Going places....songs about different places....

 A strange little genre hopping collection of songs about different places....

http://www.4shared.com/file/Nc_gLz2u/pl1.html

Nat King Cole Trio-(Get your kicks) on Rt. 66 (a rare studio alternate take)

Ahmad Jamal Trio-Moonlight in Vermont (a live cut)

Art Pepper-A night in Tunisia

Stray Cats-Rumble in Brighton (from the Built for Speed album)

Pete (Guitar) Lewis-Louisiana Hop (A 1952 R&B chart hit for Lewis)

Dwight Yoakam-Witchita Lineman (an excellent over of the Glen Campbell classic)

Nellie Lutcher-Lake Charles Boogie (The wonderful Ms. Lutcher's one-of-a-ind vocals and boogie piano)

Arie Shaw-Back Bay shuffle

Dinah Washington-Pacific Coast Blues (An early one you don't hear often from Ms. Washington)

The Buddy Banks Sextet-East side boogie (a late '40s cut from Banks)

Teena Marie-Harlem Blues (from the Congo Square CD-2009....Lady T still kicks ass)

Gary and the Pacemakers-Ferry Cross the Mersey (that other Brian Epstein managed Liverpool group...lol)

Charlie Parker-K.C. Blues (that's as in Kansas City K. C.)

Andy Kirk and his 12 clouds of Joy w/ Mary Lou WIlliams-Dallas Blues (an early Kirk side, featuring MLW on piano)

Mistinguett-ca c'est paris (a very early recording from the French chanteuse)

Trini Lopez-Made in Paris (some wonderful mid-60's Bacarach/David cheese, courtesy of Trini...love it)

Johnny Tyler-Oakie Boogie (classic Western Swingbilly)

Roy Eldridge w/ the Gene Krupa Orch.-Swiss Lullaby (A fun cut that starts out cheesy and then rocks, courtesy of "Little Jazz" Eldridge's trumpet, with the Gene Krupa Orch.)

Jimmy Scott-Broadway (a very different version of "Broadway"...nice arrangement)

Alison Krauss and Union Station-Oh, Atlanta (The Little Feat classic covered by AKUS)

Ben Pollack and His Park Central Orch.-Two tickets to Georgia (with Jack Teagarden....a 1930's cut)

Concrete Blonde-Walking in London (From the Cd of the same title, 1992)

Fletcher Henderson and his Orch.-I'm coming Virginia (Oh, how I'm always tempted to add a comma after the word coming....lmfao!!)

Jean Goldkette Orch.-Birmingham Bertha (a late '20s-early '30s cut from the Goldkette Orch.)

Glen Miller Orch.-Jersey Bounce

Leo Watson-Nagasaki (the original scatman himself)

Elton John-Philadelphia Freedom

Shelby Lynne-Rainy night in Georgia (a cover of the Tony Joe White classic)

Tony Joe White-Up in Arkansas

Bing Crosby w/ the Victor Young Orch.-Galway Bay

It's all in your head!! (but good head is better than no head at all) ;)

 I've been MIA lately, being the end of the school year and all....SOOOOOooooo....Today I'm giving head for free (**cheezy drum roll.......**) Here's a strange 'lil set of songs with head in the title.....enjoy!

The link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/sUmwEYmJ/head.html

The tunes:

Dean Martin-Ain't that a kick in the head (do I really need a description?? nahhh)

Marlina Mars-Head and shoulders (some fun old Northern soul fer ya)

I'm from Barcelona-Headphones (strange pop from the 29 member Swedish band)

Aimee Mann-I can't get my head around it (From "The Forgotten Arm" CD)

Mary Lou Williams-Puddin' Head Serenade (An Andy Kirk era MLW gem)

Nat King Cole Quintet-Heads (with Illinois Jacquet)

Louis Armstrong and his hot seven-Potato Head Blues (1927 recording with amazing clarinet from Johnny Dodds, and one of Louis' best solos, IMHO)

Prince-Head

India.Arie-All in my head

Kristen Vigard-Paint my head (From the self titled 1990 CD...very underated singer, IMHO)

Bill Doggett-Hammer Head (excellent sax instrumental)

Joan Armatrading-Head of the table (from her 1972 debut album)

Les Chambers-Bald headed Daddy (a singbilly classic novelty)

Morrissey-Suedehead ('cuz as much as I try to dislike him...his song stick in my head...lol)

James Brown-Headache (one of the instrumentals that you don't hear too often....good stuff)

Lucinda Williams-Wrap my head around that ('cuz nothing she does is ever less than perfect!)

Nelly/Tim McGraw-All in my head (great song from an unexpected pairing of artists)

Buddy Johnson Orch. w/ Ella Johnson-Gotta go upside your head (one of my all time favourite lyrics)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Heads will roll (from the NYC indie trio)

Kinky- The Headphonist (pure electronic genius pop from the Monterrey, Mexico based five-piece band)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe-A gospel pop gem from 1948

Wanda Jackson-Heard headed woman (Ms. Wanda being SHElvis, back in 1960...ass kicking version!!)

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson-Bald Headed Blues (one of his best R&B cuts, IMHO)

Funkadelic-You hit the nail on the head (well...you DID! LOL)

Concrete Blonde-Your haunted head (An L.A. rollercoaster ride from their self-titled 1986 debut)

Gene Kardos Orch. w/ Dick Robertson-Red Headed Baby (A popular New York territory band of the early 1930s...vocals by Robertson)

Kate Nash-Dickhead (Kinda sez it all!! from the London-based singer's 2007 CD "Made of bricks")

The Cars-Got a lot on my head (from the 1979 release "Candy-O")

Dixie Chicks-Hole in my head (from the 1999 CD, "Fly")

Indigo Girls-Lay my head down (from their 10th album, the 2006 "Despite our differences")

Matthew Sweet-All over my head ('cuz everything he releases is good to me!...from "Blue sky on Mars"...1997)

Fred Wesley and the JBs-Blow your head (BOOOOOYA!!  it kicks ass....as always!)

XTC-Ballad of Peter Pumkinhead (From Swindon's best!! 1992....."Nonesuch")

Nan Wynn-You go to my head (A 1938 recording by one of my favourite all time vocalists)

Art Pepper-You go to my head (From his 1979 release "Artworks"....brilliant!)

Japan "Live at Hammersmith Odeon" London Feb. 7, 1981

By request....Live recording by Japan, from February of 1981, at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

Link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/yu8xOr4v/hammersmith.html

Tracklist:

Swing

Gentlemen take polaroids

Alien

...Rhodesia

Quiet life

My new career

Taking islands in Africa

Methods of dance

Ain't that peculiar

Haloween

European son

Holly Palmer "Holly Palmer" 1996

If there ever was a singer that you've heard everywhere, but most likely never heard of, it would  be Holly Palmer. You've heard her singing backup for everyone...David Bowie, Gnarls Barkley, Idina Menzel....many movies you've seen have had her songs in the soundtrack...Down With love, Party of Five, Into the Blue....I could keep running a list here for quite awhile...really. An amazing singer....she is instantly recognizable, and sings comfortably in almost any genre. Four albums released, dating back to 1996...none really ever had the airplay they should've received.....truly criminal, IMHO. Today, I'm posting Palmer's debut release from 1996. I think it's out-of-print, although it may be available through her website, or for download from Amazon. This is an album that is truly worth a listen...very original, different. Palmer's songwriting is nearly as impressive as her voice. At the time of it's release, I remember thinking how much it stood out from anything that was released that year. I still love it. 

Link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/5f_avHcr/hollypa.html

Tracklist:

Five little birds

Scandinavian ladies

Different languages

Come lie with me

Lickerish man

Wide open spaces

Sal the gardener

The three of us

Fourteen year old moment

Oxblood 2x4s

Safety belt

Tony Joe White "Continued" 1969

 Here is the 1969 album, "Continued", by Tony Joe White. This is his second album. Produced by the acclaimed Billy Swan, it includes his original version of 'Rainy Night In Georgia', a huge hit for Brook Benton & covered by many including Hank Williams Jr., Shelby Lynne & Randy Crawford. Also Includes two bonus tracks never before released on an album, 'Watching The Trains Go By' and the single version of 'Old Man Willis'.

http://www.4shared.com/file/GpCL1EmP/tony2.html

Elements and things

Woodpecker

Rainy night in Georgia

For Le Ann

Old Man Willis

Woman with soul

I want you

I thought I knew you well

The migrant

BONUS TRACKS:

Watching the trains go by

Old Man Willis

Wayne Shorter "Speak no Evil" 1964

Wayne Shorter's compositions helped define a new jazz style in the mid-'60s, merging some of the concentrated muscular force of hard bop with surprising intervals and often spacious melodies suspended over the beat. The result was a new kind of "cool," a mixture of restraint and freedom that created a striking contrast between Shorter's airy themes and his taut tenor solos and which invited creative play among the soloists and rhythm section. The band on this 1964 session is a quintessential Blue Note group of the period, combining Shorter's most frequent and effective collaborators. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones merge their talents to create music that's at once secure and free flowing, sometimes managing to suggest tension and calm at the same time. --Stuart Broomer/Amazon.com

Not much more to say, really. Sometimes it's hard to see Shorter as a composer, or as a sax player for me. Equally groundbreaking in both areas....this is an amazingly good record. It hasn't aged badly at all....I think still that it is one of his best recordings, and also that it is a necessity for any serious collection of jazz.

http://www.4shared.com/file/5WBYYXFy/speak.html

Whitch Hunt

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum

Dance Cadaverous

Speak no Evil

Infant Eyes

Wild Flower

Baden Powell "Tristeza on guitar" 1966

 One of the Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell's best recordings, IMHO. A 1966 collaboration with Joachim Berendt. Truly a necessity for anyone into Brazilian music, Powell bridges the gap between technical artistry in classical playing, and popular Bossa nova and afro samba. Amazing record...finally back in print.

http://www.4shared.com/file/uAIfeI0C/baden.html

Tristeza

Canto de Xangô

'Round About Midnight

Saravá

Canto De Ossanha

Manha De Carnaval

Invencão Em 7½

Rosas

Som Do Carnaval

O Astronauta

A 'lil set for summer....

Just a little set of songs  celebrating summer....enjoy!

Here's the link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/2eiopzMp/summer.html

Here's the list:

Prince-Sex in the summer

James Otto-Groovy little summer song

Kenny Chesney-Summertime

Ben Folds Five-Where's summer B?

Keith Urban-'Til summer comes around

Issac Hayes-Summer in the city

Luis Bacalov-Sumertime killer

Rod Stewart-Last summer

Diana King-Summer breezes

Stray Cats-lonely summer nights

Mungo Jerry-In the summertime

Icy Demons-Summer samba

The Who-Summertime blues-Live

The Motels-Suddenly last summer

Andy Partridge-Summer hot as this

Will Smith-Summertime

Elvis Costello-Other side of summer

Dave Clark Five-Here comes summer

Isley Brothers-Summerbreeze

Shaggy-Summertime

Baden Powell "Tristeza"

A little preview of today's post.....Baden Powell "Tristeza on guitar" 1966.....

The Who "The Who Sings My Generation" 1965

1965...The Who.....1st album....still excellent....'nuff sed..... ;)

Here ist der link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/o_JyHMkK/who__2_.html

and here is the track list:

Out in the street

I don't mind

The good's gone

La la la lies

Much too much

My generation

The kids are alright

Please, please, please

It's not true

The ox

A legal matter

Instant party (circles)

Mary Lou Williams "St. Martin De Porres-Black Christ of the Andes" 1963

Here is where sacred jazz originated. After MLW's conversion to Catholicism, she withdrew  from the concert stage, and focused for the next decade or so on her growing spirituality. When she returned to music, the music reflected where she was at in her life....the music here is deeply spiritual and personal.

Here's a review from allaboutjazz.com:

Calling this album mainstream is a bit misleading, since it includes four pieces of choral/sacred music and one avant garde cut. In a way, it's the perfect mirror of where Mary Lou Williams was in the early 1960's, coming out of a nearly ten year absence from performance. At the beginning of that period she had devoted herself solely to religion and charitable work. Jazz-loving priests within the Catholic church convinced her to convey her religious feelings through what she did best: performing, composing, and arranging. Here we have some of the beautiful results.
The hymn “St. Martin de Porres” celebrates the life of a recently-canonized Peruvian patron saint of interracial justice, complete with modern jazz harmonies and rhythm patterns, ascending and descending chromatics and falls, with a brief, simple Latin piano interlude. The very hip jazz waltz ”Anima Christi” has the usual strong bass line of a Mary Lou Williams tune, here doubled by Budd Johnson on bass clarinet.
Vocal soloist Jimmy Mitchell reminds me of a higher-pitched Lou Rawls. Grant Green's clean, hip, tasty blues licks flavor the piece throughout. “Praise the Lord” brings together inspired gospel and the feeling of a great jam session, with swing era vet Budd Johnson wailing on tenor sax. Jimmy Mitchell quietly raps. By the time he sings “Everybody clap your hands now,” you'll be doing that or moving your body in some fashion.
Exploration was the hallmark of Mary Lou's career. Here she takes the journey into rhythms and deeply into the blues. At times her playing is very spare but deeply felt. “A Fungus A Mungus” takes the listener in a polytonal direction, hinting at her later interest in Cecil Taylor. 

Here is the link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/cETLyh_X/desporres.html

Here is the track list:

St Martin De Porres

It ain't necessarily so

The devil

Miss D.D.

Anima Christi

A grand night for swinging

My blue heaven

Dirge Blues

A fungus A mungus

Koolbonga

Forty-Five degree angle

Mary Lou Williams "Zoning" 1974

This 1974 release by MLW is a revelation of all that makes Williams so unique...this is a woman who has been part of jazz since nearly the beginning. As a performer, writer and arranger, she knew and played with everyone...had performed in and ushered in every stylistic change in the genre since the 1920s. All of it shows up in her style of these later years....ageless, yet so contemporary. Meditative and spiritual bluesy....incredibly funky, yet deeply zen and spacious....as always, ever present, is that thunderously beautiful left hand of her on the keyboard.....beautiful record....beautiful.

Here is the link:

http://www.4shared.com/file/a4orMuAf/mlw.html

Here's the track list:

Intermission

Holy Ghost

Zoning Fungus II

Ghost of love

Medi II

Gloria

Rosa Mae

Olinga

Praise the Lord

Play it momma

Medi I

An excellent link to the very first episode of NPR's "Piano Jazz" w/ Marian McPartland...1978...her first guest was Mary Lou Williams...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126537497

A great audio link to the very first episode of "Piano Jazz" w/ Marian McPartland, on NPR, in 1978....the guest was Mary Lou Williams.....nice.

Mary Lou Williams "Mary Lou's Mass"

This is a long time favourite.....a recording that I return to often, both as a Catholic...and as fan of Mary Lou Williams.....enjoy.

By John Seroff Smithsonian Folkways July/August 2005

Over the course of her nearly 60-year career, Mary Lou Williams was like a Swiss army knife of jazz, having a go at just about every movement between ragtime and free jazz. This lifelong musical exploration culminated in a devotion to ecclesiastical music; most of her later recordings are spiritually informed (Black Christ of the Andes and Zoning, two other excellent recent Smithsonian Folkways reissues, are excellent examples). Williams' spirituality awakening happened most suddenly in 1954 when, at the age of 44, she walked off a Parisian stage in the middle of a performance, disappeared for three years and reemerged as a confirmed Catholic who would spend much of the rest of her life spreading the twin gospels of music and the Lord. These two passions meet to great effect on Mary Lou's Mass, a long out-of-print, papally commissioned suite that showcases some of Williams' most personal and mature work.

Blending late-'60s funk, show-tune quality cabaret singing and biblical scripture, Mass is often shocking in its commingling of styles: "Lamb of God" is Williams' successful attempt at writing a modern Gregorian chant; "Lazarus" uncannily juxtaposes a jaunty guitar melody over bassist Carline Ray's vocalese retelling of the scripture; "It Is Always Spring" sets inspired back-and-forth play between Williams' piano and soloist Roger Glenn's flute underneath Leon Thomas' wordless yodeling. Some of the songs represent more genre-homogenous explorations, such as the authentic Southern gospel flavor of "The Lord Says" or the rousing bop of "Willis," but every take snaps with innovation and life. This sumptuous and richly annotated rerelease is long overdue and utterly praiseworthy.

Here is the link to Mary Lou's Mass:

http://www.4shared.com/file/yxggXSii/mass.html

Here  is a tracklisting:

Willis

O.W.

Praise the Lord

Old Time Spiritual

The Lord says

Act of Contrition

Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy)

Gloria

Medi I and Medi II

In his day/Peace I leave with you/Alleluia

Lazarus

Credo

Credo (instrumental)

Holy, Holy Holy

Amen

Our Father

Lamb of God

It is always Spring

People in trouble

One

Praise the Lord (Come Holy Spirit)

Jesus is the best

Tell him not to talk too long

I have a dream

Mary Lou Williams, 'Perpetually Contemporary'

 I'm posting this as a preview of some of Mary Lou's music that will be uploaded soon :) stay tuned!!

From the  July 27, 2007 NPR profile

Mary Lou Williams, 'Perpetually Contemporary'

Getty Images Mary Lou Williams

July 25, 2007 - Composer, arranger and pianist Mary Lou Williams achieved and maintained a status that many women in jazz found elusive: unwavering respect from male colleagues who regarded her as a musical equal.
A swinging, percussive player, Williams was a major force in the development of Kansas City swing in the 30s, deeply involved in the bebop revolution of the 40s, and had a great influence on pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. Whether working with big bands or with her own small groups, Williams' music was always adventurous and she was an innovator, not afraid to stretch out and try new things.
She was born Mary Louise Scruggs (later Burley) in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1910, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Williams began to play piano at the tender age of six. By the time she was 16, she was already in demand and played with many big-name bands as they passed through town. Williams explored the entire school of music, from boogie-woogie and swing into bebop and modern jazz, and became one of the most important female figures in the history of instrumental jazz.
In 1927, she married saxophonist John Williams and went on the road with his band, ending up in Kansas City. There, her husband joined Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy and later, so did Williams. As chief arranger and pianist for Kirk, Williams was immortalized in the song, "The Lady Who Swings the Band." She also wrote arrangements for Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, and Jimmie Lunceford, whose band helped make Williams' composition "What's Your Story, Morning Glory" a hit. Later, in 1945, she recorded "Zodiac Suite," her first extended work.
In 1963, weaving her newfound religious interest into her music, she made the album "Black Christ of the Andes." In the 1970s, with "Mary Lou's Mass," Williams mingled the vocabulary of jazz with elements of rhythm and blues, spirituals and gospel music. Williams' willingness to keep her music fresh, and her openness to modern approaches, led to a collaboration with avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor: a special two-piano concert at Carnegie Hall in 1977, which they titled "Embraced."
Mary Lou Williams' career spanned more than a half-century, and she created music full of everlasting beauty, inspiration and surprise. "You know, somebody said that jazz is the sound of surprise?" said David Baker. "Who better epitomizes that throughout her career than Mary Lou Williams."
Her achievements as a composer, arranger, and bandleader earned her the highest level of respect from her peers. Even today Williams is, simply, one of our greatest treasures.

Here is the radio program.....excellent listening