JAMES BROWN R.I.P. 1933-2006

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I truly hope that you had a great Christmas this year – I especially hope that it was better than mine. I normally wouldn’t get personal, but events of the past few days make it difficult to avoid. As the holiday season approached, things seemed peachy, but two days before Christmas, my oldest son (age 16) started complaining about back pain. He also registered a slight ‘on-again, off-again’ fever, and the doctor detected a rattle in his breathing. He shrugged all of this off, but within 24 hours, he was sitting in the emergency ward, in extreme pain. After a few shots of morphine (!!) his pain was relieved, and they sent him home…only to discover that he was allergic to morphine, AND that the back pain returned, even worse than before, with a fever hovering over 102. He was admitted to the hospital on December 23, and he’s still there as I type this. Doctors are trying to figure out what combination of illness could bring on such a cocktail of symptoms. We’re assured he’ll be all right, and I believe them. But at this moment, he looks like hell, and his pain is tough to witness. Naturally, this set me off into a dark mood, and Christmas Eve left me feeling disconnected, confused, and worried.
With my son’s illness occupying almost all of my thoughts, I woke up Christmas morning to hear that James Brown passed away. In any other circumstance, at any other time, this would be overwhelming news. James Brown was larger than life, and a musician of huge, historic proportions. He could easily qualify as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Nevertheless, I was distracted by my own preoccupations. Even the press made little mention of it, and that is shameful. As I think about it, it is almost bizarre how little was said. I even started to doubt that it was true, thinking that maybe I made it up in a moment of negative delirium. No such luck. Although the media has not yet reflected the weight of his passing, it was not a bad dream. James Brown passed away on Christmas morning after being hospitalized for Pneumonia.
I could dedicate 24 hours of radio time to James Brown, and I would only skim the surface of his life’s work. Is there another musician alive who has had a greater influence on the state of music? Under any other circumstance, I would compile as much information as possible, and dedicate this entire week to the music of James Brown. As it is, though, I have a lot on my plate, and we only have one hour, so with this show, I will do my best to convey the musical spirit of the Godfather of Soul, and I’ll dedicate it to my son. Here’s hoping that he can get well soon, and we also hope that your holiday season is blessed with good health and happiness.
Here are songs that we hope to cover in today’s program;
1) I Got You (I Feel Good)
2) I Lost Someone
3) Bewildered
4) Prisoner of Love
5) I’ll Go Crazy (Live at the Apollo)
6) Night Train
7) Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
8) Cold Sweat
9) I Got the Feelin’

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 5 - THE BIRTH OF JAZZ

The Birth of Jazz

In the world of music, there are few topics more tricky to discuss than the birth of jazz. The reasons are simple; First of all, the subject matter is massive, making it very difficult to pull the various strains together in any fashion that makes sense. Second, there is virtually no recorded evidence from the period when it was fomenting. Luckily for us, we can sidestep both of these issues because a) our previous four shows in this series did a LOT of the set-up work to give us a decent vantage point to start from (If you’re new to this series, I highly recommend listening to shows 1-4 for a full perspective of our coverage), and b) we can fill in the gaps by discussing the history verbally, while (occasionally) presenting later recordings by the founding artists.
To convey the drastic impact and the thoroughly befuddled reaction that initially met this form of music once it crept out of New Orleans, we start with band music from the Civil War. This makes sense because the proliferation of brass bands during the war were a main impetus for New Orleans’ obsession with brass instruments. Part of the story takes place in New York City, too, so we take a sideways glance at the development of brass music there as well, most notably in the music of James Europe. In the end, though, New Orleans is the true focal point of our story, and I hope that you’ll have a reasonably clear picture of America’s indigenous art form as it comes to fruition.
Here’s a list of songs covered in today’s program;
1) Parade – from “The Civil War” film soundtrack by Ken Burns
2) I’m Coming Virginia – Ethel Waters
3) When the Pale Moon Shines – Eubie Blake
4) Charleston Rag – Eubie Blake
5) Memphis Blues – Lieut. Jim Europe’s 369th Infantry Band
6) On Patrol in No Man’s Land – Lieut. J. Reese Europe’s 369th Infantry Band
7) I’m Just Wild About Harry – Alice Fay & Louis Prima
8) The Liar – Rev. Isaiah Shelton
9) Over in Glory Land – Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band
10) Stockyard Struts – Freddie Keppard
11) (Back Home Again In) Indiana – Original Dixieland Jazz Band
12) Livery Stable Blues – Original Dixieland Jazz Band

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 4

THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC, AND INCORPORATING THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
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With today’s show, we attempt to explain just how the American ‘Popular Music’ form fell into place. Boy, oh boy is this complicated, and we hope to cover a lot of ground in one hour, so hold on to your hats, AND BE FOREWARNED! Some of the language on these songs is thoroughly inappropriate by today's standards. We believe that an ACCURATE portrayal of history is necessary if we are to learn anything from it, though, so we present these songs with no editing.
A lot of things had to fall into place for the American music scene to become established, so let’s quickly review what we’ve already covered; 1) In our first show, we displayed how the European music form, mainly through opera, kick-started the American music industry. 2) Our second show displayed how the European tradition gradually gave way to America’s own music forms, particularly the music of African slaves that eventually became America’s “Spiritual Music.” 3) Our third show covered America’s own musical developments from within, eventually bringing us to the ‘Ragtime’ era. Today, our fourth show, attempts to mold the entire morass into one messy pile, a category simply labeled “Popular.”
The most significant characteristics that caused American popular music to develop as it did are both social and technical. From a social standpoint, race relations were a major factor. African Americans playing a huge role in America’s cultural development, but until the onset of jazz music, mainstream America remained in denial of this fact. Technically, the newfound ability to distribute recorded sound caused an entire industry to develop around it. Songs were required for distribution, and facets from all three of our previous shows provided source material for the recording industry. So, give us one hour and we will do our absolute best to explain just how the America’s popular music came into being.

Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program;
1) Jump Jim Crow – Michelle Shocked
2) The Washington Post March – United States Marine Band
3) The Laughing Song – George Washington Johnson
4) Reuben Haskin’s Ride on a Cyclone Auto – Len Spencer and Harry Spencer
5) The Preacher and the Bear – Arthur Collins
6) Samuel – Bert Williams
7) Nobody – Bert Williams
8) Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk – Ada Jones and Billy Murray
9) On the 5:15 – The American Quartet with Billy Murray
10) Yankee Doodle Boy - Billy Murray (a George M. Cohan song)
11) Swanee – Al Jolson (a George Gershwin song)
12) April Showers – Al Jolson
13) Are You Lonesome Tonight? – Al Jolson


For further reference, check out the following
1) Semper Fidelis - John Philip Sousa & the U.S. Marine Band
2) Stars and Stripes Forever – Sousa’s Band
3) The Thunderer - United States Marine Band
4) The Liberty Bell – The U.S. Marine Band
5) On the Banks of the Wabash – George Gaskin
6) Arkansaw Traveler – Len Spencer
7) If I'm Going to Die, I'm Going to Have Some Fun – Arthur Collins
8) Everybody Wants a Key to My Cellar – Bert Williams
9) Eve Cost Adam Just One Bone – Bert Williams
10) When the Moon Shines on the Moonshine – Bert Williams
11) King of the Bungaloos – Gene Greene
12) Shine On Harvest Moon – Ada Jones and Billy Murray
13) Give My Regards to Broadway – Billy Murray (written by George M. Cohan)
14) Take Your Girly to the Movies – Billy Murray
15) Waiting for the Robert E. Lee – Billy Murray
16) Casey Jones – The American Quartet with Billy Murray (edit)
17) Over There – Billy Murray
18) Over There – Nora Bayes
19) How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm – Nora Bayes
20) You Made Me Love You – Al Jolson
21) Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land – Al Jolson
22) I’ve Got My Captain Working For Me Now – Al Jolson
23) Toot Toot Tootsie – Al Jolson
24) Mr. Radio Man – Al Jolson25) My Mammy – Al Jolson (edit)
26) I’m Sitting On Top of the World – Al Jolson
27) Casey Jones – The Grateful Dead
28) Casey Jones – Mississippi John Hurt
29) Arkansas Traveler – Michelle Shocked

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART3 – THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN IDENTITY

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 3

The Birth of an American Identity (Stephen Foster, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson)

In our previous edition of “How Music Changed,” we identified a path that led Europe’s musical tradition toward America’s shores. With today’s show, we will attempt to explain how America’s musical identity developed within.
For starters, you can be quite confident that the first European settlers coming to the new world were not exactly enthralled with the ‘music’ they heard from Native Americans. In almost every regard, the average European looked upon Native Americans as savages, and “Indian” music certainly was no exception. By the same token, the Pilgrims and the Puritans didn’t exactly dance there way across the Atlantic, either. For the first few hundred years after European settlement, America was a cultural abyss, especially in regard to the arts. Those fleeing Europe to avoid religious persecution brought strong ideas about the intrinsic evil of music and dance, so America’s musical development happened very, very slowly. Initially, there were little more than the religious songs published in prayer books. Interestingly, these songs eventually infiltrated the slave culture, who were usually converted to Christianity by the white culture who claimed their ownership. Naturally, the Negro slaves incorporated the European themes to their own traditions, resulting in something quite different from the staid original source. The songs that developed from this cross-cultural blend were the Negro Spirituals that we discussed in Show #2.
Another semblance of musical development began once American Expansionism began in earnest. The Louisiana Purchase had a huge effect on our musical development in two different ways. First, it attracted renegades away from the strict atmosphere of established towns and the semi-enforced religiosity that went hand in hand with that type of existence. Expansion provided the opportunity for traveling shows, and vaudeville became a common form of entertainment, along with ‘camp meetings’. Second, America obtained New Orleans, a city settled by the French, and inhabited by a multitude of ethnicities whose attitude toward music and culture was diametrically opposed to the Puritan ethic. In New Orleans, singing and dancing were considered proper, normal behavior.
Stephen Foster, a northerner who wrote songs romanticizing the southern American way of life, became the first American to earn a living through songwriting. His ideas permeated our culture from almost every facet. Free men and slaves both identified with his pastoral songs of home and hardship, and in time, his music became ubiquitous. Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a reasonably wealthy New Orleans resident who almost certainly was exposed to the music of Foster, was also exposed to the sights and sounds of Creole New Orleans. The Louisiana Purchase also happened to make Gottschalk a U.S. citizen. He published music that blended the French, Spanish, and African influences of New Orleans, adding a syncopated flair to his rhythms that made his music seem more contemporary than Foster’s. Some called it ‘banjo’ music, because it incorporated folk-styled rhythms. Others referred to his style of writing as “Cakewalk” music, because the songs served as excellent accompaniment for dance contests held by slaves, where the winner would be awarded with a cake.
Certainly, the music of Gottschalk (and, of course, Foster) would eventually find its way to the ears of a Texas-born African-American named Scott Joplin. Joplin taught himself how to play piano when a local white family allowed him access to their instrument. He eventually enrolled in the George R. Smith College for Negroes, studied formally, and began to publish his compositions. In time, his music ignited a craze for popular music that heretofore had been unknown in America. His syncopated style of piano-based melodic rhythms became known as Ragtime, and it provided the soundtrack for an entire era. Ragtime was addictive, and those who played it could easily get wrapped up in the excitement of its rhythmic ingenuity. Soon, players added their own ideas, improvising new phrases and rhythms that propelled the music even further. Some people disparagingly referred to this improvised style as ‘jass’ music, or ‘jazz’, implying a sexual underpinning to the driving force behind the rhythms (note to fans of early rock and roll - sound familiar?). A ‘swing’ feel that ‘bounced’ the notes caught on, and players like James P. Johnson took ragtime to entirely new places. By incorporating the feel of jazz onto the structural elements of ragtime, a style known as ‘stride’ rose to prominence, and it would provide much of the soundtrack for ‘the jazz age’.
Here is a list of songs from today’s show;
1) A Traditional Indian Pow-Wow – Renzel Last Horse and Kiyaksa
2) The Rivers of Babylon – The Melodians (excerpt)
3) Old Folks at Home – Paul Robeson (excerpt)
4) Oh Susannah! – The Byrds (excerpt)
5) Oh Susannah! – Taj Mahal (excerpt)
6) Camptown Races – Al Jolsen (excerpt)
7) The Banjo – Louis Moreau Gottschalk
8) Wallflower Waltz (a Cakewalk) – L.M. Gottschalk
9) Swipesy (a Cakewalk) – Scott Joplin (excerpt)
10) Solace – Scott Joplin
11) The Entertainer – Scott Joplin
12) Maple Leaf Rag (piano roll) - Scott Joplin (excerpt)
13) Maple Leaf Rag – Jelly Roll Morton
14) Carolina Shout – James P. Johnson
15) The Charleston – James P. Johnson
16) Meet De Boys on the Battlefront – Anders Osborne and “Big Chief” Monk Boudreaux

2006 – It’s All Too Much!!

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This year, I almost threw up my hands and surrendered. In the past, I had been overwhelmed by the number of significant recordings released, but this year bordered on the incredible. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most significant reason is the severe paradigm shift that has taken place in the music industry. The digitalization of music media makes it incredibly easy to access all types of music by all types of artists, and the Internet provides an infinite sea of song. At the same time, radio has grown so narrowly focused that you’re lucky if you hear anything else besides the top 10 singles. If you judged the year by radio, you might think that Fergie and Gnarls Barkley were the only two people recording in 2006. Since radio provides virtually no support for new artists, it is up to the consumer to search out music that suits his or her individual taste. I, for one, have been overwhelmed and blown away by the variety and the shear quantity of music that crossed my desk, got played on my computer or my stereo system, or got stored in my i-pod. Besides the reliable artists, I have been blindsided by some pretty weird recordings that might have obsessed me, if there was enough time to be obsessed – these days, I’m lucky if I hear a song more than twice before it gets buried under a pile of new recordings demanding my attention.
How can anybody pick their favorite recordings if the list just keeps growing and growing and growing? Any attempt to make a top 10 list for 2006 would be an effort in frustration, because there is simply way too much music that could qualify, and the variety of styles is incredible. For example, my database tells me that I obtained over 650 cd’s this year, and my i-pod tells me that I uploaded over 12,000 songs in 2006. My God, it would take me another year just to review all of it! For that reason, I’ve decided to dedicate today’s show to some of the stranger things that I’ve stumbled across, and couldn’t ignore. The songs featured today represent music that I probably never would have heard a few years ago, because it wouldn’t have been possible to gain access to all of this music. I’m avoiding the obvious choices (Gnarls Barkley, Dylan…) so I can provide air time for a few obscure gems. For one reason or another, these cd’s stand out in my memory, so perhaps you’ll find them worthwhile as well. Or not. If you’re like me, the last thing you want is more information to crowd into your cranium, but too much of a good thing can’t be a bad thing, can it? Check out these songs and make up your own mind…if you have any storage capacity left;
1) Drive-By Truckers – Gravity’s Gone (“A Blessing and a Curse”)
2) Solomon Burke – Ain’t Got You (“Nashville”)
3) Osaka Popstar – Insects (“Osaka Popstar & the American Legends of Punk”)
4) Osaka Popstar – Wicked World (“ “)
5) The Gothic Archies – The World Is a Very Scary Place (“The Tragic Treasury”)
6) The Gothic Archies – Freakshow (“ “)
7) UB40 – Things You Say You Love (“Who You Fighting For?”)
8) Def Leppard – 20th Century Boy (“Yeah!”)
9) Hymns – Brother/Sister (“Brother/Sister”)
10) Hymns – Starboat (“ “)

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 2

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- THE DEATH OF EUROPEAN TRADITION (STRAUSS, DEBUSSY, SATIE, DVORAK, BURLEIGH)
Today we start in one place, and end someplace completely different. We continue our series on “How Music Changed” in America by focusing on how serious music shifted away from its established base and started to accept American ideas, even allowing American ideas to infiltrate (ye gads!!). If you recall, our previous show focused on the birth of the recording industry, and musically, on two great tenors whose operatic abilities caused the American ‘everyman’ to become familiar with professional music. This common familiarity with professionalism is why we have a music industry today, and that is why I consider the early tenors to be extraordinarily influential on the development of American music. However, they did little to provide America with its own musical identity. Today’s show will attempt to explain the subtle shifts that took place, allowing American culture to develop an identity of its own, one that would overwhelm external forces. Next week, we will look closely at the internal influences, but for today, let’s start in Europe.
As the 20th century approaches, the mores of the music business are firmly established. Germany is the center of all serious music culture. With Beethoven and Wagner as forebears, their reputation simply overwhelms most other cultures. Opera grows more and more popular, and Italy also develops a unique identity. It is the global craze for opera that fuels composers, musicians, and vocalists, aided in its course by the newfangled ‘phonograph’ (soon to be referred to as a brand name, the ‘Victrola’). The music’s availability turns common people into ‘fans’, and a global industry is born that cannot adequately accommodate the lengthy song structures of ‘classical’ music.
Richard Strauss, a German, represents a break with the past by avoiding ‘classic’ compositional forms. Rather than symphonies, he prefers to write ‘tone poems,’ a more ‘condensed’ form of composition, but he writes plenty of operas, too. In France, a few composers are detecting a shift in styles. Claude Debussy, along with Maurice Ravel, is the most significant of the bunch, and they compose music that is drastically different from the sturm and drang of Germanic composers. Instead of writing in ‘classic’ form, they write impressionistically, relying on sensibility and subtlety for inspiration. Debussy writes a piece entitled “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn.” He writes another three-part composition called “La Mer (The Sea)”. Suddenly, the fat lady with horns on her head (Wagner’s “Valkyries”) is rendered quaint. Others are inspired and write along similar lines, including Erik Satie, who suggests a total break with tradition, and composes songs with strange impressionistic titles, such as “Desiccated Embryos” and “Trois Gymnopedie” (loosely translated as ‘Three Gymnasts’). This work would eventually have a profound influence on ambient writers like Brian Eno.
Meanwhile, in America, the country is so busy growing that the changes in Europe barely register on our popular culture. African slave culture, besides providing labor, inadvertently provides entertainment, especially when European-Americans parody their culture, notably in the songs of Stephen Foster and minstrelsy (we cover this in show #3). Looking for inspiration and a way to break from Germanic tradition, a Czech named Antonin Dvorak comes to America, and is suitably impressed by America’s own developing indigenous musical culture. However, it isn’t the ‘serious’ musicians who aped European styles that impress him, nor is it the black-faced minstrels singing “Old Black Joe” and “Old Folks at Home.” Dvorak recognized that America’s unique identity came from Native American and African American influences. Dvorak befriends an African-American musician named Harry T Burleigh, who familiarizes him with Negro spirituals and plantation songs. While Burleigh provides Dvorak with inspiration, Dvorak assists Burleigh in obtaining a publisher. Some of the first examples of authentic African American music were then published by Burleigh. Meanwhile, Dvorak uses the experience as inspiration for his 9th Symphony, commonly called the “New World Symphony.” Indeed, it was a new world, as America would subsequently become the focal point of 20th century music.


Music from today’s show includes;
1) Thus Sprach Zarathustra – Richard Strauss
2) Clair de Lune – Claude Debussy
3) Golliwog (a Cakewalk) – Claude Debussy
4) Trois Gymnopedie – Erik Satie
5) Deep River – (Negro Spiritual)
6) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Paul Robeson
7) New World Symphony – 2nd Movement – ‘Largo’ – Antonin Dvorak
8) Garth Largo – from “Largo”


FURTHER LISTENING AND SUGGESTED TRACKS;
1) Salome – Dance of the Seven Veils – Richard Strauss
2) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn – Claude Debussy
3) La Mer – Claude Debussy
4) Bolero – Maurice Ravel
5) Daphnis et Chloe – Maurice Ravel
6) Gymnopedie (as orchestrated by Claude Debussy) – Erik Satie
7) Embryons Desseches – Erik Satie
8) Music for Airports – Brian Eno
9) Go Down Moses – Paul Robeson
10) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – The Soul Stirrers, with Sam Cooke
11) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Jerry Garcia
12) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – UB40
13) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Beyonce

Mike’s Best for ‘06

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Hi folks! Not much time to write today – Heidy and I are headed off to Bali…..yes, THAT Bali, as in Indonesia. We’ll only be gone for a week, though, so there’s a lot to be done. For today’s show, engineer and friend Mike Tietjen picks a few recordings representative of his favorites for ’06. Here’s the list. Enjoy the show, and we’ll see you on the rebound…..

1) The Futureheads – Favours and Favours
2) Hidden Cameras – Hump from Bending
3) Hot Chip – Over and Over
4) Darkel – My Own Sun
5) Starlight Mints – Seventeen Devils
6) Belle and Sebastian – To Be Myself Completely
7) Yo La Tengo – The Weakest Part
8) Islands – Rough Gem

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 1 - THE GREAT TENORS

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WITH TODAY'S SHOW, WE BEGIN AN ENTIRE NEW SERIES THAT WILL BE POSTED EACH FRIDAY.
Thanks to the Observer's List of "50 Albums that Changed Music," we were inspired to create our own list. Naturally, though, we could not limit ourselves to a mere 50 entries. Furthermore, it appeared ludicrous to rate them in any order other than chronological - how can you possibly quantify the intrinsic value and historic impact of, say, Leadbelly and Ornette Coleman? Ridiculous to even try, right??? So, our list runs chronologically, and it covers the past 100 years!!!! We start (naturally) at the beginning of recorded sound. Our intent is to present 250 shows (!!!!) and we will run them in semi-chronologiical order - meaning that next week we will move to the midpoint of our list - show #126 - and then we will return with show #2, then #127.... get it?
When we are done, we hope to have presented a fully realized account of American music culture for the past 100 years.

So, then, here is a list of songs (and suggested 'bonus' tracks for further listening) from today's show;

Most Influential Artists of the Past 100 Years
#1 – 1906 - The Tenors – Enrico Caruso and John McCormack

1) Enrico Caruso – I Pigliacci/Vesta la Giubba (On with the Show)
2) Enrico Caruso – Rigoletto: La Donna e Mobile (Woman Is Fickle) (Verdi)
3) Enrico Caruso – Santa Lucia (Neapolitan Song)
4) Enrico Caruso – O Sole Mio (My Sunshine)
5) Enrico Caruso – Torna A Surriento
6) Enrico Caruso – Rossini: Tarantella Neapolitana – La Danza (2000 ReMix)
7) BONUS – Enrico Caruso – Celeste Aida
8) BONUS – Enrico Caruso – Rigoletto: Bella Figlia dell’Amore (Verdi)
9) BONUS – Enrico Caruso – Over There
10) BONUS – Enrico Caruso – La Traviata
11) John McCormack – Una Furtiva Lagrima (Donizetti)
12) John McCormack – Mother Machree
13) John McCormack – Kathleen Mavourneen
14) John McCormack – It’s a Long Way to Tipperary
15) John McCormack – She Moved Thro’ the Fair
16) John McCormack – The Star of the County Down
17) BONUS – John McCormack – The Sunshine of Your Smile
18) BONUS – John McCormack – The Irish Immigrant
19) BONUS – John McCormack – Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair
20) BONUS – John McCormack – I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen