But first, a message from the Pervertosphere. Ben Hur plus Pillow Talk equals judean first time defloration movies. Someone certainly had his hopes dashed when his Brazilian Google search led him to my 1959 movies page. He must have been further disappointed with the second hit: a comic YouTube video called First Black Pilgrim. And why Judean, anyway?
Let's go Christmas shopping!
Clearly, no record companies advertised in Vogue. Hence, this:
And this:
Which make up he back half of What To Get the Music Lover on Your List - Sixteen Suggestions for Popular Music. (First came 14 classical albums - didn't feel up to it.)
How did this list happen? A pile of press releases and a bored editorial assistant with a kibitzing jazz-loving boyfriend? Only explanation possible.
1. Theodore Bikel -- Bravo Bikel.
One, he's still alive! (And this is still in print! )Two, not an obvious choice, surely? But - in December 1959, he had just opened on Broadway in The Sound of Music, playing Captain von Trapp. Eidelweiss. Also, in 1959, he had just founded the Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger. In 1958, he won an Oscar (Supporting Actor) for The Defiant Ones.
Bravo Bikel is a recording of a live performance in New York of folk songs and stories. A lot of people probably did get this for Christmas. This is as close as I can come on YouTube (one of those picture pastiches) :
2. Cuadro Flamenco - The Soul of Flamenco
As far as I can tell, cuadro flamenco is a form of flamenco, here consisting of a singer, a guitarist and two dancers. (Yes, that would be four, which is almost cuatro.) I really liked it up to the point I could't stand another minute. Best seen live, I imagine. A modern example:
3. Mahalia Jackson: Great Gettin' Up Morning
Hard to find a clip from her this early. She did perform in the 1959 Imitation of Life. You see her for a bit in the trailer. Very worthy, but not my taste. Again - live or nothing.
4. Vienna Boys Choir -- Children's Songs
I'm quite taken with this album cover. And it has Hoppa Hoppa Reiter! I had forgotten this song - my mother-in-law sang it to my son. It's an "all fall down" song. Here are die Knaben are from 1959 -- pretty amazing what you can find.
5. Dave Brubeck Quartet - Gone With the Wind
Jazz and I don's see eye to eye. For one reason, here is an entire record devoted to the state of Georgia -- why?? All of the songs are recognizable except the title. I just don't get it. Bored senseless. Still in print.
6. Benny Carter Quartet - Swinging the '20s
I have heard of Benny Carter - barely. But this is the first album on the list I actually like. "Sweet Lorraine," below, was supposedly recorded in 1958 and is on the album.
7. Cy Coleman Trio: Why Try to Change Me Now?
Can the same person have chosen the Vienna Choir Boys and all this jazz? Right about here I suspected the educating boyfriend. And I, for one, resent it.
And so ignorant am I that I didn't realize that this isn't actually jazz. Jazz-ish. Cy Coleman co-wrote "Witchcraft" and went on to Broadway after 1960. Could not find any track listed on this album on iTunes on Amazon. Pure cocktail bar music. Or Playboy Mansion music. Amazing clip from 1959 with Hugh Hefner, Lenny Bruce and Cy Coleman. Holy crap.
8. Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue
Yes, I know - jazz. Apparently, this is the Miles Davis album even people like me should own. What does Vogue say? ". . a joy to hear . . ." Well, I don't know about that. I tried.
After watching this clip, I actually feel pretty stupid. But the truth is, I had never heard of this album until now.
9. Duke Ellington - Ellington Jazz Party.
Also still in print at iTunes! I liked it. Not from this album, but from 1959:
10. Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges - Back to Back.
Also still in print, and an Amazon essential. It all sounds the same to me.
Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges in 1959, also not from the album.
11. Ella Fitzgerald -- The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook.
Five albums, plus a 7-inch record, and covers by Bernard Buffet, this had to be a big deal in 1959. And it was. Yes, available on iTunes, but so much is missing if you can't take the album out of the cover - mind you, you whippersnappers, every disc had its own cover and liner notes. You held it all in your hands. The records had their own smell. Like a book. Well, anyway. Any idiot can figure this one out, even me. This would have been a terrific present. Unfortunately, for the video, we have to go with the montage.
12. Billie Holiday - The Billy Holiday Story
Billie Holiday died in July of this (1959) year and the liner notes are by William Duffy, her collaborator on her autobiography, so I suspect this was rushed into print to capitalize on her death. The album in this format hasn't survived, so let's just use "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" from 1937, because the 1958 version is too heartbreaking.
13. Stan Kenton - The Stage Door Swings
Stan Kenton - another jazz figure I am vaguely aware of. It's all the same! It comes in hard and head-ache inducing and easy and sleep inducing. Except jazz with vocals, which I'm usually able to follow and like. Except for scat singing -- that I really don't get.
Now I'll go and have a listen because this is still in print.
O.K. It just seems to encapsulate a certain stratum of the late 1950's - a progressive jazz take on show tunes. I can see that if you liked this in 1959, you'd feel great about yourself. You'd drive a Prius! I would like to have heard and seen this live - coming into town, of course, in my brocade cocktail ensemble. Worrying about my little hat. This seems like very clean jazz.
The video is as close as I could get to the time - early 1960s -- and it's live. The musicians look like they could work for IBM.
15. Bud Powell -- The Scene Changes
Who? I would guess jazz.
It must seem like I am insisting on flaunting my ignorance. Still in print. Very nice, very pretty piano pieces, but utterly nothing after the Mingus.
Clip is from December 1959! I like him better after watching this.
16. Jimmy Smith - The Sounds of Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith? My favorite album cover of all of these. But the music? Organ jazz standards that just remind me of someone's (mine) old chord organ sitting in a back room. Kind of depressing, kind of hilarious. And a little funky for Vogue. And a little sloppy: this was released in 1957. Home Cookin' - totally not top drawer title - was out in 1959. Oh, well. Great cover! Here, live at the BBC in 1964.
So, what was really popular in 1959? I want this for Christmas:
Jazz and I don's see eye to eye. For one reason, here is an entire record devoted to the state of Georgia -- why?? All of the songs are recognizable except the title. I just don't get it. Bored senseless. Still in print.
6. Benny Carter Quartet - Swinging the '20s
I have heard of Benny Carter - barely. But this is the first album on the list I actually like. "Sweet Lorraine," below, was supposedly recorded in 1958 and is on the album.
7. Cy Coleman Trio: Why Try to Change Me Now?
Can the same person have chosen the Vienna Choir Boys and all this jazz? Right about here I suspected the educating boyfriend. And I, for one, resent it.
And so ignorant am I that I didn't realize that this isn't actually jazz. Jazz-ish. Cy Coleman co-wrote "Witchcraft" and went on to Broadway after 1960. Could not find any track listed on this album on iTunes on Amazon. Pure cocktail bar music. Or Playboy Mansion music. Amazing clip from 1959 with Hugh Hefner, Lenny Bruce and Cy Coleman. Holy crap.
8. Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue
Yes, I know - jazz. Apparently, this is the Miles Davis album even people like me should own. What does Vogue say? ". . a joy to hear . . ." Well, I don't know about that. I tried.
After watching this clip, I actually feel pretty stupid. But the truth is, I had never heard of this album until now.
9. Duke Ellington - Ellington Jazz Party.
Also still in print at iTunes! I liked it. Not from this album, but from 1959:
10. Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges - Back to Back.
Also still in print, and an Amazon essential. It all sounds the same to me.
Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges in 1959, also not from the album.
11. Ella Fitzgerald -- The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook.
Five albums, plus a 7-inch record, and covers by Bernard Buffet, this had to be a big deal in 1959. And it was. Yes, available on iTunes, but so much is missing if you can't take the album out of the cover - mind you, you whippersnappers, every disc had its own cover and liner notes. You held it all in your hands. The records had their own smell. Like a book. Well, anyway. Any idiot can figure this one out, even me. This would have been a terrific present. Unfortunately, for the video, we have to go with the montage.
12. Billie Holiday - The Billy Holiday Story
Billie Holiday died in July of this (1959) year and the liner notes are by William Duffy, her collaborator on her autobiography, so I suspect this was rushed into print to capitalize on her death. The album in this format hasn't survived, so let's just use "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" from 1937, because the 1958 version is too heartbreaking.
13. Stan Kenton - The Stage Door Swings
Stan Kenton - another jazz figure I am vaguely aware of. It's all the same! It comes in hard and head-ache inducing and easy and sleep inducing. Except jazz with vocals, which I'm usually able to follow and like. Except for scat singing -- that I really don't get.
Now I'll go and have a listen because this is still in print.
O.K. It just seems to encapsulate a certain stratum of the late 1950's - a progressive jazz take on show tunes. I can see that if you liked this in 1959, you'd feel great about yourself. You'd drive a Prius! I would like to have heard and seen this live - coming into town, of course, in my brocade cocktail ensemble. Worrying about my little hat. This seems like very clean jazz.
The video is as close as I could get to the time - early 1960s -- and it's live. The musicians look like they could work for IBM.
14. Charles Mingus -- Mingus Au Um.
Well, you can get the 50th anniversary edition of this album on iTunes, so this was another big one. I know who this was - worse than Miles Davis: by this I seem to mean artier, more cerebral, people only pretend to like it, etc., etc. Not that I have ever sat down and listened to it until now.
I really like it! I am so surprised. I like "Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat." I liked it all much better than Miles Davis, who really does seem off-putting and pretentious.
Almost impossible to find good videos of early Charles Mingus. Here's a very bad clip from 1960.
15. Bud Powell -- The Scene Changes
Who? I would guess jazz.
It must seem like I am insisting on flaunting my ignorance. Still in print. Very nice, very pretty piano pieces, but utterly nothing after the Mingus.
Clip is from December 1959! I like him better after watching this.
16. Jimmy Smith - The Sounds of Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith? My favorite album cover of all of these. But the music? Organ jazz standards that just remind me of someone's (mine) old chord organ sitting in a back room. Kind of depressing, kind of hilarious. And a little funky for Vogue. And a little sloppy: this was released in 1957. Home Cookin' - totally not top drawer title - was out in 1959. Oh, well. Great cover! Here, live at the BBC in 1964.
So, what was really popular in 1959? I want this for Christmas:
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