Kathleen Loves Music

Goodbye (songs), again.

fredseibert — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:43:54 +0000

So, for the second time in four years I’m movin’ on up. Not to the East Side, but over to my new, personal, tumblelog. The songs I’ve posted here never get too much reaction, and I can understand it. We’re primarily a cartoon industry blog after all, and we’ve tried hard to keep Frederator Blogs out of the realm of punditry and opinion, and more in the arena of fandom of filmmakers we love. My peculiarities of baby booming musical taste shouldn’t really have too much currency, and I figured the reblogging, community nature of tumblr could be a more hospitable environment.

So, come on over to our tumblr songs. Get a groove on.

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello

fredseibert — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:55:10 +0000

Bulldogs photograph by iDream_in_Infrared’s

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello > Bulldog Blues [Dance Remix]

This track is cool. Very cool. It’s the electro blues, yawl. It’s never been released anywhere, so heads up.

It sure is nothing like you’ve ever heard before. Try it, you’ll see. A holy alliance of the legendary country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell and his student, mentor, and friend (and my friend) Tom Pomposello, the tracks were recorded in the winter of 1971 (they were, in fact, Fred’s last recordings before he passed away in 1972), and overdubbed/remixed in 1998 by Tom (also his last project before he passed away in 1999) and Lenny Kravitz’s partner, composer/producer/mixer Dave Baron. The 26 years between sessions is the secret sauce.

After recording Fred’s last album, Tom asked Fred for some coaching at a demo session. Fred wanted to sing along with Tom’s guitar, and Tom, nervous about his still forming skills thought he’d record them on two tracks, so decades in the future he could re-record his guitar when he might be good enough to stand next to a master. The tracks sat on the shelf while Tom built his talent, skills, and career to world class level.

When the time came to dust off the box of tape almost 30 years later, it occurred to Tom that to recreate a blues track would not add anything to anyone’s life. He was as enamored as ever of Fred and wanted to continue his lifelong mission to introduce this great man to new generations. Alongside master producer Dave Baron he decided to deconstruct and rebuild the blues for the moment. Tom wiped his original guitar, and with Dave’s keyboards and Tom’s electric Dobro and harmonica, he lovingly rebuilt the classic blues lines interweaving with the beats and the sound of the dance floor. What better way to pay tribute to a music that was, after all, dance music at house parties throughout the Mississippi Delta in Fred’s youth?

There’s irony all the way through these five minutes. This was Fred McDowell’s final recording. And, it was Tom Pomposello’s final recording. Bulldog Blues [Dance Remix] is the lifetime of Fred and Tom’s blues. Enjoy.
…..
Mississippi Fred McDowell: vocals
Honest Tom Pomposello: electric Dobro, harmonica
Dave Baron: keyboards

Produced by Tom Pomposello
Mixed by Dave Baron
1998

Songs from The Neverhood.

fredseibert — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:56:49 +0000

If you’re a fan of Doug TenNapel’s films or videogames, you’re probably also a huge fan of the fabulous composer Terry Scott Taylor, even if you’re not aware of it. I sure am, and since Frederator Studios is trying to make the movie version of Doug’s famous videogame The Neverhood, I thought I share what a great time I’m having with Terry’s songs and music from the game, Terry S. Taylor’s Imaginarium: Songs from The Neverhood (on Dreamworks/Stunt Music).

You’ll have to buy the two-disc set to get all the songs and demos in full quality (and a whole bonus disc of Skullmonkeys music) and the great liner notes story by Terry. Loving classic cartoon music (and though there’s nothing whatsoever old fashioned about this soundtrack, it’s obvious so do Terry and Doug) I can never get enough of this soundtrack (and remember, this was for a game).

Play on shuffle. Have a great day.

1. Klaymen Shuffle
2. Olley Oxen Free
3. Everybody Way Oh
4. Rock and Roll Dixie
5. Cough Drops
6. Skat Radio
7. Lowdee Huh
8. Klaymen’s Theme
[Read more…]

The Impressions.

fredseibert — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:55:54 +0000

The Impressions > We’re a Winner

It doesn’t take much to get me in an impressionistic mood, so our friend Steve Woolf’s photo and title moved me there today.

Was Curtis Mayfield the most impressive singer/songwriter of his day? Of his genre? Probably. And it’s probably why it took me so long to pick a single to feature here. I ended up with We’re a Winner because aside from being a favorite I seem to remember it being a core sample for something from the Space Jam soundtrack, so I thought some of the older young folk reading might recognize it.

–Fred

“I’m trying to get you to learn how to listen to Charlie Parker.”

fredseibert — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:39:24 +0000

Earle Warren & Phil Schaap, Columbia University, 1985; Photography by Nancy Miller Elliott

Phil Schaap’s obsessive nature has made him an invaluable resource in the world of jazz (and plagued many of his relationships he’s had that I’ve witnessed). And he’s become such a fixture in the New York radio community that the editor of The New Yorker has devoted an extensive profile of Phil this week that I’d recommend to anyone who loves Charlie Parker.

Anyone who knows Phil (he and I were in college radio in the early 70s; he still broadcasts on the station today) can argue pro and con for slightly less long than his description of a, say, 1947 Count Basie recording session, but I found his philosophy of jazz incredibly refreshing when he told me about it at a bar in 1999, and is recounted in the profile:

“The school system is creating six thousand unemployable musicians a year—from the Berklee College of Music, Rutgers, Mannes, Manhattan, Juilliard, plus all the high schools,” he said. “There are more and more musicians, and no gigs, no one to listen. So what happens to these kids? They work their way back to the educational system and help create more unemployable musicians. My rant is this: I’m not trying to teach you to play the alto sax. No. I’m trying to get you to learn how to listen to Charlie Parker.”

Phil Schaap by Risko

[Read more…]

Frank Olinsky paints Rusty Cloud.

fredseibert — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:03:26 +0000

When I was a budding record producer my go-to guy for album covers was my great friend from childhood, Frank Olinsky, who went on to become one of the most respected and successful music designers of the last 30 years (starting, most famously, with his co-design of the MTV logo). He selflessly went to work on whatever I asked him for, including this unreleased album cover for the unreleased (really tasty) jazz album cut by R&B pianist/singer/songwriter Rusty Cloud (Bo Diddley, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, The Blues Brothers). (Maybe I can find and post the tapes someday.)

Frank’s a great designer, but, in my eyes, an even more incredible illustrator and painter. This cover always reminded me of Eberhard Weber’s “The Colours of Chloë”, but with Frank’s trademark wry humor.

Oblivion Records.

fredseibert — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:34:26 +0000

It’s been confusing to some that rather than the individual tracks from my collection I usually post, lately I’ve been putting up whole albums (and bonus tracks) from records I produced for Oblivion Records, the indie label I started with Tom Pomposello, in the 70s (here, here, here, here, and here). There’s a blog that sporadically tries to explain everything over here.

–Fred

Tom Pomposello > Honest Tom Pomposello

fredseibert — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:40:10 +0000

Tom Pomposello > Honest Tom Pomposello

Produced by Fred Seibert

Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. Tommy’s Jump
2. Old Joe Clark
3. Jesus Died on the Cross (To Save the World)
4. Movin’ Too Fast
5. Supreme Court Breakdown
6. Amazing Grace
7. Meeting You
8. St. Louis Blues
9. (I’m) Watchin’ The T.V.
10. Hey Little Girl (Who Made Your Dress?)

Oblivion Records OD-6

Click here to read some of the stories behind this album.

And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.

CREDITS, from the original LP cover:

1. TOMMY’S JUMP Array
(By H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. electric mandolin
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Bruce Kapler. tenor saxophone
Michael “Kid” Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. Drums
Recorded 9.3.75

2. OLD JOE CLARK Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P.)
Tom. Dulcimer
Kid Avanzini. Bass
Nicholas “Nick” K. Moy. pitch pipe
Recorded 10.6.73

3. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS [TO SAVE THE WORLD] Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P./Special thanks to John Fahey)
Tom. bottleneck-dobro
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Kid Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. drums
Recorded 7.4.74

4. MOVIN’ TOO FAST Array
(By Roosevelt Sykes / H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. vocal & electric mandolin
Michael Altshuler.guitar
Bruce Kapler. tenor saxophone
Kid Avanzini. bass
David Longworth. drums
Recorded 9.3.75

5.SUPREME COURT BREAKDOWN Array
(By H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. bottleneck-dobro & harmonica
Bob Aponte. Bass
Bobby “Professor Six Million” King. rigged snare drum.
Recorded 12.11.74

6. AMAZING GRACE Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P.)
Dedicated to Mississippi Fred McDowell
Tom. bottleneck-dobro
Recorded 11.8.73

7. MEETING YOU Array
(By H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. vocal & electric mandolin / Michael
Altsuler . guitar / Bob Aponte. bass / David
Longworth. drums / John Marshall. horn
arrangements and trumpet / Jeff Sheloff.
tenor saxophone
Recorded 9.4.74

8. ST. LOUIS BLUES Array
(By W.C. Handy; Handy Bros. Music Co.)
Tom. bottleneck-dobro
Bob Aponte. guitar
Recorded 1.28.74

9.[I’M] WATCHIN’ THE T.V. Array
(By H.T. Pomposello / Special thanks to Michael Altshuler)
Tom. electric & acoustic harmonicas
Michael Altshuler. guitar
Bob Aponte. bass
David Longworth. drums
Recorded 9.4.74

10. HEY LITTLE GIRL [WHO MADE YOUR DRESS?] Array
(By Fred McDowell)
Misssissippi Fred McDowell. vocal & electric bottleneck guitar (right)
Tom. Electric bottleneck guitar (left)
Recorded 11.9.71

All music By Full Co, BMI unless otherwise noted.

…..
File under: Suburban Blues

American music didn’t get its start in Huntington, Long Island, and nothing suggests it will die there (or anywhere else). But American music did pass through town so it could shake hands with Honest Tom Pomposello.

Tom’s still shaking.

The music hasn’t stopped, either. In a country where people spread out and grow up so fast you hardly know them, events like Tom’s historic meeting with the music can’t be undervalued. See, people make the music, and we were strewn long before there were any ways to collect what every person is capable of hearing.

Pomposello’s a collector by nature. He likes to shake hands, too. (He earned the name “Honest Tom” during a hometown political campaign. But we’re here to discuss more successful ventures).

Tom knows that the blues got him started. He wanted bottleneck guitar lessons from Mississippi Fred McDowell, but Fred wanted him to be his bass player, apprentice, and friend. Playing night after night with a master Delta bluesman taught Tom more than any teacher. (You can hear them together on Oblivion Records OD-11, Mississippi Fred McDowell: Live in New York).

Over the years, he’s performed on bass guitar with bluesman Louisiana Red, Larry Johnson, Lefty Dizz, and the late Charles Walker. But in recent times, Tom’s mixed in some of the other regional strains of music. He’s added dobro, mandolin, dulcimer, and harmonica to incorporate the traditions of country, Appalachian, rock, rhythm & blues, and city music.

Tom’s first record presents some of the musical friends his winning ways have made him during the past three years. Since American music lives and grows in Tom all the time expect the album to sound very much like Tom’s band today.

Alan Goodman
Crawdaddy
…..

Produced by Fred Seibert
Mastering: Harry N. Fein. CBS
Pressing: Wakefield Manufacturing. Phoenix, Arizona
Art Direction, Design & Illustration: Lisa Lenovitz
Photography: Michael Bifulco
…..

Special thank yous are in order for these people. If we’ve forgotten anyone please forgive us, but it wasn’t on purpose. Thanks.
Tom and Fred.

Chrisie & Travis Pomposello
Ken Berkman
Janet Pomposello
Rob Witter
Michael Bifulco
Dave & Patty Jones
The Blue Goose, the prime mover
Peter Kropotkin
Nick Moy
Peter Wharton
David Izenzon
Rodney Johnson
Paul Jeffrey
Sonny Terry
Joe Mondello
Paul Hodes
Barbara & Bob Altsuler
Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
Mark Seiden
Mandolin Bros.
John Pierson
Jimmy D’Aquisto
John Monteleone
Ed “Dobro” Dopera
Ron Lazar
Fred Seibert — There’s no way to say thanks because this record belongs to you, too – Tom
…..
Oblivion Records are distributed independently. Should this disk be unavailable in your local superior record store, send to: OBLIVION RECORDS, incorporated
P.O. BOX X. ROSLYN HEIGHTS, NY. 11577
…..
©(P) 1975 Oblivion Records, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.

…..
I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. Travis Pomposello and I are the owners of these master recordings.

Joan Osborne > How Sweet It Is

fredseibert — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Joan Osborne > How Sweet It Is

Joan Osborne never quite registered on my radar. She was a wonderful singer who sang a hit I liked (the bluesy video for “One of Us” was great) and she was one of the modern day highlights of The Funk Brothers’ Standing in the Shadows of Motown, but nothing really made her break through for me. In fact, I’ve been meaning to post this CD since I started this blog, but somehow nothing compelled me to complete the thought.

One day a few years ago I was out having a business breakfast and in the background there was a song playing that had a familiar feeling, but I knew I didn’t know it at all. I never pay attention to the words but I wanted to know about the track and the lyric “how sweet it is” kept repeating. I knew it wasn’t the Marvin Gaye song, but jeez it had the same words. I went back to the office and Googled like crazy until I realized it was a new CD by Joan with all of my favorite era covers. Her versions of song by Stevie Wonder, The Spinners, Otis, even Timmy Thomas. This was my kind of album. iTunes away. (Produced, by the way, by the versatile John Leventhal, Roseanne Cash’s husband, a fellow downtown Manhattanite, as it turns out.)

“How Sweet It Is” isn’t to everyone’s taste, the Amazon reviews tell me, but I don’t really care. For me it’s great, and Joan’s a wonderful singer. Check it out.

Joan Osborne > How Sweet It Is

Willis Jackson > Single Action

fredseibert — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:18:19 +0000

Willis Jackson
with Pat Martino
Single Action

Produced by Fred Seibert

1. Evergreen
2. Bolita
3. Makin’ Whoopee
4. You Are My Sunshine
5. Hittin’ The Numbers
6. Single Action
7. Evergreen (outtake)

Willis Jackson: tenor saxophone
Pat Martino: guitar
Carl Wilson: organ
Jimmy Lewis: bass
Yusef Ali: drums
Ralph Dorsey: percussion

Willis Jackson single handedly pulled me away from the avant garde and towards the soulful, bluesy expression of jazz that was popular in the African American neighborhoods of mid-century America. He didn’t mean to, he didn’t want to, it was just that he was so damn good.

Less a producer than actually a recording supervisor (my credit on this album) I arrived at our first session together with virtually no information on what we were recording or who was playing. Willis was tough and a little paranoid so this situation played out during the three or four sessions we did together. I’d never heard any of his music (it wasn’t cool enough within the jazzbo circles I traveled in) and when I looked into the studio I thought I’d been time warped into the 1950s: five African Americans 20 years older than me in conked processes and starched white shirts and ties. They hit the first tune and didn’t stop until Willis looked up at me and asked if they had enough to fill the record. When informed they were eight minutes short he revved up a blues and kept it going until I faded it to make the length.

By the end of the five hour session I’d stopped making fun (in my head) of the tenor saxophone/organ based soul jazz, and realized why it spoke to so many millions of people. It wasn’t an intellectual exercise but a human one. They were playing songs that people knew and loved, with a feeling that anyone could understand. I was late to the party, but it wouldn’t be over for me even 30 years later.
…..
Credits

Muse Records MR 5179
Willis Jackson
with Pat Martino
Single Action

Recording supervisor: Fred Seibert
Engineered by Rudy VanGelder, VanGelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
April 26, 1978
Cover Design by Ron Warwell/NJE
Cover photo by Clarence Eastmond

LINER NOTES COMING SOON

…..
Copyrights and masters owned by their respective owners. I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. If any of them are re-released, or the copyright owners object, I’ll delete the posts.