In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some LP records that showcase guitarist greats in the emerging jazz fusion music era. These performances are found on Vinyl LP and today’s show is called GUITARISTS – JAZZ FUSION GREATS. In today’s podcast, we will hear jazz and jazz fusion guitarists from the 17-year period of 1960 to 1977, including…

1 Charlie Byrd Trio The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd Nuages (Rheinhardt) Riverside 1960

2 Wes Montgomery Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery Four On Six (Montgomery) Riverside-OJC 1960

3 Frank Zappa Chunga’s Revenge Chunga’s Revenge (Zappa) Reprise-Warner Bros 1970

4 Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) 1973 Columbia

5 Pat Metheny Bright Size Life Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) ECM 1975

6 Larry Coryell Philip Catherine Twin-House Guitar Duos Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) WEA Musik 1977

7 Al Di Meola Elegant Gypsy Suite Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) Columbia 1977

We will hear examples of guitarists playing various forms of jazz, leading up to the emerging jazz-rock fusion genre of the 1970s. These are LP records, produced between the years 1960 and 1977. We will hear influences of gypsy jazz in Reinhardt, ear-trained Montomery, zany Zappa, mahavishnu McLaughlin, modal Metheny and elegant gypsy DiMeola …as composers of the songs in this podcast.

M1 Charlie Byrd Trio, Nuages. Charlie Byrd was born in Suffolk, Virginia, in 1925. He was an American guitarist playing the genres of bossa nova, brasilian jazz, latin jazz and swing. Byrd played fingerstyle on a classical guitar. His father, a mandolinist and guitarist, taught him how to play the acoustic steel guitar at age 10. In 1943 he was drafted into the United States Army for World War II, and was stationed in Paris in 1945 where he played in an Army Special Services band. Byrd’s greatest influence was the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, whom he saw perform in Paris. After the war, Byrd returned to the United States and went to New York, where he studied composition and he began playing a classical guitar. In 1954 he became a pupil of the Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia and spent time studying in Italy with Segovia. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, Charlie Byrd collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music. This song, Nuages is one of the best-known compositions by Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt recorded about thirteen versions of the song, and today it is a jazz standard and a main portion of the gypsy swing repertoire. It was originally an instrumental piece.

Charlie Byrd Trio, The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd , Nuages (Django Rheinhardt) , Riverside OLP 1960, 3:05

Personnel

M2 Wes Montgomery , Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery , Four On Six (Montgomery) , Riverside-OJC 1960, 6:14

Personnel

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis. and came from a musical family. Two brothers were also jazz performers. Monk on bass and Buddy on vibraphone and piano. The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers, on the Pacific Jazz label. As a band leader, Wes produced many albums, 31 albums over a 10 year period, with three labels, Riverside, Verve and A&M. He also is recorded only three times as a guitar sideman- – showing that Wes Montgomery preferred to lead his own band. Montgomery toured with Lionel Hampton early in his career, age 25-27, however he returned home to Indianapols to support his family of eight. Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am.  Montgomery’s created a unique guitar sound, and his tracks can be identified almost immediately based on his signature technique. Some points you may not know, about Montgomery’s jazz guitar technique:

Today we hear a track from Wes’s FOURTH album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, released in 1960, at age 37. It took just two recording sessions in New York City to make this LP, which was recorded as a quartet, with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath, who at the time was with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath. The album featured two of Montgomery’s most well-known compositions, “Four on Six” , which we will hear, and “West Coast Blues.  This is song 4 of 8 on that LP. I believe this is Wes Montgomery’s finest record. This recording put Wes Montgomery on the map and earned him Down Beat magazine’s “New Star” award in 1960. Montgomery’s jazz guitar sound is just as fresh today, over 50 years after this recording.

M3 Frank Zappa, Chunga’s Revenge is the album and title song, Chunga’s Revenge, Reprise-Warner Bros 1970, 6:16

Personnel

Frank (1940 –1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar.This LP album was produced by Frank Zappa. And all selections were written and published by Zappa. It is a strange album, not just because it is all Zappa, but because of how eclectic these songs are, a mix of songs from POP, JAZZ FUSION, BLUES and ROCK music forms. The title track, Chunga’s Revenge, is a song about a small mutant Gypsy vacuum cleaner, the protagonist of the title song of this album. On the LP front cover is this bit of Zappa story prose about ..the Chunga.. “A Gypsy industrial vacuum cleaner dances about a mysterious night time camp fire. Festoons. Dozens of imported castanets, clutched by the horrible suction of its heavy duty hose, waving with marginal erotic abandon in the midnight autumn air.” The inside panels of this folding LP cover displays a the gypsy vacuum cleaner playing through an amplifier, in front of a campfire, in a camp of caravans, horses, castanets, microphones, and a recording studio control panel. Bizaar indeed. Zappa’s electric guitar work is strong here. The song has a jazz format, with formal beginning and ending and extended improvisation midsection, giving Zappa a long runway to show his colorful wah-wah, compressed guitar style. This marries up well with the wah-wah electric alto sax of Ian Underwood.  Zappa was innovative with his use of tone control, alternating between high distortion and sustain to wah-wah pedal effects.  Zappa would open his show with this slow and very deliberate piece, with an ELEGANT lead melody line. Zappa was 30 at the time of this recording. Thirty years later, Chunga’s Revenge was recorded by Parisian tango revival group Gotan Project for their 2001 debut album La Revancha del Tango.

M4 Mahavishnu Orchestra , Birds of Fire, Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) , Columbia 1973, Side two, track 3., 3:54.

Personnel

This is an example from the “first” Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup, this ensemble recorded two records with Columbia between 1971 and 73. This is the second, and last album with that lineup. The band’s original lineup featured “Mahavishnu” John McLaughlin on acoustic and electric guitars, Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on bass guitar, Jan Hammer on electric and acoustic piano and synthesizer, and Jerry Goodman on violin. This was a multinational group: McLaughlin being from England; Cobham from Panama; Hammer from Prague, Goodman from Chicago; and Laird from Dublin. McLaughlin and Cobham met while performing and recording with Miles Davis during the Bitches Brew sessions. In a word, this song is ELEGANT, with a simple melody and theme.  The sound is a blend of GENRES — the high-volume electrified rock sound (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix), clearly there is an interest in both Indian and Western Classical Music, and another McLaughlin favorite, the feel of funk music.  The music on this early Mahavishnu album was all instrumental.

In “Open Country Joy,” recording starts with a sort of pastoral scene, in which the composer employs various techniques to create a simple and peaceful mode, and starts with the familiar and relaxing sound of the jangley guitar chords of Mclaughlin – – – similar to that jangly sound from the song “Mr. Tambourine Man!” by the BYRDs in 1965 [Example 1 0:00-0:10 Mr Tambourine Man—iTUnes][Example 2 Open Country Joy LP].  4/4 time. Then add in the beautiful electric violin work of Jerry Goodman. The pastoral mode continues for just over a minute. Then, at 71 seconds, all chaos begins, as instruments are turned up, the tempo is doubled, and for another minute there is an incredible energy level, and then at 2:30, we return back to the serene, pastoral scene.

Recorded in 1973 in New York and London, the jazz fusion guitar work of John McLaughlin and the first Mahavishnu Orchestra, performing OPEN COUNTRY JOY.

M5 Pat Metheny , Bright Size Life , Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) , ECM Records 1976, 4:13

Personnel

BRIGHT SIZE LIFE must have been an expression that defined a very exciting time in Pat Metheny’s early career. He was 21, and although he had been recording earlier, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE was his first big album. The album was not produced on an American label, but a German label, ECM Records, and recorded in, Ludwigsburg, West Germany in 1976.

All songs but one were composed by Metheny, just a kid from the suburbs of Kansas City.  Metheny was able to assemble some great talent for this first LP. For example the bassist, is another fusion pioneer, Jaco Pastorius, borrowed from Epic records. Pastorius, as you might remember, was one the first to bring the electric fretless bass to fusion. [example Missouri Uncompromised 0:25 to 0:30] And Bob Moses on drums, who had performed with Larry Coryell in The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and in the Gary Burton Quartet. The song “Missouri Uncompromised” is a very strange assembly of ideas. An abstract sound, for all parts, drums, bass, and the strange melody of this song. The lines are angular, and the song has a rhythmic drive.

Perhaps the song is as strange as the namesake Missouri Compromise. From U.S. history, the Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, on the regulation of slavery in the new, western territories. Is there historical symbolism in this song? Or was the song just a random title, pulled from one of Metheny’s college textbooks.  Three years earlier before this album, Metheny had been attending the University of Miami, when, as a Freshman, he was struck by a great opportunity. Should he continue at the University, or take an opportunity to be a teaching assistant. Not just any school. The Berklee College of Music. And not just any teaching assistant, he would be the assistant to none other than jazz vibraphonist great, Gary Burton.  It was 1972, Gary Burton was a BIG jazz player, and already had recorded 17 albums as the leader. And at the time of the recording of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE 1975-1976, Pat Metheny was in already Gary Burton’s band.

Pat Metheny, age 21, his debut LP, Bright Size Life, the song “Missouri Uncompromised”. 

M6 Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine , Twin-House – Guitar Duos, Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) , WEA Musik 1977 (Hamburg), 3:00

Personnel

The song Mortgage on My Soul (Wah Wah) is a Kieth Jarrett composition from his 1971 Atlantic album “Birth”.  In this arrangement of “Mortgage”, the song is actually mis-named on the Twin House album as “Mortgage on Your Soul”.  The Twin House version is played as an acoustic guitar duo, and the guitarists are Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine. In opening the song, they play the same bass line in unison, while the third guitar, which is Coryell overdubbed, takes the first solo. Catherine follows with his guitar solo. Here is some of the song opening sound. Coryell, from Texas, came into prominence in 1967 with Gary Burton Quartet , and is still an active jazz guitar performer today, with his signature fiery sound. Catherine is from Brussels, and like Coryell, draws his influences from Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.  This track was recorded in London in 1977 by WEA Musik GmbH, and released by Elektra / Warner records.

M7 Al Di Meola  b1954, Elegant Gypsy Suite , Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) , Columbia 1977, Producer: Al Di Meola

Elegant Gypsy Suite is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, Born in 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey. At 17, in 1971 he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1974 he joined Chick Corea’s band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.

In 1977, DiMeola was just 23, and the Elegant Gypsy Suite was recorded as a studio album, which he self-produced. The Genre is Latin jazz, jazz fusion. Di Meola was still a member of Return to Forever at the time of this recording. No wonder the sound of the Gypsy Suite piece is remarkably similar with Return to Forever’s Chick Corea leading on keyboards, compared to Jan Hammer on Gypsy. Return’s Bill Connors guitar on compared to Al Di Meola. And Return’s Stanley Clark on bass as compared here to Anthony Jackson.

Di Meola has a distinctive, though not a virtuoso, sound to his guitar artistry. One of his techniques is his Sweep Picking technique, in which he produces a rapid and specific series of notes with a fluid sound, evident in his lead work here. Here is an example of sweep picking: [EXAMPLE ELEGANT GYPSY SUITE iTunes 3:20 – 3:30] a form of shred guitar. Elegant Gypsy Suite delivers a fusion of rock and latin jazz. with lightning-fast unison playing betweem Hammer, DiMeola and drummer Steve Gadd.

Personnel

PROGRAM EPISODE: ROCK THE CLASSICS

PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour LP records from the 1960s and 1970s where the rock or pop artist is performing classical music, or giving a new dimension to classical music. These performances are found on Vinyl LP and today’s show is called ROCK THE CLASSICS ! We will hear from Frank Zappa, Blood Sweat & Tears, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Deodato, Steely Dan, today … on ROCK THE CLASSICS.

INTRO to ROCK THE CLASSICS (narrate only the names of the groups)

Today we hear ROCK THE CLASSICS …  we will hear…

Tracks Today:

M1 Petrushka (I. Stravinsky), Frank Zappa, ‘Tis The Season To Be Jelly

M2 Cantata 147, 10th mvt) (J.S. Bach), Wendy Carlos

M3 Trois Gymnopedies On A Theme (Erik Satie), Blood Sweat & Tears

M4 Bouree (J.S. Bach), Jethro Tull

M5 The Barbarian (Bela Bartok) Emerson Lake & Palmer

M6 Also Sprach Zarathustra 2001, (Richard Strauss) Deodato

M7 East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, (Duke Ellington) Steely Dan

In today’s podcast we will hear seven examples of a rock or pop artist, in one case a classical music rocker, performing classical music, and with striking interpretations, new instruments or technology, or change to the musical meter as influenced by pop or rock rhythm… produced between 1965 and 1977.

M1 Song  Petrushka, Album ‘Tis The Season To Be Jelly, Album Artist Frank Zappa, Composer I. Stravinsky (1911), Year 1967, Released By – Bootleg album

Petrushka is a ballet with music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, composed in 1911. It was premièred in Paris and although the production was a success, music was reviewed as brittle, caustic and even grotesque. Two years later, in 1913, the Vienna Philharmonic initially refused to play the score, considering the score as “dirty music”.

As for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, the album ‘Tis the Season to Be Jelly was recorded at Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden on September 30, 1967. Pretty cool really, because The Stockholm Concert Hall (Konserthuset) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden, it is the home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Bringing us back to the design of this hall for classical music. Was Zappa compelled or inspired by this great house to include SOMETHING classical? This song, Petrushka, was originally recorded by Zappa and distributed on a bootleg album. So now, going back to the 1913 sentiment about Petrushka being “dirty music”, interesting that the bootleg album cover features a caricature of Zappa’s foot and a smelly sock. Perhaps this truly is… “dirty music”?

At the time of this recording, Zappa was 26 years old, so this is very early in his recording career. Only one year earlier, in 1966, Zappa released his debut album FREAK OUT with The Mothers of Invention. And only a week before this concert performance, Frank Zappa wed Gail Sloatman, with whom he was married and produced four children, right until his untimely death in 1993.

Today we hear a short rendition of Petrushka, as arranged for rock band, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and as performed in the Konserthuset in Stockholm, in 1967.

M2 Song Cantata 147, (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life), 10th mvt, Album Switched On Bach, Album Artist Wendy Carlos, Composer Johann S. Bach (1716), Year 1968, Released By Columbia Masterworks Records

Cantata 147, is written by Johann Sebastian Bach. A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often with a choir. Cantatas were in great demand for the services of the Lutheran church. This cantata, numbered 147 by Bach, was written for the beginning of the 1716 church year, the Season of Advent. It was one segment of a 20-minute Church hymn, as is typical of cantatas of the Baroque period. The 10th movement is named … “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

Wendy Carlos—is an American composer and a highly proficient musician and studio engineer, born Walter Carlos, in Pawtucket Rhode Island, in 1939. Wendy Carlos, in the mid 1960s — worked closely with music synthesizer designer Robert Moog throughout the development during commercialization of the MOOG Synthesizer. You may be familiar with some of Wendy Carlos work if you saw the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film, “A Clockwork Orange”. That musical score is a powerful example of the use of an electronic synthesizer to render classical music.

Three years before “A Clockwork Orange” soundtrack, Wendy Carlos released her revolutionary album, “Switched-On Bach”. This album played a key role in popularizing classical music performed on an electronic synthesizer. It one the first albums to clearly demonstrate the use of the synthesizer as a genuine musical instrument. As an early user of Robert Moog’s first commercially available synthesizer modules, Wendy Carlos helped pioneer the technology, which was not user-friendly at that time.  In producing Switched On Bach, the technique of multitrack recording played a critical role – – because each part, and each note of a chorded part, needed to be recorded individually. Switched-On Bach went gold in 1969, and Platinum in 1986. The success of Switched On Bach fostered an increased interest in electronically rendered music, and the MOOG synthesizer as a new type of musical instrument. In the 1970 Grammy Awards, Switched On Bach took three prizes: Best Classical Album, Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist and Best Engineered Classical Recording.

From the 1968 album, Switched on Bach, Wendy Carlos electronic rendition of Johanne Sebastian Bach’s “Cantata 147, 10th movement”, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

M3 Song Trois Gymnopedies On A Theme By Erik Satie, Album Blood Sweat & Tears, Album Artist Blood Sweat & Tears, Composers Éric Satie (published 1888), Year 1969 , Released Sony BMG Music

Eric Satie born 1866 in Paris, was an eccentric by French composer and pianist, his most famous composition is the Gymnopédies.  The Gymnopédies, published in Paris, is three piano compositions. ..short pieces written in 3/4 time, and today are regarded as the precursors to modern ambient music, or …”Furniture Music” as this was once known. Today we use the term “Background Music”.  Speaking as a music composer, I consider the term “background  music” a perjorative expression. First, much of the elevator and office background music programmes leave much to be desired in terms of the quality of the selections, and secondly, who would want their music relegated to the background, to not be on the front of the stage, not the main attraction?? Over the years following the Gymnopedies, music did find significant reinvention through its use as the movie soundtrack, as jingles in modern advertising and program theme songs, and some of the worst arrangements have found their way to true elevator background music.

One of the finest ambient music examples, Gymnopedies has survived the test of time, some 123 years running. It is peaceful and mellow, and you can multitask to this music.

Almost 100 years after this song’s debut, in 1968, Blood Sweat & Tears released their second album, which included an adaptation of Gymnopédie #1 (arranged by Dick Halligan) which they titled as Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (First and Second Movements). The first movement is a straightforward elaboration of the basic theme using flutes, an acoustic guitar and a triangle. The second is an abstract variation using brass instruments and sound EQ and FX. Halligan is the song arranger, very versatile, he plays Flute, Trombone Organ, Piano, and Vocals on this album. In 1970 this song earned BS&T a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance. Now Gymnopedies as performed by Blood Sweat & Tears.

M4 Song Bouree, Album Stand Up, Album Artist Jethro Tull, Composer  J.S. Bach, Year 1969 Morgan Studio London, Released Reprise in US and Canada

The bourrée is a dance of French origin in the 17th century. “Bourrée in E minor” is a popular lute piece, the fifth movement from “Suite in E minor for Lute”, written by Johann Sebastian Bach. Believed to be the most famous piece among guitarists, “Bouree in E minor” demonstrates counterpoint, as the two voices of the piece, the song’s part and counterpart, move independently of one another, so typical of J.S. Bach’s work organ work.

In 1969, the progressive-rock band Jethro Tull included an instrumental track inspired by “Bouree in E Minor” on their album Stand Up. Leader of Jethro Tull, flautist great Ian Anderson, is a unique, world-class, progressive rocker, featuring the modern flute as the lead instrument within a rock format. Ian Anderson’s tremendous flute expressions, self-learned technique, and vox- flute effects, within a rock framework, clearly set him apart. And almost 45 years following the release of the Stand Up LP, Jethro Tull continues to tour.

On this song, Jethro Tull is made up of:

And now “Bouree” from the 1969 album “Stand Up”, as arranged by Ian Anderson and performed by Jethro Tull.

M5 Song The Barbarian, Album Emerson Lake & Palmer, Album Artist Emerson Lake & Palmer, Composer Béla Bartók, “Allegro Barbaro” (1911), Year recorded 1970, London, Released 1970 Island, Atlantic records and Manticore (UK)

This composition appears on the 1970 debut release of “Emerson Lake & Palmer” on the very first track, “The Barbarian”. This song is an arrangement for rock band of Bartók’s 1911 piano composition, ‘Allegro Barbaro’. Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary’s greatest composer . Béla Bartók was born in a small town in Hungary in 1881. At age 21, in 1902, Bartok met Richard Strauss, at the Budapest premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra, and this meeting strongly influenced Bartok’s early work.

‘Allegro Barbaro’, composed in 1911, is one of Béla Bartók’s most famous and frequently performed solo piano pieces. The composition is typical of Bartók’s style, utilizing folk elements. The work combines Hungarian and Romanian scales; Hungarian peasant music is based on the pentatonic scale, while Romanian music is largely chromatic.

The opening melody of Allegro Barbaro is largely pentatonic (the first 22 notes of the melody use only a tone and a minor third, the building block of the pentatonic scale).

The album, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, is the 1970 debut album of British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The Barbarian opens Side One of this LP. This is a reflection of Keith Emerson younger piano repertoire, now, arranged for a rock band. The Barbarian tracks very closely to Bartok’s “Allegro Barbaro” piece, with the arrangement adding in the four parts of … lead guitar, bass, organ and drums.

Personnel

M6 Song  Also Sprach Zarathustra 2001, Album  Prelude, Album Artist  Deodato, Composer  Richard Strauss, Year  1972, Released By CTI

“Also Sprach Zarathustra” is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896. Richard Strauss conducted its first performance in 1896, in Frankfurt. A typical performance of Also Sprach lasts 30 minutes. Over seventy years later, the “initial fanfare” movement in Also Sprach became well known to the public because it was used as the opening theme in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato (pron. ew – m ih r) covered the “initial fanfare” under the title “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” on his 1972 album Prelude. It is a jazz-influenced rendition of the introduction from the Richard Strauss composition .Released as the album’s single in 1972, Deodato’s nine-minute funky rendition peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #7 on the UK Singles Chart. It won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

On this song, Personnel

M7 Song East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, Album Pretzel Logic, Album Artist Steely Dan, Composer Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1927), Year 1974 , Released By ABC

East St Louis Toodle-Oo is a song by written by pianist “Duke” Ellington and trumpeter Bubber Miley, and recorded in New York in 1927. This song is of the RAGTIME style, Ragtime’s main characteristic is its syncopated, or “ragged,” rhythm, hence the term “rag-time”. This back-beat style of music began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans many years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Familiar to many is the early ragtime song from Scott Joplin, his 1899 composition, the “Maple Leaf Rag”.  East St. Louis Toodle-Oo was the first charting single for Duke Ellington in 1927. The song is structurally perfect, and it is considered by many, to be a jazz masterpiece.

This song was covered by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan on their 1974 album Pretzel Logic. You probably did not see much of Steely Dan between 1975 until 1993. Their early tour history was brief, and the tour in support of Pretzel Logic would be the LAST TIME Steely Dan appeared live until 1993. Becker and Fagen disliked touring and wanted to concentrate solely on writing and recording. This led Becker and Fagen to move to a studio process on all later albums, but still under the name Steely Dan.

This version of East St Louis Toodle-Oo is a note-for-note rendition of the original composition. For Steely Dan, there are many reasons this song is unique. This is the only instrumental ever done by Steely Dan, the only Steely Dan song, until that time, to feature a banjo, and is the only song on which Donald Fagen is credited with playing the saxophone. Fagen also plays the piano lead. This album also marks the first time Walter Becker would play guitar on a Steely Dan album.

Musicians on this song:

Side 2 Track 2 from Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, their rendition of Duke Ellington’s East St. Louis Toodle-Oo

PARTS HARMONIOUS            PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour LP records from the 1960s and 1970s in ROCK and POP that featured singing in multi-part harmonies. Today’s show, is called PARTS HARMONIOUS. There have been many TWO PART harmony songs recorded… so today, for further interest and in seeking out those more difficult or complex, we will focus on multi-part harmonious singing—songs having at least THREE vocal parts!

INTRO to PARTS HARMONIOUS (narrate only the names of the groups)

Today we hear multi-part harmonies from songs of these groups:

In today’s podcast we will hear eight examples of THREE (or more) PART HARMONIES, produced between 1965 and 1977.  Starting with…The Byrds

M1 Song  All I Really Want To Do, Album (Single), Album Artist The Byrds, Composer Bob Dylan 1964, Year 1965 , Released By Columbia

Bob Dylan wrote the song in 1964 and recorded it in one take. In 1965 Cher did a cover of this song, and it was the feature of her debut  SOLO album “All I Want To Do”. The Byrds single was rush-released by the band’s record label, Columbia Records, when it became known that Cher was about to issue a rival cover version of the song on the Imperial label. The Byrds’ version “All I Really Want to Do” was the second single by Byrds and was released in 1965 by Columbia Records  The song was also included on the band’s debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, which was also released in 1965… the single, which we will hear next, begins with Jim McGuinn‘s jangling guitar introduction (played on a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar), ascending melody progression in the chorus, the Byrds high-register harmonies – are clearly influenced by the West Coast surf sound…

M2 A live version of the song, GOOD VIBRATIONS taped in 1972-1973 and found on the album “The Beach Boys in Concert”  …the second official live album by The Beach Boys,  Song Good Vibrations, Album (Single) (backed with the instrumental “Let’s Go Away For Awhile“), Album Artist Beach Boys, Composers Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Year 1966, Released By Capitol Records.

The Beach Boys was formed in 1961, initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. The Beach Boys were managed by the Wilsons’ father Murry, and signed to Capitol Records in 1962. The band’s early music gained popularity across the United States for its close vocal harmonies . Brian Wilson and Mike Love composed “Good Vibrations” a single released in 1966. The song featured a complex, multi-layered sound. Brian Wilson described “Good Vibrations” as a “pocket symphony”. The song became the Beach Boys’ biggest hit to date and a US and UK number-one single in 1966; Good Vibrations was reputed to have been the most expensive American single ever recorded at that time. The production of the song is reported to have spanned seventeen recording sessions at four different recording studios, and used over 90 hours of magnetic recording tape, with an eventual budget of $50,000.  The group members recall the “Good Vibrations” vocal sessions as among the most demanding of their career, and featured elaborate layers of vocal harmonies.

M3 Song On A Carousel, Album (single), Album Artist The Hollies, Composers Alan Clarke, Graham Nash, Tony Hicks, Year 1967, recorded Abbey Road Studios, Released Parlophone and Imperial

On a Carousel was written by Allan Clarke, Graham Nash and Tony Hicks. It was released by The Hollies as a single in 1967 on the Parlophone label in the UK and the Imperial label in the US. You can hear Graham Nash sing the first few lines. From 1966 until Nash’s departure in 1967, the single release A-sides were all Clarke-Hicks-Nash collaborations; Stop Stop Stop, Carrie Ann, and Carousel.  The Hollies, along with The Rolling Stones and The Searchers, are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s that have never officially broken up and that continue to record and perform. The Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame …43 years after this hit, in 2010.

Featuring

M4 The song One , as covered by Three Dog Night.  Three Dog Night, is best known for their music from 1968 to 1975.  As of 2011, they are still recording and making live appearances. The band started in 1968 with three lead vocalists, Danny Hutton , Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells. They had made some early recordings in 1967 with Brian Wilson (Beach Boys) and initially went by the name of Redwood.  Shortly after abandoning the Redwood name, the vocalists hired a group of backing musicians, and recorded their debut Three Dog Night album. On that debut album, “One” is a song composed by Harry Nilsson, and famous for its opening line “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” Nilsson wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal. The busy signal became the opening notes of the song. In 1968, Al Kooper (of early Blood Sweat and Tears fame) released the song on his debut album I Stand Alone.  In 1969, Three Dog Night covered the song on this, their debut album Three Dog Night, with Chuck Negron on lead vocal.  On vocals we have Chuck Negron – lead vocals, Danny Hutton  and Cory Wells.

Song  One, Album  Three Dog Night (debut album), Album Artist  Three Dog Night, Composer  Harry Nilsson, Year  1969

M5 Song No Time, Album American Woman, Album Artist The Guess Who, Composer guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings, Year 1970 (re-recording), Released By TMK/RCA Corp

The Guess Who is a rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The song is No Time, composed by guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings,  The lyrics begin with “No time left for you, On my way to better things, No time left for you, I’ll find myself some wings.” On vocals we have four singers: Randy Bachman the guitarist, Jim Kale the bassist, and Gary Peterson, the drummer, and lead singer is the multi-talented, Burton Cummings, who also plays guitar, piano, organ, flute, keyboards, harmonica on this album. The version we will hear is the 1970 re-recording (as featured on the American Woman album) that is better-known than the single version, also released 1970. The single was the third in a string of #1, million selling singles, in Canada, for The Guess Who. On the American Woman LP, the song is side one, track two after the title song.

M6 Song Teach Your Children, Album Deja vu, Album Artist Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Composer Graham Nash, Year 1970, Released By Atlantic Recording Corp

Teach Your Children” was composed by Graham Nash. Although it was written by Nash when he was a member of The Hollies (prox 1966-1967)  it was never recorded by the Hollies. “Teach Your Children” first appeared on the Déjà Vu album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, released in 1970.    Check out the pedal steel guitar on this song – – that is none other than… Jerry Garcia .  Composer Graham Nash, who is also a photographer and photograph collector, has stated that his inspiration for the song came from afamous photograph by Diane Arbus, “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park.” The image depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, and prompted Nash to write Teach Your Children, about the implications of war on society. Fourteen years later, in 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale used the song “Teach Your Children” in a campaign commercial on arms control.

Featuring

Teach Your Children, from the Déjà vu album.

M7  …Kind Woman, is written by Richie Furay (pronounced “foo-RAY”) and is perhaps his best known song.  Composer Richie Furay is also known for forming the Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills and Neil Young, in fact Kind Woman was written during his tenure in Buffalo Springfield. In the late 1960s he formed the band Poco with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. This live version of “Kind Woman”, is found on POCO’s Deliverin’ album, their first live album and third album in all. A wonderful steel guitar part, played by Rusty Young. Soaring harmonies on this album. POCO vocals are supplied by all five members: Jim Messina  and Richie Furay on guitars, Rusty Young on steel guitar, Timothy B. Schmit on bass, George Grantham on drums

Song Kind Woman, Album Deliverin’, Album Artist POCO, Composer Richie Furay, Year recorded 1970, released 1971 , Released Epic

M8 The Doobie Brothers and the Title song from their seventh studio album LIVIN ON THE FAULT LINE, released in 1977. “Livin’ on the Fault Line” was composed by Patrick Simmons, guitar.  The Doobie Brothers vocals are supplied by Michael McDonald on keyboard, Tiran Porter on bass, Keith Knudsen on drums, and Patrick Simmons, the composer, on guitar. :

Song Livin’On The Fault Line, Album Livin’On The Fault Line, Album Artist Doobie Brothers, Composer Patrick Simmons, Year 1977, Released Warner Bros.

PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, we explore jazz guitarist and composer Larry Coryell.

INTRO TO  “LARRY CORYELL”:

Larry Coryell was born in 1943 in Galveston. He is an american jazz fusion guitarist. A long background as a musician, he played in local bands in Texas and later in the Seattle area.  He moved to NYC in 1965  – age 22 – and was part of Chico Hamilton’s quartet. In the late 1960s he recorded with jazz vibraphonist great, great Gary Burton. He also played in the band Free Spirits.  He formed his own group, The Eleventh House, in 1973. Later in the 1970s  in 1979, Coryell formed “The Guitar Trio” with jazz fusion guitarist John McLaughlin and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia. Coryell’s music combined influences and styles of rock, jazz and eastern. That eastern influence was not doubt a result of his interest in the spiritual leader Sri Chimnoy. Coryell’s discography is impressive.  As leader, there are 36 albums, and as sideman, there are many other albums. This podcast follows Larry Coryell’s work from a rich time in his younger years, 1968-1975, or from age 25-32, recording in New York City for Vanguard Apostolic, Mega records  and Arista.

In today’s podcast we will hear six of Larry Coryell’s best !! Starting with…

M1  Song Treats Style Album Lady Coryell. Album Artist Larry Coryell. Composer Jim Garrison

Larry Coryell was just 25 when this album was recorded in 1968. It is his first album as a leader.By now, LC had recorded two albums with vibraphonist Gary Burton, in his group The Free Spirits. Decades of collaboration would follow between LC and jazz-great Burton, king of the four-mallet style, on jazz vibes. And now in 1968, two more jazz masters are with Coryell  – – Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums … guest artists on this album. Bassist and song composer Garrison played as a sideman with the John Coltrane classic quartet — along with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, from 1962-1967. Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones formed the “rhythm section” of the John Coltrane Quartet.  They gave bold physicality to Coltrane, due to the focused intensity of their rhythm section.   You will hear that focused intensity of the rhythm section on this song. This rhythm machine, plus Coryell’s licks provide an outstanding TRIO performance. And there is a Milestone Event for Coryell …on this song, “Treats Style”, Coryell takes his first guitar solo!! Larry Coryell’s blues guitar signature is imitated but never duplicated, such as his solo here in TREATS STYLE.  This is great early LC, in his formative years, in the 1960s,   as jazz guitarist, composer, arranger and co-producer. The album was produced by David Weiss and LC. Treats Style, was composed by the bassist, Jimmy Garrison, who was 35 at the time of this album. By Vanguard Apostolic. Year 1969

Featuring the trio – – –

M2 Song After Later, Album Larry Coryell at the Village Gate, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1971, By Vanguard Recording Society

Featuring

Larry Coryell is almost 28 at the time of this show at the Village Gate in NYC. After Later is a jazz-rock guitar instrumental, done, in 10/4 time. On this song we have the driven lead guitar jazz rock style of LC, with distortion and feedback effects.

Some of that overdrive is the unique combination of LC’s choice of what is typically a jazz guitar, a hollow-bodied Gibson ES-185 guitar, very sympathetic to stage vibration, such as from Coryell’s amplifier, feeding back into the guitar body. We also hear the use of the wah-pedal later in the lead guitar and even some guitar-shredding style is heard, to produce those ferocious 16th or 32nd note flurries. And finally, the bending of the notes – owed to blues and rock.

I hear a bit of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in this song. A historical note, Hendrix had died just months before this show, in September of 1970. Maybe it’s my imagination, the connection from Hendrix into Coryell’s powerful lead lines in this song, After Later.

Melodic and powerful. This is an early combination of a jazz-type of guitar (such as the gibson ES-185)  and rock-like effects, like guitar overdrive, feedback and a strong rhythm section supplied by bass and drums to 10/4. This was early Jazz Rock and very exciting, Coryell was definitely on to something, and breaking new ground with this unique guitar sound. This is a jazz format, with the song intro and ending using a formal theme, and the “in between” segment, containing a lengthy guitar improvisation supplied by Coryell. It’s not unlike a fine novel, propped up by two book-ends.

I would have loved to be at that show in 1971, “Larry Coryell at the Village Gate”, New York City. What was I doing. I was a freshman in college…and I had to get my hands on this incredible live album, his fifth album.

I missed the show, but I have played this song, After Later, EASILY a hundred …maybe two hundred or more times !

M3 Song Further Explorations for Albert Stinson, Album Fairyland ,Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1971 recorded live at Montreux Switzerland, By Mega Records & Tapes

Featuring

Coryell is 28 at the is time of this live album, released in 1971. The album was recorded at Montreux, Switzerland. This is again a trio. Again, you can hear Coryell’s large hollow-bodied electric guitar. From the album cover, it appears to be a Gibson ES-185, a very LARGE electric guitar indeed.

Albert Stinson was a American jazz double-bassist who worked with Larry Coryell in 1967-1969. He was nicknamed “sparky” because of his huge, bright tone, and aggressive attack. Stinson died in 1969, of a heroin overdose, while on tour with Coryell. Stinson was 24. His bass playing with Coryell can be found on another 1969 Vanguard album titled “Coryell”, where he supplies the bass tracks for two of the album’s seven cuts. Bassist Chuck Rainey supplies the other bass tracks for the album. And here, on today’s show, from the Fairyland album, Chuck Rainey performs on Further Explorations for Albert Stinson, the song, no doubt, is a tribute to this promising young bassist.

This time period was a particularly TRAGIC one for the music world, with MANY prominent artists lost in the three years of 1969, 1970 and 1971, including Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Albert Stinson, the subject of this song, Jimi Hendrix, Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson of Canned Heat, Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison of the Doors, and Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band.

M4 Song Low-Lee-Tah, Album Introducing the Eleventh House w Larry Coryell, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1974, By Vanguard Recording Society

Featuring

Coryell is 31 at the time of this album, in 1974.

He had created the group Eleventh House in 1973 —and it was active for 3 years. The Eleventh House was a change in format for Coryell.  He does create a new sound with Eleventh House. Coryell composes this angular, Mahavishnu sounding piece. It’s a rock instrumental, with off beats, improvisation for guitar and trumpet. Earlier, Coryell had played in a trio format, such as from the three albums we heard earlier, LADY CORYELL,  LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE, and FAIRYLAND. Eleventh House will add two parts to the trio format. In addition to the trio’s bass-drums-guitar, we add the keyboard-synth of Mike Mandel, and Trumpet of Randy Brecker. Pretty cool. A trumpet part that can drive just as fast, and just as strong as the HOUSE’s lead guitar part. Brecker’s trumpet sound is reminiscent of Miles Davis with reverb, and a mix of melodic lines with …angular lines..The percussionist, Alphonse Mouzon gives a command performance. Alphonse Mouzon was supplied courtesy of Blue Note Records.   This is a jazz format, with a long middle section of improvisation. Coryell composed this angular, Mahavishnu sounding piece.  The song is in mixed time. It’s approximately 4/4, but rhythm is broken into segments having 8-beats measures, followed by several 6+8 beat measures. It’s a pretty catchy rhythm, more of the cerebral level of appeal, a sophisticated style and sound, that sets it apart from anyone else on the jazz-rock scene. Coryell uses pedal effects, including EQ and a synthesizer-like sound effect, sweeping across the soundscape. This song LOW LEE TAH, is directed toward the trumpet line and solo, with Larry Coryell in the role of guitar sideman, with his “Sri Chimnoy” or Mahavishnu sounding rhythm guitar backing and brief guitar solo.

M5 Song Pavane For A Dead Princess, Album The Restful Mind, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Maurice Ravel 1899, Year 1975, By Vanguard Records.

Featuring

On THE RESTFUL MIND album we hear another, fantastic side of guitarist Larry Coryell in Pavane For A Dead Princess.

Coryell is 32 at the time of this recording. If you like the work of Maurice Ravel, the french composer, who lived between 1875-1937, you may recognize this song. But the song title, means nothing, as RAVEL stated…”Do not be surprised, that title has nothing to do with the composition. I simply liked the sound of those words and I put them there, c’est tout”. So, the Pavane, title meaning nothing,  …is in slow, 2/2 time. This Ravel song, composed in 1899, received luke-warm early reviews, but has enjoyed popularity both in French and English forms.  The song was written for solo piano.  This is Larry Coryell’s interpretation — he plays the Lo Prinzi acoustic guitar.

M6 Song Level One,  Album Level One, Album Artist Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell, Composer Mike Mandel, Year 1975, By Arista Records

Featuring

With Level One, we hear more of the angular Eleventh House sound, now with Michael Lawrence on Trumpet. Larry Coryell, and his lead guitar performance on Level One is against a rhythm framework supplied by the fiery percussion of Alphonse Mouzon and bass of John Lee.  Eleventh House featured the dynamic keyboard synth sounds of Mike Mandel, the composer of this tune. LEVEL ONE is similar in terms of the impact and the feel of the music with  John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

The 1971 Mahavishnu album My Goal’s Beyond, was inspired by John McLaughlin’s decision to follow the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, to whom he had been introduced in 1970 ….by Larry Coryell’s manager. Coryell and McLaughlin worked together in 1974 in the group SPACES and again in 1979 with a guitar trio of McLaughlin, Coryell and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia.  Collaboration continues today with McLaughlin and Coryell,   as recently as 2011.

That was

Song Level One 

Album Level One

Album Artist Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell

Composer Mike Mandel

PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, we explore Odd Meters. First, a quick primer on meter.  If you are a musician… bear with me if you will…Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds in time. …Meter places time into groupings, called measures or bars. The meter signature, also known as the time signature, is noted as two numbers stacked one above the other….like a fraction. For example: 4/4. On top—–The number of beats in a bar or measure. And on bottom—-the type of note that represents one beat, most commonly it is a quarter note. Two most common time signatures are

We find 3/4 time in the waltz, a simple 1-2-3 dance step, it’s a simple signature comprised of 3 quarter notes.

And 4/4 time can be found throughout pop, rock, country, even the classics, its a simple “even” signature comprised of 4 quarter notes.

In today’s podcast we will hear ODD METERS starting with…

M1 The Rite of Spring”.  Part II (The Sacrifice) Sacrificial Dance by Igor Stravinsky 

Experts have said that the ballet The Rite of Spring, composed in 1913, changed music forever. It is famous for causing a riot in 1913 at its premiere in Paris. This is because the music and dancing was so different than anything people had heard before. The energy, rhythms and colorful sounds are amazing, even a century later. Igor Stravinsky was one of the first to introduce odd meters into western classical music in his “The Rite of Spring”. Rite of Spring is an example of THE ABSENCE OF A PREDICTABLE METRE or REFUSAL TO ADHERE TO TRADITIONAL METRE. At the time, “traditional” meant Ballet dance with 3/4 metre, a demure orchestra supporting, building, mirroring, the dance choreography. Instead, Rite of Spring demonstrates the uses of pulses and rhythms in music and dance.  This is a complete departure from the norm.  Dancers beat the pulse of music with their feet and arms. Dancers gather and disperse like the rhythmic formations in the music. The rhythm is blatant and out front. To create further tension (and frustration to the 1913 audience), the dance rhythm breaks from the music rhythm, in the last movement – Sacrificial Dance.  The style of music is that there is no consistent downbeat. This arrangement was an outrage !! No consistent time ! Not done before. The Rite of Spring was premiered on Thursday, May 29, 1913 in Paris and was conducted by Pierre Monteux. The intensely rhythmic score and primitive stage performance shocked the audience —as Nijinsky’s choreography was a radical departure from classical ballet.  The audience began to boo loudly. There were loud arguments in the audience followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. Unrest turned into a riot. The Paris police arrived …but even so, chaos reigned for the remainder of the performance. Music critic Abigail Wagner described it well – “The1913 audience’s shock at hearing Rite was akin to that of someone who has only read verse in iambic pentameter, reading a prose novel for the first  time”. This is the climactic final of The Rite of Spring, the closing episode of the Sacrificial Dance from The Rite of Spring”.   Igor Stravinsky 

M2 Take Five, Dave Brubeck Quartet Album Time Out. Recorded in New York at Columbia Records in 1959

American Jazz pianist born 1920. Brubeck had studied with the French composer Darius Milhaud, who in turn had been strongly influenced by Stravinsky, and is credited with the introduction of shifting rhythms that sparked a far-reaching surge of interest in jazz and popular music in the 1960s. Brubek shook up the jazz world in 1959 by his use of odd meters. He started to experiment in polyrhythms. After returning from a trip to Turkey in 1958, he produced an album of all original compositions in a variety of time signatures. This album “Time Out” was almost rejected by Columbia Records …But the third cut, “Take Five,” soon became the biggest-selling jazz single of all time. It is in 5/4 time . Take Five is in quintuple 5/4 time, that’s one-two-three-one-two-one-two-three-one-two-. The song is a jazz classic. There are 7 tracks on the album. ..all songs in odd or changing time. Such as 9/8, 5/4, 3/4, 6/4, and salted in with 4/4.

Personnel

Appeared on the album Time Out in 1959  Columbia Records on 7″ record format

M3 Toads of the Short Forest by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention the album Weasles Ripped My Flesh . Toads of the Short Forest”  was recorded 1969. Frank Zappa began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands—he later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer drummer and guitarist. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with improvisations and sound collages.  This song uses multiple time signatures a polyrhythm. You will hear zappa well into the song saying what time each musician is playing in.

In “Toads Of The Short Forest” (from the album Weasels Ripped My Flesh), composer Frank Zappa explains: “At this very moment on stage we have drummer A playing in 7/8, drummer B playing in 3/4, the bass playing in 3/4, the organ playing in 5/8, the tambourine playing in 3/4, and the alto sax blowing his nose” (Mothers of Invention 1970).

Personnel

Produced in 1970 on Bizarre/Reprise Records

M4 Money Pink Floyd in  7/4 time. The album – The Dark Side of the Moon

7/4 time, That’s ONE-two-three-four-five-six-seven. The song switches into 4/4 time for the excellent guitar solo by David Gilmour. This is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. This song opens side two of the album. One distinctive element of “Money” is the rhythmic sequence of sound effects that begins the track and is heard throughout the first several bars. This was created by splicing together recordings Waters had made of clinking coins, a ringing cash register, tearing paper, a clicking machine…to construct a seven-beat effects loop!!  The wonder and beauty of tape recorded effects — in the early years.

Personnel

Composer -the bassist, Roger Waters, composed all songs. Produced by Pink Floyd. Recorded at Abby Roads Studios London 1972-1973. Released by Gramaphone Company Ltd 1973

M5 Good Morning, Good Morning‘ from album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song has been transcribed as a mixture of 4/4, 3/4 and 5/4. Composed by John Lennon, credited to Lennon/McCartney. Recorded 1967, The guitar solo was played by Paul McCartney.  Left handed, no doubt. Performed by The Beatles on the 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The song has an unusual rhythmical feel. It  does not use the same time signature throughout. Produced by George Martin

Personnel

M6 Living in the Past song by Jethro Tull composed 1969 and a 1969 single release. Composed by Ian Anderson

It is notable for being written in the unusual 5/4 time signature. The 5/4 time signature is quickly noted from the beginning rhythmic bass pattern. ….1-2-3-1-2 …1-2-3-1-2

Personnel

Released in the US in the same year as their STAND UP album, in 1969, as a stand-alone single.Produced by Island Records. Also is on a 1972 compilation album, Living in the Past, by Jethro Tull.

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, we look at Part 2 of our program on the subject of SYMPHONIC ROCK. In Part one we focused on some of the vinyl records that featured a rock music format, and featured or incorporatedconcerto3-4  a symphonic or chamber accompanyment  – produced on vinyl records.  We heard Moody Blues, Yes, Led Zepplin, Tommy, Frank Zappa, and Jan Hammer / Jerry Goodman. Today we continue our exploration into artists that either dabbled in symphonic arrangement, or artists that infused their rock or pop sound with classical music orchestra sounds:

1 Twenty Small Cigars, album “King Kong, Jean-Luc Ponty plays the music of Frank Zappa”

2 Vision Is A Naked Sword, album Apocalypse, Mahavishnu Orchestra w London Symphony Orch, Michael Tilson Thomas Cond.

3 Concerto for Jazz Rock Orch, Mvt 1, album Journey To Love Nemperor 1975 composed conducted arranged Stanley Clarke,

4 Concerto for Jazz Rock Orch, Mvts 3+4, album Journey To Love Nemperor 1975 composed conducted arranged Stanley Clarke,

5 The Dick Hyman Concerto Electro, Mvt 1, album Concerto Electro,  Composer Arranger Pianist Dick Hyman

6 King Kong,  album “King Kong, Jean-Luc Ponty plays the music of Frank Zappa”

7 Overture, album Child is Father to the Man, Blood Sweat & Tears, BS&T String Ensemble,

M1 Jean-Luc Ponty and his solo album, featuring the electric violin and the Frank Zappa composition and arrangement of Twenty Small Cigars, from the album King Kong, Jean-Luc Ponty plays the music of Frank Zappa, or just … King Kong. Composed  for Jean Luc Ponty and this solo album, by World Pacific Jazz Records. The King Kong album was released 1970 Liberty Records label. Compositions and recording were completed in 1969. There are five parts on Twenty Small Cigars. Noteably, there is no guitar part.

Ponty was born in France in 1942 was about 27 at the time of this production. This was his 9th release in a long list of albums – – about 40 to date. His collaborations with FZ included these FZ albums – maybe you recognize the album titles –  Hot Rats, Over-Nite Sensation, Piquantique, Apostrophe – –  were albums on which Ponty played with FZ between 1969 and 1981. Also Ponty collaborated with Mahavishnu Orchestra, albums Apocalypse and Visions, 2 albums by the MO, in the 1970s,  featuring Jean-Luc Ponty.

M2 Vision Is A Naked Sword. Album Apocalypse, Artist is the Mahavishnu Orchestra w the London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas Cond. Composed by  John McLaughlin. Produced George Martin. Featuring JLP on electric violin and electric baritone violin, And Mahavishnu (aka John McLaughlin) on guitars. And the LSO ( I count 6 LSO performers including KB, viola, violin2, cello, drum and bass parts) with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, produced in 1974 CBS

M3 Concerto for Jazz Rock Orch, Mvt 1, album Journey To Love, composed conducted arranged Stanley Clarke, Produced on Nemperor 1975. One of those movements in this case the first, that seemed to jump out of the stereo, a stereo possessed. So peaceful, contemplative, driven by the drone of the high “G” note. That surreal opening sound. Starry-like.

M4 Concerto for Jazz Rock Orch, Mvts 3+4,  Album Journey To Love, composed conducted arranged Stanley Clark, produced on Nemperor in1975. Now on Movement 3 the energy level is much higher. A great transition into longer notes and the power of the David Sancious electric guitar lead part. A cooling off movement – movement 4 — drifts off into an “A”-note” drone.

M5 album Concerto Electro, song the Dick Hyman Concerto Electro, Mvt 1, 11:45, composed Dick Hyman, and recorded June 1969, “for Baldwin-Electro piano rock-jazz rhythm and symphony orchestra” . This is a crossover with many imbedded styles…from jazz and classics into a pop and rock genre. Dick Hyman as usual makes this sound seamless. Virtuoso jazz pianist, born in NYC in 1927, a 50+ year career as pianist, organist, arranger music director and composer. Classically trained, his performance days date back to pianist for the Benny Goodman Trio.Dick Hyman worked in the late 1960s with the Moog Synthesizer some covers and some original compositions. He has been active as a jazz session artist, classical composition, film work, and pop/electronic music. In the Concerto Electro, we hear the authoritative sound of the lower registers of the baldwin electric piano and the clear trumpet of Mel Davis.The piano rocks and provided the rhythmic foundation. How many musical styles can there be in one movement of one song ? I count seven styles:

Written in 1967 and recorded in 1969

M6  Jean-Luc Ponty and the title track from his solo album …King Kong . This is another Frank Zappa composition and arrangement. There are six parts on King Kong. Again, there is no guitar part.

M7 We conclude with … Overture, album Child is Father to the Man, Blood Sweat & Tears, BS&T String Ensemble, Al Kooper composition, Released Columbia Records 1968

The album introduced the idea of the big band to rock and roll and paved the way for such groups as Chicago. Kooper left the band after this album, changing the nature of the group. This is BS&T’s debut album.  This is track one side one. After hearing it the first time, I thought, now what is the REST of this album all about? The song fits logically with “I can’t quit her”, also composed by Al Kooper, but instead, “I can’t quit her” kicks off side 2 of the LP.

Today we will hear from these artists demonstrating SYMPHONIC ROCK:

1 The Moody Blues and Days of Future Passed with the London Festival Orchestra

2 Rick Wakeman’s rendition of “Cans and Brahms” the group Yes

3 “Your Time is Gonna Come” Led Zepplin

4 “I’m Free”, from Tommy, as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chambre Choir with Roger Daltry

5 “Cleetus Awreetus- AwrightUs”  Frank Zappa, and Grand Wazoo featuring a cast of characters…From the Grand Wazoo album

6 “I Remember Me”, From the Like Children (Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman) album

M1 “The Day Begins” From the “Days  of Future Passed” album, the Moody Blues, with the London Festival Orchestra, conducted by Peter Knight.

This song is side one track one of the vinyl LP. This album paints the picture of everyman’s day, starting with The Day Begins, Dawn, The Morning, Lunch break, the Afternoon, Evening and the Night. One day of a man’s life, on 7 tracks, on vinyl LP ! The seven tracks on Days of Future Passed spawned two hit singles: “Tuesday Afternoon”  and “Nights in White Satin” which hit No. 2… five years after the LP’s original release!.

The lyrics from Days  of Future Passed are true to the band’s name, moody and blue  …such as this: “Cold hearted orb that rules the night, removes the colours from our sight, red is grey and yellow white. But we decide which is right. And which is an illusion?”

One description of this fusion of pop and poetry and the classics is taken from album’s liner notes, written by Hugh Mendl, the executive producer… he writes  …Moody Blues is “extending the range of pop music… and has found a point where it becomes one with the classics”…

“Days  of Future Passed” was Produced in 1967 by Decca Record Company Ltd., using the then-state of the art DERAM sound system. The DERAM or so-called DERAMIC Sound System was an early stereo “all round sound” technique, that allowed more space between instruments. How was this achieved? This capability came from the use of, not just one four-track recording machine, but TWO four-track recording machines. Imagine – eight discrete recorded tracks. Before this, stereo was recorded from one four-track tape recorder. The doubling of recorded tracks provided the ability to put more sound “space” or “spacial realism” between performers on up to 8 recorded tracks, creating more of a soundscape when played on a “stereo”, high fidelity sound system, and when you placed yourself between the two speakers. This was 1967 — the early days of consumer audio. If you had “good” component stereo system, you must have been an audiophile, as those early component systems were very expensive indeed! A good component system included a stereo amplifier, stereo preamp, the reel-to-reel tape deck, a “good” LP turntable, tonearm, massive speakers too…

This album credits the orchestral parts to “Redwave/Knight”.  Well, “Knight” was conductor Peter Knight, while “Redwave” was an imaginary name representing the Moody Blues themselves. Knight built the orchestral parts around themes written by Hayward, Thomas, Pinder & Lodge, the Moody Blues.

M2 Full: Cans and Brahms  YES and their 1972 album “Fragile”, Atlantic Recording Corp, . This is an extract from Brahms  Symphony No. 4 in E minor 3rd movement. A solo Rick Wakeman adaptation, on electric piano, grand piano, organ, electric harpsichord, and synthesizer. Rick Wakeman’s modern instruments replace those traditional ones used in the Brahms Symphony No. 4, —the strings, woodwind, brass, reeds, and contra bassoon, when the symphony was completed, in 1885. Some 87 years later, Rick Wakeman arranged this rendition. Even now… 126 years later….the 3rd is a catchy musical movement with left and right-hand parts for keyboard.

M3 “Your Time Is Gonna Come” by Led Zeppelin, released on their 1969 debut album, titled  “Led Zeppelin”. Jimmy Page played a Fender 10-string steel guitar. Bassist John Paul Jones played a church-style organ, using a pedal to generate the bass. Jimmy Page told Guitar Player magazine: “I had never played steel before, but I just picked it up for this recording”. Robert Plant is the vocal. So what do we have. A church organ with the quirky tune of church pipes, Jimmy Page on an out-of-tune 12-string guitar, and Robert Plant on vocals. What a mix !

M4 The song “I’m Free” from the rock opera Tommy, as written by Pete Townshend and The Who, as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chambre Choir, David Measham conductor. And guest soloist on the song “I’m Free”, Roger Daltry. This 2-LP set was beautifully produced.  Ode Records, distributed by A&M Records. Lou Reizner production. “I’m Free” tells of Tommy’s vision to spiritually enlighten others due to his miraculous cure, he becomes ‘evangelist’, his sermons bringing forth the multitudes at Tommy’s Holiday Camp. .  “I’m Free, and I’m waiting for you to follow me”. This London Symphony Orchestra version of Tommy is based on the Who album “Tommy”, released three years earlier, in 1969, Polydor / Decca

M5 Cleetus Awreetus- AwrightUs From the Grand Wazoo album, Frank Zappa. 1972 Warner Bros Records

This invention for small orchestra was composed and Arranged Frank Zappa. Ernie Watts and Mike Altshul on woodwinds. Sal Marquez and Ken Shroyer on brass. George Duke on KB. Vocals George Duke and Frank Zappa .Guitar Frank Zappa. Bass Erroneous. Drums Aynsley Dunbar

M6 I Remember Me From the Like Children album. Jerry Goodman on violin and viola and acoustric guitar. Jan Hammer on piano and moog synthesizer. There is no drum track. Composed by Jan Hammer. 1974 Nemperor Records

Today we look at four Solo Album Artists… These are solo albums in the sense that the music was composed, arranged, performed, often recorded /mixed and produced by the solo artist. These albums are all from the time period of 1970-1972.

1. Pete Townshend and his 1972 solo album, “Who Came First”, on MCA

M1 We know Pete Townshend as an english rock guitarist vocalist and songwriter — perhaps most famous for his rock opera “Tommy” — and for his over 100 songs composed and the dozen or so studio-produced albums of The Who. But Townshend is also an accomplished singer, keyboardist, synth, bass and accordion player as well as drummer. Amazing fact — he never had formal lessons on the instruments he plays! Here we are in 1972, and Pete Townshend comes out with this solo album ‘Who Came First’. We listen first to his song “Sheraton Gibson” from that solo album “Wh o Came First”, produced in 1972 by MCA –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M2 Stevie Wonder’s Music of My Mind album, on Tamla, came out in 1972, and is a gem in his series of classic albums full of pop hits in the 1970s. Music of My Mind was produced by Stevie Wonder and written by Wonder, the album is described as ‘virtually the work of one man’. Every single instrument is performed by Stevie Wonder. Compositions, arrangements, performances, production – all Stevie. in 1972 –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M3 Paul McCartney is one of the most influential songwriters of modern time. With Lennon Harrison and Starr, the Beatles changed the face of pop music forever. McCartney’s first solo album was an amazing work – released on Apple in 1970 – just two weeks before the last Beatles album “Let It Be” was released. On his solo album, McCartney plays the bass, and sings, of course, but he also plays the guitars, piano, drums and organ. The album credits indicate that all instruments and vocals are by Paul, and harmonies are by Linda McCartney. The album was written and produced by Paul. We listen now to “Maybe I’m Amazed” with a beautifully composed and skilled playing of his guitar solo, from the “McCartney” solo album LP in 1970 on Apple –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M4 Todd Rundgren and “I Saw The Light” from his solo album “Something/Anything” on Warner in 1972. A double album, Something/Anything was an amazing work – all instruments, all voices, all songs, arranged and produced by Todd Rundgren in 1972 on Warner. Rundgren provides all instruments and vocals on three of four sides of these 2-LP set. Instruments include: vocals, keyboard, drums, lead and bass guitars, and percussion. Rundgren is a solid rock lead guitarist, and to have the added talent to play all parts, – it’s amazing. –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M5 We listen now to On Breathless, Rundgren does overdubs on the keyboard parts, adds drums and percussion and sequencer /sample sounds, plays piano and guitar. In this instrumental composition we have a very colorful melody moving along with lots of musical harmonies –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M6  Paul McCartney and “Sing Along Junk” from the “McCartney” solo album LP in 1970 on Apple. Paul is on rhythm and lead guitars, piano, drum set and synth. There is a full song version with vocals on that same album, a song titled “Junk”. The song you just heard is the “Junk” version WITHOUT vocals, the “karaoke” version, or “music plus one” version, if you will, and it is titled “Singalong Junk”. What a beautiful composition and instrumental on its own from solo artist Paul McCartney –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

M7 We close out today’s show with Stevie Wonder’s hit song “Superwoman”, from his solo album ‘Music of My Mind’. Here Stevie plays the keyboards, drums and bass, composes the song and produces the album. NOTE that there is a lead guitar solo provided by stand-in Buzzy Feiton. I do remember seeing Stevie Wonder in about 1968, at the Rubber Bowl in Akron Ohio, where Stevie was opening for the Rolling Stones. I remember Stevie’s show, he moved from keyboard to drums back to keyboard and to bass, moving all around that stage. It was a sight to see, knowing Steve is himself blind. Again, the song is Superwoman”, from Stevie Wonder’s solo album ‘Music of My Mind’, in 1972, –here on Vinyl Vibrations.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

Today in Part TWO of Jazz Fusion, we look at FIVE more Jazz Fusion artists on …VINYL VIBRATIONS !

M1 Miles Davis and his “Bitches Brew” album 1970 Columbia. Miles Davis experiments with electric instruments like electric piano and electric guitar. Also we see more of an improvisational style with a rock rhythm. a double album – a studio album.  We listen to the song titled “John McLaughlin” on Bitches Brew.  This is an all-star cast–Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul on two electric pianos, John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Jack DeJohnette and Don Alias on two drum sets, Dave Holland and Harbey Brooks on two electric basses and of course on trumpet, Miles Davis.

M2  Return to Forever,  featuring Chick Corea. The recording and title song is “Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy”. A phenomenal set of musicians — guitarist Bill Connors, Stan Clarke on Bass, Lenny White on Drums. This song provides examples of time changes, which Chick Corea thrives in, providing a high energy framework for Bill Connors to play lead guitar. A very mechanical song, with enough melodic component to to be interesting and tell a story about THE SEVENTH GALAXY —- The band is Return to Forever and the title song is “Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy”featuring Chick Corea, 1973, Polydor Records.

M3 Soft Machine and we listen to the album simply named “5”. On this 1972 CBS album, part 2 of the 2-part song “L.B.O., by John Marshall, the drummer.  The musicians are Elton Dean on Alto Sax, Saxello and Electric Piano, Hugh Hopper on Bass, Mike Ratlidge on Organ and Electric Piano, and John Marshall on Drums. Note the time changes, the improvisation, the use of electric saxello, electric piano, in a jazz format, with the rock beat.

M4 Pat Metheny and his 1976 album BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. We listened to UNQUITY ROAD, composed by Pat Metheny.  I remember seeing the very young Metheny back in 1977 at a small venue named Amazingrace, then  locatedat 845 Chicago Ave in Evanston IL. There, up on stage stood this white kid from Missouri, then 21, with huge a afro and and a very large hollow body electric guitar. This kid is really different. The guitar playing is like nothing I had heard before. Great technique, the scales, wide intervals, the melodic character of this music, the little excursions each of the songs take. And a very NEW sound with jazz “improvisation”  The bass sound is also new, because it is fretless and electric, that’s Jaco Pastorius on bass. Bob Moses Drums. Recorded in 1976, not in the US… but in Ludwigsburg, Germany, for ECM Records.

M5 SPACES. Next, we hear from the Band, Album, and title Song . . . all titled “SPACES”. Another all-star cast, featuring Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin on guitars, Billy Cobham on drums, Chick Corea electric piano, and Miroslav Vitous on bass….. Vitous playing a bowed bass, in this case, an electrified, acoustic bass. And the Coryell-McLaughlin guitar combination, works well … it’s surprising, as they have such different styles (Coryell’s fury and power vs McLaughlin’s texture and finesse). Much improvisation, much power in the guitar solo parts. This is a great instrumental album. The song SPACES was composed by Julie Coryell. This was originally recorded in 1971, and this release is 1974 from VANGUARD APOSTOLIC records.

M6 The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin and the album “The Inner Mounting Flame” and the most laid back song on that album, if you will, a track named “Dawn” with John McLaughlin on Guitar, Jerry Goodman on Violin, Jan Hammer on Piano, Rick Laird Bass and Billy Cobham on Drums. Original composition of John McLaughlin. This first studio album, released in 1971, by Columbia Records.

This is the first post of VINYL VIBRATIONS by Brian Frederick. In today’s podcast we look at Part ONE of a two-part program on JAZZ FUSION. Today, we focus on the decade of development of JAZZ FUSION during the late 1960s and into the 1970s — during the “Golden Age of Vinyl” when many of the early works we will hear are found in Vinyl LP format. Jazz Fusion maybe not as much a musical style, but more of a MUSICAL APPROACH.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

M1 Gary Burton Quartet, their first album DUSTER in 1967 on RCA Records, vibraphonist Gary Burton, the song “LITANY”. Gary Burton – the jazz vibraphonist from Anderson Indiana.  Burton plays with Larry Coryell [guitar], Roy Haynes [drums], Steve Swallow [bass].  Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz.   In 1967 BURTON formed the Gary Burton Quartet.   Predating the jazz-rock fusion craze of the 1970s, the group’s first record, Duster, combined jazz, country and rock and roll elements.

M2 John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the album APOCALYPSE, 1974 on CBS. With the London Symphony Orchestra, with Michael Tilson Thomas conductor. The song titled WINGS OF KARMA track one side 2. This album is produced by George Martin. Recorded in London 1974. McLaughlin is flexing his creative muscles, demonstrating, convincingly, that he can compose and arrange in a symphonic format, and work in his electric instruments, the electric piano, guitar and bass, and the rock drum set with . Jean Luc-Ponty is featured on electric violin. John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Gayle Morgan on keyboards, plus 9 other members of the LSO. Very powerful, a very new musical dimension, this sound, in 1974.

M3 The MOTHERS, and the album ..The Grand Wazoo, and the song “EAT THAT QUESTION”, on Reprise Records, Warner Bros Records, 1972. Produced by Frank Zappa. On woodwinds Mike Altshul and Joel Peskin, Sal Marquez on all brass, George Duke on Keyboards, Frank Zappa percussion, and Guitar Frank Zappa, Drums Aynsley Dunbar and Bass-the credit shows as “erroneous”! All selections composed and arranged (and produced) by Frank Zappa.

M4 Jean-Luc Ponty on electric violin and the album King Kong, the song “IDIOT BASTARD SON” by Frank Zappa, The album cover indicates “music for electric violin and low budget orchestra – composed and arranged by Frank Zappa. The electric violin has a natural footing, a solid role as a solo instrument in this new JAZZ FUSION genre.

M5 Jerry Goodman and Jan Hammer  the song “Stepping Tones, composed by Rick Laird on the “Like Children” album, Nemporer Records 1974. This is an interesting album from the standpoint that all of the performance talent on this record is supplied by only two persons — Jerry Goodman on on violins, electric guitar, electric mandolin, acoustic guitar, viola and — Jan Hammer on piano, drums, moog bass, moog lead, percussion.

M6 The MOTHERS “Peaches en Regalia” live track from  The MOTHERS and the “Fillmore East, June 1971” album, distributed on Reprise (Warner Bros) Records. Zappa is on electric guitar, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Jim Pons on bass, Don Preston on the mini-moog, and Bob Harris on 2nd keyboard. “Peaches en Regalia” was written by Frank Zappa and published by Frank Zappa Music.