TuneIn

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Wolf Call

Mrs. Illinois Jacquet hits the dance floor with the big bad wolf, via JET magazine, 1958.

Earl Washington  -  Wolf Call  (2:07)

Monday, December 30, 2013

Travis Wammack


Travis Wammack  -  Stay

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Tijuana Christmas


The Border Brass  -  Tijuana Christmas  (1:59)

The Border Brass was just one of many Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass knock-offs that helped feed the world's insatiable appetite for faux Latin easy listening instrumentals back in the late 1960s. 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Night Train Mambo



 

In 1952, Jimmy Forrest hit the #1 spot on the R&B charts with his version of Night Train.  A few years later, he checked in with this rhythmic mambo version.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Haulin' Honda



Here's a fiery Hondells instrumental, as done by the both the Hondells and the Untamed Youth.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Stan Kenton - Rock & Roller
















Stan Kenton  -  Tequila


I have no idea how a progressive jazzbo like Kenton wound up waxing Tequila, but it all worked out pretty well.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Lloyd Thaxton and Billy Strange Pay Tribute To The Great Man


Lloyd Thaxton (1927-2008) did a variety of things in his long career, but he's best remembered for The Lloyd Thaxton Show, an American Bandstand-style music show that he hosted from 1961-67 in Los Angeles, with the last three years nationally syndicated. Here are some videos for you to check out if you're interested. He also has his name stuck on a number of records that that he had little or nothing to do with, including albums by the Challengers, the Knickerbockers, and Round Robin. The album pictured above is in a similar vein, being mostly instrumentals by Billy Strange... but not entirely! Unlike the other "Thaxton" albums, Lloyd actually turns up on both the album and a single drawn from it.



Unlike Bandstand, Thaxton's show also included comedy routines and sketches, and that's the side of Lloyd on display here, in a novelty tune that, despite its title, has no traces of anything resembling blue-beat. Lloyd and Roger Miller were pals (read about that in this 2006 posting from Thaxton's still-extant blog), and he pays tribute to his pal here both in tone and through both name-checking and directly quoting him.




The beloved West coast studio musician kingpin (and cousin of Glenn "Frankenstein" Strange!) gives us an instrumental rendition of Roger's hit.

Swiped from Mr. Thaxton's blog

BONUS! If you want to hear the rest of the album, fellow WFMU family member Kliph Nesteroff has it posted at his blog here.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Limehouse Blues



I never get tired of guitarist Billy Mure's spectacular version of this old jazz standard.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Dave "Baby" Cortez Goes Country



So I understand that organ man Dave "Baby" Cortez has a new album coming out soon on Norton Records. If he slips in another crazy country cover or two I, for one, will be a very happy customer.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Change Of Tense

While Johnny Cash claims to walk the line, Don Costa does not make that claim for himself at present, but aspires to that course of action at some unspecified future time. Regrettably, Mr. Costa failed to provide any vocals that might clarify the issue.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Menacing Beatnik



Behold the super menacing qualities of The Champs' Beatnik 45, slowed down to 33 by someone on YouTube.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Drumble!




Dennis and the Menaces - Drumble

Monday, March 22, 2010

Bruce Johnston Rules?


I've never had a very strong opinion of Bruce Johnston, one way or the other. As far as I was concerned, he was kind of just there in the Beach Boys, neither good nor bad. Recently, I bought this album, which I had never heard of, seen or listened to. About half of the record is just about what you'd expect: decent, but average Beach Boy style surf tunes with passable vocals. The rest is certainly NOT what you'd expect. I couldn't believe my ears...
(from 1963)
Jersey Channel Islands Part 7

Virginia Beach

Hot Pastrami, Mashed Potatoes, Come On to Ricon, Yeah!!!

Malibu

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