Unknown stories behind immortal tunes...(random stories behind great music-r)
JectWon
(@_@) 1,654 Posts
A long time ago, one of my jazz teachers told me about the (supposed) history behind the first bar of "Moanin'"...
He claimed, that during gig intermissions, Bobby Timmons would continue to tinker/solo on the piano while the rest of the Jazz Messengers would hang with the crowd, backstage, etc. Originally, that one bar riff became something he'd do when he (or the club manager) felt the intermission was over and band members were missing....like a instrumental "where the fuck you at?!"...he'd repeat the bar every few seconds as a signal to get back to the stage. When the band heard that they knew 'Hey, it's time to get back and wrap this thing up'....
I've never really read anything to corroborate that story and the book Hard Bop Academy just says it was a riff that Timmons was fucking around with in the studio.
At any rate, I'm a sucker for lil' random stories like that and I'd really love to learn about any the Struteurs might know about...
He claimed, that during gig intermissions, Bobby Timmons would continue to tinker/solo on the piano while the rest of the Jazz Messengers would hang with the crowd, backstage, etc. Originally, that one bar riff became something he'd do when he (or the club manager) felt the intermission was over and band members were missing....like a instrumental "where the fuck you at?!"...he'd repeat the bar every few seconds as a signal to get back to the stage. When the band heard that they knew 'Hey, it's time to get back and wrap this thing up'....
I've never really read anything to corroborate that story and the book Hard Bop Academy just says it was a riff that Timmons was fucking around with in the studio.
At any rate, I'm a sucker for lil' random stories like that and I'd really love to learn about any the Struteurs might know about...
Comments
Mel Torme's "Christmas Song" (the "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" song) was written in LA during a summertime heatwave. He and the co-writer traded lines about all of the wintery cliches they could come up with, the idea being that if they thought about cool things they would feel cool despite the heat. Supposedly it was written in 30 or 40 minutes, music, lyrics and all.
The Sex Pistols "Problems" was written because the rest of the band challenged Glen Matlock to come up with a song that used the chord progression A - B - C.
- I read a story that Talk Talk's "Life's What You Make It" was done on a day when, having been pressured to record something approximating a single, Mark Hollis was feeling nostalgic and just wanted to play "Green Onions" keyboard chords, while Lee Harris was feeling modern and wanted to emulate the drums from the then-current "Running Up That Hill." They ended up just doing both.
- Prince's "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker" sounds like it does because it was the first song he recorded in his home studio and he didn't have his shit hooked up right. But he liked how the song turned out, so he kept it. There is also a full horn arrangement, recorded but not used. I'd kinda really like to hear that shit.
I have versions of this song older than this movie.
Maybe one day we'll REALLY get to hear what Prince has in his vaults. Even back in the late 80s it is said he had unreleased recordings numbering in the hundreds... who knows what that number could be these days. Combine that with demos, alternate mixes and takes... it could be nothing short of spectacular.
Goddamn...that is insane. There are a lot of cool stories about the Stax dudes on the documentary Respect Yourself. It's really an incredible documentary....
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/stax
Crazy to think that Mr. Redding was only 26 when he passed. His voice didn't sound like a 26 year old.
Personally the most staggering thing about the whole set is the drumming of Tony Williams. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. They go at the fast stuff like it's the Olympic 4 x 100 relay:
17. Dude was 17 and bossed that lineup :face_melt:
Wow, thanks for sharing that...I hadn't heard of any of that. It always blows my mind when you hear that someone super young is playing like a legitimately mature and wise adult. 17 is just ridiculous, though.
EDIT: Been looking for footage as the above poaster has and no luck yet...will keep looking tho.
I have the liner notes, I remember them saying that the tickets were somthing like $50 back then, it was a real posh black-tie affair and the other members of the band were looking forward to the money because they'd not gigged for a while and were skint. Then Miles said just said "I've donated all of our fees tonight to the charity."
They started to bicker about "Well, it's OK for you Miles because you're already loaded, but we needed the money, how about we decide how much we want to donate?" One member (unnamed) didn't want to donate anything. Miles told them that they must deal. The end.
Rudy Van Gelder was recording the gig and said he had his jaw on the floor for the whole thing.
Wayne Shorter replaced George Coleman very shortly after, but I actually prefer the pre-Shorter stuff. I know very few people take this line, because Shorter is a big-hitting composer, but for me that later band did some meandering shit (E.S.P. and dem - yes, I said it) and never had anything like the power of this lineup; it swings so hard. I try and play (bass) along to it from time to time... if you can picture yourself onstage playing keepup with this band; it's like surfing a tsunami.
Nah. I don't think any of it was filmed. But it was recorded very well. "The Complete Concert" was the complete package of the 2 LP's that previously came out of the gig ("Four and More" (the fast) and "My Funny Valentine" (the ballads) ). I have it on 2 x CD remaster, full Van Gelder liner notes IIRC.
This is though (just the music, no footage):
Most hyper is (ironically) "Walkin'"... They rip a new one for Herbie from about 6'00 in...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thiele