Saturday will be the 100th birthday of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie! Famous for songs like "This Land is Your Land", "Vigilante Man", "A Picture From Life's Other Side" and "Do-Re-Mi", Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14th, 1912. Guthrie spent most of his late teens and twenties traveling with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California learning traditional folk and blues songs, which earned him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour".
"Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me. Was a great big sign there said private Property but on the back side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me." - Woody Guthrie, fourth verse of "This Land is your Land"
On this day back in 1926, John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina. Trane is widely considered to be the greatest tenor saxophone player of the 1950's. Trane developed his own unique voice on the saxophone which Downbeat critic Ira Gitler termed "sheets of sound", which were extremely dense improvisational yet patterned lines consisting of high speed arpeggios and scale patterns played in rapid succession, running from the lowest to highest registers. In author Ben Ratliff's Coltrane: The Story of the Sound much is said about the strict practicing regimen Trane kept, sometimes practicing up to 8 hours a day! This discipline and beautiful playing is probably why he's the only jazz musician with a church, The St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in the Fillmore District of San Francisco. The inspiration for the church came one night in 1965 when Archbishop Franzo King and Reverend Mother Marina King saw Coltrane play and described the event as a "sound baptism". Coltrane would die just two years later from liver cancer, possibly onset by the addiction to heroin he had kicked years earlier. John's son Ravi is an accomplished saxophone player himself and will be performing for the next 3 nights at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC, celebrating his father's birthday!
On this day in 1988 jazz icon Chet Baker fell out the window of room 210 of the Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam, Netherlands to his death. R.I.P. Chet
On this day in 1860 the oldest known recording of a human voice was made in France by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, the inventor of the Phonoautograph. The Phonoautograph, patented in 1857, was designed to transcribe sound waves as undulations or other deviations in a line traced on smoke-blackened paper or glass. It wasn't until 1877 that Charles Cros realized the phonautograph recordings could be converted back into sound by photoengraving the tracing into a metal surface to create a playable groove. Before Cros was able to put his ideas into practice, the announcement of Thomas Edison's phonograph, which recorded sound waves by indenting them into a sheet of tinfoil from which they could be played back immediately, temporarily relegated Cros's less direct method to obscurity. Below is a video featuring said recording:
Video courtesy of HTnewsroom. Portions of article and information courtesy of Wikipedia.
On this day in 1960 Columbia Records released Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis. The album teamed Miles up with arranger Gil Evans again, whom he'd worked with on Birth of the Cool and Porgy and Bess. With Sketches use of strings and more formal song structure many consider it Miles Davis' most accessible work. The compositions themselves derive from Spanish folk songs and flamenco music, which Miles Davis had recently begun listening to thanks to an anthology brought back from Spain for him by the actress/model Beverly Bentley. When Sketches of Spain was released Downbeat magazine gave it five stars, calling it one of the most important musical triumphs of the century.
On this day in 1967, John William Coltrane died of liver cancer at Huntington Hospital on Long Island at the age of 40. Coltrane came into prominence playing with the Miles Davis Quintet in the late 1950s, performing on the landmark album Kind of Blue. During this same time period he began releasing his first albums as a leader and developing his trademark "sheets of sound" playing technique. Coltrane's music transcends genre and for this reason he is remembered as more than just a musician, but a Saint.
"My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being."
- John Coltrane
Below is a live clip of one of my favorite Coltrane songs, Naima:
On this day in 1979, Robin Miriam Carlsson, better known by her stage name's spelling: Robyn, was born in Stockholm, Sweden into a family of actors. Robyn got her own start in show business at the age of twelve recording the theme song for the Swedish television show Lilla Sportspegeln. A few years later, at the age of sixteen, Robyn signed a recording contract with RCA and became internationally popular with the single "Show Me Love". However, it was Robyn's self released fourth album, Robyn, that solidified her career and brought about her own sound, a combination of electronica, R&B, and Hip Hop - in no small part to her collaborators Klas Åhlund from Teddybears STHLM, Swedish duo The Knife and former Cheiron producer Alexander Kronlund. Later this week Robyn's fifth album, Body Talk Pt.1, will be released on her own Konichiwa Records label. The album features tracks produced by Diplo, Röyksopp, and Klas Åhlund. Below is a video of her performing the song "Show Me Love" on the streets of Stockholm:
From the SVT program "Dom kallar oss artister" ("They call us artists"). Enjoy.
On this day in 1926 one of the greatest trumpet players to ever blow a horn, Miles Davis, was born in Alton, Illinois to an affluent family. One of Miles Davis' first music teachers, Elwood Buchanan, taught him to play without vibrato, a signature to his sound that Miles kept throughout his career. As Miles himself put it, "I prefer a round sound with no attitude in it, like a round voice with not too much tremolo and not too much bass. Just right in the middle. If I can’t get that sound I can’t play anything."
Upon graduating from High School Miles moved to New York City to attend the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, which he dropped out of school quickly, turned off by Juilliard's classical European instruction. By this time he was already playing professionally with Charlie Parker in Harlem's famous Minton's Playhouse and it was only a few years later that Miles would record his first records as a band leader. Of Course, Miles Davis is best known for the album Kind of Blue, the best selling jazz record of all time! This album was a major shift in jazz from the structure of hard bop to a more melody driven jazz based on modes. Below is a later clip of Miles performing in 1989 on the David Sanborn show Night Music, with bassist Marcus Miller:
Video courtesy of heenez Information and quotes courtesy of Wikipedia.
On this day in 1945 Nesta Robert ("Bob") Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. Bob's father was a captain in the Royal Marines, a plantation overseer and Caucasian. His father provided financial support for Bob's mother Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican, but rarely saw her or his son and died when Bob was only 10 years old. Because of his mixed racial origins Bob Marley suffered racial prejudice as a youth, for in Jamaica at that time multiracial people were referred to as "half-castes".
At the age of 14, Bob dropped out of school to play music with Rastafari musician Joe Higgs. It was through Higgs that he would meet the other founding Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone in the early 1960s. They would go on to world wide fame with the release of their records "Catch a Fire" and later "Burnin". Below is a performance for the BBC of one of the songs off "Catch a Fire", "Stir it Up", complete with Moog synthesizer:
On this day in 1936 bassist James Jamerson was born in Charleston, South Carolina. James played bass on the majority of Motown hits from the 60's and 70's, from "My Girl" to "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". The session musicians that played for Motown in that era were generally uncredited and referred to in the business as The Funk Brothers. It was Marvin Gaye's fantastic album, "What's Going On", that first acknowledged his work as "the incomparable James Jamerson". Here's James playing with Marvin Gaye in 1973:
On this day in 1927, composer, pianist and guitarist, Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jobim was a primary force behind the creation of the Bossa Nova, his songs and arrangements have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists including Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan and Astrud Gilberto. Antonio Jobim's collaboration with João Gilberto and Stan Getz on Getz/Gilberto won multiple Grammy Awards in 1964 for Album of the Year, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Grammy for best Individual or Group and the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. And of course the Grammy Award for Record of the year for the Jobim penned "The Girl from Ipanema". Antonio Jobim remained musically productive until his death in 1994; his last album, Antonio Brasileiro, was released posthumously.
On this day in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh computer. The Macintosh was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface. The Macintosh project started in the late 1970s with Jef Raskin, an Apple employee, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. Raskin named the computer after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh. The design caught the attention of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. Realizing that the Macintosh was more marketable than the Lisa, a similar but higher-end computer being developed by Apple, Jobs began to focus his attention on the project. And the rest is history...
On this day in 1910 guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt was born in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium. Django, "I awake" in Romani, spent his youth in gypsy encampments close to Paris, where he learned to play the banjo, guitar and violin. At the age of 18 Django was severly injured in a fire leaving him partially paralyzed. Due to the injury Django had to relearn to play the guitar primarily with only his thumb, index and middle finger (he still used his pinky and ring finger for chord work and strumming.) Django Reinhardt went on to become one of the most famous European Jazz musicians of all-time after his rise to fame with violinist Stéphane Grappelli in the Quintette du Hot Club de France (as seen in the video below):
On this day in 1931 singer/songwriter Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Mr. Cooke became one of the pioneers of Soul Music, with his unique blend of Gospel and Rhythm & Blues, leading to 29 top-40 hits between 1957 and 1964. But Sam did more than just sing though, he started his own record label and publishing company (one of the first black entertainers to do so) and took on an active role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Sadly Sam Cooke was murdered in 1964 at the young age of 33, but his beautiful voice and music can still be heard on Oldies stations round the world.
AMERICAN MASTERS | Sam Cooke: Crossing Over | PBS:
On this day in 1957, Art Pepper recorded what many critics believe to be his masterpiece "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section". The album features Art playing with Miles Davis' famous rhythm section from that era: Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The story goes that Art Pepper was suffering from heroin addiction horribly at the time and was only told about the recording session that morning. According to Art's wonderful autobiography, Straight Life, he hadn't played in 6 months and had to piece together a broken horn for the session. Now under these circumstances you'd think the recording wouldn't have turned out so amazing, but as Marty Paich put it "(Art) gave his all, all the time. I never heard him lay back at any time. And that is an honest musician."
Here's the story in Art's own words, from Laurie Pepper's work in progress movie, "Straight Life", starring James Intveld as Art Pepper:
On this day in 1968, Johnny Cash performed his legendary concerts at Folsom Prison. Although Johnny had an outlaw image he never spent more than a night in jail and was arrested only for misdemeanors, most famously for narcotics in El Paso, Texas. Johnny's performance at Folsom Prison was recorded and released as an album to much critical acclaim the same year - reaching #1 on the Country charts and #15 on the Pop charts.
On this day in 1935 the King of Rock N Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis was one of the first successful artist to incorporate the black sounds of Rhythm & Blues with Country Music blending them into what is now thought of as Rockabilly. Upon his death in 1977 President Jimmy Carter stated, "Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than 20 years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country."
On this day in 1883, composer Edgard Varèse was born in Paris, France. Edgard spent the majority of his life in the United States and became famous for what he called "organized sound", a term referring to the grouping together of timbres and rhythms into new structures creating a whole new definition of music. Although his surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognised as a major influence by many significant composers of the late 20th century. Varèse's use of new and electronic instruments led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music". Author Henry Miller once described him famously as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound".*
On this day in 1937, Walt Disney's first full length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Snow White was the first cel-animated feature film, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America. The film, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White, was rated by the American Film Institute as the greatest animated film of all time.
On this day in 1969, illustrator and chanteuse, Francoiz Breut was born in France. Francoiz began her singing career by singing with Dominique A on three songs off his 1993 album, Si Je Connais Harry. At the time Francoiz Breut and Dominique A were engaged. Since then she has gone on to release 4 solo albums, the latest working with American rock band Calexico.
