Sam Chatmon (1897-1983) sang his version of a classic cheatin’ song in 1978. Apparently the vid was filmed by Alan Lomax.
The origin of the song “Make Me A Pallet On The Floor” is fuzzy and dates to the 1800s. It appeared in sheet music in 1908 in “Blind Boone’s Southern Rag Medley No. One: Strains from the Alleys.“
Now check out John William Blind Boone‘s amazing story…
Magic Slim, aka Morris Holt (1937-2013). Nice Chicago blues [via].
Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam. The elder (by six months) Magic (Sam) let the younger Magic (Slim) play bass with his band and gave him his nickname.
Have a great weekend folks. Be back here tomorrow for more stuff.
Laverie Vallee, known better as Charmion, was a Sacramento born trapeze artist who possessed strength and a physique most men would be envious of. However, she was most well known for her risqué striptease performances. The act was incredibly impressive and provocative for the era. One of her greatest fans was Thomas Edison. As a result of that adoration, on November 11, 1901 Charmion committed a simplified version of her act to film for Edison. Charmion eventually retired to Santa Ana, California. She passed away on February 6, 1949 at the age of 73.
[Video found here. It’s silent. Talkies didn’t become commercially viable until the 1920s, so don’t crank up the volume and blow your speakers later.]
The Al Cohn Quartet at the Sanremo Jazz Festival 1987. Al Cohn (1925-1988) was one of the greatest improvisational jazz saxophonists of all time. Now check this out:
That’s Shaye Cohn, Al Cohn’s granddaughter, playing stride.
Now check THIS out:
Shaye Cohn – Cornet, Piano, Fiddle, Accordion, Banjo & Spoons
Craig Flory – Clarinet & Saxophone
Barnabus Jones – Trombone, Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals
Todd Burdick – Tuba
Gregory Sherman – Vocals, Guitar & HarmonicaMax Bien-Kahn – Guitar & Banjo
Jason Lawrence – Banjo & Guitar
Robin Rapuzzi – Washboard & Drum set
Erika Lewis – Vocals & Bass drum
Dang. I’ve been impressed with Shaye Cohn’s stuff for years without knowing her pedigree, and now I know where she got it from. Note how she cues the band while playing.
Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll do something else tomorrow.
Leon Redbone was an iconic performer who reinvigorated the music of the late 19th to early 20th century, including blues, ragtime, dixieland jazz and country. That he pulled it off in the mid 1970s is an interesting commentary of the state of music of the time (mainstream rock was sucking donkeys). You couldn’t get more retro than Leon Redbone at that time, and he stepped right into the mix.
Rolling Stone described his repertoire as “so authentic you can hear the surface noise of an old 78 rpm.” During a 1974 interview (prior to release of any album) they asked where he first played in public. Redbone responded, “In a pool hall, but I wasn’t playing guitar, you see. I was playing pool.” Apparently he was pretty good at it.
I learned of the song “Ain’t Misbehavin‘” via some sheet music my late grampa had, and I liked the tune. I’d never heard of Fats Waller before I heard Leon Redbone’s version.
In the early ’80s I saw Mr. Redbone perform at The Golden Bear (a small but famous venue with no bad seats). His props were a rattan chair, a side table with a lamp, and his guitar. He was in the middle of a song when he saw the flash of a Kodak Instamatic camera. With lightning speed, he stopped, grabbed a Polaroid Swinger and took a photo of the photographer, then sat quietly humming until the image appeared. He held it up to view.
“Ahhh. Not a bad likeness.”
Then he resumed the song exactly where he left off.
I wasn’t aware of this until today, but there is a documentary on Leon Redbone. Here’s the trailer:
“He was always mysterious, he was always coming and going. It was almost like he was there one second and he’d be gone the next… and you never knew where he’d gone or why or how he’d even left, but suddenly he wasn’t there anymore.” – Jane Harbury, Publicist.
Here’s a link to the full documentary if you’re interested. It’s only 16 minutes, but it’s worth it.
Leon Redbone, you were a breath of fresh air into the stagnant late 70s music scene. May You Rest In Peace.
Aviator Amy Johnsonwas honored with an Underwood typewriter animation.tribute [via]. She achieved worldwide recognition when, in 1930, she became the first woman pilot or aviatrix to fly solo from England to Australia. She flew the G-AAAH Jason, a second-hand trainer airplane.
This is reported to have been Frank Zappa’s last public performance, directing the Ensemble Modern, Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany, 17 September 1992. Zappa died less than two years later, days shy of his 53rd birthday. From the UToob link:
It was his last professional public appearance, as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found “exhilarating”. Recordings from the concerts appeared on The Yellow Shark, Zappa’s last release during his lifetime.
And now for something completely different.
Have a great weekend, folks, see you back here tomorrow.
In the late 70s, there was a shift away from hard rock, pop, disco, and other over-produced gag-inducing genres, and I took a liking to Country Rock Jazz fusion. The Marshall Tucker Band caught my ear with “The Last of the Singing Cowboys,” one of the prettiest songs ever written, featuring one of the greatest country rock vocalists ever: Doug Gray (and yeah, that’s one silly-ass hat on the guitar player.)
Domingo “Sam” Samudio is still live and howlin’ in this vid from 2000. IIRC, Sam took his nic “The Sham” because he only knew 3 chords. “Little Red Riding Hood” is probably my favorite STSATP song – even in elementary school we got the innuendo. “Oh, That’s Good” was fun due to our juvenile misinterpretation of the lyrics: “He operated on my 3rd leg…”
Archers of Loaf. Great 3-chord rock. According to Wiki, they disbanded, reformed, broke up and now reorganized before disappearing completely.
In 2009, The Axis of Awesome discovered the secret 4-chord progression required to make a hit record.
Zappa’s “Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression” is a classic. Unfortunately the video is not an actual performance, but a compilation of images pasted over the music. So what. I still like it. We’ll let Carlos Santana have the last word.
Por Uhklelelas nailed it, and that’s the prettiest version of the song I ever heard. Unfortunately I can’t find a link to their website. On the other hand I can link to this:
