Musical Office (1961) by Ernie Kovacs With Juan Esquivel “Musical Office” is a short film made in 1961 by television pioneer Ernie Kovacs featuring office furniture dancing to “Jalousie/Sentimental Journey” by Juan Esquivel. Kovacs used Esquivel's creative music in very creative ways! Here is another in the wacky wonderful world of Ernie Kovacs and Juan Esquivel. Ernie Kovacs - Kitchen Symphony
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly In my opinion this album and Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger are two of the best concept albums ever made. Fagen's nightfly relates to the imagination of young man in the early 1960s. Perhaps the ultimate in cool! Look at the beautiful RCA 77! Review - Donald Fagen - The Nightfly A portrait of the artist as a young man, The Nightfly is a wonderfully evocative reminiscence of Kennedy-era American life; in the liner notes, Donald Fagen describes the songs as representative of the kinds of fantasies he entertained as an adolescent during the late '50s/early '60s, and he conveys the tenor of the times with some of his most personal and least obtuse material to date. Continuing in the smooth pop-jazz mode favored on the final Steely Dan records, The Nightfly is lush and shimmering, produced with cinematic flair by Gary Katz; romanticized but never sentimental, the songs are slices of suburbanite soap opera, tales of space-age hopes (the hit "I.G.Y.") and Cold War fears (the wonderful "The New Frontier," a memoir of fallout-shelter love) crafted with impeccable style and sophistication. by Jason Ankeny - Allmusic.com http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-nightfly-r7048
Found these interesting tidbits... Raspberries Go All The Way Mike Douglas Show 1974 ELO - Mike Douglas Show 1974 Blondie on The Mike Douglas Show - June 1979
Electric Light Orchestra - All Over The World The Electric Light Orchestra's ambitious yet irresistible fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography rocketed the group to massive commercial success throughout the 1970s. ELO was formed in Birmingham, England in the autumn of 1970 from the ashes of the eccentric art-pop combo the Move, reuniting frontman Roy Wood with guitarist/composer Jeff Lynne, bassist Rick Price, and drummer Bev Bevan. Announcing their intentions to "pick up where 'I Am the Walrus' left off," the quartet sought to embellish their engagingly melodic rock with classical flourishes, tapping French horn player Bill Hunt and violinist Steve Woolam to record their self-titled debut LP (issued as No Answer in the U.S.). In the months between the sessions for the album and its eventual release, the Move embarked on their farewell tour, with Woolam exiting the ELO lineup prior to the enlistment of violinist Wilf Gibson, bassist Richard Tandy, and cellists Andy Craig and Hugh McDowell; despite the lengthy delay, Electric Light Orchestra sold strongly, buoyed by the success of the U.K. Top Ten hit "10538 Overture." However, Wood soon left ELO to form Wizzard, taking Hunt and McDowell with him; Price and Craig were soon out as well, and with the additions of bassist Michael D'Albuquerque, keyboardist Richard Tandy, and cellists Mike Edwards and Colin Walker, Lynne assumed vocal duties, with his Lennonesque tenor proving the ideal complement to his increasingly sophisticated melodies. With 1973's ELO II, the group returned to the Top Ten with their grandiose cover of the Chuck Berry chestnut "Roll Over Beethoven"; the record was also their first American hit, with 1974's Eldorado yielding their first U.S. Top Ten, the lovely "Can't Get It Out of My Head." Despite Electric Light Orchestra's commercial success, the band remained relatively faceless; the lineup changed constantly, with sole mainstays Lynne and Bevan preferring to let their elaborate stage shows and omnipresent spaceship imagery instead serve as the group's public persona. 1975's Face the Music went gold, generating the hits "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic," while the follow-up, A New World Record, sold five million copies internationally thanks to standouts like "Telephone Line" and "Livin' Thing." The platinum-selling double-LP, Out of the Blue, appeared in 1977, although the record's success was tempered somewhat by a lawsuit filed by Electric Light Orchestra against their former distributor, United Artists, whom the band charged flooded the market with defective copies of the album. Columbia distributed the remainder of the group's output, issued through their own Jet Records imprint, beginning with 1979's Discovery, which notched the Top Ten entries "Shine a Little Love" and "Don't Bring Me Down." In the wake of ELO's best-selling Greatest Hits compilation, Lynne wrote several songs for the soundtrack of the Olivia Newton-John film Xanadu, including the hit title track. The next proper Electric Light Orchestra album, 1981's Time, generated their final Top Ten hit, "Hold on Tight." Following 1983's Secret Messages, Bevan left the group to join Black Sabbath, although he returned to the fold for 1986's Balance of Power, which despite the presence of the Top 20 hit "Calling America" received little interest from fans and media alike. However, as Electric Light Orchestra's career descended, Lynne emerged as a sought-after producer, helming well-received comebacks from George Harrison (1987's Cloud Nine) and Roy Orbison (1989's Mystery Girl) and additionally re-teaming with both rock legends as well as Bob Dylan and Tom Petty in the hit supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. Lynne made his solo debut in 1990 with Armchair Theatre but otherwise spent the decade out of the limelight, instead producing material for Joe Cocker, Tom Jones, and Paul McCartney in addition to working on the Beatles' Anthology project. In 1988, meanwhile, Bevan formed Electric Light Orchestra Part II with vocalist Neil Lockwood, keyboardist Eric Troyer, and bassist Pete Haycock; although Lynne filed suit against the group (hence the "Part II" tag), a self-titled LP followed in 1991, with a live collection recorded with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra appearing a year later. Outside of 1994's Moment of Truth, subsequent ELO II releases have been live efforts as well. by Jason Ankeny Allmusic.com http://www.allmusic.com/artist/electric-light-orchestra-p4177/biography
Eric Dolphy and Booker Little live at the Five Spot This kind of Jazz is hard for most people to listen to, but this is incredible!! When you hear Dolphy from the start of his solo, I think...What in the world is a trumpet player going to do following this?? But when Booker comes in at around 5:15 he's smoking like nobody's business, and he's making the style and groove, but somehow he makes it very listenable, even for people who don't dig this kind of thing....Booker was such an exceptional talent, and to think he was dead at 23....And he never used drugs or had any bad habits either...He died from a congenital Kidney disease; uremia; a very painful disorder, but Booker was so focused on his music no one knew he was even sick, even the cats he played with....Freddie Hubbard was the same age as Booker and was hangin out on one of Booker's gigs, and he told me he was thinking, "If I live to be 100 I'll never play as fast as Booker is playing tonight", and Booker came over to him on the break and said he wasn't feelin' good and asked Freddie to finish the gig. Freddie said Booker's face and hands were swollen. He couldn't belive how well he was playing. Freddie finished his gig for him, and Booker died. Freddie never saw him again....
Eric Dolphy is amazing. I haven't listened to Booker Little so much but after hearing the Five Spot performance I need to check him out further. Worth mentioning is that Dolphy also died at a young age, 36 I think, from complications of diabetes.
We forget that some of the real innovators of music died at an early age, leaving us to ask, "What if?"
As GD would say..."Ask and you shall receive".....It's interesting to note, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Booker Little were all born in 1938 aswell as the Gillette Senator....Boy the stars were in alinement that year....lol
Folks who did not remember, Ernie and Edie were pioneers of early television and many of the comedy routines they did still hold up well. Ernie was a comedian who was far ahead of his time (perhaps still ahead of even this time). Edie was a singer, dancer, and did great impressions (Marilyn Monroe was her best). Here is Edie singing on the last episode of the I Love Lucy Show. Lucy and Desi would soon divorce after this episode was taped. It has a lot of emotional context considering that it was meant for more than just the viewing and television audience. Edie Adams - That's All
Wow....That was heavy.....Thank you....Her comedienne role paired with her husband's comic genius, I think; although she is a highly respected but obscure early television innovator; kept her from obtaining the fame she could have received if she had persued a solo singing career....With her acting abilities aswell, she could have easily been as well known as Doris Day or Julie London. Of course I wouldn't dream of changing a thing....I saw an interview with her before she died and maybe the only thing that could have over shadowed their innovative acheivements was their love and dedication to each other....Years after his death she couldn't speak of him without tears, but tears and joy... BTW...did you dig Stan Getz in the Muriel Advertisement...
Yes. I had seen this before. I am a big Stan Getz fan. His most important gift to jazz, in my opinion, was bringing Bossa Nova and Brasilian music to the U.S. in the early 1960s. It brought refreshment to both the jazz and pop scenes! Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz: THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA - 1964 Absolutely Ahhhhhhhh!
