Flaco Jimenez born 11 March 1939

Leonardo “Flaco” Jiminez (March 11, 1939 – July 31, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter and  accordionist  from  San Antonio,  Texas. He is known for having played  conjunto, norteño  and  tejano. Jiménez was a solo performer and  session musician, as well as a member of the Texas Tornados  and Los Super Seven. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received numerous awards and honors, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the  Grammys,  Americana Music Awards, Tejano Music Awards, and  Billboard  magazine.

Born Leonardo Jiménez in San Antonio, he was known since childhood as Flaco (Spanish for skinny). He was the son of Santiago Jiménez, a successful accordion player, and his wife, Luisa (known as Mena), who ran a home filled with music. His grandfather, Patricio, had played conjunto, as did his father, who recorded several regional hits. Flaco started out playing bajo sexto guitar, a 12-stringed Mexican instrument, then switched to the accordion when he was seven. At 15 he started a band, Los Caporales, and began playing on local radio stations at the start of a career that would transform Texan music.

                                

Flaco's first instrument was the bajo sexto (a Mexican variation on the 12-string guitar), which he started to play at age seven, but after he became proficient enough to join his father on-stage, Flaco's interest turned to the accordion, and he developed a joyous, expressive style that was influenced by zydeco master Clifton Chenier  as well as his father and his Tex-Mex peers. 

Los Caporales 1957

At 15, Jimenéz formed his first band, Los Caporales, and the group soon won a sizable following in San Antonio, cutting records for a local label and earning a weekly spot on a local television variety show. By the early '60s, Jimenéz was already a Texas legend, playing clubs across the Lone Star State and regularly filling dancehalls in San Antonio with music that fused the classic Tejano sound with elements of blues and country.

Jiménez’s profile continued to rise, and in 1973 he was asked by the renowned Tex-Mex musician Doug Sahm to contribute accordion to his debut album, which included appearances from musical mainstays like Bob Dylan and Dr. John. These collaborations helped to establish Jiménez’s national reputation as a master of conjunto, and in 1976, Ry Cooder invited him to contribute to Chicken Skin Music, Cooder’s first exploration of Tex-Mex traditions. Following his appearance on Cooder’s album, Jiménez was invited to join the roster of Arhoolie Records, and in 1977 he recorded Flaco Jiménez y Su Conjunto, his first album to be distributed outside of the American Southwest. Through the 1980s and ’90s Jiménez continued releasing new recordings and reissuing earlier works with Arhoolie Records.

Jiménez continued to tour and record extensively, winning his first GRAMMY in 1987 and appearing on Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens’ chart-topping country single “Streets of Bakersfield” in 1988. He joined forces with Doug Sahm once again in 1989, forming the supergroup known as The Texas Tornados with fellow Tejano stars Freddie Fender and Augie Myers. In 1992, Jiménez made his debut on Warner Bros. Records with the hit album Partners, which included appearances from Stephen Stills, Emmylou Harris, and Los Lobos.

In 1994, he made a guest appearance on The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge, and in 1999, he won his fourth GRAMMY, making him the most awarded artist in the history of the GRAMMY’s “Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album” category—this time for his contributions to Los Super Seven’s debut album. Jiménez was a mentor to Max Baca, the leader of the GRAMMY Award-winning group Los Texmaniacs, and in 2014 the pair released the collaborative album Flaco & Max: Legends & Legacies on Smithsonian Folkways, capturing the essential sounds of the conjunto tradition.

Jiménez went on to receive lifetime achievement awards from both Billboard and the GRAMMYs, as well as a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He continued to tour and record into his seventies, and in 2017 a photo of Jiménez was hung in the National Portrait Gallery. In 2022 he was awarded a prestigious National Medal of Arts by the United States government, “for harnessing heritage to enrich American music.”

Jiménez died following a long illness on July 31, 2025, at the age of 86.  He had been living at the home of one of his sons. His legacy as a conjunto pioneer and master of the accordion will live on through his groundbreaking recordings and the countless artists he continues to inspire.

(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & The Guardian)

Back To Normal (well almost)

 Hello music lovers I have now installed my new PC and have got back to some sort of normality. Since my old PC got fried and is now in pooter heaven, I could not believe the amount of requests for new links. So before I start blogging I will endeavour to fulfil  them ALL 

Also please note if  anyone sent me any files since Feb 1st then please do again as all were lost. Luckily I backed up all music files prior to that date.

So as soon as I catch up with the re-posts, I'll be back!

Tommy McCook born 3 March 1927

Tommy McCook OD (3* March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.He was among the most innovative and influential Jamaican musicians of his generation, a prime catalyst behind the evolution and international popularity of ska and reggae. 

Thomas Matthew McCook was born March 4, 1927. While some sources claim he was born to Jamaican parents in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in 1933, others claim that he was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He was raised by his mother, who worked in the kitchen of a beachfront music club in Kingston. There, McCook sometimes watched bands rehearse, an experience he later cited as fostering an early interest in music. 

                                    

He began learning the tenor saxophone at age eleven, after his mother enrolled him at the Alpha Cottage School in 1938. McCook joined Eric Deans' Orchestra in 1943 after Deans selected him from the graduating class at the Alpha School. He spent several years playing in various groups, including Don Hitchman’s sextet and Roy Coburn’s Blu-Flames. 

In 1954, he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane, a major influence on his playing. McCook would later call jazz his "first love" and additionally cite Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, and Ornette Coleman as influences. 

The Skatalites

McCook returned to Jamaica in early 1962, where he was approached by a few local producers to do some recordings. Eventually, he consented to record a jazz session for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, which was issued on the album Jazz Jamaica. His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold's "Exodus", recorded in November 1963 with musicians who would soon make up the Skatalites. Though they only existed for 14 months, the Skatalites were the quintessential ska band of their time, backing every major vocalist and producing an astounding amount of prime instrumental material. 

The Supersonics

In the wake of the group's demise, McCook founded the Supersonics, who were soon installed as the house band at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle studio; the most sought-after studio of the rocksteady era, they appeared on classic hits from artists including Alton Ellis, Justin Hinds, and the Techniques. The Supersonics featured bassist Jackie Jackson and drummer Paul Douglas, who would later become the rhythm section for Toots and the Maytals.

During the 1960s and 1970s, McCook recorded with the majority of prominent reggae artists of the era, working particularly with producers Clement "Coxsone" Dodd as well as Bunny Lee, and his house band, The Aggrovators, as well as being featured prominently in the recordings of Yabby You and the Prophets (most notably on version sides and extended disco-mixes), all while still performing and recording with the variety of line ups under the Skatalites name. 

In 1975, McCook was honored with Jamaica's Order of Distinction for his contributions to music. In 1997, The Slackers paid tribute to McCook with "Cooking for Tommy," an instrumental track on their album Redlight. In 1978, Tommy McCook made a brief cameo in the film Rockers directed by Theodoros Bafaloukos. He was also part of the Rockers All Stars, the group responsible for the film's instrumental music. 

In 1983 he re-formed the Skatalites nearly two decades after their initial breakup, relocating them to the U.S. in 1985 just months after the release of their comeback album, Return of the Big Guns. A series of new releases from the Skatalites followed in the years to come, and they even notched a pair of Grammy nominations. In 1994 they mounted their first world tour, which included appearances as part of the Skavoovee U.S.A. tour, a package that included their descendants the Specials, the Selecter, and the Toasters. 

After a heart attack in 1995, McCook temporarily withdrew from touring with the reformed Skatalites, a change which became permanent in 1996. He recorded on the band's albums through the mid-1990s until a triple-bypass surgery kept him from the Ball of Fire (1997) sessions. 

McCook died of pneumonia and heart failure at his home in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 5, 1998, at the age of 71. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic) (* some sources give 4th March others give just the year)

 

Norman Wade born 2 March 1946

Norman Wade (March, 2, 1946 – December, 2021) was an American Country singer and songwriter. 

Norman Wade has been a country music cult hero to thousands of fans throughout the world, yet little is known of Wade’s early years, except that he was born Norman Robert Stevenson in Columbus, Georgia, USA., and developed an interest in country music as a child. He was particularly attracted to the music of Hank Williams.

 As a teenager he learnt to play the guitar and lived and worked in Louisiana. Whilst employed at the local Winn Dixie Store he helped to open other stores in Lafayette, Morgan City, New Iberia and New Orleans. At night he would pick and sing country songs in the few night spots that hadn’t given way to rock & roll music at that time.   

                                    

In 1959, he relocated to Nashville where he first encountered Marty Robbins playing a steel guitar in an Opry dressing room, but at the time didn’t know who he was. Wade answered Marty’s inquiries by saying that he had come to Nashville to write songs and was staying at the YMCA. Marty, who became Wade’s biggest influence, offered him a job that led to his working for the star for the next 15 years, including appearances with him on the Grand Ole Opry (Robbins later even played dobro on some tracks on Wade’s Pure Country). 

Wade first recorded in 1959, and cut a number of singles over the years before "going solo" in the '70s, when he started to record albums of his own.It was in 1978 that he achieved minor success with ‘Close Every Honky Tonk’. Although he continued to record and achieved some local chart successes, his only Billboard entry was a 1979 recording of Hank Williams’ ‘I’m A Long Gone Daddy’. 

The initial response to his career started off in the Deep South. Like an established superstar, folks hearing him for the first time started calling the radio stations to hear more of his records, and they would pack the night clubs to see and hear him perform.  Wade had written many songs and excelled at recording honky-tonk numbers. He played in all parts of the United States and also at the Opry in his own right. In 1984, he was honoured with lifetime membership of the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival in Meridian, Mississippi. 

He remained active but, like Vernon Oxford, his ability to sing in the style of Hank Williams and his love for the down-home country sound of fiddle and steel guitar meant that he was probably born 10 years too late to gain the proper acclaim his ability merits. 

According to Praguefrank’ s Country Music Discographies Norman Wade died  during December 2021. 

(Edited from scant information from All Muisc and LP liner notes)

Here's a short clip of Norman from You Tube.

Ila Vann born 1938

Ila Vann (born 1938) is a Soul, blues and R&B singer. 

Born Ila Harriet Fields in Long Branch, New Jersy, USA. Her brothers are Hampton Carlton (keyboard player for the The Mighty Clouds Of Joy) and Paul Vann. 

She started out singing in church and was spotted at age 8 by Mahalia Jackson and went on the road as an opening act for her for the next 4 years. She sang with The Blind Boys Of Alabama, The Staple Singers, Clara Ward and Sam Cooke. At age 23, she recorded with Louis Armstrong. Her work with Sam Cooke led to her first recording contract with Arnold Records. 

“I was working as a waitress on Broadway, and Sam Cooke came in. I told him I was interested in recording rhythm and blues. Two weeks later, I was in the studio.” A week later she recorded What’s the Matter Baby that went to number 1 in England. This led to countless recording sessions with Frank Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong.

                                   

“Louis Armstrong was such a nice man and so wise. He told me, ‘You will never make a million in the business because you are so focused on your family, but you will be popular.’ I turned down a lot of tours because of my children. I would never leave my family for long. I am thankful because my children now tell me how grateful they are I didn’t leave them with a sitter for long periods.” Throughout her 30’s, she exclusively performed in NYC. After 14 years of a loving marriage with four kids, she was suddenly widowed.

Ila hit Broadway in 1972 in the musical Inner City and her move to Roulette resulted in a more commercial sound, and she is especially known for her version of "Can’t Help Loving That Man" from the musical "Showboat". This song later became a huge hit on the Northern Soul circuit in England. Vann broke her Roulette contract due to a lack of promotion/marketing for her work.  She continued to be a sought after solo performer as well as providing distinct harmonies with pop greats Barry Manilow. 

Following her Roulette recordings, she worked on Broadway musicals, toured with the USO, and the group Business Before Pleasure. She lived in Ontario, Canada for many years and performed in cities and towns around Eastern Ontario. She toured the province for three years, meeting her second husband near Bagotville where he was stationed in the military. She got married and acquired permanent residence. The couple came to Trenton in 1987 when he was posted..  Vann performed for the next four years with the R and B Boys out of Belleville. She also made occasional appearances in the UK for always appreciative Northern Soul devotees. Her husband died in 2002. 

Ila continued to perform weekly for the next four years with the R and B Boys out of Belleville. Then, for the next three, she settled into a regular spot at Brandees in Kingston where the owner hired a tight band to back her. There, she met Ian Kojima, the sax player from the Fade Kings, and consequently she did many shows with them before retiring in 2017. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with one of her daughters. Ila Vann was the kind of performer you never forgot, bubbling with energy and full of life, yet was  a vastly underrated performer – recognition of her contributions to the Soul Music genre is long overdue.  

(Edited from Discogs, The Intelligencer, Loyal Blues & County and Quinte Living.)

 

Mike Wofford born 28 February 1938

Michael Wofford (February 28, 1938 – September 19, 2025) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He was an accompanist to singers Sarah Vaughan (in 1979) and Ella Fitzgerald (1989–1994). He was known in the jazz community going back to the 1960s for the albums Strawberry Wine and Summer Night. He performed with Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Joe Pass, Shelly Manne, Kenny Burrell, and Zoot Sims. 

Michael Wofford was born in San Antonio, Texas, on February 28, 1938; at age five, he and his mother moved to San Diego, California. At age seven, he began taking classical piano lessons at a local music store. He admired men such as Béla Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, John Cage, and Art Tatum. Wofford was introduced to jazz by a combination of his mother, who had been a professional singer prior to being married, and radio. 

Wofford attended Point Loma High School, where he embraced his love for jazz as a sophomore. He played in area bands with men such as John Guerin, Don Sleet, and Gary Lefebvre. At age 19, the San Diego Symphony performed two compositions of his which he had written at age 14 and 18 respectively. He attended San Diego State College but dropped out after a semester due to lack of devotion. 

                  Here’s “I Know Your Heart” from above album. 

                                   

In 1959, he accepted an invitation to play in Howard Rumsey's band, the Lighthouse All Stars. After moving to Los Angeles, he was featured as the pianist in Mel Tormé's 1962 album Comin' Home Baby!. Through an association with Oliver Nelson, he also worked on TV-film scoring for works such as M*A*S*H, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Merv Griffin Show, The Bill Cosby Show, and You've Got Mail; he also did pop-music sessions with figures such as Joan Baez, The Jackson 5, John Lennon, and Cher. 

In 1964, record producer Albert Marx discovered Wofford and signed him and his trio (John Guerin on drums and John Doling on bass) to Epic Records. In 1966, Wofford released his first solo album, Strawberry Wine, which received critical acclaim. 

In the 1970s Wofford toured Europe with Manne and Lee Konitz, in the 1980s Japan with Manne, Sweets Edison, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Japan and Brazil with Benny Carter. He performed with Kenny Burrell, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Charlie Haden, Slide Hampton, Clifford Jordan, Ray Brown, and Charles McPherson. Wofford worked on John Lennon's album Rock 'n' Roll (1975) and in 1973 briefly toured with Roger McGuinn of the Byrds. He continued touring with various prominent artists and recording before moving back to San Diego in the late 1970s. 

He continued to work with various artists, including George Lewis, Sérgio Mendes, Quincy Jones, James Moody, Harry Nilsson, Zoot Sims, John Klemmer, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald, becoming the latter two's pianist and conductor from 1979 to 1983 and 1989 to 1994 respectively. He also collaborated with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and was featured on an array of film and TV soundtracks, from “The Godfather Part II” and “Sweet Charity” to “Hawaii Five-0” and “The Bill Cosby Show.” 

In 2000, Wofford married flutist Hofmann in 2000 and they toured together and recorded a 2006 duo album together at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in the San Diego neighborhood of La Jolla. Their chemistry together was equally palpable on stage and off. Wofford made significant contributions to jazz education through his involvement in workshops, clinics, and camps, particularly in San Diego, where he served as core faculty for the UC San Diego Jazz Camp starting from its inaugural session in 2003. 

On August 13, 2012, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 22nd Annual San Diego Music Awards. In 2023, Wofford was inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame for his lifetime of representing San Diego with exceptional musical talent. 

Wofford died  at the age of 87 years, on September 19, 2025, in the Balboa Park-area home he shared with his wife and longtime musical partner, flutist Holly Hofmann. He had been receiving hospice care there for the past two weeks. The cause of death, Hofmann said, was complications from hyponatremia, a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood is too low. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

 

Obrey Wilson born 27 February 1942

Obrey Wilson (February 27, 1942 – February 6, 2016) was an American country, gospel and soul singer / songwriter. 

Obrey Dean Wilson was born in Clarksville, the son of Obey Lee Wilson and Clara Person Wilson. For an artist who had a dozen or so 45s released precious little is known about Obrey – which is a shame as he was a fine vocalist and strong songwriter who made some high quality country soul in the 60s and 70s. He seems to have started his career with Snuff Garrett at Liberty, and although his four sides for the company are more pop than soul, “Hey There Mountain” from 1962 has some notoriety as being one of only a handful of sides that Phil Spector produced for Garrett. 

                                   

The cuts from his first stay at Epic were produced by Jerry Kennedy or Billy Sherrill in Nashville, and they range in styles from pop/country to soul. The best is undoubtedly She Used To Be Mine (1965) which is really soulful thanks to Wilson’s obvious gospel vocal touches, including a well judged rap, and the tasteful piano. His sole Columbia outing was recorded in New York, with Charlie Calello providing the big big backdrop for his version of the uplifting “My Ancestors”, (1966)  also covered by Charles Gray. The flip has had some Northern scene action. Obrey’s Philips 45 was again produced by Jerry Kennedy but neither side was among his best. 

But both sides of his Bell 45 were far better. It was another Nashville recording, but more like John Richbourg’s style of music from there than Billy Sherrill’s. “Soul Satisfaction #1” (1969) was a gently funky little opus, very nicely arranged, and Break Away Baby (1968) was far and away Wilson’s best effort to date. In a classic southern soul setting of guitar/organ underpinning a strong horn section, Obrey cut loose, his high tenor sounding just perfect, full of righteous fire and hoarse commitment. 

He continued this gospel feeling with his next 45, an easy paced tuneful hymn, with some really good guitar and conga playing over which Wilson again gets high with the spirit. Both tracks on his second Mercury single came from the pen of the wonderful Swamp Dogg and while “You Were Meant For Me” (1972) was good, his version of Laid Back And Easy was excellent. Always one of Swamp’s finer evocative numbers, I think Wilson’s rendition just about shades Freddie North’s for sheer soul thanks to his oh-so-flexible vocal. 

Thanks to its inclusion on the “Lost Soul” series of LPs Obrey’s outstanding Sho Nuff You Can (1973) is probably his most accessible track. But this superb slice of country soul can’t really have enough plaudits aimed at it, so sweet is the melody, so subtle the playing , so good are Bergen Whit’s horn charts and so emotional the vocal that it’s almost an advertisement for country soul. 

Wilson’s final single in 1982 was for John E Denny’s Nashville operation and Mel Tillis’ Take Time was another winner, just the right side of the country/soul divide with Wilson’s hoarse tone lovely to hear, and his “delay” sense of time really on the button. His companion on the track Bernice Cook sings well too. 

Obrey was a member of Mt.Zion Baptist Church, Port Royal. He worked as a nurse for Complete Home Health Care for 43 years. He passed away in Clarkesville, Tennessee on February6, 2016, aged 73 years old.  

(Edited from Sir Shambling & obit @ Clarkesville Now)