Dr Simon Reads...

Time for some bluesy folk (or is that folksy blues?). Ramblin’ Jack must surely have been an influence on Bob Dylan, and I note that he was f r iends with Woody Guthrie , another inspiration for Dylan. Most of the tracks are Elliott and his guitar (with a bit of harmonica sometimes), singing what I guess to be trad itional songs about working the mule train for a borax mine, a faithful old dog, and a few about insects – Bed Bug Blues (“Bed bugs are e vil”), and Boll Weevil , about the boll weevil coming up from Mexico “ looking for a home ” .   There’s a lot of folksy humour on display in the lyrics - “I got a girl, she’s six feet tall, sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall” for example). Elliott tends to give a little bit of background to each song and its roots, which is possibly considerably truncated for the album since the “Ramblin’” nickname comes not from his travels but his anecdotes. It feels, though like he’s a troubadour collecting old Am erican folk songs th...

Fifteen albums down, and we get our first woman at last (not counting Keely Smith, who doesn’t get a billing with Louis Prima). And I’m ashamed to say I’ve never heard of Sarah Vaughan given what a big figure she was in the musical field over her lifetime. Going by the number of covers of well-known songs from all genres that she’s done, I’ve probably heard her version of *something* at some point, but not realised .   This is a live album, complete with an announcement at the start about it being recorded, and an amusing aside during Willow Weep For Me where Vaughan weaves “I’ve really fouled up this song” into her si nging. There’s a thump of something being moved on stage that the recording picks up, but she keeps going, and I didn’t notice that she’d forgotten t he words or something like that, so kudos to her stage professionalism. And for How High The Moon, she sings along how she doesn’t know the words or how it goes, but Ella Fitzgerald sings it and she’s going to give i...

It’s quite a testament, I think, th at The Count Basie Orchestra continued, under a series of new leaders, even after Basie’s death in 1984, and he was performing right up until then. I don’t know why this particular album was included , but when it’s neither the first, not the biggest selling album by an artist my guess is that it somehow represents a quintessential version of that artist’s sound, or perhaps is a key point where a particular genre emerges.   Basie’s Orchestra is evidently big band in nature (with around 18 members give- or-take at any one time), and by a look at his career he also takes in elements of other jazz style s (and maybe a bit of non-jazz), with some be-bop evident in the solo horn work on these tracks, and some nice percussion work in the occasional break as well.   Did I think it was a great album? Not really my thing as I’ve said before, but I didn’t hate it. By turns kicking up a great groove or sliding into mellow chill , very much what I’d ex...

Buddy Holly may have been an inspiration to Lennon and McCartney, but sitar player Ravi Shankar was a big influence on their fellow Beatle George Harrison. And perhaps Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker several decades later. Hence, probably, his inclusion in this list. Harrison in turn helped Shankar gain more exposure in the West, leading to Shankar, and his daughter, becoming world famous performers of traditional Indian music. And so it goes.   Handily, the first track on this album is Shankar giving is a little tutorial on how Indian music works (“Not just a Hindi jazz” despite the improvisational themes), which is good for context for the rest of the album. The one thing that the lesson reminded me of, though, was the Podling Dance from the original Dark Crystal – I wonder if the composer for that, because it blends all kinds of styles, mixed in a bit of Indian music theory.   Near as I can tell, the raga is the theme played, and improvised, on the sitar, over a rhythm pa...

One wonders what Buddy Holly would have done had he not met an untimely end. Is part of his legend simply that he died young? Perhaps, but there’s talent on display here (not to take away from the other members of the Crickets). Already I’ve expressed how some musicians can make things seem a lot simpler than they are (in fact, on the very first album in this list, talking about Sinatra’s singing style). The Crickets’ songs are deceptively simple – spare and lean, but actually quite cleverly done if you listen to them closely, in terms of the little flourishes.   I’m guessing this is here partly due to Holly’s legacy and partly because it’s a formative album in the “rockabilly” style, with the hard twangy guitars and staccato beats. Although it bears similarities to Elvis’ work, it’s also noticeably its own thing . There are some do- wop backing vocals, which according to Professor W. Ikipedia , the Crickets were forced to add by the studio and didn’t really like them. Probably t...

Something a little different here – Louis “Sabu” Martinez and some Puerto Rican ... samba? Perhaps? I can find little about this album and so I can’t give much accurate information about the genre, nor much about Sabu apart from the fact that he did play with Dizzy Gillespie and seems to have made his way through the big band scene. Sabu himself is the congo player, and band leader, and really drives this album.   Lots of Afro-Latin stylings, with each track essentially being a groove around a congo beat with other instruments moving around it , spiralling in and out of the track. Some are deliciously tribal, such as the driving Simba, or Billumba Palo- Congo which is a series of call and response (more shouted than sung) over a relentless congo beat.   I note that both The Incredible Bongo Band and Buena Vista Social Club make this list later on, and I think this belongs in the set of “if you like that you’ll like this”.    I really liked it. I imagine it ...