Posts in Radio
Soul Station π: Greg Hatza & Lonnie Smith
Soul Station π: Greg Hatza & Lonnie Smith

My new show tonight at the Soul Station is all about the B3. I feature tracks from two records by Greg Hatza that he made at the end of his teens! His fellow players are Eric Gale and Grady Tate. The debut, The Wizardry of Greg Hatza tracks are mono and sound amazing! He has some moves that you will not hear on other organ jazz records from the 1960s, especially on Charlene. In between the two Greg Hatza sets, I spin tracks from Lonnie Smith's debut, also in mono. These feature King Curtis, Blue Mitchell and George Benson! Also in MONO! This is one very sizzling show. So tune in, 7pm tonight. You know where!

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RadioDJ PiDJ π - Soul Station π, Greg Hatza, Lonnie Smith, Hammond B3, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, George Benson, Mono
Soul Station Feature: Rock-A-Teens
Soul Station Feature: Rock-A-Teens

Doggone It Baby

From Richmond, Virginia, the Rock-A-Teens hit with an instrumental in 1959 and their label allowed them to make a whole album, and though it featured several other instrumentals, much of it was stone-ground rockabilly, like this track which was also the A-side of the band's second 45. Written by lead singer Vic Mizelle, it has an irresistible quality, in part because of Mizelle's vocal. The great guitar work also helps!

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RadioDJ PiSoul Station Feature, Rock-A-Teens, Vic Mizzelle
Soul Station Feature: John Kirby & His Orchestra
Soul Station Feature: John Kirby & His Orchestra

Temptation

Bassist John Kirby led a successful sextet for nearly 8 years. It had great original material, much of it furnished by trumpeter Charlie Shavers. The group also had a very original way of playing and breaking down pop hits that had already been successful by other artists, usually outside the jazz field. Such is the case with the band's marvelous arrangement of Temptation. It was originaly from the 1933 film Going Hollywood and was very popularized by Bing Crosby in the same year. The Kirby version adds a blue mood to the song that really wasn't there before. Some of this comes from a five note bass line Kirby plays (it starts at 0:16); Though a very simple line, it has resonance with another song, a hit, from that day, the piano blues After Hours. So the arrangement goes forward with a bit of piano (it was prominent in the Crosby hit) and clarinet, while the tension increases just a bit and that bass line becomes more clearly audible before the end. It really is beautifully constructed and the blues element, while it is not directly dveloped quite adds to the performance.

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RadioDJ PiSoul Station Feature, John Kirby & His Orchestra, Charlie Shavers, Bing Crosby, Going Hollywood
Soul Station Feature: Coleman Hawkins & Django Reinhardt
Soul Station Feature: Coleman Hawkins & Django Reinhardt

Stardust

Coleman Hawkins, one of the greatest and most important jazz sax players, very much wanted to tour Europe in the 1930s, and after several planned trips fell through, he still found a way. He toured there for five years and did not return to the US until 1939. He made recordings in the UK as well as France and indeed, one of the most memorable on those discs is his version of Stardust. Stardust had been famous since the early 1930s and made very memorable by Louis Armstrong. The Hawkins version is a spare, beautiful affair, with Stephane Grappellion piano and Django Reinhardt on guitar. In my estimation, it is just as unforgettable as the one by Armstrong. 

DJ Pi/Paul Yamada

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RadioDJ PiSoul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: The Who
Soul Station Feature: The Who

We’re Not Gonna Take It

Tommy by the Who is 50 years old this month. Yes, it was released in late May of 1969. It certainly was a milestone and a crossroads for the Who. Starting in 1970, they were becoming their own version of a hard rock band, while Tommy was, in many ways piano and acoustic guitar driven. I remember seeing an all Tommy show in late 1969 and then seeing the Who again in early 1970 and the Tommy material was much different, much harder, more rock and very like what is on the extended Live At Leeds. I don't know how popular Tommy is anymore, though I still like it and like comparing the original to the live tracks on Live At Leeds.

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RadioDJ PiThe Who, Tommy, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Simtec & Wylie
Soul Station Feature: Simtec & Wylie

Do It Like Mama

The Chicago soul-funk duo Simtec (Walter Simmons) And Wylie (Wylie Dixon) had a bunch of 45s (and one album) from the late 1960s into the 1970s. They excelled at a hard edged, funky kind of soul that vocally relied on Sam And Dave. The band on several of their records was more or less led by guitarist Bobby Pointer, and he and a few others moved on from the duo to become the Southside Movement. Although the two singers had more success with their second 45 on Shama, this is the one that hits me, and when they keep singing mommy my eyes roll as much as my feet move!

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioVideo, YouTube, Simtec & Wylie, Sam and Dave, Bobby Pointer, Shama, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station π: Standells & Count Five
Soul Station π: Standells & Count Five

My new show at the Soul Station features the Standells and the Count Five. Their music makes a very interesting comparison and contrast. Some the hits are there, but so are many other records that are not as well known and deserve attention, like the Count Five doing You Must Believe Me (Impressions) as well as a Standells original, Poor Shell Of A Man and their version of Wicked Pickett's Ninety-Nine And A Half. I also feature the original of Soul Drippin’ by the Standells, which, when covered by Chicago's The Mauds, became the closest record that band had that was a national hit! So do tune in. a rockin' must tonight at 7pm!

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RadioDJ PiDJ π - Soul Station π, Standells, Count Five
Soul Station Feature: Bohannon
Soul Station Feature: Bohannon

Truck Stop

Hamilton Bohannon grew up in GA and went to college there all the while working as a drummer. He was recruited to join the touring band of Stevie Wonder and thus he moved to Detroit in 1967. Eventually he led a band that backed other artists as was billed as Bohannon & The Motown Sound. He did not move to California when Motown essentially fled Detroit. He started his own band and went after a unique guitar based, dance-funk style. Initially he had Ray Parker, Jr and Dennis Coffey playing on his records. In 1974 he had his first hit, but only in the UK. Into the early 1980s, his music was consistently in the r&b charts, though he had only one big hit, Let's Start The Dance, in 1978. I love his insistent beat and all those guitars, many of them very fly and wah-wah. Sometimes the dancers have other instrumentation, as on this 1974 number, which has harmonica. It was a B-side to a track from his first album released the previous year. Be prepared to move.

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RadioDJ PiHamilton Bohannon, Detroit
Soul Station Feature: Don Byas
Soul Station Feature: Don Byas

Don Byas went to Europe with Don Redman in the fall of 1946 and he and many members of that band stayed in Europe. By October Byas was recording with a largely African American band mostly drawn from the group he arrived with. During his first Paris session, he used Herbert Lee 'Peanuts' Holland (trumpet), Tyree Glenn (trombone) and Billy Taylor (piano). One of the best numbers they cut is Glenn's Working Eyes, which Duke Ellington turned into Sultry Serenade and claimed for himself, at least on the record label. Ellington's version was the B-side of Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me on Columbia. Perhaps this got straightened out later, perhaps after Glenn left the Duke's employ. I say this because later Herbie Mann recorded it and there the ascription goes to Glenn and NOT Ellington. It is a great tune and the original is great, with fine solos all around.

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RadioDJ PiDon Byas, Don Redman, Herbert Lee 'Peanuts" Holland, Duke Ellington, Tyree Glenn, Herbie Mann, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Miguelito Valdes
Soul Station Feature: Miguelito Valdes

Mamita Cambia

Although he came to the US in 1940 and stayed, the great singer Miguelito Valdes continued to return to Cuba to perform and occasionally record, at least until the revolution. This particular recording seems to come from one of his last trips, and probably dates from 1957. He is backed by a very late version of Orquesta Hermanos Castro, a large band that was active and recording as early as 1931. This is a really great record, and by its arrangement, someone was quite influenced by the Perez Prado brass sound and how it makes a mambo or mambo like dance music really work!

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RadioDJ PiSoul Station Feature, Miguelito Valdes, Orquesta Hermanos Castro, Perez Prado
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 9
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 9

FEATURING…

The Stooges • Dave "Gruber" Allen • Amyl and The Sniffers • Gary Clark Jr. • Gossip • Fea • Juan Wauters • Jenny Lewis • Pixies • Sumohair (feat. Banana Leaf Boy) • Tropa Magica • Kumbia Queers • Rebel Diaz • Mala Rodríguez • Niña Dioz • Noname • Heems • Lizzo • Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers

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RadioDJ LOBODJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show! Archive, News
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 7
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 7

FEATURING…

Bruce Springsteen • Chavela Vargas • Natalie Merchant • FIDLAR • The Hong Kong Blood Opera • Childbirth • Tristen • Colleen Green • The Coup (feat. Lakeith Stanfield) • Die Antwoord • SadGirl • Joan Jett & The Blackhearts • Amyl and the Sniffers • Lucy Dacus • My Dick • Peaches • The Devil Makes Three

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RadioDJ LOBODJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show! Archive, News
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 3
DJ LOBO: Radio LOBO Show! 3

FEATURING…

The Uncluded • Willie Nelson • Slowkiss • Kate Nash. • Remember Sports • Hurray For The Riff Raff • Downtown Boys • IDLES • Ana Tijoux • Making Movies • Ceci Bastida • Julieta Venegas (feat. Ana Tijoux & Rubén Albarrán) • Chiquita y Chatarra • Dromedarios Mágicos • Círculo Polar • AJ Davila

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RadioDJ LOBODJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show! Archive, News