4. Upcoming Events, including Adam Solomon & Tikisa this Sunday,
The Very Best, Playing for Change, Oliver Mtukudzi and others
1. NOTABLE RECENT DATES
First, an assortment of notes, all centred around recent events of note, along
with audio, video and other related links:
a) Shelby Singleton, music producer & record
executive, Nashville & Memphis, d. Oct. 7
2009
Singleton was one of America's great record producers of the 60's and
70's, known for launching the careers of Roger Miller and Ray Stevens among
others,
as well as giving new life to performers including Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee
Lewis, but was best known for buying the famous Sun Records in 1969, and
reviving and marketing its great legacy. (All those Sun Records T-shirts you
see around are because of him...)
He was (justifiably) confident enough in the music put out on his own
labels, that they carried the unique guarantee, "If this recording should
become unsatisfactory in any manner, it is guaranteed for life".
His biggest single hit was Jeannie C. Riley's 1968, "Harper Valley, PTA".
According to writer Chet Flippo's account in the 2006 Oxford American
Music Issue, the song's power was largely because Riley was "mad as hell"
during the recording.
Riley was working as a secretary at another
Nashville music company, and looking for an opportunity as a country singer.
Singleton produced her first session, bringing along that song, written by Tom T. Hall. Riley had little use for what she thought was
a pop song, and as Flippo described, she "fairly spat out the words" during
the two takes.
That might have been have been what gave it enough edge that Singleton
noted that after completing the recording, none of the musicians and others in the
studio left: "Everybody had to hear it at least ten or twelve
times". (And the recording session featured some of Nashville's
greats, including Jerry Kennedy, Chip Young and Harold Bradley on guitars,
Pig Robbins on keyboards, Buddy Harman on drums and Charlie McCoy on
harmonica and vibes).
It was of course, a huge hit, and helped him pay for the Sun Records
purchase. But Singleton didn't rest on his laurels. In a 2004 interview, the
then 72 year old producer, asked if "PTA" was his biggest hit ever, answered
in his slow drawl, "Yes, soooo
far".
One of the people who made post-war American music.
Oct. 12 was the 20th anniversary of the death of the great Congolese singer.
In 2008, the double CD
anthology, Francophonic: Franco & le TPOK Jazz won world-wide
recognition as among the best (and
best-packaged) anthologies of the year.
The second volume, covering the music from 1980-89 has just been
released, and is also getting great reviews. New York-based Afropop
Worldwide recently devoted one of their PRI radio programs to Franco. The
related podcast is available
here.
Link: Video of
some great, classic Franco from 1980 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
a) Cuban musicians in the U.S: A more-than-overdue event: For the first time since 2003, some Cuban
musicians have been granted visas to perform in the U.S.! We can only hope
this is the beginning of bigger things, and an opening of relationships
between those two neighbours. And musically, that this is the just the start
of more musical (and other) exchanges.
While, the Canadian door has been open to Cuban musicians, having the
U.S. market available to them, should make North American touring far more
attractive than it is now.
Links:
DubMC article on the first artists to get visas.
A review of
Omara Portuondo's Oct. 20 concert at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Excerpts from the Wim Wenders' film of the Buena Vista Social Club's
New York / Carnegie Hall performance. A time when great musicians could
still visit and perform in a neighbouring country:
Trailer; "Chan
Chan"
b) Cuban music and film in Toronto: Locally, a few Cuban events in the next several days:
Cuban film festival at the Revue Cinema, Thu-Fri, Oct. 22-23. Click
here for
details.
Pupy y
Los Que Son Son at the Phoenix. One of the founders of the great
Cuban band, Los Van Van. Son, salsa, timba. See
CubaInToronto.com
for details (and video).
c) Afropop on Cuban music Afropop Worldwide is featuring Cuban music on their
radio show this
week. You can also check the related, but briefer,
podcast.
Other, older Afropop features on Cuba and Cuban music are listed on
this page.
"Memphis
Soul Stew": by the great sax legend,
King Curtis who
was sadly murdered in New York City in 1971. I loved the comment by the
poster: "The only band that could make
Booker T & The MG's sweat".
Memphis Minnie: "Kissing
In the Dark" ... 50 years ago, she was warning about STD's...
And, what's Memphis music without Rufus Thomas? "Walking
the Dog"
Besides the Cuban shows listed above, a few other events of
note coming up in the next couple of weeks:
Oct.
25: Adam Solomon & Tikisa , Lula Lounge Tikisa means "shake" in Swahili, and anyone who's seen Adam with his group
knows that's what the Lula will be doing Sunday evening.
The previous
newsletter (Sep. 23) had a lovely story of someone who was moved and
uplifted one day hearing Adam playing solo in the subway. The photo of Adam
(taken in the subway) was accidentally left out of that mailing (it's posted
in the online newsletter), so I've included another one, this time from the
Lula here.
Oct. 23: Luanda Jones CD Release at the Lula
Oct. 24: Masaisai at Eddie's on College. Wonderful, high-energy, mbira-based Zimbabwean music
Oct. 22-23: Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans at the
Horseshoe. Corb will be a guest on Jian Ghomeshi's CBC Radio One show,
Q, Fri. Oct. 23 (10am, 10pm, or listen to
the podcast on the website). See also
NOW's
article on Lund.
Oct. 28: Maria Muldaur at Hugh's Room
Oct. 29-Nov. 1: Mandinge Summit The second annual festival of Manding culture includes a film
biography of Salif Keita, traditional dance and drum performances and
workshops, plus a photo exhibit (including a number of my photos). See
http://www.baobabafrikanarts.org/ for more info.
And, a couple of unique shows at the end of the month:
Oct. 30:
The Very Best at the
Wrongbar (Parkdale). A British/African group playing a mix of African and
club sounds, their new album,
Warm Heart Of Africa is described by
Mondomix
as "a snapshot of club culture as a hotbed of creative collisions and good
times – a global get-together that’s really building up steam.". Listen to
some of their songs on the MySpace page linked above, and read a review/article
in
The Guardian
Note: There have been news stories this week about some
American shows being cancelled, but a call to the club Thursday night
indicated this show is still a go.
Oct. 31: Playing For Changeat the Phoenix
No doubt most people have seen some of the videos from this project which
promotes "peace through music" and brings together musicians from around the
world.
Watch a PBS profile video
here
(and watch others on the PFC YouTube channel. Warning: the album's title
song is tough to get out of your head
And a bit further ahead:
Nov. 15: Oliver Mtukudzi at the Phoenix
Catch a recent BBC interview with him
here. Also on that page are two lovely solo, acoustic songs he did at
the time of the interview.
Singleton was one of America's great record producers of the 60's and
70's, known for launching the careers of Roger Miller and Ray Stevens among
others,
as well as giving new life to performers including Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee
Lewis, but was best known for buying the famous Sun Records in 1969, and
reviving and marketing its great legacy. (All those Sun Records T-shirts you
see around are because of him...)
Oct. 12 was the 20th anniversary of the death of the great Congolese singer.
In 2008, the double CD
anthology, Francophonic: Franco & le TPOK Jazz won world-wide
recognition as among the best (and
best-packaged) anthologies of the year.
Oct.
25: Adam Solomon & Tikisa , Lula Lounge
And a bit further ahead: