~Happy Bday Nina Simone!

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone. (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was a Grammy Award-nominated American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist.

Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles besides her classical basis, such as jazz, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop music. Her vocal style is characterized by intense passion, a loose vibrato, and a slightly androgynous timbre, in part due to her unusually low vocal range which veered between the alto and tenor ranges (occasionally even reaching baritone lows). Sometimes known as The High Priestess of Soul, she paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions. Within one album or concert she could fluctuate between exuberant happiness or tragic melancholy. These fluctuations also characterized her own personality and personal life, worsened by bipolar disorder with which she was diagnosed in the mid-1960s, but was kept secret until 2004 after her death.[1]

Jazz Lovers have a listen...




Be Golden

~Happy Bday Smokey Robinson!

Picture Source

Smokey Robinson (vocals; born February 19, 1940)

Save for founder Berry Gordy, no single figure has been more closely allied with the Detroit-based recording empire known as Motown than William “Smokey” Robinson. In addition to leading the Miracles, Robinson served as a Motown producer, songwriter, talent scout and Gordy’s most trusted confidant and right-hand man.

”He reminded me of me - so excited and passionate about his music,” Gordy wrote in his autobiography, To Be Loved. Robinson’s Miracles were the second act signed to Gordy’s management and production company. Everything at Motown was a family affair in those days. The Supremes (first known as the Primettes) wound up auditioning at Motown because Diana Ross was a neighbor of Robinson’s, and Primettes guitarist Marv Tarplin became an accompanist, arranger and cowriter in the Miracles.

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles scored twenty-seven pop-soul hits at Motown between 1960 and 1971, including the classics “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Mickey’s Monkey,” “Going to a Go-Go” and “I Second That Emotion.” They also explored the sweeter side of soul with a string of exquisite ballads sung by Robinson in a satiny falsetto. The Miracles’ brightest moments on record - “Ooh Baby Baby,” “The Tracks of My Tears” and “The Tears of a Clown” foremost among them - still kindle memories for those who came of age in the Sixties.

Essential Songs

The Tracks of My Tears
Tears of a Clown
Ooh Baby Baby
Going to a Go-Go
I Second That Emotion
The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage
You Really Got a Hold on Me
Shop Around
Being With You
Cruisin’

(note: the first eight songs are credited to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)


Be Golden

~Today in 1941 Duke Ellington records the ever-popular "Take the A Train"

"Take the A Train," the signature tune of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, was recorded on this day in 1941. The song marked the beginning of a decades-long partnership between Ellington and a shy young songwriter named Billy Strayhorn.

You live in New York, you don't own a car, you ride the subway. And if you're really unlucky, you have to ride the A train, which ranks at the bottom of the 20 subway lines in the city. It's the line most prone to breakdowns, dirt and delays. But it has one advantage over all the other lines: It's the quickest way to Harlem and the district of majestic mansions where Harlem's royalty once reigned, called Sugar Hill.

"Take the A Train" was written by a kid who lived in Pittsburgh named Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn was a soda jerk and drugstore delivery boy by day, a musician by night, and a composer all the time.

In 1938, Strayhorn was introduced to Duke Ellington, who asked the young musician to play for him after a show.




A beautiful timeless jazz song...

take a listen
Be Golden

~I just remembered Bowzer!!!...the missing rocka-billy link.

John "Bowzer" Bauman


..when i was a little kid i used to watch this show called sha na na...it was funny and entertaining, im sure my love of all things rockabilly and greaser are linked to this program....





(from wiki)
Sha Na Na hosted the Sha Na Na syndicated variety series that ran from 1977 to 1981. It was among the most watched programs in syndication during its run. [4] The show was produced by Pierre Cossette and originally distributed by LBS Communications.

The show featured the group performing hits from the 1950s and 1960s, along with comedy skits. The "tough guys" road act from their original road shows was adapted for TV and the group moved to a comedy and self deprecating routine. The mainstay continued to be the '50s song and dance routines. The show opened in a typical "concert scene," and then moved through various street and ice cream parlor scenes where they and their guests performed several songs. That was followed by a comedy-oriented song (e.g. Alley Oop, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah) and closed with a slow song, again in their "concert format".

Among the supporting members featured in the series were Avery Schreiber, Kenneth Mars and Phillp Roth[citation needed] (All of them in the first season); Pamela Myers and actress Jane Dulo (who played the crabby Lady in the Window, who watched over the street scenes from the window of her apartment with undisguised disdain) (Both throughout the show's run), June Gable and Soupy Sales (Seasons 2 to 4); Michael Sklar (Season 2); and Karen Hartman (Season 4).

Guests included: Jan & Dean, Fabian, Chubby Checker, the Ramones, Ethel Merman, Frank Gorshin, Billy Crystal, Danny and the Juniors, and others

The members of Sha Na Na during the TV Series were: Jon 'Bowzer' Bauman (Vocals), Lennie Baker (Sax), Johnny Contardo (Vocals), Frederick 'Dennis' Greene (Vocals), 'Dirty Dan' McBride (Guitar)(left after second season), John 'Jocko' Marcellino (Drums), Dave 'Chico' Ryan (Bass), 'Screamin' Scott Simon (Piano), Scott 'Santini' Powell (Vocals), Donald 'Donny' York (Vocals).






who'd a thunk it , hey?
Be Golden

Rest In Peace...Bo Diddley...The Rock Originator

Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008) was an influential American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Often cited as a key figure in the transition from blues to rock and roll, he introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound. He was also known for his characteristic rectangular guitar.

Bo Diddley was well known for the "Bo Diddley beat," a rumba-like beat (see clave), similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Referred to as a "shave and a haircut" beat, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".[4] Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley," a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone," was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.




Goodbye Bo Diddley
you were indeed a Man...


golden

Happy Birthday: Elvis Aaron Presley... Jan 8th 1935

Make sure you give 73 smacks when ya see 'em...
Tell 'Em Brooks Sent Ya!





Be Golden!
2008

Musical H.O.R.S.E....

...Some musical history....


....Up first Big Mama Thorton(1952)...






Elvis Presley(1956)



Little Richard(1960s)...




...Is imitation the highest form of flattery?
Who won this bout of musical h.o.r.s.e

let me here it...

Brooksy