Canadian-American jazz pianist
POPULARITY
13 episodes with Gil Evans
11 episodes with Gil Evans
15 episodes with Gil Evans
7 episodes with Gil Evans
129 episodes with Gil Evans
15 episodes with Gil Evans
3 episodes with Gil Evans
4 episodes with Gil Evans
3 episodes with Gil Evans
Pianist and composer Albert Sanz sits down with Pablo Held for an in-depth piano hang. They talk about Albert's compositional process, the art of comping for singers, memories from working with Billy Hart, Lee Konitz and Perico Sambeat, the importance of leaving space, Albert's new Jobim album with Sara Dowling, their shared heroes Gil Evans … Continue reading Albert Sanz
Hace 60 años que Astrud Gilberto -la voz en inglés de 'The girl from Ipanema' en el disco de Stan Getz y João Gilberto- publicó su primer LP 'The Astrud Gilberto album' con las jobinianas 'Once I loved', 'Agua de beber', 'Meditation', 'Dindi' o 'Photograph' y 'All that´s left is to say goodbye'; del disco de 1966 'Look to the rainbow', con arreglos de Gil Evans, la canción que le da título, 'Once upon a summertime', 'I will wait for you' y 'A felicidade'; de 'Beach samba', publicado en 1967, con arreglos de Don Sebesky y Eumir Deodato, 'Stay', 'Misty roses' y 'The face I love'; de 'A certain smile, a certain sadness', con el organista Walter Wanderley, también de 1967, 'Goodbye sadness', 'Call me', 'Here´s that rainy day' y 'Tú mi delirio'; y del disco de 1971 con el saxofonista Stanley Turrentine 'Braziilan tapestry'.Escuchar audio
Nothing Like the Sun, or as it is written on the album, "...Nothing Like the Sun," is the second solo studio album by former Police bassist and front man Sting. The title comes from Shakespeare's sonnet number 130 which contains the lines, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun." Sting was met on the street one evening, who asked him, "How beautiful is the moon?" Sting responded with this line from the sonnet. Two events play a lot of influence on this album. First, Sting's mother died in 1986, inspiring the lyrics to the opening track, "Lazarus Heart." Second Sting joined the Conspiracy of Hope tour for Amnesty International, and through this tour was exposed to victims of government oppression in Latin America. He was particularly moved by people in Chile for whom loved ones had "disappeared" in government actions, and wrote "They Dance Alone" as a description of the mourners who would dance the traditional Cueca by themselves with a picture of their loved ones pinned to their clothes.Sting's first solo album leaned into jazz. This second album continues to have a jazz influence but reaches across a number of other genres including reggae, funk, acoustic rock, soft rock, and world music. He brought in a number of solid musicians into the recording sessions including Gil Evans, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Branford Marsalis, and even his fellow Police alumnus Andy SummersSting would continue to further success after this album, which peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200 chart. In the UK, ...Nothing Like the Sun debuted and peaked at number 1 on the UK albums chart.Bruce presents this adult contemporary album for this week's podcast. Be Still My Beating HeartThis second single from the album went to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. The lyrics are quite mature, describing the head telling the heart to settle down in the midst of an intense romance. The title was likely inspired by a 19th Century poem from Mary Elizabeth Coleridge. Andy Summers is playing guitar on this track. Little WingMost of this album is original music written by Sting, but this one is a deeper cut and a cover. Jimi Hendrix wrote "Little Wing" in 1967, and it appears on his "Axis" album. Gil Evans did a jazz arrangement of this piece in 1974, and provided this arrangement and backing with his orchestra for this cover. Sting's version runs just over 5 minutes, giving it a run time just over double that of the original Hendrix version. Rock SteadyAnother deep cut, this song is Stings humorous look at a couple who have volunteered to join a cruise, and later find out that they are joining Noah on the Ark. "Life may be tough, but we're sailing with the Lord." FragileThis is the fourth single from the album, and is a gorgeous acoustic piece. This anti-war song was likely inspired by Sting's work with Amnesty International. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:That's Amore by Dean Martin (from the motion picture “Moonstruck”) This romance comedy starring Cher and Nicolas Cage delivered a Best Actress Oscar to Cher and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Olympia Dukakis. STAFF PICKS:The Promise by When In RomeRob starts this week's staff picks with the only hit from a British new wave trio. This track went to number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became a popular song to play at weddings later on. It gained a revival in popularity when it was used in the soundtrack to "Napoleon Dynamite" in 2004. Got My Mind Set On You by George HarrisonLynch brings us a cover of a song originally written by Rudy Clark and recorded by James Ray in 1962. It is off Harrison's comeback album, "Cloud Nine." Harrison worked with Jeff Lynne on the album because he wanted a producer who wouldn't be intimidated by working with a Beatle. The teamwork went well, and the two would go on to form "The Traveling Wilburys" supergroup shortly thereafter.Dude (Looks Like a Lady) by AerosmithWayne features one of many hits from Aerosmith's monster "Permanent Vacation" album. The lyrics tell the tale of a man finding out that the "girl" he has bee pursuing at a club was a man dressed up as a woman. The idea for the song came from Motley Crue singer Vince Neil being mistaken frequently for a woman with long blonde hair.Mission by RushBruce closes out the staff picks with a song which arose from a conversation between Neal Peart and Geddy Lee about the perception people have that the rich and famous have easier lives. The lyrics reflect how every life has its own difficulties, and perhaps those who are highly successful would often wish for a more plain and settled life at times. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Bailando/Aquatic Park by Carlos SantanaGuitar virtuoso Carlos Santana takes us out this week with a track from his solo album, "Blues for Salvador." Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.
CHARLES MINGUS “THE CLOWN” New York, February 13, March 12, 1957Haitian fight song (1), Reincarnation of a lovebird (1)Jimmy Knepper (tb) Shafi Hadi (as-1,ts-2) [aka Curtis Porter (as,ts) ] Wade Legge (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d,tamb) JOHN PATITUCCI “SONGS, STORIES AND SPIRITUALS” New York, April 9 & 10, 2002It never entered my mind (ls vcl), Love eternal (es,sp duo), Wise one (jp,bb duo)Edward Simon (p) Sachi Patitucci (cello) John Patitucci (b,el-b) Brian Blade (d,perc) Luciana Souza (vcl) MILES DAVIS ORCHESTRA, GIL EVANS (DIR.) “MILES AHEAD (MILES + 19)” New York, May 6, 10, 1957Springsville, The maids of Cadiz, The Duke, Miles ahead, The Meaning of the BluesBernie Glow, Ernie Royal, Louis Mucci, Taft Jordan, John Carisi (tp) Miles Davis (flhrn) Frank Rehak, Jimmy Cleveland, Joe Bennett (tb) Tom Mitchell (b-tb) Willie Ruff, Tony Miranda (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Romeo Penque (cl,cl,oboe) Sid Cooper (cl,fl) Danny Bank (b-cl) Lee Konitz (as) Paul Chambers (b) Art Taylor (d) Gil Evans (arr,cond) Continue reading Puro Jazz 12 de marzo, 2025 at PuroJazz.
CHARLES MINGUS “THE CLOWN” New York, February 13, March 12, 1957Haitian fight song (1), Reincarnation of a lovebird (1)Jimmy Knepper (tb) Shafi Hadi (as-1,ts-2) [aka Curtis Porter (as,ts) ] Wade Legge (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d,tamb) JOHN PATITUCCI “SONGS, STORIES AND SPIRITUALS” New York, April 9 & 10, 2002It never entered my mind (ls vcl), Love eternal (es,sp duo), Wise one (jp,bb duo)Edward Simon (p) Sachi Patitucci (cello) John Patitucci (b,el-b) Brian Blade (d,perc) Luciana Souza (vcl) MILES DAVIS ORCHESTRA, GIL EVANS (DIR.) “MILES AHEAD (MILES + 19)” New York, May 6, 10, 1957Springsville, The maids of Cadiz, The Duke, Miles ahead, The Meaning of the BluesBernie Glow, Ernie Royal, Louis Mucci, Taft Jordan, John Carisi (tp) Miles Davis (flhrn) Frank Rehak, Jimmy Cleveland, Joe Bennett (tb) Tom Mitchell (b-tb) Willie Ruff, Tony Miranda (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Romeo Penque (cl,cl,oboe) Sid Cooper (cl,fl) Danny Bank (b-cl) Lee Konitz (as) Paul Chambers (b) Art Taylor (d) Gil Evans (arr,cond) Continue reading Puro Jazz 12 de marzo, 2025 at PuroJazz.
STANDARS SEMANAL.-Tiger Rag..-VINILOS MITICOS DEL JAZZ.-.GIL EVANS-OUT OF THE COOL.-JAZZACTUALIDAD.-CARY ROSA-El Desliz Out of the Cool es un álbum de jazz de The Gil Evans Orchestra, grabado en 1960 y lanzado por el sello Impulse! al año siguiente. El álbum fue uno de los primeros cuatro álbumes de Impulse!, lanzados juntos, y presentó un diseño desplegable y altos valores de producción. Gil Evans grabó el álbum poco tiempo después de completar un trabajo de seis semanas en el club Jazz Gallery de la ciudad de Nueva York ; el personal era en gran medida el mismo, con la incorporación de Elvin Jones Cary Rosa Varona / EL DESLIZ / Youkali 224 Cary Rosa es una intérprete y compositora multifacética. Originaria de Cuba, allí estudió la carrera de violonchelo y, con tan sólo 16 años, se integró en la orquesta de cámara “Camerata Romeu”, especializada en música latinoamericana de concierto, que tuvo gran reconocimiento dentro del panorama internacional. Durante los cuatro años y cuatro discos que duro el grupo, dos con el maestro Egberto Gismonti, fue nominado para un Grammy. Amparo Sánchez, ex líder de la banda Amparanoia, contó con ella en 2009 para grabar el disco Tucson-Habana de la banda norteamericana Calexico. Con ellos tocó por toda Europa durante dos años en la exitosa gira del disco. Esa experiencia contribuyó a mejorar su calidad y versatilidad como intérprete. Maneja con la misma brillantez el violonchelo, el contrabajo, el bajo eléctrico y su voz. Ha colaborado con personajes e instituciones como Víctor Monge, Serranito , Tino di Geraldo, la Compañía de María Pagés o el Ballet Nacional de España. Acompañó al afamado cantautor cubano Pablo Milanés en sus dos últimas giras, hasta su fallecimiento en 2022. Contribuyó a la dirección musical del proyecto de Juan Valderrama Mujeres de Carne y Verso . No ha abandonado la música clásica. Así, en 2021, creó un repertorio exclusivo de música sacra para violonchelo.
durée : 00:04:04 - Le coup de cœur, ici Orléans - Un concert hommage à Gil Evans aura lieu vendredi 28 février à Orléans-la-Source, dans le cadre du festival Brassissim'O. Ce projet, porté par David Georgelet, fait revivre les arrangements inédits du pianiste et arrangeur, avec un orchestre de jeunes musiciens du Conservatoire d'Orléans.
THIS IS SUMMIT WEEK! Three Summits featuring some of the best Saxophonists, Bassists and Drummers. Today is DRUM SUMMIT with:Peter Erskine, a 2x Grammy winner and a 10x Best Jazz Drummer winner. He's played with Weather Report, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and many others.Danny Gottlieb, an all-star drummer who has played with Pat Metheny, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gary Burton, Airto Moreira and the Lt. Dan Band among others.Adam Nussbaum, an acclaimed drummer who has played on hundreds of recordings with artists including John Abercrombie, Eliane Elias, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and John Scofield.My featured song is “Metro Shuffle”, featuring Mindi Abair, from the album The PGS Experience by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here .To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S SINGLES:“SOSTICE” is Robert's newest single, with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's sublime, atmospheric Jazz Fusion tune. Featuring guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
THIS IS SUMMIT WEEK! Three Summits featuring some of the world's best Saxophonists, Bassists and Drummers. Today is BASS SUMMIT with:Ron Carter, the Maestro. He's probably the most revered bassist of all time and certainly the most recorded jazz bassist. He's a 3x Grammy winner. He was a member of Miles Davis's groundbreaking quintet in the 1960s. He's played with just about everyone and won numerous awards.Jerry Jemmott, the Groovemaster. He defined the electric bass in the 1960s and 1970s in soul, blues and jazz. He's a 2x Grammy winner. He's recorded with a Who's Who including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, B.B. King and Chuck Berry among others.Mark Egan is one of the premier electric bassists of our time. He's played on many jazz and pop albums and movie and TV soundtracks. He's recorded with Sting, Judy Collins, Roger Daltrey and Larry Coryell among others. He was a member of the Pat Metheny Group and Gil Evans for 13 years.My featured song is “The Rich Ones”. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here .To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S SINGLES:“SOSTICE” is Robert's newest single, with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's sublime, atmospheric Jazz Fusion tune. Featuring guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
The Jazz Session No.389 from RaidersBroadcast.com as aired in November 2024, featuring the amazing jazz-rock guitarist Allan Holdsworth and his 2002 live album “All Night Wrong”. TRACK LISTING: Play a Simple Melody - Bing & Gary Crosby; Early Autumn - Cleo Laine; Yellow Fields - Eberhard Weber, w.Gary Burton, Jan Garbarek; 892 Teeth - Mary Halvorson; Water on the Brain Pt. II - Allan Holdsworth; Gas Lamp Blues - Allan Holdsworth; I Am the Walrus - Brad Mehldau; One Girl Among Many - Yazz Ahmed; Caravan - Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra; St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins; Hypoxmastreefuzz - John Pope and John Garner; We Go On - Pat Metheny Unity Group; Organ Grinder Blues - George Melly, w. Mick Mulligan's Jazz Band; Sobbin' Blues - King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopaters; Lanyard Loop - Allan Holdsworth; The Things You See - Allan Holdsworth; On Green Dolphin Street - Jimmy Heath Orchestra; The Duke - Miles Davis & Gil Evans; Pule - Abdullah Ibrahim and the NDR Big Band; 1/4 Samba II - Tatsuya Nakamura.
As we are exploring how Jimi Hendrix has inspired the jazz world, this segment focuses on the connections between Hendrix and Miles Davis and musicians close to him. The playlist features, Gil Evans, Laurent Cugny; Mike Stern; Lonnie Smith, John Abercrombie, Marvin "Smitty" Smith; Daniele Sepe, Hamid Drake, Dean Bowman; Miles Davis; and Francis Lockwood Detailed playlist at https://spinitron.com/RFB/pl/19759068/Mondo-Jazz (up "1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)"). Happy listening!
CLAUDE THORNHILL AND HIS ORCHESTRA “SNOWFALL” New York, November 6, 1947Snowfall, Puttin' And Talkin', AnthropologyEd Zandy, Louis Mucci, Red Rodney (tp) Tak Takvorian, Allan Langstaff, John Torick (tb) Walt Weschler, Sandy Siegelstein (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Danny Polo, Lee Konitz (cl,as) Mickey Folus (b-cl,ts) Babe Fresk (cl,ts) Billy Bushey (cl,b-cl,bar) Claude Thornhill (p,arr) Barry Galbraith (g) Joe Shulman (b) Billy Exiner (d) Fran Warren, Gene Williams (vcl) Bill Borden, Gerry Mulligan, Eddie Herzog, Gil Evans (arr) LENNIE TRISTANO “TRISTANO TRIO” New York, October 8, 1946I can't get started, I surrender dearLennie Tristano (p) Billy Bauer (g) Clyde Lombardi (b) New York, 1955 Turkish mamboLennie Tristano (p) (d- desconocido) THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET (MJQ) “NO SUN IN VENICE” New York, April 4, 1957 The golden striker, Three WindowsMilt Jackson (vib) John Lewis (p) Percy Heath (b) Connie Kay (d) MILES DAVIS NONET “BIRTH OF THE COOL” New York, January 21, 1949 Jeru (gm arr) Move (jl arr) Budo (jl arr)Miles Davis (tp) Kai Winding (tb) Junior Collins (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Lee Konitz (as) Gerry Mulligan (bar,arr) Al Haig (p) Joe Shulman (b) Max Roach (d) John Lewis (arr) New York, April 22, 1949 Boplicity (ge arr) Israel (jc arr)Miles Davis (tp) J.J. Continue reading Puro Jazz 11 de noviembre, 2024 at PuroJazz.
CLAUDE THORNHILL AND HIS ORCHESTRA “SNOWFALL” New York, November 6, 1947Snowfall, Puttin' And Talkin', AnthropologyEd Zandy, Louis Mucci, Red Rodney (tp) Tak Takvorian, Allan Langstaff, John Torick (tb) Walt Weschler, Sandy Siegelstein (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Danny Polo, Lee Konitz (cl,as) Mickey Folus (b-cl,ts) Babe Fresk (cl,ts) Billy Bushey (cl,b-cl,bar) Claude Thornhill (p,arr) Barry Galbraith (g) Joe Shulman (b) Billy Exiner (d) Fran Warren, Gene Williams (vcl) Bill Borden, Gerry Mulligan, Eddie Herzog, Gil Evans (arr) LENNIE TRISTANO “TRISTANO TRIO” New York, October 8, 1946I can't get started, I surrender dearLennie Tristano (p) Billy Bauer (g) Clyde Lombardi (b) New York, 1955 Turkish mamboLennie Tristano (p) (d- desconocido) THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET (MJQ) “NO SUN IN VENICE” New York, April 4, 1957 The golden striker, Three WindowsMilt Jackson (vib) John Lewis (p) Percy Heath (b) Connie Kay (d) MILES DAVIS NONET “BIRTH OF THE COOL” New York, January 21, 1949 Jeru (gm arr) Move (jl arr) Budo (jl arr)Miles Davis (tp) Kai Winding (tb) Junior Collins (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Lee Konitz (as) Gerry Mulligan (bar,arr) Al Haig (p) Joe Shulman (b) Max Roach (d) John Lewis (arr) New York, April 22, 1949 Boplicity (ge arr) Israel (jc arr)Miles Davis (tp) J.J. Continue reading Puro Jazz 11 de noviembre, 2024 at PuroJazz.
Maggie spoke with Quincy Jones in early December 2008 about his book, The Complete Quincy Jones My Journey & Passions. We discussed some of his favorite musical collaborations including Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis and discuss the idea of mentorship and why it's so important to "pass it on" Quincy Delight Jones Jr. March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024 was an American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer.. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received many accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.About the book: Everything you love about American popular culture is Quincy Jones. As an artist and impresario Quincy Jones has been the creative catalyst for over 60 years of American cultural phenomena orchestrating the sounds of Frank Sinatra, setting the ambiance for Steven Spielberg, cultivating the talent of Michael Jackson, and introducing to the world Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith - to name a few. The Complete Quincy Jones examines the diverse virtuosity of Quincy Jones, celebrating his prolific contribution to American art and culture. Comprised of personal interviews and recollections with Jones, this collection peers behind the veil of celebrity, with extraordinary access to his creative inspirations and labors. Through private notebooks, correspondence, and photographs Jones offers unprecedented introspection into the depths of his creativity and the histories of his ventures. From the volumes of his memorabilia, Jones emerges as a contemplative and dynamic maestro, thriving on intuition and ceaselessly pursuing the soul of his art.Quincy Jones is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. God Bless Quincy Jones, there will never be another you! Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Complete-Quincy-Jones/Quincy-Jones/9781933784670Source: https://www.qwest.tv/Source: https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/quincy-jonesSource: https://rockhall.com/inductees/quincy-jones/Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.Send us a textSupport the show@profileswithmaggielepique@maggielepique
En este número de La Montaña Rusa, hemos recordado la música e influencia de Quincy Jones, a través de sus composiciones; también al lado de Miles Davis and Gil Evans; o junto al Branford Marsalis Quartet; inspirando a jóvenes talentos como Makaya McCraven o a Corduroy en su momento; o junto alguno de sus contemporáneos como Rashaan Roland Kirk. Y además, hemos escuchado a Phil Parisot; Marcelo Maccagnan; James Brandon Lewis with The Messthetics; Bruno Heinen & James Kitchman; Triogram. Seguir leyendo La Montaña Rusa. Episodio 45.2024. en La Montaña Rusa Radio Jazz.
ROY HARGROVE “GRANDE-TERRE” Abril, 1998, Pointe-a-Pitre, GuadaloupeB and B, Afreaka, Priorities Roy Hargrove (t) Frank Lacy (tbn) Sherman Irby (sa) Jacques Schwarz-Bart (st) Ed Cherry (g) Larry Willis, Gabriel Hernandez (p) Gerald Cannon (b) José Luis “Changuito” Quintana, Julio Barreto (perc) Willie Jones III (dr) KOTKA “KOTKA 10” Marzo 6, 2024, Madrid, España.Parts I, II & IIIGuillermo Bazzola (g) Risto Vuolanne (b) Fernando Lamas (dr) GIL EVANS “GIL EVANS & TEN” Hackensack, N.J., September 6, 1957 Remember, Ella speedJohn Carisi, Jake Koven (tp) Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Bart Varsalona (b-tb) Willie Ruff (fhr) Lee Konitz (as) [as Zeke Tolin (as) ] Steve Lacy (sop) Dave Kurtzer (bassoon) Gil Evans (p,arr,cond) Paul Chambers (b) Jo Jones (d) Hackensack, N.J., September 27 & October 10, 1957 Big stuffAdd: Louis Mucci (tp) Nick Stabulas (d) replace John Carisi, Jo Jones Continue reading Puro Jazz 01 de noviembre, 2024 at PuroJazz.
ROY HARGROVE “GRANDE-TERRE” Abril, 1998, Pointe-a-Pitre, GuadaloupeB and B, Afreaka, Priorities Roy Hargrove (t) Frank Lacy (tbn) Sherman Irby (sa) Jacques Schwarz-Bart (st) Ed Cherry (g) Larry Willis, Gabriel Hernandez (p) Gerald Cannon (b) José Luis “Changuito” Quintana, Julio Barreto (perc) Willie Jones III (dr) KOTKA “KOTKA 10” Marzo 6, 2024, Madrid, España.Parts I, II & IIIGuillermo Bazzola (g) Risto Vuolanne (b) Fernando Lamas (dr) GIL EVANS “GIL EVANS & TEN” Hackensack, N.J., September 6, 1957 Remember, Ella speedJohn Carisi, Jake Koven (tp) Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Bart Varsalona (b-tb) Willie Ruff (fhr) Lee Konitz (as) [as Zeke Tolin (as) ] Steve Lacy (sop) Dave Kurtzer (bassoon) Gil Evans (p,arr,cond) Paul Chambers (b) Jo Jones (d) Hackensack, N.J., September 27 & October 10, 1957 Big stuffAdd: Louis Mucci (tp) Nick Stabulas (d) replace John Carisi, Jo Jones Continue reading Puro Jazz 01 de noviembre, 2024 at PuroJazz.
The Jazz Session No.381 from RaidersBroadcast.com as aired in September 2024, featuring a very cool 2023 album “Polar Waters”, from the Joshua Jaswon Octet – with shades of Return to Forever and Flora Purim. TRACK LISTING:Feel No Fret - Average White Band; The Hustler - The Crusaders; Sweet and Hot - Fletcher Henderson; Climax Rag - George Lewis and his New Orleans Stompers; Deception Island - Joshua Jaswon Octet; Seasick Part 1: Gannets - Joshua Jaswon Octet; The Things Are Here - Dizzy Gillespie; New Rhumba - Miles Davis & Gil Evans; Unknown Soldier - Weather Report; Miles Beyond - Mahavishnu Orchestra; You Don't Know What Love Is - John Coltrane; How About You - Stan Getz; Gimme Dat Harp Boy - Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band; Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin - Frank Zappa & The Mothers; Karner Blue - Joshua Jaswon Octet; Swimming in Winter - Joshua Jaswon Octet; Floater - Carla Bley; Laugh Lines - The Impossible Gentlemen; Newk's Fadeaway - Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet; Flying Colours - Mike Manieri.
This is a Drum Summit, a Special Episode of the podcast. It features three of the world's best jazz drummers: Peter Erskine, Danny Gottlieb and Adam Nussbaum. Each has previously been a guest on the podcast, but now they're together in this episode.Peter Erskine is a 2x Grammy winner and a 10x Best Jazz Drummer winner. He's played with Weather Report, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and many others.Danny Gottlieb is an all-star drummer who has played with Pat Metheny, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gary Burton, Airto Moreira and the Lt. Dan Band among others.Adam Nussbaum is an acclaimed drummer who has played on hundreds of recordings with artists including John Abercrombie, Eliane Elias, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and John Scofield.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Peter at:www.petererskine.comConnect with Danny at:www.dannygottlieb.orgConnect with Adam at:www.adamnussbaum.net Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
This is a Special Episode of the podcast that I call a Bass Summit. It features three of the world's best bass players:Ron Carter is called the Maestro. He's probably the most revered bassist of all time and certainly the most recorded jazz bassist. He's a 3x Grammy winner. He was a member of Miles Davis's groundbreaking quintet in the 1960s. He's played with just about everyone and won numerous awards.Jerry Jemmott is known as the Groovemaster. He defined the electric bass in the 1960s and 1970s in soul, blues and jazz. He's a 2x Grammy winner. He's recorded with a Who's Who including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, B.B. King and Chuck Berry among others.Mark Egan is one of the premier electric bassists of our time. He's played on many jazz and pop albums and movie and TV soundtracks. He's recorded with Sting, Judy Collins, Roger Daltrey and Larry Coryell among others. He was a member of the Pat Metheny Group and played with Gil Evans for 13 years.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Intro/Outro Voiceovers courtesy of:Jodi Krangle - Professional Voiceover Artisthttps://voiceoversandvocals.com Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Ron at:www.roncarterjazz.comConnect with Jerry at:www.jerryjemmott.comConnect with Mark at:www.markegan.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Adam Nussbaum is an extraordinary jazz drummer. He's played on hundreds of recordings with a Who's Who in the jazz world including John Abercrombie, Eliane Elias, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and John Scofield.My featured song is my version of Miles Davis's “All Blues” sing by the late great Jon Lucien from my “lost” 1994 debut album Miles Behind. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Intro/Outro Voiceovers courtesy of:Jodi Krangle - Professional Voiceover Artisthttps://voiceoversandvocals.com Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Adam atwww.adamnussbaum.net Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Barbara Bruckmüller is a composer and jazz pianist born in Vienna. She was influenced by the sounds of Hollywood Jazz, from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. She studied piano early on for seven years, but it took time for her to discover her passion for jazz. She studied jazz piano with Paul Urbanek at the Gustav Mahler Conservatory in Vienna, in 2004. Barbara's inspiration and role models lie in the great Big Band leaders and composers Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Oliver Nelson, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Gil Evans, Joe Henderson, and Maria Schneider. In 2009, she founded her Big Band to capture the sound and dynamic energy of the swing bands and dance orchestras of the past that fascinated her since childhood and served as the foundation for her own musical vision. Her debut album Barbara Bruckmüller Big Band released in 2013, with original compositions, was awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Two years later, she released her second album, in tribute to her late mother and her hometown of Vienna, in which she arranged traditional Viennese songs for the Big Band and infused them with a fresh swing. Barbara is currently working on her next album project, THREE VIEWS OF A MUSICAL PIECE: A Chain of Moments – Suite in Five Movement with Cuban pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz, scheduled for Fall 2024. http://barbarabruckmueller.com http://wijsf.org
Send us a Text Message.My guest is my old friend and legendary drummer, the great Adam Nussbaum! We played the Michael Brecker track "Suspone." Adam talks about his early influences like Mitch Mitchell, who led him to Elvin Jones, his relationship with Mel Lewis, going on the road with John Scofield, the importance of listening, his brush technique and much more! So come along for the ride, and please subscribe! Adam is also the co-host of the podcast Drummer Nation - check it out! @DrummerNationNow Live From My Drum Room T-shirts are available now! Made of soft 60%cotton/40% polyester. Available in sizes XS-3XL$25 including shipping in the contiguous US! Payment with Venmo: @John-DeChristopher-2For orders outside the US or questions email me for more info: livefrommydrumroom@gmail.comLive From My Drum Room With John DeChristopher! is a series of conversations with legendary drummers and Music Industry icons, hosted by drummer and music industry veteran, John DeChristopher, drawing from his five decades in the Music Industry. Created in 2020, and ranked BEST Drum Podcast, "Live From My Drum Room With John DeChristopher" gives the audience an insider's view that only John can offer. And no drummers are harmed during any shows! Please subscribe!https://linktr.ee/live_from_my_drum_roomwww.youtube.com/c/JohnDeChristopherLiveFromMyDrumRoom
Mark Egan is an acclaimed electric bassist. He's played on countless jazz and pop albums as well as movie and television soundtracks. He was a member of the Pat Metheny Group and then formed the band Elements with drummer Danny Gottlieb. He played with Gil Evans for 13 years. He's recorded with a Who's Who including Sting, Roger Daltrey, Judy Collins, Cyndi Lauper, Art Garfunkel, Gato Barbieri and Larry Coryell. And he has 14 albums as a leader to his credit. My featured song is “Lou's Blues”, my new single. Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES” is Robert's new single. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's recent single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994, was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Mark:www.markegan.com Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
durée : 00:59:23 - On veut ? On peut ! - par : Nathalie Piolé -
This episode is the WORLD PREMIERE of “Lou's Blues”, my new single. As I've mentioned several times on the podcast, I came of age musically during the British Invasion era of the 1960s, and then I segued into the Jazz Fusion era of the 1970s. That era was dominated by incredible bands like Weather Report, Return To Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. My band, Sagov, was a part of that scene.What I loved about jazz fusion era was how it combined the power of rock with the sophistication and improvisation of jazz. “Lou's Blues” is inspired by that era. I call it a tone poem. It's a musical journey. I wrote it in the recording studio and we did it in one take.Mark Egan, acclaimed bassist with the Pat Metheny Group, Elements and Gil Evans, calls the track “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” Peter Erskine, Superstar drummer with Weather Report, says “Digging It!”The track features my band, Project Grand Slam, consisting of Tristan Clark on guitar, Baden Goyo on keyboards, Joel E. Mateo on drums, Guillermo Barron on percussion, and me on bass. The producer is Tony Carey, singer-songwriter and keyboard genius.“Lou's Blues” is available for streaming on all the streaming platforms. Click Here For All Links---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“THE RICH ONES”. Robert's latest single. With guest artist Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears) on flugelhorn. Crossover instrumental.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's debut album, recorded in 1994 but “lost” for 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America is an in-depth look at highly influential and popular, 'til now under-celebrated bandleader, by Ms. Crease, whose prior books are lively portraits of Duke Ellington and Gil Evans. Bob Blumenthal, critic, author (Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins) chairs the Jazz Journalists Association's Book Awards committee.
Episode 5: A conversation with composer, Maria Schneider.►Maria Schneider website: http://www.mariaschneider.comIn this episode with Multi-Grammy Winner, NEA Jazz Master, composer and musician advocate, Maria Schneider, we discuss her new “Decades” project, Bob Brookmeyer's “tough love”, a mystical dream with Gil Evans, balancing preparation with letting go, and much more…“When you do what you love, it telegraphs”.~Maria Schneider►Key Moments:0:00 - Introductions2:58 – “Life Stuff”…Taking care of the aging. 6:40 – The vinyl experience, Maria's retrospective “Decades” project, and life pivot points14:33 – Bob Brookmeyer ‘s “tough love”16:29 – Balancing preparation and letting go, musical risk taking, and some astrology stuff.27:00 – How do you know when a piece is finished?28:38 – Doing what you love30:55 –The insignificance and significance of a human being.34:30 –Alchemy through music.35:24 – How do you help someone to discover their greatness?40:25 – Ivan Lins story41:24 – Looking back at your musicand its evolution…44:35: Visions and intuition51:22: Following that “gut” feeling57:40: A dream with Gil Evans1:01:11: Fear of death1:06:41: A lesson from David Bowie►Follow John Daversa Online:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johndaversa/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnDaversaMusic/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/johndaversamusicWebsite: http://www.johndaversa.com ►CreditsHost and Producer: John DaversaVideo Editing: Max NierlichVideo and Audio Capture: Dudley MerriamGraphic Design: Marcus SassevilleAdditional Graphic Design: Izzi GuzmanRecorded in Miami, FL, April 19, 2023►Music"The John Daversa Podcast""Moonlight Muse""Junk Wagon"All compositions composed and arranged by John DaversaDaversafications Publications (ASCAP)#mariaschneider #mariaschneiderjazzorchestra #jazzcomposer #thejohndaversapodcast "johndaversaSupport the show►CreditsHost and Producer: John DaversaVideo: Max NierlichAudio: Dudley MerriamMarcus Sasseville: Graphic DesignRecorded in Miami, FL►Music"The John Daversa Podcast""Moonlight Muse""Junk Wagon" All compositions composed and arranged by John DaversaDaversafications Publications (ASCAP)
Many years ago, bastard Mike suggested that our anniversary shows feature groups comprised of as many members as the anniversary was of years. How's that for a mouthful (mindful?) Anyway, good idea until right about now. Eleven is an awkward number unless you're fielding a footie team, and the boys have some issues finding albums that fit the bill or even glance in the direction of this anniversary. Next year, all bets are off. Nat Adderly – THAT'S RIGHT; Bobby Selvaggio – STORIES, DREAMS, INSPIRATIONS; Gil Evans – PLUS TEN; Jeff Lorber and Mike Stern – ELEVEN. IN a very special Pop Matters, Mike mocks the Cocteau Twins and Pat (with Mike's help) questions the sanity of Atlantic Records latest deluxe reissues.
Este 24 de febrero Michel Legrand hubiera cumplido 92 años. Recordamos al oscarizado compositor, arreglista, pianista y cantante parisino con 'Les moulins de mon coeur' y 'Jitterbug waltz' (grabaciones del propio Michel Legrand), 'The summer knows' (Sarah Vaughan), 'Concert on the run way' (Miles Davis y Legrand), 'Once upon a summertime' (Miles Davis con Gil Evans), 'Once upon a summertime' (Astrud Gilberto), 'La chanson de Maxence' (Virginie Teychéné), 'You must believe in spring' (Bill Evans), 'Watch what happens' (Elis Regina), 'How do you keep the music playing' y 'The way she makes me feel' (Pedro Paulo Castro Neves y Legrand), 'What are you doing the rest of your life' (Natalie Dessay y Legrand) y 'Le messager' (Catherine Michel y Michel Legrand).Escuchar audio
In episode 33 of the 'Musicians Mentor' podcast, I'm pleased to announce that I talk with someone that I consider to be one of the greatest drummers on the planet - New York's own, Adam Nussbaum. Adam is a remarkable player who has a list of credits that would simply be impossible for me to completely list. Among those that he has performed/played with though, are none other than musical giants like John Scofield, Gil Evans, John Abercrombie and Stan Getz. He has also been highly involved with drum education over the years and can been found on projects like 'Hudson Music's - Playing With Brushes DVD' among many other highly rated releases. Adam recently released his first album as a band leader entitled, 'Leadbelly Reimagined', which I cannot recommend enough. For more information on Adam Nussbaum, please visit - www.adamnussbaum.net or www.adamnussbaum.com For more information on Travis Marc, please visit - www.travismarc.com For more information on the Musicians Mentor, please visit www.musicians-mentor.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musiciansmentor/support
Artistically ambitious, a rare woman in a male dominated scene, taking the road less travelled, or even the road never travelled, and with her feet well on the ground business-wise side to ensure her artistic independence, Carla Bley played a key role in giving today's music scene the shape we know. This week we concentrate on some of her signature compositions, focusing on her Church side, her Big Band side, her catchy side, her electric side, and some of the musicians that embraced her work early on. The playlist features Conjure, Kip Hanrahan; Orrin Evans; Howard Tate; Masabumi Kikuchi, Gil Evans; Espoo Big Band; George Russell; Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Steve Swallow; Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Paul Bley, Bruce Ditmas; and John McLaughlin. Detailed playlist at https://spinitron.com/RFB/pl/18060273/Mondo-Jazz [from "The Wardrobe Master of Paradise" onwards]
SynopsisOn today's date in 2008, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, soprano Dawn Upshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra gave the first performance of a new song cycle, Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories. Its composer, Maria Schneider, conducted the premiere.Drummond was one of Brazil's greatest poets, and Schneider came to know his work through English translations by Mark Strand. “Drummond's poetry struck me as deeply Brazilian, and Brazil is a country for which I've long felt an affinity,” she said.The Minneapolis premiere was something of a homecoming for Schneider, who was born in Minnesota and studied composition at its university before heading off to the Eastman School and after graduation being hired by the great jazz orchestrator Gil Evans as his assistant. In 1992, she formed her own jazz orchestra and won a Grammy with it in 2004.Upshaw is a big fan of Schneider's work, and in 2011 they collaborated on the premiere of a second song cycle, Winter Morning Walks, based on poems of Ted Kooser."I knew that no matter what she was going to write,” Upshaw said, “it was going to be a joyful experience."Music Played in Today's ProgramMaria Schneider (b. 1960) Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories - Dawn Upshaw, soprano; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Maria Schneider, conductor ArtistShare AS-0121
David sits down with composer Maria Schneider for a conversation about her time with composer Gil Evans, collaborating with David Bowie, and her own extraordinary music.
Música que es Patrimonio de la HumanidadFlamenco Sketches Miles Davis Solea Gil Evans y Miles Davis Bill Graham intro Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía Monasterio de Sal Paco de Lucía Olé John Coltrane Mediterranean Sundance Al Di Meola Hamp's Jazz Flamenco + Bop City Flamenco Lionel Hampton Escuchar audio
Tonight's show: Erskine Hawkins & and His Orchestra, Illinois Jacquet, Artie Shaw, Zoot Sims, Lou Levy Trio, Mundell Lowe And His All Stars, Gil Evans, Horace Parlan, Elek Bacsik, Kenny Burrell, and Buddy Collette.
This week, guest-host Nate Chinen talks to Maria Schneider, winner of multiple Grammy Awards for her big band jazz compositions, including the song “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” which she composed with David Bowie. In the interview, Maria discusses her two mentors Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer and the wisdom that helped her find her voice as an artist. She also talks about her tools for composing, what it means to “trust your enthusiasm,” and her unforgettable collaboration with David Bowie. After the interview, Nate and co-host Isaac Butler explain how to respect the inner logic of your work. They also talk about how artists can borrow wisdom from other art forms. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Maria explains why most of her music isn't available on streaming services. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, guest-host Nate Chinen talks to Maria Schneider, winner of multiple Grammy Awards for her big band jazz compositions, including the song “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” which she composed with David Bowie. In the interview, Maria discusses her two mentors Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer and the wisdom that helped her find her voice as an artist. She also talks about her tools for composing, what it means to “trust your enthusiasm,” and her unforgettable collaboration with David Bowie. After the interview, Nate and co-host Isaac Butler explain how to respect the inner logic of your work. They also talk about how artists can borrow wisdom from other art forms. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Maria explains why most of her music isn't available on streaming services. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, guest-host Nate Chinen talks to Maria Schneider, winner of multiple Grammy Awards for her big band jazz compositions, including the song “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” which she composed with David Bowie. In the interview, Maria discusses her two mentors Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer and the wisdom that helped her find her voice as an artist. She also talks about her tools for composing, what it means to “trust your enthusiasm,” and her unforgettable collaboration with David Bowie. After the interview, Nate and co-host Isaac Butler explain how to respect the inner logic of your work. They also talk about how artists can borrow wisdom from other art forms. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Maria explains why most of her music isn't available on streaming services. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, guest-host Nate Chinen talks to Maria Schneider, winner of multiple Grammy Awards for her big band jazz compositions, including the song “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” which she composed with David Bowie. In the interview, Maria discusses her two mentors Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer and the wisdom that helped her find her voice as an artist. She also talks about her tools for composing, what it means to “trust your enthusiasm,” and her unforgettable collaboration with David Bowie. After the interview, Nate and co-host Isaac Butler explain how to respect the inner logic of your work. They also talk about how artists can borrow wisdom from other art forms. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Maria explains why most of her music isn't available on streaming services. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, guest-host Nate Chinen talks to Maria Schneider, winner of multiple Grammy Awards for her big band jazz compositions, including the song “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),” which she composed with David Bowie. In the interview, Maria discusses her two mentors Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer and the wisdom that helped her find her voice as an artist. She also talks about her tools for composing, what it means to “trust your enthusiasm,” and her unforgettable collaboration with David Bowie. After the interview, Nate and co-host Isaac Butler explain how to respect the inner logic of your work. They also talk about how artists can borrow wisdom from other art forms. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Maria explains why most of her music isn't available on streaming services. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
durée : 00:59:10 - Carla Bley (4/10) : La cheffe de bande - par : Alex Dutilh - "Il fallait que je sois aussi bonne qur Count Basie ou Gil Evans. C'était un challenge pour moi". - réalisé par : Fabien Fleurat
durée : 00:25:11 - Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain, collaboration au sommet - par : Anne-Charlotte Rémond - Anne-Charlotte Rémond nous donne rendez-vous en studio d'enregistrement avec Miles Davis et Gil Evans dans Musicopolis. Nous sommes en 1959, et quelque chose d'extra-ordinaire, de nouveau, de différent se prépare. Un album aux couleurs espagnoles, reflet de l'accord parfait entre les deux musiciens! - réalisé par : Philippe Petit
Today on the second part of another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we again are talking to Cathy Cole, a member of both The first family of song, the King Family as well as the King Cousins. So if you didn't get enough of Cher, Ray Charles, Jonathan Winters and her amazing father Buddy Cole, we have much more to share with you. It's all about reunion shows, recording new albums in Japan, surprise songwriters, LA restaurants, live dates at LA's premiere jazz club The Catalina and much more. So take a listen to part two of this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story. And Cathy's involve John Davidson, Rosemary Clooney, Gil Evans and more! Hot diggity!
After a two-week hiatus...and a hilariously unexpected detour in our attempt to do "The Manchurian Candidate" on this episode, my guest Keir Graff and I pivoted to 'The Color of Money' and I'm so glad we did. This episode features a lot of great stories about the making of the film, and also includes plenty of necessary discussion about 'The Hustler', specifically Piper Laurie, Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and George C. Scott's performances in that original film, the shared origin of the novels by the prolific, alcoholic, (and ultimately recovered) novelist Walter Tevis, who ALSO wrote the books turned into the film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' and the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit'. We talk about the gentle arc of Newman's life and career, viewed a bit through the lens of recent materials (materials it seems he never intended to make public) that shed light on what he was thinking and feeling during various important moments throughout his life. And we talk about the curious reception that 'The Color of Money' continues to have among cineastes...and we play the famous Siskel & Ebert two thumbs down review of the film upon its release in 1986. Hey, nobody's perfect! But it's funny in retrospect how so many of us at the time missed the undercurrents of connection to the Fast Eddie character in 'The Hustler'...connections Newman made sure that Scorsese and screenwriter Richard Price (who also has a great and brief cameo in the film) laced throughout the script and that he also included in his performance. Newman won his first Academy Award for 'The Color of Money'. LINKS Keir Graff's author website. Fast Eddie Felson is back. A funny Marty Scorcese interview from 1986. A great clip of a very Method Newman baiting Jackie Gleason's Minnesota Fats in 'The Hustler' Some clips from 'The Color of Money': Diner Clip/Newman HALLWAY CONFRONTATION Manipulating Vincent at Toy World 500 a Rack DINNER SCENE MOSELLE/DOOM: FOREST WHITAKER: Some of Robbie Robertson and Gil Evans' great incidental music from 'The Color of Money' score. SISKEL AND EBERT: Steve Mizerak Miller Lite commercial:
Frank Sinatra cantó «I Fall in Love Too Easily» en Levando anclas que luego formó parte del repertorio de Miles Davis. Escuchamos al genio de la trompeta también con su quinteto; con John Coltrane y Bill Evans o con Gil Evans. Seguimos en el Warfield de San Francisco con Al di Meola, John McLaughlin y Paco de Lucía. Tras ellos, Tomatito a la guitarra, con George Benson o Michel Camilo y el gaditano Antonio Lizana con Airegría. I fall in love too easily, Miles Davis When I fall in love, Miles Davis Quintet Stella by Starlight, Miles Davis, John Coltrane & Bill Evans Flamenco Sketches, Miles Davis Soleá, Gil Evans y Miles Davis Mediterranean Sundance Río Ancho Al Di Meola, John McLaughling y Paco de Lucía La Vacilona, Tomatito y George Benson La Vacilona, Michel Camilo y Tomatito Airegría, Antonio Lizana Escuchar audio
Kirk sits down with musician and podcaster Emily Reese to talk about the beauty of Bach's "Goldberg Variations," the distinct sound of Davis/Evans/Mulligan's "Birth of the Cool," the joys of the Knight Rider theme, and her podcast Level with Emily Reese, which focuses on the wide world of video game music. FEATURED/DISCUSSED:Emily's music podcast Level with Emily: https://www.levelwithemily.com"Singin' the Blues" feat. Frankie Trumbauer on C Melody Sax"Move," by Miles Davis and "Jeru," "Rocker," and "Venus de Milo" by Gerry Mulligan, arr Gil Evans from Birth of the Cool released 1957"Knight Rider Theme" by Stu Phillips, 1982"Funky Fanfare" and "People's Choice" by Keith Mansfield from the KPM 1000 Series of Library Recordings"Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold, recorded by Cynthia Fee, 1985"Density," "Transluce," "Among Ruins" from Citizen Sleeper by Amos Roddy, 2022"Rameau: Les Cyclopes" by Jean Phillipe Rameau, as performed by Trevor PinnockThe Complete Beethoven Symphonies as recorded by John Elliot Gardiner's Revolutionary and Romantic OrchestraStargazer by Dave Douglas, 1994-----LINKS-----SUPPORT STRONG SONGSPaypal | Patreon.com/StrongsongsMERCH STOREstore.strongsongspodcast.comSOCIAL MEDIA@StrongSongs | @Kirkhamilton | IG: @Kirk_HamiltonNEWSLETTERhttps://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribeJOIN THE DISCORDhttps://discord.gg/GCvKqAM8SmOUTRO SOLO PLAY-A-LONG:https://soundcloud.com/kirkhamilton/strong-songs-outro-music-no-soloSTRONG SONGS PLAYLISTSSpotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music---------------FEBRUARY 2023 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONSDamon WhiteKaya WoodallDan AustinThomas DarstEd RankinTimothy morsheadJay SwartzEllen NalvenMiriam JoyGareth FlynnRonjanKasPatrickSEAN D WINNIERushDaniel Hannon-BarryRRPrince M. Levy-BenitezKathie HullfishPaul McElliot RosenAshley HoagKelsairAndrew BakerRob BosworthJosh PearsonKyle CookeLiam KeoghMelissa OsborneKathleen Reuscynthia hochswenderPer Morten BarstadChristopher MillerTim ByrneJamie WhiteGeorge H AronsonJohanna L. BransonAngus McKimmChristopher McConnellDavid MascettiJeffrey JueNikoJoe LaskaLaurie AcremanKen HirshJezMelanie AndrichJenness GardnerSimon CammellJill Smith-MooreRachel RakovNarelle HornMickey ClarkNathaniel BauernfeindRob SBill RosingerAnne BrittPhil GriffinDavid ZahmKyle StarrErinAidan CoughlanSteve PhilpotJeanneret Manning Family FourMatt ButlerDoug PatonR WatsonViki DunDave SharpeSami SamhuriCraig J CovellAccessViolationRyan TorvikFraserandrew waltersJared NorrisElliot Jay O'NeillGlennCALEB ROTACHAndre BremerMark SchechterDave FloreyDan ApczynskiSara WalshFEBRUARY 2023 HALF-NOTE PATRONSRandal VegterGo Birds!Jeff SpeckSamuel MillettAbraham BenrubiWhit SidenerEmlia AlfordChance McClainRobert Granatdave malloyTim RosenwongJason MorrisseyNick Gallowayjohn halpinJennifer KennerPeter HardingDavidJaredAnthony MahramusRoss ShainMeghan O'LearyJeffrey PuzzoJohn BaumanDax and Dane HuddlestonMartín SalíasTim HowesSteve MartinoDr Arthur A GrayCarolinaGary PierceMatt BaxterGiantPredatoryMolluskCasey FaubionLuigi BocciaRob AlbrightE Margaret WartonDaniel MosierCharles McGeeCatherine ClauseEthan BaumanOwain HuntRenee DowningDrewRohan LatimerKenIsWearingAHatTonyJordan BlockAaron WadeMichael FlahertyPhotog19610Travis PollardJeff UlmJeff NewmanJamieDeebsPortland Eye CareAdam RayAnupama RaghavanDemetri DetsaridisCarrie SchneiderAlenka GrealishAnne GerryRichard SneddonDavid JudsonJulian RoleffMelissa GallardoJanice BerryDoreen CarlsonmtwolfDavid McDarbyAbigail DuffieldWendy GilchristLisa TurnerPaul WayperMiles FormanDennis M EdwardsJeffrey FerrisBruno GaetaKenneth Jungbenkurt wendelkenAdam StofskyZak RemerRishi SahayJason ReitmanAndy PainterKaren LiuGreg BurgessAilie FraserSimon PrietoVonPaul McGrealKaren ArnoldNATALIE MISTILISJosh SingerPhino DeLeonSchloss Edward J. MDRhyanon MurrayAmy Lynn ThornsenAdam WKelli BrockingtonStephen RawlingsBen MachtaVictoria YuKevin RiversGray DyerBrad ClarkChristopherMichael J. CunninghamKari KirkMark Boggsmino caposselaSteve PaquinMary SchoenmakerSarahDavid JoskeÅshild Margrete Østtveit OdéenEmma SklarSpencer StanfordBernard KhooDavid BlackmanAndrew ShpallRobert HeuerMatthew GoldenBrian MeldrumDavid NoahGeraldine ButlerRichard CambierMadeleine MaderAndy SmithTimothy DoughertyJason PrattStewart OakCaroline MillerAbbie BergSam NortonNicole SchleicherShelly UnderhillDoug BelewDermot CrowleyAchint SrivastavaRyan RairighMichael Bermanstephen matthewsBridget LyonsOlivia BishopJeremy SchwartzJohn GisselquistElaine MartinLinda DuffyThomas KönigBonnie PrinsenSharon TreeBelinda Mcgrath-steerLiz SegerEoin de BurcaKevin PotterM Shane BordersPete SimmSusan PleinShawn McCarthyDallas HockleyJana JTerronJason GerryRich RoskopfMelissa GalloJoel StevensonNathan GouwensWill Dwyer Alethea LeeLauren ReayEric PrestemonErika L AustinCookies250Spencer ShirleyDamian BradyAngela LivingstoneJeffyThanadrosDavid FriedmanPhillip DaltonMark EdwardsRandall BrowningSarah SulanDiane HughesMatt BeamsKenneth TiongJo SutherlandMichael CasnerBarb CourtneyDerek & Laura BenderFranco FamularoDon HutchisonLowell MeyerEtele IllesJeff AlmondStephen TsoneffLorenz SchwarzBecca SamplemiaWenJack SjogrenAparajit RaghavanBenedict PenningtonGeoff GoldenRobyn FraserAlexander GeddesPascal RuegerRandy SouzaJCLatifah MakuyiBrendan JubbClare HolbertonJake TinsleyGeorgia LivesayDavid ZuckerDiane TurnerTom ColemanSUELLEN MOOREBrendon Oliver-EwenKendra ReidJudy ChappleTijs SoeteStuart TerryMark PerryMaloryDhu WikMelEric HelmJake RobertsBriony LeoJonathan DanielsSteven MaronMichael FlahertyJarrod SchindlerStephenGerry NelsonDave KingAlbukittyCaro FieldWayne MarshJudith StansfieldJenifer Carrmichael bochnerDuncanbrant brantphillipNaomi WatsonLeigh SalesMarkus KoesterDavid CushmanAlexanderToni IsaacsonJeremy DawsonRobbie FerreroJake DyeChris KGavin DoigMark SteenSam FennTanner MortonMollyAJ SchusterJennifer BushDavid StroudAmanda FurlottiAndrew BakerSPBrooke WilfordAlex SingerCyrus N. WhiteShaun WieseMiriam JuskowiczMark HaberlenDominik SchmittJuan Carlos Montemayor ElosuaKate AlburyMatt GaskellJules BaileyEero WahlstedtAndrew FairDarryl StewartL.B. MorseBill ThorntonTim EvansBrian AmoebasBrett DouvilleRavy VajraveluNick ClementsJeffrey OlsonMatt BetzelMuellerNate from KalamazooMelanie StiversRichard TollerAlexander PolsonJeff DixonJohn and Sharon StengleinTom LauerjouForrest ChangEarl LozadaJon O'KeefeMax SchechterJustin McElroyArjun SharmaSupermanTDJesusJames JohnsonAndrew LeeKevin MorrellTom ClewerKevin PennyfeatherFlSHBONESColin Hodohazy shacterKyle SimonsEmily Williams
Synopsis The world's most popular classical guitar concerto, the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo, had its first performance on today's date in 1940, in Barcelona. Joaquin Rodrigo was born in Spain in 1901 and lost his sight at the age of three. He wrote all of his music on a Braille music typewriter. The “Concierto de Aranjuez,” inspired by a small town of that name thirty miles south of Madrid, remains his signature piece, though he wrote a number of other successful works. Rodrigo died on July 6th, 1999, at the age of 97. In 1959, a friend had played a recording of Rodrigo's concerto for the American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. Miles Davis said, “After listening to it for a couple of weeks, I couldn't get it out of my mind.” So, Miles Davis played it for his friend, jazz composer and arranger Gil Evans, and in short order the two collaborated on their own 16-minute version of Rodrigo's score. Their collaboration was included on their classic 1960 Columbia LP entitled “Sketches of Spain.” At the recording session, Miles paid Rodrigo this compliment: “That melody is so strong that the softer you play it, the stronger it gets…” Music Played in Today's Program Joaquin Rodrigo (1902-1999) Concierto de Aranjuez Manuel Barrueco, guitar; Philharmonic Orchestra; Placido Domingo, conductor. EMI 56175
Episode one hundred and forty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Light My Fire" by the Doors, the history of cool jazz, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "My Friend Jack" by the Smoke. 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/ Resources As usual, I've put together a Mixcloud mix containing all the music excerpted in this episode and the shorter spoken-word tracks. Information on Dick Bock, World Pacific, and Ravi Shankar came from Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar by Oliver Craske. Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger have all released autobiographies. Densmore's is out of print, but I referred to Manzarek's and Krieger's here. Of the two Krieger's is vastly more reliable. I also used Mick Wall's book on the Doors and Stephen Davis' biography of Jim Morrison. Information about Elektra Records came from Follow the Music by Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws, which is available as a free PDF download on Elektra's website. Biographical information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi comes from this book, written by one of his followers. The Doors' complete studio albums can be bought as MP3s for £14. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There are two big problems that arise for anyone trying to get an accurate picture of history, and which have certainly arisen for me during the course of this podcast -- things which make sources unreliable enough that you feel you have to caveat everything you say on a subject. One of those is hagiography, and the converse desire to tear heroes down. No matter what one wants to say on, say, the subjects of Jesus or Mohammed or Joseph Smith, the only sources we have for their lives are written either by people who want to present them as unblemished paragons of virtue, or by people who want to destroy that portrayal -- we know that any source is written by someone with a bias, and it might be a bias we agree with, but it's still a bias. The other, related, problem, is deliberate disinformation. This comes up especially for people dealing with military history -- during conflicts, governments obviously don't want their opponents to know when their attacks have caused damage, or to know what their own plans are, and after a war has concluded the belligerent parties want to cover up their own mistakes and war crimes. We're sadly seeing that at the moment in the situation in Ukraine -- depending on one's media diet, one could get radically different ideas of what is actually going on in that terrible conflict. But it happens all the time, in all wars, and on all sides. Take the Vietnam War. While the US was involved on the side of the South Vietnamese government from the start of that conflict, it was in a very minor way, mostly just providing supplies and training. Most historians look at the real start of US involvement in that war as having been in August 1964. President Johnson had been wanting, since assuming the Presidency in November 1963 after the death of John F Kennedy, to get further into the war, but had needed an excuse to do so. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident provided him with that excuse. On August the second, a fleet of US warships entered into what the North Vietnamese considered their territorial waters -- they used a different distance from shore to mark their territorial waters than most other countries used, and one which wasn't generally accepted, but which they considered important. Because of this, some North Vietnamese ships started following the American ones. The American ships, who thought they weren't doing anything wrong, set off what they considered to be warning shots, and the North Vietnamese ships fired back, which to the American ships was considered them attacking. Some fire was exchanged, but not much happened. Two days later, the American ships believed they were getting attacked again, and spent several hours firing at what they believed were North Vietnamese submarines. It was later revealed that this was just the American sonar systems playing up, and that they were almost certainly firing at nothing at all, and some even suspected that at the time -- President Johnson apparently told other people in confidence that in his opinion they'd been firing at stray dolphins. But that second "attack", however flimsy the evidence, was enough that Johnson could tell Congress and the nation that an American fleet had been attacked by the North Vietnamese, and use that as justification to get Congress to authorise him sending huge numbers of troops to Vietnam, and getting America thoroughly embroiled in a war that would cost innumerable lives and billions of dollars for what turned out to be no benefit at all to anyone. The commander of the US fleet involved in the Gulf of Tonkin operation was then-Captain, later Rear Admiral, Steve Morrison: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] We've talked a bit in this podcast previously about the development of jazz in the forties, fifties, and early sixties -- there was a lot of back and forth influence in those days between jazz, blues, R&B, country, and rock and roll, far more than one might imagine looking at the popular histories of these genres, and so we've looked at swing, bebop, and modal jazz before now. But one style of music we haven't touched on is the type that was arguably the most popular and influential style of jazz in the fifties, even though we've mentioned several of the people involved in it. We've never yet had a proper look at Cool Jazz. Cool Jazz, as its name suggests, is a style of music that was more laid back than the more frenetic bebop or hard-edged modal jazz. It was a style that sounded sophisticated, that sounded relaxed, that prized melody and melodic invention over super-fast technical wizardry, and that produced much of what we now think of when we think of "jazz" as a popular style of music. The records of Dave Brubeck, for example, arguably the most popular fifties jazz musician, are very much in the "cool jazz" mode: [Excerpt: The Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Take Five"] And we have mentioned on several occasions the Modern Jazz Quartet, who were cited as influences by everyone from Ray Charles to the Kinks to the Modern Folk Quartet: [Excerpt: The Modern Jazz Quartet, "Regret?"] We have also occasionally mentioned people like Mose Allison, who occasionally worked in the Cool Jazz mode. But we've never really looked at it as a unified thing. Cool Jazz, like several of the other developments in jazz we've looked at, owes its existence to the work of the trumpeter Miles Davis, who was one of the early greats of bop and who later pioneered modal jazz. In 1948, in between his bop and modal periods, Davis put together a short-lived nine-piece group, the Miles Davis Nonette, who performed together for a couple of weeks in late 1948, and who recorded three sessions in 1949 and 1950, but who otherwise didn't perform much. Each of those sessions had a slightly different lineup, but key people involved in the recordings were Davis himself, arranger Gil Evans, piano player John Lewis, who would later go on to become the leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and baritone sax player Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan and Evans, and the group's alto player Lee Konitz, had all been working for the big band Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, a band which along with the conventional swing instruments also had a French horn player and a tuba player, and which had recorded soft, mellow, relaxing music: [Excerpt: Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, "To Each His Own"] The Davis Nonette also included French horn and tuba, and was explicitly modelled on Thornhill's style, but in a stripped-down version. They used the style of playing that Thornhill preferred, with no vibrato, and with his emphasis on unison playing, with different instruments doubling each other playing the melody, rather than call-and response riffing: [Excerpt: The Miles Davis Nonette, "Venus De Milo"] Those recordings were released as singles in 1949 and 1950, and were later reissued in 1957 as an album titled "Birth of the Cool", by which point Cool Jazz had become an established style, though Davis himself had long since moved on in other musical directions. After the Birth of the Cool sessions, Gerry Mulligan had recorded an album as a bandleader himself, and then had moved to the West Coast, where he'd started writing arrangements for Stan Kenton, one of the more progressive big band leaders of the period: [Excerpt: Stan Kenton, "Young Blood"] While working for Kenton, Mulligan had started playing dates at a club called the Haig, where the headliner was the vibraphone player Red Norvo. While Norvo had started out as a big-band musician, playing with people like Benny Goodman, he had recently started working in a trio, with just a guitarist, initially Tal Farlowe, and bass player, initially Charles Mingus: [Excerpt: Red Norvo, "This Can't Be Love"] By 1952 Mingus had left Norvo's group, but they were still using the trio format, and that meant there was no piano at the venue, which meant that Mulligan had to form a band that didn't rely on the chordal structures that a piano would provide -- the idea of a group with a rhythm section that *didn't* have a piano was quite an innovation in jazz at this time, and freeing themselves from that standard instrument ended up opening up extra possibilities. His group consisted of himself on saxophone, Chet Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums. They made music in much the same loose, casual, style as the recordings Mulligan had made with Davis, but in a much smaller group with the emphasis being on the interplay between Mulligan and Baker. And this group were the first group to record on a new label, Pacific Jazz, founded by Dick Bock. Bock had served in the Navy during World War II, and had come back from the South Pacific with two tastes -- a taste for hashish, and for music that was outside the conventional American pop mould. Bock *loved* the Mulligan Quartet, and in partnership with his friend Roy Harte, a notable jazz drummer, he raised three hundred and fifty dollars to record the first album by Mulligan's new group: [Excerpt: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, "Aren't You Glad You're You?"] Pacific Jazz, the label Bock and Harte founded, soon became *the* dominant label for Cool Jazz, which also became known as the West Coast Sound. The early releases on the label were almost entirely by the Mulligan Quartet, released either under Mulligan's name, as by Chet Baker, or as "Lee Konitz and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet" when Mulligan's old bandmate Konitz joined them. These records became big hits, at least in the world of jazz. But both Mulligan and Baker were heroin addicts, and in 1953 Mulligan got arrested and spent six months in prison. And while he was there, Chet Baker made some recordings in his own right and became a bona fide star. Not only was Baker a great jazz trumpet player, he was also very good looking, and it turned out he could sing too. The Mulligan group had made the song "My Funny Valentine" one of the highlights of its live shows, with Baker taking a trumpet solo: [Excerpt: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, "My Funny Valentine"] But when Baker recorded a vocal version, for his album Chet Baker Sings, it made Baker famous: [Excerpt: Chet Baker, "My Funny Valentine"] When Mulligan got out of prison, he wanted to rehire Baker, but Baker was now topping the popularity polls in all the jazz magazines, and was the biggest breakout jazz star of the early fifties. But Mulligan formed a new group, and this just meant that Pacific Jazz had *two* of the biggest acts in jazz on its books now, rather than just one. But while Bock loved jazz, he was also fascinated by other kinds of music, and while he was in New York at the beginning of 1956 he was invited by his friend George Avakian, a producer who had worked with Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and others, to come and see a performance by an Indian musician he was working with. Avakian was just about to produce Ravi Shankar's first American album, The Sounds of India, for Columbia Records. But Columbia didn't think that there was much of a market for Shankar's music -- they were putting it out as a speciality release rather than something that would appeal to the general public -- and so they were happy for Bock to sign Shankar to his own label. Bock renamed the company World Pacific, to signify that it was now going to be putting out music from all over the world, not just jazz, though he kept the Pacific Jazz label for its jazz releases, and he produced Shankar's next album, India's Master Musician: [Excerpt: Ravi Shankar, "Raga Charu Keshi"] Most of Shankar's recordings for the next decade would be produced by Bock, and Bock would also try to find ways to combine Shankar's music with jazz, though Shankar tried to keep a distinction between the two. But for example on Shankar's next album for World Pacific, Improvisations and Theme from Pather Panchali, he was joined by a group of West Coast jazz musicians including Bud Shank (who we'll hear about again in a future episode) on flute: [Excerpt: Ravi Shankar, "Improvisation on the Theme From Pather Panchali"] But World Pacific weren't just putting out music. They also put out spoken-word records. Some of those were things that would appeal to their jazz audience, like the comedy of Lord Buckley: [Excerpt: Lord Buckley, "Willy the Shake"] But they also put out spoken-word albums that appealed to Bock's interest in spirituality and philosophy, like an album by Gerald Heard. Heard had previously written the liner notes for Chet Baker Sings!, but as well as being a jazz fan Heard was very connected in the world of the arts -- he was a very close friend with Aldous Huxley -- and was also interested in various forms of non-Western spirituality. He practiced yoga, and was also fascinated by Buddhism, Vedanta, and Taoism: [Excerpt: Gerald Heard, "Paraphrased from the Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu"] We've come across Heard before, in passing, in the episode on "Tomorrow Never Knows", when Ralph Mentzner said of his experiments with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass "At the suggestion of Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard we began using the Bardo Thödol ( Tibetan Book of the Dead) as a guide to psychedelic sessions" -- Heard was friends with both Huxley and Humphrey Osmond, and in fact had been invited by them to take part in the mescaline trip that Huxley wrote about in his book The Doors of Perception, the book that popularised psychedelic drug use, though Heard was unable to attend at that time. Heard was a huge influence on the early psychedelic movement -- though he always advised Leary and his associates not to be so public with their advocacy, and just to keep it to a small enlightened circle rather than risk the wrath of the establishment -- and he's cited by almost everyone in Leary's circle as having been the person who, more than anything else, inspired them to investigate both psychedelic drugs and mysticism. He's the person who connected Bill W. of Alcoholics Anonymous with Osmond and got him advocating LSD use. It was Heard's books that made Huston Smith, the great scholar of comparative religions and associate of Leary, interested in mysticism and religions outside his own Christianity, and Heard was one of the people who gave Leary advice during his early experiments. So it's not surprising that Bock also became interested in Leary's ideas before they became mainstream. Indeed, in 1964 he got Shankar to do the music for a short film based on The Psychedelic Experience, which Shankar did as a favour for his friend even though Shankar didn't approve of drug use. The film won an award in 1965, but quickly disappeared from circulation as its ideas were too controversial: [Excerpt: The Psychedelic Experience (film)] And Heard introduced Bock to other ideas around philosophy and non-Western religions. In particular, Bock became an advocate for a little-known Hindu mystic who had visited the US in 1959 teaching a new style of meditation which he called Transcendental Meditation. A lot is unclear about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, even his birth name -- both "Maharishi" and "Yogi" are honorifics rather than names as such, though he later took on both as part of his official name, and in this and future episodes I'll refer to him as "the Maharishi". What we do know is that he was born in India, and had attained a degree in physics before going off to study with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, a teacher of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. Now, I am not a Hindu, and only have a passing knowledge of Hindu theology and traditions, and from what I can gather getting a proper understanding requires a level of cultural understanding I don't have, and in particular a knowledge of the Sanskrit language, so my deepest apologies for any mangling I do of these beliefs in trying to talk about them as they pertain to mid-sixties psychedelic rock. I hope my ignorance is forgivable, and seen as what it is rather than malice. But the teachings of this school as I understand them seem to centre around an idea of non-separation -- that God is in all things, and is all things, and that there is no separation between different things, and that you merely have to gain a deep realisation of this. The Maharishi later encapsulated this in the phrase "I am that, thou art that, all this is that", which much later the Beach Boys, several of whom were followers of the Maharishi, would turn into a song: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "All This is That"] The other phrase they're singing there, "Jai Guru Dev" is also a phrase from the Maharishi, and refers to his teacher Brahmananda Saraswati -- it means "all hail the divine teacher" or "glory to the heavenly one", and "guru dev" or "guru deva" was the name the Maharishi would use for Saraswati after his death, as the Maharishi believed that Saraswati was an actual incarnation of God. It's that phrase that John Lennon is singing in "Across the Universe" as well, another song later inspired by the Maharishi's teachings: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] The Maharishi became, by his own account, Saraswati's closest disciple, advisor, and right-hand man, and was privy to his innermost thoughts. However, on Saraswati's death the leadership of the monastery he led became deeply contested, with two different rivals to the position, and the Maharishi was neither -- the rules of the monastery said that only people born into the Brahmin caste could reach the highest positions in the monastery's structure, and the Maharishi was not a Brahmin. So instead of remaining in the monastery, the Maharishi went out into the world to teach a new form of meditation which he claimed he had learned from Guru Dev, a technique which became known as transcendental meditation. The Maharishi would, for the rest of his life, always claim that the system he taught was Guru Dev's teaching for the world, not his own, though the other people who had been at the monastery with him said different things about what Saraswati had taught -- but of course it's perfectly possible for a spiritual leader to have had multiple ideas and given different people different tasks. The crucial thing about the Maharishi's teaching, the way it differed from everything else in the history of Hindu monasticism (as best I understand this) is that all previous teachers of meditation had taught that to get the benefit of the techniques one had to be a renunciate -- you should go off and become a monk and give up all worldly pleasures and devote your life to prayer and meditation. Traditionally, Hinduism has taught that there are four stages of life -- the student, the householder or married person with a family, the retired person, and the Sanyasi, or renunciate, but that you could skip straight from being a student to being a Sanyasi and spend your life as a monk. The Maharishi, though, said: "Obviously enough there are two ways of life: the way of the Sanyasi and the way of life of a householder. One is quite opposed to the other. A Sanyasi renounces everything of the world, whereas a householder needs and accumulates everything. The one realises, through renunciation and detachment, while the other goes through all attachments and accumulation of all that is needed for physical life." What the Maharishi taught was that there are some people who achieve the greatest state of happiness by giving up all the pleasures of the senses, eating the plainest possible food, having no sexual, familial, or romantic connections with anyone else, and having no possessions, while there are other people who achieve the greatest state of happiness by being really rich and having a lot of nice stuff and loads of friends and generally enjoying the pleasures of the flesh -- and that just as there are types of meditation that can help the first group reach enlightenment, there are also types of meditation that will fit into the latter kind of lifestyle, and will help those people reach oneness with God but without having to give up their cars and houses and money. And indeed, he taught that by following his teachings you could get *more* of those worldly pleasures. All you had to do, according to his teaching, was to sit still for fifteen to twenty minutes, twice a day, and concentrate on a single Sanskrit word or phrase, a mantra, which you would be given after going through a short course of teaching. There was nothing else to it, and you would eventually reach the same levels of enlightenment as the ascetics who spent seventy years living in a cave and eating only rice -- and you'd end up richer, too. The appeal of this particular school is, of course, immediately apparent, and Bock became a big advocate of the Maharishi, and put out three albums of his lectures: [Excerpt: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Deep Meditation"] Bock even met his second wife at one of the Maharishi's lectures, in 1961. In the early sixties, World Pacific got bought up by Liberty Records, the label for which Jan and Dean and others recorded, but Bock remained in charge of the label, and expanded it, adding another subsidiary, Aura Records, to put out rock and roll singles. Aura was much less successful than the other World Pacific labels. The first record the label put out was a girl-group record, "Shooby Dooby", by the Lewis Sisters, two jazz-singing white schoolteachers from Michigan who would later go on to have a brief career at Motown: [Excerpt: The Lewis Sisters, "Shooby Dooby"] The most successful act that Aura ever had was Sonny Knight, an R&B singer who had had a top twenty hit in 1956 with "Confidential", a song he'd recorded on Specialty Records with Bumps Blackwell, and which had been written by Dorinda Morgan: [Excerpt: Sonny Knight, "Confidential"] But Knight's biggest hit on Aura, "If You Want This Love", only made number seventy-one on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Sonny Knight, "If You Want This Love"] Knight would later go on to write a novel, The Day the Music Died, which Greil Marcus described as "the bitterest book ever written about how rock'n'roll came to be and what it turned into". Marcus said it was about "how a rich version of American black culture is transformed into a horrible, enormously profitable white parody of itself: as white labels sign black artists only to ensure their oblivion and keep those blacks they can't control penned up in the ghetto of the black charts; as white America, faced with something good, responds with a poison that will ultimately ruin even honest men". Given that Knight was the artist who did the *best* out of Aura Records, that says a great deal about the label. But one of the bands that Aura signed, who did absolutely nothing on the charts, was a group called Rick and the Ravens, led by a singer called Screamin' Ray Daniels. They were an LA club band who played a mixture of the surf music which the audiences wanted and covers of blues songs which Daniels preferred to sing. They put out two singles on Aura, "Henrietta": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Henrietta"] and "Soul Train": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Soul Train"] Ray Daniels was a stage name -- his birth name was Ray Manzarek, and he would later return to that name -- and the core of the band was Ray on vocals and his brothers Rick on guitar and Jim on harmonica. Manzarek thought of himself as a pretty decent singer, but they were just a bar band, and music wasn't really his ideal career. Manzarek had been sent to college by his solidly lower-middle-class Chicago family in the hope that he would become a lawyer, but after getting a degree in economics and a brief stint in the army, which he'd signed up for to avoid getting drafted in the same way people like Dean Torrence did, he'd gone off to UCLA to study film, with the intention of becoming a filmmaker. His family had followed him to California, and he'd joined his brothers' band as a way of making a little extra money on the side, rather than as a way to become a serious musician. Manzarek liked the blues songs they performed, and wasn't particularly keen on the surf music, but thought it was OK. What he really liked, though, was jazz -- he was a particular fan of McCoy Tyner, the pianist on all the great John Coltrane records: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] Manzarek was a piano player himself, though he didn't play much with the Ravens, and he wanted more than anything to be able to play like Tyner, and so when Rick and the Ravens got signed to Aura Records, he of course became friendly with Dick Bock, who had produced so many great jazz records and worked with so many of the greats of the genre. But Manzarek was also having some problems in his life. He'd started taking LSD, which was still legal, and been fascinated by its effects, but worried that he couldn't control them -- he couldn't tell whether he was going to have a good trip or a bad one. He was wondering if there was a way he could have the same kind of revelatory mystical experience but in a more controlled manner. When he mentioned this to Bock, Bock told him that the best method he knew for doing that was transcendental meditation. Bock gave him a copy of one of the Maharishi's albums, and told him to go to a lecture on transcendental meditation, run by the head of the Maharishi's west-coast organisation, as by this point the Maharishi's organisation, known as Spiritual Regeneration, had an international infrastructure, though it was still nowhere near as big as it would soon become. At the lecture, Manzarek got talking to one of the other audience members, a younger man named John Densmore. Densmore had come to the lecture with his friend Robby Krieger, and both had come for the same reason that Manzarek had -- they'd been having bad trips and so had become a little disillusioned with acid. Krieger had been the one who'd heard about transcendental meditation, while he was studying the sitar and sarod at UCLA -- though Krieger would later always say that his real major had been in "not joining the Army". UCLA had one of the few courses in Indian music available in the US at the time, as thanks in part to Bock California had become the centre of American interest in music from India -- so much so that in 1967 Ravi Shankar would open up a branch of his own Kinnara Music School there. (And you can get an idea of how difficult it is to separate fact from fiction when researching this episode that one of the biographies I've used for the Doors says that Krieger heard about the Maharishi while studying at the Kinnara school. As the only branch of the Kinnara school that was open at this point was in Mumbai, it's safe to say that unless Krieger had a *really* long commute he wasn't studying there at this point.) Densmore and Manzarek got talking, and they found that they shared a lot of the same tastes in jazz -- just as Manzarek was a fan of McCoy Tyner, so Densmore was a fan of Elvin Jones, the drummer on those Coltrane records, and they both loved the interplay of the two musicians: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] Manzarek was starting to play a bit more keyboards with the Ravens, and he was also getting annoyed with the Ravens' drummer, who had started missing rehearsals -- he'd turn up only for the shows themselves. He thought it might be an idea to get Densmore to join the group, and Densmore agreed to come along for a rehearsal. That initial rehearsal Densmore attended had Manzarek and his brothers, and may have had a bass player named Patricia Hansen, who was playing with the group from time to time around this point, though she was mostly playing with a different bar band, Patty and the Esquires. But as well as the normal group members, there was someone else there, a friend of Manzarek's from film school named Jim Morrison. Morrison was someone who, by Manzarek's later accounts, had been very close to Manzarek at university, and who Manzarek had regarded as a genius, with a vast knowledge of beat poetry and European art film, but who had been regarded by most of the other students and the lecturers as being a disruptive influence. Morrison had been a fat, asthmatic, introverted kid -- he'd had health problems as a child, including a bout of rheumatic fever which might have weakened his heart, and he'd also been prone to playing the kind of "practical jokes" which can often be a cover for deeper problems. For example, as a child he was apparently fond of playing dead -- lying in the corridors at school and being completely unresponsive for long periods no matter what anyone did to move him, then suddenly getting up and laughing at anyone who had been concerned and telling them it was a joke. Given how frequently Morrison would actually pass out in later life, often after having taken some substance or other, at least one biographer has suggested that he might have had undiagnosed epilepsy (or epilepsy that was diagnosed but which he chose to keep a secret) and have been having absence seizures and covering for them with the jokes. Robby Krieger also says in his own autobiography that he used to have the same doctor as Morrison, and the doctor once made an offhand comment about Morrison having severe health problems, "as if it was common knowledge". His health difficulties, his weight, his introversion, and the experience of moving home constantly as a kid because of his father's career in the Navy, had combined to give him a different attitude to most of his fellow students, and in particular a feeling of rootlessness -- he never owned or even rented his own home in later years, just moving in with friends or girlfriends -- and a lack of sense of his own identity, which would often lead to him making up lies about his life and acting as if he believed them. In particular, he would usually claim to friends that his parents were dead, or that he had no contact with them, even though his family have always said he was in at least semi-regular contact. At university, Morrison had been a big fan of Rick and the Ravens, and had gone to see them perform regularly, but would always disrupt the shows -- he was, by all accounts, a lovely person when sober but an aggressive boor when drunk -- by shouting out for them to play "Louie Louie", a song they didn't include in their sets. Eventually one of Ray's brothers had called his bluff and said they'd play the song, but only if Morrison got up on stage and sang it. He had -- the first time he'd ever performed live -- and had surprised everyone by being quite a good singer. After graduation, Morrison and Manzarek had gone their separate ways, with Morrison saying he was moving to New York. But a few weeks later they'd encountered each other on the beach -- Morrison had decided to stay in LA, and had been staying with a friend, mostly sleeping on the friend's rooftop. He'd been taking so much LSD he'd forgotten to eat for weeks at a time, and had lost a great deal of weight, and Manzarek properly realised for the first time that his friend was actually good-looking. Morrison also told Manzarek that he'd been writing songs -- this was summer 1965, and the Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man", Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", and the Stones' "Satisfaction" had all shown him that there was potential for pop songs to have more interesting lyrical content than "Louie Louie". Manzarek asked him to sing some of the songs he'd been writing, and as Manzarek later put it "he began to sing, not in the booze voice he used at the Turkey Joint, but in a Chet Baker voice". The first song Morrison sang for Ray Manzarek was one of the songs that Rick and the Ravens would rehearse that first time with John Densmore, "Moonlight Drive": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Moonlight Drive"] Manzarek invited Morrison to move in with him and his girlfriend. Manzarek seems to have thought of himself as a mentor, a father figure, for Morrison, though whether that's how Morrison thought of him is impossible to say. Manzarek, who had a habit of choosing the myth over the truth, would later claim that he had immediately decided that he and Morrison were going to be a duo and find a whole new set of musicians, but all the evidence points to him just inviting Morrison to join the Ravens as the singer Certainly the first recordings this group made, a series of demos, were under Rick and the Ravens' name, and paid for by Aura Records. They're all of songs written by Morrison, and seem to be sung by Morrison and Manzarek in close harmony throughout. But the demos did not impress the head of Liberty Records, which now owned Aura, and who saw no commercial potential in them, even in one that later became a number one hit when rerecorded a couple of years later: [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Hello I Love You"] Although to be fair, that song is clearly the work of a beginning songwriter, as Morrison has just taken the riff to "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, and stuck new words to it: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "All Day and All of the Night"] But it seems to have been the lack of success of these demos that convinced Manzarek's brothers and Patricia Hansen to quit the band. According to Manzarek, his brothers were not interested in what they saw as Morrison's pretensions towards poetry, and didn't think this person who seemed shy and introverted in rehearsals but who they otherwise knew as a loud annoying drunk in the audience would make a good frontman. So Rick and the Ravens were down to just Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, but they continued shopping their demos around, and after being turned down by almost everyone they were signed by Columbia Records, specifically by Billy James, who they liked because he'd written the liner notes to a Byrds album, comparing them to Coltrane, and Manzarek liked the idea of working with an A&R man who knew Coltrane's work, though he wasn't impressed by the Byrds themselves, later writing "The Byrds were country, they didn't have any black in them at all. They couldn't play jazz. Hell, they probably didn't even know anything about jazz. They were folk-rock, for cri-sake. Country music. For whites only." (Ray Manzarek was white). They didn't get an advance from Columbia, but they did get free equipment -- Columbia had just bought Vox, who made amplifiers and musical instruments, and Manzarek in particular was very pleased to have a Vox organ, the same kind that the Animals and the Dave Clark Five used. But they needed a guitarist and a bass player. Manzarek claimed in his autobiography that he was thinking along the lines of a four-piece group even before he met Densmore, and that his thoughts had been "Someone has to be Thumper and someone has to be Les Paul/Chuck Berry by way of Charlie Christian. The guitar player will be a rocker who knows jazz. And the drummer will be a jazzer who can rock. These were my prerequisites. This is what I had to have to make the music I heard in my head." But whatever Manzarek was thinking, there were only two people who auditioned for the role of the guitar player in this new version of the band, both of them friends of Densmore, and in fact two people who had been best friends since high school -- Bill Wolff and Robby Krieger. Wolff and Krieger had both gone to private boarding school -- they had both originally gone to normal state schools, but their parents had independently decided they were bad influences on each other and sent them away to boarding school to get away from each other, but accidentally sent them to the same school -- and had also learned guitar together. They had both loved a record of flamenco guitar called Dos Flamencos by Jaime Grifo and Nino Marvino: [Excerpt: Jaime Grifo and Nino Marvino, "Caracolés"] And they'd decided they were going to become the new Dos Flamencos. They'd also regularly sneaked out of school to go and see a jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a band which featured Bob Weir, who was also at their school, along with Jerry Garcia and Pigpen McKernan. Krieger was also a big fan of folk and blues music, especially bluesy folk-revivalists like Spider John Koerner, and was a massive fan of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Krieger and Densmore had known each other before Krieger had been transferred to boarding school, and had met back up at university, where they would hang out together and go to see Charles Mingus, Wes Montgomery, and other jazz musicians. At this time Krieger had still been a folk and blues purist, but then he went to see Chuck Berry live, mostly because Skip James and Big Mama Thornton were also on the bill, and he had a Damascene conversion -- the next day he went to a music shop and traded in his acoustic for a red Gibson, as close to the one Chuck Berry played as he could find. Wolff, Densmore, Krieger, and piano player Grant Johnson had formed a band called the Psychedelic Rangers, and when the Ravens were looking for a new guitarist, it was natural that they tried the two guitarists from Densmore's other band. Krieger had the advantage over Wolff for two reasons -- one of which was actually partly Wolff's doing. To quote Krieger's autobiography: "A critic once said I had 'the worst hair in rock 'n' roll'. It stung pretty bad, but I can't say they were wrong. I always battled with my naturally frizzy, kinky, Jewfro, so one day my friend Bill Wolff and I experimented with Ultra Sheen, a hair relaxer marketed mainly to Black consumers. The results were remarkable. Wolff, as we all called him, said 'You're starting to look like that jerk Bryan MacLean'". According to Krieger, his new hairdo made him better looking than Wolff, at least until the straightener wore off, and this was one of the two things that made the group choose him over Wolff, who was a better technical player. The other was that Krieger played with a bottleneck, which astonished the other members. If you're unfamiliar with bottleneck playing, it's a common technique in the blues. You tune your guitar to an open chord, and then use a resonant tube -- these days usually a specially-made metal slide that goes on your finger, but for older blues musicians often an actual neck of a bottle, broken off and filed down -- to slide across the strings. Slide guitar is one of the most important styles in blues, especially electric blues, and you can hear it in the playing of greats like Elmore James: [Excerpt: Elmore James, "Dust My Broom"] But while the members of the group all claimed to be blues fans -- Manzarek talks in his autobiography about going to see Muddy Waters in a club in the South Side of Chicago where he and his friends were the only white faces in the audience -- none of them had any idea what bottleneck playing was, and Manzarek was worried when Krieger pulled it out that he was going to use it as a weapon, that being the only association he had with bottle necks. But once Krieger played with it, they were all convinced he had to be their guitarist, and Morrison said he wanted that sound on everything. Krieger joining seems to have changed the dynamic of the band enormously. Both Morrison and Densmore would independently refer to Krieger as their best friend in the band -- Manzarek said that having a best friend was a childish idea and he didn't have one. But where before this had been Manzarek's band with Morrison as the singer, it quickly became a band centred around the creative collaboration between Krieger and Morrison. Krieger seems to have been too likeable for Manzarek to dislike him, and indeed seems to have been the peacemaker in the band on many occasions, but Manzarek soon grew to resent Densmore, seemingly as the closeness he had felt to Morrison started to diminish, especially after Morrison moved out of Manzarek's house, apparently because Manzarek was starting to remind him of his father. The group soon changed their name from the Ravens to one inspired by Morrison's reading. Aldous Huxley's book on psychedelic drugs had been titled The Doors of Perception, and that title had in turn come from a quote from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by the great mystic poet and artist William Blake, who had written "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern" (Incidentally, in one of those weird coincidences that I like to note when they come up, Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell had also inspired the book The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, about the divorce of heaven and hell, and both Lewis and Huxley died on the same date, the twenty-second of November 1963, the same day John F. Kennedy died). Morrison decided that he wanted to rename the group The Doors, although none of the other group members were particularly keen on the idea -- Krieger said that he thought they should name the group Perception instead. Initially the group rehearsed only songs written by Morrison, along with a few cover versions. They worked up a version of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man", originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf: [Excerpt: Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man"] And a version of "Alabama Song", a song written by Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill, from the opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, with English language lyrics by Elisabeth Hauptmann. That song had originally been recorded by Lotte Lenya, and it was her version that the group based their version on, at the suggestion of Manzarek's girlfriend: [Excerpt: Lotte Lenya, "Alabama Song"] Though it's likely given their tastes in jazz that they were also aware of a recent recording of the song by Eric Dolphy and John Lewis: [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy and John Lewis, "Alabama Song"] But Morrison started to get a little dissatisfied with the fact that he was writing all the group's original material at this point, and he started to put pressure on the others to bring in songs. One of the first things they had agreed was that all band members would get equal credit and shares of the songwriting, so that nobody would have an incentive to push their own mediocre song at the expense of someone else's great one, but Morrison did want the others to start pulling their weight. As it would turn out, for the most part Manzarek and Densmore wouldn't bring in many song ideas, but Krieger would, and the first one he brought in would be the song that would make them into stars. The song Krieger brought in was one he called "Light My Fire", and at this point it only had one verse and a chorus. According to Manzarek, Densmore made fun of the song when it was initially brought in, saying "we're not a folk-rock band" and suggesting that Krieger might try selling it to the Mamas and the Papas, but the other band members liked it -- but it's important to remember here that Manzarek and Densmore had huge grudges against each other for most of their lives, and that Manzarek is not generally known as an entirely reliable narrator. Now, I'm going to talk a lot about the influences that have been acknowledged for this song, but before I do there's one that I haven't seen mentioned much but which seems to me to be very likely to have at least been a subconscious influence -- "She's Not There" by the Zombies: [Excerpt: The Zombies, "She's Not There"] Now, there are several similarities to note about the Zombies record. First, like the Doors, the Zombies were a keyboard-driven band. Second, there's the dynamics of the songs -- both have soft, slightly jazzy verses and then a more straight-ahead rock chorus. And finally there's the verse chord sequence. The verse for "She's Not There" goes from Am to D repeatedly: [demonstrates] While the verse for "Light My Fire" goes from Am to F sharp minor -- and for those who don't know, the notes in a D chord are D, F sharp, and A, while the notes in an F sharp minor chord are F sharp, A, and C sharp -- they're very similar chords. So "She's Not There" is: [demonstrates] While "Light My Fire" is: [demonstrates] At least, that's what Manzarek plays. According to Krieger, he played an Asus2 chord rather than an A minor chord, but Manzarek heard it as an A minor and played that instead. Now again, I've not seen anyone acknowledge "She's Not There" as an influence, but given the other influences that they do acknowledge, and the music that was generally in the air at the time, it would not surprise me even the smallest amount if it was. But either way, what Krieger brought in was a simple verse and chorus: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] Incidentally, I've been talking about the song as having A minor chords, but you'll actually hear the song in two different keys during this episode, even though it's the same performance throughout, and sometimes it might not sound right to people familiar with a particular version of the record. The band played the song with the verse starting with A minor, and that's how the mono single mix was released, and I'll be using excerpts of that in general. But when the stereo version of the album was released, which had a longer instrumental break, the track was mastered about a semitone too slow, and that's what I'll be excerpting when talking about the solos -- and apparently that speed discrepancy has been fixed in more recent remasterings of the album than the one I'm using. So if you know the song and bits of what I play sound odd to you, that's why. Krieger didn't have a second verse, and so writing the second verse's lyrics was the next challenge. There was apparently some disagreement within the band about the lyrics that Morrison came up with, with their references to funeral pyres, but Morrison won the day, insisting that the song needed some darkness to go with the light of the first verse. Both verses would get repeated at the end of the song, in reverse order, rather than anyone writing a third or fourth verse. Morrison also changed the last line of the chorus -- in Krieger's original version, he'd sung "Come on baby, light my fire" three times, but Morrison changed the last line to "try to set the night on fire", which Krieger thought was a definite improvement. They then came up with an extended instrumental section for the band members to solo in. This was inspired by John Coltrane, though I have seen different people make different claims as to which particular Coltrane record it was inspired by. Many sources, including Krieger, say it was based on Coltrane's famous version of "My Favorite Things": [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] But Manzarek in his autobiography says it was inspired by Ole, the track that Coltrane recorded with Eric Dolphy: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "Ole"] Both are of course similar musical ideas, and either could have inspired the “Light My Fire” instrumental section, though none of the Doors are anything like as good or inventive on their instruments as Coltrane's group (and of course "Light My Fire" is in four-four rather than three-four): [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] So they had a basic verse-chorus song with a long instrumental jam session in the middle. Now comes the bit that there's some dispute over. Both Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger agree that Manzarek came up with the melody used in the intro, but differ wildly over who came up with the chord sequence for it and when, and how it was put into the song. According to Manzarek, he came up with the whole thing as an intro for the song at that first rehearsal of it, and instructed the other band members what to do. According to Krieger, though, the story is rather different, and the evidence seems to be weighted in Krieger's favour. In early live performances of the song, they started the song with the Am-F sharp minor shifts that were used in the verse itself, and continued doing this even after the song was recorded: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire (live at the Matrix)"] But they needed a way to get back out of the solo section and into the third verse. To do this, Krieger came up with a sequence that starts with a change from G to D, then from D to F, before going into a circle of fifths -- not the ascending circle of fifths in songs like "Hey Joe", but a descending one, the same sequence as in "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" or "I Will Survive", ending on an A flat: [demonstrates] To get from the A flat to the A minor or Asus2 chord on which the verse starts, he simply then shifted up a semitone from A flat to A major for two bars: [demonstrates] Over the top of that chord sequence that Krieger had come up with, Manzarek put a melody line which was inspired by one of Bach's two-part inventions. The one that's commonly cited is Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779: [Excerpt: Glenn Gould, "Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779"] Though I don't believe Manzarek has ever stated directly which piece he was inspired by other than that it was one of the two-part inventions, and to be honest none of them sound very much like what he plays to my ears, and I think more than anything he was just going for a generalised baroque style rather than anything more specific. And there are certainly stylistic things in there that are suggestive of the baroque -- the stepwise movement, the sort of skipping triplets, and so on: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] But that was just to get out of the solo section and back into the verses. It was only when they finally took the song into the studio that Paul Rothchild, the producer who we will talk about more later, came up with the idea of giving the song more structure by both starting and ending with that sequence, and formalised it so that rather than just general noodling it was an integral part of the song. They now had at least one song that they thought had the potential to be a big hit. The problem was that they had not as yet played any gigs, and nor did they have a record deal, or a bass player. The lack of a record deal may sound surprising, but they were dropped by Columbia before ever recording for them. There are several different stories as to why. One biography I've read says that after they were signed, none of the label's staff producers wanted to work with them and so they were dropped -- though that goes against some of the other things I've read, which say that Terry Melcher was interested in producing them. Other sources say that Morrison went in for a meeting with some of the company executives while on acid, came out very pleased with himself at how well he'd talked to them because he'd been able to control their minds with his telepathic powers, and they were dropped shortly afterwards. And others say that they were dropped as part of a larger set of cutbacks the company was making, and that while Billy James fought to keep them at Columbia, he lost the fight. Either way, they were stuck without a deal, and without any proper gigs, though they started picking up the odd private party here and there -- Krieger's father was a wealthy aerospace engineer who did some work for Howard Hughes among others, and he got his son's group booked to play a set of jazz standards at a corporate event for Hughes, and they got a few more gigs of that nature, though the Hughes gig didn't exactly go well -- Manzarek was on acid, Krieger and Morrison were on speed, and the bass player they brought in for the gig managed to break two strings, something that would require an almost superhuman effort. That bass player didn't last long, and nor did the next -- they tried several, but found that the addition of a bass player made them sound less interesting, more like the Animals or the Rolling Stones than a group with their own character. But they needed something to hold down the low part, and it couldn't be Manzarek on the organ, as the Vox organ had a muddy sound when he tried to play too many notes at once. But that problem solved itself when they played one of their earliest gigs. There, Manzarek found that another band, who were regulars at the club, had left their Fender keyboard bass there, clipped to the top of the piano. Manzarek tried playing that, and found he could play basslines on that with his left hand and the main parts with his right hand. Krieger got his father to buy one for the group -- though Manzarek was upset that they bought the wrong colour -- and they were now able to perform without a bass player. Not only that, but it gave the group a distinctive sound quite unlike all the other bands. Manzarek couldn't play busy bass lines while also playing lead lines with his right hand, and so he ended up going for simple lines without a great deal of movement, which added to the hypnotic feel of the group's music – though on records they would often be supplemented by a session bass player to give them a fuller sound. While the group were still trying to get a record deal, they were also looking for regular gigs, and eventually they found one. The Sunset Strip was *the* place to be, and they wanted desperately to play one of the popular venues there like the Whisky A-Go-Go, but those venues only employed bands who already had record deals. They did, though, manage to get a residency at a tiny, unpopular, club on the strip called The London Fog, and they played there, often to only a handful of people, while slowly building in confidence as performers. At first, Morrison was so shy that Manzarek had to sing harmony with him throughout the sets, acting as joint frontman. Krieger later said "It's rarely talked about, but Ray was a natural born showman, and his knack for stirring drama would serve the Doors' legacy well in later years" But Morrison soon gained enough confidence to sing by himself. But they weren't bringing in any customers, and the London Fog told them that they were soon going to be dropped -- and the club itself shut not long after. But luckily for the group, just before the end of their booking, the booker for the Whisky A-Go-Go, Ronnie Haran walked in with a genuine pop star, Peter Asher, who as half of Peter & Gordon had had a hit with "A World Without Love", written by his sister's boyfriend, Paul McCartney: [Excerpt: Peter and Gordon, "A World Without Love"] Haran was impressed with the group, and they were impressed that she had brought in a real celebrity. She offered them a residency at the club, not as the headlining act -- that would always be a group that had records out -- but as the consistent support act for whichever big act they had booked. The group agreed -- after Morrison first tried to play it cool and told Haran they would have to consider it, to the consternation of his bandmates. They were thrilled, though, to discover that one of the first acts they supported at the Whisky would be Them, Van Morrison's group -- one of the cover versions they had been playing had been Them's "Gloria": [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] They supported Them for two weeks at the Whisky, and Jim Morrison watched Van Morrison intently. The two men had very similar personalities according to the other members of the Doors, and Morrison picked up a lot of his performing style from watching Van on stage every night. The last night Them played the venue, Morrison joined them on stage for an extended version of “Gloria” which everyone involved remembered as the highlight of their time there. Every major band on the LA scene played residencies at the Whisky, and over the summer of 1966 the Doors were the support act for the Mothers of Invention, the Byrds, the Turtles, the Buffalo Springfield, and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. This was a time when the Sunset Strip was the centre of Californian musical life, before that centre moved to San Francisco, and the Doors were right at the heart of it. Though it wasn't all great -- this was also the period when there were a series of riots around Sunset Strip, as immortalised in the American International Pictures film Riot on Sunset Strip, and its theme song, by the Standells: [Excerpt: The Standells, "Riot on Sunset Strip"] We'll look at those riots in more detail in a future episode, so I'll leave discussing them for now, but I just wanted to make sure they got mentioned. That Standells song, incidentally, was co-written by John Fleck, who under his old name of John Fleckenstein we saw last episode as the original bass player for Love. And it was Love who ensured that the Doors finally got the record deal they needed. The deal came at a perfect time for the Doors -- just like when they'd been picked up by the Whisky A Go-Go just as they were about to lose their job at the London Fog, so they got signed to a record deal just as they were about to lose their job at the Whisky. They lost that job because of a new song that Krieger and Morrison had written. "The End" had started out as Krieger's attempt at writing a raga in the style of Ravi Shankar, and he had brought it in to one of his increasingly frequent writing sessions with Morrison, where the two of them would work out songs without the rest of the band, and Morrison had added lyrics to it. Lyrics that were partly inspired by his own fraught relationship with his parents, and partly by Oedipus Rex: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] And in the live performance, Morrison had finished that phrase with the appropriate four-letter Oedipal payoff, much to the dismay of the owners of the Whisky A Go Go, who had told the group they would no longer be performing there. But three days before that, the group had signed a deal with Elektra Records. Elektra had for a long time been a folk specialist label, but they had recently branched out into other music, first with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a favourite of Robby Krieger's, and then with their first real rock signing, Love. And Love were playing a residency at the Whisky A Go Go, and Arthur Lee had encouraged Jac Holzman, the label's owner, to come and check out their support band, who he thought were definitely worth signing. The first time Holzman saw them he was unimpressed -- they sounded to him just like a bunch of other white blues bands -- but he trusted Arthur Lee's judgement and came back a couple more times. The third time, they performed their version of "Alabama Song", and everything clicked into place for Holzman. He immediately signed the group to a three-album deal with an option to extend it to seven. The group were thrilled -- Elektra wasn't a major label like Columbia, but they were a label that nurtured artists and wouldn't just toss them aside. They were even happier when soon after they signed to Elektra, the label signed up a new head of West Coast A&R -- Billy James, the man who had signed them to Columbia, and who they knew would be in their corner. Jac Holzman also had the perfect producer for the group, though he needed a little persuading. Paul Rothchild had made his name as the producer for the first couple of albums by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band: [Excerpt: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, "Mary Mary"] They were Robby Krieger's favourite group, so it made sense to have Rothchild on that level. And while Rothchild had mostly worked in New York, he was in LA that summer, working on the debut album by another Elektra signing, Tim Buckley. The musicians on Buckley's album were almost all part of the same LA scene that the Doors were part of -- other than Buckley's normal guitarist Lee Underwood there was keyboard player Van Dyke Parks, bass player Jim Fielder, who had had a brief stint in the Mothers of Invention and was about to join Buffalo Springfield, and drummer Billy Mundi, who was about to join the Mothers of Invention. And Buckley himself sang in a crooning voice extremely similar to that of Morrison, though Buckley had a much larger range: [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Aren't You the Girl?"] There was one problem, though -- Rothchild didn't want to do it. He wasn't at all impressed with the band at first, and he wanted to sign a different band, managed by Albert Grossman, instead. But Holzman persuaded him because Rothchild owed him a favour -- Rothchild had just spent several months in prison after a drug bust, and while he was inside Holzman had given his wife a job so she would have an income, and Holzman also did all the paperwork with Rothchild's parole officer to allow him to leave the state. So with great reluctance Rothchild took the job, though he soon came to appreciate the group's music. He didn't appreciate their second session though. The first day, they'd tried recording a version of "The End", but it hadn't worked, so on the second night they tried recording it again, but this time Morrison was on acid and behaving rather oddly. The final version of "The End" had to be cut together from two takes, and the reason is that at the point we heard earlier: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] Morrison was whirling around, thrashing about, and knocked over a TV that the engineer, Bruce Botnick, had brought into the studio so he could watch the baseball game -- which Manzarek later exaggerated to Morrison throwing the TV through the plate glass window between the studio and the control room. According to everyone else, Morrison just knocked it over and they picked it up after the take finished and it still worked fine. But Morrison had taken a *lot* of acid, and on the way home after the session he became convinced that he had a psychic knowledge that the studio was on fire. He got his girlfriend to turn the car back around, drove back to the studio, climbed over the fence, saw the glowing red lightbulbs in the studio, became convinced that they were fires, and sprayed the entire place with the fire extinguisher, before leaving convinced he had saved the band's equipment -- and leaving telltale evidence as his boot got stuck in the fence on the way out and he just left it there. But despite that little hiccup, the sessions generally went well, and the group and label were pleased with the results. The first single released from the album, "Break on Through", didn't make the Hot One Hundred: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Break on Through"] But when the album came out in January 1967, Elektra put all its resources behind the album, and it started to get a bit of airplay as a result. In particular, one DJ on the new FM radio started playing "Light My Fire" -- at this time, FM had only just started, and while AM radio stuck to three-minute singles for the most part, FM stations would play a wider variety of music. Some of the AM DJs started telling Elektra that they would play the record, too, if it was the length of a normal single, and so Rothchild and Botnick went into the studio and edited the track down to half its previous seven-and-a-half-minute length. When the group were called in to hear the edit, they were initially quite excited to hear what kind of clever editing microsurgery had been done to bring the song down to the required length, but they were horrified when Rothchild actually played it for them. As far as the group were concerned, the heart of the song was the extended instrumental improvisation that took up the middle section: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] On the album version, that lasted over three minutes. Rothchild and Botnick cut that section down to just this: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire (single edit)"] The group were mortified -- what had been done to their song? That wasn't the sound of people trying to be McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, it was just... a pop song. Rothchild explained that that was the point -- to get the song played on AM radio and get the group a hit. He pointed out how the Beatles records never had an instrumental section that lasted more than eight bars, and the group eventually talked them
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
