Larry Taylor was an American bassist.
He is best known for his contribution to “On the Road Again” (1968).
He also played bass on 15 Tom Waits albums.
I love the dark cabaret feel of Swordfishtrombones.
Tag Archives: American music
RIP Dr. John (1941 – 2019)
Dr. John was an American singer-songwriter best-known for his single “Right Place, Wrong Time” (1973).
There are two songs from his debut album Gris-Gris (1968) on YouTube, “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” and “I Walk on Guilded Splinters”, both have very nice percussion breaks.
Of note is the likeness of “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya” to the work of Tom Waits (think Swordfishtrombones, 1983), esp. the aforementioned percussion breaks.
Dr. John is one of these figures one could study for a week, there are so many connections. Below is him reading “Berenice” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Trivia: the beginning of “Right Place, Wrong Time” sounds like the beginning of “Spirit in the Sky” (1969) and the whole of “Right Place, Wrong Time” is very much reminiscent of a seventies groovy soul song with a chorus of “your love, your love” with something added like “is unforgettable” or “is extraordinary”, the title of which escapes me.
RIP Roky Erickson (1947 – 2019)
Roky Erickson was an American singer-songwriter, lead singer of the garage punk band The 13th Floor Elevators.
He is best-known for his song “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (1966) which was featured on the compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968 (1972).
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RIP Scott Walker (1943 – 2019)
Scott Walker was an American-born British singer-songwriter, composer and record producer.
First active with the band The Walker Brothers, Walker evolved from sappy and catchy recordings with an edge of sadness (“Make It Easy on Yourself“, 1965; and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)“, 1966) to more experimental work (Nite Flights, 1978).
He would continue this course of experimentation in his solo work, culminating with albums such as The Drift which was as scary as it was gentle, luckily not at the same time.
RIP Andre Williams (1936 – 2019)
Andre Williams was an American musician best known for the hit records “Jail Bait,” “Greasy Chicken,” “Bacon Fat” (1956) and “Cadillac Jack” (1966).
He was also the co-author of the R&B hit “Shake a Tail Feather”.
Surprisingly, his track “Bacon Fat” can also be found on the DJ Mix album How to Kill the DJ Part 2 (2004).
RIP Dick Dale (1937 – 2019)
Dick Dale was an American guitarist best-known for his 1962 arrangement of the Eastern Mediterranean classic “Misirlou“, the use of which in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction gained him a new audience.
“Miserlou” was originally a hit for Jan August in 1946 …
… but is believed to be first recorded in 1927.
RIP Hal Blaine (1929 – 2019)
Hal Blaine was an American drummer.
Some of the more notable records he played on include the Ronettes’ single “Be My Baby” (1963) and the Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds (1966).
Of his solo work, Psychedelic Percussion (1967) [above] is of note.
RIP Ken Nordine (1920 – 2019)
Ken Nordine (1920 – 2019) was an American voice artist, best known for his series of spoken word jazz poetry albums, the first of which was Word Jazz (1957).
He also recorded a version of Balzac’s risque story “A Passion in the Desert” (1955).
RIP Lonnie Simmons (date of birth unknown – 2019)
RIP Lonnie Simmons, American record producer (“Don’t Stop the Music“).
Lonnie Simmons was an American record producer best-known for co-writing “Don’t Stop the Music” (1978).
In 1981, the song was successfully covered by Bits & Pieces [above].
RIP Edwin Birdsong (1941 – 2019)
I discovered Edwin Birdsong when I discovered Salsoul and have yet to listen to his earlier work for Polydor, Bamboo and Philadelphia International.