Pye Records recordings by The Kinks in 1964. Through direct signings or distribution deals, the Reprise roster grew to include Lee Hazlewood, Jill Jackson, the early Joni Mitchell recordings, Neil Young, The Electric Prunes, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Greenbaum, Tom Lehrer, Tiny Tim, Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, the early 1970's recordings by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Nico's Desert Shore, The Fugs, Jethro Tull, Pentangle, T.Rex, The Meters, John Cale, Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Franks, Richard Pryor, Al Jarreau and the early '70s recordings of The Beach Boys. the label later being the home for acts such as Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, & Jimi Hendrix. Here's a little bit of Nico, narrated by John Cale.
1970 - OZZY OSBOURNE, is seen here, in his naive and sober and ambitious youth, shaking his head and singing on key in this following video, live from Paris in 1970. This was the same year as the band's self-titled debut album was released, 42 years ago today. The song is Iron Man and very early, very metal! It was the band's debut self-titled studio album on Vertigo records in the UK. Peaking at #8 on the charts, the album has been recognised as the first main album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.
1972 - LED ZEPPELIN dropped by Singapore for scheduled warm-up shows on their way to Australia for concerts today, in 1972, but were forced to cancel when officials wouldn't let them off the plane because of their long hair. The concert at Sydney Racecourse went ahead, however, and here is some absolute gem-footage, shot in 8mm, in colour. This is The Immigrant Song, and pure gold magic. Not sure if the sound is live from that concert. It could well be from an American concert, but it's brilliant footage.
1976 - HERB ALPERT is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass or TJB. Albert is also a heavyweight recording industry executive - he is the A of A&M Records (a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold). Alpert's musical accomplishments include five number one hits, twenty-eight albums on the Billboard charts, eight Grammy Awards, fourteen Platinum albums and fifteen Gold albums. Alpert sold around 75 million albums worldwide, and as musician, entrepreneur and television host, Alpert also had an eye for hits and talent of others, and in 1976 his label scored what was then the biggest-selling live album of all time, Frampton Comes Alive. This was the title of the album for England's sensational Peter Frampton, who was the world's number one act for a couple of years. Frampton is still performing live, sans hair, and, despite his magnificent success, remains one of pop rock's most underrated success stories. Here he is with one of the many hit songs from that 36-year-old album, but first howzabout this one from his label boss?
1978 - AL GREEN DAY was declared today by council officials in Los Angeles as a mark of respect for the singer's popularity and stature in tinsel town. Al Green remains one of the greats of modern music, singing absolutely perfectly on one of the most beautiful songs of all time, from exactly 40 years ago.
1983 - MARVIN GAYE Marvin sang the American national anthem at the NBA All-Star game, 29 years ago today, certainly one of the better versions of the song. What do our American readers think? What's the best version of your national anthem have you heard? The Hendrix version, for instance? One thing's for sure, there'll never be another Marvin Gaye..
1988 - MICHAEL JACKSON bought a ranch in Santa Ynez, California, 24 years ago today the ranch most famous for being the home of Jackson from 1988 to 2005. It is named after Neverland, the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. The ranch is located about five miles (8 km) north of unincorporated Los Olivos, and about eight miles (13 km) north of the town of Santa Ynez. What the people and the media did to Michael Jackson is an other pointless tragedy. Have a look at this video of the ranch.
1993 - PATRICK WAITE, founding member of Musical Youth, died aged 24, today, of natural causes, mainly an hereditary heart condition, whilst awaiting a court appearance on drug charges. His group Scored the 1982 UK #1 song, and Grammy-nominated single Pass the Dutchie. Based on the Mighty Diamonds Pass The Koutchie (a song about cannabis), the title had been subtly altered to feature the patois "dutchie", referring to a type of pot used for cooking. This idea is reinforced throughout the political and economic overtones throughout the song about extreme poverty and Musical Youth asking the question, "How does it feel when ya got no food?" The record went to sell over four million copies, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Contrary to what you may have heard about which black act was first played on MTV, it was the following video that ensured Musical Youth be amongst the first black artists to be played on MTV, along with fellow countrymen, the Specials.
2010 - DOUG FIEGER, singer, songwriter with power-pop group, the Knack, died just two years ago today, after a long battle with cancer. He and his group scored the 1979 world chart topper, My Sharona. Following clip is the original, grainy quality video, mixed with bits and pieces from the 1994 movie Reality Bites, starring Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller, Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder and others. Fieger had battled lung and brain cancer since 2006.
