Frank Beacham's Journal

Maydie Myles Brings Amazing Authenticity to R&B Vocals

 

When I grew up in the deep South, I always knew there was something special about the gospel music in black churches. In later years, while a reporter covering the civil rights movement in Mississippi, I marveled at how the rousing music in black churches aligned so perfectly with actions of the protesters. I love the sound and can still listen to that music for hours at a time.

I was slow, but I came to understand that gospel music formed the roots of the blues, and the blues is the basis for rock ’n roll. This is why it was such a pleasure to hear Maydie Myles sing this week. She’s the real thing—a genuine product of the black church that formed the background for her to perform the music that she was born to sing.

She got started in a church pastured by her own father in Norfolk, Virginia by playing piano at age six. By age 11, she was singing gospel music. By 14, the pressure was on for her to turn professional.

Like so many young performers from the church, her parents wanted her to perform only gospel music. Maydie loved rhythm and blues, and sneaked out of her house on weekends to sit in with the R&B bands on Norfolk’s famous Church Street. She actually changed her name to “Debbie Taylor” so her parents wouldn’t hear of their daughter singing the devil’s music in a nightclub.

At 17, after much internal family strife, Maydie signed with Decca Records. Her career took off and she got national recognition on Billboard’s charts and appeared on TV’s American Bandstand and in clubs like The Peppermint Lounge. Later, Clive Davis signed her on his Arista label, where she recorded I Don’t Want to Leave You.

Maydie has recorded with the Holmes Brothers, The Blues Brothers Band, Jesse “Wild Bill” Austin and the late Cornelius Bumpus.  Last night, she dropped into the P&G Bar in Manhattan to sing with Jonny Rosch, her old Blues Brothers colleague.

 

Jonny Rosch, a member of the Blues Brothers Band, plays harp as Maydie Myles looks on. Rosch and Friends play each Tuesday at the P&G Bar in Manhattan.

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It was a smashing set, with Adam Rogers on guitar, Neil Jason on bass, Dan Cipriano on sax and the great Anton Fig on drums. Also joining her at piano was Tony Aiardo. Maydie laid it on, with her rich, soul-stirring voice filling the house. Her vocals were flawless, but it was her genuine life story that made her “soul sister number one.”

 

Maydie Myles and Tony Aiardo on piano. Photos by Frank Beacham 

What Were They Thinking? Library Tosses Rare Vinyl Record Collection

 

In a remarkably sad story, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library in Tennessee has sold its collection of rare vinyl record albums for $1 a piece. Some of the vinyl was valued at a thousand times as much. The library staff was obviously clueless of its value.

From the library, Chad Bledsoe, owner of Chad's Records in Chattanooga, bought a rare collection compiled by Library of Congress Folk Life Center archivist Richard K. Spottswood in 1976 for the Bicentennial. For only $13, he got a collection of American Folk music from the 1920's, 30's and 40's that inspired the best country, blues and rock musicians decades later. On Amazon, the same collection is now valued at $1500!

Each album in the set has it's own theme and title like War & History, Complaints & Protest, Migration and Immigration and Songs of Childhood. "It's definitely a one-of-a-kind find because I guess the only sets are in libraries," Bledsoe said.

Bledsoe's 13-record set came from the now-empty shelves of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library, where the vinyl was tossed out like yesterday's trash. Friends of the Library were selling the records through March 2 for a dollar each in the center of Northgate Mall.

Each of the albums contained a vinyl disc that was in remarkably good shape. They included a book that detailed the music, the lyrics and the story behind the songs as well as the life of the artists. Included were some of the earliest Grand Ole Opry performers on these albums, as well as performers like Wilmouth Houdini, Dutch Coleman, Bumble Bee Slim and others who blazed the blues and folk music trails.

"We had noticed over the last several years that the vinyl is not circulating like our CD’s are, or our DVD's, and what we wanted to do was make space for new items and get them into the hands of people who would really appreciate them," Cathy Royal of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library said. She didn’t have the time or resources to property maintain the vinyl that was now over 30 years old.

What a truly sad, sad story!

Tony Garnier On His Trip to the White House

 

Tony Garnier, fresh from a performance at the White House last week playing bass for Bob Dylan, did a second gig for Jonny Rosch and friends at the P&G Bar in New York City on Tuesday night.  

Garnier, who is about to go on tour with Dylan, said the White House performance was one of the highlights of his career while performing around the world with Dylan. He was behind Dylan as he shook hands with President Obama and then met the President himself. 

Garnier said he not only shook hands with the President and the First Lady, but found himself shaking hands with to both Malia and Sasha. However, he forgot to shake hands with Vice President Joe Biden who he said “was only three feet away.” Garnier said he hoped to get a picture shaking hands with the President but had not contacted the White House about getting one.

 

Dylan’s bass player and music director said he, the pianist and Dylan did a sound check of The Times They Are a Changin' earlier but didn’t see any reason to stay in the White House to wait for the performance. So, he said, they went back to their hotel and went through the stringent White House security twice—arriving about an hour before the actual performance.  

Garnier said Dylan did the song differently during the sound check than in the performance. That’s fairly routine, he said, since playing with Bob Dylan requires a player to always be ready for different variations. However, where some acts at the White House repeated their songs for the taping, Dylan did his only once and it was perfect.

While waiting for the performance, Garnier said he viewed the original paintings on the walls of the White House—including those of George Washington and American Indians—which he said gave him a sense of the gravity of the building and where he was standing. He said it is a place he'll never forget.

When they finished the performance, he said the Dylan group immediately left the White House, not remaining for the ending. Garnier said he returned to New York City on an Amtrak train.

 

 

A Miracle on New York City's 78th Street and Columbus Avenue

The best music in New York City today happens in small clubs when the world’s greatest musicians take a night off from their big ticket gigs and jam for fun. I’ve written several times before about the P&G Bar on 78th and Columbus Ave. in NYC, where on most Tuesdays Jonny Rosch assembles a group of his musical friends. Last night, however, was truly exceptional.

As a non-musician, I’m always amazed when a group of people who have never played together walk into a room and, completely unrehearsed, do a set that almost lights the place on fire. Last night, Oz Noy, one of the world’s great guitarists, joined Robby Ameen on drums, Ron Jenkins on bass and Dan Cipriano on sax in Rosch’s ensemble.  It was explosive—one of the best jam sessions I’ve ever witnessed.  

 

Oz Noy is a top flight guitarist who has played with musicians ranging from Cyndi Lauper to Harry Belafonte. He is among the very best. Everyone should hear him. Enough said.

Robby Ameen is an aggressive drummer that cannot be ignored. At the P&G, he destroyed a drum head and another was sought late at night. It didn’t slow him down for a second. Ameen has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, Eddie Palmieri, Dave Grusion and on and on. He’s one of the best I’ve ever witnessed.

 

Ron Jenkins is a killer bass player. At the P&G, he played electric, taking over the stage when he and Ameen did a bass-drums duet. He has worked with Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Cher, Anita Baker, Cyndi Lauper and a whole lot more.

Dan Cipriano was Wilson Pickett’s sax player for seven years. He does a killer solo in D.A. Pennebaker’s “Only the Strong Survive.” One of the world’s best sax players, bar none.

 

Jonny Rosch is a white blues singer who should have been black. He’s a member of the Blues Brothers Band. As good as he is, perhaps his greatest talent is assembling the level of musicians he pulls out of the hat each week. A lot of wannabee players hang around the P&G hoping to be invited on stage. Rosch only chooses the best of the best, which, as he noted last night, are the “professionals.” That quality control makes all the difference in the world. 

Al Kooper Rocks New York City on His 66th Birthday

 

Al Kooper has made rock history a hundred times over and had absolutely nothing to lose by telling noisy fans behind him to “shut the fuck up.” It was a vintage, endearing Kooper moment from a man who has been around so long he remembers the time when audiences actually kept their mouths shut and listened to the songs.

Now, at 66, Kooper celebrated his birthday at B.B. Kings Club in New York City on Friday night with some old friends and great music. The weather forecasters had predicted a huge snowstorm and Kooper figured no more than a couple of hundred people would attend. He was wrong—the 500-seat club was sold out (and the snow didn’t come.)

 

Danny Kalb, the founder of the Blues Project, was the first guest. Kooper, a member of that seminal group, played the vintage blues with Kalb, whose singing and guitar playing were first rate.  Kooper and Kalb still make a great fit after all these years.

 

Then came a Kooper discovery—a woman he had met when he interviewed her for a newspaper on the day she opened for Keb’ Mo.’ Kristina Train, he said, reminded him of the 60s-era British singer Dusty Springfield, and he invited her to sing at his birthday show. After Kooper’s big build-up, she came on stage and quickly won over the audience. 

Raised in Savannah, Georgia and schooled in church choirs growing up, Train, 28, has a powerful, soulful voice and plays a mean violin. Her first album, for Blue Note Records, is called Spilt Milk. Kooper spread it around to his friends, anointing her a real comer. I can't help but agree.

 

Then came Jimmy Vivino, the ace guitarist who moved to Los Angeles to play in the Tonight Show band with Conan O’Brien. An old collaborator with Kooper, Vivino said he had just arrived from a cross country flight and “my ass hurts.” But that didn't keep him from taking a slap at Jeff Zucker, the NBC president who fired Conan O'Brien and is taking much heat for destroying a network.

Vivino did a vicious set with Kooper, highlighted by Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, the legendary song where Kooper sneaked in one of the most famous Hammond B3 organ rifts in history. Kooper said it’s what you do when you’re confronted by “Bob fucking Dylan.” Vivino sang the vocals and Kooper played the organ part that made him famous. Kooper later played with Dylan when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival.

Jimmy Vivino sings Like a Rolling Stone. All photos by Frank Beacham

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The show closed with Kooper playing with his “Funky Faculty” band made up of music teachers from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where Kooper once taught himself. 

Kooper wrote one of the most entertaining books on the history of rock. The new revised edition of Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor is a classic and a must read for anyone who loves rock music.

Harlem Parlour Music Club Conjures Unique Sounds for Christmas Show

 

I brought a friend to the Harlem Parlour Music Club’s Christmas Show who doesn’t usually like the blues, bluegrass or country music, and would have never entered in the building if I had mouthed the words “mountain music.” Yet her verdict on the concert: probably the best band I’ve ever taken her to see. (And this includes Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and lot of other really big names.)

I don’t know exactly how they do it, but the musicians in the HPMC—who decidedly have a mountain-country-bluegrass flavor with lots of stringed instruments—adds a level of New York sophistication that makes the music sound….well different.  

White Christmas, performed by Allison Cornell, is a good example. Using only a fiddle with the vocal, it’s arrangement was a totally unique, fresh and new version of an old song that everyone knows. She credits this arrangement to David Mansfield, a great dobro, mandolin, violin and pedal steel player, who worked on Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.

 

The Harlem Parlour Music Club performed songs from their new Christmas CD last night at the Village Underground. The musicians in the group don’t normally play this kind of music. The gig is strictly for fun and their records are produced in the home studio of Sammy Merendino, in another life the drummer for Cyndi Lauper’s band. Yet, in pursuing music beyond what they normally do professionally, they’ve found a sound that’s truly unique and wonderful.

Jack Cooke Lived the "Old, Weird America" Through His Music

I was sad to learn of the recent death of Jack Cooke, the great bluegrass musician who played with both Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, and worked as a driver for Dock Boggs, the master of American murder ballads.

Fortunately, I met and had an interesting conversation with Cooke several years ago when he played with Ralph Stanley at B.B. Kings Club in April, 2005 in New York City. Cooke was weary from years on the road and told me he’d like to retire but couldn’t afford to. He worked until illness forced him to retire at age 72 earlier this year.

 

As a young man, Cooke grew up in Norton, Virginia, the same town as distant relative Dock Boggs. Jack drove Boggs around in his later years. As a teenager, Jack took up the guitar, and—in 1955—joined the Clinch Mountain Boys, the band for the Stanley Brothers. A year later, Cook left to join Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. In 1970, he rejoined the Clinch Mountain Boys as bassest and stayed until the end.

Through his association with two of the world’s great bluegrass bands, Cooke became one of the masters of the genre. As anyone knows who has been to bluegrass concerts, the performers love to chat up the audience and sell their records and tapes. Cooke was one of the best at this. Before we finished our chat, he made sure I bought his only solo album, Sittin’ On Top of the World. I'm glad I did. It’s a wonderful recording that I would have missed if Cooke hadn't insisted that I buy it. 

RIP, Jack Cooke. Finally, you can retire.

 

David Ippolito & Company Play Holiday Concert at New York City’s Merkin Hall

David Ippolito, the guitar man from Central Park, assembled a terrific ensemble of musicians for his annual year-end concert last night at the Merkin Concert Hall.

One of the most successful “street musicians” working today, David has parlayed free summer concerts in Central Park into eight CDs and a very loyal audience. In a way, he’s the epitome of the modern independent musician who astutely uses the Internet to cultivate a fan base that he has built over almost 20 years. (Yes, the concert last night was streamed live on the net.)

In fact, David rejects most of the trappings of the earlier era of recording artists, maintaining personal relationships with most of his fans. He calls himself a "possibility junkie" and many musicians could learn a lot by watching him.

A loyal fan of Ippolito is Sid Berstein, the retired music promoter who changed rock and roll by bringing the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, the Moody Blues and the Kinks to America. He also organized the famous Beatles concert at Shea Stadium, the concert that spawned stadium concerts today. Sid was in the audience as David sang “Keep Hope Alive,” a song he wrote from one of Sid’s phone messages.

 Teresa Reynolds is a powerful vocalist with a winning smile. 

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Though David usually plays alone with only his guitar, on this night he assembled a wonderful lineup of musicians. An impressive newcomer was Teresa Reynolds, a singer of exceptional voice and an electric smile. Pianist, singer, songwriter and monologist George Wurzbach was at his curmudgeonly best. And Chris Tedesco and Cenovia Cummins were both terrific on fiddle/violin.  

George Wurzbach sings about writing a song with God.

Chris Tedesco and Cenovia Cummins on fiddle duet. (All photos by Frank Beacham)

Write Down & Remember the Name Elle B. She’s a comer!

At the last Songwriter’s Guild circle at the Red Lion in Greenwich Village, host Skip Brevis called up a young girl he’s been working with in the studio to perform a couple of songs. To put it simply, she blew everyone away.

She goes by the name Elle B, but her real name is Laura Brooke Winter. She’s 10-years-old and in the fifth grade at the Town School in New York City. She’s been singing since she was three, and has already performed in theater productions and talent shows around the city, as well as commercials and print jobs at major advertising agencies.

 

Skip has been working with Elle B and so far they, along with Skip's wife, Claudia, have co-written six songs. Three were recently recorded at Germano Studios in New York. In January, they return to the studio with the goal of producing Elle B’s first full CD by next summer.   

Watch out for Elle B. If there’s ever proof that some people are born with talent, this young girl proves it.  She is simply sensational!

 

 

Harlem Parlour Music Club Releases Country-Folk Christmas Album; To Do New York City Gig on December 16th

Sammy Merendino, the kick ass drummer with Cyndi Lauper, recently sent me the new Christmas CD by The Harlem Parlour Music Club, a group of top flight professional musicians who come together to have a good time and play the music they love. Since they formed in the spring of 2008, they have produced two CDs: the first called Salt of the Earth and the latest, A Harlem Parlour Christmas.

Though I’m not usually a fan of Christmas albums, this has been a very good year. After Mr. Dylan’s surprise, A Harlem Parlour Christmas is a real delight. As with the Salt of the Earth, the music has a country-folk flavor performed with the precision that only top studio musicians in New York City could bring to it.

 

This is one BIG band. The core musicians consist of Ann Klein and Andrew Carillo (guitar, banjo, dobro, and mandolin & vocal), David Mansfield (dobro, mandolin, violin & pedal steel), Steve Count (electric & upright bass), Andy Burton (accordion, keyboards & vocals), Allison Cornell (violin, viola & vocals), Sammy Merendino (drums), Chris Tedesco (violin & vocals), T-bone Wolk (accordion) and Tim Hatfield (recordist). On vocals is Amanda Homi, Elaine Caswell & Tabitha Fair. Jeffrey Golub (guitar & dobro), Robbie Kondor (harmonica) and Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (dulcimer) also join guest artists Darden Smith and Mary Lee Kortes. If something happened to this band, it would shut down half the major music acts in America!

This is a rare Christmas record that I highly recommend. It has a great mix of traditional songs such as White Christmas and a beautifully sung Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, along with a funky fiddle version of Auld Lang Syne and a country-style Christmas Time's A-coming. 

The Harlem Parlour Music Club band will do a rare personal appearance on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 at the Village Underground at 130 West 3rd Street in New York City.  Make a reservation and be there. You won't be sorry.