FriPod: Babies

I realized the other day that "baby" returned a good number of songs on my iTunes.  Hence this FriPod.

1.  "The Arrival of Baby Harry" by John Williams, on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack.  Starts with a creepy/magical celesta sound, followed by swirling strings.  Now the english horn introduces more strings with bell towers, some wordless chorus, all anticipatory of the arrival.  Ah, now Harry's theme comes in, that's the arrival we've been waiting for.  The second part is happier, but very brief.  Harry has a hard life ahead.

2.  "Baby, Don't Tell on Me" by Lester Young, Count Basie, and Jimmy Rushing; performed by the Count Basie Orchestra on The Essential Count Basie, Volume 1.  Nice muted trumpet solo for this blues.  Jimmy sings, apparently on his criminal activities that his lover shouldn't squeal about.

3.  "Babyface" by U2 on Zooropa.  Interesting fusion of Bono's lower register with someone (Bono?) singing falsetto an octave higher.  

4.  "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby", traditional tune arranged by Gillian Welch and T Bone Burnett, sung by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.  Beautiful three-part harmony with a haunting bowed saw (or theremin?) and a guitar that seems off on its own world.

5.  "I Found a New Baby" by J. Palmer and S. Williams, performed by the Benny Goodman Sextet on Charlie Christian: Genius of Electric Guitar.  One of the first integrated jazz combos, this showcases Charlie's great blues feel.  The piano and Benny trade comical little licks, very flighty.

6.  "I'm Crazy 'bout my Baby" by Fats Waller, performed by Fats Waller with Ted Lewis & his orchestra, on Jazz: The Singers 1930s.  Fortunately, Fats' baby is crazy about him as well, since Cupid is their teacher.

7.  "I'm Nobody's Baby" by Ager, Davis, and Santly; performed by Mildred Bailey & her orchestra, on Little Jazz.  A great trumpet solo by Roy Eldridge, such a fat yet mellow sound.  And his bends seem like trombone glissandi, they are so clear.

8.  "There Goes My Baby" by Nelson, Patterson, and Treadwell, performed by The Drifters on The Best of the Drifters.  Heavily produced, with strings and strong reverb on the drums and voices to give a very spacial feel.  In the fourth verse producers Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber put a cello line that they claim resembles Rimsky-Korsakov.  

9.  "Hush Little Baby" traditional melody, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin on Hush.  Very upbeat, not a lullaby.  

10.  "When My Baby Smiles at Me" by Bill Munro and Harry von Tilzer, performed by Benny Goodman on Live at Carnegie Hall.  A great little number (50 seconds), it sounds like a cross between Dixieland and klezmer.  

FriPod: Rock-n-Roll never dies

I'm back from the holidays, and just finished the second day of my Winter Term course, the History of Rock and Roll. It's fun so far, though the students are still getting back into classroom mode.

1. "Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Harry McClintock on the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Not really rock, but it is part of the rock-n-roll genealogy as we discussed yesterday and today.

2. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel on Glass Houses. I had a friend in high school who made a karaoke tape of this, which haunts me to this day.

3. "Jailhouse Rock" by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed by Elvis Presley. Written by two white guys who thought they were black, performed by the first white guy to sing rhythm-n-blues.

4. "Rock 'n Roll Music" by Chuck Berry. I'm getting slightly tired of this music, since it is used as the title music for the History of Rock and Roll Video series I'm screening for class.

5. "Rock Around the Clock" by Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight, performed by Bill Haley and the Comets. I'd like to hear more accordion on this. Happy Days anyone?

6. "Rock-a-Bye Basic" by Shad Collins, Lester Young, Count Basie, Arranged by Jimmy Mundy for the Count Basie Orchestra. Another ancestor of R&R.

7. "Rocker" by Gerry Mulligan, performed by Miles Davis on Birth of the Cool.

8. "Rocket 88" by Ike Turner, performed by Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats. Jackie is credited with this song, but Ike really wrote it.

9. "Rockin' In Rhythm" by Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, And Irving Mills, performed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

10. "The Rocky Road to Dublin" performed by The Chieftains & The Rolling Stones on The Long Black Veil.

11. "Jelly Roll Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton, performed by Louis Armstrong.

12. "Let the Good Times Roll" by Sam Theard and Fleecie Moore, performed by Ray Charles on Ray!

13. "Roll 'Em Pete" by Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, performed by Joe Turner.

14. "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by C. Calhoun, performed by Joe Turner. Today we looked at the changes between Turner's version and Bill Haley's cover.

Resurrecting the Dead

A few days ago I was slow in switching from the NPR station with the pledge drive to the other NPR station.* During that delay, the local pledge announcer described one of the gifts, a CD that combines old recordings of Ray Charles with new arrangements and performances by the Count Basie Band.** I have mixed feelings about this, primarily negative. The joy of collaboration is in how both parties feed off of the energy and ideas of the other party. While the Basie Band can be inspired by Ray's singing, Ray's performance will not change to better fit with the band's ideas. But the effort in "aural Photoshopping" (from the Amazon review) could provide some interesting sounds.

* I am fortunate to live between the Indianapolis-based WFYI and the Bloomington-based WFIU, with access to both.

** What is it with these big bands that keep the same name decades after the founder died? This does not seem to be a healthy trend for jazz.