Dance Band on the “Titanic.”

Dance band on the Titanic
Sing “Nearer, my God, to Thee”
The iceberg’s on the starboard bow
Won’t you dance with me.

- Harry Chapin – Dance Band on the Titanic: 1977

We’ve all seen the movie, “Titanic,” and the famous scene where the band continues to play as the liner is sinking. Wallace Hartley was the band leader and was born was born in Colne, Lincoshire. He was a violinist and had worked for years on ocean liners. His band on the RMS “Titanic” was to play at church services and also during afternoon tea and for after dinner.

Hartley and his brave band members wanted the passengers and crew to remain calm and upbeat while getting off the ship into lifeboats. They continued to play in the cold air even though they knew there was no hope for they themselves to get off. “Nearer My God to Thee” was often quoted as the last song they played but wireless operator Harold Bride reported that the band’s last song was called “Autumn,” a popular hymn at the time.

Memorial

Hartley’s body was found 2 weeks after the sinking and he was given a large funeral in his hometown. There is  a plaque in Liverpool’s Philarmonic Hall to commemorate the band naming all eight members .

Harry Chapin’s “Dance Band on the Titanic”

In 1977 Harry Chapin released his 7th album called “Dance Band on the Titanic,” a double record set containing 14 songs

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The Christmas Song – Written in the Summer Heat

Mel Tormé’s classic “The Christmas Song” was written in 1942 on a hot summer’s day with Bob Wells providing the cool lyrics. Actually Wells, who was suffering through the heat, was actually training his mind to “cool off.”  

The Christmas Song” sprang to prominence when Nat King Cole first recorded it in 1946 but it was his 1961 re-recording in stereo that is the benchmark of all the versions of this popular, seasonal song. Popularly called “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” the imagery in the words makes it a seasonal favourite for those of all ages. 

The 1961 Stereophonic Recording

  • Recorded: Capitol Studios, New York City, March 30, 1961. 
  • Singers: Nat King Cole
  • Harmony vocals:  Charles Grean & Pete Rugolo
  • Orchestration:  Ralph Carmichael, orchestra conductor
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Sweet Baby James

“The first of December was covered with snow
So was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston”

-  James Taylor Sweet Baby James 1970.

sweet baby jamesEvery December 1st I sing Sweet Baby James at least once . It takes me back to the first time  I heard the album of the same name, actually an 8-track tape deck in my friend’s 1967 Volkswagen bug. Fire and Rain was the big song, and we had to wait through lesser favourites while the song track came around again.

One of the songs that we never heard much was Sweet Baby James. This was because both tracks were parallel, which meant that once you heard one you had to wait until the tape looped to hear the other. The other thing it meant was that we never heard it until we let the tape roll through its path. If Fire and Rain made James Taylor a star then Sweet Baby James lifted him into the realm of great songwriters.

It was written for the son of his brother, Alex, as Taylor was driving through Carolina to meet Alex’s son. It mirror’s the tempo of Rock-a-Bye Baby and brings in cowboy references. 

It was one of the first travelling songs at a time when a whole generation was on the move, especially the line:

“With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go.”

 Then came his version of Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend and James Taylor became a household name.

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The Great Pinetop Perkins

If any one person defined blues piano it was Joseph William Perkins, also known as Pinetop Perkins. Born on July 7, 1913 he played piano right up until his death last week at the age of 97 1/2. One of the original Mississippi bluesmen he started out as a guitar player but lost the flexibility in his left arm as the result of a fight. In the beginning he worked with Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson. During the 1950′s he toured with Earl Hooker and recorded his famous ”

Perkins became well-known with a new generation of blues lovers in 1969 when he joined Muddy Waters’ band. After 10 years with this group he formed the Legendary Blues Band with Willie “Big Eyes ” Smith. This lasted well into the 1990′s.

Until his death, Perkins lived in Austin, Texas and performed a couple of nights a week at Nuno’s on Sixth Street. In 2005, Perkins also received Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He died on March 21, 2011.

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Founder of Korg Keyboards Dies

Almost every recording musician has been touched by a Korg product at sometime or another. it was always a pleasure to go into the music store and get a first-hand experience with the newest Korg keyboard. And Korg knocked one out of the park with the M1, which is still a revered synthesizer to this very day

Two days ago Korg announced the death of company Chairman Tsutomu Katoh who died after a long fight with cancer.

Korg President Seiki Kato released the following statement:

Since he founded Korg Inc. in 1963, Mr. Katoh has led our company with great talent, vision and leadership. He was loved and respected by all the employees and Korg family members, and he made a huge contribution to the lives of countless musicians around the world.

Katoh Invented the Modern Drum Machine

Love ‘em or hate ‘em the drum machine changed live and recorded music by providing a cheap and reliable beat in a wide variety of percussion instruments. Katoh was a night club owner by trade who experimented with a drum machine idea in the early 1960’s when he watched a popular musician on stage with  a simple beat-box.  Within a few months he and team of like-minded individual;s had created the first KORG product – the legendary Donca Matic.

More Korg Followed

Korg’s drum machines became the standard of the industry which made Katoh branch out into electronic keyboards and other devices. Korg developed the the first hand-held tuner – replacing the oscilloscope-based models – and integrated a keyboard and microphone for the amazing VC-10,  Vocoder. The MS-20 was a great two-oscillator synth.

With Wavedrum Korg made its mark on the  music workstation category, including with the M1, the best selling workstation/synthesizer ever created. The Korg piano samples were widely regarded as the best in the industry for many years making their stage pianos a regular on live stages and recording studios.

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