Posts in Radio
Soul Station Feature: Stan Kenton and His Orchestra
Soul Station Feature: Stan Kenton and His Orchestra

Bongo Riff

On the same day that Dizzy Gillespie and his orchestra were recording Manteca, a milestone in Afro Cuban jazz and bop, Stan Kenton was recording Pete Rugolo's Bongo Riff. This was December 22, 1947. Other latin influenced tracks were cut by Kenton's orchestra the day before and a few earlier in the year. Bongo Riff is certainly brisk, aggressive jazz and shows some knowledge of guaracha--though I cannot think of one Cuban band that played anything this fast in the 1940s--and the mambo, too. It has some affinities with Manteca, though not that many, and it's themes are not as thoroughly developed. It is, however, a steamer and a step in an interesting direction for the coming together of two musical traditions.

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioStan Kenton and His Orchestra, Bongo Riff, Dizzy Gillespie, Soul Station Feature, Pete Rugolo, Manteca
Radio LOBO Show! 23
Radio LOBO Show! 23

FEATURING…

Eagulls • British Sea Power • Pixies • Voodoo Glow Skulls • Wolf Parade • Head Wound City • Robert Johnson • Skip James • Dávila 666 • Sleater-Kinney • Nine Inch Nails • Las Feas • Los Peyotes • Danny & The Nightmares • The Rolling Stones • Joey Ramone • The Electric Prunes • Jay Reatard

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RadioDJ LOBONews, DJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show! Archive
Soul Station Feature: Dwight Twilley

I'm On Fire

Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley knew each other in Tulsa, but decided they wanted to make music and be discovered in Memphis. They eventually contacted Ray Harris, a former Sun artist, and Harris introduced the them to rockabilly. Back in Tulsa they met and recorded with U.K. producer Denny Cordell; he had started Shelter Records with Leon Russell. Their initial 45 was recorded in 1974 and released in 1975. Hitting #16, it would prove to be the biggest hit for the Dwight Twilley Band. A second 45 and an album followed in 1976 and still with Shetler, they also had an album through Arista in 1977. Seymour would depart in 1978, and quite sadly, pass away in 1993. The Twilley Band made great rockabilly (in part because of guitarist Bill Pitcock IV) and fantastic pop. Their vocals might suggest the Everlys and Lou Christie, but their arrangements and delivery is indeed unique and special. I was lucky to have seen this band three times and they were killer!

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RadioDJ PiPhil Seymour, Dwight Twilley, Ray Harris, Denny Cordell, Shelter Records, Leon Russell, Dwight Twilley Band, Bill Pitcock IV, The Everly Brothers, Lou Christie, Soul Station Feature
Radio LOBO Show! 22
Radio LOBO Show! 22

FEATURING…

John Lennon • The Black Lips • Voodoo Glow Skulls • Los Fabulosos Cadillacs • Cafe Tacuba • Ana Tijoux • Tropa Magica • Kumbia Queers • Niña Dioz • White Mystery • Elf Power • Willie Nelson • Tom Waits • Ella Jenkins • Dead Man's Bones • Joel Jerome • Noise Addict • Gael García Bernal, Gabriella Flores, Libertad García Fonzi • The Drums

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RadioDJ LOBONews, DJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show! Archive
Soul Station Feature: The Clique

Splash 1

The Clique are best known for their bright, sunny pop hits, especially their cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' Sugar On Sunday. The band was from Texas and their first 45 was also a cover, but a cover of a song on the initial 13th Floor Elevators album. Though neither recording is of the more energetic and visceral music the Elevators made, The Clique manage a wonderful balance between the edgy and forlorn folk rock style of the Elevators and their own passion for layered, pop vocal arrangements. After a local release on Cinema, the national label Scepter picked it up, and it reached #113 on the Bubbling Under Billboard listing in October of 1967.

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RadioDJ PiThe Clique, Tommy James and the Shondells', 13th Floor Elevators, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Cannibal & The Headhunters

Get It On Up (Get Up The Courage)

East L.A. was a hot bed of hybrid rock, soul and boogaloo in the 1960s. Mexican American bands like Sunny and the Sunliners and Thee Midnighters were wildly popular and had hits, too. Thee Midniters caught on with a cover of Chris Kenner's Land of 1000 Dances at the end of 1964 and Cannibal and the Headhunters followed in a month. The Frankie Garcia (he was Cannibal) version did a little better and has certainly been remembered much more so than the one by Thee Midniters. Kind of a shame as Thee Midniters were an incredible band and they outlasted Cannibal and his group, too. Garcia and company were done by the beginning of 1969 when they had their farewell, a hot dance number that owes a lot to older dance grooves by the Isley Brothers and the Righteous Brothers.

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RadioDJ PiEast L.A., Sunny and the Sunliners, Thee Midnighters, Chris Kenner, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Frankie Garcia, The Righteous Brothers, The Isley Brothers, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Wynonie Harris

Oh Babe!

Wynonie Harris was a great and important singer for jazz, jump blues, r&b, and rock'n'roll. He had many huge hits from the mid 1940s into the early 1950s. Oh Babe! was one of his last, from 1950. It also reunited him with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, the band that had backed him on his first successful releases. Oh Babe! did not come to him from blues or r&b writers and artists, as it was written by Louis Prima, a jazzy trumpeter and band leader from New Orleans. Prima had been performing since the late 1920s and began recording in 1934. During the mid 1940s his big band records had the energy and verve of nascent r&b and he made many fine records in this vein. Oh Babe! was released on his own Robin Hood label, and cut with Keely Smith, whom he would marry in 1953. Prima's record was popular but not as much as the Harris disc. But it is just as good, featuring tart, flag waving trumpet (and two trumpets toward the rousing end) a very solid beat and fine vocals from Prima and Smith. This is the original 78 version; there are several others out there, some shorter and all slightly different. I do not know what their sources are. But please, enjoy this great original!

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RadioDJ PiLucky Millinder Orchestra, Wynonie Harris, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Wayne Kramer
Soul Station Feature: Wayne Kramer

Dead Movie Stars

Guitarist Wayne Kramer has made a lot of music since the MC5 and being imprisoned. His first solo effort was a 45 for Jake Riveria's Radar label in 1979, and for that he worked with producer Martin Rushent. His solo albums show a range of musical interests and abilities. When he played in my Tower, this was certainly one of his most power numbers, as it captures his flair for jazz, performance narratives and much more. It was a joy to present him and if you have not been listening to his work over the past 30 years or so, start now!

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioWayne Kramer, Jake Riveria, Martin Rushent, Soul Station Feature, News
Soul Station Feature: The Everly Brothers
Soul Station Feature: The Everly Brothers

The Price of Love

After 1962 the Everly Brothers pretty much stopped having big hits in the US. They remained more popular in the UK and in 1965 they reached #2 over there with, to me, one of their greatest records, The Price Of Love. In the UK it has had many interesting covers, as the Status Quo did it in the late 1960s and in the mid 1970s Brian Ferry made a very good version. The song does not seem as popular here, though not that long ago Buddy Miller did it and did it very well. The Everly's version, the big UK hit really must be heard!

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioThe Everly Brothers, Brian Ferry, Status Quo, UK, 1965, The Price Of Love, Soul Station Feature, News
Soul Station Feature: Mickie Most
Soul Station Feature: Mickie Most

The Feminine Look

Mickie Most is mostly known as a producer, and sometimes as a producer who really hacked off his own artists, like Donovan and Terry Reid and the Yardbirds. Still, he was very successful over more than two decades. Early on, though, Most was a singer. He wad a good deal of success in S Africa during the beginning of the 1960s, returning to London in 1962. Most was one of the first producers to use Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan regularly, and this 1963 example, though the lyrics are a bit stereotyped, has much wonderful Page!

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioMickie Most, Jimmy Page, Big Jim Sullivan, South Africa, London, Donovan, Terry Reid, Soul Station Feature, News
Soul Station Feature: Johnny King and The Fatback Band
Soul Station Feature: Johnny King and The Fatback Band

Put It In

Drummer and producer Bill Curtis oversaw the rise of The Fatback Band and he has been involved in many aspects of r&b, funk, latin and rap for decades. This is one of his earlier productions featuring guitarist and singer Johnny King. It borrows from River Deep Mountain High to develop a strong and memorable groove. It seems to have been released in 1968.

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RadioDJ PiWholesomRadioBill Curtis, Johnny King, The Fatback Band, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Little Esther Phillips
Soul Station Feature: Little Esther Phillips

Better Beware

I just love the music Esther Phillips made. Though she had a tumultuous life and battled drug use, she made her singing mark on blues, r&b, jazz and soul, just to cite the most obvious. She was an accomplished singer at age 15, and had big hits on her own or with Mel Walker. Most of her early records were overseen by the great Johnny Otis, and she benefited from his big band. Better Beware opens with staccato lead guitar from Pete Lewis leading to and a stirring arrangement. After Phillips has her pointed say, Ben Webster enters on sax, relaxed at first and then he gets going. Lewis follows him. It is truly amazing how much music and emotion fit into less that two minutes and forty seconds!

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioEsther Phillips, Mel Walker, Johnny Otis, Pete Lewis, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: The Village Callers
Soul Station Feature: The Village Callers

Evil Ways

Because of Santana, the Willie Bobo tune, Evil Ways, has become well known. It was written by Bobo's guitarist, Clarence Henry and appeared on album in 1967. A rock group from East L.A., The Village Callers, recorded their version in the late spring of 1969 for the L.A. label Rampart, and it did well enough in California markets that it was picked up by the Bell label in September. It's popularity was noticed by employees of CBS in San Francisco, and they started a campaign to have it released as a 45, since Santana's Jingo had died. They were successful and at the very end of December, Evil Ways became the second Santana 45, and hence a big hit. It isn't just that the Village Callers deserve some note; their record is also really great and deserves to be heard. If it is really true that the accomplished pianist Hector Rivera had something to do with their management, that would also give the Callers a direct tie to the N.Y.C. latin soul and boogaloo scene. But I have no idea if that is actually true.

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioSantana, Willie Bobo, Rampart, The Village Callers, Hector Rivera, Clarenece Henry, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Harmonica Slim
Soul Station Feature: Harmonica Slim

Going Back Home

Harmonica Slim (Travis Blaylock) has spent most of his musical life as a sideman, playing on records that are not by him. He has made one well respected album and at least four 45s. This is on the earliest, and it is a beautiful example of harmonica blues. He has the right, almost natural tone and though it was most likely recorded in Los Angeles, it could pass for something done in Chicago during the mid 1950s, which is when it was recorded. Once upon a time, blues records like this were not uncommon. That is not at all the case now.

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RadioDJ PiWholesomeRadioSoul Station Feature, Harmonicas Slim, Los Angeles, Travis Baylock