I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— this landscape by Vincent van Gogh— never seen publicly due to being in a family’s private collection for the past century — will go on auction next month ... but not before brief showings in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Paris.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this self-explanatory essay by Perry Bacon, Nine Lessons I Learned about Political Reporting While Covering Trump.
WHILE the right-wing Polish government tries to crack-down on legal abortions, there are groups eager to assist those who need them … and cross-border transit makes it a bit easier.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Lilly the Hero Cat— an Oregon kitteh who gave her family an early alert to a gas leak … which could have soon become dangerous.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this lengthy yet illuminating look at the Knight Foundation— which benefits many organizations, including NPR — yet also benefits major right-wing organizations and last year invited Brad Parscale as a speaker (withdrawing him under pressure, yet substituting another Trumpkin).
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Brandy the Cat— reunited (due to her microchip) after going missing for fifteen years with a California man saying, “Adoption is forever”.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz (one question on the BBC quiz will result in a correct NYT answer).
A NOTE on TODAY’s POLL — This will be a Trump-centric poll (non-Trumpers will be held-over to next week).
OLDER-YOUNGER SISTERS?
...... and finally, four songs of the week ...........................… as these were familiar pieces of music from yesteryear with a soloist whose identity was not well known to the general public. Three were on alto saxophone, and the first with an alto flute (a lower register) and there are interesting back-stories for some of them.
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In 1966, the Mamas and the Papas were recording their debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears— ranked as #112 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest albums listing — yet for one song: they did not want a usual guitar solo. This was for California Dreaming— their most famous tune (although interestingly it only reached #4 in the US charts, while a different song Monday, Monday reached #1).
Walking into the hallway of the Hollywood recording studio they were in, John Phillips took note of a musician who had worked his way up through being a flutist and saxophonist in Stan Kenton’s band. Bud Shank had become a prominent west coast musician and in the 1960’s had also become a prolific studio guest musician, appearing on TV and film dates. Earlier that year, he had a modestly successful album release featuring the Beatles’ Michelle and other rock songs.
Phillips prevailed upon Bud Shank for his help, and after listening intently to the demo tapes: delivered a solo on alto flute on the first take (and you can listen to California Dreaming at this link). He eventually concentrated only on alto saxophone, and is heard on the theme song to the 1984 Mike Hammer television show. Bud Shank died in April, 2009 at age eighty-two.
An alto saxophonist with one of the most varied portfolios would be David Sanborn— whom the All Music Guide considers “among the most commercially successful saxophonists to emerge from the 1970’s” — who began his career with a stint (1967-1971) in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, including at Woodstock. His bright/raspy sound is distinctive, and can be heard on his own recordings (straddling the jazz/smooth jazz line) plus as the host of the TV show Night Music, and as a guest with musicians as varied as Bryan Ferry, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Paul Simon … and notably on David Bowie’s song Young Americans.
At age seventy-five, the winner of six Grammy awards, his playing can be heard on the soundtrack to the Lethal Weapon film series … and also in the opening theme to the 1986-1994 L.A. Law series (which can be heard at this link).
In 1977, Billy Joel was recording his fifth album The Stranger— and concerned he would be dropped by Columbia Records without yet having a hit album. So he used a new producer (Phil Ramone) who suggested the album needed a ballad.
Billy Joel played him this song written as a tribute to his first wife (albeit someone he would divorce five years later). Yet he was skeptical of it: too sentimental, too sappy. Phil Ramone, however, loved it: and they went to work on developing it.
Yet in the end, the two still felt needed something more. And while the obvious choice was Joel’s tenor saxophonist Richie Connata (featured in Scenes from an Italian Restaurant), Phil wanted a more sprightly alto saxophone and said:
When I think of alto saxophone I immediately think of Phil Woods — one of the top jazz session men in New York. And so I called on him, and his exceptional solo (in just two takes) lent Just the Way You Are a sublimity that was greater than anything I had imagined.
Born in western Massachusetts and a Julliard graduate, Phil Woods had become a veteran in the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Quincy Jones and Benny Goodman before leading his own bands after 1955. Later as noted, he was an avid session player … and in addition to this song, you may recognize his solo on the Steely Dan tune Doctor Wu from two years earlier (at this link).
Phil Ramone continues:
Despite all the time we spent tweaking Just the Way You Are, Billy still wasn't sure that he wanted it on the album .. until the night Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow visited the studio. We were talking about the album, and I played Just the Way You Are for them. They were floored, and when Billy mentioned that he wanted to eliminate it … “Are you crazy? That's the hit. You're out of your minds if you don't put it on the album.”
It wound-up winning Grammys for both Record and Song of the Year for 1978, and this album proved to be the break-through that Billy Joel had hoped for.
Phil Woods managed to win four Grammy awards of his own, was named the top alto saxophone player in nearly thirty Downbeat magazine Readers Polls and battling emphysema in his later years: he would bring an oxygen tank onstage. Five years after his death in 2015 (just short of age eighty-four) his autobiography Life in E Flat was released. You can hear him on Just the Way You Are at this link.
Lastly, in 1978 a Scottish-born musician was finally free to record what he hoped would be his breakthrough solo album. Gerry Rafferty had previously been a co-founder (along with Billy Connolly, who later became a noted stand-up comic and actor) of The Humblebums— a popular group in Britain of folk-comedy up to 1971. Then, Rafferty founded Stealers Wheel, whose enduring 1972 hit song had a chorus which everyone can finish: “Clowns to the left of me ... Jokers to the right”.
Yet the acrimonious demise of that band (due to protracted legal battles with management) in 1975 left Rafferty sidelined for nearly three years. Now signed to United Artists, he recorded the album City to City— which reached #1 in the US charts, with a secondary hit single being Right Down the Line.
Yet the breakout hit single was Baker Street— reaching #2 in the US and #3 in Britain — the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, yet which Rafferty often lived at a friend’s home there. This song/album should have lifted Rafferty to stardom — yet the idiosyncratic musician refused to tour the US with it, turned down lucrative spots, eventually becoming an alcoholic. He died in 2011 at the age of sixty-three.
Baker Street became a classic due to the searing alto saxophone playing of Raphael “Raf” Ravenscroft— an unknown session musician at the time. He was not the first choice of Rafferty’s producer (Pete Zorn was) but Zorn suggested other names and Ravenscroft’s exotic name led to an important phone call.
He was paid just union scale (approx $50 US) and later said that he played out-of-tune. Yet it led to success: an adjunct university teaching post, a 1990 saxophone instructional book and was a guest on sessions from Pink Floyd to Abba to Marvin Gaye and more recently with Daft Punk and the English singer Duffy.
Raphael Ravenscroft recorded a tribute for Gerry Rafferty’s 2011 funeral, before his own death in 2014 at the age of sixty. And below you can hear Baker Street.