This album was recorded in 1955 in Paris at the 2nd International Festival of Dramatic Art by the Peking Opera Company....
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Saturday, March 29, 2014
CHINESE OPERA
This album was recorded in 1955 in Paris at the 2nd International Festival of Dramatic Art by the Peking Opera Company....
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THE BIG BAY BAND'S LATIN BEAT
Francis Bay (Rijkevorsel, 1914 – Bonheiden, 2005)leader of some of the wildest big band ensembles of the space age pop era, Francis Bay started honing his chops at the young age of seven, playing clarinet with local orchestras in his area. By fourteen, he was already writing his own compositions and soon after, began a lifetime captivation with jazz. He won first prize for clarinet performance at the Conservatoire of Malines (Mechelen) in 1930, and later added saxophone and trombone to his repertoire. In the late 1930s, he played with several of the more successful European swing bands, including Paul Godwin's and Boyd Bachman's. He continued to work professionally during World War Two, mostly with Belgian and Dutch dance bands.
In the late 1940s, he helped form an influential European big band, the Skymasters. He also arranged and composed music for Dutch and German films and played with groups throughout northern Europe. Finally, in 1954, he formed his own big band, the group with which he came to greatest fame. Within its first year of existence, the band won the Golden Gondola award at the International Music Fair in Venice. Two years later, in 1956, Bay was selected to be director for popular music at Vlaams Radio-Televisie (the official Flemish radio and television network in Belgium).
Although Bay's band was quite popular on radio in Europe, it was the lucky coincidence of the 1958 World's Fair being held in Brussels that brought him to the attention of American audiences.
Bay's band shared the World's Fair stage with numerous major American jazz and pop stars, including Benny Goodman, and Omega, a small American jazz label, licensed a slew of Bay's Belgian recordings for release in the U.S. Unlike many European bands, which offered loving but pale imitations of American bands, Bay's not only produced flawless duplicates of hits by Basie, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and others, but staked out their own territory as well. On his Latin-flavored recordings, Bay sounds like he could go head-to-head with Perez Prado in a battle of bands.
In addition to his many Omega albums, Bay also provided the material for a number of albums released on Directional Sound. Credited to "John Evans"--the Americanized name of his piano player, Jean Evans--or "Don Catelli"--these are certainly the best of an attractive and well-produced (if shoddily annotated) series of glossy gatefolds clearly targeted at the same market as Enoch Light's Command albums.
As American listeners' interest in jazz in general and European jazz in particular waned in early 1960s, Bay's albums vanished from the U.S. racks. His work in Belgium continued, however. He composed, arranged, and conducted music for dozens of shows on VRT, including everything from game shows to Belgium's annual competition for its entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. When he retired in 1979, however, he cut off all ties with the network, refusing to return in the late 1990s for VRT's 50th anniversary celebrations.
He also made records using the names John Evans and Don Catelli...
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THE TRAVELERS
Here's an other album from Singapore's The Travelers and I think this is a movie-score, some pretty groovy music and quiet a bit of dialog (in Chinese)....
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Friday, March 28, 2014
THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN GUITARS WITH THE MERRY MELODY SINGERS - HAWAIIAN GOLDEN HITS
Great swinging EP from The Royal Hawaiian Guitars with The Merry Melody Singers and this one came out in 1962....
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REG GUITAR - GUITAR SOUND OF THE HIT TUNES VOL. 6
Reginald Verghese aka Reg Guitar was the lead guitarist of 60's Singapore band The Quest, he also made a load of solo albums and he was a pretty successful producer for EMI Singapore in the 70's....
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Thursday, March 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
GEORGE DE FRETES - TJOK DE FRETES AND HIS LRONCONG HAWAIIAN
More great music from George de Fretes, unfortunately there's only music on the A side of this cassette....
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Monday, March 24, 2014
BUCKIE SHIRAKATA AND HIS ALOHA HAWAIIANS - HAWAIIAN ALL HITS ALBUM VOL. 2
Here's an album from Buckie Shirakata and his Aloha Hawaiians. Buckie was one of the most successful musicians coming out of Hawaii, made over 200 albums, he was born in 1912 and passed away in 1994....
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Sunday, March 23, 2014
TRIO LOS PARAGUAYOS - PARAGUAYAN SONG
From Wikipedia:
Los Paraguayos is a music group consisting of musicians from Paraguay. Since its foundation in the 1950s, the group has featured many singers and musicians, playing guitars, bongo drums and a Paraguayan harp, including Luis Alberto del Paraná and Carlos Espinoza. The group performs many South American and Mexican tunes and songs, including classics, such as Guantanamera, El Cóndor Pasa and La Bamba. Having had many changes in their line-up, the group has retained its popularity, selling many albums and appearing at many concerts throughout the world. In 2007, Los Paraguayos played a world tour, including appearances in The Netherlands and Israel.
And from Discogs:
Folk (guarania) trio assembled to introduce Paraguayan music to Europe.
On November 24, 1953 President Chaves and Finance Minister Velloso signed Executive Decree No. 1736 which promised each artist the sum of 3200 dollars to spread Paraguayan music in Europe. Although harpist Digno Garcia and singer/guitarists Agustín Barboza and Luis Alberto Del Parana were well-known on their native continent and had, in fact, already performed in this combination before (under the same/similar name, no less), they were unknown in the old world.
Travelling on diplomatic passports, the "Trio Los Paraguayos" arrived via the Italian port of Genoa in May 1954, with one of their first performances being the song "India" on Vatican Radio. They eventually found their way to Antwerp, Belgium where they were signed to Philips, outputting a number of recordings for the label and achieving a gold record a year later for sales in Europe.
Once the "Official Cultural Mission" was over in 1956, the trio split up but remained in Europe: Agustín went on to do various loose projects, Digno signed to Palette and made a string of records, and Luis continued the legacy with his new group, Luis Alberto del Parana y Los Paraguayos.
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Saturday, March 22, 2014
BILL BLACK'S COMBO - TURN ON YOUR LOVE LIGHT
Bill Black (bass; born September 17, 1926, died October 21, 1965)
Bill Black was a participant in a major event in the evolution of rock and roll: the recording of Elvis Presley’s first single for Sun Records on July 5, 1954. On that day, Presley – along with bassist Black, guitarist Scotty Moore – spontaneously broke into a rocking arrangement for “That’s All Right,” a blues song by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup. Black slapped the bass strings, providing the rhythm to go along with the blues, and the chemistry between the three musicians helped launch Presley’s career and the rock and roll revolution. The flip side, a rollicking cover of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” came from Black, who began playing it as Elvis and the others fell in. Elvis Presley’s singles for Sun were jointly credited to “Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill.” Later, Elvis’s sidemen were renamed “the Blue Moon Boys.”
At the time, Moore and Black were both members of a hillbilly band called the Starlite Wranglers. Moore had made contact with Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Recording Studio, and Phillips thought of him when he wanted to test out Presley as a singer. Though he didn’t bowl over either Moore or Black at an impromptu audition at Moore’s home in Memphis, Phillips wanted to hear how the three of them would sound on tape – and the rest is history.
Black remained with Presley through 1958. During these years, Presley went from reserved truck driver to charismatic “Hillbilly Cat” to hip-swiveling superstar. All the while, Black’s string-popping bass and infectious personality were on display wherever Presley played, from small-time shows all over the South to the breakthrough TV appearances following Presley’s signing to RCA. Black’s bass was an important element in the skeletal arrangement of “Heartbreak Hotel,” Presley’s first single for RCA. Black switched from standup bass to electric bass at the 1957 session for “Jailhouse Rock,” making him one of the first to play a Fender Precision on a rock and roll recording
Black and Moore first parted ways with Presley in September 1957 over disagreements about money. They had been put on a modest salary – by Col. Tom Parker, Presley’s manager - while Presley’s income was skyrocketing. For a two-week period, they were out of the band and Presley looked for replacements, but both sides relented and they were rehired at a higher per diem.
After leaving Presley for good in 1958, the bassist became a bandleader in his own right, forming a group that was known both as Bill Black’s Combo and the Bill Black Combo. Recording for Memphis-based Hi Records, they charted an impressive 19 instrumental hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 between 1959 and 1965. These included “Smokie – Part 2” (Number 17 pop, Number Four R&B), “White Silver Sands” (Number Nine pop, Number Four R&B) and a remake of Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” that reached Number 11.
Like many instrumental outfits of that time, the Bill Black Combo had a danceable country-soul sound built around saxophone, organ, guitar, drums and Black’s driving bass. They called it “the untouchable sound.” Bill Black died of a brain tumor in October 1965 at the age of 39, but the combo continued without him, playing into the Eighties.
And this funky, soulful album came out 4 years after he died, in 1969, and a great album it is....
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PEPE JARAMILLO WITH HIS LATIN AMERICAN RHYTHM - A MEXICAN ON BROADWAY
Pepe Jamarillo was born in the state of Chihuahua, that part of Mexico which contains the upper stretches of the western Sierra Madre. his love of music and his talent for playing it seem to have been inherited from his mother. At any rate, Pepe began playing the piano when he was only four, working at first entirely by ear, but later - after he had grown up - studying at the Conservatory of Music in Mexico City. Like so many parents, Pepe's father and mother looked on music as a hazardous career, and, while they were happy that their son should make it his hobby, they wanted him to become a dentist. To please them Pepe studied dentistry at the University of Mexico, but after a couple of years he decided this could never be his profession. As his parents insisted that he get some kind of degree, he attended the school of banking, eventually returning to Chihuahua with a degree in banking and secretarial practice.
Pepe worked for a couple of years with a British mining company, spending most of his vacation in Mexico City and, when that job finished, he went back to the capital. There a stroke of luck occurred which changed his entire life. He was having some drinks with a few friends in the bar of the Ritz, the most fashionable hotel in Mexico City, when they noticed there was a piano in the room. "Why don't you play it?" asked his friends, so Pepe sat down and started to entertain them. "Presently the manager came over," recalls Pepe "and asked if I was a professional pianist. "No," I told him, "just playing for my own amusement." When the manager asked if he would like a job performing at the hotel, Pepe thought he was kidding, but decided to keep the joke up. "Well," he said, "if you can pay me what I want, maybe I will". To his astonishment the manager replied, "Come in tomorrow and we'll talk things over".
that is how Pepe Jaramillo became a professional pianist, and for the next three years he performed at he Ritz bar. During that time he also appeared regularly on Radio and TV, as well as being in demand to accompany various singers who visited Mexico City. (He has worked with a great many of the most famous Latin-American and Spanish artists). When Pepe finally left the Ritz, it was to go into a new club - El Quid a very smart restaurant-bar, where he played right up to the moment he would like to see something of the world outside South and North America. After coming to Europe he spent a few months in Paris, then crossed the Channel and come to London early in 1958. Since then he has appeared on radio and TV in this country - including ABC-TV's weekly 'Sentimental Journey' programme - and made his recording debut here with his popular 'Mexico Tropicale' LP. Since then he has made many successful records.
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Friday, March 21, 2014
LONG TALL ERNIE & THE SHAKERS - MEET THE MONSTERS
Long Tall Ernie & The Shakers started out as a band called The Moans (after an Art Blakey song) in the 60's. One of their members was Herman Brood who later became one of Holland's best known blues/rock musicians. In '72 they renamed themselves to Long Tall Ernie & The Shakers. They had a whole bunch of hits in the 70's and I only remember them as a rock n roll band so it's pretty weird to listen to this album and hear.... disco! This album came out in 1979....
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
ORKES KRONTJONG M. SAGI
Scored a bunch of old 78"es today, 4 of them are from Orkes Krontjong M. Sagi...Can't find any info about this Orchestra, only that this was recorded in the 1940's.... Lovely music....
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NORO MORALES & HIS ORCHESTRA - HOLIDAY IN HAVANA
One of the most popular Latin band leaders of the 1940s and 1950s. Morales grew up in a musical family, which was invited in 1924 to become the court orchestra of the president of Venezuela. Noro took over as conductor after his father died, eventually moving the band back to Puerto Rico. He moved to New York City in 1935 and within two years was leading his own rhumba band. Installed as the house band at the legendary club El Morocco, Morales was at the center of the rise of Latin jazz in the early 1940s. Xavier Cugat took Morales' composition, "Bim, Bam, Bum" and covered it for one of his earliest hits. Many of the great names in Latin music floated through Morales' band during this time: Machito, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, and, later, Anglo musicians such as Doc Severinsen.
Morales cut a distinctive figure on stage and off, with his large bald head and black mustache. One friend recalled that, "He was always well-dressed, shows shined, nails polished and reeked of expensive cologne....He loved women. He had to work steadily to pay the alimony his three wives collected." Morales remained a popular and successful act on the New York scene for over 20 years, appearing annually at the Daily News Harvest Moon Ball and working clubs such as the Copacabana and the China Doll.
Although he was not averse to catering to popular tastes, Morales usually stayed true to his Latin roots, using a traditional line-up featuring a rhythm section that included bass, bongos, conga, timbales, and claves, with himself on piano. He returned to Puero Rico in 1961 to work at the Hotel la Concha, where he died in 1964 of the effects of chronic diabetes.
This lovely album came out in 1960....
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TON VAN DER MEER - 'K HEB NIKS AAN M'N LEVEN (KOMMER EN KWEL)
Many, many years ago I saw Ton van der Meer live at a festival in the city of Den Haag, he was singing with Dutch punk band B.V.D. and I loved it, one of the hardest punk concerts I've seen and I've seen many... He has done many many things as a singer, blues, pop, rock, punk, all kinds of stuff. Here's a funky 7" from him....
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Monday, March 17, 2014
JIM & INGRID CROCE - ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TOWN
James Joseph "Jim" Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and 11 singles. His singles "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" were both number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.... He died in an airplane accident and his wife Ingrid had to stop singing after an operation damaged her vocal chords...
Here's their album Another Day, Another Town that came out in 1969....
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