Take 5 with I Want a Little Girl

This edition of Take 5 is devoted to several versions of the song "I Want a Little Girl." This song is probably most familiar from the Count Basie recording with Jimmy Rushing handling the vocal. We start this playlist with this classic recording.

There have been so many versions over the years. Here is the great Ray Charles.

Then there is a memorable version by T-Bone Walker. As I write this, Hal 'Cornbread' Singer, who plays tenor sax on this track, is still alive.

I must confess a video of Doc Cheatham performing this inspired this blog post. He did record this for the French Black & Blue label.

Next up, and last, is an instrumental rendition by the Kansas City Six featuring Lester Young on clarinet and other Basie-ites without the Count. Eddie Durham is on trombone and electric guitar, Freddie Greene on guitar, Walter Page on bass, Jo Jones on drums, and Buck Clayton on trumpet.

There are versions by Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine with the Three Sounds, Big Joe Turner and more that folks can explore.

Herb Wise Photographed Legendary Musicians

People You’d Like To Know: Legendary Musicians Photographed
By Herb Wise
Omnibus Press 2010

Herb Wise was an editor for Oak Publications who published Sing out as well as various books on folk and blues (Samuel Charters’ The Bluesman was originally published by Oak), when photographer David Gahr took him outside gave him a camera and had him start shooting pictures. While his initial efforts were not productive, it led to him becoming a fixture with his camera at festivals and concerts throughout North America documenting a wide spectrum of music, focusing on folk, bluegrass with some blues, country and jazz mixed in from Mariposa in Toronto, the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the American Folk Life Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

This is a coffee table sized volume of his photos. There is an amiable quality to many of these which are often informal portraits although there are some very fine performance images included. Graham Vickers includes brief descriptions of the artists depicted and sometimes the circumstances the photos were made of. Striking images of Richard Havens, Sam Chatmon, Jaco Pastorious, Professor Longhair (one great picture with reflections showing in his sunglasses) , Chuck Berry, Charles Mingus, Saul Broudy, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, Frank Zappa, Jackson Browne (great portrait), Sonny Terry (reclining against a trailer), Joan Baez & Kris Kristofferson, Joe Zawinul, Arlo Guthrie, Ray Charles, Doc Watson, Leon Redbone, Stephane Grappelli, Bob Dylan with the Band, an early Taj Mahal and Koko Taylor sitting in front of her van at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. Its a pretty diverse group of images, and some are devoted to showing dancers at the festival while a young Rosanna Arquette is seen at the 1971 Philadelphia Folk Festival. Blue Lu Barker and Danny Barker are seen in their living room, while Roosevelt Sykes is backstage at the 1981 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.The pictures mostly come from the sixties and seventies. 

The reproduction (with a slight sepia tint) seems quite satisfactory and there is a wealth of performers captured here, some famous, others less so. People You’d Like To Know is a book you might skim through when you first get it and return to look at the images again and again. It is reasonably priced with a list price of $34.95, should be reasonably easy to fine and makes a nice addition to one’s collection of music photography books.

This review originally appeared in the September 2010 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 329).  I received a review copy from a publicist. Needless to say this would make a great holiday gift for music lovers.

The Singular Genius of Ray Charles

Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles is the aptly titled box set issued by Concord of all of the singles issued by Ray Charles after he left Atlantic Records and signed with ABC Paramount. This complements the reissue of Charles’ Atlantic singles, The Birth of Soul that was issued a number of years ago and takes us through 1970 and through some very familiar and iconic recordings. The 106 tracks are spread over 5 physical CDs and contain a booklet with an overview of the music from Billy Vera and session information about the selections included. As Vera notes, some of Charles’ latter recordings.

As Vera observes, fans of Charles often are divided between those with a preference for the early R&B singes with the legendary eight piece band and those who enjoy his latter recordings often with a big band or full orchestra that cover a wider variety of material. It should be noted that even Charles Atlantic singles and recordings transcended the blues, rhythm and blues to include jazz. And while with Atlantic, he recorded the brilliant album The Genius of Ray Charles which indicated his future direction with big band and orchestral charts from Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns.

One reason perhaps some prefer the Atlantic period is the more homogenous material and musical framework of those recordings. ABC gave Charles greater leeway in the material he recorded and Sid Feller oversaw Charles recordings, as opposed to pro due them. So there was considerable variety in the material including pop and country songs as well as blues and jazz classics. He would, in some cases, be backed by a big band, on others with an orchestra with strings, and there also were some small combo recordings. Furthermore on some recordings there would be a vocal chorale as opposed to gospel-based Raeletts.

While his earliest recordings were on ABC Paramount, Charles was able to have his own label, Tangerine where he could record musical idols like Louis Jordan and the sophisticated blues of the songwriter Percy Mayfield who contributed the signature Charles recording Hit the Road Jack, along with The Danger Zone, At the Club and Hide Nor Hair. There are the duets with Betty Carter including Baby Its Cold Outside, which was a bit more sophisticated than either the Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald recording or Hot Lips Page and Pearl Bailey.

While with ABC, Charles would record his pathfinding albums of country music and many of those classic recordings are also included as are his singular interpretations of The Beatles’ Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby. Standards such as Without Love and “Without a Song” (in two parts, one a vocal, the other instrumental) are mixed with the Harlan Howard classic that Charles invigorated “Busted,” and he never forgot his roots in the blues withWorried Life Blues (the flip to Sticks and Stones), Sam Cooke’s Laughin’ and Clownin’, and the Chuck Willis classics Feel So Bad and What Am I Living For. The latter number has a country flavor in the backing (which also evokes Sam Cooke's Bring it Home To Me) with the choral backing and the steel guitar in the orchestral backing along with a nice bluesy guitar solo. Not that long after he would record his classic rendition of America The Beautiful.

Its fascinating that on his last singles he would cover Silas Hogan's Every Saturday Night, with a smoldering big band rendition, and Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. One might argue that the performances as a whole are not as consistent as the Atlantic recordings. Perhaps its the wide range of material he covers and not everything comes across with the emotional gravity of his best work. With a few rare exceptions, Charles was able to invest so much of himself in his music and placed his own stamp on his recordings and performances. On occasion he would not be able to transcend the sentimentality of a few songs, but that is the exception as can be heard here.

Oddly, my only complaint is that extracting the CDs from the box they come in can be tricky at times. Singular Genius is an apt title, and one can readily doubt whether we will ever see another performer with so much soul and so much musical depth. That genius and depth is evident here.

I received a review copy of the box from a publicist or Concord. This would obviously make a great gift for the musical aficionado in your family or circle of good friends.

The Genius of Ray Charles

Concord Records recently entered into an exclusive agreement with the Ray Charles Foundation to develop the late artist’s post-1960 catalog. The first installment is Ray Charles — Genius: the Ultimate Collection. This disc which spans his recordings from his Atlantic days through the remainder of his career includes a number of his greatest hits including Hit the Road Jack, What’d I Say, Part 1, Busted, I Can’t Stop Loving You, Sticks and Stones, Drown in My Own Tears, Georgia On My Mind, You Are My Sunshine, Let’s Go Get Stoned, You Don’t Know Me, Crying Time, Yesterday, and America the Beautiful, among the 21 recordings included here.

This will help Concord launch the release of the Genius' ABC-Paramount and Tangerine label recordings, many for digital reissue for the first time. The music here transcends genres and represents some of the finest moments by any performer of American vernacular music. Included are liner notes from veteran jazz writer, Don Heckman.

The music here belongs in any well rounded recording collection.

This review originally appeared in the April 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 315). I have written a review of the a box set from Concord of Ray’s Complete ABC Singles and scheduled posting of it November 18. I received my review copy from either a publicist or Concord Records itself.

Historic Ray Charles Live In France

Eagle Vision has issued an amazing and important DVD by Ray Charles Live in France 1961. This was filmed over four nights during Charles’ first to Europe when he played a Jazz Festival outside of Antibes on the Cote d’Azur and marked a departure in that he brought his big little band as opposed to the larger big band he was touring with in the United States. There is an excellent video of Charles in Brazil from a couple years later that shows The Genius in his prime with the full big band.

With Charles and his piano, we hear the legendary saxophone trio of Hank Crawford, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, and Leroy ‘Hog’ Cooper along with trumpeters Philip Guilbeau and John Hunt; bassist Edgar Willis and drummer Bruno Carr. And also present were the Raelettes of Gwen Berry, Margie Hendrix, Pat Lyles and Darlene McCrea. This was the essentially Ray’s Band during his years at Atlantic Records and the chance to see this band (which was the band on Ray’s live Atlantic Recordings) makes this particular DVD special.

The performances are taken from French television programs of highlights from the Festival and as the folks from Reelin’ In The Years Productions observe, this was filmed not taped which helps explain the excellent video quality. However film, not used after cutting and splicing of source material, was discarded so the 105 minutes which includes multiple performances of several songs is all there is. Radio recordings of the entire shows existed that allowed rearranging the clips from the festival highlights into the performance order and provide superior sound.

The performances include the jazzy instrumentals including renditions James Moody’s The Story, Horace Silver’s Doodlin’, and his instrumental take of One Mint Julep, here played on piano and not organ. Then there are stellar renditions of Let the Good Times Roll, Georgia On My Mind (with Fathead Newman on flute), Sticks and Stones and What’d I Say.” Does anybody need to have me say what a great band this was and that the members get showcased throughout. The filming did have the great Charles’ vocals and piano front and center while focusing on the horns during their solos. Listening and watching how effortlessly he moves from a ballad like Cecil Gant’s classic ballad, I Wonder, to the vocal interchange with Margie Hendrix who admonishes him to Tell The Truth, one is awestruck even 50 years later. Similarly one is amazed watching Charles jazz up My Bonnie, and while getting down for the nitty gritty for I Believe.

Few performers were so at home and so expressive at performing such a wide range of music. This DVD presents Charles at his greatest and in addition to the terrific production, there is a booklet with Rob Bowman’s essay providing the context for these performances. This is a stellar DVD that should be of interest to many.

I received a review copy from a publicist for this release. I will be reviewing a box set of the Complete Ray Charles ABC singles in the near future.

New Ray Charles Video Coming Out

Word has come out about the upcoming release of of video of Ray Charles live in performance from France in 1961 with his legendary band that included Hank Crawford, Fathead Newman and the original Raeletts. I have the fabulous Ray Charles in Brazil video with the Big Band from a couple years later. Anyway this preview should be of interest to many. 105 minutes of pure musical genius.

Ray Charles' Classic "Message From The People"

Concord continues its reissue program of Ray Charles post-Atlantic catalog with the release of Message From the People, an album with a theme of calling for an end to racial and other social division, and making this country better.

Opening with the classic Lift Every Voice and Sing, he follows it with Seems Like Gotta Do Wrong, with its message that it seems Ray has to do wrong before the outside society notices him and then Heaven Help Us All, with its plea to heaven to help the black man if he struggles one more day, help the white man if he turns his back away, and help the man who kicks the man who has to crawl, heaven help us all. The title, There’ll Be No Peace Without All Men As One, is self-explanatory, while Hey Mister, is a song noting the social and status divisions existing.

The tone of the album changes on what was the second half of this album when it was first released which includes Ray distinctive interpretations of celebrated songs such Look What Have Done to My Song, Ma, as well as the reflective Abraham, Martin and John, and John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads. The interpretation of this latter number is stunningly original. This celebration of the country is followed by Charles uptown transformation of a Silas Hogan swamp blues, Every Saturday Night. Charles’ rendition of America the Beautiful, that closes the album is so well known that any comment on it is superfluous. Arrangements by Quincy Jones, Sid Feller and Mike Post certainly play a major role in the stunning performances here, and one can hear something new in these performances with repeated listening.

Over thirty-five years after its initial release, the reissue of Message From the People, should hopefully help establish the entire album, not simply the closing tune, as an American classic.

This review originally appeared in the September 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 320) and my review copy was provided by a publicist for the label.

Classic Ray Charles Live Recording Reissued With Unissued Tracks

Concord Records continues with its restoration of the post-Atlantic Records Ray Charles catalog with Live in Concert. The source for this was a September 1964 concert at Los Angeles’ Shrine Civic Auditorium and featured Charles and his band that included backing vocals by the Raeletts, Oliver Beener and Wallace Davenport amongst the trumpets; Julian Priester and James Herbert amongst the trombones; Keg Johnson, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Bill Pearson, Hank Crawford, and Leroy Cooper on saxophones; Sonny Forriest on guitar; Edgar Willis on bass and Wilbert Hogan on drums. Charles had expanded from his legendary little big band to the full orchestra in 1961 and Quincy Jones had helped with providing arrangements from his big band book.

The performance here (about 70 minutes of music) was the first after a European and Japanese tour and was recorded by Wally Heider who was a pioneer in location recordings of the time. This release includes 7 previously unissued performances that were not included in the original 1964 album release, adding nearly a half hour of unissued performances including renditions of One Mint Julep, Georgia on My Mind, That Lucky Old Sun, In The Evening (When the Sun Goes Down), Busted, Two Ton Tessie, and My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do), to go along with such numbers associated with Charles as I Got a Woman, You Don’t Know Me, Hide Nor Hair, Hallelujah, I Love Her So, and What I’d Say.

Of course its a terrific band (Charles’ jazz piano chops are displayed on Swing a Little Taste) with Fathead and Hank Crawford getting solo space, and terrific section work and swing. And its nice to hear Charles at this stage as he was expanding his repertoire, but had not relegated many of his early R&B classics to brief treatment as part of a medley so we get strong renditions of I Got a Woman, Hallelujah, I Love Her So, Don’t Set Me Free, and What’d I Say, along with more recent additions to his repertoire as You Don’t Know Me, Margie, and Georgia On My Mind. And Ray still was front and center with the blues with the terrific In The Evening, and dig Charles’ terrific blues piano at the beginning. Material-wise, the only misstep is Two Ton Tessie, which was likely from some forgettable show, but Charles still puts everything into the performance.

Bill Dahl contributes his usual insights in the accompanying booklet and the sound quality is excellent. Live in Concert is an welcome addition to Ray Charles’ discography. There is some simply terrific music here, capturing “The Genius” at his prime.

My review copy was provided by Concord Records.

Ray Charles' Rare Gems Rare No More

I am writing this from Nashville ( I am there until Sunday when I return to DC), and visiting the Ryman Auditorium this afternoon. Among the exhibits there is one one June Carter and Johnny Cash. Included was some photos and video clips from the television show that Johnny Cash did for two years on ABC television that included performances from the Ryman. Ray Charles was among the guests that Cash had on his show and coincidentally, a duet between Cash and Charles is the centerpiece of a new Concord album that is scheduled for release on October 26, Rare Gems, Below is a review of this release.


“Rare Gems: The Undiscovered Masters” is the title of a new ray Charles release on Concord that contains, as its title suggests, previous issued recordings which come from the seventies through the nineties. From the publicity, some of these tracks were relatively stripped down to which some sweetening was added. The centerpiece of this is a duet with Johnny Cash, “Why Me, Lord?”, a Kris Kristofferson song, that was supposed to be part of a duet project that never was completed. Musically, there should be little in terms of surprises as the music here is centered in the blues/soul, country and pop fused with jazz that Charles mined throughout his legendary career.

The opening “Loves Gonna Bite You,” and the rousing big band “It Hurts To Be In Love,” are clear reminders of his blues soul roots, while “Wheel of Fortune,” which Dinah Washington (and Kay Starr) recorded in a 1952, is a more jazzy performance with strings sweetening the big band setting. “I’m Gonna Keep On Singin’,” with electric piano and guitar sounds sounds like an 80s or 90s recording with some spoken breaks in the number. “There'll Be Some Changes Made,” is usually taken at a brisk tempo, while Charles transforms it into a slow blues here, with plenty of greasy organ and solid blues guitar (could that be that Tony Matthews at the original session), with Charles apparently imitating guitar with his electric piano before the actual guitarist enters with a solid solo. The groove of “Isn’t It Wonderful,” sounds not far from what Billy Preston, who had an important association with Charles might have recorded, and again more bluesy guitar can be heard here. “I Don’t Want No One But You,” is one of several tracks with synthesized horns, in the backing, with Charles singing how much he needs his lady, and come back and Ray will make it right in a typical fashion. Charles’ rendition of Hank Cochran’s “A Little Bitty Tear,” is a country-flavored rendition of a number that may sound familiar when one hears it, and the country flavor continues on “She’s Gone,” that suggests some of Jerry Lee Lewis’ country recordings of the seventies. The duet with Cash, “Why Me, Lord,” is only a taste of what might have been if the duet album by Cash & Charles had ever been completed. Cash takes the lead on singing this gospel number with Charles joining in on the choruses and taking an electric piano solo.

There is nothing that might suggest they were scraping the bottom of the vaults simply to release unissued material. The music here will not harm Charles’ reputation. In contrary, the music on this is quite good. One expects that Charles’ many fans will be delighted by these previously unissued recordings.


For purposes of FTC regulations, this was provided by a publicity form for Concord Records.

RIP Abu Talib fka Freddy Robinson

Modesto Bee carried the obituary.

It reads in part:

He recorded with Little Walter and Ray Charles and died Thursday, October 8, at the age of 70 from cancer.

A bit more can be found from an AP obituary.

According to that he also played with Howlin' Wolf and Monk Higgins and "recorded and wrote several songs including "Black Fox," "At the Drive-In," "Bluesology" and the blues instrumental, "After Hours."" With Little Walter he played on "My Baby's Sweeter," "Crazy Mixed Up World," "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," and others with Luther Tucker being also on those sessions.

He also played with John Mayall in the Jazz Blues Fusion Band that included Blue Mitchell and Clifford Solomon. Funny how this great guitarist is never mentioned when folks talk about Mayall's guitarists, nor is this band which was one of Mayall's more interesting ones. He was also on Louis Myers "I'm a Southern Man" album and sessions with Jimmy McCracklin (Minit) and others.

Check out his illustrated discography from the web.

Finally a

Plenty of Life in Fathead's Horns

The High Note Recordings by David ‘Fathead’ Newman certainly add to his considerable body of work that has been recorded over six decades. There are the tenor solos he added to Zuzu Bollin’s Texas R&B guitar boogies, and his standout work with Ray Charles’ band in the late fifties as well as many albums under his name including some for Atlantic while with Charles’ Band. Life is his latest disc and produced by Newman & Houston Person, Newman is the only horn on this date, playing alto, tenor and flute. Others on this session are Steve Nelson on vibes, David Leonhardt on piano, Peter Bernstein on guitar, John Menegon on bass and Yoron Isreal on drums. Its a session of classic songs and standards from the lovely opening ballad, Girl Talk, with some rhapsodic tenor to the closing rendition of John Coltrane’s, Naima. John Hicks Life is a brisk waltz with Newman switching to flute is the only song that is not a ballad. Other numbers on which Newman displays his fluency on the flute are I Can’t Get Started, and What a Wonderful World, the latter number being a wonderful interpretation of a song best associated with Louis Armstrong as he improvises off the lyrics, an approach that characterizes his tenor playing on Alfie and his alto sax on Autumn in New York. Other highpoints include lovely renditions of Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday, and John Coltrane’s lovely Naima. Pianist Leonhardt provided the arrangements including the pleasing voicings he provides Newman’s horn along with the piano, guitar and vibes that enhance the performances. Newman comes off as a ballad master with a terrific band here. Certainly a wonderful disc to relax and listen too, although some might have wished a couple more numbers had been included with a brisker tempo.

Fathead Newman's Straightahead "Cityscape"

David ‘Fathead’ Newman has certainly come a long way from his initial appearance on wax, a session by Texas Blues Man, Zuzu Bollin (and Newman played on Bullin’s rediscovery album decades later). Best known for his fat sound while a member of Ray Charles legendary band in the late fifties and early sixties, Newman has had a distinguished career since leaving Charles and continues to perform and record showing little diminution in his music. A relatively recent HighNote release, Cityscape, has him on tenor, alto and flute,leading a septet which includes his rhythm section of David Leonhardt on piano, John Menegon on bass and Yoron Isreal on drums. They are joined by Howard Johnson on baritone, Benny Powell on trombone and Winston Byrd on trumpet and flugelhorn. The notes observe that the septet format recalls the classic Ray Charles band of the fifties that Newman was part of, although a comparison that perhaps raises false expectations as this band is more of a straight Hard Bop aggregation that does not have the tight sound of Charles’ legendary band. There is a nice mix of material including originals as well as standards such as the opening rendition of the theme from the James Bond movie, Goldfinger, Billy Strayhorn’s lovely A Flower is a Lonesome Thing and It Was a Very Good Year, that most associate with Frank Sinatra. Goldfinger is an attractive but hardly startling feature for Newman who sounds stronger on flute with a bit of Mid-Eastern flavor for the lively Pharoah’s Gold, with Howard Johnson providing an arrangement of the 5/4 Claude Johnson theme, while Newman’s tenor caresses the Strayhorn classic with the muted horn riffs of the others adding atmosphere. Bassist Menegon contributed the walking blues, Bu Bop Bass, with Johnson opening with some strong choruses before Fathead takes over on tenor with some insinuating playing. Howard Johnson’s original, Here Comes Sonny Man, has Newman on alto on a number that sounds like it could have been written as a theme for a seventies TV show. Newman returns to tenor on a romantic It Was a Very Good Year, which suggests that in his golden years, Newman still remains an authoritative player. Another flute feature is Newman’s original, Flankin’, dedicated to his wife’s late mom where he is backed just by his rhythm trio. While the septet here perhaps lacks the tightness and authority that Ray Charles Band had, this is a strong set of straight-ahead straight-ahead jazz that should please many.