[This post was substantially updated after finding and researching a 1973 album recorded by Pete Brady – “Sing Me A Smile”, which was previously undocumented in all the usual places.] In this first post looking at albums from Creed Taylor’s specialty recording period, between 1956 and early 1961, I am going to take at look at one half of this […]
The Specialty Years
In 1956, Creed Tylor quit his first gig as a record business executive at Bethlehem and moved over to ABC-Paramount, which would later become ABC Records, and had earlier been called AM-PAR. These were specialty recording years of Creed Taylor productions. The Specialty Years Creed Taylor arrived in New York City in 1954, aged 24-years old, with no experience or […]
#Nowplaying: Nautilus
While “Mardi Gras” is probably Bob James most sampled, track, “Nautilus” is right up there with it. This post looks at a Record Store Day, 2020, re-issue of the classic track. If you missed, or were not lucky enough to win one of the test pressing that Evo gave away in social media competitions, it’s unlikely you’ll see one of […]
On This Day: Quincy Jones calls Creed Taylor
[This post was a day late due to the holidays.] In December 1995, Billboard magazine issue featured a tribute to Quincy Jones “Quincy Jones: A Half Century Of Music” featuring an expansive interview with Quincy by Mark Rowland. Including numerous full page advertisements, it runs 34-pages. Not only is Creed Taylor not mentioned, but in it’s listings and discography, everything […]
Happy Born Day – Chet Baker
Chesney Henry “Chet” Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988, Age 58) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations within the cool jazz subgenre leading him to be nicknamed the “prince of cool”. I have to admit, that while I know many of Chet recordings, I know very little about the man. […]
Happy Born Day: Hank Crawford
Bennie Ross “Hank” Crawford, Jr. born December 21, 1934, Memphis, Tennessee, died January 29, 2009, Memphis, Tennessee. To celebrate the day of Hank Crawford’s birth, as well as my usual notes, research, and a few unique finds, I have a mix of some examples of Hank’s work, and a 4-part interview with Hank by visual artist Jomo Cheatham. Press play […]
Remembering Grover Washington, Jr.
Just 5-days after celebrating his 56th birthday, Grover had a heart attack in the green room, after performing and recording four songs for “The Saturday Early Show”, at CBS Studios in New York City. He was pronounced dead at 7:30pm that day, December 17th, 1999, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. I hadn’t planned to mark his passing, especially […]
The Grover Washington Birthday Playlist
Playlist and notes for Happy Born Day: Grover Washington, Jr. – Creed Taylor Produced (ctproduced.com) # Title Artist Notes Time 1 Who Is Sylvia Johnny Hammond Recorded just a month after Grover’s “Inner City Blues” album, and before the album was released, Washington was again sideman to Hammond for his 2nd KUDU album “Johnny Hammond – Wild Horses Rock Steady […]
Happy Born Day: Grover Washington, Jr.
Unusually, I have two audio tracks to celebrate Grover Washington’s birthday. A full mix of tracks that Grover played on, I tried to pick less well known tracks rather than the GWJ classics. At the end of the post is retrospective by Christian McBride, show host of WBGO Jazz 88.3FM‘s JazzNight, and fantastic bass player himself. PRESS PLAY AND READ […]
The Creed Taylor Christmas Album
Press play and read on. The Missing Specialty Recordings album? I’ve always respected the fact that there was never a CTI Christmas album… or “holiday special”. Given the 1978 bankruptcy, it would have been easy money to have send a few talented musicians over to Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey and get them to record some holiday classics. […]