The Birth of Soul Reviewed

This three-disc album is arranged chronologically covering the period from 1952-1959.

Disc 1

The first five tracks on Disc are vocalized with big band orchestration. The first three are smooth and jazzy. Starting with track 4, Jumpin' in the Morning, the sound becomes less smooth and more R&B.

Tracks 6 through 17 feature smaller, rhythmic R&B sounding bands. These tracks are bluesy, becoming more and more intense, bringing in gospel elements toward the end of the disc.

My favorite Ray Charles is the blues singer. My favorite track on this disc is # 8, Sinner's Prayer, featuring a great blues band, Ray's piano, and a gospel-charged soulfulness. Here is an older Ray Charles singing and playing this song with B.B. King.


Disc 2

Disc 2 is the heart of this album. The blues/gospel fusion is well developed, and Charles' voice is amazing with an inner lightness under the grit.

I have a lot of favorite tracks from this disc, but the first (track 18), I Got a Woman, is a must-listen. It is a Ray Charles original, based on a gospel tune, but I thought it was a traditional blues when I first heard it. Come Back Baby, track 20, sounds very gospel to me, slow, rhythmic, and intense with gospel shouting, and Hard Times, track 23, sounds very bluesy. Starting with track 26, Drown in My Own Tears, another soulful favorite of mine, Ray's back up singers, the Raylettes, first appear. Hallelujah I Love Her So, track 27, is a Ray Charles hallmark, here in a youtube of a rare 1955 live performance.

Disc 3

Here there are fewer Ray Charles originals, a general smoothing out of the grit, and evidences of a more commercial sound. Track 36, Swanee River, is cute, a soul-ish version of a classic with an R&B beat. Tracks 37-39 are straight R&B to my ears. Track 40, I Want a Little Girl, is to the tune of This little Light of Mine, and has a commercialized R&B sound. My track picks from disc 3 are track 44, Tell the World About You and Track 50, What'd I Say, seen here in a remarkable 1963 performance.

Happy New Year everyone! I plan to spend the holiday listening to Ray's Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, number 104 on the Rolling Stone Magazine list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The Genius: Ray Charles and the Birth of Soul

The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings 1952-1959 by Ray Charles made the number 53 spot of Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of the top 500 albums of all time.

On listening to all three discs in this collection for the first time, the greatness was not in question, but the quality that stood out most for me was the fluidity of Ray Charles' performances. He seems the easy master of every style from jazz to pop to r&b to pre- rock and roll, and especially the blues. In his liner notes for this album,* Robert Palmer also notes Charles' versatility, calling him "...[a] musical polymath, blender and creator of of idioms, setter of styles and trends...." According to Palmer, around Atlantic Records they took to calling him The Genius.

But what about this "birth of soul" business? Soul music is variously defined as a mixture of blues and gospel and, more often, as a mixture of rhythm and blues and gospel. Soul music tends to be grittier and more emotionally intense than typical R&B, and uses gospel devices like call and response and the gospel choir (ie: the backup singers). Since the 1960s, what is called soul music has diversified quite a bit, according to allmusic, but in the 1950s of Ray Charles' creative flowering, he is credited with bringing gospel fervor to the blues and creating soul music.

Charles himself describes the process, as quoted by Robert Palmer: "There was a crossover between gospel music and the rhythm patterns of the blues, which I think came down through the years from slavery times....But when I started doing things that would be based on an old gospel tune I got criticism from the churches, and from musicians too. They thought it was sacrilegious or something....But I kept doing it, and eventually...the people started saying I was an innovator."

Next time, I'll go through the discs with my comments and Youtube links to give you a taste of this genius.

* This 3 disc set is available at our library, but Robert Palmer's liner notes are missing. They can be found in the Robert Palmer collection Blues and Chaos, not in our collection but available through our library system.

Josh Groban on the Big Screen

Saturday, December 19 at 2:00 pm

Don't miss this concert filmed in Pasadena and backed by a symphonic orchestra. Groban's debut album, Josh Groban, was released in November 2001. Over the next year, Groban became a star. His album went double platinum, and he had his own PBS special in November 2002. This is the PBS concert featuring the following selections:

1. Alla Luce Del Sole
2. You're Still You
3. Vincent (Starry Starry Night)
4. Gira Con Me Questra Notte
5. Un Amore Per Sempre
6. Alejate
7. Broken Vow
8. To Where You Are
9. Cinema Paradiso (se)
10. For Always (song from A.I. - John Williams Conducting)
11. Home to Stay
12. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
13. Canto Alla Vita
14. The Prayer (featuring Angie Stone)
15. Let Me Fall (from Cirque du Soleil)

R&B & Soul Album Playlist

Following the lead of young Angela, the creator of a Five Year Crash Course in Music, I made a list of (take a deep breath) the 30 best R&B & Soul albums from 1952 to 1993. I hasten to add that any such list is arbitrary and leaves a lot out, but I wanted to give myself, and possibly you, a crash course in pop music history, focusing on one genre.

Again following the lead of Ang, I consulted the Rolling Stone Magazine list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. There, after eliminating all the rock, I was left with a list of about 45 albums containing many by Stevie Wonder, quite a few by James Brown, just about all that Otis Redding ever made, and some others. While I agree about Otis Redding, I only wanted to sample one album, hopefully the best, by each artist. So putting together the Rolling Stone list with the genre lists at Allmusic, I came up with my own R&B & Soul Album Playlist. I wound up with 29 artists, so to round the list off to 30 I added Wilson Pickett because I like him. (PS: I hope you click on the links above, especially the Allmusic, one which is crammed with information.)

Here is the list, in rough chronological order:

Ray Charles (genre) (Soul) (album) The Birth of Soul

Fats Domino (New Orleans/R&B) Walking to New Orleans

Etta James (R&B) At Last

Jackie Wilson (Chicago Soul) Mr. Excitement

Sam Cooke (Soul) Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963

The Drifters (Soul) Under the Boardwalk

James Brown (Soul/Funk) Live at the Apollo 1963

Smokey Robinson (Soul/Motown) Going to a GoGo

The Supremes (Soul/Motown) Where Did Our love Go?

The Temptations (Soul/Motown) The Temptin' Temptations

Aretha Franklin (Soul/Urban) I Never Loved a Man Like I Love You

Dr. John (R&B/New Orleans) GrisGris

Otis Redding (Soul/Southern) Otis Blue

Sly & the Family Stone (Funk) Fresh

Ike & Tina Turner (Funk/Soul) Proud Mary: The Best of Ike & Tina Turner

Lou Rawls (Soul/Philly) The Best of Lou Rawls

Marvin Gaye (Soul/Motown) What's Going On?

Wilson Pickett (Soul/Southern) The Exciting Wilson Pickett

Stevie Wonder (Soul/Funk/Motown) Innervisions

Al Greene (Soul) Greatest Hits

Curtis Mayfield (Chicago Soul/Funk) Superfly

Earth, Wind and Fire (Funk/Soul/Urban) Gratitude

Gladys Knight (Soul/Motown/Urban) Imagination

Michael Jackson (Motown/Urban) Off the Wall

Funkadelic (R&b/Funk) One Nation Under a Groove

Whitney Houston (R&B) Whitney Houston

Janet Jackson (R&B) Rhythm Nation 1814

Mary J. Blige (R&B/Urban) My Life

D'Angelo (Soul/Neo-Soul) Brown Sugar

Toni Braxton (Contemp. R&B) Toni Braxton

Please let me know if I've left off anyone important, or if you have an alternate album choice. It was Ang's 60s list headed by Aretha Franklin that set me off on this soulful path. I've listened to her album, but I think I'll come back to it, since I want to start at the top chronologically. I'll listen to and comment on at least some of the albums and artists, and discuss the genre definitions along the way. On to Ray Charles then.

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

We interupt R&B...

...to bring you news from another part of the music world. This week the Country Music Association (CMA) passed out awards during its annual showcase which was televised on Veterans Day, November 11.

Here are this year's winners:

Entertainer of the Year: Taylor Swift (of course)

Song of the Year: "In Color" (Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller, James Otto)

Single of the Year" "I Run to You" (Lady Antebellum)

Album of the Year: Fearless (Taylor Swift)

Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad Paisley

Female Vocalist of the Year: Taylor Swift

Vocal Duo of the Year: Sugarland

Vocal Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum

Musician of the Year: Mac McAnally

New Artist of the Year: Darius Rucker

Music Video of the Year: Love Story (Taylor Swift)

Here are some You Tube links:

Taylor Swift, Love Story
Lady Antebellum, I Run to You
Jamey Johnson with Keith Urban, In Color Don't miss this one.
Sugarland, Keep You Another great performance. What a voice!
Darius Rucker on Letterman Formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish

Best Of Lists and a Jazz Offering

A Five Year Crash Course in Music

Recently, I discovered a great idea while searching for musical ideas and news on line. A young British woman named Ang (short for Angela) is compiling lists of the 52 best pop music albums of every decade starting with the 60s. She proposes to listen to one album each week and post video and written reviews when she has digested the music by listening to the album at least five times. Here is a link to her blog in the section where she explains how she selected her album candidates. You can click through to see her lists for the 60s and 70s and the reviews she has posted so far. You can also follow her on Facebook.

So far Ang has posted her 60s and 70s list. Rather than her reviews, I am most interested in her selections. I am very tempted to follow her idea and listen to all of the top albums. In fact I started the process by listening to the first selection on Ang's 60s list: Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You, her first album on the Atlantic label.

In hearing Aretha at her best, I got interested in the definition and evolution of R&B and Soul music, a genre that I know little about except for what everyone hears on the radio. I am toying with idea of going through Ang's selections in this genre and perhaps researching some selections of my own. In any case, you will be hearing more about Aretha Franklin and this seminal album that began her rise to become Queen of Soul and one of the biggest music stars of all time.

Jazz on a Summer's Day

Meanwhile, join us in the large meeting room on the first floor of the library for a unique experience. On Saturday, November 21 at 2:00 PM we will be showing Jazz on a Summer's Day, a day in the life of the Newport Jazz festival of 1958. This is a true work of visual and musical art which mixes scenes of an idyllic summer on the water with jazz performances from the festival. This film captures a lost America and presents classic performers like Anita O'Day and Louis Armstrong in their prime. This ends our jazz offerings for a while (Fall is for jazz), so don't miss this large screen showing.

Time for Jazz

Coming soon, on Saturday October 10 at 2:00 pm, is one of the most unique and touching music documentaries you will ever see. Although it contains some rare performance footage, it is mainly a loving tribute to the men (and women, although there are fewer of them) who made jazz.

A Great Day in Harlem , a 1994 Oscar-nominated film documents the story behind the Summer day in 1985 when freelance photographer Art Kane gathered 57 jazz greats for a group portrait. The film highlights such seminal artists as Dizzy Gillespe, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, and Gerry Mulligan. This film captures the past, or as the film's web site describes it:

"A Great Day in Harlem captures the spirit of an era when New York City was the center of the jazz world, when music history was constantly being made, and when creativity was fostered by an intense and nurturing community of musicians and fans. It was indeed a great day when musicians met and joked with friends, family, and community residents - in one instance even blowing a few jazz riffs - on a side street in Harlem in 1958. Like the photograph it documents, A Great Day in Harlem is a vivid portrait of a unique community."

RIP Mary Travers, the heart of Peter, Paul & Mary

As a young performer, she was heartbreakingly beautiful, to me as a young girl, an icon of what grown up beauty could be. And she had a clear, strong soprano that soared above the mellow tenors of her singing partners, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. She was Mary Travers, the Mary of Peter, Paul & Mary, a 60s group that had a surprising and long- lasting revival in 1978, but is now one voice less.

As Rolling Stone puts it, she was "...best known as the visual focal point of ...Peter, Paul & Mary. With her fervent stage moves and long, straight blond hair...Travers brought both powerful lungs and sex appeal to folk music."

Born in Louisville, KY, the daughter of journalists, Travers grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village, the perfect setting for an aspiring artist. She benefited from exposure to the folk music scene of the early 1960s. Influenced by the folk tunes of the Weavers, Ledbelly, and Woody Guthrie, she became a regular performer in the weekend folk sessions at Washington Square Park while still in her teens. As a member of a teen group, The Song Swappers, she performed at Carnegie Hall and recorded with folk icon Pete Seeger.

Albert Grossman, famous as the manager of Bob Dylan, introduced Travers to Peter Yarrow and later to Noel Paul Stookey, suggesting that they form a trio. After an initial reluctance-- she never pictured herself making a career of folk singing-- Travers became a founding member of Peter, Paul & Mary, which debuted at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village in 1961. The group’s debut album, Peter, Paul & Mary was a top ten seller for ten months, and their single, “If I Had a Hammer”, written by Pete Seeger, became an anthem of the civil rights movement, as did their later recording of Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”

The trio, whose work together was infused with social commentary, separated in 1970. Travers, by now mother to two daughters, remained active as a solo artist, recording four albums by 1974. She also remained a political and social activist, even after the end of the Vietnam War following President Nixon's resignation in 1974.

Peter, Paul, & Mary reunited in 1978 for a benefit concert that went so well they agreed to resume the trio. That year they released the album Reunion and embarked on an ambitious concert schedule that they maintained until the present day, despite Traver’s diagnosis of leukemia in 2004. The group also continued their political activism, taking on such causes as human rights in Central and South America, homelessness, and world hunger among many other issues. Mary Travers died of cancer on September 16 at the age of 72.

Sources: Rolling Stone website (linked above) and Allmusic

You Tubes

P, P & M singing John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane, their only number one hit single, and one of my favorite songs.

If I Had a Hammer, a protest anthem by Pete Seeger, sung by P, P & M at the Newport Folk Festival of 1963.

Blowin in the Wind, an elegant presentation.

The Brill Building

Ellie Greenwich died last week at the age of 68. I don't expect that you've heard of her; her's isn't exactly a household name. With her husband, Jeff Barry, she was a hit song writer of the early 1960s. She is most famous for such truly great girl group songs as "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Chapel of Love". Do yourself a favor and listen to these.

But I digress. Because reading about Ellie Greenwich put me in mind of the Brill Building, an 11 story office building at 1619 Broadway in New York City. Even before the 1950s, the Brill Building was home to pop music publishers and composers who wrote for the great swing bands of the 40s. But in the late 1950s into the early 60s, the Brill Building became the venue for the hottest and most influential commercial music ever produced. This stream of music, influenced by Latin music and rhythm and blues, gave rise to such songwriters as:

Burt Bacharach and Hal David

Neil Diamond

Gerry Goffen and Carole King

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil

Laura Nyro

Paul Simon (under the name Jerry Landis)

Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield

Phil Spector

Among the hundreds of hits produced by these and other composers are Yakety Yak, Save the Last Dance For Me, The Look of Love, Calendar Girl, The Loco-Motion, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, River Deep Mountain High, Be My Baby, and Natural Woman. Be My Baby, written by Greenwich and Barry, for a while was the only song that played on Beach Boy Brian Wilson's home jukebox

Carole King, quoted in Wikipedia, described the atmosphere of the Brill Building:

"Every day we squeezed into our respective cubby holes with just enough room for a piano, a bench, and maybe a chair for the lyricist if you were lucky. You'd sit there and write and you could hear someone in the next cubby hole composing a song exactly like yours. The pressure in the Brill Building was really terrific...."

Five for Fighting!

I am so lucky. Last night I caught Five for Fighting at Jammin' at the Zoo. Along with the lions and gorillas, I and about 2,000 others snuggled our chairs and blankets onto the Lincoln Park Zoo main mall and gently rocked.


Five for Fighting is the professional name of singer/songwriter John Ondrasik who performs with various back-up bands. Last night's trio of lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums was work- man- like, but Five for Fighting was in great form. He sang some of the best known tracks from America Town, Easy Tonight and Superman, and my favorite, 100 Years from Battle for Everything. (I'm 45 for a moment/The sea is high/And I'm heading into a crisis/Chasing the years of my life.)


He added NY City Weather Report, Angels and Girlfriends, The Riddle and Chances from his upcoming album Slice. There were others as well, and he ended the set with a rousing rendition of Elton John's Rocket Man, one of my all time favorite songs. What great taste.


Ondrasik is an interesting and admirable character. In one of his numbers last night he saluted those in the military and praised freedom in a song. In 2007 and 2008 he coordinated the production of mix CDs of some favorites like Billy Joel, the Fray, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Keith Urban donated by the artists. He distributed over 200,000 free copies of each CD to members of the U. S. military. He also uses his music to raise funds for several charities such as Save the Children, Autism Speaks, and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). In person, he is as down to earth a rocker as you ever can see.


I wish I could say the same for Five for Fighting's opening act, Angel Taylor. Like Ondrasik, who briefly studied opera, Taylor has a beautiful and powerful voice. Both artists' voices sounded much stronger in person than they do recorded. But Taylor's set was gloomy and pretentious, featuring her piano, a simple drum, an acoustic guitar, and her unmelodic tunes. I only liked one of her tunes, Like You Do. One of her best numbers was written by someone else, Sex on Fire by the Kings of Leon. Angel is only 21 years old; she has the talent to be a fine pop singer, but not all talented performers have the songwriting ability of Five for Fighting.

RIP Les Paul (and Mike Seeger)

Les Paul 1915-2009


A king of pop music, Les Paul began his career as an accomplished jazz guitarist with a fluid, swinging style. Never able to read music, Paul had a magnificent ear and could hear entire arrangements in his head.

Born Lester William Polsfus in Waukesha, WI, in 1915, Paul first discovered music at the age of eight when he took up the harmonica. By age 13 he was performing as a country guitarist. Throughout the 1930s he played jazz guitar, releasing his first 2 recordings in 1936.

In 1939, he built one of the first solid bodied electric guitar, known as The Log. In the early 1950s, Gibson produced a guitar that used Paul’s ideas and marketed it as the Les Paul Standard. He played that guitar throughout his career, although his personal models were heavily modified. In 1962 Paul was issued a U.S. patent titled “Electric Musical Instrument”.

In 1948, Paul suffered a near-fatal automobile accident which shattered his right arm. Told that he would never move that arm again, Paul had his doctors set the arm in a bent position that would allow him to play guitar.

After his recovery, Paul teamed up with his second wife, singer Colleen Summers who he renamed Mary Ford. The couple had a series of mega hits in the 1950s including “How High the Moon’’, “Bye Bye Blues”, and “Vaya Con Dios”. Always innovative, Paul’s work with Mary Ford benefited from his invention of multi-track recordings.

Les Paul semi retired in the late 1960s with occasional returns to the recoding studio. In 2005 he received a 90th birthday tribute concert at Carnegie Hall, and in 2008 he received the American Music Masters award with a tribute concert in Cleveland sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Mike Seeger 1933-2009

Although not as well known as Les Paul, in his limited sphere Mike Seeger was a musician of influence.

Seeger began playing traditional instruments - banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, mouth harp, mandolin, and Dobro - at age 12. He learned traditional folk music from the recordings his parents brought home from the Library of Congress where they assisted John and Alan Lomax collect songs for the Archive of Folk Music.

His music credentials extend to his siblings Pete Seeger, the godfather of American folk singing, and Peggy Seeger, a respected folk singer as well.

In the early 1950s Seeger began to collect his own field recordings. In 1958 he co-founded the New Lost City Ramblers, a group specializing in string band music from the 1920s and 30s. In the 1960s, Seeger released solo recordings and formed the Strange Creek Singers. He went on to continue solo recording throughout the 1970s and became involved in the Newport Folk Festival. In 1970 he became director of the Smithsonian Folklife Company.

In Chronicles: Volume One Bob Dylan acknowledges a debt to Mike Seeger who helped Dylan in his early struggle to gain notice in the New York city folk scene. Seeger also served as a role model for Dylan, who admired Seeger as a folk musician.

Mike Seeger on You Tube

Freight Train

New Lost City Ramblers

RockDocs: The Rolling Stones

Summer is the time to rock and roll. For the second Summer, here at Niles Library we are presenting a series of rock and roll documentaries. So far this summer we are seen Elvis (you have to ask "Elvis who?") in his short-lived prime as he rehearsed and performed in a dynamic Las Vegas concert. In a two part presentation we have followed the early career of Bob Dylan as he made the transition from beloved folk and social protest singer to electrified rocker.

Third up is Shine a Light, director Martin Scorses's take on a present-day Rolling Stones concert. The 60-something Stones haven't lost their energy or charisma. Supplemented by Jack White, Christina Aquilera, and Buddy Guy, the Rolling Stones produce a jaw-dropping mix of music and moves enhanced by Scorses's tight camera angles that make you feel like you're on the stage. This 122 minute film and rated PG13 and will be played on the big screen on Saturday August 15 at 2:00 PM in the large meeting room. Don't miss it.


In a special showing, to honor Michael Jackson on what would have been his 51st birthday, we are also screening the film Dangerous, a compilation of music videos and behind the scene action from the making of the 1991 Dangerous album and tour. This 112 minute film is unrated and will be shown on the big screen on Saturday August 29 at 2:00 PM.


We have extended music films into the Fall, turning the coming season into Jazz Fall with showings of A Great Day in Harlem on October 10 and, ironically, Jazz on a Summer's Day on November 21. Look at this space and the AV Desk on the first floor for more information to come. Meanwhile, enjoy the eye candy below: the Rolling Stones in their youth.

Finding Love at the Pitchfork Festival

When I was younger, finding new bands to love was as easy as turning on the radio. Now though, it's not so easy. I no longer enjoy listening to commercial radio because of, well, all the commercials! The portion of my brain that dictates musical taste also seems to have congealed around the grunge movement, which hasn't really existed since 1995.

This summer I decided to break out of my musical rut by attending the Pitchfork Music Festival. Pitchfork is kinda' like Lollapalooza, except smaller. It took place in Union Park instead of Grant Park, it featured 40 bands instead of 130, and a 1-day pass cost just $35 instead of $80. The bands are mostly less well known, too, which is great if you're on a mission to discover something new.

I bought tickets for Sunday, July 19. $35 (plus the Ticketweb processing fees) gave me the potential to hear 18 different bands. The biggest name was The Flaming Lips, who I've actually seen live before. A few of the others (Blitzen Trapper, The Vivian Girls, and Grizzly Bear) I had heard of. The other 14 were all new to me. I could have just walked into the park blind, so to speak, but instead I did some preliminary research. Which bands did I want to hear? What times would they be playing? How would I find them in the park? All of these questions were answered by visiting the Pitchfork website (www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com). In fact, if you're interested in learning more about the bands that played over the entire weekend, and even in hearing some of their songs, you can still do that via the website, as well. In addition to pictures and brief bios of the bands, the website features a streaming playlist of 48 songs (visit the "media" link to find it).

The first band I really wanted to hear was Blitzen Trapper. Formed in 2000 in the Pacific Northwest, this is a flannel-wearing sextet who have a hard-to-describe sound that is a little folkish, a little bluesish & a little rockish. The folk really comes out on gentle songs like "Furr," and the rock rocks on songs like "Love U;" with the lyrics "I love u like a shoe's got soooouuuuuullllllllll!" screamed out with a spine-tingling banshee wail. Next up was Pharoahe Monch, an MC & singer who's worked with Mos Def and had a song, "Simon Says," featured in the movie "Charlie's Angels." I'm no authority on Hip-Hop, but I thought he was pretty good. The "Monch" part of his name derives from the monchichi doll, so he must have a sense of humor. The woman singing backup had a great voice, and the DJ wasn't "pushing buttons back here," but spinning actual vinyl.

I took a break to visit the various food and beverage booths for refreshment, and then it was time for The Thermals, a trio (2 guys & a gal) from Oregon with a punk-pop sound that the website describes as "neo-grunge." They ably covered Nirvana's "Make You Happy" and Green Day's "Basket Case." After more food, NY band The Walkmen were up with one of the most impressive sets of the day. They have a noisy garage-rock sound similar to The Strokes and sounded great outdoors, especially the vocals. I thought the "The Rat" and "In the New Year" were two of the best performances of the day. M83 was the last new act of the day for me. Named after Messier 83, a spiral galaxy discovered in 1752, their electronic music - created with synthesizers, guitar, and drums - could be described as "spacey" or "ethereal" and was excellent chill out music.

Grizzly Bear did not sound so great outdoors, partly because the crowd was growing larger and more rowdy in anticipation of the Flaming Lips. Their beautifully harmonized vocals got lost in the hubbub, and the only song of theirs that I recognized was "Two Weeks. I think they'd play better in an indoor venue like the Chicago Theatre. I stuck around The Flaming Lips of course, but I've heard them before. Their shows are a lot of fun - much like their trippy music - filled with bouncing beach balls, confetti, and lead singer Wayne Coyne rolling out into the crowd in a giant hamster ball.

One downside to a music festival like Pitchfork is that some of the shows happen simultaneously on different stages. That meant that I missed a few bands that I would really have liked to hear. Three bands that I caught a just couple of minutes of, but that I think are worth checking out are: The Vivian Girls, Frightened Rabbit and Japandroids.

All in all, it was not a bad way to spend a Sunday and I also satisfied (temporarily, at least) my craving for new music.

Up Next in Rock Docs: Bob Dylan, No Direction Home

Wednesday July 8 at 7:00 PM (part 1); Wednesday July 15, 7:00 PM (part 2)

How does it fee-eel? Dylan fans will recognize this line from the benchmark song, "Like a Rolling Stone", which symbolizes the changes documented in Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home. This 208 minute film, which will be shown at the library in 2 parts, focuses on Dylan's early career, covering the period from 1961 to 1966.

Early in 1961, Bob Dylan appeared on the New York folk scene and quickly became its darling with his strong and original protest songs like "Blowin' in the Wind," "Only a Pawn in Their Game," and "Masters of War." Embraced by the queen of political folk music, Joan Baez, Dylan soon became a major figure of the genre. The film documents this early phase of Dylan's career and traces his transition from folk to electrified rock musician, to the extreme displeasure of his folkie fans.

Working with hours of previously filmed interview tapes and performance clips, Scorsese puts together an analysis through interviews of Dylan's initial rise to fame and his infamous transition to rock and roll in 1965 with the electric backing of Chicago's Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Among those interviewed on film are Odetta, Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, Muddy Waters, the Clancy Brothers, Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, and Johnny Cash.

In retrospect, it is clear that Dylan was too dynamic a musician, song writer, and poet to be boxed into the narrow folk genre. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times, has the words for it:

"His songs led to change, but they transcended it. His audience was uneasy with transcendence. They kept trying to draw him back down into categories. He sang and sang,and finally...found himself a hero who was booed.... His music stands and it will survive."

Women in Jazz: Dinah Washington

Did Dinah Washington sell out? Critics accuse the sweet /salty-voiced singer of catering to the mainstream following her 1959 pop hit, "What a Difference a Day Makes". For the remaining four years of her career she concentrated on ballads with lush orchestration following the formula of famed, and commercial, R&B singer Ray Charles.

Born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1924, she was raised in Chicago where, from childhood, she became immersed in the world of gospel, playing piano and directing her church choir.

After winning an amateur singing contest she began singing in nightclubs at age 15. Discovered by a talent agent, she became known to bandleader Lionel Hampton who hired her to sing with his band. At this time she acquired her stage name, Dinah Washington. Dinah began her recording career in 1943 with Keynote Records. Her first hit was "Evil Gal Blues." From 1948 to 1955, she produced a string of top ten hits for the Mercury label.

Struggling with her weight, Dinah Washington died in 1963 at the age of 39 from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol. As a singer, she was still going strong, making a Los Angeles club date two weeks before she died. Her death ended a tempestuous life during which she married seven times and had innumerable lovers. She had a huge influence on later singers Nancy Wilson, Ester Phillips, and Diane Shuur.

In her biography Rage to Survive the singer Etta James, who idolized Washington, reports that one night while she was performing she heard that Washington was in the audience. Deciding to cover one of Dinah's songs, James began to sing "Unforgettable." She had hardly begun when she heard a big crash. It was Dinah who screamed "Girl, don't you ever sing the Queen's songs!"(as reported in the web site Panache)

Dinah on You Tube

Here are some links to Dinah Washington performances:
Mad About the Boy
What a Difference a Day Makes
Clips from a BBC documentary about Dinah Washington
Stormy Weather

The Boswell Sisters (Women in Jazz)

It was lucky that the Boswell Sisters were brought up in New Orleans. With their natural musical talent and training combined with exposure to southern gospel and New Orleans blues, the sisters became the best jazz vocal group of their time - and perhaps of all time. See their performance of the Heebie Jeebies , and you will see that this last statement is no exaggeration.

Their influence on the Andrews Sisters is obvious. Ella Fitzgerald loved their music and developed her own singing style from Connee Boswell's. Connee, the middle child, (1907-1976), like Ella , could use her voice as a trumpet or oboe. All three sisters played instruments, but it is their vocal harmonies that really set them apart.

Martha, the eldest (1905-1958) who also played piano, described the sisters' harmonies this way:

"If we sang according to orthodox musical traditions, Vet (1911-1988) would be the high voice or soprano, I would be the middle or alto, and Connie would be the low, or contralto. But we don't sing in the orthodox musical way....Instead, when we sing as a trio we achieve an unusual...effect by deserting our own particular tone and singing in another tone. We call that blending." (from the fan site Bozzies.com)

The sisters began their career in vaudeville during their early teens, and made their first record in 1925. In 1930 they moved to New York and first gained national attention when they broadcast their own radio program. Their major recording contract was with Brunswick Records. They made many recordings between 1930 and 1935 with this label, which was a highly regarded jazz label of the time. The musicians with whom the Boswells worked and recorded during this period included Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, and Benny Goodman.

In the 1936, the sisters moved to Decca Records, but disbanded as group after only 3 Decca recordings. Connee continued to have a successful recording career with Decca. Throughout her career, Connee sang from a seated position due to an accident she had as a young child. Because of her disability, she was not accepted as a performer on U.S.O. tours during World War II.

The Boswell Sisters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2001, a major musical about their lives, The Boswell Sisters was produced in San Diego.

RIP Koko Taylor

Chicago lost a blues legend with the June 2009 death of Koko Taylor from complications of gastro-intestinal surgery. She was 80 years old.

Known as the Queen of Chicago blues, the big-voiced Taylor helped to prove that the world of blues is not just for men. She came from a tradition of hard-belting blues women starting with Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Big Momma Thornton. A player in the Chicago blues scene in early 60s, she was discovered singing in a club by blues artist Willie Dixon in 1963.

She signed with Chicago-based Chess Records in 1964 and had a major hit with “Wang Dang Doodle” the following year. She transferred to another Chicago label, Alligator, in 1975 when Chess closed. Meanwhile she had formed her own band, The Blues Machine.

The 1984 Grammy-winner (for best blues album) was born Cora Walton, a sharecropper’s daughter in Memphis TN. She got her nickname because she loved chocolate. Her musical career began with gospel-singing in her local Baptist church. She married Pops Taylor in 1953. Taylor remained a devout Christian throughout her life, avoiding the hard drinking and drugging common in the music business. She remained an active performer until her death.

You Tubes

Here is a You Tube video of a young Koko singing Wang Dang Doodle with Little Walter on harmonica. Here is an older Koko singing I'm a Woman at the Kennedy Center tribute to Morgan Freeman.

Discography 1969-2007

Koko Taylor
Basic Soul
South Side Lady
I Got What it Takes
Queen of the Blues
Southside Baby
The Earthshaker
From the Heart of a Woman
An Audience with Koko
Taylor
Live from Chicago
Jump for Joy
Love you Like a Woman
Wang Dang Doodle
Force of Nature
Royal Blue
Old School

Bold = at Niles in Blues and Jazz

American Idol Fans Win Prizes Galore While Picking the Wrong Winner

Congratulations to the six winners in the American Idol elimination contest!

Jessie Amga won Jennifer Hudson's new Grammy-winning CD.
Catherine Foss won last year's runner up David Archuleta's new CD.
Alicia Cook won last year's winner David Cook's (no relation) new CD.
Elvira Resuli won Daughtry (the CD not the man).
Richard Englund won Carrie Underwood's latest CD.
Norma Englund, grand prize winner, won a deluxe version of Kelly Clarkson's new CD which includes a DVD; a tee shirt with sayings from Randy Jackson; and a Best and Worst of American Idol DVD.

Grand prize winner Norma was the only person who guessed correctly on three weekly eliminations. Two others guessed correctly on two eliminations. The surprising thing about the contest was how few entrants predicted Kris Allen's win. Out of 71 ballots cast, a full 49 had Kris biting the dust. It was especially noticeable that during Danny Gokey's elimination week, most of our contest entrants picked Kris for the loss. All I can say is, I'm glad you were wrong.

This is the end of Kris Allen love and American Idol love for this year. From now on, I promise to post about other things until next Spring, when AI fever returns.

It's Kris!

My wish came true. He won!

Kris Allen is your eighth American Idol. While some may see this as an upset, I say this win was predictable. Both Kris and Adam Lambert are madly talented and both deserved to win, but I think that Adam was too edgy for the American public. He may have also been a bit of a one-note artist, always giving stellar performances, but always in high dramatic mode. Kris did not have the best singing voice of this year's ultra-talented group of contestants, but he is the best musician of the bunch and a creative, versatile performer. Being the cutest has not hurt him either.

The fact is that both Kris and Adam are poised to have successful careers in music. Adam needs to find a band to become this generation's Freddie Mercury. Kris is a more unique performer who will make a place for himself in acoustic rock, but I can also see him as a jazz singer. Allison Iraheta can join them in stardom because women combining great rock voices with soulful delivery are basically non existent. She is the new Janis.

What I love about American Idol is that it brings wonderful talent to public notice, but more, that it tests the ability of each artist to sustain a high level of performance under conditions of great pressure. It is a true proving ground for talent. It is always clear that the last artists standing are the ones who can make it.

Falling Slowly

In the process of honing my admiration for the two entirely worthy American Idol finalists, I have been perusing You Tube performances by heartthrob Kris and rock star Adam. I came across this studio recording of Kris Allen singing Falling Slowly. Simon Cowell Called Kris's performance of this on the show "brilliant". Enough said.

I had forgotten how lovely this song is. It won the Academy Award for best song at the 2008 Oscars. It was sung in the movie Once, an unusual and entertaining love story about street singers in contemporary Dublin. It was written and performed in the film by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who together form the group The Swell Season. Hansard is also the leader of the Irish band The Frames.

Here is a You Tube of The Swell Season perfoming the song on the David Letterman show.

In our audio visual collection we have the 2007 film Once. We also have the movie soundtrack (which I have checked out as of this writing). In coming months we will be acquiring more CDs from The Frames and The Swell Season. Look for them on the New CD list at the AV desk on the first floor.

Don't forget to come to the American Idol final performance party in the large meeeting room on Tuesday, May 19 at 7:00 pm. There will be prizes including ipod shuffles. Who do I want to see as the next American Idol? look at the top of the page.

American Idol Returns to Niles

It's baaack! The annual American Idol Elimination contest and Big Screen Final Viewing Party return to Niles Library. This year is shaping up to be one of the most dynamic American Idol competitions ever, and our roster of prizes for the contest and party are bigger and better than ever before.


Our contest starts when there are six contestants left on the show. For each of the final six weeks, you can win a newly released American Idol CD if you correctly guess which contestant is voted off the show that week. In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by drawing. CDs include David Cook, David Archuleta, and as part of the grand prize, Kelly Clarkson's new release in a deluxe version with bonus tracks and a DVD.


In addition to the deluxe Kelly Clarkson CD, the grand prize winner will get a three DVD set of The Best and Worst of American Idol and, Dwag, a t shirt featuring the sayings of judge Randy Jackson. The grand prize goes to the person who made the most correct elimination picks (or through drawing if there is a tie).


Last year, we had such a great time at the final broadcast party that we wanted to extend the fun by adding some fabulous prizes. So come to the party for games, refreshments (junk food of course) and a chance to win one of two 2MB iPod Shuffles that clip on to your lapel in American Idol blue. Other door prizes include the best and worst DVD set mentioned above, the American Idol DVD karaoke game, Kelly Clarkson's new CD, and a Randy T.

Visit the AV desk on the first floor of the library for more information. Party space is limited, so sign up soon.

American Idol: The Last Group of 12

Tonight the last of the top 36 American Idol performers competed to determine which 3 the audience vote will send through to the final 12. Although I think that the women are generally stronger than the men in this competition, tonight I thought the men were better. No one really blew me away. They are listed in worst to best order.

12 Taylor Vaifanua sang Alicia Keys' "If I Got You". Off-pitch, forgettable, boring. The judges agreed.

11 Arianna Afsar sang "The Winner Takes All" by Abba (a lot of a's there), a horrible song choice. The judges though she was dreary. She has a big voice but I thought she lacked vocal control. All in all, a bad performance.

10 Alex Wagner-Trugman sang one of my favorite songs, "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues" by Elton John. I secretly love his dorky charm and enjoyed his performance, as did the judges. But I have to admit that he was amateurish and unpolished compared to the other performers.

9 Nathaniel Marshall sang "I Would Do Anything for Love". He isn't a bad singer, but he is ruined by his crazy image. He'll never make it as a performer without a complete make-over, and maybe not even then.

8 Von Smith sang "All You Need to Get By" by Marvin Gaye. The judges thought it was his best performance so far. I liked his energy, but thought he was shouty. He also makes annoying facial expressions.

7 Felicia Barton sang "No One" by Alicia Keys. She was eliminated from the final 36, rated #37, but brought back when another contestant was disqualified. I though her performance was annoying and self indulgent. The judges loved her. I don't think she has a chance of coming back.

6 Kendall Beard, a country singer, sang "This One's for the Girls" by Martina McBride. To me she sounded shrill, and the judges were not impressed with her vocals. But she is pretty and seems likable.

5 Jorge Nunez sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John. The judges loved him. I thought he was smarmy and tries too hard. I am going out on a limb to say that he won't be voted in. However, he is handsome with big brown puppy dog eyes. I don't want to underestimate his audience appeal.

4 Ju'not Joyner sang "Hey There,Delilah" by Plain White Ts, a pretty song. I loved him. He was sweet, soulful, and restrained. I predict that he will not win the audience vote, but I really hope that he will be a wild card.

3 Kristen McNamara sang "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman. She gave a strong, bluesy performance. The judges liked her, but did not like her song choice. I thought it was a good song for her. She does have image problems, though and badly needs a stylist. I would like to see how she develops as a performer.

2 Scott McIntyre sang "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby. He has a sweet voice and has depth to his singing. The judges loved his passion. His being blind will not work against him.

1 Lil Rounds sang "Be Without You" by Mary K. Blige to the great praise of the judges. She is a strong authoritative singer, but, to me, not unique; just another R&B performer. But she was the best girl singer tonight.

Good Job American Idol Audience

Very pleased. They picked the right winners: Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, and inevitably, Adam Lambert. Adam is a wildly talented singer, but his image is too slick (see photo above). I hope the AI stylists will help him. I'm in love with Kris Allen, think he's great, but he doesn't have a chance of winning AI. Since the 3rd choices have been men so far, I'm beginning to think that the judges will pick women as wild cards. From this group it will probably be Megan Joy Corkrey.

Even though I usually prefer the men singers, in this season I think the women are stronger.

American Idol: Second Group of 12 Ratings

These rankings are a compromise between who I really liked and who I think the audience will pick. They are in order of worst to best. All in all, I thought this week's batch was worse than last week's.

1 Jeanine Vailes sang This Love by Maroon 5 horribly. She was off-key, unpolished, and unconvincing. The judges hated her. This was an easy pick for worst.

2 Matt Giraud sang Viva La Vida by Coldplay. The judges liked him slightly more than I did. I thought he sounded whiny, and his movements were jerky. I also hate this song.

3 Kai Kalama sang What Becomes of the Broken Hearted by Jimmy Ruffin, a poor song choice in that it sounded dated. He has a weak voice and horrible facial expressions. His tempo sounded off as did his phrasing. The judges thought he was ordinary.

4 Jasmine Murray sang Love Song by Jasmine Bareilles. I liked her better than the judges did. She seems like a good, basic r&b performer. The judges thought she was off pitch and too young for the competition.

5 Matt Breitzke, the welder, sang If You Could Only See by Tonic. Totally mediocre and forgettable.

6 Jesse Langseth sang Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Cairns. This was one of my favorites. I love her voice, but she doesn't have a chance. The judges thought she was forgettable.

7 Mishavonna Henson sang Drops of Jupiter by Train very nicely. I liked her a lot, too. She was very self-assured for an 18 year old. But her performance left the judges cold. They thought she was too serious, and that is probably the kiss of death for the audience vote.

8 Nick Mitchell the comedian sang And I am Telling You. This was a very entertaining performance, and he has a great voice. I would love to see how he develops as a performer. All the judges but Simon were entertained by him, but none thinks he will go on.

9 Kris Allen sang Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson in a polished, confident manner. His cuteness might get him through.

10 Megan Joy Corkrey sang Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae. The judges love her and think that she's saleable. I thought her voice was weak. She is also amazingly beautiful and will probably be put through.

11 Allison Iraheta sang Alone by Heart in strong rocker fashion. The judges loved her. She is a wonderful singer but an awkward personality.

12 Adam Lambert sang Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones, also in strong rocker fashion. He is a sure winner, but thinks a little too much of himself. The judges thought well of him too.

Ryan Seacrest finally explained the judging set up. The boy and girl with the most votes will go though. The next biggest vote getter, of either sex, will also go though. Later the judges will pick three wild cards to make up the 12 finalists.

I Got it Right - Almost

Alexis Grace and Danny Gokey made it into the top 12. In my opinion these were far and away the best performances of the night. To my surprise, Michael Sarver also made it. He is one of the dullest AI performers I have ever seen, but maybe he has in -person charisma based on the judges favorable reaction to him. I am not sorry that my number 3 pick, Jackie Tone got sent home.

I must have the rules wrong though. It looks like the audience voted for the top three performers. The judges must have a wild card pick coming from each group to round out the final 12. I predict that their wild card from this group will be Anoop Desai. Do you agree, disagree? Comment and let me know.

American Idol Top 36: Rating the First 12 Performances

In this year's American Idol format, the finalists have been narrowed down to 36. They will compete in 3 groups of 12. Each group will have one girl and one boy winner selected by audience vote and one wild card winner selected by the 4 judges. Last night the first group of 12 sang for their place in the final competition of American Idol, Season 8. Since I have authorial rights in this blog, I figured that I could rate them. Tah Dah! Here are my rankings of the contest among the first 12, listed from worst to best:

12 Casey Carlson sang "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by the Police. Eww! It was horrible. Her movements were jerky, she looked like a Barbie doll and sang like Barbie would if she could sing.

11 Stevie Wright sang "You Belong to Me" by Taylor Swift. More likable than Casey Carlson, she was awkward and had no vocal control.

10 Roughneck Michael Sarver sang "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. Good voice, colorless performance. The judges liked him a lot more than I did. He could be a wild card.

9 Rick Braddy sang A Song For You by Leon Russell. I thought his performance was forced, puling, and insincere. The judges liked him.

8 Afro topped Stephen Fowler sang "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson. I really wanted to like him, but agreed with the judges that it was a mediocre performance and a poor song choice.

7 Brent Keith sang "Hicktown" by Jason Aldean. An OK country performance, not my favorite genre.

6 Anne Marie Boskovitch sang "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, a bold song choice. The judges didn't like her, but I did.

5 Likable Anoop Desai sang "Angel of Mine" by Monica. Both the judges and I wanted to like him more, but it was a solid R & B performance, if not stellar.

4 Drama queen Tatiana Del Toro sang "Saving All My Love for You" by Whitney Houston. This contestant could not have been more obnoxious during the previous phase of the competition. But what a great voice. A solid performance too.

3 Jackie Tohn sang "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, and she channeled the King. Impressive and entertaining performance, but this girl has a little too much personality. See drama queen above.

2 Alexis Grace sang "Never Loved A Man" by Aretha Franklin. Stellar!

1 Danny Gokey sang "Hero" by Mariah Carey superbly. Toss up between him and Alexis. The judges liked him better.

Well, did I get it right? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.