The Big Beat (Goes On)

Amazon: The arrangement and performance of “It’s Only A Paper Moon” will completely knock you off your chair. “Dat Dere” moves madly, showcasing Timmons. Shorter’s compositions “Sakeena’s Vision” and “Lester Left Town” are fabulous. Morgan’s and Shorter’s solos are hot throughout, and of course, Blakey drives the whole group at a feverish tempo.

Eight To The Bar : With the support of independently-produced albums and videos, Eight to the Bar has cultivated a large, enthusiastic following that has put them in clubs from Disneyland to Disney World as well as Europe and the Carribean. Their rigorous performing schedule (approximately 200 dates per year), has included opening spots for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Manhattan Transfer, Robert Cray, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, and Ray Charles.

Scar Stuff : An album of spooky-themed Novelty Pop from 1959 (with a hit single that even mentions “Kookie Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb”!), this was a studio collaboration between the late Bob McFadden (a gifted voiceover actor whose list of accomplishments is impressive indeed) & pop-poet phenom Rod McKuen.

Buddy Rich : I also had a crush on Cathy Rich, she sang the “Beat Goes On” on the album and I loved her little voice, she was about the same age and I was and she just sounded so cute on that recording. Way better than Sonny and Cher anyway. I had always hoped to meet her someday.

January Magazine : But most of America knew Harry James simply as the husband of movie star Betty Grable, the blonde pinup who caused World War II G.I.s to croon, “I want a gal, just like the gal, who married Harry James…”

John Barry : A report recently circulated that director Joseph Losey heard John Barry’s brassy score for Beat Girl, and wanted him for The Criminal (1960), but Barry turned down the gig because he was working on the Peter Sellers Never Let Go movie at the time.

Little Walter : For years it was believed that Juke was recorded in the time left over at the end of a Muddy Waters session; this is incorrect. Little Walter was recording with Muddy’s band that day (as he didn’t have a band of his own yet), but the first song recorded at the session was “Juke”, followed by multiple takes of “Can’t Hold On Much Longer”.

Discogs : Mantronix, one of the most innovative hip-hop acts of all time, was founded by Kurtis el Khaleel, who was born in Jamaica, though his family soon moved to Canada and ended up in New York by the late 1970s.

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