Podcasts about Art Tatum

NICOLÁS VERA “MÚSICA PARTICULAR” Chile 2024Ofrenda (1), Playa hermosa (2)Nicolás Vera (g, tcl) Leo Genovese (Prophet,Mkinimoog -1) Félix Lecaros (dr) Gabo Pillao (Rhodes, Prophet – 2) Lucas Vera ( Casio PT-30, Prophet – 2) Sebastián González (b-2) ART TATUM/BUDDY DE FRANCO QUARTET “THE TATUM GROUP MASTERPIECES, VOLUME 7” Los Angeles, February 6, 1956This can't be love, Once in a while, Lover manBuddy DeFranco (cl) Art Tatum (p) Red Callender (b) Bill Douglass (d) CLIFFORD JORDAN “CLIFFORD JORDAN ALL STARS” Hackensack, NJ, June 2, 1957Not guilty (lm out), St. Continue reading Puro Jazz 29 de mayo, 2025 at PuroJazz.

durée : 00:59:07 - #1 Focus sur ... - par : Sébastien Llinares - "La guitariste Mary Osborne a joué avec de grands noms comme Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzie Gillespie, Thelenious Monk, Tal Farlow ... Elle a débuté son parcours très jeune dans la musique country en jouant de la guitare, elle chante aussi et tient parfois la contrebasse." Sébastien Llinarès - réalisé par : Patrick Lérisset

durée : 00:30:18 - Jazz Collection - par : Alex Dutilh - Le saxophone ou la trompette illustrent souvent l'imaginaire du jazz. Et si le véritable instrument roi en était le piano, à la fois par la stature de ses improvisateurs et par le fait qu'il s'agit souvent de ses compositeurs les plus prolifique ? - réalisé par : Pierre Willer

BARNEY BIGARD “SEXTET” New York, January 5, 1945Can't help lovin' that man, Please don't talk about me when I'm gone, Sweet Marijuana Brown (jt vcl), Blues for Art's sakeJoe Thomas (tp) Barney Bigard (cl) Joe Thomas (ts,vcl) Art Tatum (p) Billy Taylor, Sr. (b) Stan Levey (d) CLIFF JACKSON -“BLACK & WHITE STOMPERS” New York, March 4, 1944Quiet please, Squeeze me, If I could be with you (one hour tonight), Weary bluesPee Wee Russell (cl) Cliff Jackson (p) Bob Casey (b) Jack “The Bear” Parker (d) CLIFF JACKSON – “VILLAGE CATS” New York, December 21, 1944You've got me walkin' and talkin' to myself (gs vcl), Quiet please, Cliff's boogie blues (1) Jeepers creepersSidney DeParis (tp) Wilbur DeParis (tb) Sidney Bechet (cl,sop) Gene Sedric (ts,cl-1,vcl) Cliff Jackson (p) Everett Barksdale (g) Wellman Braud (b) Eddie Dougherty (d) GEORGE WETTLING “JAZZ TRIO” New York, June 30, 1944China boy, Some of these days, Everybody loves my baby, That's a plentyMezz Mezzrow (cl) Gene Schroeder (p) George Wettling (d) Continue reading Puro Jazz 14 de enero, 2025 at PuroJazz.

BARNEY BIGARD “SEXTET” New York, January 5, 1945Can't help lovin' that man, Please don't talk about me when I'm gone, Sweet Marijuana Brown (jt vcl), Blues for Art's sakeJoe Thomas (tp) Barney Bigard (cl) Joe Thomas (ts,vcl) Art Tatum (p) Billy Taylor, Sr. (b) Stan Levey (d) CLIFF JACKSON -“BLACK & WHITE STOMPERS” New York, March 4, 1944Quiet please, Squeeze me, If I could be with you (one hour tonight), Weary bluesPee Wee Russell (cl) Cliff Jackson (p) Bob Casey (b) Jack “The Bear” Parker (d) CLIFF JACKSON – “VILLAGE CATS” New York, December 21, 1944You've got me walkin' and talkin' to myself (gs vcl), Quiet please, Cliff's boogie blues (1) Jeepers creepersSidney DeParis (tp) Wilbur DeParis (tb) Sidney Bechet (cl,sop) Gene Sedric (ts,cl-1,vcl) Cliff Jackson (p) Everett Barksdale (g) Wellman Braud (b) Eddie Dougherty (d) GEORGE WETTLING “JAZZ TRIO” New York, June 30, 1944China boy, Some of these days, Everybody loves my baby, That's a plentyMezz Mezzrow (cl) Gene Schroeder (p) George Wettling (d) Continue reading Puro Jazz 14 de enero, 2025 at PuroJazz.

Featuring: Louis Armstrong, California Ramblers, Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith.Songs: Dinah, Gut Bucket Blues, Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie!, Flamin' Mamie, Tea For Two, Squeeze Me, Davenport Blues, St. Louis Blues.

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Link to the recordings from Universal Music Group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8qCPYxstOI&list=OLAK5uy_mxX4zenymSurl_z67InQEjzHq98UTDNFk

Join us as we dive into the life and legacy of Art Tatum, the jazz piano virtuoso who took entertainment on the instrument to a new level.  YT playlist • https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kn6Z2anqCFpTOc4H957o0Oktgr_C9gl7QOscar Peterson and Count Basie on Art Tatum  • https://youtu.be/YAeT3Dr74YsArt Tatum performances • https://youtu.be/D9Cs_zb4q14 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzMyhzadzTQLooking to drop a question? Want to listen to the audio pod? Look no furtherhttps://youllhearit.com/Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY - JON HENDRICKS Jon Hendricks is not only one of the world's favorite jazz vocalists, but is widely considered to be the "Father of Vocalese", the greatest innovator of the art form. Vocalese is the art of setting lyrics to recorded jazz instrumental standards (such as the big band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie), then arranging voices to sing the parts of the instruments. Thus is created an entirely new form of the work, one that tells a lyrically interesting story while retaining the integrity of the music. Hendricks is the only person many jazz greats have allowed to lyricize their music, for no one writes hipper, wittier, or more touching words, while extracting from a tune the emotions intended by the composer, more sympathetically than Hendricks. For his work as a lyricist, jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz" while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive." Born in 1921 in Newark, Ohio, young Jon and his fourteen siblings were moved many times, following their father's assignments as an A.M.E. pastor, before settling permanently in Toledo. As a teen Jon's first interest was in the drums, but before long he was singing on the radio regularly with another Toledo native, the extraordinary pianist Art Tatum. After serving in the Army during WWII, Jon went home to attend University of Toledo as a Pre-law major, courtesy of the G.I. Bill. Just when he was about to enter the graduate law program, the G.I. benefits ran out, and he realized he'd have to chart a different course. Recalling that Charlie Parker had, at a stop in Toledo two years prior, encouraged him to come to New York and look him up, Hendricks moved there and began his singing career. In 1957 he teamed with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross. With Jon as lyricist, the trio perfected the art of vocalese and took it around the world, earning them the designation of the "Number One Vocal Group in the World" for five years in a row from Melody Maker magazine. After six years the trio disbanded for solo careers, but not before leaving behind a catalog of legendary recordings, most of which have never gone out of print. Countless singers cite the work of LH&R as an influence, from the Manhattan Transfer to Al Jarreau to Bobby McFerrin. Pursuing a solo career, Hendricks moved his young family to London in 1968, partially so that his five children could receive a better education. While based in London he toured Europe and Africa, performed frequently on British television, and appeared in the British film Jazz is Our Religion and the French film Hommage a Cole Porter. His sold-out club dates drew fans such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Five years later the Hendricks family settled in California, where Jon worked as the jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and taught classes at California State University at Sonoma and the University of California at Berkeley. A piece he wrote specifically for the stage about the history of jazz, Evolution of the Blues, ran an unprecedented five years at the Broadway Theatre in San Francisco and another year in Los Angeles. His television documentary, Somewhere to Lay My Weary Head, received Emmy, Iris, and Peabody awards. Hendricks recorded several critically-acclaimed albums on his own, some with his wife Judith and daughters Michele and Aria contributing. He collaborated with old friends The Manhattan Transfer for their seminal 1985 album, Vocalese, which won seven Grammy Awards. He's served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. In 2000, Hendricks returned to his hometown to teach at the University of Toledo, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies and received an honorary Doctorate of the Performing Arts. He was recently selected to be the first American jazz artist to lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris, a university established in the year 1248. His fifteen voice group, the Jon Hendricks Vocalstra at the University of Toledo, performed to a standing ovation at the Sorbonne earlier this year. As if perfecting one original art form weren't enough, Hendricks now finds himself happily penning lyrics to some of the world's most beautiful classical pieces. The Vocalstra is currently preparing to give the world premiere of a vocalese version of Rimsky-Korsakov's lush "Scheherazade" with the Toledo Symphony in February 2003. Summer of 2003 will find Jon on tour with the "Four Brothers", a quartet consisting of Hendricks and three of the best-known male vocalists in jazz: Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy, and Kevin Mahogany. Next for Dr. Hendricks is lyricizing and arranging Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto, as well as work on two books, teaching, and continued touring with his Vocalstra. He also makes an appearance in the upcoming Al Pacino film, People I Know. http://www.harmonyware.com/JonHendricks/bio.html

Le 10 juin 1963, Martial Solal embarquait à bord du paquebot France, direction New-York ! Pour le pianiste né à Alger, un voyage initiatique au pays de ses idoles, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Thelonious Monk et Erroll Garner. Premier français à se produire au festival de Newport aux Etats-Unis, Martial Solal accomplira cette prouesse de séduire le public sur son propre terrain avec une musique exigeante. Oui, le temps d'un été, Martial Solal avait touché du doigt son rêve américain. Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Es war die große Zeit der virtuosen amerikanischen Zirkuspianisten, die um 1960 einen Hauch von "Art-Tatum-meets-Rachmaninoff" in die Lounges und Wohnzimmer brachten. Lee Evans war der wohl Erfolgloseste von ihnen. Von Götz Alsmann.

El jazz siempre presente en las películas de Woody Allen. Por orden cronológico en su filmografía: de 'September' de 1987 ('My ideal' por Art Tatum y Ben Webster), de 'Alice' de 1990 ('The way you look tonight' por el trío de Erroll Garner y 'Moonglow' por la orquesta de Artie Shaw), de su episodio para 'New York stories' ('I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old dad' y 'In a persian market' por Wilbur de Paris and his New Orleans jazz'), de 'Manhattan Murder Mystery' de 1993 ('In the mood for love' por Erroll Garner y 'Sing sing sing' por la orquesta de Benny Goodman), de 'Mighty Aphrodite' de 1995 ('Lil darlin' por la orquesta de Count Basie, 'Take five' por el cuarteto de Dave Brubeck y 'Penthouse serenade' por el trío de Erroll Garner), de 'Deconstructing Harry' de 1997 ('Out of nowhere' por Coleman Hawkins y Benny Carter y 'She´s funny that way' por el trío de Erroll Garner) y de 'Celebrity' de 1998 ('I got rhythm' por el trío de Teddy Wilson).Escuchar audio

Jesus Molina discovered his musical gift at a very young age. Born in Colombia, you might assume that his music inspiration was cumbia or vallenato. That wasn't the case for Jesus. As a self-proclaimed YouTube baby, it was there that he discovered legendary jazz artists, such as Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Errol Garner, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, and Dizzy Gillespie - artists that captivated him and shaped the musician he is today. In 2016, Molina was honored with the prestigious Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation award, the Juan Luis Guerra Scholarship, which included music education at the Berklee College of Music. Since then, Jesus has emerged as one of the premier jazz keyboardists on the international stage. He recently released a new album titled “Selah” that was produced by the legendary Bobby Colomby. Here to chat with us about the new album, and his sudden rise to prominence on the jazz scene, is Jesus Molina.

durée : 00:59:09 - Banzzaï du jeudi 26 septembre 2024 - par : Nathalie Piolé - La playlist jazz de Nathalie Piolé.

1. Herbie Hancock – TFS (5:46) 2. Jasper van ‘t Hof – burning culture (6:54) 3. Snarky Puppy – Thing of Gold (6:40) 4. Art Tatum, Golden, John [Broad – Poor Butterfly (2:44) 5. Bobby Caldwell – You Belong To Me (3:11) 6. Ella Fitzgerald – I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues (4:42) 7. […]

Music includes: Death Ray Boogie by Pete Johnson, When You're Smiling by Errol Garner, Drag Em by Mary Lou Williams, Taboo by Art Tatum, Bach's WTC Book I, No. 19 in A Major by Edwin Fischer and Almost Paradise by Roger Williams. 

America's Leadership Authority” Dr. Derrick Noble has been helping business leaders take their leadership and communication skills to the next level of excellence for two decades. His passion has led him to support those from all walks of life to become more influential leaders and more confident communicators.Throughout his youth, Noble endured years of speech therapy for a severe stutter and speech impediment. Once quoted as stating he was “the least likely person to be a professional speaker,” Dr. Noble has since gone on to become an award-winning TEDx speaker, speech coach, and trainer. He now famously quips “At first, I couldn't talk, and now they can't shut me up!”Noble works directly with leaders, speakers, business owners, CEOs, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies. His clients throughout the years include The United States Air Force, The United States Navy, The United States Forestry Service, The FBI, the City of Los Angeles, and so many more. In 2020, Noble was one of only 12 Black entrepreneurs admitted into the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce's prestigious Business Evolution Program – an intense 12-month program in which he was personally mentored by some of the most successful Black entrepreneurs in the city. In 2021, he was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal as an influential African American business leader. He currently serves as the featured Leadership Expert for BizTV, a national broadcast network for entrepreneurs and business owners, and he hosts “The Dr. Derrick Noble Show” on KGGR of Dallas, TX – the largest Black-owned radio station in the US.In December 2022, Noble released his highly anticipated first book, Leadership Launch: Essential Skills for New Leaders.  It quickly became an international best seller, and was designated as the #1 new business book worldwide within its first two weeks of availability. The book includes a foreword by Civil Rights hero Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals, a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who were the first to integrate Little Rock Central High School.Noble has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English - with a double minor in Speech Communication and Psychology - from Angelo State University (1994), a Master of Divinity degree from Morehouse School of Religion (1997 Class Valedictorian), a Doctor of Ministry degree from Ashland Theological Seminary (2008 Class Valedictorian), and completed Ph.D. coursework in Educational Curriculum at Emory University. Noble is an avid fan of the Los Angeles Clippers, Lakers and Dodgers; of classic jazz (particularly John Coltrane, Art Tatum, and Miles Davis), and also plays the jazz trombone himself. In addition, he is an ardent golfer, and loves watching classic martial arts movies.

BARNEY BIGARD: AND HIS ORCHESTRA WITH GEORGIE AULD New York, December 29, 1944Blues before dawn (1), Nine o'clock beerJoe Thomas (tp) Barney Bigard (cl) Georgie Auld (as,ts) Cyril Haynes (p) Leonard Feather (p-1) replaces Haynes, Chuck Wayne (g) Billy Taylor, Sr. (b) Stan Levey (d) SEXTET New York, January 5, 1945Please don't talk about me when I'm gone, Sweet Marijuana Brown (jt vcl), Blues for Art's sakeJoe Thomas (tp) Barney Bigard (cl) Joe Thomas (ts,vcl) Art Tatum (p) Billy Taylor, Sr. Continue reading Puro Jazz 30 de julio, 2024 at PuroJazz.

Listen to the Sat. June 15, 2024 edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The episode features our PANW report with dispatches on the attacks levelled against the IDF in Gaza by the Resistance; Yemen has mobilized millions in defense of the Palestinian people; Niger has lifted the immunity against ousted former President Mohamad Bazoum; and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second term under a Government of National Unity (GNU). Throughout this broadcast we continue our focus on Black Music Month with segments on legendary artists such as Adelaide Hall, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Mbaraka Mwinshehe  Barbara Lynn and Clarles Mingus.

Listen to the Fri. June 7, 2024 special edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The program features our PANW report with dispatches on the statements made by military analyst regarding the situation in Palestine; the status-quo in West Asia is rapidly shifting; the United Nations is continuing its peace efforts in South Sudan; and the conditions of Sudanese refugees are examined in a new article. In this episode we continue our focus on Black Music Month where the contributions of Francois Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (Franco), Art Tatum and Phineas Newborn are examined.

DAYNA STEPHENS CLOSER THAN WE THINK Long Island City, NY, May 7, 2023Bubbly, The nomad, E.S.P. (1)Jeremy Pelt (tp-1) Dayna Stephens (saxes,EWI) Emmanuel Michael (g) Kanoa Mendenhall (b) Jongkuk Kim (d) ART TATUM THE ART TATUM TRIO Los Angeles, January 27, 1956Just one of those things, More than you know, Trio blues Art Tatum (p) Red Callender (b) Jo Jones (d) DONALD BYRD BYRD BLOWS ON BEACON HILL Boston, MA, May 7, 1956Little Rock getaway, Polka dots and moonbeams, People will say we're in love (db out), Stella by starlightDonald Byrd (tp) Ray Santisi (p) Doug Watkins (b) Jimmy Zitano (d) Continue reading Puro Jazz 29 Mayo 2024 at PuroJazz.

durée : 00:59:28 - Art Tatum - par : Alex Dutilh - Resonance Records présente “Jewels in the Treasure Box”, un coffret de trois LP de concerts inédits du génie du piano jazz Art Tatum en club à Chicago en 1953.

durée : 00:59:28 - Art Tatum - par : Alex Dutilh - Resonance Records présente “Jewels in the Treasure Box”, un coffret de trois LP de concerts inédits du génie du piano jazz Art Tatum en club à Chicago en 1953.

On this episode of Our American Stories, our storyteller's father was more than a virtuoso of the American Songbook. He was a circumspect, gentle, and incredibly generous man. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we continue the countdown to Record Store Day 2024 (April 20) we're covering diverse ends of The List (always accessible at RecordStoreDay.com) This week, founding members of America, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell, are here to talk about their RSD Exclusive Release Event, America: Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975, recorded during America's "imperial era" on August 3, 1975, featuring an orchestra conducted by their legendary producer, Sir George Martin. Our chat touches on their stories of working at Abbey Road with Sir George, their connection to Phil Hartman and Janet Jackson, and the album they made with Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger. Plus, Zev Feldman, the Jazz Detective, returns to our show to spotlight a mere handful of the many rare and first time Jazz titles on this year's RSD List, ranging from Sonny Rollins to Sun Ra, and Chet Baker to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Record Store Day Podcast is written, produced, engineered, and hosted by Paul Myers, who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music. Executive Producers for Record Store Day: Carrie Colliton and Michael Kurtz. For the latest info on RSD matters, and the List, go to RecordStoreDay.com. Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Tito's Handmade Vodka, RSDMRKT.com, and Furnace Record Pressing, the official vinyl pressing plant of Record Store Day. Please consider subscribing to the RSD Podcast wherever you get podcasts, and by all means tell your friends about us.  And see you next week! 

SynopsisBach's Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of 48 preludes and fugues for solo keyboard in two sets, each covering all 24 major and minor keys. This music has become a bible for pianists, as well as a challenge for subsequent composers to try to imitate. In the early 1990s, American composer and pianist Henry Martin tossed his hat into the ring with the completion of his first set of 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, and soon after published a second set of 24.On today's date in 1992, at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., pianist Sara Davis Buechner performed three of Martin's Preludes and Fugues for broadcast on NPR and later made recordings of all of Martin's “48.”One enthusiastic reviewer of those recordings, Michael Barone, host of American Public Media's Pipedreams organ program, wrote of Martin's music, “We get shades of Debussy's impressionism, the vibrant jazzy riffs of Art Tatum, the spacey harmonies of John Coltrane, and the sophisticated improvisations of Bill Evans … but Martin's own individual genius shines brightly.”Barone's enthusiasm resulted in his commissioning Martin to compose another set of 24 preludes and fugues — this time for organ! We think Bach would have approved.Music Played in Today's ProgramHenry Martin (b. 1950): Prelude & Fugue No. 1; (Ken Cowan, organ) Pipedreams 1004

Live and early recorded jazz from Cleveland, OH. Featuring Andy Kirk, Woody Herman, Bix Beiderbecke, Will Marion Cook, Noble Sissle, Artie Shaw, Art Tatum, Perry Como, Tad Dameron, Sarah Vaughan,

Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson and Mayor Kapszukiewicz ring in Black History Month talking about Toledo's Jazz History. Listen along as they discuss Toledo legends like Art Tatum, Jon Hendricks, and Rusty's Café. Glass City Jazz Fest comes back in August, but the spirit of Jazz is present year-round in Toledo!

This week's episode is a walk down McVan's memory lane. Many performers played at Mcvan's over the course of its existence from 1922-1984 under owners Lillian McVan and Joe Terrose. Performers included Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, Gypsy Rose Lee, Jimi Hendrix, The B52's. McVan's also served as an incubator for bands like The Good, The Enemies,The Jumpers, Pegasus, Mark Freehand and many more. Bob James, Bernie Kugel, Bob Kozak, Pauline and Robby Takac talked about their experiences and memories of seeing shows and performing at McVan's.

On this episode of Our American Stories, our storyteller's father was more than a virtuoso of the American Songbook. He was a circumspect, gentle, and incredibly generous man. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jazz classics tonight. We'll hear from Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. Big Band by Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Lionel Hampton, and Artie Shaw, and Sidney Bechet. Vocals by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Horace Silver Quintet with Bill Henderson. Dave Brubeck's Take Five, and then Lena Horne, and Mose Allison.

 Jazz classics tonight. We'll hear from Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller.  Big Band by Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Lionel Hampton, and Artie Shaw, and Sidney Bechet. Vocals by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Horace Silver Quintet with Bill Henderson.  Dave Brubeck's Take Five, and then Lena Horne, and Mose Allison.

Welcome to the Digging Deeper Jazz Podcast. This podcast was originally released on September 18th, 2020, on the Jeff Antoniuk - Educator YouTube channel. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel and feel free to enjoy the video version as well.FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS!In episode #171, Jeff gives you the secret behind the rhythm changes playing of Sonny Stitt, JJ Johnson, Monk, Dexter Gordon, Art Tatum, Don Byas and more. You've never been hipper than you'll be after watching this video! Send Jeff some flowers or something. Mentioned in this podcast:• www.JazzWire.net - Since we announced JazzWire back in 2017, it has become an incredible Community of hundreds of adult musicians from over 25 different countries around the world. If you are looking for a plan for your practice, regular insights and wisdom on playing jazz, and a huge COMMUNITY of jazz players from around the world, this is the place for you! • Digging Deeper Jazz - All of the DDJ episodes include a pdf. Just write us at diggingdeeperjazz@gmail.com, and we'll offer you the pdfs in bundles of 50, or all 200 for a discount! We will also put you on the list to receive each new pdf, weekly.  Amazing practice ideas, every week, for free. What's not to love!?

Join us on an extraordinary musical journey with today's guest, the phenomenal Matthew Whitaker. As a prodigious piano and keyboard virtuoso, Matthew's talents have graced iconic venues and jazz festivals worldwide. With influences ranging from the legendary Art Tatum to Chick Corea, his music transcends genres, blending jazz, gospel, classical, and pop.Matthew shares profound insights on the power of music to inspire and heal. Discover the moving story behind his uplifting composition, "A New Day," and the heartfelt call for unity in "Stop Fighting." His infectious joy and passion for music shine through as he discusses his experiences performing around the globe, each audience a unique canvas of enthusiasm. From his deep musical roots to his aspirations for a more accessible world, Matthew Whitaker is an inspiring ambassador for dreams and determination. So, don't miss this chance to be uplifted and motivated by a true musical virtuoso. Tune in now and let the melodies of Matthew Whitaker resonate in your soul.Episode Highlights:26:09 - I guess the main thing that I love about jazz is the fact that it can be whatever you want it to be in the moment. And you can be free with what you want to do. On top of that, don't really have to worry about, "Oh, this is the structure," and you got to play this exactly. Now there's some moments where it's like that. But still, even in those moments, you can still do you, and that's something I always tell people–always do you.34:02 - Speaking of Apple, shout out to them for always letting me help with providing feedback for accessibility with their products and stuff. I always love reaching out to developers and companies making sure that their products are fully accessible. Because if they're not, you're losing out on a lot of potential people that would love to use your product.41:26 - Follow your dreams. Do not let anyone tell you you can't do something. Work on your craft and always just be you and have fun. ContactFresh Coast Jazz FestivalMatthew WhitakerLinkedInFacebookInstagram

Welcome to Who was she? Podcast. I am your host, Tara Jabbari. After a decade working in documentaries, marketing and all things digital media, I found that podcasting is a strong medium to share stories. After years of producing for others, I decided to start my own biographical podcast. Who was she? Will focus on the life of a woman throughout Baha'i history. The third season is about Hazel Scott.Transcript: Born in 1920 and originally from Trinidad, Hazel was raised in Harlem and when she was only 8 years old, she was accepted as a pianist protegee at the prestigious Julliard School. Her mother was also a musician and artists over the years became Hazel's extended family. For instance, Pianist, Art Tatum was a father figure, saxophonist, Lester Young an uncle and singer, Billie Holiday was a big sister to Hazel to name a few. When she was a teenager, she started singing and playing across Manhatten. She became a regular at a new club, Cafe Society. Unlike other clubs at the time where black musicians played primarily for white patrons, this club was based on equality and diversity which made it like no other club in New York City at the time. When she toured, she was adamant to only play in places that did not segregate the audience. This limited her venues but she kept her stance. She married Adam Clayton Powell Jr, an activist and politician which heightened both their fame. This season, you will hear how she was blacklisted from working in the United States because of the McCarthy trials, cursed from working in Hollywood, and how her search for faith helped her fight depression and find the strength to be strong in the face of racism. So please subscribe and learn about this amazing woman who used her unique musical abilities to entertain and educate the world about racial equality. You can also found more information on our social media: http://instagram.com/whowasshepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/whowasshepodcasthttps://www.pinterest.com/whowasshepodcast Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Synopsis It was Mozart who wrote the first great piano concertos, with Beethoven, Brahms and others following suit in the 19th century. Closer to our own time, the tradition continues, with new contributions appearing each year. On today's date in 1986, it was the turn of American composer, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, when her new piano concerto received its premiere by the Detroit Symphony with Marc-Andre Hamelin the soloist. “My piano concerto does not cast the pianist as the prototypical 19th-century hero battling the orchestral forces and triumphing through overwhelming virtuosity,” said Zwilich at the time. “My concerto calls for a blending of forces – a joint exploration of the piano soloist and orchestra. The pianist is even asked to merge with various sections of the rather large orchestra at times.” “To me,” continued Zwilich, “a part of the nobility of the piano is that it can change its color, chameleon-like without losing its special identity … One composer treats the piano as a percussion instrument, another as a singer… Certainly the vast and wonderful piano repertoire explores this remarkable range. And the world of composer-pianists is large enough to embrace Serge Rachmaninoff and Art Tatum.” Music Played in Today's Program Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939) Piano Concerto Joseph Kalichstein, piano; Florida State Orchestra; Michael Stern, Koch 7537 On This Day Births 1747 - Bohemian composer Leopold Kozeluh, (Kotzeluch) in Welwearn; He was the cousin of Johann (Jan) Antonín Kozeluh, who was also a composer; 1928 - American composer Jacob Druckman, in Philadelphia; Premieres 1870 - Wagner: opera "Die Walküre" (The Valkyrie), in Munich at the Hoftheater, with Franz Wüllner conducting; The opera was performed at the Bavarian King Ludwig II's request, but against the composer's wishes; 1912 - Mahler: Symphony No. 9, by Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter conducting; 1986 - Zwilich: Piano Concerto, by the Detroit Symphony with Günther Herbig conducting and soloist Marc-André Hamelin; 2000 - Robert Kapilow: "DC Monuments," by the National Symphony; Others 1788 - Mozart finishes his Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K.543 in Vienna. Links and Resources More on Zwilich

As the Toledo Jazz Orchestra offers up its final performance of the season, we take the opportunity to examine the complex and virtuosic artistry of Toledo's own Art Tatum. We hear behind-the-scenes stories and marvel at Tatum's uncanny ability to transform simple melodies into one-of-a-kind showpieces for piano. We also uncover some fun facts which you may not know about Toledo's Jazz maestro in our quiz of the day!

Listen to the Sun. March 5, 2023 special edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The episode features our PANW report with dispatches on yet another train derailment in the state of Ohio just weeks after the initial disaster in East Palestine; South Africa is the leading country on the continent in its contributions of assistance to earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria; a Tunisian filmmaker has won the bi-annual FESPACO award in Burkina Faso; and Burundi is deploying peacekeeping troops to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the second and third hours we continue our focus on International Women's History Month with a reexamination of the life, times and contributions of Mary Eliza Church Terrell. Also we review two rare archival audio files highlighting the contributions of Adelaide L. Hall, an African American woman artist and cultural worker during the 20th century who collaborated with luminaries such as Duke Ellington, Bill Robinson, Art Tatum, etc.

Great solo piano recordings for ARA (listen to the story of that label - quite a surprise!) and V Disc all done in the second half of 1945 when Tatum was at his absolute peak of technique and invention. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/john-clark49/support

Mail Call was an American radio program that entertained American soldiers from 1942 until 1945, during World War II. Lt. Col. Thomas A.H. Lewis (commander of the Armed Forces Radio Service) wrote in 1944, "The initial production of the Armed Forces Radio Service was 'Mail Call,' a morale-building half hour which brought famed performers to the microphone to sing and gag in the best American manner." The program featured popular entertainers of that day, such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and Dinah Shore, performing musical numbers and comedy skits to boost the morale of soldiers stationed far from their homes. Lewis added, "To a fellow who has spent months guarding an outpost in the South Seas, Iceland or Africa a cheery greeting from a favorite comedian, a song hit direct from Broadway, or the beating rhythm of a hot band, mean a tie with the home to which he hopes soon to return Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/ Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio

Good News: A music venue is Glasgow is utilizing dancer’s body heat for a power source! Link HERE. The Good Word: A brilliant quote from PG Wodehouse. Good To Know: A hilarious bit of ancient history… Good News: The nation of Greece was powered entirely by renewable energy for several hours last week! Link HERE. […]

Bob Mover is a virtuosic saxophonist who performed with Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Lee Konitz and countless others over a long career. Visit https://www.bobmoverjazz.com/ to sign up for Bob Mover's weekly online masterclass sessions every Saturday. List of names mentioned: Charlie Parker, Roland Kirk, Bill Evans, Roy Eldridge, Richie Kamuca, Ira Sullivan, Walter Piston, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Wynton Kelly, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, Jaki Byard, Al Cohn, Phil Woods, Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk, Jimmy Lyons, Cecil Taylor, Saul Frompkin, Don Byas, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Hank Jones, Al Haig, Dodo Marmarosa, Joe Albany, Albert Dailey, Kenny Barron, Warne Marsh, Lennie Tristano, Lester Young, Count Basie, Jerry Coker, Allen Rock, Duffy Jackson, Bill Pierce, Mark Colby, Melton Mustafa, Ramblerny Music camp, Roger Rosenberg, Mike Brecker, Randy Brecker, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Shelly Manne, Brooks Kerr, Tony Castellano, Mulgrew Miller, Walter Davis Junior, John Bennett, Bernie Senensky, Cory Weeds, Sam Noto, Isaac Raz, Antoine Drye, Steve Kenyon, Emily Mover, Danny Kaye

Pianists include: Floyd Cramer, Thomas "Fats" Waller, Sviatoslav Richter, Hazel Scott, Nat King Cole, Albert Ammons,, Pete Johnson, Art Tatum, Pinetop Perkins & Henry Cowell. Music includes: Over the Rainbow, In the Wee Small Hours, Fancy Pants, Prelude In C Sharp Minor, Pinetop's Boogie Woogie, April In Paris, The Man I Love and the Banshee.

Tonight on Jazz After Dark: Helen Merrill with Gil Evans, Benny Carter & Oscar Peterson Trio (1952), Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington with Johnny Hodges, Art Pepper, Anita O'Day, Benny Carter (1961), Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Count Basie and His Orchestra, and Benny Carter (1990).

Tonight on Jazz After Dark: Helen Merrill with Gil Evans, Benny Carter & Oscar Peterson Trio (1952), Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington with Johnny Hodges, Art Pepper, Anita O'Day, Benny Carter (1961), Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Count Basie and His Orchestra, Benny Carter (1990).

Songs include: I Love You, Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On, Beautiful Love, I Concentrate On You, Crazy He Calls Me and I've Got a Crush On You. Performers include: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, Hank Locklin, Bing Crosby, Tommy Dorsey, Les Brown and Jo Stafford.

Episode 149 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Respect", and the journey of Aretha Franklin from teenage gospel singer to the Queen of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode available, on "I'm Just a Mops" by the Mops. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, people may be interested in a Facebook discussion group for the podcast, run by a friend of mine (I'm not on FB myself) which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/293630102611672/ Errata I say "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody" instead of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody". Also I say Spooner Oldham co-wrote "Do Right Woman". I meant Chips Moman. Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. I also relied heavily on I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You by Matt Dobkin. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Rick Hall's The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame contains his side of the story. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. And the I Never Loved a Man album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start this episode,  I have to say that there are some things people may want to be aware of before listening to this. This episode has to deal, at least in passing, with subjects including child sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, racism, and misogyny. I will of course try to deal with those subjects as tactfully as possible, but those of you who may be upset by those topics may want to check the episode transcript before or instead of listening. Those of you who leave comments or send me messages saying "why can't you just talk about the music instead of all this woke virtue-signalling?" may also want to skip this episode. You can go ahead and skip all the future ones as well, I won't mind. And one more thing to say before I get into the meat of the episode -- this episode puts me in a more difficult position than most other episodes of the podcast have. When I've talked about awful things that have happened in the course of this podcast previously, I have either been talking about perpetrators -- people like Phil Spector or Jerry Lee Lewis who did truly reprehensible things -- or about victims who have talked very publicly about the abuse they've suffered, people like Ronnie Spector or Tina Turner, who said very clearly "this is what happened to me and I want it on the public record". In the case of Aretha Franklin, she has been portrayed as a victim *by others*, and there are things that have been said about her life and her relationships which suggest that she suffered in some very terrible ways. But she herself apparently never saw herself as a victim, and didn't want some aspects of her private life talking about. At the start of David Ritz's biography of her, which is one of my main sources here, he recounts a conversation he had with her: "When I mentioned the possibility of my writing an independent biography, she said, “As long as I can approve it before it's published.” “Then it wouldn't be independent,” I said. “Why should it be independent?” “So I can tell the story from my point of view.” “But it's not your story, it's mine.” “You're an important historical figure, Aretha. Others will inevitably come along to tell your story. That's the blessing and burden of being a public figure.” “More burden than blessing,” she said." Now, Aretha Franklin is sadly dead, but I think that she still deserves the basic respect of being allowed privacy. So I will talk here about public matters, things she acknowledged in her own autobiography, and things that she and the people around her did in public situations like recording studios and concert venues. But there are aspects to the story of Aretha Franklin as that story is commonly told, which may well be true, but are of mostly prurient interest, don't add much to the story of how the music came to be made, and which she herself didn't want people talking about. So there will be things people might expect me to talk about in this episode, incidents where people in her life, usually men, treated her badly, that I'm going to leave out. That information is out there if people want to look for it, but I don't see myself as under any obligation to share it. That's not me making excuses for people who did inexcusable things, that's me showing some respect to one of the towering artistic figures of the latter half of the twentieth century. Because, of course, respect is what this is all about: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Respect"] One name that's come up a few times in this podcast, but who we haven't really talked about that much, is Bobby "Blue" Bland. We mentioned him as the single biggest influence on the style of Van Morrison, but Bland was an important figure in the Memphis music scene of the early fifties, which we talked about in several early episodes. He was one of the Beale Streeters, the loose aggregation of musicians that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace, he worked with Ike Turner, and was one of the key links between blues and soul in the fifties and early sixties, with records like "Turn on Your Love Light": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"] But while Bland was influenced by many musicians we've talked about, his biggest influence wasn't a singer at all. It was a preacher he saw give a sermon in the early 1940s. As he said decades later: "Wasn't his words that got me—I couldn't tell you what he talked on that day, couldn't tell you what any of it meant, but it was the way he talked. He talked like he was singing. He talked music. The thing that really got me, though, was this squall-like sound he made to emphasize a certain word. He'd catch the word in his mouth, let it roll around and squeeze it with his tongue. When it popped on out, it exploded, and the ladies started waving and shouting. I liked all that. I started popping and shouting too. That next week I asked Mama when we were going back to Memphis to church. “‘Since when you so keen on church?' Mama asked. “‘I like that preacher,' I said. “‘Reverend Franklin?' she asked. “‘Well, if he's the one who sings when he preaches, that's the one I like.'" Bland was impressed by C.L. Franklin, and so were other Memphis musicians. Long after Franklin had moved to Detroit, they remembered him, and Bland and B.B. King would go to Franklin's church to see him preach whenever they were in the city. And Bland studied Franklin's records. He said later "I liked whatever was on the radio, especially those first things Nat Cole did with his trio. Naturally I liked the blues singers like Roy Brown, the jump singers like Louis Jordan, and the ballad singers like Billy Eckstine, but, brother, the man who really shaped me was Reverend Franklin." Bland would study Franklin's records, and would take the style that Franklin used in recorded sermons like "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest": [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest"] And you can definitely hear that preaching style on records like Bland's "I Pity the Fool": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "I Pity the Fool"] But of course, that wasn't the only influence the Reverend C.L. Franklin had on the course of soul music. C.L. Franklin had grown up poor, on a Mississippi farm, and had not even finished grade school because he was needed to work behind the mule, ploughing the farm for his stepfather. But he had a fierce intelligence and became an autodidact, travelling regularly to the nearest library, thirty miles away, on a horse-drawn wagon, and reading everything he could get his hands on. At the age of sixteen he received what he believed to be a message from God, and decided to become an itinerant preacher. He would travel between many small country churches and build up audiences there -- and he would also study everyone else preaching there, analysing their sermons, seeing if he could anticipate their line of argument and get ahead of them, figuring out the structure. But unlike many people in the conservative Black Baptist churches of the time, he never saw the spiritual and secular worlds as incompatible. He saw blues music and Black church sermons as both being part of the same thing -- a Black culture and folklore that was worthy of respect in both its spiritual and secular aspects. He soon built up a small circuit of local churches where he would preach occasionally, but wasn't the main pastor at any of them. He got married aged twenty, though that marriage didn't last, and he seems to have been ambitious for a greater respectability. When that marriage failed, in June 1936, he married Barbara Siggers, a very intelligent, cultured, young single mother who had attended Booker T Washington High School, the best Black school in Memphis, and he adopted her son Vaughn. While he was mostly still doing churches in Mississippi, he took on one in Memphis as well, in an extremely poor area, but it gave him a foot in the door to the biggest Black city in the US. Barbara would later be called "one of the really great gospel singers" by no less than Mahalia Jackson. We don't have any recordings of Barbara singing, but Mahalia Jackson certainly knew what she was talking about when it came to great gospel singers: [Excerpt: Mahalia Jackson, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"] Rev. Franklin was hugely personally ambitious, and he also wanted to get out of rural Mississippi, where the Klan were very active at this time, especially after his daughter Erma was born in 1938. They moved to Memphis in 1939, where he got a full-time position at New Salem Baptist Church, where for the first time he was able to earn a steady living from just one church and not have to tour round multiple churches. He soon became so popular that if you wanted to get a seat for the service at noon, you had to turn up for the 8AM Sunday School or you'd be forced to stand. He also enrolled for college courses at LeMoyne College. He didn't get a degree, but spent three years as a part-time student studying theology, literature, and sociology, and soon developed a liberal theology that was very different from the conservative fundamentalism he'd grown up in, though still very much part of the Baptist church. Where he'd grown up with a literalism that said the Bible was literally true, he started to accept things like evolution, and to see much of the Bible as metaphor. Now, we talked in the last episode about how impossible it is to get an accurate picture of the lives of religious leaders, because their life stories are told by those who admire them, and that's very much the case for C.L. Franklin. Franklin was a man who had many, many, admirable qualities -- he was fiercely intelligent, well-read, a superb public speaker, a man who was by all accounts genuinely compassionate towards those in need, and he became one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and inspired tens of thousands, maybe even millions, of people, directly and indirectly, to change the world for the better. He also raised several children who loved and admired him and were protective of his memory. And as such, there is an inevitable bias in the sources on Franklin's life. And so there's a tendency to soften the very worst things he did, some of which were very, very bad. For example in Nick Salvatore's biography of him, he talks about Franklin, in 1940, fathering a daughter with someone who is described as "a teenager" and "quite young". No details of her age other than that are given, and a few paragraphs later the age of a girl who was then sixteen *is* given, talking about having known the girl in question, and so the impression is given that the girl he impregnated was also probably in her late teens. Which would still be bad, but a man in his early twenties fathering a child with a girl in her late teens is something that can perhaps be forgiven as being a different time. But while the girl in question may have been a teenager when she gave birth, she was *twelve years old* when she became pregnant, by C.L. Franklin, the pastor of her church, who was in a position of power over her in multiple ways. Twelve years old. And this is not the only awful thing that Franklin did -- he was also known to regularly beat up women he was having affairs with, in public. I mention this now because everything else I say about him in this episode is filtered through sources who saw these things as forgivable character flaws in an otherwise admirable human being, and I can't correct for those biases because I don't know the truth. So it's going to sound like he was a truly great man. But bear those facts in mind. Barbara stayed with Franklin for the present, after discovering what he had done, but their marriage was a difficult one, and they split up and reconciled a handful of times. They had three more children together -- Cecil, Aretha, and Carolyn -- and remained together as Franklin moved on first to a church in Buffalo, New York, and then to New Bethel Church, in Detroit, on Hastings Street, a street which was the centre of Black nightlife in the city, as immortalised in John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun": [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "Boogie Chillen"] Before moving to Detroit, Franklin had already started to get more political, as his congregation in Buffalo had largely been union members, and being free from the worst excesses of segregation allowed him to talk more openly about civil rights, but that only accelerated when he moved to Detroit, which had been torn apart just a couple of years earlier by police violence against Black protestors. Franklin had started building a reputation when in Memphis using radio broadcasts, and by the time he moved to Detroit he was able to command a very high salary, and not only that, his family were given a mansion by the church, in a rich part of town far away from most of his congregation. Smokey Robinson, who was Cecil Franklin's best friend and a frequent visitor to the mansion through most of his childhood, described it later, saying "Once inside, I'm awestruck -- oil paintings, velvet tapestries, silk curtains, mahogany cabinets filled with ornate objects of silver and gold. Man, I've never seen nothing like that before!" He made a lot of money, but he also increased church attendance so much that he earned that money. He had already been broadcasting on the radio, but when he started his Sunday night broadcasts in Detroit, he came up with a trick of having his sermons run long, so the show would end before the climax. People listening decided that they would have to start turning up in person to hear the end of the sermons, and soon he became so popular that the church would be so full that crowds would have to form on the street outside to listen. Other churches rescheduled their services so they wouldn't clash with Franklin's, and most of the other Black Baptist ministers in the city would go along to watch him preach. In 1948 though, a couple of years after moving to Detroit, Barbara finally left her husband. She took Vaughn with her and moved back to Buffalo, leaving the four biological children she'd had with C.L. with their father.  But it's important to note that she didn't leave her children -- they would visit her on a regular basis, and stay with her over school holidays. Aretha later said "Despite the fact that it has been written innumerable times, it is an absolute lie that my mother abandoned us. In no way, shape, form, or fashion did our mother desert us." Barbara's place in the home was filled by many women -- C.L. Franklin's mother moved up from Mississippi to help him take care of the children, the ladies from the church would often help out, and even stars like Mahalia Jackson would turn up and cook meals for the children. There were also the women with whom Franklin carried on affairs, including Anna Gordy, Ruth Brown, and Dinah Washington, the most important female jazz and blues singer of the fifties, who had major R&B hits with records like her version of "Cold Cold Heart": [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Cold Cold Heart"] Although my own favourite record of hers is "Big Long Slidin' Thing", which she made with arranger Quincy Jones: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Big Long Slidin' Thing"] It's about a trombone. Get your minds out of the gutter. Washington was one of the biggest vocal influences on young Aretha, but the single biggest influence was Clara Ward, another of C.L. Franklin's many girlfriends. Ward was the longest-lasting of these, and there seems to have been a lot of hope on both her part and Aretha's that she and Rev. Franklin would marry, though Franklin always made it very clear that monogamy wouldn't suit him. Ward was one of the three major female gospel singers of the middle part of the century, and possibly even more technically impressive as a vocalist than the other two, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. Where Jackson was an austere performer, who refused to perform in secular contexts at all for most of her life, and took herself and her music very seriously, and Tharpe was a raunchier, funnier, more down-to-earth performer who was happy to play for blues audiences and even to play secular music on occasion, Ward was a *glamorous* performer, who wore sequined dresses and piled her hair high on her head. Ward had become a singer in 1931 when her mother had what she later talked about as a religious epiphany, and decided she wasn't going to be a labourer any more, she was going to devote her life to gospel music. Ward's mother had formed a vocal group with her two daughters, and Clara quickly became the star and her mother's meal ticket -- and her mother was very possessive of that ticket, to the extent that Ward, who was a bisexual woman who mostly preferred men, had more relationships with women, because her mother wouldn't let her be alone with the men she was attracted to. But Ward did manage to keep a relationship going with C.L. Franklin, and Aretha Franklin talked about the moment she decided to become a singer, when she saw Ward singing "Peace in the Valley" at a funeral: [Excerpt: Clara Ward, "Peace in the Valley"] As well as looking towards Ward as a vocal influence, Aretha was also influenced by her as a person -- she became a mother figure to Aretha, who would talk later about watching Ward eat, and noting her taking little delicate bites, and getting an idea of what it meant to be ladylike from her. After Ward's death in 1973, a notebook was found in which she had written her opinions of other singers. For Aretha she wrote “My baby Aretha, she doesn't know how good she is. Doubts self. Some day—to the moon. I love that girl.” Ward's influence became especially important to Aretha and her siblings after their mother died of a heart attack a few years after leaving her husband, when Aretha was ten, and Aretha, already a very introverted child, became even more so. Everyone who knew Aretha said that her later diva-ish reputation came out of a deep sense of insecurity and introversion -- that she was a desperately private, closed-off, person who would rarely express her emotions at all, and who would look away from you rather than make eye contact. The only time she let herself express emotions was when she performed music. And music was hugely important in the Franklin household. Most preachers in the Black church at that time were a bit dismissive of gospel music, because they thought the music took away from their prestige -- they saw it as a necessary evil, and resented it taking up space when their congregations could have been listening to them. But Rev. Franklin was himself a rather good singer, and even made a few gospel records himself in 1950, recording for Joe Von Battle, who owned a record shop on Hastings Street and also put out records by blues singers: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "I Am Climbing Higher Mountains" ] The church's musical director was James Cleveland, one of the most important gospel artists of the fifties and sixties, who sang with groups like the Caravans: [Excerpt: The Caravans, "What Kind of Man is This?" ] Cleveland, who had started out in the choir run by Thomas Dorsey, the writer of “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley”, moved in with the Franklin family for a while, and he gave the girls tips on playing the piano -- much later he would play piano on Aretha's album Amazing Grace, and she said of him “He showed me some real nice chords, and I liked his deep, deep sound”. Other than Clara Ward, he was probably the single biggest musical influence on Aretha. And all the touring gospel musicians would make appearances at New Bethel Church, not least of them Sam Cooke, who first appeared there with the Highway QCs and would continue to do so after joining the Soul Stirrers: [Excerpt: The Soul Stirrers, "Touch the Hem of his Garment"] Young Aretha and her older sister Erma both had massive crushes on Cooke, and there were rumours that he had an affair with one or both of them when they were in their teens, though both denied it. Aretha later said "When I first saw him, all I could do was sigh... Sam was love on first hearing, love at first sight." But it wasn't just gospel music that filled the house. One of the major ways that C.L. Franklin's liberalism showed was in his love of secular music, especially jazz and blues, which he regarded as just as important in Black cultural life as gospel music. We already talked about Dinah Washington being a regular visitor to the house, but every major Black entertainer would visit the Franklin residence when they were in Detroit. Both Aretha and Cecil Franklin vividly remembered visits from Art Tatum, who would sit at the piano and play for the family and their guests: [Excerpt: Art Tatum, "Tiger Rag"] Tatum was such a spectacular pianist that there's now a musicological term, the tatum, named after him, for the smallest possible discernible rhythmic interval between two notes. Young Aretha was thrilled by his technique, and by that of Oscar Peterson, who also regularly came to the Franklin home, sometimes along with Ella Fitzgerald. Nat "King" Cole was another regular visitor. The Franklin children all absorbed the music these people -- the most important musicians of the time -- were playing in their home, and young Aretha in particular became an astonishing singer and also an accomplished pianist. Smokey Robinson later said: “The other thing that knocked us out about Aretha was her piano playing. There was a grand piano in the Franklin living room, and we all liked to mess around. We'd pick out little melodies with one finger. But when Aretha sat down, even as a seven-year-old, she started playing chords—big chords. Later I'd recognize them as complex church chords, the kind used to accompany the preacher and the solo singer. At the time, though, all I could do was view Aretha as a wonder child. Mind you, this was Detroit, where musical talent ran strong and free. Everyone was singing and harmonizing; everyone was playing piano and guitar. Aretha came out of this world, but she also came out of another far-off magical world none of us really understood. She came from a distant musical planet where children are born with their gifts fully formed.” C.L. Franklin became more involved in the music business still when Joe Von Battle started releasing records of his sermons, which had become steadily more politically aware: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "Dry Bones in the Valley"] Franklin was not a Marxist -- he was a liberal, but like many liberals was willing to stand with Marxists where they had shared interests, even when it was dangerous. For example in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism, he had James and Grace Lee Boggs, two Marxist revolutionaries, come to the pulpit and talk about their support for the anti-colonial revolution in Kenya, and they sold four hundred copies of their pamphlet after their talk, because he saw that the struggle of Black Africans to get out from white colonial rule was the same struggle as that of Black Americans. And Franklin's powerful sermons started getting broadcast on the radio in areas further out from Detroit, as Chess Records picked up the distribution for them and people started playing the records on other stations. People like future Congressman John Lewis and the Reverend Jesse Jackson would later talk about listening to C.L. Franklin's records on the radio and being inspired -- a whole generation of Black Civil Rights leaders took their cues from him, and as the 1950s and 60s went on he became closer and closer to Martin Luther King in particular. But C.L. Franklin was always as much an ambitious showman as an activist, and he started putting together gospel tours, consisting mostly of music but with himself giving a sermon as the headline act. And he became very, very wealthy from these tours. On one trip in the south, his car broke down, and he couldn't find a mechanic willing to work on it. A group of white men started mocking him with racist terms, trying to provoke him, as he was dressed well and driving a nice car (albeit one that had broken down). Rather than arguing with them, he walked to a car dealership, and bought a new car with the cash that he had on him. By 1956 he was getting around $4000 per appearance, roughly equivalent to $43,000 today, and he was making a *lot* of appearances. He also sold half a million records that year. Various gospel singers, including the Clara Ward Singers, would perform on the tours he organised, and one of those performers was Franklin's middle daughter Aretha. Aretha had become pregnant when she was twelve, and after giving birth to the child she dropped out of school, but her grandmother did most of the child-rearing for her, while she accompanied her father on tour. Aretha's first recordings, made when she was just fourteen, show what an astonishing talent she already was at that young age. She would grow as an artist, of course, as she aged and gained experience, but those early gospel records already show an astounding maturity and ability. It's jaw-dropping to listen to these records of a fourteen-year-old, and immediately recognise them as a fully-formed Aretha Franklin. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood"] Smokey Robinson's assessment that she was born with her gifts fully formed doesn't seem like an exaggeration when you hear that. For the latter half of the fifties, Aretha toured with her father, performing on the gospel circuit and becoming known there. But the Franklin sisters were starting to get ideas about moving into secular music. This was largely because their family friend Sam Cooke had done just that, with "You Send Me": [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "You Send Me"] Aretha and Erma still worshipped Cooke, and Aretha would later talk about getting dressed up just to watch Cooke appear on the TV. Their brother Cecil later said "I remember the night Sam came to sing at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. Erma and Ree said they weren't going because they were so heartbroken that Sam had recently married. I didn't believe them. And I knew I was right when they started getting dressed about noon for the nine o'clock show. Because they were underage, they put on a ton of makeup to look older. It didn't matter 'cause Berry Gordy's sisters, Anna and Gwen, worked the photo concession down there, taking pictures of the party people. Anna was tight with Daddy and was sure to let my sisters in. She did, and they came home with stars in their eyes.” Moving from gospel to secular music still had a stigma against it in the gospel world, but Rev. Franklin had never seen secular music as sinful, and he encouraged his daughters in their ambitions. Erma was the first to go secular, forming a girl group, the Cleo-Patrettes, at the suggestion of the Four Tops, who were family friends, and recording a single for Joe Von Battle's J-V-B label, "No Other Love": [Excerpt: The Cleo-Patrettes, "No Other Love"] But the group didn't go any further, as Rev. Franklin insisted that his eldest daughter had to finish school and go to university before she could become a professional singer. Erma missed other opportunities for different reasons, though -- Berry Gordy, at this time still a jobbing songwriter, offered her a song he'd written with his sister and Roquel Davis, but Erma thought of herself as a jazz singer and didn't want to do R&B, and so "All I Could Do Was Cry" was given to Etta James instead, who had a top forty pop hit with it: [Excerpt: Etta James, "All I Could Do Was Cry"] While Erma's move into secular music was slowed by her father wanting her to have an education, there was no such pressure on Aretha, as she had already dropped out. But Aretha had a different problem -- she was very insecure, and said that church audiences "weren't critics, but worshippers", but she was worried that nightclub audiences in particular were just the kind of people who would just be looking for flaws, rather than wanting to support the performer as church audiences did. But eventually she got up the nerve to make the move. There was the possibility of her getting signed to Motown -- her brother was still best friends with Smokey Robinson, while the Gordy family were close to her father -- but Rev. Franklin had his eye on bigger things. He wanted her to be signed to Columbia, which in 1960 was the most prestigious of all the major labels. As Aretha's brother Cecil later said "He wanted Ree on Columbia, the label that recorded Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Percy Faith, and Doris Day. Daddy said that Columbia was the biggest and best record company in the world. Leonard Bernstein recorded for Columbia." They went out to New York to see Phil Moore, a legendary vocal coach and arranger who had helped make Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge into stars, but Moore actually refused to take her on as a client, saying "She does not require my services. Her style has already been developed. Her style is in place. It is a unique style that, in my professional opinion, requires no alteration. It simply requires the right material. Her stage presentation is not of immediate concern. All that will come later. The immediate concern is the material that will suit her best. And the reason that concern will not be easily addressed is because I can't imagine any material that will not suit her." That last would become a problem for the next few years, but the immediate issue was to get someone at Columbia to listen to her, and Moore could help with that -- he was friends with John Hammond. Hammond is a name that's come up several times in the podcast already -- we mentioned him in the very earliest episodes, and also in episode ninety-eight, where we looked at his signing of Bob Dylan. But Hammond was a legend in the music business. He had produced sessions for Bessie Smith, had discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, had convinced Benny Goodman to hire Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton, had signed Pete Seeger and the Weavers to Columbia, had organised the Spirituals to Swing concerts which we talked about in the first few episodes of this podcast, and was about to put out the first album of Robert Johnson's recordings. Of all the executives at Columbia, he was the one who had the greatest eye for talent, and the greatest understanding of Black musical culture. Moore suggested that the Franklins get Major Holley to produce a demo recording that he could get Hammond to listen to. Major Holley was a family friend, and a jazz bassist who had played with Oscar Peterson and Coleman Hawkins among others, and he put together a set of songs for Aretha that would emphasise the jazz side of her abilities, pitching her as a Dinah Washington style bluesy jazz singer. The highlight of the demo was a version of "Today I Sing the Blues", a song that had originally been recorded by Helen Humes, the singer who we last heard of recording “Be Baba Leba” with Bill Doggett: [Excerpt: Helen Humes, "Today I Sing the Blues"] That original version had been produced by Hammond, but the song had also recently been covered by Aretha's idol, Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Today I Sing the Blues"] Hammond was hugely impressed by the demo, and signed Aretha straight away, and got to work producing her first album. But he and Rev. Franklin had different ideas about what Aretha should do. Hammond wanted to make a fairly raw-sounding bluesy jazz album, the kind of recording he had produced with Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday, but Rev. Franklin wanted his daughter to make music that would cross over to the white pop market -- he was aiming for the same kind of audience that Nat "King" Cole or Harry Belafonte had, and he wanted her recording standards like "Over the Rainbow". This showed a lack of understanding on Rev. Franklin's part of how such crossovers actually worked at this point. As Etta James later said, "If you wanna have Black hits, you gotta understand the Black streets, you gotta work those streets and work those DJs to get airplay on Black stations... Or looking at it another way, in those days you had to get the Black audience to love the hell outta you and then hope the love would cross over to the white side. Columbia didn't know nothing 'bout crossing over.” But Hammond knew they had to make a record quickly, because Sam Cooke had been working on RCA Records, trying to get them to sign Aretha, and Rev. Franklin wanted an album out so they could start booking club dates for her, and was saying that if they didn't get one done quickly he'd take up that offer, and so they came up with a compromise set of songs which satisfied nobody, but did produce two R&B top ten hits, "Won't Be Long" and Aretha's version of "Today I Sing the Blues": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Today I Sing the Blues"] This is not to say that Aretha herself saw this as a compromise -- she later said "I have never compromised my material. Even then, I knew a good song from a bad one. And if Hammond, one of the legends of the business, didn't know how to produce a record, who does? No, the fault was with promotion." And this is something important to bear in mind as we talk about her Columbia records. Many, *many* people have presented those records as Aretha being told what to do by producers who didn't understand her art and were making her record songs that didn't fit her style. That's not what's happening with the Columbia records. Everyone actually involved said that Aretha was very involved in the choices made -- and there are some genuinely great tracks on those albums. The problem is that they're *unfocused*. Aretha was only eighteen when she signed to the label, and she loved all sorts of music -- blues, jazz, soul, standards, gospel, middle-of-the-road pop music -- and wanted to sing all those kinds of music. And she *could* sing all those kinds of music, and sing them well. But it meant the records weren't coherent. You didn't know what you were getting, and there was no artistic personality that dominated them, it was just what Aretha felt like recording. Around this time, Aretha started to think that maybe her father didn't know what he was talking about when it came to popular music success, even though she idolised him in most areas, and she turned to another figure, who would soon become both her husband and manager. Ted White. Her sister Erma, who was at that time touring with Lloyd Price, had introduced them, but in fact Aretha had first seen White years earlier, in her own house -- he had been Dinah Washington's boyfriend in the fifties, and her first sight of him had been carrying a drunk Washington out of the house after a party. In interviews with David Ritz, who wrote biographies of many major soul stars including both Aretha Franklin and Etta James, James had a lot to say about White, saying “Ted White was famous even before he got with Aretha. My boyfriend at the time, Harvey Fuqua, used to talk about him. Ted was supposed to be the slickest pimp in Detroit. When I learned that Aretha married him, I wasn't surprised. A lot of the big-time singers who we idolized as girls—like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan—had pimps for boyfriends and managers. That was standard operating procedure. My own mother had made a living turning tricks. When we were getting started, that way of life was part of the music business. It was in our genes. Part of the lure of pimps was that they got us paid." She compared White to Ike Turner, saying "Ike made Tina, no doubt about it. He developed her talent. He showed her what it meant to be a performer. He got her famous. Of course, Ted White was not a performer, but he was savvy about the world. When Harvey Fuqua introduced me to him—this was the fifties, before he was with Aretha—I saw him as a super-hip extra-smooth cat. I liked him. He knew music. He knew songwriters who were writing hit songs. He had manners. Later, when I ran into him and Aretha—this was the sixties—I saw that she wasn't as shy as she used to be." White was a pimp, but he was also someone with music business experience -- he owned an unsuccessful publishing company, and also ran a chain of jukeboxes. He was also thirty, while Aretha was only eighteen. But White didn't like the people in Aretha's life at the time -- he didn't get on well with her father, and he also clashed with John Hammond. And Aretha was also annoyed at Hammond, because her sister Erma had signed to Epic, a Columbia subsidiary, and was releasing her own singles: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Hello Again"] Aretha was certain that Hammond had signed Erma, even though Hammond had nothing to do with Epic Records, and Erma had actually been recommended by Lloyd Price. And Aretha, while for much of her career she would support her sister, was also terrified that her sister might have a big hit before her and leave Aretha in her shadow. Hammond was still the credited producer on Aretha's second album, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin, but his lack of say in the sessions can be shown in the choice of lead-off single. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" was originally recorded by Al Jolson in 1918: [Excerpt: Al Jolson, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] Rev. Franklin pushed for the song, as he was a fan of Jolson -- Jolson, oddly, had a large Black fanbase, despite his having been a blackface performer, because he had *also* been a strong advocate of Black musicians like Cab Calloway, and the level of racism in the media of the twenties through forties was so astonishingly high that even a blackface performer could seem comparatively OK. Aretha's performance was good, but it was hardly the kind of thing that audiences were clamouring for in 1961: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] That single came out the month after _Down Beat_ magazine gave Aretha the "new-star female vocalist award", and it oddly made the pop top forty, her first record to do so, and the B-side made the R&B top ten, but for the next few years both chart success and critical acclaim eluded her. None of her next nine singles would make higher than number eighty-six on the Hot One Hundred, and none would make the R&B charts at all. After that transitional second album, she was paired with producer Bob Mersey, who was precisely the kind of white pop producer that one would expect for someone who hoped for crossover success. Mersey was the producer for many of Columbia's biggest stars at the time -- people like Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Patti Page, and Mel Tormé -- and it was that kind of audience that Aretha wanted to go for at this point. To give an example of the kind of thing that Mersey was doing, just the month before he started work on his first collaboration with Aretha, _The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin_, his production of Andy Williams singing "Moon River" was released: [Excerpt: Andy Williams, "Moon River"] This was the kind of audience Aretha was going for when it came to record sales – the person she compared herself to most frequently at this point was Barbra Streisand – though in live performances she was playing with a small jazz group in jazz venues, and going for the same kind of jazz-soul crossover audience as Dinah Washington or Ray Charles. The strategy seems to have been to get something like the success of her idol Sam Cooke, who could play to soul audiences but also play the Copacabana, but the problem was that Cooke had built an audience before doing that -- she hadn't. But even though she hadn't built up an audience, musicians were starting to pay attention. Ted White, who was still in touch with Dinah Washington, later said “Women are very catty. They'll see a girl who's dressed very well and they'll say, Yeah, but look at those shoes, or look at that hairdo. Aretha was the only singer I've ever known that Dinah had no negative comments about. She just stood with her mouth open when she heard Aretha sing.” The great jazz vocalist Carmen McRea went to see Aretha at the Village Vanguard in New York around this time, having heard the comparisons to Dinah Washington, and met her afterwards. She later said "Given how emotionally she sang, I expected her to have a supercharged emotional personality like Dinah. Instead, she was the shyest thing I've ever met. Would hardly look me in the eye. Didn't say more than two words. I mean, this bitch gave bashful a new meaning. Anyway, I didn't give her any advice because she didn't ask for any, but I knew goddamn well that, no matter how good she was—and she was absolutely wonderful—she'd have to make up her mind whether she wanted to be Della Reese, Dinah Washington, or Sarah Vaughan. I also had a feeling she wouldn't have minded being Leslie Uggams or Diahann Carroll. I remember thinking that if she didn't figure out who she was—and quick—she was gonna get lost in the weeds of the music biz." So musicians were listening to Aretha, even if everyone else wasn't. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, for example, was full of old standards like "Try a Little Tenderness": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] That performance inspired Otis Redding to cut his own version of that song a few years later: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And it might also have inspired Aretha's friend and idol Sam Cooke to include the song in his own lounge sets. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin also included Aretha's first original composition, but in general it wasn't a very well-received album. In 1963, the first cracks started to develop in Aretha's relationship with Ted White. According to her siblings, part of the strain was because Aretha's increasing commitment to the civil rights movement was costing her professional opportunities. Her brother Cecil later said "Ted White had complete sway over her when it came to what engagements to accept and what songs to sing. But if Daddy called and said, ‘Ree, I want you to sing for Dr. King,' she'd drop everything and do just that. I don't think Ted had objections to her support of Dr. King's cause, and he realized it would raise her visibility. But I do remember the time that there was a conflict between a big club gig and doing a benefit for Dr. King. Ted said, ‘Take the club gig. We need the money.' But Ree said, ‘Dr. King needs me more.' She defied her husband. Maybe that was the start of their marital trouble. Their thing was always troubled because it was based on each of them using the other. Whatever the case, my sister proved to be a strong soldier in the civil rights fight. That made me proud of her and it kept her relationship with Daddy from collapsing entirely." In part her increasing activism was because of her father's own increase in activity. The benefit that Cecil is talking about there is probably one in Chicago organised by Mahalia Jackson, where Aretha headlined on a bill that also included Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and the comedian Dick Gregory. That was less than a month before her father organised the Detroit Walk to Freedom, a trial run for the more famous March on Washington a few weeks later. The Detroit Walk to Freedom was run by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was formed by Rev. Franklin and Rev. Albert Cleage, a much more radical Black nationalist who often differed with Franklin's more moderate integrationist stance. They both worked together to organise the Walk to Freedom, but Franklin's stance predominated, as several white liberal politicians, like the Mayor of Detroit, Jerome Cavanagh, were included in the largely-Black March. It drew crowds of 125,000 people, and Dr. King called it "one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America", and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in American history up to that point. King's speech in Detroit was recorded and released on Motown Records: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech”] He later returned to the same ideas in his more famous speech in Washington. During that civil rights spring and summer of 1963, Aretha also recorded what many think of as the best of her Columbia albums, a collection of jazz standards  called Laughing on the Outside, which included songs like "Solitude", "Ol' Man River" and "I Wanna Be Around": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Wanna Be Around"] The opening track, "Skylark", was Etta James' favourite ever Aretha Franklin performance, and is regarded by many as the definitive take on the song: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Skylark"] Etta James later talked about discussing the track with the great jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, one of Aretha's early influences, who had recorded her own version of the song: "Sarah said, ‘Have you heard of this Aretha Franklin girl?' I said, ‘You heard her do “Skylark,” didn't you?' Sarah said, ‘Yes, I did, and I'm never singing that song again.” But while the album got noticed by other musicians, it didn't get much attention from the wider public. Mersey decided that a change in direction was needed, and they needed to get in someone with more of a jazz background to work with Aretha. He brought in pianist and arranger Bobby Scott, who had previously worked with people like Lester Young, and Scott said of their first meeting “My first memory of Aretha is that she wouldn't look at me when I spoke. She withdrew from the encounter in a way that intrigued me. At first I thought she was just shy—and she was—but I also felt her reading me...For all her deference to my experience and her reluctance to speak up, when she did look me in the eye, she did so with a quiet intensity before saying, ‘I like all your ideas, Mr. Scott, but please remember I do want hits.'” They started recording together, but the sides they cut wouldn't be released for a few years. Instead, Aretha and Mersey went in yet another direction. Dinah Washington died suddenly in December 1963, and given that Aretha was already being compared to Washington by almost everyone, and that Washington had been a huge influence on her, as well as having been close to both her father and her husband/manager, it made sense to go into the studio and quickly cut a tribute album, with Aretha singing Washington's hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Cold Cold Heart"] Unfortunately, while Washington had been wildly popular, and one of the most important figures in jazz and R&B in the forties and fifties, her style was out of date. The tribute album, titled Unforgettable, came out in February 1964, the same month that Beatlemania hit the US. Dinah Washington was the past, and trying to position Aretha as "the new Dinah Washington" would doom her to obscurity. John Hammond later said "I remember thinking that if Aretha never does another album she will be remembered for this one. No, the problem was timing. Dinah had died, and, outside the black community, interest in her had waned dramatically. Popular music was in a radical and revolutionary moment, and that moment had nothing to do with Dinah Washington, great as she was and will always be.” At this point, Columbia brought in Clyde Otis, an independent producer and songwriter who had worked with artists like Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and indeed had written one of the songs on Unforgettable, but had also worked with people like Brook Benton, who had a much more R&B audience. For example, he'd written "Baby, You Got What It Takes" for Benton and Washington to do as a duet: [Excerpt: Brook Benton and Dinah Washington, "Baby, You Got What it Takes"] In 1962, when he was working at Mercury Records before going independent, Otis had produced thirty-three of the fifty-one singles the label put out that year that had charted. Columbia had decided that they were going to position Aretha firmly in the R&B market, and assigned Otis to do just that. At first, though, Otis had no more luck with getting Aretha to sing R&B than anyone else had. He later said "Aretha, though, couldn't be deterred from her determination to beat Barbra Streisand at Barbra's own game. I kept saying, ‘Ree, you can outsing Streisand any day of the week. That's not the point. The point is to find a hit.' But that summer she just wanted straight-up ballads. She insisted that she do ‘People,' Streisand's smash. Aretha sang the hell out of it, but no one's gonna beat Barbra at her own game." But after several months of this, eventually Aretha and White came round to the idea of making an R&B record. Otis produced an album of contemporary R&B, with covers of music from the more sophisticated end of the soul market, songs like "My Guy", "Every Little Bit Hurts", and "Walk on By", along with a few new originals brought in by Otis. The title track, "Runnin' Out of Fools", became her biggest hit in three years, making number fifty-seven on the pop charts and number thirty on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Runnin' Out of Fools"] After that album, they recorded another album with Otis producing, a live-in-the-studio jazz album, but again nobody involved could agree on a style for her. By this time it was obvious that she was unhappy with Columbia and would be leaving the label soon, and they wanted to get as much material in the can as they could, so they could continue releasing material after she left. But her working relationship with Otis was deteriorating -- Otis and Ted White did not get on, Aretha and White were having their own problems, and Aretha had started just not showing up for some sessions, with nobody knowing where she was. Columbia passed her on to yet another producer, this time Bob Johnston, who had just had a hit with Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte": [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"] Johnston was just about to hit an incredible hot streak as a producer. At the same time as his sessions with Aretha, he was also producing Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and just after the sessions finished he'd go on to produce Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence album. In the next few years he would produce a run of classic Dylan albums like Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and New Morning, Simon & Garfunkel's follow up Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Leonard Cohen's first three albums, and Johnny Cash's comeback with the Live at Folsom Prison album and its follow up At San Quentin. He also produced records for Marty Robbins, Flatt & Scruggs, the Byrds, and Burl Ives during that time period. But you may notice that while that's as great a run of records as any producer was putting out at the time, it has little to do with the kind of music that Aretha Franklin was making then, or would become famous with. Johnston produced a string-heavy session in which Aretha once again tried to sing old standards by people like Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. She then just didn't turn up for some more sessions, until one final session in August, when she recorded songs like "Swanee" and "You Made Me Love You". For more than a year, she didn't go into a studio. She also missed many gigs and disappeared from her family's life for periods of time. Columbia kept putting out records of things she'd already recorded, but none of them had any success at all. Many of the records she'd made for Columbia had been genuinely great -- there's a popular perception that she was being held back by a record company that forced her to sing material she didn't like, but in fact she *loved* old standards, and jazz tunes, and contemporary pop at least as much as any other kind of music. Truly great musicians tend to have extremely eclectic tastes, and Aretha Franklin was a truly great musician if anyone was. Her Columbia albums are as good as any albums in those genres put out in that time period, and she remained proud of them for the rest of her life. But that very eclecticism had meant that she hadn't established a strong identity as a performer -- everyone who heard her records knew she was a great singer, but nobody knew what "an Aretha Franklin record" really meant -- and she hadn't had a single real hit, which was the thing she wanted more than anything. All that changed when in the early hours of the morning, Jerry Wexler was at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals recording a Wilson Pickett track -- from the timeline, it was probably the session for "Mustang Sally", which coincidentally was published by Ted White's publishing company, as Sir Mack Rice, the writer, was a neighbour of White and Franklin, and to which Aretha had made an uncredited songwriting contribution: [Excerpt: Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally"] Whatever the session, it wasn't going well. Percy Sledge, another Atlantic artist who recorded at Muscle Shoals, had turned up and had started winding Pickett up, telling him he sounded just like James Brown. Pickett *hated* Brown -- it seems like almost every male soul singer of the sixties hated James Brown -- and went to physically attack Sledge. Wexler got between the two men to protect his investments in them -- both were the kind of men who could easily cause some serious damage to anyone they hit -- and Pickett threw him to one side and charged at Sledge. At that moment the phone went, and Wexler yelled at the two of them to calm down so he could talk on the phone. The call was telling him that Aretha Franklin was interested in recording for Atlantic. Rev. Louise Bishop, later a Democratic politician in Pennsylvania, was at this time a broadcaster, presenting a radio gospel programme, and she knew Aretha. She'd been to see her perform, and had been astonished by Aretha's performance of a recent Otis Redding single, "Respect": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect"] Redding will, by the way, be getting his own episode in a few months' time, which is why I've not covered the making of that record here. Bishop thought that Aretha did the song even better than Redding -- something Bishop hadn't thought possible. When she got talking to Aretha after the show, she discovered that her contract with Columbia was up, and Aretha didn't really know what she was going to do -- maybe she'd start her own label or something. She hadn't been into the studio in more than a year, but she did have some songs she'd been working on. Bishop was good friends with Jerry Wexler, and she knew that he was a big fan of Aretha's, and had been saying for a while that when her contract was up he'd like to sign her. Bishop offered to make the connection, and then went back home and phoned Wexler's wife, waking her up -- it was one in the morning by this point, but Bishop was accustomed to phoning Wexler late at night when it was something important. Wexler's wife then phoned him in Muscle Shoals, and he phoned Bishop back and made the arrangements to meet up. Initially, Wexler wasn't thinking about producing Aretha himself -- this was still the period when he and the Ertegun brothers were thinking of selling Atlantic and getting out of the music business, and so while he signed her to the label he was originally going to hand her over to Jim Stewart at Stax to record, as he had with Sam and Dave. But in a baffling turn of events, Jim Stewart didn't actually want to record her, and so Wexler determined that he had better do it himself. And he didn't want to do it with slick New York musicians -- he wanted to bring out the gospel sound in her voice, and he thought the best way to do that was with musicians from what Charles Hughes refers to as "the country-soul triangle" of Nashville, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals. So he booked a week's worth of sessions at FAME studios, and got in FAME's regular rhythm section, plus a couple of musicians from American Recordings in Memphis -- Chips Moman and Spooner Oldham. Oldham's friend and songwriting partner Dan Penn came along as well -- he wasn't officially part of the session, but he was a fan of Aretha's and wasn't going to miss this. Penn had been the first person that Rick Hall, the owner of FAME, had called when Wexler had booked the studio, because Hall hadn't actually heard of Aretha Franklin up to that point, but didn't want to let Wexler know that. Penn had assured him that Aretha was one of the all-time great talents, and that she just needed the right production to become massive. As Hall put it in his autobiography, "Dan tended in those days to hate anything he didn't write, so I figured if he felt that strongly about her, then she was probably going to be a big star." Charlie Chalmers, a horn player who regularly played with these musicians, was tasked with putting together a horn section. The first song they recorded that day was one that the musicians weren't that impressed with at first. "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" was written by a songwriter named Ronnie Shannon, who had driven from Georgia to Detroit hoping to sell his songs to Motown. He'd popped into a barber's shop where Ted White was having his hair cut to ask for directions to Motown, and White had signed him to his own publishing company and got him to write songs for Aretha. On hearing the demo, the musicians thought that the song was mediocre and a bit shapeless: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (demo)"] But everyone there was agreed that Aretha herself was spectacular. She didn't speak much to the musicians, just went to the piano and sat down and started playing, and Jerry Wexler later compared her playing to Thelonius Monk (who was indeed one of the jazz musicians who had influenced her). While Spooner Oldham had been booked to play piano, it was quickly decided to switch him to electric piano and organ, leaving the acoustic piano for Aretha to play, and she would play piano on all the sessions Wexler produced for her in future. Although while Wexler is the credited producer (and on this initial session Rick Hall at FAME is a credited co-producer), everyone involved, including Wexler, said that the musicians were taking their cues from Aretha rather than anyone else. She would outline the arrangements at the piano, and everyone else would fit in with what she was doing, coming up with head arrangements directed by her. But Wexler played a vital role in mediating between her and the musicians and engineering staff, all of whom he knew and she didn't. As Rick Hall said "After her brief introduction by Wexler, she said very little to me or anyone else in the studio other than Jerry or her husband for the rest of the day. I don't think Aretha and I ever made eye contact after our introduction, simply because we were both so totally focused on our music and consumed by what we were doing." The musicians started working on "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)", and at first found it difficult to get the groove, but then Oldham came up with an electric piano lick which everyone involved thought of as the key that unlocked the song for them: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)"] After that, they took a break. Most of them were pleased with the track, though Rick Hall wasn't especially happy. But then Rick Hall wasn't especially happy about anything at that point. He'd always used mono for his recordings until then, but had been basically forced to install at least a two-track system by Tom Dowd, Atlantic's chief engineer, and was resentful of this imposition. During the break, Dan Penn went off to finish a song he and Spooner Oldham had been writing, which he hoped Aretha would record at the session: [Excerpt: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"] They had the basic structure of the song down, but hadn't quite finished the middle eight, and both Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin chipped in uncredited lyrical contributions -- Aretha's line was "as long as we're together baby, you'd better show some respect to me". Penn, Oldham, Chips Moman, Roger Hawkins, and Tommy Cogbill started cutting a backing track for the song, with Penn singing lead initially with the idea that Aretha would overdub her vocal. But while they were doing this, things had been going wrong with the other participants. All the FAME and American rhythm section players were white, as were Wexler, Hall, and Dowd, and Wexler had been very aware of this, and of the fact that they were recording in Alabama, where Aretha and her husband might not feel totally safe, so he'd specifically requested that the horn section at least contain some Black musicians. But Charlie Chalmers hadn't been able to get any of the Black musicians he would normally call when putting together a horn section, and had ended up with an all-white horn section as well, including one player, a trumpet player called Ken Laxton, who had a reputation as a good player but had never worked with any of the other musicians there -- he was an outsider in a group of people who regularly worked together and had a pre-existing relationship. As the two outsiders, Laxton and Ted White had, at first, bonded, and indeed had started drinking vodka together, passing a bottle between themselves, in a way that Rick Hall would normally not allow in a session -- at the time, the county the studio was in was still a dry county. But as Wexler said, “A redneck patronizing a Black man is a dangerous camaraderie,” and White and Laxton soon had a major falling out. Everyone involved tells a different story about what it was that caused them to start rowing, though it seems to have been to do with Laxton not showing the proper respect for Aretha, or even actually sexually assaulting her -- Dan Penn later said “I always heard he patted her on the butt or somethin', and what would have been wrong with that anyway?”, which says an awful lot about the attitudes of these white Southern men who thought of themselves as very progressive, and were -- for white Southern men in early 1967. Either way, White got very, very annoyed, and insisted that Laxton get fired from the session, which he was, but that still didn't satisfy White, and he stormed off to the motel, drunk and angry. The rest of them finished cutting a basic track for "Do Right Woman", but nobody was very happy with it. Oldham said later “She liked the song but hadn't had time to practice it or settle into it I remember there was Roger playing the drums and Cogbill playing the bass. And I'm on these little simplistic chords on organ, just holding chords so the song would be understood. And that was sort of where it was left. Dan had to sing the vocal, because she didn't know the song, in the wrong key for him. That's what they left with—Dan singing the wrong-key vocal and this little simplistic organ and a bass and a drum. We had a whole week to do everything—we had plenty of time—so there was no hurry to do anything in particular.” Penn was less optimistic, saying "But as I rem

Celebrating 16 years with music by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Marcelle Meyer, Bob Wills, Blind Boy Fuller, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and The Golden Gate Gospel Quartet.