On this day in 1958 The Crests recorded "16 Candles".
The Crests were a New York R&B doo-wop group of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their most popular song was "16 Candles", written by Luther Dixon and Allyson R. Khent, which rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959 and number four on the R&B charts in 1958.
They recorded the song when Johnny Maestro was only nineteen years old. It sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc.
On this day in 1958 "Patricia" by Perez Prado was #1 on the American R&B chart.
"Patricia" is a popular song with music by Pérez Prado and lyrics by Bob Marcus, published in 1958. The song is best known in an instrumental version by Prado's orchestra that became the last record to ascend to #1 on the Billboard Jockeys and Top 100 charts, both of which gave way the next week to the then newly introduced Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was also number one on the R&B Best Sellers for two weeks. Prado re-recorded and re-charted the song in a 1962 "twist" version. The tune in Perry Como's "Patricia" in 1959 bears no resemblance to any version of Prado's.
Universally known as the King of the Mambo, Pérez Prado was the single most important musician involved in the hugely popular Latin dance craze. Whether he actually created the rhythm is somewhat disputed, but it’s abundantly clear that Prado developed it into a bright, swinging style with massive appeal for dancers of all backgrounds and classes. Prado’s mambo was filled with piercing high-register trumpets, undulating saxophone counterpoint, atmospheric organ (later on), and harmonic ideas borrowed from jazz. While his tight percussion arrangements allowed for little improvisation, they were dense and sharply focused, keeping the underlying syncopations easy for dancers to follow. Prado played the piano, but was often more in his element as the focal point of the audience’s excitement; he leaped, kicked, danced, shouted, grunted, and exhorted his musicians with a dynamic stage presence that put many more sedate conductors and bandleaders to shame. With this blueprint, Prado brought mambo all the way into the pop mainstream, inspiring countless imitators and scoring two number one singles on the pop charts (albeit in a smoother vein than the fare that first made his name) as the fad snowballed. He was a star throughout most of the Western Hemisphere during the ’50s, and even after his popularity waned in the United States, he remained a widely respected figure in many Latin countries, especially his adopted home of Mexico. Prado is often best remembered for his softer, more commercial work, which has an undeniable kitschiness that plays well with modern-day lounge-revival hipsters. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia & last.fm)
On this day in 1961, 14 year old Helen Shapiro became the youngest person to reach # 1 in the U.K. with "You Don't Know".
Helen Shapiro enjoyed phenomenal popularity early in her career. In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had two number one hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness"; and, indeed, her first four single releases all went into the top three of the UK Singles Chart. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK. Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's 'Top Female Singer', and when The Beatles had their first national tour in 1963, it was as her supporting act. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Misery" intended for her, but Shapiro did not record the composition.
By the time she was in her late teens, her career as a pop singer was on the wane.She branched out as a performer in stage musicals, a jazz singer, (jazz being her first love musically), and more recently a gospel singer. She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! in London's West End and has appeared in British television soap operas; in particular Albion Market where she played one of the main characters up to the time it was taken off-air in August 1986.
Shapiro retired from show business at the end of 2002 to concentrate on her gospel outreach evenings. She is married to John Judd, an actor with numerous roles in British television and cinema, she resides in the town of Highworth, Wiltshire.
"You Don't Know " was written by John Schroeder and Michael Hawker and released on the Columbia (EMI) label in the United Kingdom on 29 June 1961. "You Don't Know" topped the UK charts for three weeks beginning 10 August.
In Japan, where Shapiro's version also became popular in 1962, the song was covered in Japanese by Mieko Hirota, who had also covered Shapiro's earlier hit "Don't Treat Me Like a Child." (Info edited from various sources)
On this day in 1960 Johnny Horton recorded "North To Alaska".
John Gale Horton (April 30, 1925 - November 5, 1960), known professionally as Johnny Horton, was an American country music singer who was most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which launched the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. With them, he had several major crossover hits, most notably in 1959 with "The Battle of New Orleans" which won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 was named number 333 of the Songs of the Century. In 1960, Horton had two other crossover hits with "North to Alaska," in John Wayne's hit film, North to Alaska; and "Sink the Bismarck". Horton was also a rockabilly singer, and was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
North to Alaska (German Title: Land der 1000 Abenteuer) is a 1960 comedic western directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne and Stewart Granger. The film script is based on the play Birthday Gift by Ladislas Fodor.
The film featured Johnny Horton's hit song of the same name. Though Horton had sung several popular movie tie-in songs, this was the first one that actually appeared in the film being sung over the opening titles.
George Van Eps (7 August 1913 – 29 November 1998) (often called "the Father of the Seven String Guitar") was an American swing and Mainstream jazz guitarist noted both for his recordings as a leader, and for his work as a session musician.
He was well known as a pioneer of the seven-string guitar, which allowed him to incorporate sophisticated bass lines into his improvisation.
He was a strong influence on later seven-string players such as Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli, and John Pizzarelli (Bucky's son). He is the son of the legendary classic banjo player Fred Van Eps.
When George Van Eps died he left a legacy of phonograph recordings that started in 1934 with the Benny Goodman band (maybe earlier with his father) and ended with his last recording for Concord Records in 1996. During those 62 documented years he made hundreds of recordings as sideman, but only a handful under his own name. And those he made relatively late in his career. Yet, despite this meager output as leading artist, George Van Eps has been revered by every guitar player to come after him. What he did to deserve this acclaim was to single handily create a whole new way to play jazz guitar that brought a complexity, depth and beauty to the instrument that it didn't have before.
George Van Eps grew up in a musical family. His father, Fred Van Eps was a master of the 5-string banjo, his mother was a classically trained pianist and his three older brothers were musicians. George started playing the banjo at age eleven and by age twelve he was out playing professionally with his family. After hearing Eddie Lang for the first time on the radio he made the switch to guitar and by 1934 he was playing with the Benny Goodman band. In that same year he recorded with Adrian Rollini, perhaps recording his first solos on that date on Somebody Loves Me. He then spent several years with the Ray Noble band before moving on to a freelance career in Hollywood.
While in Hollywood, George Van Eps recorded with dozens of artists and every now and then he stepped out front with a solo or showed up as the principal backing for singers like Frank Sinatra. But until the 1960's, Van Eps' primary role was keeping time in a rhythm section. One exception during this period was the series of recordings he made in the mid-1940's on the Jump label with the LaVere Chicago Loopers and as a part of a trio with Eddie Miller and Stan Wrightsman. These recordings put the Van Eps guitar front and center, but due to the limited distribution of the Jump label, did not earn Van Eps much recognition outside of music circles.
Then in the late 1950's and early 1960's he made a series of solo recordings for Columbia and Capitol that featured the unique guitar style of George Van Eps. The first of these recordings was Mellow Guitar, followed by My Guitar, Seven String Guitar and Soliloquy. If George Van Eps had not made another recording, this series of recordings would have secured the Van Eps legend. But, then in the 1990's he made a series of brilliant recordings for Concord Records with Howard Alden that made his music accessible to a whole new generation of jazz lovers. And, once again earned the complete admiration of a whole new generation of guitarists. Even in his 80s, he remained an eloquent exponent of easygoing modern swing., George Van Eps died of pneumonia on November 29, 1998 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California. He was 85.
A survey of George Van Eps' recorded work shows that as early as 1935 he was already playing in his unique style. The depth and complexity were not fully developed yet, but the unmistakable style was there. Then, after Epiphone made him a seven-string guitar in 1938, he began displaying the depth, richness and complexity that are the hallmarks of the Van Eps sound. The first major recordings with this new instrument were the Jump recordings from the mid 1940's. The solos recorded at that time like I Wrote It For Jo and Kay's Fantasy and Tea For Two have Van Eps playing bass, melody and supporting chords all himself all at the same time. No over dubbing, no multi-track. These recordings led Clive Acker, the producer of Jump records at the time, to say " ...even the untutored ear can tell that playing these solos is not difficult, it's impossible!"
The guitar playing on these recordings amazed the producer and set the guitar playing community on its head and established a whole new standard by which jazz guitar and it's player would be measured and would measure themselves.
Satin Doll Prelude To A Kiss A Blues Serenade The Very Thought Of You Kisses Stop, Look and Listen
Sophisticated Lady Glad To Be Unhappy Serenata Baubles, Bangles and Beads A Libra Rhapsody Come Rain Or Come Shine
George Van Eps - 7-string guitar Frank Flynn - marimba Jerry Williams - drums
Here's a great video from YouTube uploader halden7 of Gerge Van Eps and Howard Alden playing the Cole Porter classic Night & Day in Schorndorf, Germany. Oct 1993.
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet playerand a solid improviser".
Jazz Bandleader. Born in Ogden, Utah in 1905, at the age of four he was playing a cornet, but was also thoroughly schooled in violin and piano. By age 6 he was appearing at socials and in street parades. At age 12 he played dance music in his father’s dance band. In spite of his strict musical upbringing, he loved jazz, and left home at 17 for New York City. There a young Red Nichols was in demand for his keen ability to sight-read. He recorded for Thomas Edison, and formed a jazz band and signed with Brunswick as “Red Nichols and the Five Pennies”. In addition, he also recorded as “The Red Heads“, “The Charlston Chasers,” “The Louisiana Rhythm Kings“, and “The Arkansas Travelers“ for other labels.
In 1924 he played in the pit of a Broadway show, and 1925 saw him in one or more recording sessions daily. He was unquestionably the most-recorded musician of his time. In 1927 he recorded “Ida”, which became Brunswick’s first million-seller. In the late 1920's, his ensembles included musicians Joe Venuti, Adrian Rollini, Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. During 1928-1929, Red Nichols toured the West Coast, and in the early 1930's he led big bands, including the orchestra for Bob Hope’s radio shows.
Returning to small group jazz in the late 1930's, he traveled between the East and West coasts, but when his daughter became gravely-ill in the early forties, he and his wife Willa moved to San Leandro, California, where she lived with relatives while his band toured (his daughter eventually made a full recovery). He quit the music business and went to work in the shipyards during the war. Eventually he put the “Five Pennies” back togethera s a Dixieland sextet, regaining his popularity playing clubs, particularly after bass saxophonist Joe Rushton became a permanent member, it was one of the finer traditional jazz bands of the next 20 years.
Nichols recorded several memorable hot versions of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," the best being in 1959. That same year a highly enjoyable if rather fictional Hollywood movie called The Five Pennies (and featuring Nichols' cornet solos and Danny Kaye's acting) made Red into a national celebrity at the twilight of his long career. Nichols' earlier sessions have been reissued in piecemeal fashion during the digital era, with later albums remaining unavailable.
The film brought him new fame, and he toured Europe as an Ambassador of Goodwill for the United States State Department. The band recorded albums for Capitol Records, and played lucrative engagements.
In 1965 Nichols took his Five Pennies band to Las Vegas, to play at the then-new Mint Hotel. He was only a few days into the date when, on June 28, 1965, he was sleeping in his suite and was awakened by paralyzing chest pains. He managed to call the front desk and an ambulance was summoned, but it arrived too late. That night the band went on as scheduled, but at the center of the band a spotlight pointed down at an empty chair in Nichols’ customary spot. Red’s bright and shiny cornet sat alone on the chair. Around it swirled the “happy music” Nichols had loved all his life.
In spite of the controversy surrounding his work, Red Nichols was the most recorded and successful musician-bandleader in New York in the 1920s. He led enormously popular bands—featuring some of the most creative white jazz players of that time —under names, such as The Five Pennies, The Red Heads, and Miff Mole and His Little Molers. This voluminous output of recorded work—Red appeared on about 4,000 recordings in the 1920s—is recognized today as a major expansion and refinement of the harmonic and compositional possibilities in jazz.
The University of Oregon (Eugene), houses his personal papers; his private collection is in the Archives of Recorded Sound, University of Kansas, (Lawrence). (Info edited from mainly Wikipedia, All Music and bio by Verne Langdon)
01 - Margie (1959)
02 - Japanese Sandman (1958)
03 - Battle Hymn Of The Republic (1959)
04 - Lullaby In Ragtime (1959)
05 - Avalon (1958)
06 - Summertime (1961)
07 - Mississippi Mud (1958)
08 - When The Saints Go Marchin' In (1959)
09 - The Five Pennies (1959)
10 - Indiana (1959)
11 - The Birth Of The Blues (1961)
12 - Eccentric (1959)
13 - Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble (1959)
14 - Bill Bailey (1959)
I have one old 78 of Dolores Ventura from the mid 50s. On researching this artist I came up with next to nothing and am none the wiser .Can anyone help?
Here's the info so far......
A TV and Disc Jamboree Johnny StewartMaxine DanielsDon FoxDolores VenturaBobby LimbRon Scott Maxine Daniels & Dolores Ventura
Johnny Stewart recorded for HMV in 1958. Maxine Daniels was a jazz and cabaret singer who recorded for Oriole. Don Foz made several singles for Decca including a version of Be My Girl. Dolores Ventura was recording for Parlophone in 1956. Bobby Limb is probably an Australian who later had his own tv show in Australia.
Prado played the piano, but was often more in his element as the focal point of the audience’s excitement; he leaped, kicked, danced, shouted, grunted, and exhorted his musicians with a dynamic stage presence that put many more sedate conductors and bandleaders to shame. With this blueprint, Prado brought mambo all the way into the pop mainstream, inspiring countless imitators and scoring two number one singles on the pop charts (albeit in a smoother vein than the fare that first made his name) as the fad snowballed. He was a star throughout most of the Western Hemisphere during the ’50s, and even after his popularity waned in the United States, he remained a widely respected figure in many Latin countries, especially his adopted home of Mexico. Prado is often best remembered for his softer, more commercial work, which has an undeniable kitschiness that plays well with modern-day lounge-revival hipsters. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia & last.fm)
George Van Eps (7 August 1913 – 29 November 1998) (often called "the Father of the Seven String Guitar") was an American swing and Mainstream jazz guitarist noted both for his recordings as a leader, and for his work as a session musician.
He was a strong influence on later seven-string players such as Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli, and John Pizzarelli (Bucky's son). He is the son of the legendary classic banjo player Fred Van Eps.
recording sessions daily. He was unquestionably the most-recorded musician of his time. In 1927 he recorded “Ida”, which became Brunswick’s first million-seller. In the late 1920's, his ensembles included musicians Joe Venuti, Adrian Rollini, Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. During 1928-1929, Red Nichols toured the West Coast, and in the early 1930's he led big bands, including the orchestra for Bob Hope’s radio shows.
