Tagged: retirement

You've probably heard of Eddie Palmieri, the multiple Grammy-winning pianist who is still active and enjoying a career that has led to him becoming one of the stars of Latin jazz. But did you know he had an older brother - Charlie - who died in 1988, and was pretty darn good too? In fact, at one point he was known as 'The Giant of the Keyboards'. Nine years older than Eddie, Carlos 'Charlie' Manuel Palmieri was born in New York to Puerto Rican immigrants, and was so gifted that his parents found a way to [...]

Every so often I get into a goofy mood and put up one of our strange sculpture slideshows. (Try saying that quickly three times.) Below are some more examples I've collected, and they might give GMC visitors a chuckle - or at least make them scratch their heads and wonder if I've finally lost it. Henry Mancini - "Odd Ball" (You can also access music in left column.) Click to view slideshow.

Slim Whitman occupies a unique spot in the world of music. Lots of would-be sophisticates have poked fun at him for years, a practice that probably reached its peak in 1996 when the silly sci-fi movie Mars Attacks! utilized one of his yodeling songs ("Indian Love Call") as the only weapon that could stop the Martian invaders - it made their heads explode. But Whitman has always had a ton of fans, enough to buy more than 100 million of his records over the years. And get this - he's [...]

I would think that basing your doo-wop group's name on something that changed as soon as any of the members had a birthday would be a little silly, but that's what six friends in Los Angeles did in the mid-1950s when they added up their ages and divided by six. The result was sixteen, which was said to be the secondary meaning of the name they chose when they changed the group's original name - the Sweet Teens - to the Six Teens. Trudy Williams was the youngest, just 12 when they began so technically she [...]

I was saddened to read that pop/country singer Patti Page died recently. She was 85 when she died and had enjoyed a long career, continuing to be musically active almost to the end. She's probably most remembered now for early hits like "Tennessee Waltz," which was one of the best-selling records of all time - the biggest ever for a female - but she had countless best-sellers, and during the 1950s sold more records than any female vocalist around. Young Clara Ann Fowler first began showing up as a professional singer on regional radio in her [...]

For someone who kept such a low profile during his decades-long career that it's difficult to even find a picture of him now, Georgie Stoll helped introduce an amazing amount of memorable music. From his early days as a jazz violinist to his many years as a composer, an arranger, and the director of the MGM orchestra, he left behind a vast treasury of songs. He was a special favorite of Judy Garland, as the man behind the music for some of her biggest movie musical hits, including Meet Me In St. Louis and In The Good [...]

I'm not sure if this really qualifies as a New Year's resolution, but I thought I would use the occasion to make a little promise to anyone who regularly stops by the ol' GMC. I was checking some of the links in the left column and realized that a couple lead to blogs and/or websites that appear to have been abandoned. Of course, there can be all kinds of reasons for that so I'm not blaming anyone. There might be some folks who are no longer able to keep up their blogs because of illness, or [...]

Although she should not be labeled a 'one-hit wonder', it's difficult to think about Fontella Bass and not immediately remember her signature song, 19652s "Rescue Me." The talented R&B singer, who was 72 when she died in her home city of St. Louis on December 26th, had several other good-charting records during her career, but there's little doubt that she'll always be remembered for that song. (Although many mistakenly remember it as a song introduced by Aretha Franklin.) In fact, the song was at least partially responsible for her salvation in later years - but more later about that. [...]

The recent death of jazz icon Dave Brubeck was marked by a ton of articles (including one on the GMC) and many of them mentioned that he was part of the West Coast jazz movement. Although I think he transcended any kind of label, I thought I'd dig a little deeper into that style of music by featuring someone considered to be a pioneer in West Coast jazz - bandleader Abe Lyman - who also made his mark by composing a jazz standard, "I Cried For You." West Coast jazz [...]

BACK FROM THE DEAD TO BLAZE YOU:

As I write this, we're facing a weather forecast that calls for about a zillion inches of snow, and I find myself dreading it. Thinking about that makes me realize that I've turned into a grumpy snow hermit - someone who just wants to stay inside and hope it goes away. But I wasn't always that way. We can all look back on a childhood of having fun with snow, hoping for a blizzard to close school and then playing with sleds and building snowmen (or having snowball fights). But I can also remember enjoying snow [...]

Rosemary Clooney - "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" Mel Torme - "The Christmas Song" Click to view slideshow.

For some reason, Christmas seems to have really taken the ol' GMC by surprise this year. Usually I post one or two holiday-themed pieces in the days leading up to the big day, but I guess I've just fallen asleep this time around. Maybe I can remedy that by featuring something really different - scat-singing pioneer Leo Watson, who once performed a very different kind of "Jingle Bells." A Kansas City native, Watson began his career in the 1920s by working his way up through a number of bands as a drummer and sometimes-trombonist. But the [...]

If you were a dedicated fan of The Waltons , the iconic 1970s TV show that was a huge hit for many years, you might remember that one of the teens - Jason - was musically inclined, and that he sometimes risked his mother's wrath by entertaining in an area roadhouse, the venerable Dew Drop Inn. If you have a really good memory you might even recall that his boss was a lady named Thelma - but what you might not have known was that the role was filled by a gal with quite a [...]

It's always fun to listen to a doo-wop group sing the rhythmic gibberish that was often part of the music. You know the kind I mean - 'papa ooma mau mau' and the like. One of the best was a Brooklyn-based quartet known as the Quotations, who not only had all the odd sounds down pat but also pulled off another move often used by singing combos in the era. They revamped an old song - in this case, "Imagination" - to make it more teenager friendly, and it became their biggest hit. The late 1950s [...]

I would guess that most folks of my generation think that a big percentage of modern music stars seem to be a big deal today but are forgotten tomorrow, often because of a lack of talent. But there are exceptions, even if it takes a while for a geezer like me to catch on - like when I first heard Amy Winehouse. Because of her troubled life and senseless death we'll never know how her career would have played out, but when I first saw her video duet with Tony Bennett on "Body And Soul" I [...]

Revisiting a point I've made before, there were a lot of traditional country music artists who spent at least part of their careers performing what would become known as rockabilly. Guys like Onie Wheeler, who was never a big star but did enjoy a long, solid career before dying in 1984, in a way that many country performers might choose for themselves - on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. The Missouri-born Wheeler (and yes, Onie was his real name) began his musical career immediately after he'd served in World War II. Already proficient on guitar [...]

One of the many funny scenes in the 1983 film Vacation is when Chevy Chase recklessly drives alongside the blonde in the convertible, almost losing control (in more ways than one), before things calm down and his oblivious wife finally realizes something just happened. He then sings "Love For Sale" to himself, while she glares at him. (Video below.) Although the song seems tame by today's standards, when Cole Porter wrote it for Broadway's The New Yorkers in 1930, it was considered scandalous - and just to drive home the point, it was performed [...]

Although he was the main subject of a GMC piece five years ago , jazz legend Bernard 'Buddy' Rich is making another appearance today. But the famously fiery drummer, who died at age 69 in 1987, is not showing up here because of his drumsticks. He's here because I thought I'd expose a secret about him - he was actually a pretty good singer. Rich was rightfully celebrated for his skill with drums. (You can read more about his career in that earlier piece, and you can [...]

By now, most of us have read that legendary jazzman Dave Brubeck has died, just one day before what would have been his 92nd birthday. Amazingly, he was musically active - and relevant - almost to the end. You can read about him in any one of a number of extended obituary pieces that are available online, but since he had already made many appearances on the GMC - and because he was special to me - I decided to approach my posting a little differently. Below are links to four of the GMC [...]