Sad news. Mary sang lead on a number of Supremes songs in the early days, including this 1962 doo wop ballad, "Baby Don't Go":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ntxm5TL1M

Rest in peace, Ms Wilson.

I remembered the talk about Brian and Kris Kristofferson when I saw this picture of the artists of the Big Sur Folk Festival 1970. It features the Beach Boys and Kristofferson:

Vielen Dank!

"Peep" ~ The Ladykillers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O88Y3Hhy2zk

https://www.facebook.com/ladykillersofficialband

Hi everyone,

Longtime Beach Boys fan and less-longtime Smiley Smile forum browser here. Apparently I signed up a while ago but didn't realize it worked the first time. Just wanted to say thanks everyone for keeping this place full of interesting info and insights.

Hi, Ogc, and welcome. I'm not the most regular poster here but I felt your introductory post deserved an answer!

It's been a while (nearly a year!) but this is important news.

aeijtzsche (Joshilyn) has just opened a reddit sub devoted to the session musicians active during the golden age of pop records. To date, you can watch an interview with Lyle Ritz and part one of a three-part interview with Motown bassist Bob Babbitt, who died in 2012. All comments welcome!

https://www.reddit.com/r/StudioMusicians/

Now all it requires is members. See the  "General Music Discussion" page for aeijtzsche's own post on the subject.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StudioMusicians/

I'm hoping to generate discussion about all the great studio cats of the past.  I'm really devoted to getting to know them as people, as well as musicians.  Please join me.

Sounds like a beautiful idea, JH. It would be a such a shame if the stories these musicians have to tell were to sink from view. To say nothing of the photos -- it would be wonderful to have them all in one place, before memories become fainter and their identities are lost from view as well. Let's hope others help you find the missing pictures of these great musicians in the studio in the mid '60s. 

I know you regard them as your friends across time. I'm sure they would regard you as their friend in return!

[The United Chair]

Keyboardist Julius Brockington's "Forty-Nine Reasons" is on a playlist at the blog in my signature.  It's the closing track on his 1973 album The United Chair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt878L-AJMw

[Looking for a good Bio]

I’m watching the Ken Burns doc Jazz. Have watched it before but it’s been awhile.
Part 3 spends a good amount of time covering cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. All I really remember about him was that he was in his 20s when he passed away.  But the doc indicated how much Black musicians respected him and that it was a shame that he couldn’t perform in concerts with them . Wanted to cry when he finally got the opportunity to jam after hours with his hero, Louis Armstrong . Very sad life, a shame that no matter the success he had, his father considered him to be a failure.
Looking for a good Bio, plus checking out recordings.

Hi Lizzie. This book about BB seems to be the one you need:

https://www.amazon.com/Bix-Definitive-Biography-Jazz-Legend/dp/0826416993

And this 2-CD set looks pretty good as well:

https://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Bix-Beiderbecke/dp/B00030B9IY

[Ring]

Looking for a non-vocal album of music from Wagner's Ring, I instead discovered this fabulous three-hour collection of the great man's orchestral music conducted by Otto Klemperer, supplemented by his Wesendonck Lieder sung by Christa Ludwig. It doesn't get much better than this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTmpISEBWA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesendonck_Lieder

On a classical kick right now with concertos for viola d'amore by Antonio Vivaldi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnOKK7dn4io

http://violadamore.com/index.php/vivaldi-and-the-viola-d-amore.html

This was posted on a George Harrison Facebook group page this week, all credit to them. It's a letter sent by Phil Spector to George with comments about the songs and early mixes on All Things Must Pass. It gives a neat inside look at what Spector brought to the process and how he and George worked as producer and artists. And it also shows Phil's producer's ear in terms of specific mix issues and what seemed to be Phil wanting to give George more confidence in his lead voice, suggesting on multiple song mixes that George's vocals be emphasized even more.

Enjoy if you haven't seen this:

Thank you, sir, that is one incredible read!

[Death of a Ladies' Man]

How will I remember Phil Spector? Well, I recall hearing The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" when it was at #1 in the US but I don't think the notion of a Phil Spector production dawned on me until around the time of that same group's "Da Doo Ron Ron". My brother bought it and we were both knocked sideways by the curious guitar-led instrumental on the B-side -- "Wow, these ladies can play!"

Unlike Brian, I was underwhelmed by The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and have always regarded "(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up”,  "Do I Love You?" and "Walkin' In The Rain" as far superior.

I lost interest in Spec (as Liberty label producer Snuff Garrett used to call him) at the appearance of "River Deep", which I've never liked. As for his connection with Leonard Cohen, well... has anyone here heard Death of a Ladies' Man? His sterling work with The Beatles together and solo drew me briefly back into the fold. But it's his pre-"River" stuff that I will always treasure.

Good night, Uncle Phil.

Not now, but two days ago while dusting bookshelves. Popol Vuh never disappoint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05A-LRoAzUc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Peace

[Deo Gratias]

This morning I heard on Dutch radio an astonishing 36(!)-part Deo Gratias that some atttribute to Johannes Ockeghem (1410/1425–1497), although others dispute this. Sung by the peerless Huelgas Ensemble directed by Paul Van Nevel, the sound builds in waves that wash over the listener in a process not a million miles away from today's minimal music.   
   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZJQMEa9_2I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deo_gratias

[The Lark Ascending]

Lately I've been listening to Ralph Vaughn Williams' symphonies.

I'm most familiar with the first two, both stunning works. I've heard many of the others but they haven't grabbed me as firmly as the London and Sea symphonies.

RVW has written other amazing things for orchestra, such as the Thomas Tallis variations and this one, The Lark Ascending, in my recording of choice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzONNtE_WqM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lark_Ascending_(Vaughan_Williams)

[Socrate]

For decades now I've been getting this recurring image in my mind, very colourful in a barbaric way and somehow related to mortality in general and the death of Socrates in particular. I could never place it, until I inadvertently found the probable source on YouTube. It's very likely I borrowed this LP of Erik Satie's enigmatic composition Socrate (1918) years ago and then forgot about it. The uploader has seen fit to divide the recording in question into three equalish parts. If one part is enough for you, you'd do well to make it part three:

I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OqXrbTi0Yo

II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TaUC7LVMjA

III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqmrbEE1b0I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrate

[Hootenanny]

How about this from Jools Holland's Hootenanny on New Year's Eve/Day? Oldcomer Sir Tom Jones duets with newcomer Celeste on a ska version of "Blue Moon".

My wife who was watching with me exclaimed, "He's flirting!" Perhaps he is -- and who can blame him?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elcKR9G9tiA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeste_(singer)

[Rendering]

I never used to have any time for the Italian composer Luciano Berio (1925–2003). I always thought he was taking the p!ss -- until I heard the central movement of an orchestral work called Rendering. The wiki page linked below has all the information you need about this fascinating composition:

1. Allegro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmNCEkVW004

2. Andante: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0qKnwfauo

3. Scherzo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b_khW8y1jY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(Berio)

[R.I.P. MF Doom (1971-2020).]

R.I.P. MF Doom (1971-2020).

Just got word that Eugene Wright, 97, last surviving member of the “classic” Dave Brubeck Quartet, has joined his bandmates
and is making some heavenly odd time signature fun with them now.
RIP

Sad news, Lizzie, but a great age.

Be well in 2021.

Here's something I bumped into by sheer chance on YouTube last night. The blurb explains it well, and you might like to check out some of the often very imaginative comments. This dreamy album suits both the low-key Christmas mood this year and my own contemplative mood right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34UutDrXV2Q

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruomi_Hosono

[Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky ballet is my go-to]

No, just love a variety of orchestral versions of the nutcracker

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky ballet is my go-to... but I have had to watch it 7 times in the last three weeks for my teaching job and I am definitely Nutcrackered out. 

Really? My wife and I are huge Gergiev fans and have attended dozens of his concerts, including a goodly few with the Mariinsky Orchestra. While in St Petersburg last year we attended a performance at the Mariinsky Theatre of Prokofiev's opera Betrothal in a Monastery but Gergiev didn't conduct it. It was a fantastic experience all the same.   

[Christmas Party]

Not a Christmas album and don’t know if it was ever recorded on a record, but I just heard online The Monkees singing Riu Chiu.
A cappella. Excellent blend.
The folk group I was in sang this song, same arrangement, every Christmas season. I believe it was popular in folk music circles back in the 60s.

Thanks for the heads up, Lizzie. According to Wikipedia:

"In 1967, the Monkees performed the song live on a Christmas episode of their TV series entitled 'The Monkees' Christmas Show'. A studio version was released on subsequent compilation albums (and later on the 2018 album Christmas Party.) It is likely the Monkees learned the song from their producer, Chip Douglas, who himself had performed it with his former band, the Modern Folk Quartet, on their 1964 album Changes."

This must be the studio version. Sounds great to me! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_NQytR1zKk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%ADu_R%C3%ADu_Ch%C3%ADu

Not technically a song but man is it sad! The Israelite judge Jephtha made a rash vow to God after defeating the Ammonites and had to sacrifice his daughter. This is the heart-breaking "Plorate filii Israel" (weep, you children of Israel), the final lament from Giacomo Carissimi's oratorio on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PLnla_I9gQ

http://www.jamescsliu.com/classical/Carissimi_Jephte.html

Beautiful and heartbreaking, indeed! And a very difficut paragraph in the Bible. Judges 11,29-40

EDIT: I'm constantly replaying this recording. Such incredible and beautiful music and performance. Thanks for the heads-up!

JK; I'm still not over what a beautiful and emotional piece of music this is! A while ago I found this live performances by the ensemble Vox Luminis. Maybe you like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEk9vLzCPBw

That's beautiful, Rocker. Ich danke dir sehr!

I've been checking out other things by Vox Luminis, most notably this album of music by Buxtehude:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kV38Xp-nuDliFaWbHUQrMQ8fiGHXML1-A

They are definitely up there with the likes of Tenebrae and Voces8. Thank you again!

[Autumn]

"[In] the second movement of Autumn I asked the harpsichordist Raphael Alpermann to play in what is rather an old-fashioned way, very regularly, rather like a ticking clock. That was partly because I didn't want the harpsichord part to be attention-seeking, but also because that style connects to various pop records from the 1970s where the harpsichord or Clavinet was featured, including various Beach Boys albums and the Beatles' Abbey Road." (From the CD booklet)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsLoqknbwYU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recomposed_by_Max_Richter:_Vivaldi_–_The_Four_Seasons