Happy Jive Live
A few days ago I got an email from the library saying I had a couple of holds ready to pick up. One was an audio book of John Hodgman's "More Information Than You Require," which I haven't started listening to yet but the blurbs on the case are a hoot. And the other was a copy of "Happy Jive Live" by Sandy Bradley and the Small Wonder Big Band.
I mentioned "Happy Jive Live" in my Folklife post and said I had a copy in the garage. Rather than send the backhoe into the garage I had the King County Library System send over their copy from the Bellevue branch. I listened to it again last night and it's as good as I remember.
It should be no surprise that the Canote brothers harmonize nicely, given that they're identical twins with "genetically matched harmonies." Sandy Bradley adds well to the mixture. Throw in a jazz pianist and a saxophone and you've got a winner. It's a great mix of the old novelty tunes the Canotes are famous for ("The Scat Song," "Get Out And Get Under The Moon," "Nothing Today, Kind Sir") with surprisingly soulful songs featuring Sandy ("The Rain, The Radio And Me", "Cryin' Fool") and a rather odd cover of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - the old big band tune, not the Green Day one. Some are covers and some are originals, but I don't have the album with me at the moment so I can't tell you which ones are which.
I wish there was a way to give this album more exposure, other than putting up a blog post on an obscure platform in the middle of a stream about ham radio. There's got to be an audience for this kind of music, and it'd be nice to know who they are and turn them on to "Happy Jive Live" and the Canote brothers in general. (I heard Sandy has retired from performing, but I don't know the details.) I could get in big trouble for sharing it over the Internet, partly because of current sucky US copyright law and partly because I'd be sharing something that isn't mine to share. So you'll just have to look it up, or maybe if we meet up in person I can hook a speaker up to my phone and we can enjoy some of it together.
This entry was originally posted at http://banjoplayinnerd.dreamwidth.org/16373.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I mentioned "Happy Jive Live" in my Folklife post and said I had a copy in the garage. Rather than send the backhoe into the garage I had the King County Library System send over their copy from the Bellevue branch. I listened to it again last night and it's as good as I remember.
It should be no surprise that the Canote brothers harmonize nicely, given that they're identical twins with "genetically matched harmonies." Sandy Bradley adds well to the mixture. Throw in a jazz pianist and a saxophone and you've got a winner. It's a great mix of the old novelty tunes the Canotes are famous for ("The Scat Song," "Get Out And Get Under The Moon," "Nothing Today, Kind Sir") with surprisingly soulful songs featuring Sandy ("The Rain, The Radio And Me", "Cryin' Fool") and a rather odd cover of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - the old big band tune, not the Green Day one. Some are covers and some are originals, but I don't have the album with me at the moment so I can't tell you which ones are which.
I wish there was a way to give this album more exposure, other than putting up a blog post on an obscure platform in the middle of a stream about ham radio. There's got to be an audience for this kind of music, and it'd be nice to know who they are and turn them on to "Happy Jive Live" and the Canote brothers in general. (I heard Sandy has retired from performing, but I don't know the details.) I could get in big trouble for sharing it over the Internet, partly because of current sucky US copyright law and partly because I'd be sharing something that isn't mine to share. So you'll just have to look it up, or maybe if we meet up in person I can hook a speaker up to my phone and we can enjoy some of it together.
This entry was originally posted at http://banjoplayinnerd.dreamwidth.org/16373.html. Please comment there using OpenID.