May 2009

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Record #79

21 May 2009 in Music by DJ Drew | 1 comment

Vocal hits remanufactured as brass instrumentals:

Nashville Brass Turns To Gold
Danny Davis And The Nashville Brass 

There are lots of styles and music which gives me a ‘pick-me-up’ and one of them is most certainly the sound of brass. I pulled this album out one morning to get me on the mood to cook and clean. Before I knew it I had flipped the vinyl a few times looking for nonexistent sides 3 and 4.

After listening you the album a few times over I checked out Danny Davis on wikipedia, which turned out to be a great read! The story of Davis pitching his idea of recording country with brass instruments to Chet Atkins with complete disapproval from the RCA executives in New York is classic. Personally, I love stories when someone is told that “it will never work” or in Davis’s case, country music fans “don’t like horns” / it’s a “terrible idea” to only have the story end a blazing success proving all the naysayers wrong. Props to Atkins for saying, “young fella, I run Nashville, go do it.”

Some quick tidbits on Danny and the Brass:

  • 1969 Grammy: “Best instrumental group of the year.”
  • Won five consecutive Country Music Plaques (CMA) in a row: 1969 – 1974.
  • One of the first country music acts to have their own airplane: “Lady Barbara” (for Davis’s wife).

Side 1:

  1. Java
  2. Forever
  3. Ol’ Red River Valley
  4. Sixteen Tons
  5. January Eighth (1972)

Side 2:

  1. Honky Tonk
  2. Melodie d’Amour
  3. Riders in the Sky
  4. El Paso
  5. Flowers on the Wall

Here are the musicians featured on this 1972 album:

  • Danny Davis, leader, flugelhorn
  • Grady Martin, leader, electric guitar
  • Floyd Cramer and Larry Butler, piano
  • Bob Moore, bass and electric bass
  • Buddy Harman, drums
  • Ray Edenton, rhythm guitar
  • Lloyd Green, steel guitar
  • Curtis McPeake and Bobby Thompson, banjo
  • Harold Bradley, electric guitar
  • Bill Pippin, flugelhorn
  • Bill McElhiney and Bill Pippin, trumpet
  • Jim Hall, Rex Peer, Frank Smith and Roger Bissell, trombone
  • Bill McElhiney, arranger-conductor 
Nashville Brass Turns To Gold

Nashville Brass Turns To Gold

More albums and ordering information can be found at the official home for Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass.

Record #78

8 May 2009 in Music by DJ Drew | 1 comment

Here is a fantastic Columbia album to get the ball of wax spinning after the hiatus!

Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein

Side 1: The New York Philharmonic with the Dave Brubeck Quartet conducted by Leonard Bernstein
- Howard Brubeck: Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra -
1. I – Allegro
2. II – Andante – Ballad
3. III – Adagio – Ballad
4. IV – Allegro – Blues

Side 2: The Dave Brubeck Quartet
1. Maria
2. I Feel Pretty
3. Somewhere – From the Musical Production, “West Side Story”
4. A Quiet Girl – From the Musical Production, “Wonderful Town”
5. Tonight – From the Musical Production, “West Side Story”

This historic album hit the mood perfectly the other night as I was making dinner. I’m gonna have to remember it for future spins during dinner parties. I found side one particularly entertaining with the Jazz combo and Orchestra, which makes for a sweet listen.

Personal Conservatory: Take 2

7 May 2009 in General by DJ Drew | 3 comments

So you might have noticed a little hiatus has taken place. What happened was nothing short of a failure on my part. I had a good run updating this site daily, then came November. After 77 days of solid turntable spinning and album posting, I was tired of the daily burden and attention this blog required – it wasn’t fun anymore and what was once an entertainment escape now felt like work. Work is something I have no problem with, so long as it’s part of the deal going in. This was something I had brought on myself. So I decided to take a step back from the project in order to regroup and go at it with a fresh [and full] cup of coffee.

Taking a step back from the project, I learned two things:
1. I still loved listening to random albums. New, old, crap, painful, splendid, whatever. I can tolorate it all when I am pulling out an unknown album for the first time. I discovered that I find apprication in just about anything – even if it’s not something I care for. I’m like that, it’s something I enjoy.

2. I also still like to blog. However, I don’t like the constant feeling that I “need” to blog. [I enjoy being able to scratch things off my to-do list.]

This project was started as a vehicle for me to chronicle what I discover while going through a massive amount of unknown albums. As I was blogging everyday, the project shifted from something fun that I was doing for myself to something that I was only doing for the blog. The problem with doing something for the blog is that it’s just that, it’s a blog – an inadament object. Why was I letting an inadament object suck the entertainment and enjoyment out of something that is fun? It’s not like I had the obligation to defend the constitution. I needed to find a way to make this fun for me again so it could be a cool escape. And if I’m able to have fun, then chances are readers, observers and onlookers will enjoy it more as well.

So what was the problem? Well a few months later I’m still listening to albums just about everyday and I’m still regularly blogging on another site. I think in the end my complaints about this blog came about from having to constantly update the site.

So here is what I’ve decided to do for Take 2:
- As time permits I am going to continue updating the blog with the albums which I listen to all the way through. My goal is to have fairly frequent posts, but I’m not holding myself to that.
- Additionally, As much as I love exploring the past, I like living in the present & future – including music. So I am also going to start including posts about the newer music that is on my radar.

How’s that sound? Like a good plan? I hope so, because I’m looking forward to Take 2. And if anyone should ever want to contribute music posts (new, old, opinionated), just let me know and I’ll gladly add you as a poster.

Cheers,
-DJ Drew