A Lifetime-Plus of Music

     Every now and then, it appears that my list gets a little out of sequence.  While we are in 1961, and my notes on my list say 1961, today’s album apparently was recorded in 1965.  The good thing is, it doesn’t really feel out of sequence at all.  “Hoodoo Man Blues”, featuring Junior Wells on vocals and harmonica, with Buddy Guy on guitar has a raw Chicago blues sound consistent with prior features Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.  This album is the 6^th rated blues album on digitaldreamdoors.com.

     For me, this is an album that picked up a lot of momentum and appeal as one song built on the next.  I particularly enjoyed intersections with the past with their rendition of “Hound Dog”, which if you played them sequentially, you would have assumed Wells’ version was actually the early foreshadow for Elvis Presley, not the other way around.  Also taking me back was the song “In the Wee Hours”.  Although not the same song as recorded by Frank Sinatra, it certainly captured the same feeling and mood of a melancholy late evening.  I would say my favorite cut was the title track, “Hoodoo Man Blues”, which is a great showcase of the combination of passionate blues singing, harmonica leads featured more prominently than on most of the blues music I have encountered to date, and a powerful tradeoff with Buddy Guy on guitar, who was originally masked under the pseudonym “Friendly Chap” for label concerns.  This album does a great job of presenting this music as if it was being played live, a setting that would round out any evening.

     Released in 1961 or 1965, it doesn’t matter.  This is pure blues, another fantastic stepping stone in the foundation of blues rock, with a focus on harmonica and guitar seen subsequently in mainstream rock by bands such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and of course, Blues Traveler. 

     So here we are, one month in the books.  As we sit here on the eve of Black History Month, there couldn’t be a better choice than today’s selection, “Portrait of a Legend”, by the phenomenal one-of-a-kind, Sam Cooke.  This album is rated #307 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest 500 Albums of All Time, but I would be really hard-pressed to find anywhere close to 306 albums I would rather listen to than this one.  Thanks to my son, and perhaps even a nod to the movie “Animal House”, there are few singers ever that have moved me or entertained me like Sam Cooke.

     This album contains 30 of Cooke’s greatest hits, ranging from the mid ‘50s until his tragic death in late 1964.  There are so many magical songs on here that are instantly recognizable.  “You Send Me”, which was his first big hit, reaching #1 as a single.  “Chain Gang”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, “Another Saturday Night”, and “(What A) Wonderful World” are all mandatory listening when Sam Cooke is involved.  Two other songs above them all merit further discussion.

     For me, “Cupid” is one of the most beautiful and simple songs ever, shining a light of hope and a dash of sadness on romantic aspiration.  Written by Cooke, like most of his recordings, the vocal performance is stunning, and when he hits this line in the second verse, “Cupid, please hear my cry”, I get chills, every single time.  Throughout this 534 day process I will hear hundreds of amazing singers, but Sam Cooke rates at the top of my vocal list until proven otherwise.

     I reserve my last comments for “A Change is Gonna Come”.  Also written by Cooke, it is his personal documentation of the struggles all African-Americans endured just trying to live a civilized life with dignity and equality, as they were falsely promised by our country for so many years.  A gut-wrenching, yet beautiful ballad, the tragedy of this song is only further underscored by the fact it was released as a single eleven days after Cooke was killed by gunfire in a scene not fully understood to this day.

     “Then I go to my brother, and I say brother, help me please…”

     “And he winds up, knocking me, back down on my knees…”

     Inspired by recent progress, the words of Dr. King, and the hope for something better, even if he didn’t get to fulfill his vision, Sam Cooke delivered a song we can all draw hope from even today, with much more work still to be done.

     “It’s been a long, a long time coming… But I know, a change is gonna come, oh yes it will…”

     After a multi-day stop in New York City jazz, we return to Music City and the country sounds of Nashville for the amazing and haunting voice of Patsy Cline.  An inspiration and influence to essentially every female country vocalist who followed behind her, “The Ultimate Collection”, which is rated as album #229 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, covers all of her major hits and significant releases in her tragically short career.  It is also rated as the 7^th greatest country album of all time on tasteofcountry.com.

     When listening to a collection like this, there have been many cases where I find several hidden gems that supersede the more well-known hits.  However, on this album, the brightest stars shine through for very apparent reasons.  Even by country music standards, Patsy featured and did her best work on the melancholy moments of heartache, heartbreak, loss and loneliness.  “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces” represent some of the greatest music ever to come from Nashville.  “Back in Baby’s Arms” and “Walkin’ After Midnight”, her first highly successful single, all reflect her vocal purity and resonate with an authenticity that knows the troubled and tumultuous life she endured, including a career-altering auto accident, followed two years later by her tragic death on a plane crash returning home from a performance in Kansas City.  On “Why Can’t He Be You”, she sadly reminds us of the empty place most have experienced in a relationship, when actions and gestures alone aren’t enough to fully inspire true love.

     Like a lot of music, I find mood and moment set the stage ideal for listening to Patsy Cline.  It’s probably late at night, the lights are low, and you are either alone, or have been alone often enough to really appreciate that you no longer feel that way.  As I drew a parallel from Billie Holiday looking way ahead to Amy Winehouse, Patsy Cline provides an excellent bridge in heartfelt vocal emotion, delivered impeccably and soulfully.  While some of the other songs are susceptible to falling into traditional country cliché, her masterpiece work is unrivaled in its greatness.

     As I tend to read up on each artist to help understand their background and thought process during these creative times, I was pleasantly surprised and equally saddened to learn that Patsy Cline grew up, and was ultimately laid to rest, less than an hour from my current home in Virginia.  It helps me appreciate this region and its rural past, and it also saddens me to think of a life that ended so needlessly like many others from that time. 

“I’m crazy for trying, and crazy for crying, and I’m crazy for loving you…”.  

I would offer, the only one who is crazy, is one who doesn’t take the time to appreciate this one-of-a-kind talent.

     On this journey, I have been introduced to a lot of new (for me) jazz music, and this is my second day in a row.  Following John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”, today I am back with Miles Davis for his 3^rd album on my list.  The current selection is “Sketches of Spain”, which is rated by gq.com as the 4^th greatest jazz album of all time.  Having heard two albums from Davis already, before looking closely at the title, my going-in expectation was another modest step forward in sound and style.  Much to my unanticipated surprise, it was much more.

     As the first track “Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio” began, I was suddenly immersed in a rich new sound, fully surrounded by flamenco and European flair.  This sixteen-minute performance was something entirely different.  Instead of a modest-sized jazz ensemble, this was a much larger collection of horns, both brass and woodwind, and percussion, performing a Spanish symphony with Miles’ pure and beautiful tone on trumpet.  Much of the rest of the album had the same enchanting sound and feel, and I found myself wondering if Miles had spent an extended time in Spain and fell in love with the music and culture?

     The truth isn’t too far off.  Miles’ wife pulled him along to a performance of a Spanish dancer, and he quickly became fascinated/obsessed with Spanish flamenco music.  After adding album after album of flamenco music to his personal collection, he decided to record the “Concierto de Aranjuez”, by Joaquin Rodrigo.  He and his producer Gil Evans were so pleased with the results and their parallel discoveries of Spanish sound that they extended the experience to a full album of interpreted Spanish classical and folk, translated through the sound of jazz.  It really is a remarkable blend of sounds, and this entire album is the perfect soundtrack for your next European evening or siesta.

     Although I enjoy every day of this experience, it is hidden treasures like this performance that gives this endeavor true purpose.  Miles Davis was a remarkably gifted and diverse talent, and I eagerly anticipate what else may follow…

     While the world of popular music drifted and stuttered a bit heading into the 1960s, jazz music continued to reach new heights and offer new extensions from the masters of the age.  On today’s discovery, we explore “Giant Steps” by master saxophonist John Coltrane, a previous featured artist on several pieces to include the last Miles Davis album we discussed.  This album is rated as the #2 jazz album of all time by gq.com.

     Listening to this album is another sizable step forward in format and sound from even the remarkable work Davis performed on “Kind of Blue”, just one year before.  On the first three tracks in particular, the rhythm and lead sounds are much more frenetic, and less predictable in sound and style.  As a jazz neophyte, I envision this being received with wide open arms as the jazz community looked to further explore musical boundaries and set new standards.  Even at this hectic pace, on the song “Syeeda’s Song Flute”, I hear an odd similarity in melody to the Broadway standard “Lullabye of Broadway”.  My favorite track from this album is “Naima”, which allows me or any listener an opportunity to sit back, lower the lights and embrace the soothing sounds of Coltrane’s sax blended with Wynton Kelly’s soft piano lead.

     Coltrane was another critical fixture of the New York jazz legacy, and lived a life bounded by spiritual discovery and personal turmoil and struggle.  Knowing that he and the other icons of his generation have more to offer on this evolution in coming releases, my curiosity remains piqued and I’m truly enjoying opening up to this undiscovered world of sound… at least, undiscovered by me.

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens”

“Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things”

     Ahhh yes, the hills are alive.. with The Sound of Music.  We enter the 1960s with the #1 selling album of the year, the soundtrack to the Broadway musical, not the subsequent feature film that many of us know so well.  (I have never actually watched the entire show or film version of The Sound of Music).  Even with that void, so many of these songs are permanently embedded in my head as songs we were raised on and that appear in all walks of life and culture.

     As I noted, this is the Broadway soundtrack, with the original cast, so the lead of Maria Von Trapp is performed and sung by Mary Martin.  Not only a famous Broadway star with multiple Tony awards, she is also known for being the real-life mother of Larry Hagman, aka J.R. Ewing and Major Nelson.  The title track “The Sound of Music”, “My Favorite Things”, “Do-Re-Mi”, and “An Ordinary Couple” are among the many classics to emerge from the Rodgers and Hammerstein score and story that was based (loosely) on the true story of an Austrian family during WWII and their embrace of music.

     After a highly successful run on Broadway, as noted above, these songs ultimately emerged in the 1965 film starring Julie Andrews in the lead role, a highly successful film that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and also ranked itself as one of the highest grossing films of all-time.  It’s hard not to sing along with some of these songs, even if you suddenly feel as though you have been transported back to second grade music class with Mrs. Hall banging away on your school’s tired and battered upright piano.

     With this, we begin the 1960s.  Ike is still President, all is relatively calm on the home front, musical theater reigns supreme on the charts, while rock and roll, jazz and blues simmer in the background.  It’s only one short decade until the end of 1969… I mean, how much can the “Sound of Music” really change in ten short years anyway?

         Confession time.. I’m a big Neil Sedaka fan.  We all have our guilty pleasures and secret shames, this is one of mine.  Is he a bit campy?  Yes.  Yet in this case, campy works.  It sometimes serves to torture those around me, but my playlist is heavily littered with the work of Neil Sedaka.

     A highly successful singer and songwriter, his music serves as an excellent pop contrast to some of the more edgy, guitar-based rock and roll of the time, and is another time-stamp and representation of the light pop hits of the late 1950s and early 1960s.  On this first album, “Rock with Sedaka”, which in itself is quite the title, some of his powerhouse hits include “Stupid Cupid”, “Crying My Heart Out for You”, “Oh! Carol”, “Stairway to Heaven”, which Neil will remind you is NOT the Stairway to Heaven performed by Led Zeppelin, and my personal favorite from this album, “Calendar Girl”.  I looked and listened ahead to his next release to find two more of my all-time favorites, “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen” and “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.”  Love him or not, this guy knows how to write a catchy hook.  Just ask the Captain and Tennille, who owe their biggest hit “Love Will Keep Us Together” to Mr. Sedaka.  At least Toni proudly sang, “Sedaka is God!” at the end of that song.. and for writing really contagious two-minute pop songs, he certainly is from above.

     As I listen to my favorite Neil Sedaka songs in the context of this journey, I recognize now how similar in sound his early music was to the recently discussed Everly Brothers.  The major differences are that Neil sings both parts of his two-part harmony, and his music is more piano-based versus the acoustic guitars deployed by The Everly Brothers.  It may continue to garner me some odd looks from those around me, but the Neil Sedaka collection is here to stay on my playlist.  Somewhere I hear Laughter In The Rain… and hopefully you will as well.

         Completing a trio of mid-century blues greatness along side Bo Diddley and Howlin’ Wolf, today was the day I experienced “Anthology” by Muddy Waters.  Like his peers and predecessors, the music of Muddy Waters truly transformed and gave birth to the British Invasion blues-rock of the 1960s.  Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Foghat, among many acts, draw heavily from the Muddy Waters catalog.  The Rolling Stones even named their band in tribute to “Rollin’ Stone”, one of so many influential songs from this two-hour collection.

     With a sound that is a bit more distinctive and upbeat than traditional blues, there is a very unique sound to most of these songs.  To start, many feature a powerhouse harmonica solo by Waters, and the guitar solos have a unique, caustic and aggressive singular note tone that make me feel like I could clearly identify a Muddy Waters guitar solo from several others  “Baby, Please Don’t Go”, “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, “Mannish Boy”, “She’s Nineteen Years Old”, and “You Shook Me”, powerfully re-created a generation later by Led Zeppelin and Jeff Beck… the list of songs that find their way through several successions is inconceivable in its total volume.  Having listened to all of this music evolve, it is easy for me to understand while aspiring rock and blues musicians of the early 1960s turned back the clock to this rich and raw sound to build their own blueprint.

     Aside from enjoying hearing these early versions play on, my other favorite moment would be listening to “Mannish Boy”, written by Muddy himself as a response to rival Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man”.

“Now, when I was a young boy, at the age of five, my mother said I’m gonna be, the greatest man alive.”

     Considering all he created and shared with the world of music, he did his very best to live up to those words, and when you hear him owning that song completely, it’s hard to argue.

         Today’s album is the first real example of robust vocal harmonies on my journey. It is also the first “group” of artists featured, versus an individual lead performer.  There were many “doo-wop” sounds of the 1950s that filled this space in a fantastic way, but The Everly Brothers were one of the first acts to really emphasize a two-part harmony routinely in their music, combined with the blend of guitars.  This album, “The Everly Brothers’ Best” is a collection of successful singles on the pop and country charts, showing how they successfully intersected those two worlds.

     With brother Don usually singing the lead baritone while Phil took the higher tenor harmony vocal, both while playing guitar, they created a simple but signature sound that absolutely resurfaced in acts such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel and any other combination that relied heavily on blended harmony vocals.  This pattern is almost identical in style to the early pairing of Lennon and McCartney, and Art Garfunkel’s high harmony draws effectively from this combination as well.  It is an infectious and highly appealing sound, reinforced by catchy hooks and clever lyrics.  “Bye Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie” and “All I Have to Do is Dream”, which is not only my favorite song on this album, but like all of these hits, a song I fully associate with the waning years of the Eisenhower 1950s, as the relative calm of that decade was slowly winding down.  Their most successful song on the charts was “Cathy’s Clown”, which came slightly later and is not on this album, but also a worthy listen when considering the alluring voices of Don and Phil Everly.

     The 1950s brought great transformation to the world of popular music, and The Everly Brothers will always be considered as leaders within that movement.  There is such a time-stamp on this album, and beyond its historical relevance, it is just a really enjoyable and easy listen.

         With all of the high energy of rock and roll’s explosion in the 1950s, one could possibly overlook the continued evolution of other genres of music during this era.  Released in 1959, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis is considered by many to be the single most significant and praiseworthy jazz album of them all.  Rated as the #31 album of all time by Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Album of All Time, it is also the #1 jazz album of all time as rated by gq.com.

     With such high expectations, I gave this album multiple plays today and it did not disappoint.  Miles pushes the experimental boundaries on this album, with the entire album containing only 5 songs.   Starting with the nine minute song “So What”, this album does a phenomenal job of changing paces with a mixture of traditional jazz and extended exploratory solos.  Miles is so incredibly artistic on his trumpet, but this six-piece unit is loaded with talent, including the famous John Coltrane on tenor saxophone.  Understated but never dull, this album would be the perfect soundtrack for a late-night road-trip.  Set in the background for the kind of expression that is most prone to emerge on the evening’s second wind, or even alone as one escapes deep into thought, this music is so soothing and attention-grabbing all at once.

     My favorite track is “Blue in Green”.  An enchanting solo piano intro gives way to Miles piercing the night as the rest of the band slowly joins in.  It is hard to imagine any song being more relaxing and calming than this piece; it is absolutely beautiful and evokes a sad loneliness akin to Frank Sinatra’s “In The Wee Small Hours”.  For many of us, the late night is the most powerful and transformative time for thought and reflection.  It is so easy to get lost in thought and most certainly lost in this album, particularly this song. 

     My knowledge of jazz music will probably never extend beyond novice, but I’m so thankful for taking the time to listen to performances like this.  I understand much better why a generation or three of music lovers come back to this haunting and magical album.