Monday, February 28, 2011
The complete Charlie Christian Volume 4....1940
Volume 4 of The Complete Charlie Christian.............1940
Tracks:
01 - Six Appeal
02 - These Foolish Things.wav" WAVE
03 - Good Enough To Keep (Air Mail Special)
04 - Honeysuckle Rose
05 - Six Appeal
06 - AC-DC Current
07 - Stardust
08 - Wrap Up Your Troubles In Dreams
09 - Ad Lib Blues
10 - I Never Knew
11 - Charlie's Dream
12 - Wholly Cats
13 - Lester's Dream
14 - Gone With 'What' Wind
15 - Wholly Cats
16 - Wholly Cats
17 - Wholly Cats
18 - Wholly Cats
19 - Wholly Cats
Track notes from: http://home.roadrunner.com/~valdes/revu_cd.htm#MoJ%201
Volume 4 covers the period of June 11, 1940 through part of a session on November 7, 1940.
Track 1 thru 3 – June 11, 1940, WBS recording session: “Six Appeal” (16-bar solo), “These Foolish Things” (great 4-bar chord intro; 8-bar bridge solo) and “Good Enough to Keep” (32-bar solo).
Tracks 4 & 5 – First-time issue for this incomplete [CC’s 32-bar solo is not affected] broadcast of “Honeysuckle Rose” from the Catalina Casino on June 22nd. And, from the same gig on Santa Catalina Island, another version of “Six Appeal.”
Track 6 – From the Catalina Casino on June 30, another version of the less-than-essential “AC-DC Current.”
Tracks 7 & 8 – After a three-month vacation, Charles is back in New York City and is hired by Columbia to back up singer Eddie Howard on a quintet/octet led by Teddy Wilson on October 4, 1940:
On “Star Dust” (quintet), CC takes an 8-bar solo...and he leads off the octet with a beautiful 4-bar chord intro on “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.” Two other titles were recorded with CC on rhythm guitar.
Tracks 9 thru 13 – A made-in-heaven line-up for this Oct. 28, 1940 rehearsal session at the Columbia studios: Charlie Christian and Lester Young, the two greatest soloists in jazz, with the peerless Basie rhythm section. What a pity this group did not record regularly—we can only dream of what could have been—however we’re fortunate to have these five cuts along with the three titles from the Spirituals to Swing concert recorded 10 months earlier. With the addition of Count Basie it was potentially even better than the Kansas City Six at Carnegie Hall.
On “Ad-Lib Blues,” Goodman was wise to lay out in the company of these blues masters. CC takes a 2-chorus solo.
“I Never Knew” has CC soloing on one chorus with Basie taking the bridge.
On both versions of “Dickie’s Dream” Charles was obviously prepared to take a full chorus when he was cut off after 16 bars by the clarinet, probably due to time constraints. Judging from the length of these takes, it appears that they were being considered for issue.
CC gets three choruses for his solo on the blues “Wholly Cats.”
Track 14 – Broadcast of the Democratic Presidential Campaign Rally on November 4th at Madison Square Garden: “Gone with ‘What’ Wind.”
Tracks 15 thru 19 – The Goodman combo, now a septet, is back recording for Columbia on November 7th after the long summer layoff. Five takes of “Wholly Cats,” a blues with a 24-bar CC solo on each take. The long recording session continues on the fifth volume of this CD series.
Volume 4 contains all recordings from the period of June 11 through the first part of the session on November 7, 1940 with the exception of “Li’l Boy Love” which has a CC bridge solo recorded on 25 June 1940.
[Released in October 2001 on Masters of Jazz MJCD 189, Charlie Christian • Volume 9.]
Music Depreciation Part 2...........shows from 1945
First, here is an episode that I was missing until this post (Thank You, "anon"), Dec. 17, 1944 Guests Martha Tilton and Skeets Herfurt
http://www.4shared.com/file/pnOMNiec/OTR-MD-441217SongIfIndia.htmlEpisodes from 1945:
Jan 07, 1945 Guests Helen Ward and Shorty Sherock
Jan. 14, 1945 Guests The Four Tones and Matty Matlock
http://www.4shared.com/file/r0ilIq9a/OTR-MD-450114TheVolgaBoatman.html Jan 21, 1945 Guests Pat Kaye and Mike Riley
*** Missing Jan 28, 1945 episode, guests unknown***
Feb. 04, 1945 Guests The Trasher Sisters and Jack Jenny
Feb. 11, 1945 Guests David Street and Dave Matthews
Feb. 18, 1945 Guests Nora Martin and Andre Previn
Feb. 25, 1945 Guests Mel Torme and the Meltones, and Willie Smith
Mar. 04, 1945 Guests Al Burton and Anita Boyer
Mar 11, 1945 Guests Mary Ann Mercer and Dave Matthews
Mar. 18, 1945 Guests The Barry Sisters and Neal Hefti
http://www.4shared.com/file/SnLqER-V/OTR-MD-450318DonkeySerenade.htmlMar. 25, 1945 Guests Buddy De Vito and Milton DeLugg
Apr. 01, 1945 Guests Kay Starr and Corky Corcoran
Apr. 08, 1945 Guests Julie Kinsler and Paul Carley
*** Missing Apr. 15, 1945 Guests Unknown***
Apr. 22, 1945 Guests The Smart Set and Robert Armstrong
http://www.4shared.com/file/ZI2h1CSf/OTR-MD-450422NationalEmblemMar.html***Missing Apr. 29, 1945 Last episode, guests unknown, and also the first episode from Oct. 22, 1944, guests unknown***
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A special OTR treat tonight: Frank DeVol, Les Paul, Ruben Gaines.......Music Depreciation...Part 1-1944
A special treat tonight.........Several episodes of Music Depreciation, from the Mutual Network. Featuring The Frank DeVol Orchestra, The Les Paul Trio...........and many guests. Great music, great fun, especially for fans of early Les Paul.......enjoy!
Background
America's fascination with its comparatively young musical heritage reached its zenith with the advent of Broadcast Radio. Though access to classical music venues had been traditionally limited to people of means prior to the 20th century, folk music, jazz, and blues, as well as the rich tradition of religious music, found its way into most people's lives one way or the other.
But it was Radio that exploded American and International music into the homes and offices of exponentially greater numbers of American citizens than ever before.
In fact it was music that was first aired over the earliest Radio receivers. And indeed, music dominated early Radio for its first, stumbling ten years. This was music that seventy percent of America had never even had access to before. The Metropolitan Opera began airing live Opera broadcasts in 1931, hosted by Milton Cross. The Met broadcasts continue to this day--almost 80 years of uninterrupted broadcasts. Milton Cross left the series in 1974, but he was also regularly heard in a fascinating, albeit a bit less stuffy, series entitled The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, which ran from 1940 to 1952. The ambitious Works Progress Administration and its Federal Music Project funded and recorded thousands of exemplars of the finest American music ever before assembled in one canon.
As educational as they were entertaining, the better broadcasts, such as those from The Met, and The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street at the other end of the spectrum, invariably delved into the history of both classic and popular music during the course of each broadcast. Milton Cross had a passion for the history of music and his presence on both of the above mentioned popular programs set a high bar for all such programming that followed them.
The Armed Forces Radio Service was also responsible for creating some of the most extensive and historic collections of jazz and popular music in American history with its Jubilee, Downbeat, and One Night Stand programming, among hundreds of others. Indeed, the various music programs among the vast AFRS and AFRTS canon represent some of the largest single collections of popular music of the era.
Big Band music and literally thousands of Band Remotes aired between 1935 and the end of World War II. Without putting too fine a point on it, its safe to say that America, since the very advent of Radio, has maintained an insatiable appetite for music--in any form.
Music for pure entertainment's sake has understandably remained the most popular format for American audiences. But the more informative and educational musical programming from The Golden Age of Radio remains its most valuable legacy.
But it was Radio that exploded American and International music into the homes and offices of exponentially greater numbers of American citizens than ever before.
In fact it was music that was first aired over the earliest Radio receivers. And indeed, music dominated early Radio for its first, stumbling ten years. This was music that seventy percent of America had never even had access to before. The Metropolitan Opera began airing live Opera broadcasts in 1931, hosted by Milton Cross. The Met broadcasts continue to this day--almost 80 years of uninterrupted broadcasts. Milton Cross left the series in 1974, but he was also regularly heard in a fascinating, albeit a bit less stuffy, series entitled The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, which ran from 1940 to 1952. The ambitious Works Progress Administration and its Federal Music Project funded and recorded thousands of exemplars of the finest American music ever before assembled in one canon.
As educational as they were entertaining, the better broadcasts, such as those from The Met, and The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street at the other end of the spectrum, invariably delved into the history of both classic and popular music during the course of each broadcast. Milton Cross had a passion for the history of music and his presence on both of the above mentioned popular programs set a high bar for all such programming that followed them.
The Armed Forces Radio Service was also responsible for creating some of the most extensive and historic collections of jazz and popular music in American history with its Jubilee, Downbeat, and One Night Stand programming, among hundreds of others. Indeed, the various music programs among the vast AFRS and AFRTS canon represent some of the largest single collections of popular music of the era.
Big Band music and literally thousands of Band Remotes aired between 1935 and the end of World War II. Without putting too fine a point on it, its safe to say that America, since the very advent of Radio, has maintained an insatiable appetite for music--in any form.
Music for pure entertainment's sake has understandably remained the most popular format for American audiences. But the more informative and educational musical programming from The Golden Age of Radio remains its most valuable legacy.
Music Depreciation debuts over the Mutual Network
The term 'music depreciation' is an interesting enough play on words in and of itself. Spike Jones and His Orchestra may well have coined the term in the course of their various irreverent, but brilliant send-ups of popular--and traditional--music over the years. Their aim being to both knock some of the most revered classics off their pedestals a notch or two, while at the same time deconstructing some of the most popular classics and contemporary music to their basic common denominators: beat and meter, dynamics, and harmony. Spike Jones, while ostensibly clowning with famous music, was brilliant at breaking down those three key essentials to illustrate what made truly great music great.
Kay Kyser had also been a proponent of musical deconstruction. Over the course of their combined forty years of influence in musical entertainment, they both helped to fire the imaginations of countless music enthusiasts into looking at music, its structure and composition in a far different light. As mentioned above, The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street often went to great lengths to illustrate these very points.
It was the popular success of The Chamber Music Society . . . that inspired the Don Lee-Mutual network to create a similar program that began airing in the Winter of 1944. Called Music Depreciation, it aired a format very similar to the long-running Chamber Music Society series, but in an even more abbreviated and light-hearted tone. And in a nod to the era, the overarching theme of most broadcasts was Swing Music of the era.
The program was in all likelihood the brainchild of Ruben Gaines, a poet, writer and radio broadcaster with a flair for irony and music education. His previous Meet the Band series over Don Lee equally sought to shed light on not only the history of music, but its proponents as well. Gaines assembled the team for Music Depreciation comprised of the brilliant and versatile composer and arranger, Frank De Vol, and the equally gifted Les Paul and his Trio.
While Frank De Vol had already made a name for himself as a popular arranger, Les Paul was only just coming up in the world of broadcast entertainment. What Gaines couldn't have known is that Frank De Vol had a brilliant gift for comedy as well. Remembered as much for his four Academy Award nominations for Film scoring, De Vol is probably remembered even more fondly for his brilliant deadpan comedy roles during his career as a Film and Television actor.
Ruben Gaines, himself a wordsmith of some repute, enjoyed playing with the names of the ensemble and its guests in each installment: Gaines himself was "Dr. Rubenyi Gaines", Paul was "Professor Leski" and Frank De Vol was, predictably, "Dr. Frankenstein." Each new guest was given their own Rubenesque moniker for the remainder of the twenty-four installment series.
On the 'serious' musical side, the series was a brilliant counterpoint between classical pieces brilliantly arranged by De Vol, countered by Swing and Jazz. The series showcased some of the finest proponents of popular music of the era. Featured were such artists as Peggy Lee, Mel Torme and The Meltones, Neil Hefti, Herb Jeffries, Illinois Jacquet, Margaret Whiting, Martha Tilton, Eddie South, Kay Starr, Andre Previn, Billy May, Helen Ward, and Buddy De Vito among many others.
The format would introduce the guest artist, then launch into a popular classic piece, arranged in a more modern fashion by Frank De Vol and his orchestra. The remainder of the format would combine selections by the visiting artists, with one or two more pieces by Frank De Vol or Les Paul.
The program was by no means the equal of The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, but it did showcase some budding talents that would go on to worldwide fame throughout the entertainment industry--Andre Previn, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, and Neil Hefti to name a few. The series also provides individual showcases of some of the Jazz icons of the era: Illinois Jacquet, Herb Jeffries, Billy May, Eddie South, Murray McEachern, and Margie Hyams, among them. It was also a marvelous showcase of the great female band singers of the era: Helen Ward, Magaret Whiting, Kay Starr, and Martha Tilton.
While the format was apparently unsustainable, it nevertheless provided both Frank De Vol and Les Paul their first nationwide spotlights, in a prelude to what would soon become two of the music industry's great legends. De Vol would go on to great Film scoring success and a third career as a gifted comedic character actor. He'd also go on to back Ginny Simms, Jack Smith, and Dinah Shore over Radio. Les Paul would go on to become a Jazz, Blues and Rock and Roll legend in his own right. Upon completing Music Depreciation, Don Lee-Mutual featured Les Paul in another series, The Feeling Is Mutual, in much the same solid supporting musical role.
Ruben Gaines left the Continental U. S. shortly after the end of the series for Alaska, where he became one of Alaska's most notable broadasters and poets. One comes away from a full listening of this series with an impression of the richness of uniquely American treatments of classical standards from the world over, as well as highly impressed by both De Vol and Paul's versatility.
Gaines' humor, while aparently well received by the show's live audiences, seems to try far too hard to get a laugh with the passage of seventy years, but not for lack a quick mind. The patter simply seems a bit overkill after the first four or five programs. This is the only distraction, however, to a wonderful little half-season gem that was otherwise brilliantly assembled and produced.
Kay Kyser had also been a proponent of musical deconstruction. Over the course of their combined forty years of influence in musical entertainment, they both helped to fire the imaginations of countless music enthusiasts into looking at music, its structure and composition in a far different light. As mentioned above, The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street often went to great lengths to illustrate these very points.
It was the popular success of The Chamber Music Society . . . that inspired the Don Lee-Mutual network to create a similar program that began airing in the Winter of 1944. Called Music Depreciation, it aired a format very similar to the long-running Chamber Music Society series, but in an even more abbreviated and light-hearted tone. And in a nod to the era, the overarching theme of most broadcasts was Swing Music of the era.
The program was in all likelihood the brainchild of Ruben Gaines, a poet, writer and radio broadcaster with a flair for irony and music education. His previous Meet the Band series over Don Lee equally sought to shed light on not only the history of music, but its proponents as well. Gaines assembled the team for Music Depreciation comprised of the brilliant and versatile composer and arranger, Frank De Vol, and the equally gifted Les Paul and his Trio.
While Frank De Vol had already made a name for himself as a popular arranger, Les Paul was only just coming up in the world of broadcast entertainment. What Gaines couldn't have known is that Frank De Vol had a brilliant gift for comedy as well. Remembered as much for his four Academy Award nominations for Film scoring, De Vol is probably remembered even more fondly for his brilliant deadpan comedy roles during his career as a Film and Television actor.
Ruben Gaines, himself a wordsmith of some repute, enjoyed playing with the names of the ensemble and its guests in each installment: Gaines himself was "Dr. Rubenyi Gaines", Paul was "Professor Leski" and Frank De Vol was, predictably, "Dr. Frankenstein." Each new guest was given their own Rubenesque moniker for the remainder of the twenty-four installment series.
On the 'serious' musical side, the series was a brilliant counterpoint between classical pieces brilliantly arranged by De Vol, countered by Swing and Jazz. The series showcased some of the finest proponents of popular music of the era. Featured were such artists as Peggy Lee, Mel Torme and The Meltones, Neil Hefti, Herb Jeffries, Illinois Jacquet, Margaret Whiting, Martha Tilton, Eddie South, Kay Starr, Andre Previn, Billy May, Helen Ward, and Buddy De Vito among many others.
The format would introduce the guest artist, then launch into a popular classic piece, arranged in a more modern fashion by Frank De Vol and his orchestra. The remainder of the format would combine selections by the visiting artists, with one or two more pieces by Frank De Vol or Les Paul.
The program was by no means the equal of The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, but it did showcase some budding talents that would go on to worldwide fame throughout the entertainment industry--Andre Previn, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, and Neil Hefti to name a few. The series also provides individual showcases of some of the Jazz icons of the era: Illinois Jacquet, Herb Jeffries, Billy May, Eddie South, Murray McEachern, and Margie Hyams, among them. It was also a marvelous showcase of the great female band singers of the era: Helen Ward, Magaret Whiting, Kay Starr, and Martha Tilton.
While the format was apparently unsustainable, it nevertheless provided both Frank De Vol and Les Paul their first nationwide spotlights, in a prelude to what would soon become two of the music industry's great legends. De Vol would go on to great Film scoring success and a third career as a gifted comedic character actor. He'd also go on to back Ginny Simms, Jack Smith, and Dinah Shore over Radio. Les Paul would go on to become a Jazz, Blues and Rock and Roll legend in his own right. Upon completing Music Depreciation, Don Lee-Mutual featured Les Paul in another series, The Feeling Is Mutual, in much the same solid supporting musical role.
Ruben Gaines left the Continental U. S. shortly after the end of the series for Alaska, where he became one of Alaska's most notable broadasters and poets. One comes away from a full listening of this series with an impression of the richness of uniquely American treatments of classical standards from the world over, as well as highly impressed by both De Vol and Paul's versatility.
Gaines' humor, while aparently well received by the show's live audiences, seems to try far too hard to get a laugh with the passage of seventy years, but not for lack a quick mind. The patter simply seems a bit overkill after the first four or five programs. This is the only distraction, however, to a wonderful little half-season gem that was otherwise brilliantly assembled and produced.
Performers:
Herb Jeffries, Illinois Jacquet, Dale Jones, Eddie South, Pat Kaye, Rafael Mendez, Margie Hyams, Joe Green, Peggy Lee, Murray McEachern, Dan Grissom, Milton Raskin, Debby Claire, Billy May, Martha Tilton, Skeets Herfurt, Margaret Whiting, Andre Previn, Helen Ward, Shorty Sherock, The Four Tones, Matty Matlock, Pat Kaye, Mike Riley, The Thrasher Sisters, Jack Jenny, David Street, Dave Matthews, Nora Martin, Andre Previn, Mel Torme, The Meltones, Willie Smith, Al Burton, Anita Boyer, Mary Ann Mercer, The Barry Sisters, Neal Hefti, Buddy De Vito, Milton DeLugg, Corky Corcoran, Kay Starr, Julie Kinsler, Paul Carley, The Smart Set and Robert Armstrong
Tonight: epsiodes from 1944
Oct 29, 1944 Guests Herb Jeffries and Illinois Jacquet
http://www.4shared.com/file/SCihJ7nX/OTR-MD-441029TwoandOneHalfMinu.htmlNov. 05, 1944 Guests Eddie South and Dale Jones
http://www.4shared.com/file/wc2qUwWJ/OTR-MD-441105BlackandBlueDanub.html
Nov. 12, 1944 Guests Pat Kay and Rafael Mendez
http://www.4shared.com/file/cbSnfGV5/OTR-MD-441112NightRide.html
Nov. 19, 1944 Guests Margie Hyams and Joe Green
http://www.4shared.com/file/CNmb_Bm4/OTR-MD-441119Syncopation_Minue.html
Nov. 26, 1944 Guests Peggy Lee and Murray McEachern
http://www.4shared.com/file/AlX_pfmm/OTR-MD-441126LittleBoyBlue_Sch.html
Dec. 03, 1944 Guests Dan Grissom and Milton Raskin
http://www.4shared.com/file/-aTbaGC4/OTR-MD-441203StrikeuptheBand.htmlDec, 10, 1944 Guests Debby Claire and Billy May
http://www.4shared.com/file/B8400wzL/OTR-MD-441210TheContinental.html
Dec 31, 1944 Guests Margaret Whiting and Andre Previn
http://www.4shared.com/file/E4KIVXeu/OTR-MD-441231BoriBori_Pavanne.html
I just LOVE this series..........I hope you enjoy it, too! :)
Jess Stacy..........
With Krupa
With Lee Wiley
Jess Stacy
Jess Stacy (August 11, 1904 – January 1, 1995) was an American jazz pianist who became famous during the Swing Era.
Stacy was born Jesse Alexandria Stacy in Bird's Point, Missouri, a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois. In 1918 Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. There Stacy received his only formal music training studying under Professor Clyde Brandt, a professor of piano and violin at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State University), while sweeping up nights at Clark's Music Store.
By 1920 Stacy was playing piano in saxophonist Peg Meyer’s jazz ensemble at Cape Girardeau High School and at the Bluebird Confectionary on Broadway and Fountain and also at the Sweet Shop on Main Street. Originally labeled by schoolmates as "The Agony Four," "..... that band took them out of Cape Girardeau where, according to Stacy, 'everyone was square as a bear' ".
By 1921 the ensemble was known as "Peg Meyer's Melody Kings" and started touring the Mississippi River on 'The Majestic' and other riverboats.
At some unrecorded date in the early 1920s Stacy moved 'upriver' to Chicago, Illinois, where he made a name for himself performing with Paul Mares, leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, playing a sub-genre of jazz appropriately called “Chicago-style”. Stacy cites his main influence at the time as Louis Armstrong and, especially, pianist Earl Hines, pianist for both Louis Armstrong and the Carroll Dickerson band. Stacy would frequently go to wherever Hines was playing and later even played with Hines' band as 'relief piano player' when allowed [as did Nat "King" Cole and Teddy Wilson] but during this period Stacy was mainly playing with Floyd Towne’s dance orchestra.
Stacy’s big break came in 1935 when Benny Goodman asked Stacy to join his band. Stacy left Floyd Towne, moved to New York, and spent the four years from 1935-1939 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He reached the peak of his acclaim when he performed with Goodman at Carnegie Hall in 1938, the first jazz concert ever played at Carnegie. The Carnegie Hall performance has gained attention due to an unplanned yet widely praised piano solo by Stacy during "Sing, Sing, Sing.” Following a Goodman/Krupa duet, Stacy received a nod from Goodman to take a solo. He created a memorable masterpiece, reissued many times on record. Some believe that Stacy did not gain the recognition he rightly deserved because Teddy Wilson was the 'permanent' pianist for the Benny Goodman quartet, the most acclaimed of Goodman's bands. But Stacy did play with such legends as Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Condon, Bud Freeman, George Gershwin, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden and, later, Horace Heidt.
After leaving the Goodman Orchestra, Stacy joined the Bob Crosby (Bing Crosby's brother) Orchestra and his famous small jazz group the Bob Crosby Bob-Cats. During his period with the latter band Stacy received yet wider acclaim. He won the national Down Beat piano polls in 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943. Stacy would later be credited with revitalizing the dying band. When the Crosby band broke up, Stacy rejoined Goodman in 1942 for a short period before joining the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
Stacy spent six months with the Tommy Dorsey band. He then left to put together a big band of his own, named the Jess Stacy Band and recorded with vocalist Lee Wiley, to whom he was married. But by then "big band" music was losing popularity, and the band suffered economically. The band did not last long and Wiley and Stacy would later divorce.
In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles California. As with many jazz 'stars', his career declined to mostly club work. Finally one evening, while working the piano bar in Leon's Steak House, Stacy walked out in the middle of a number after a drunken woman, while requesting the "Beer Barrel Polka" for the third time that evening, spilled a beer in his lap. Stacy declared that he was 'done' with the music business and he retired from public performances.
Unusually for a 'jazzer', Stacy chose to leave the music industry and take regular jobs until he was able to retire. For a time Stacy worked as a salesman, then warehouseman, then postman, for Max Factor cosmetics.
Later, he would be "re-discovered" as fame of his past career became known. However Stacy was selective in his performances - he played for Nelson Riddle on the soundtrack of the 1973 movie 'The Great Gatsby'. Then 1974 he was invited to play at the Newport Jazz Festival in New York and, as a result, was asked to record for Chiaroscuro twice, in 1974 and, in 1977, "Stacy Still Swings". The years after that included compilations and some club work. Stacy’s final performance was broadcast on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” for National Public Radio on December 1, 1981.
Stacy had a tumultuous love life as a young man. His first wife was Helen Robinson. Both were very young when they married in 1924. Stacy worked nights playing in clubs and slept during the day while Helen worked days. Helen needed more security than Stacy was willing to provide. Stacy was unable to give up the dream of his music to work at a radio station and be secure in his employment. This did not change when the couple had a child, Frederick Jess. The couple would later divorce and Helen would go on to marry a friend of Stacy's, Phil Wing, the embodiment of all Helen had wanted Stacy to be.
Stacy's second wife was the beautiful and wild Lee Wiley, a jazz singer of considerable acclaim during her era and 'rediscovered' since. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincade as being as "compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline." After being married less than three years, the couple divorced in 1948. Lee's response to Stacy's desire to get a divorce was, "What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?" while Stacy said of Wiley, "They did not burn the last witch at Salem." Lee Wiley then married a retired business man, Nat Tischenkel, in 1966 and died of stomach cancer in 1975. Stacy did not attend her funeral.
Stacy then married, thirdly, Patricia Peck on September 8, 1950. They had been friends and dating for a decade when they married. Stacy and Peck lived in Los Angeles and were married very happily for forty-five years.
After his brief and 'selective' revival in the 1970s, Stacy again retired from the music scene and lived a quiet existence with his wife, Patricia Peck Stacy.
Stacy died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, California on January 1, 1995.
Since his death Stacy has gained new attention and honors. In 1996 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 1998 a biography of him 'Jess Stacy: The Quiet Man of Jazz. a Biography and Discography' came out.
He had an interestingly different and refreshing style....if you listen to nothing else, listen to the recording of "Sing sing sing", live with Goodman. It's nice to see him finally getting some renewed interest and respect.
Here's a little overview of his career.
A good man is hard to find -Nov.30, 1939
Ain't goin' nowhere -(solo) Jan. 18,1939Barrelhouse -Nov 16, 1935 Jess Stacy Trio (Stacy, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby)
Big John Special - New York, May 1938 w/ Benny Goodman -Carnegie Hall
Blue Fives -Stacy (piano) with Gordon "Specs" Powell (drums) previously unissued- Nov.25,1944
Blue Room -Nov 30,1938
Breeze (fox-trot)-Nov 30, 1939Breeze blues -Nov. 3, 1939 Jess Stacy And His Orch
Candlelights (solo)- Jan 18, 1939
Carnegie Jump -New York, 17 Jan 1938
Clarinet blues -Nov 30, 1939 (Irving Fazola-Clarinet)
Complainin' (solo) -Jan 18, 1939
Daybreak Serenade -June 29, 1945
Down To Steamboat Tennessee -Lee Wiley, vocal with Muggsy Spanier (cornet), Jess Stacy (piano) July 10,1940
Ec-Stacy -Los Angeles, 17 Feb 1942
Ec-Stacy (solo) -June 13,1939
I Ain't Got Nobody-Stacy (piano) with Gordon "Specs" Powell (drums) previously unissued- Nov.25,1944
I can't believe that you're in love with me -Nov.30, 1939
I Got Rhythm -New York, 17 Jan 1938
In A Mist (solo) -New York, 6 Sep 1938
In The Dark / Flashes -Chicago, 16 Nov 1935 -Jess Stacy Trio (Stacy, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby)
It's Only A Paper Moon -New York, 29 June 1945 w/ Lee Wiley, vocals
Jess stay-Jess Stacy and His Stars Sept.29,1939
Madhouse -Hollywood, 27 Sep 1935 - with Goodman
Melancholy mood -Jess Stacy and His Stars Sept.29,1939
Noni -Jess Stacy and His Stars Sept.29,1939
Opus 34 -New York, 6 Apr 1939 - with Goodman QuintetRamblin' (solo) -April 30,1938
Rhythm, Rhythm (I Got Rhythm) -New York, 26 Apr 1937-(C) Buster Bailey, Lionel Hampton (vib, vcl), Jess Stacy (p), Allen Reuss (g), John Kirby (b), Cozy Cole (d).
Ridin' Easy -Stacy (piano) with Gordon "Specs" Powell (drums) previously unissued- Nov.25,1944
Roll 'em- Hollywood, July 7, 1937 with Goodman (Mary Lou Williams arrangement)
Rose Of Washington Square -Pee Wee Russell's Hot Four: Pee Wee Russell (cl) Jess Stacy (p) Sid Weiss (b) George Wettling (d) -New York, September 30, 1944
She's funny that way -Bud Freeman (tenor sax) Jess Stacy (piano) recorded June 13,1939
Sing, Sing, Sing -Live Carnegie Hall, 16 Jan 1938 -with GoodmanSpain -Bob Crosby's Bob Cats: Billy Butterfield (tp) Warren Smith (tb) Irving Fazola (cl) Eddie Miller (ts) Jess Stacy (p) Nappy Lamare (g) Bob Haggart (b) Ray Bauduc (d) Marion Mann (d). New York, February 6, 1940
Sugar -Lee Wiley, vocal with Muggsy Spanier (cornet), Jess Stacy (piano)-July 10,1940
Take Me To The Land Of Jazz -New York, 30 Sep 1944- (b) All Star Jam Band .... (en) Johnny Carsella (tb) Maurice Bercov (cl) Danny Altier (
The Darktown Strutters' Ball -Jan 16, 1940-George Wettling's Chicago Rhythm Kings-Charlie Teagarden-trum, Floyd O'Brien-Tromb, Danny Polo-Clarinet, Joe Marsala-ten sax, Stacy-p, Jack Bland, Artie Shapiro, Wettling.
The sell-out (solo) -June 13,1939
The world is waiting for the sunrise -Chicago, 16 Nov 1935 -Jess Stacy Trio (Stacy, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby)
Vultee Special-Los Angeles, 20 Jan 1942 -With Bob Crosby's Band
What's new? -1939 with Bob Crosby, Teddy Grace, vocals
You're driving me crazy (solo) -June 13,1939
Bob Crosby's crew with Jess and yup, that girl singer is Doris Day (ca. 1940)
With Lee Wiley
(This one is kinda funny, 'cuz at first it's Jess on piano, then it's Teddy Wilson, then back to Jess...........but, still........lol)
Friday, February 25, 2011
Rotary Connection 1967-1971 Six LPs............
Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966. The highly experimental band was the idea of Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. Marshall was the director behind a start-up label, Cadet Concept Records, and wanted to focus on music outside of the blues and rock genres, which had made the Chess label popular. This led Marshall to turn his attention to the burgeoning psychedelic movement. He recruited Charles Stepney (producer), a vibraphonist and classically-trained arranger and producer. Marshall then recruited members of a little-known white rock band, the Proper Strangers: Bobby Simms, Mitch Aliotta, and Ken Venegas. Sidney Barnes, a songwriter within the Chess organization, also joined, as did Judy Hauff and a Chess receptionist named Minnie Riperton, who would later be successful in her own solo career. Marshall also called up prominent session musicians associated with the Chess label, including guitarist Phil Upchurch and drummer Morris Jennings.
The band released their self-titled debut album in late 1967. It had various styles, borrowing heavily from pop, rock, and soul, but was not radio friendly. The album also boasted an Eastern influence through its use of the sitar on the tracks "Turn Me On" and "Memory Band". Stepney's arrangements, brought to life by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, imbued the album with a certain dreamlike quality; this would become a trademark of both the arranger and the mouthpiece. The album proved to be a modest success within the Midwest, but failed to make an impact nationally.
The band returned in 1968 with their second and third albums, Aladdin and Peace. Aladdin found Riperton assuming a more prominent vocal role than the "background instrument" status she had on the debut. The latter was a Christmas release, with strong messages of love and understanding for a nation in the grips of Vietnam. The album's cover art was of a hippie Santa Claus. Peace was notable for being involved in controversy: an anti-war cartoon, in a December 1968 edition of Billboard magazine, featured a graphic image of a bruised and bloodied Santa on a Vietnam battlefield. Mistaking this cartoon for the album's cover art, Montgomery Ward cancelled all shipments of the album.
Rotary Connection would release three more albums: Songs, in 1969, a collection of drastic reworkings of other artist's songs, including Otis Redding's "Respect" and The Band's "The Weight"; Dinner Music in 1970, in which they added elements of folk and country into the mix along with some electronic experimentation; and Hey Love in 1971, where the band, oddly credited as the New Rotary Connection, ended its career with a jazz-oriented affair. From this particular album came "I am the Black Gold of the Sun".
After the break-up of the band, Stepney served as a producer and arranger for other artists, most notably Earth, Wind, & Fire. He died in 1976 of a heart attack. Riperton had a short successful solo career (most notably the 1975 hit "Lovin' You") until breast cancer ended her life in 1979. Barnes continued to work as a singer and songwriter, and in recent years has gained a following in the UK. The other remaining members of the band either attempted other, lower-profile, musical endeavors or divorced themselves entirely of the business. Thanks to reissues of their catalog in the late 1990s, and the appropriation of material through sampling within the hip-hop community, Rotary Connection has been formally introduced to a new generation.
"Rotary Connection" 1967
Amen
Rapid Transit
Turn me on
Pink Noise
Lady Jane
Like a rolling stone
Soul Man
Sursum Mentes
Didn't want to have to do it
Black noise
Memory band
Ruby Tuesday
Rotary Connection
Rotary Connection "Aladdin" 1968
Aladdin
I feel sorry
I must be there
I took a ride (Caravan)
Let them talk
Life could
Magical world
Paper castle
V.I.P.
Teach me how to fly
Rotary Connection "Peace" 1968
Opening round
Silent night
Christmas love
Last call for peace
Shopping bag menagerie
Silent night
Christmas child
Peace at last
Santa's little helpers
Sidewalk Santa
If peace was all we had
Silent night chant
Silence
Rotary Connection "Songs" 1969
Respect
The Weight
Sunshine Of Your Love
I Got My Mojo Working
The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
Tales Of Brave Ulysses
This Town
We’re Going Wrong
The Salt Of The Earth
Rotary Connection 1970 "Dinner music"
Pointillism
We Will Be Free
Living Alone
Lektricks #1
Country Things
Quartet
May Our Amens Be True
Stormy Monday Blues
Love Me Now
Lonely Summer
Amuse
Lektricks #2
Merry Prankster
Pump Effect
Want You To Know
The New Rotary Connection 1971 "Hey Love"
If I Sing My song
The Sea & She
I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
Hanging Round The Bee Tree
Hey, Love
Love Has Fallen On Me
Song For Everyman
Love Is
Vine Of Happiness
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