Goodbyes (too many) and birthdays.
The most important – to me, anyway – passing that I will note is that of Robert Lockwood, Jr. (3/27/1915 – 11/21/2006), which I’ll give over to a separate article here.
One of the few white big-band vocalists who was a true jazz singer, O’Day gained her first fame with the Gene Krupa band in 1941 when her duet with trumpeter Roy Eldridge, “Let Me Off Uptown,” hit the charts and Down Beat named her “New Star of the Year.” Her two stints with Krupa are nicely encapsulated on a Columbia Legacy album titled for that song. She also had two tenures in the Stan Kenton band, including another hit, “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine.” By the end of the decade, she was touring as a leader; starting in 1952, she was one of the stars of the new Verve label. Her career received a further boost when her appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival featured in the documentary film Jazz on a Summer Day. O’Day was a genuinely excellent musician who was able to keep up with the finest players (check out her “Them There Eyes” with Oscar Peterson on Anita Sings the Most) and a virtuoso scatter. She was also noted for a heroin addiction, which she overcame as documented in her autobiography High Times, Hard Times.
The first big star on the Atlantic label, “Miss Rhythm” belted out such great R&B hits as “Teardrops from My Eyes,” ”(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” and “5-10-15 Hours (of Your Love).” She largely disappeared from the charts after the 1950s (in the 1970s she was an actress on Sanford and Son), but came back into the spotlight in 1989 with her Broadway revue Black and Blue. Not only did it make her a star again, it brought her enough money to hire a lawyer to contest Atlantic’s accounting. Brown had practically a second career as a crusader for artist rights, which not only got Atlantic to forgive her supposed $30,000 debt to the company for production costs, but also $20,000. More importantly, her pressure helped many other artists as well; WEA changed its policies on royalties for early artists, and some other labels followed this course.
A movie director, but nonetheless important musically for both Nashville and the underrated Kansas City. My personal favorites: M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, The Player, and Gosford Park. And, let’s face it, if there were ever a director who functioned like a jazz musician, it was Altman, who often relied on improvisation and valued inspired moments more than the perfect whole.
11/26
Tina Turner – 1938
Annie Mae Bullock (the name change was a very good idea) has been having hits since before I was born and she still turns me on as she turns – wow – 68. Not that that’s relevant to her being one of the greatest female R&B singers ever, with six Top 40 singles with Ike and 14 since.
John McVie – 1945
Bassist of Fleetwood Mac, of course. Started out playing the blues (see below) and went on to the pinnacle of pop success.
11/27
Al Jackson Jr. – 1935
Jackson was the rhythmic anchor of one of the great studio bands, Booker T & the MG’s, who had such infectious soul instrumental hits as “Green Onions” and – as the house band for Stax – backed Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Albert King on more classic records than can be listed here. After the group broke up, Jackson became Al Green’s drummer and added names ranging from Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart to Aretha Franklin (that’s Jackson on “Rock Steady”) and Herbie Mann. When Jackson was shot and killed in his home by a burglar (or, some say, his wife), it stymied an MG’s reunion and robbed the music world of one of its best drummers.
Jimi Hendrix – 1942
The one, the only. How I wish he’d lived long enough to bring to fruition the planned collaboration with Miles Davis.
11/28
Bruce Channel – 1940
Yes, he was a one-hit wonder, but what a hit! “Hey Baby” spent three weeks at #1 on the Top 40 singles chart in 1962. John Lennon was enough of a fan of this bit of infectious rock that when the Beatles were on tour with Channel, he asked Delbert McClinton to show him how he played the song’s memorable harmonica part.
Randy Newman – 1943
One of the greatest songwriters of the ‘70s, Newman is so much more than “Short People” (though that was his biggest hit). On the same 1977 album, Little Criminals, “Baltimore” is a moving depiction of urban decay (covered by Nina Simone) and “In Germany Before the War” is a haunting depiction of the Peter Lorre child molester character in M. The earlier satirical masterpieces Sail Away, Good Old Boys, and 12 Songs are among the top albums of their decade.
11/29
Merle Travis – 1917
A guitarist so great that he had a style named after him (“Travis picking”) that was picked up by Chet Atkins and Elvis sideman Scotty Moore and thus indirectly influenced players who’ve never even heard of Travis. A songwriter so gifted that could afford to give “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette” to his friend Tex Williams, whose version sold a million copies. Of course, the song this son of a Kentucky coalminer is most remembered for is “Sixteen Tons,” one of the great proletarian anthems. It went nowhere when released on Travis’s 1947 album Folk Songs of the Hills (which despite its title has that original and another great Travis song about coal mining, “Dark as a Dungeon”), but a young Tennessee Ernie Ford took it to #1 for eight weeks (that’s two months as the top single in the country) in 1955. By then Travis had also had a prominent acting role in the movie From Here to Eternity, and plenty of hits on the country charts, though he never crossed over. Any music collection that doesn’t have some Travis has a gaping hole in it.
Felix Cavaliere – 1944
The organist/singer at the helm of the Rascals and the co-composer of such classics as “Groovin’,” “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” and “People Got to Be Free.” Their debut album, The Young Rascals (their name at the time), is a landmark of blue-eyed soul.
John Mayall – 1933
The Miles Davis of British blues, in the sense that his ear for talent led to a parade of great sidemen: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and many more. Mayall’s own talents – harmonica, piano/organ, singing, songwriting – shouldn’t be overlooked either. He didn’t make five of the best white blues albums of the ‘60s – Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, A Hard Road, Crusade, Blues from Laurel Canyon and The Turning Point – just by having a good Rolodex.
Billy Strayhorn – 1915
The composer of “Lush Life,” “Take the A Train,” “Lotus Blossom,” “Rain Check,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “Passion Flower,” “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” and the heartbreaking “Blood Count.” A pure jazz genius who stands in nobody’s shadow, no matter how famous his boss was. That said, the Duke Ellington Band’s tribute, ...and His Mother Called Him Bill, is a fine place to appreciate Strayhorn’s composing talents, though Strayhorn’s own The Peaceful Side is also required listening, not least because the Ellington band never played the moody “Lush Life.”
11/30
Brownie McGhee – 1915
McGhee teamed with harmonica player Sonny Terry in 1941 and blues history was made. They collaborated for over three decades before finally getting tired of each other; until then, they were one of the most popular and prominent blues acts on the folk circuit. They worked as an acoustic act, because that’s what the folk audiences expected (demanded), but on his own McGhee was a fine electric guitarist who scored blues and R&B hits, most notably “My Fault” in 1948. McGhee also found acting work, including Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (a three-year Broadway run), Langston Hughes’s Simply Heaven, and an episode of Family Ties.
Shuggie Otis – 1953
Son of R&B bandleader Johnnie Otis, Shuggie was playing with his father’s band by age 12, made his first album at age 15, played all the instruments on his 1974 album Inspiration Information – and then all but retired (his only released appearances since then are infrequent session work for a small, strange mix of artists ranging from Steve Vai to Mos Def). He then, oddly, achieved his greatest success: his “Strawberry Letter 23” was a huge hit for the Brothers Johnson. He even turned down an invitation to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones. Rumors of “health problems” suggest various explanations; fortunately he has returned, if only slightly, to the spotlight in the wake of David Byrne’s reissue of Inspiration Information, making appearances a few years ago on the Letterman and Conan shows.
Robert Nighthawk (Robert Lee McCullum, AKA Robert Lee McCoy, AKA Ramblin’ Bob) – 1909
One of the most underrated blues guitarists, a slide stylist whose work anticipated rock ‘n’ roll (check out “Nighthawk Boogie” and “Kansas City” on Bricks in My Pillow, compiling 1951-52 United sessions), Nighthawk supposedly gave Muddy Waters guitar lessons. Certainly he influenced Waters, Elmore James, Earl Hooker, etc. and was an important figure in the development of Chicago blues after starting to use amplification in 1942. If he’d been less of a ramblin’ man, he might have had more success, but he just couldn’t seem to stay in one place for long. He recorded so infrequently that one of the crucial items in his discography was recorded literally on the street (Live on Maxwell Street 1964). His “Black Angel Blues” was covered with great success by B.B. King as “Sweet Black Angel.”
12/1
Lou Rawls – 1935
I wrote about Rawls at length when he died earlier this year. A soul star of the highest magnitude.
Eric Bloom – 1951
Bloom moved into the lead vocalist role in what would become Stalk-Forrest Group and then Blue Oyster Cult after starting as the band’s equipment manager/soundman. He also teamed with Buck Dharma in one of rock’s great twin-guitar sounds. Not one of the band’s main writers, he still contributed to many of the songs, and he co-wrote “Going through the Motions” with Ian Hunter – a song covered by, of all people, Bonnie Tyler. I love BOC, and Bloom’s voice is a major part of it.
Jaco Pastorius – 1951
The ill-fated Pastorius was massively talented jazz electric bassist who enlivened some fine Weather Report albums (1976-81) and started a parallel solo career that yielded two fine LPs (some would put the total higher) and contributed dazzling sideman work on albums for, among others, Paul Bley, Pat Metheny, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Joni Mitchell (including the great Hejira). Afterwards, with various substances and mental problems troubling him, he lacked the taste filters or had too uncontrolled an ego to make satisfyingly balanced music. Still, such bass showcases as “Teen Town” and the mind-boggling “Slang” set the standard for his instrument, and his sound on fretless electric remains utterly distinctive.
12/2
Michael McDonald – 1952
First with the Doobie Brothers and then on his own, McDonald sang with a degree of soul so convincing that he sometimes crossed over to the R&B chart. His 1982 hit “I Keep Forgettin’” is one of the great breakup songs of all time, and the Doobies albums he’s on are their best, especially Minute by Minute.
