Singing When You're Stinking From Drinking

Here's a collection of songs from various artists from around the Danbury, Connecticut area. The theme you will see is...drinking, and the artists cover a wide range of genres. I had the pleasure of contributing the country tune here but all the tracks are great stuff, no matter what your musical preferences may be. Most of the performers can be found on Facebook or MySpace if not other sites, including i-tunes. Now pour yourself a cold one and let 'em rip!

Drinking Songs

Various Artists 

"Chowdahouse Inc. Presents DRINKING SONGS"

1 -   Chowdahouse Inc. - Coolest Motherfucker on the Planet
2 -   Not the Kid - Drinking Song
3 -   The Boardlords - I Told You
4 -   MC Sexscene & Homeblind - Give It To You Good
5 -   Brenton Vaughan - Carry Me Home
6 -   Dick Lexus - Hip Hop for the Middle Aged
7 -   Six7 - Deathstarz
8 -   Orangatwang - Fish n' Chips
9 -   Chowdahouse Inc. - Closing Time
10 - Sarianna & The Swell - Drink
11 - The Dalliance - Pain Has Gills
12 - The Reins - Give It Up
13 - Cash Fur Gold - Whiskey and Chex Mix
14 - Don Ryan - Down and Out
15 - Durge - Just An Old Cowboy Again
16 - Si Ombrellone - Moonshine
17 - Mittimus - Diamond Jim's Spirits and Rumours
18 - The Artimus Formerly Known As - Good Friday

Produced by Chowdahouse Inc. (Released July 2011)

If Anyone Can Sing, Les Mc Can

Since the inception of this sporadic blog of mine, I've advertized my desire to track down one of the early albums by Les McCann called simply, "Les McCann Sings". I believe my familiarity with this recording came from an old 8-track I had of it back in my college years in the 70's. Some of the beautifully rendered ballads on this album provided just the right sort of fodder for those heart broken moments of my early relationships. I can remember sitting in the stairwell of the Computer Center on the Storrs campus at UCONN just singing a couple of those songs inspired by Les McCann's easy vocals and gentle piano playing. I can still hear my voice echoing up that stairwell into the emptiness of late nights waiting for my computer programming cards to finish running in the busy room outside the stairwell. I'd listen for any signs of life so I could quickly shut up to avoid any embarrassment with passers by. McCann's timing is so true and real, his delivery so perfect yet relaxed and comforting. So I wanted to recapture these tracks, so long OOP except for a few cuts on the later collection called "More or Les McCann" released much later (and also OOP). And out of nowhere came Rick with a friendly offer to deliver the tracks in their entirety so I could enjoy them fully once again and share them with you here. This is the kind of thing that makes a blog like this of value to me. Making priceless music available to the discerning listener when it is otherwise dead to the commercial world. I'm very happy to be able to post this beautiful work that ranges from Les' soulful side to his most melancholy. Not entirely different from most of his usual fine work, but perhaps one of the more elemental examples of Les' rare talent that bridges so many feelings and colors. Never a show off, just a man to capture emotions and deliver them to your ears and to wherever you want them to go. I've said too much. Just enjoy it and remember to thank Rick!

Les Sings

Les McCann - "Les McCann Sings" (1961)
Pacific Jazz # PJ-31 / ST-31 (LP) 

1.  Wonder Why (Nicholas Brodsky/Sammy Cahn) 2:58  
2.  It's Way Past Suppertime (Les McCann/Vicki Arnold) 3:06  
3.  'Deed I Do (Walter Hirsch/Fred Rose) 2:54  
4.  Since I Fell For You (Buddy Johnson) 3:37  
5.  But Not For Me (Ira Gershwin/George Gershwin) 2:58  
6.  I Cried For You (Gus Arnheim/Abe Lyman/Arthur Freed) 2:24

(side 2)

7.  Sweet Georgia Brown (Kenneth Casey/Ben Bernie/Macio Pinkard) 2:27 
8.  Please Send Me Someone To Love (Percy Mayfield) 2:32
9.  Next Spring (Marvin Jenkins) 3:21 
10.Love Letters (Edward Heyman/Victor Young) 3:16 
11.On The Street Where You Live (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe) 3:10
12.Bye Bye Black Bird (Ray Henderson/Mort Dixon) 2:07

Aug. 1961 at Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA (except track 9)
Mar. 1961 at Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA (track 9)

Les McCann (piano, vocals)
Herbie Lewis (bass)
Ron Jefferson (drums)

Gerald Wilson (conductor, arranger) (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10)



(tracks 1, 4, 6 & 8)
Harold Land, Teddy Edwards, Buddy Collette, Jack Nimitz, Charles Lloyd (reeds) Jimmy Zito, John Audino, Ray Triscari, Charlie Meeks, Bob Edmondson, John Ewing, and Kenny Shroyer (brass)

(tracks 2, 5 & 10)
Dolo Coker (rhythm piano) Jerome Reisler, Dan Lube, Carl Kalash, Darrel Terwilliger, Myron Sandler, Bobby Bruce, Edger Lustgarden, George Poole, Charles Gates (strings) (track 9) Richard "Groove" Holmes (organ) Ben Webster (tenor sax) Lawrence "Tricky" Lofton (trombone)

Richard Bock (producer, audio engineering)
Woody Woodward (cover design, back photos)
Chester Maydole (cover photo)
Vicki Arnold (liner notes)

Hits and Hurts

Yes, here is yet another Buddy Fite posting, a guitarist with very few recordings but a great sound. I've become a bit focused on collecting all of his meager number of LP's so I had to find this album, even though I knew that 6 of the 9 tracks were repeats of tracks from other albums. As noted earlier on this site, from what I can tell, Buddy only has six LP's as a leader, and of those, only one, "Buddy Fite & Friend", is free of any repeat tracks. So I went ahead and ripped the whole album here, even though only three tracks appear to be unique. Right off the bat I was shocked to hear a vocalist anchoring the first tune, "I Feel The Earth Move". I will say that the singer here does a nice job with earthy, David Clayton Thomas type vocals over a nice bluesy/jazz combo setting where Buddy takes a one minute solo in the middle. Nice enough and definitely different from anything I've heard on any of his other albums, but I have to say I was disappointed to hear something that didn't just feature Buddy throughout. With so few recordings to enjoy, I just want to hear the man play his guitar. Moving into the next few tracks on side one we get back to featuring Buddy, but this whole side is pretty different too in that it concentrates on the bluesy side of Buddy. Each of these three songs offers a different accompanist soloing on saxophone, flute and finally a nice organ over spirited scatting. All very nicely done, all very much in a combo setting, but unfortunately there is no mention of the personnel on the cover. In fact, the recording itself is noticeably of relative poor quality with inconsistencies in the integrity of the sound, volume variations at a few moments, etc. Not terrible, but I guess there's a reason why this seems to be the scarcest of the Fite LP's. Then again, as always, there really is some "tasty" guitar playing throughout. Side 2 opens with what made me completely satisfied that I sprung for a considerable sum to acquire this piece of vinyl. The tune is "Love's Been Good To Me" and Buddy's treatment is creative, unique and very pretty. Along with the opening song on side 1 and Satin Doll, this makes up the three unique tunes for this album. Satin Doll is also very nicely done in an up tempo mode. So for anyone else that has become enamored with Buddy's bright and masterful craft work, I hope you'll enjoy this small dose of new material.While each is indeed a hit with me to varying degrees, it just hurts that only three cuts are additive to the collection. But as hoped, the hits outweigh the hurts mightily...enjoy!

Hits

Buddy Fite - The Hits of Yesterday (1977)

CMI 1005

I Feel The Earth Move
Barney's Blues
Sneakin' One
No Particular Blues

Love's Been Good To Me
Summer of '42
Satin Doll
Willow Weep For Me
Angel Eyes

Buddy Fite - guitar
no other personnel listed

In Bob We Strut

Here's an early seventies album that seems to be generally MIA and upon my recent reintro-duction I'm all too happy to get it out there where it belongs. I know very little about Bobby Bryant. I see that at least one or two other LP's from Mr. Bryant are out there, but this one, which appears to be his last as a leader according to AllMusic, seems plenty worthy of joining the living. First I must say that of the seven tracks, I think the title track is perhaps the weakest. Enjoyable, somewhat funkified jazz with solid instrumentation, but not much feeling. Easy to dance to. But from there I think the rest is really solid to excellent with some impressive playing in a near big band sort of sound. "A Prayer For Peace" brings some prettier sounds and you start to hear Bobby's chops only to be followed by a beautiful interpretation of Horace Silver's "Peace". Side 2 is full of more great playing from Bobby and his supporting cast. Kriss Kross is pretty heavy stuff, and then a great surprise with "We've Only Just Begun". This Paul Williams/Carpenters tune wound up coming off beautifully with a sweet intro that breaks into a very happening workout including some clever soloing while keeping the tune intact. Another highlight of the album is John Klemmer's "The Beauty of Her Soul". This again features the sensitivity of the musicians to flow in and out of the light and airy butterfly sounds into the classic Klemmer thunder. The album closes with a more worthy "strut" in Bobby's own "Nite Crawler". Funky and full of big sounds including a long guitar workout from David T. Walker (I believe, although Arthur Adams is on board also). All in all I have to say that this is a very soulful album that successfully captures a variety of musical moods. While the "strut" is definitely in evidence, there is much more going on here. I like the mini-big band flavor and was impressed with the solo efforts coming out from all the players. Some of it borders on getting pretty loose while some captures more of a late sixties Blue Note sound. Either way it's really good, strut me...

Trust

Bobby Bryant - Swahili Strut (1971)

Cadet (CA 50011)

Swahili Strut (Bobby Bryant)
A Prayer For Peace (Herman Riley)
Peace (Horace Silver)

Kriss Kross (Red Holloway, Art Hillery)
We've Only Just Begun (Paul Williams, Roger Nichols)
The beauty of Her Soul (John Klemmer)
Nite Crawlers (Bobby Bryant)

Bobby Bryant (trumpet)
Bob Norris (congas)
Herman Riley & Charles Owens (tenor sax)
Carl Lott (drums)
Henry Cain (organ)
David T. Walker & Arthur Adams (guitar)
Willie Allen & Max Bennett (bass)

Personnel on "The Beauty of Her Soul" & "A Prayer For Peace";
Bobby Bryant, Buddy Childers, William Cat Anderson, Albert Arrons, 
       Oscar Brashear & Freddy Hill (trumpet)
Bob Norris (congas)
Herman Riley & Charles Owens (tenor sax)
Delbert Hill (baritone sax)
Carl Lott (drums)
Henry Cain (organ)
Dennis Budimir (guitar)
Gordon Maron (electric violin)
Willie Allen (bass)
Joe Sample (piano)
David Duke (French horn)
Groven Mitchell, Lou Blackburn, Mike Wimberley &
      George Bohannon (trombone)
Tommy Johnson (tuba)

"The Beauty of Her Soul" arranged & conducted by John Klemmer

Don't You Love Her Bradley...

Want to meet her Dadley...okay, another real stretch at a pun...but if you did love her madly, this Harold Bradley album just might be an appropriate backdrop. I won't pull any punches here, this is music that many would simply tag as easy listening. I found this on eBay several years ago and had no idea what to expect other than the hope that there might be some masterful guitar playing to enjoy. Then, when I ripped it I was a bit disappointed at the unusually reserved playing and also had a lot of LP noise on my vinyl. So I never thought to post it and haven't listened to it again. That is until I just today broke down and got the "ClickRepair" software that has been touted so highly of late. And now, well, it's certainly cleaned up a lot, and now I kind of like this collection of pretty tunes. Yes, it includes beautiful voices and strings lusciously arranged and conducted by Bill McElhiney, and yes, Harold's playing is decidedly deliberate and at times almost painfully slow. But, as the title suggests, this is supposed to be romantic, mood music of sorts, and as such, it has its moments and generally provides some very nice guitar sounds for the intended mood. I know very little about Harold Bradley except that he was apparently a very successful guitarist during the 50's and 60's and beyond. According to the liner notes he was particularly busy as an accompanist to many pop-country artists like Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Red Foley, Burl Ives, Patti Page, Anita Bryant and Ann Margret. He seems to have country roots but clearly understands the jazz sensibilities as he pretty much displays throughout this album of jazz-pop standards. He makes the guitar sound beautiful and every so often adds a nice run of single notes to bridge his pleasant "chordings". A few of the tunes are a bit weak, but I really think most of them have some worthwhile sounds to enjoy for even the more advanced jazz aficionado, much as I have enjoyed with the likes of Tony Mottola. Anyway, thanks to "ClickRepair", which now opens up a few more obscure LP's from my humble collection, I hope you'll enjoy this somewhat obscure old LP. Maybe you'll love it...as you're walkin' out the Doors...........(ugggghhh)

Tell Me What You Say...

Harold Bradley - Guitar for Lovers Only (1966)
Columbia (CL 2456)

Dream
Autumn Leaves
Dear Heart
Theme From "Picnic"
Love Letters
Moon Mist

Fly Me To The Moon
Serenade In Blue
As Time Goes By
Days of Wine and Roses
Moon River
Vibrations

Harold Bradley - guitar
Voices & Strings arranged & conducted by Bill McElhiney

No man is a failure that has a Buddy...

I thought the Christmas oriented subject line (quoting loosely from Clarence's famous note at the end of "It's A Wonderful Life") was appropriate in this post holiday wash into 2011, especially considering that I just purchased this LP as a Christmas gift to myself. As noted in my earlier posts, I enjoy guitar playing probably more than any other instrument, especially in the jazz vein, and often especially in the interpretation of pop music as is the case with greats like Howard Roberts and even Grant Green among many others. Once again, I want to pay tribute here to one of my most unsung heroes, the painfully under-recorded, Buddy Fite. While some may dismiss it as more pop than jazz, I could care less, and happen to believe it's as creative as most anything when one listens to the finely crafted subtleties of Buddy's comfortable and bright rendering of this collection of mostly well known tunes. His tone is true, metallic, yet warm as he rings through each song like they were old friends. My only disappointment, as I'm just beginning to fully quantify the scant discography of Buddy Fite, is that half the tracks on this record are duplicated on other Fite albums. That is truly frustrating. I am so eager to collect more of his work and find out that apparently all but one of his records include tracks that are shared. None the less, I am grateful for any track that I can add to the collection and this one offers four unique ones; "Girl Talk", "Michelle", "Summer of 42" & "Sunny". The other six can be found on his "Changes" album (also posted on this blog) or "Buddy Fite!" or "The Hits of Yesterday". I included all the tracks here for your full appreciation of this long out of print LP. I can't really pick a favorite here, each is signature Buddy. And although we have to accept that these aren't all new tracks to those of us that already enjoy his other albums, let's just be glad to have even one new Buddy.

One New Buddy

Buddy Fite - Plays For Satin Dolls (1975)

Here's That Rainy Day
I Can't Get Started
Moonlight In Vermont
Willow Weep For Me
A Day in the Life of a Fool

Summer of 42
Angel Eyes
Sunny
Michelle
Girl Talk

Buddy Fite - guitar
Other personnel not listed

More or Les....One of my favorites...

Well Christmas is on its way out again and I've been remiss with inactivity. I may find a holiday oriented post to make before the New Year celebrations close the door on the season, but I'm more excited about the album at hand, Les McCann's, "More or Les McCann". When I was enjoying my four years at UCONN in Storrs, CT I had among my collection of 8-track jazz and blues, this very same recording. It was not something that was a natural draw to me at first. It's generally quite mainstream stuff, along the lines of Ramsey Lewis' piano trio work with the upbeat pop appeal liberally applied. But somewhere around 1975-76 I was prolifically dumped by my long standing girlfriend and woe and behold, I became pretty obsessed with all things sentimental, which not so surprisingly seemed to coincide with the beginnings of my now much longer standing friendship with all things beer. So during this pathetic period of mine I became unusually captivated by the likes of Bozz Scaggs & Elton John of the pop world (e.g. "Harbor Lights", "Your Song", etc.) and all the typical sentiment that kids my age tuned into on our radio dials in those days. But with my growing passion for jazz and blues I thankfully made friends with this beautiful recording by Les McCann. The entire album is what you might say is fairly typical McCann. Tremendously soulful piano with a perfectly tuned in battery. I always love the comfortable, natural feel of Les' playing. Relatively simple perhaps, but so effective, so satisfyingly easy and joyful. But this particular album caught me most with the few vocal offerings that fit my mood so well during that emotional time that brought with it so many personal changes. Three songs, "Since I Fell For You", "Please Send Me Someone To Love" and "It's Way Past Supper Time" are the three vocal tracks here and each really showcases McCann's indisputable talent and artistic splendor. The songs are of some renown, but they are as good as any other version I've heard in each case. Probably my own personal favorite rendition of each. Again, Les is supremely relaxed and delivers the song like someone just singing to himself. You feel like your just eavesdropping from the shadows and lucky enough to catch the feelings as they ease out of his fingers and mouth. The other element to this album is that there is an addition of orchestrations from Gerald Wilson. Now this album seems to be fairly obscure. Not impossible to find on vinyl, as I recently did, but information on this recording is a bit scant. The gatefold cover itself doesn't offer a reference date of any kind, nor does the vinyl or labels. I always find that to be odd. AllMusic puts the release date at 1967 but other references have it as 1969. It sounds a bit more like 1969 to me but then I also think this is essentially a remix of earlier recordings which had been reconstructed with the addition of Mr. Wilson's orchestra. I know that two of the vocals here were also on the album "Les McCann Sings" from 1961, although I'm not sure it offers the same exact Les tracks. So from the vague liner notes it seems that this album is just dressing up a collection of previous releases, and for the most part I like the results even though I'm not sure I've ever heard the leaner originals. Arguably there are spots where the "dressing" may be a little more than is necessary, but generally it comes off tastefully and serves to accentuate the feeling that Les captures on his piano and in his vocals. The album is a continuous flow of mellow and sweet that ebbs to groovin' and swinging soul. So after so many years of searching for this painfully overdue replacement for my long since unraveled 8-track version from the 70's, I'm so glad to be able to once again listen to this timeless recording and share it here since it is nowhere to be found except OOP vinyl (trust me...). My vinyl has a couple of minor imperfections you will probably detect, but it's otherwise a decent copy to enjoy until someone chooses to re-release this little gem. Les McCann may be an acquired taste for some, but I feel my jazz sensibilities pretty much grew up with his sure handed mentoring. I think he is a much more important figure to both jazz and soul music than most people give him credit for. When it comes to Les, I will always take more...

More

Les McCann - More or Les McCann (1969)


World Pacific Jazz / ST-20166

Someone Stole My Chitlins
Since I Fell For You
Django
Falling In Love With Love

Please Send Me Someone To Love
Lavande
It's Way Past Supper Time
Narobi Nights

There are no credits listed on the album cover except a reference to bassist Herbie Lewis on the track, "Django". Otherwise, the only credit is to Gerald Wilson for orchestral arrangements and conducting.