Sunday, November 23, 2008

Jazz...for the record...Freddy Robinson

Music finds its way into the lives of most everybody one way or another. As a business person in sales I often find music the quickest common denominator in breaking the ice and getting to know people. It's particularly helpful to be open minded to all kinds of music and to enjoy most anything in terms of styles or genres. And so the journey forward and back in music. How did the treasure evolve and where will it lead next? Each experience another adventure like a day in the life. Who can ever recall just where it started in their life, but somewhere there is an audio experience that translates into wonder, emotion. And then there's another, and another and eventually it's like walking and we all develop our own styles and preferences. For me, I can recall moments of impersonating the popular performers of the time, a singing 4 year old trying to recreate the gravelly tones of Louis Armstrong and later pretending I was the powerhouse Tom Jones singing "What's New Pussycat" (if only I knew). Then there were the teenage years of discovering 45's and some LP's, experimenting with my own acoustic guitar to try my hand at Donovan and Simon & Garfunkel, etc. Eventually there came the bands and playing in some local bars and clubs, The Beatles to Allman Brothers, along with original endeavors, eventually playing out the string into a pass time that keeps a low profile. But the steady influence of the rest of the world's music has lived on through it all. The never ending collection of 8-tracks, cassettes, records, CD's and MP3's, etc., is a source of personal expression and pride. And now, with this new blog, I want to document some of my thoughts along with offering some occasional treasures for fellow listeners to enjoy and share in my excitement about the world of music I call home. Of all the great albums I might consider to initiate my postings here, I offer an elusive work by the funkified Freddy Robinson. I saw Freddy perform with John Mayall & His Bluesbreakers back in the 70's and I have tried to find all of his recordings since. This one has been particularly tough to track down and it's now re-ripped at 320 (6/21/09 update) so have a listen....

Freddy Robinson - Hot Fun In The Summertime - 1970
Liberty LST-11007= Pacific Jazz PJ 20176

Caprice's Green Grass
Moonglow
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I'm In Love

Hot Fun In The Summertime
Someday We'll Be Together
Becky's Rainbow
The Creeper


Recorded 1970 in Los Angeles;

Freddy Robinson: guitar
unknown: piano
Henry Franklin: acoustic bass
Wilton Felder: electric bass
Paul Humphrey: drums
Al Vescovo: guitar
Bobby Bryant & Freddy Hill: trumpets
Tom Scott: alto sax
Bill Green: sax, poss.
Clydie King, Darlene Love & Edna Wright: vocals
Sid Garp's string section

9 comments:

Dr. Johnny Fever said...

Hi Arkiver, Thank You!!! I have been absolutely shit at the blog maintenance lately and really appreciate you knocking this off my want list. It's really a great piece to start a blog on. I will throw you on my blogroll and do a little post to send some people your direction to check out Freddy. Good luck with the new venture.

Peace..........Dr. Fever

keviekev said...

Very nice share. Thank you very much.
Respect.
keviekev

Durge & The Oldies said...

Thanks Doc and Keviekev for helping kick off this blog. I'm not sure that Freddy's effort lives up to expectations but I think it has some great moments if you like his style of music in the first place. Once I get my turntable repaired, not sure when, I hope to reburn at 320, hopefully the 128 is passable for now.

Jazzsoulman said...

Following the recomendation of Dr. Johnny fever, I wasn't disappointed by this one. Thank you for sharing.

tswift98 said...

Dope ass post!! Thank you fam!

johnv said...

Really nice album, thanks Arkiver!

Durge & The Oldies said...

Glad you liked it. I've been a big FR fan for a long time and it wasn't easy getting a hold of this one. I plan to rerun this at 320 eventually but personally I don't really get too caught up in that much, 128 usually suffices if the music is good. I do have other FR albums that I will post, as well. Thanks for leaving the comments!!

Andy said...

Hey Arkiver!

Thanks for this album, got it back during the original post in November and since the summer is starting, been playing it a fair amount.

As such, do you think we're going to get that re-rip at a better bitrate? I just got a new setup on the computer and the 128 just doesn't sound as good. I really love all the work you've done in the past, and if you're still checking this place...a new rip of this album I'm sure would be a great re-entry into the blogosphere.

Thanks

Durge & The Oldies said...

Hi Andy and thanks for the good word. The answer is yes, I do intend to re-rip this. Unfortunately, this was the first one I did for the blog and I wasn't too aware of the quality etiquette at the time. A month or so later I realized I had made a mistake not ripping at 320 but I was having so much fun bringing in new stuff from my collection I just didn't get back to Freddy and some of the other early albums I posted. More recently I have been a bit absent all together as you can see, but I will repost this at 320 as soon as I get a chance, which I expect will be within the next month or two tops. Sorry to keep you waiting!