Currently listening to.... (2018)

Some singers when they are part of a singing group are never appreciated as much as they could be until they strike out on their own.

One example in my opinion is ex-Manhattan Transfer singer, Janis Siegel.
Lot's more of her on YouTube.

 

So why was it banned?

 

Tchaikovsky wasn’t around to complain so the BBC did it on his behalf and banned this Shadows-styled workout of Swan Lake. This is one of the last records to be banned for adapting the classics as in 1964, the decisions were made by individual producers, who had less reservations.

A few other instrumentals were banned also, including one by Glenn Miller...The mind boggles.

 

But ELO is OK?



I love Rosie Langley.

 

On the subject of "banning."

Before the musical "My Fair Lady" opened in the West End in 1958, none of the songs from the show could be played by the BBC.

However you could walk into specialist record shops and buy this, as I did as a teenager.

I guess as it was "jazz" it didn't count. It would now be considered as just ordinary cocktail bar music.

You could never really class Andre Previn as a jazz musician, but I still love his version of this tune.

 

Thats quite true, but not because the record was banned. The BBC only played records that were released in the UK. The first recording with the original Broadway cast, although made in 1956 was only released in the UK in 1958 after the show had opened in the West End.

The recording from the West End production was only made in 1959. Therefore impossible to be played in 1958.

 

My point really was that no performance of the songs could be heard anywhere until after the show had opened in the UK. It was a "rights" condition. The record I linked was released in 1956 in the USA and I bought it I'm pretty sure in 57 or early 58 in my local record store. It was the only record of the tunes available in the UK at that time.

Lots of US jazz records available in specialist shops back then.

I've a Miles Davis album with import stickers on it, I bought in Harrods around that time.

 

Martha Reeves' voice has completely gone.

Fortunately there's Joan Osborne, singing with some of the original Motown Funk Brothers.

 

I thought some of you might enjoy watching and listening to this...

 

I uploaded this to YouTube in 2011, from an album I bought as a teenager. It's had nearly 17,000 hits. So some fans of his must have sought it out. It's a great tune and it's received a lot of nice comments.

I've always liked jazz guitarists, who can play when necessary, all six strings at the same time, (necessary for some of the jazz chords), unlike a lot of contemporary players.

 

Hope not! She is still touring and playing a local festival in the summer.

 

She might be still touring but her voice is shot. She relies on her backing singers.

This is tragic. (I've the original 45 in one of my jukeboxes)



She ruins the Holland–Dozier–Holland song she made famous.

She's seventy seven now.

Contrast this with any contemporary seventy year-old Jeff Lynne's vocal performances. He's still got it.