Which one is your favorite? - XLVIII -

This week I chose an old traditional tune from the 19th century. It is a song that depicts the anguish of slaves torn from their families, their homeland, and even their own identities. An early performance of the song dates back to the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Commonly heard during the Civil rights movement in the United States, it has many variations and has been recorded widely.


Here is the song for this week;

"Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child"

The song is an expression of pain and despair as the singer compares their hopelessness to that of a child who has been torn from her or his parents. Under one interpretation, the repetition of the word "sometimes" offers a measure of hope, as it suggests that at least "sometimes" the singer does not feel like a motherless child.

The legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers of the 1870s who toured to raise money for Fisk College in Nashville, TN -- is a wonderful example of the rarer blues spiritual in both feeling and structure.

One of the most haunting African-American spirituals, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” was likely borne out of heart-wrenching tragedy: the forcible separation of parent from child.

As Harriet Jacobs, an escaped slave, wrote: “On one of those sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all.


The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was bought by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. She begged the trader to tell her where he intended to take them; this he refused to do.”

The somber melody, the slowly processing, minor chords, convey a noble bleakness and mourning.

Why is “Motherless Child” so powerful?  Perhaps because the music and words acknowledge utter pain. And this truthful acknowledgment can help us transcend suffering.


Here are the 6 versions I picked for you;

• Odetta - "Motherless Child"

• Paul Robeson - "Motherless Child"

• Portishead & Tom Jones - "Motherless Child"

• Van Morrison - "Motherless Child"

• Martin Gore - "Motherless Child"

• Michael Kiwanuka - "Motherless Child"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXXXVIII -

It is really a tough job to be a youngster these days. Their environment is too competitive, their options are confusingly vast, the education system is terrible (at least where I live) and they are trying to respond to a great deal of expectations from their families and friends. How do I know? I have a son who will be a freshman this fall... So I dedicate this weekend's list to all the kids out there...

As Dave Brubeck once said;

“There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and
 there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously, 
where you’re going to take a chance on making mistakes
 in order to create something you haven't created before."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Goldfrapp feat. Dave Gahan - "Ocean"

• Cat Stevens - "Wild World"

• Bob Marley & The Wailers - "Three Little Birds"

• Jan Garbarek - "Hasta Siempre"

• Herbie Hancock feat. Pink & Seal & India Arie - "Imagine"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XLVII -

Here is a jazz standard composed by American jazz sax player Sonny Rollins in 1954. It was first recorded in 1954 by the Miles Davis Quintet and released in the US on the 10" LP Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins. The personnel on that recording was Davis (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone), Horace Silver (piano), Percy Heath (bass), and Kenny Clarke (drums).


Here is the song for this week;

"Airegin"

Rollins said he had been impressed by a photograph of Nigerian dancers, “So the next song that I wrote I dedicated to the dancers, and I titled it ‘Airegin,’ which is Nigeria spelled backwards.” Long a favorite of saxophonists, it has been recorded by bassists, trumpeters, a vibraphonist, guitarists, pianists and a harmonica player, Toots Thielemans, who used it as the title cut of an album.

It was recorded again by Davis' quintet in 1956 on their album Cookin' with The Miles Davis Quintet. Guitarist Wes Montgomery released a version in 1960 on his album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (also with Percy Heath on bass). Jazz guitarist Grant Green released a version on his album Nigeria, which was recorded in 1962 but not released until 1980.

A version with lyrics composed by Jon Hendricks appeared on the 1958 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross album The Swingers! and the 1985 Manhattan Transfer album Vocalese. It was also covered by Hubert Laws, featuring session drummer Steve Gadd playing a very fast samba pattern behind Laws' piccolo. Maynard Ferguson recorded this composition twice: first, a version where he played an overdubbed three-way solo with himself on his 1964 album Color Him Wild, and second, on his 1977 release, New Vintage. An organ-driven hard bop version was recorded by Sonny Stitt and Don Patterson on their 1969 Prestige album Funk You!

Here are the 5 versions I picked for you;

• Stan Getz & Chet Baker - "Airegin"

• Manhattan Transfer - "Airegin"

• Brad Mehldau - "Airegin"

• Tete Montoliu - "Airegin"

• Lambert Hendricks & Ross - "Airegin"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXXXVII -

Unfortunately the corona cases are entering into a new phase where we see more and more people testing positive. This is no time to disregard the precautions. Stay safe and stay with music.

As the old Africans said;

“When the music changes, so does the dance..."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Pyrit - "Another Story"

• Michel Petrucciani - "Round Midnight"

• Isak Danielson - "Power"

• Rachelle Ferrell - "I Can Explain"

• Max Cooper - "Order From Chaos" 

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XLVI -

This week's song goes back to the 20s Vienna. It was composed by Leonello Casucci with lyrics written by Julius Brammer. The original was a tango named  "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo". The version we are more familiar with was adapted by Irving Caesar into English in 1929.

Here is the song for this week;

"Just A Gigolo"

The song was first published by Wiener Boheme Verlag in 1929 and performed by several orchestras in Germany that year, including Dajos Béla's orchestra with the singer Kurt Mühlhardt. In Italy Daniele Serra sang a version entitled "Gigolo", followed by Sirio Di Piramo and his orchestra in 1930, while other countries provided their own versions.

The original version is a poetic vision of the social collapse experienced in Austria after World War I, represented by the figure of a former hussar who remembers himself parading in his uniform, while now he has to get by as a lonely hired dancer. The music features a simple melodic sequence, but nonetheless has a clever harmonic construction that highlights the mixed emotions in the lyrics, adding a nostalgic, bittersweet effect.

The success of the song prompted publishers Chappell & Co. to buy the rights and order an English version from Irving Caesar, a very popular lyricist of the time. Caesar eliminated the specific Austrian references and, in the often-omitted verse (but included in the 1931 recording by Bing Crosby), set the action in a Paris cafe, where a local character tells his sad story. Thus, the lyrics retained their sentimental side but lost their historic value. Popular versions in 1931 were by Ted Lewis, Ben Bernie, Bing Crosby and Leo Reisman.

"Just a Gigolo" appeared in a 1931 film, a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon and a 1993 TV series, all titled after the song. The song was recorded by many musicians of the time, including Louis Armstrong and (in German) Richard Tauber.

The film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo, directed by David Hemmings in 1979, was titled after the first verse of the original lyrics, but the Just a Gigolo title was used for US distribution. In this film, the song was performed by Marlene Dietrich, in her last film appearance.

"Just a Gigolo" is best known in a form recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "I Ain't Got Nobody" (words by Roger A. Graham and music by Spencer Williams, 1915). This pairing links the life of a gigolo ("people know the part I'm playing, paid for every dance.."), to the outcome for singer ending up alone ("I ain't got nobody"). The popularity of Prima's combination, and of Village People's 1978 and David Lee Roth's 1985 cover versions of the medley, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition.

Here are the 5 versions I picked for you;

• Ute Lemper - "Just A Gigolo"

• Bing Crosby - "Just a Gigolo"

• Fumio Yasuda & Theo Bleckmann - "Just A Gigolo"

• Sarah Vaughan - "Just A Gigolo"

• Marlene Dietrich - "Just A Gigolo" 

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXXXVI -

Finally back to the fold after two weeks of holiday and son's college entry process. I really hope you missed the posts as I sure missed writing about music. Stay safe and stay with music.

As Albert Einstein once said;

“It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition.

 My discovery was the result of musical perception."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Eva Hurychova - "Chtela Bych Byt Robotem"

• Virgil Boutellis-Taft & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - "Yumeji's Theme"

• Alper Maral & Mert Topal - "Uranüs'te Bir Satürnlü"

• S.E. Rogie - "Man Stupid Being"

• Ronin Arkestra - "Cosmic Collisions"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.