Black History Month

Okay, so I didn’t post last week. I was in Vegas, and didn’t have my wonderful Mac with me to make a list. Sorry. I doubt anyone actually noticed.

This weekend is the last weekend in February, and so I’ve decided to take advantage of Black History Month while I still can. This week’s list focuses on two things: 1)some of the great musical achievements brought by African Americans (knowing me, that of course means jazz), and also a little on actual history and some pioneering moments in black history. I didn’t really focus on modern black history or music, because I don’t really feel equipped with the knowledge or the music to do so. Deal with it.

Because this list is a little more based on history and less on music, I’m going to include an explanation for why I included each song. I hope you find it informative!

This week’s list:
1. “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin
2. “Memphis Blues” by Jim Europe’s 369th Infantry Band
3. “Charleston” by James P. Johnson
4. “West End Blues” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five
5. “Black Beauty” by Duke Ellington
6. “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” by Count Basie
7. “Manteca” by Dizzy Gillespie
8. “Rose Room” by the Benny Goodman Sextet
9. “Stardust” by Louis Armstrong
10. “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday
11. “Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus
12. “Pastime Paradise” by Stevie Wonder

And here’s why:
1. Joplin, a black man, was an excellent classical pianist, but with a generous understanding of the African folk music, which was popular among poor blacks, especially in the South. He fused the two and invented what we know as ragtime, a precursor to jazz and therefore the rest of modern music. This is a classic Joplin song.
2. Jim Europe led this all-black military band during World War I, and was immensely popular for the time. The band played the mostly-accepted style of music called blues almost exclusively, at a time when a fledgling style of music called “Jass” was gaining popularity but was mostly considered dirty and inappropriate. In addition to preparing the American public for a more swinging sound, he was among the first few black musicians to receive acclaim at a national level. Funny how no one has heard of him today, eh? This song was kind of the band’s theme song.
3. Pretty much everyone knows the tune to the popular 20’s dance, the “Charleston”. The original song was written by James P. Johnson, a major influence in early jazz, especially on the style of jazz piano. He is one of the primary inventors of the piano style known as “Harlem Stride”, exemplified beautifully in this recording.
4. Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Seven (those are names of two ensembles) recorded some truly classic and immensely influential tracks. This is one of them. It begins with a solo by Louis, “simple in its complexity and complex in its simplicity”, followed later by some mild but classic scat singing. These recordings are where “scat” began.
5. A beautiful recording from early in Ellington’s career. This is another example of Harlem Stride from another of its masters. If you don’t know who Duke Ellington is, go Google it, because I don’t have time (or space) to explain it.
6. This is THE classic song by Count Basie. Basie’s influence on modern music is only slightly less than Louis Armstrong’s, and equal with Duke Ellington.
7. Dizzy Gillespie is one of the three founders of the style of jazz called be-bop, which began in the mid-40’s (ish). Diz, sometimes known as the “spokesman” for the be-bop movement, helped to get the music out to larger and more (racially) diverse audiences. Be-bop evolved later into a style known as hard bop, from which funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and rap music were developed.
8. Benny Goodman was a white man, I know. The great thing about him was that he cared more about making good music than he did about meeting society’s expectations. This sextet featured several black musicians: Lionel Hampton on vibes, Charlie Christian on guitar, and either Fletcher Henderson (as is the case in this recording) or Teddy Wilson on piano. This drew enormous criticism, for a white man like Goodman to have the audacity to record and perform with black musicians. If I remember correctly, this is the first racially ‘integrated’ recording of music ever, made in 1939.
9. This was kind of a selfish indulgence. I love this song, especially this recording. It epitomizes the genius of Louis Armstrong, and what he did to music, and the world.

These last three are more focused on history than on music.
10. This song is about lynching of blacks in the South. It was a huge risk on her career for Billie Holiday to sing this song, but I’m glad she did. It’s incredible. I feel like it’s important enough to include the lyrics, so here they are:

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.”

Chilling, isn’t it?
11. This song is homage to who Mingus calls (jokingly) the “first, or second, or third All-American Hero”, Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas who fought the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education and mobilized the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the“Little Rock Nine” from going to a “white school”. This is a classic song in anger and frustration with racism. The lyrics:

“Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit integrated schools.

Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.”

It makes more sense if you listen. I promise.
12. This song was stolen by Coolio about twenty years later as the basis for his hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise”. The appalling thing is that Coolio changed the meaning of the song completely. Coolio was portraying the terrible conditions of life for inner-city blacks today. In this recording, however, Stevie Wonder points out many of the terrible things that have happened to his race, but with the main idea that we need to move on, that things are improving, and that with time things will continue to do so. I like that; it’s a great message of hope.

The lyrics:
“They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been wasting most their lives
Glorifying days long gone behind
They've been wasting most their days
In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me

Dissipation
Race Relations
Consolation
Segregation
Dispensation
Isolation
Exploitation
Mutilation
Mutations
Miscreation
Confirmation....... to the evils of the world

They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been looking in their minds
For the day that sorrow's gone from time
They keep telling of the day
When the Savior of love will come to stay
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me

Proclamation of Race Relations
Consolation
Integration
Verification of Revelations
Acclamation
World Salvation
Vibrations
Simulation
Confirmation....... to the peace of the world

They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
We've been spending too much of our lives
Living in a pastime paradise

Let's start living our lives
Living for the future paradise
Praise to our lives
Living for the future paradise
Shame to anyones lives
Living in a pastime paradise”

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Valentine’s Day is coming up, so naturally this week’s playlist will be devoted to this annual celebration of love and romance.

It seems to me that there are essentially three popular things to do on Valentine’s Day: 1) nothing, 2) do something extravagant though ultimately empty of real affection for the person you love, or 3) complain. Complaints are often related to the gift-giving process; men complain about having to give the perfect gift, or else face a year of grief for not being thoughtful, while women usually complain about men (a hot topic for discussion/whining in the time preceding this dreadful holiday). In this case, by the way, some women seem to think every day is Valentine’s Day.

I spent time this past week trying to decide if this week’s list should be in celebration of love, or in humiliation of it. I decided that there’s just too much potential for either idea to skip either, so I’m doing them both. In the case of the “pro-love” list, I ask you to remember that probably one in three songs ever written is about love, so I couldn’t possibly make a fully comprehensive collection into a list that could fit onto a single CD. These are some of my favorite love songs (or just generally romantic, if not actual love songs), spanning several genres.

Enjoy!

“Love Bites”:
1. Somebody Kill Me- Adam Sandler (from “The Wedding Singer”)
2. Love Bites- Def Leppard
3. Love You In Vain- Alison Krauss
4. I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor
5. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore- Duke Ellington
6. Love Song For No One- John Mayer
7. Faded Love- Patsy Cline
8. Love Hurts- Nazareth
9. Where Did Our Love Go?- The Supremes
10. You Give Love a Bad Name- Bon Jovi
11. Love Her Madly- The Doors
12. Tainted Love- Soft Cell
13. Cold As Ice- Foreigner
14. Witchy Woman- The Eagles
15. More Than a Feeling- Boston
16. I Heard It Through The Grapevine- Gladys Knight
17. Chain of Fools- Aretha Franklin
18. Don’t Miss You At All- Norah Jones
19. Solitude- Billie Holiday
20. Can’t We Be Friends?- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

Congrats to Duke Ellington for writing three (#’s 5, 18, and 19) of the the twenty songs!

“All You Need Is Love”:
1. All You Need Is Love- The Beatles
2. All The Things You Are- Ella Fitzgerald
3. (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher- Jackie Wilson
4. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)- Marvin Gaye
5. People Will Say We’re in Love- from “Oklahoma!”
6. How Deep is Your Love- Bee Gees
7. Your Song- from “Moulin Rouge”
8. Cheek to Cheek- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
9. Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You- Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons
10. The Nearness of You- Pat Metheny and James Taylor (I have five versions of this song, including versions by Ella and Louis, Sarah Vaughan, and Norah Jones; but they’re used elsewhere this week, so this is the recording I chose)
11. They Can’t Take That Away From Me- Sarah Vaughan
12. Embraceable You- Charlie Parker
13. My Girl- The Temptations
14. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me- Smokey Robinson
15. Knocks Me Off My Feet- Stevie Wonder
16. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic- The Police
17. Best of My Love- The Eagles
18. Tell Her About It- Billy Joel

Well? What do you think? Don’t you just want a copy of these CD’s sooooooo bad?

Mother Nature Never Sounded So Good!

Weather in Utah has been a little odd lately. Just when it gets warm enough for most of the snow to melt, it snows again. Then, quite suddenly, it’s warmer, and it all melts away. Due to inclement weather, and my constant longing for summer, I’ve decided to let this week’s playlist be dedicated to weather, in its many forms.

1. “It’s Raining Men” - The Weather Girls
2. “Stormy Weather”- Duke Ellington
3. “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”- Creedence Clearwater Revival
4. “Cloudburst”- Eric Whitacre
5. “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”- B.J. Thomas
6. “A Foggy Day”- Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
7. “Sunrise”- Norah Jones
8. “Summertime”- Sarah Vaughan
9. “Waiting for the Sun” -The Doors
10. “Summer Soft”- Stevie Wonder
11. “Aquarius/ Let The Sunshine In”- The 5th Dimension
12. “Summersong”- The Decemberists
13. “Sunlight”- Pat Metheny
14. “Here Comes the Sun”- The Beatles
15.“Winter Time”- Steve Miller Band
16. “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”- Lena Horne
17. “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”- Billie Holiday

I really, REALLY wish I had “Walking on Sunshine”. That’d be PERFECT for this list.

Comments?