The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

[Rudy]

Here's a good one--thanks to Pandora for uncovering the track "Almendra". This is Colombian bandleader Germán Villareal's Mambo Big Band, the album Con Permiso De Mis Mayores.




Here is a playlist ("Almendra" is towards the end). Has a strong Tito Puente vibe on some tracks, even covering two of Puente's better known tracks "Mambo Te Vea" and "Ran Kan Kan." 2007 recording--hard to find these days!

 

[AM Matt]

Now playing, Barenaked Ladies latest CD "Fake Nudes". Also they are going to the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame & Steven Page will also join in at the Juno Awards this late March on CBC (first televised Junos since March 2002). Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Harry]

I found a copy of FABLES (SP-4350 by England Dan & John Ford Coley on Discogs for not a lot of money. It arrived this past week and I spent some time digitizing it. It's a really nice album and was in very nice shape. It hardly needed much cleanup at all.

This is the album from which the single I mentioned up-thread ("Simone") hails.

One factor in this album not doing well might have been its artwork. Designed to look like it was printed on parchment, the front cover is not all that attractive in its 12x12 size with a faded, grainy photo.

The rear is even worse as it has the tracklisting and credits in a nearly unreadable cursive font in a darker brown on lighter brown background, with a picture underneath!

But the album sounds great with some catchy tunes that really could have at least gotten some airplay.

 

[Rudy]

Trying to sort some server issues, so I'm sticking to my Pandora Fusion Mashup station...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Jeez, that ED&JFC album is one of the worst covers ever. How could the art department have approved that? The picture on the back not only makes the unreadable type all the more unreadable, but would have been a huge sales turnoff as well.

The "best of the A&M years" LP that came out after they got popular had a nice cover, as I remember. I don't have that album anymore but wish I did.

Saw them in concert once -- it was when they'd tried to "beef up" their sound a little bit by doing more rock-ish tunes like "Hollywood Heckle & Jive," so they put on a good, energetic show.

We also had Dan Seals on our stage here at the Roxy about 12 years or so ago for a concert, and he did an outstanding job with his two-piece band.

 

[Harry]

Art Direction: Roland Young
Album Design: Chuck Beeson

Both are A&M stalwarts.

 

[DeeInKY]

Kinda rolled back to my teen years today. Listening to Canned Heat and Jefferson Airplane. Then on my way to the “alternate location” found an old time country show on radio and got treated to some Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Driving around in the rain tonight listening to “Midnight Sun.” I love Herb’s “unplugged” version of “A Taste of Honey!”

 

[Rudy]

Still a favorite! Basie's charts were written by Quincy Jones here.

 

[gameenjoyer]

This seems to be the place to ask about this. I was in a thrift store recently and found a hit compilation by a trumpet player named Al Hirt. Pure impulse purchase, as I wasn't familiar with the guy at all, but figured, hey, probably an Alpert wannabe/impersonator, so it should be worth the $2 I'm paying for it. I've already listened to it, and it was decent, though I feel the guy relied a bit much on technical mastery and showing off at times and too many of the tracks seemed more dominated by vocals than I feel they should have been if the trumpet player is supposed to be the real star. But I digress.

So, was he just an attempt by RCA to cash in on the TJB's popularity? Did he predate Alpert's period of relevance? The CD doesn't have much for dates of the recordings in it. And going off of tracks I recognize wouldn't help either, as I'd only ever heard the first track before, and that on a radio station that doesn't bother to announce what it's playing.

 

[Rudy]

Al Hirt was a very popular trumpet player and entertainer based out of New Orleans--he was way outside the TJB phenomenon, in other words. He started recording in the mid 50s. His biggest album was Honey In The Horn featuring the #4 hit single "Java"; both were million sellers. "Cotton Candy" and "Sugar Lips" are two other hits he is known for. He also recorded the theme song to the mid 60s television show "The Green Hornet" (which was written by famed arranger/composer Billy May). He played Dixieland music earlier in his career and headed for a pop instrumental approach from the mid 60s onward. (One of his really great and well-recorded Dixieland-styled albums is Our Man in New Orleans on RCA, which was the album directly preceding Honey In The Horn. Both were available as a two-fer CD.) He also opened his own jazz club in the early 1960s (which stayed open for 20 years) and was also a part owner of the New Orleans Saints.

"Java" IMHO is a killer track, with that great RCA sound to it, and shows off Hirt's full-bodied trumpet tone quite well. The rest of the Honey In The Horn album does have some vocals on it, but that was pretty much the style back then. Pete Fountain's album A Taste of Honey (on Coral Records) is actually similar in style with the vocals (except, of course, Fountain played the clarinet); ironically the title track is done with the uptempo Alpert arrangement filtered through the New Orleans style.

A cuppa Java...



And some Honey to go with it...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Thanks for posting "Java," I haven't heard that in many a year. We had that album around the house -- my mom really liked Al Hirt but for some reason has never been much of a Tijuana Brass fan.

What I find interesting is Al Hirt's trumpet sound compared with Herb's. It's amazing how the same instrument can sound so different depending on who's playing it.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Harry - the Amazon link at the bottom of the Corner site is showing me an album "The Very Best of John Ford Coley" which includes re-recordings of most of the ED&JFC hits, and also has a nice version of "Simone" on it. It's kind of an "unplugged" version with just guitar and piano.

 

[Rudy]

What I find interesting is Al Hirt's trumpet sound compared with Herb's. It's amazing how the same instrument can sound so different depending on who's playing it.

Oh definitely! Then compare Hirt and Alpert (who has a softer tone) to Maynard Ferguson, who has a much thinner tone and plays in much higher registers. Three completely different sounds! I know the mouthpiece plays a part in it (especially Ferguson, who used what some in our band used to call a "screech" mouthpiece in order to hit the high notes) and the horn a smaller part, but most of it is the player's approach to the horn.

It's often said that, say, Miles Davis would sound like Miles Davis on any horn he picked up, whereas any trumpeter playing Davis' horn would not sound like Miles Davis.

Al Hirt obviously used a ton of "breath support" behind his notes--that is how he produced such a full tone. It's a hard concept to describe, but my own woodwind teacher used to feign giving me a punch in the gut while playing, which would cause the abdomen to tighten up. If you know that feeling, you've "gotten" the concept. That same abdominal tightness is what creates that breath support which produces a very full and powerful sound.

 

[DeeInKY]

Haven’t heard “Java” in forever.

Al was a major dude in more ways that one.

 

[Bobberman]

Oh definitely! Then compare Hirt and Alpert (who has a softer tone) to Maynard Ferguson, who has a much thinner tone and plays in much higher registers. Three completely different sounds! I know the mouthpiece plays a part in it (especially Ferguson, who used what some in our band used to call a "screech" mouthpiece in order to hit the high notes) and the horn a smaller part, but most of it is the player's approach to the horn.

It's often said that, say, Miles Davis would sound like Miles Davis on any horn he picked up, whereas any trumpeter playing Davis' horn would not sound like Miles Davis.

Al Hirt obviously used a ton of "breath support" behind his notes--that is how he produced such a full tone. It's a hard concept to describe, but my own woodwind teacher used to feign giving me a punch in the gut while playing, which would cause the abdomen to tighten up. If you know that feeling, you've "gotten" the concept. That same abdominal tightness is what creates that breath support which produces a very full and powerful sound.

I agree and All these Horn Giants have their own uniqueness in their sound I'm glad I own CDd's by not only Herb But also Maynard ( mostly late 70s early 80s period) and Al hirt was another great player which i was introduced to via my mom's Record collection The Best of Al hirt from 1965 was my introduction followed by the 1974 album "Raw Sugar .Sweet Sauce.Banana Puddin. Perhaps that one was his answer to Herb's Lonely Bull Which is covered on that aforementioned Album and fortunately I was able to get it on CD definitely worth having as it appears to have been his last album maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Rudy]

Haven’t heard “Java” in forever.

Al was a major dude in more ways that one.

AKA "The Round Mound of Sound" and "Jumbo." No, I couldn't make up anything like that. Honey has a rather unfortunate photo on the back side, though--it shows Hirt holding the trumpet, covered in sweat, looking as though he's in the middle of a bad case of heartburn. Cover art fail? Doesn't show up too good here, but...

 

[DeeInKY]

That's an awful picture. He just looks ill.

 

[Rudy]

Heartburn In The Horn?

 

[AM Matt]

Al Hirt's remake of the late Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" is a great remake!! Can't find it on YouTube though. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Mike Blakesley]

It's often said that, say, Miles Davis would sound like Miles Davis on any horn he picked up, whereas any trumpeter playing Davis' horn would not sound like Miles Davis.

Not just wind instruments either.... I have long been fascinated with Elton John's piano sound. You can just tell it's him by the way his playing sounds, and it's not just the chords and notes. I always thought it was the particular brand or type of piano he played, or maybe Gus Dudgeon's production, but then I read an interview with somebody (can't remember who) and he was talking about various keyboard players, and said Elton has a particular sound because he just bangs on the keys. He said, "I never saw anybody play the piano with that much force, even on a ballad."

 

[Rudy]

So I've been spinning this one the past few days, thanks to our Al Hirt discussion earlier. Our Man in New Orleans, from 1962.



Notable names present include arrangements by the great Marty Paich, Al's brother Jerry Hirt on trombone, Pee Wee Spitelera on clarinet, Ronnie Dupont on piano, Lowell Miller on bass, and Frank Hudec on drums. (The brass/big band section is uncredited, far as I can tell.) This one is a rollicking, free-wheeling New Orleans party from end to end. A great "feel good" album!

 

[Murray]

Notable names present include arrangements by the great Marty Paich, Al's brother Jerry Hirt on trombone, Pee Wee Spitelera on clarinet, Ronnie Dupont on piano, Lowell Miller on bass, and Frank Hudec on drums. (The brass/big band section is uncredited, far as I can tell.) This one is a rollicking, free-wheeling New Orleans party from end to end. A great "feel good" album!

What a fantastic name for a wind player! I remember how much I hated having to swab the spit out of my clarinet ... disgusting, but not nearly as disgusting as the brass guys opening their spit valves, and blowing it all over the floor!

 

[Rudy]

What a fantastic name for a wind player! I remember how much I hated having to swab the spit out of my clarinet ... disgusting, but not nearly as disgusting as the brass guys opening their spit valves, and blowing it all over the floor!

Funny thing is, that is Joe Spitelera's real last name.

Flutes don't use a swab, but they come with a rod, through which you thread a cloth similar to a handkerchief, then use that to dry out the insides. Saxes usually have nothing (although a bari and bass both have a spit valve, same as the brass instruments, in the curved part just beyond the neck), but you can buy a long rod-type thing with yarn-like threads on it that swabs the inside when you store it, replacing the neck cap.

Wind instruments...yes, they can be messy.

 

[DeeInKY]

The brass/big band section is uncredited, far as I can tell.

Sidemen don’t get no love...

I think my clarinet just gathers “humidity” except for the mouthpiece. I wonder if bagpipe players have that problem? It would be like wrestling with a damp octopus.

 

[Rudy]

I think my clarinet just gathers “humidity” except for the mouthpiece.

Eww, that reminds me of first and second year band classes, when some of our classmates would get that bubbly sound because they had too much spit on the reed in the mouthpiece. That and slap-tonguing.

I wonder if bagpipe players have that problem? It would be like wrestling with a damp octopus.