On this day in 1887, the great ragtime songwriter and pianist Eubie Blake was born. He was a successful musician throughout much of his life — but certainly not a star. Of particular note is his work in vaudeville as “Dixie Duo” with Noble Sissle. In early 1921, the two of them wrote a number of songs that would go on to form the basis of the musical revue, Shuffle Along. It was a huge hit, but it is also historically important because it was the first hit Broadway musical written by and about African Americans. It ran for 504 performances.

That figure needs a bit of context. Today, Broadway shows run forever — because they are test marketed crap for people who really don’t like theater. But Fiddler on the Roof was the first Broadway musical to run more than 3,000 performances. It closed in 1972. In the 1920s, Broadway plays didn’t run nearly that long. There are only two plays in the longest running Broadway plays (pretty much over 1,000 performances). And neither are musicals. So Suffle Along was hugely successful. And it was revived in 1933 and 1952.

I assume because of the success of the film The Sting, ragtime became very big in the 1970s. And as a result, Blake became a star. To some extent, it was simply because he was the only ragtime composer still alive. But he wasn’t just alive. He was still performing. It seemed he was everywhere in the 1970s — even on Saturday Night Live during its fourth season. Blake’s new found celebrity resulted in another extremely successful Broadway revue, Eubie! which ran for 439 performances.

Here he is in 1972, performing some of his best known songs in Berlin. The video doesn’t sync to the music, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the sound we care about:

Happy birthday Eubie Blake!

On this day in 1927, the great jazz saxophonist Stan Getz was born. Let’s be honest: he first came to prominence because he was the white Lester Young. His earliest recordings are little more than loving copies of the master. But we must give credit where it’s due: Getz was a great musician and his career proves it.

Getz started playing professionally at the age of 16. By twenty, he was a featured soloist for Woody Herman’s band. But he played with many people at that time — a trait that would come to define his career. He played on hundreds of albums where he was a featured performer. I feel I know Getz pretty well and yet I have only heard a very small part of his recordings.

One notable collaboration was with Bill Evans in 1964. Here is one of the high points of that encounter, “Funkallero”:

And here he is in 1960 with two titans, John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson:

Getz worked in a lot of styles — most especially Latin music, where he was something of a pioneer. He is most known for his work with João Gilberto, in particular, the international hit and bossa nova classic, “The Girl from Ipanema.” Here is a live performance of it with Getz looking a little pudgy:

Finally, for those really interested, here is a whole set from late in his life along with Kenny Barron on piano:

Happy birthday Stan Getz!

On this day in 1797, the great composer Franz Schubert was born. He is probably the only Romantic period composer who I unreservedly like. But if I were perfectly honest, the music coming into and going out of the Romantic period is generally much better than the straight Romantic stuff. That gives me some wiggle room with Beethoven, who is usually overdone for my tastes, but still ridiculously great.

Schubert was a full generation later than Beethoven, and very much influenced by him. Of course, Schubert was arguably even more influenced by Mozart. And he seems to have been somewhat like Mozart in the rapidity of his composing. Schubert died at the age of 31 of typhoid fever — or syphilis. Yet he left an enormous amount of music. And this may be one of the reasons that he has historically been discounted. There is no question but that he had the ability to quickly grind out facile works. But look at his later compositions, which show such control of emotional tempo and complex harmony.

If you look at what he wrote, Schubert would be considered a vocal composer. In addition to writing hundreds of songs, he wrote a couple dozen operas and singspiels. Yet his operas aren’t much performed, except for Fierrabras — and even it not that much. I don’t understand it. It is beautiful work — and far better than much of the opera that came after it. Whatever. A lot of what gets performed is just a matter of fashion. Here is Jonas Kaufmann performing “Was Quälst du Mich, o Mißgeschick!” (“Why do you torture me, misfortune!”?) from Fierrabras:

But I can’t think of Schubert without immediately hearing the String Quartet in G major. And here is a great performance of it by the Belenus Quartett. It is a very fast way to pass 45 minutes:

Happy birthday Franz Schubert!

The great singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel is 56 today. He is best known for his work with American Music Club. The interesting thing is that Eitzel started in punk rock in 1980. Most people think of AMC as a pretty mellow affair. But that’s the great thing about it. It is fundamentally a punk band. I’ve never seen punk as a style of music. Rather, it is an attitude — FUBU for white people. And AMC definitely has that. I’ve heard a definition of depression as “anger turned inward.” I think that’s a terrible definition of depression, but it is a rather good definition of AMC. But what really makes Eitzel great is that he takes his anger and depression and combines it with a wry sense of humor.

Although American Music Club has managed to get back together and put out a couple of albums over the last decade (Good albums!) Eitzel seems to perform more as a solo act. I think he is at his best when he’s working with Vudi in AMC. But it doesn’t much matter from our perspective, there is really not much good online. But here is “Johnny Mathis’ Feet” from their major label debut Mercury:

Happy birthday Mark Eitzel!

On this day in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. Look: I know. I did him last year. And it is also Lewis Carroll’s birthday. But I’m crazy for Mozart. As I noted last year, “Mozart is the sweet spot between the intellectual excesses of the Baroque period and the emotional excesses of the Romantic period.” But that isn’t to say that I think Mozart is some kind of singularity. Mozart was undoubtedly the greatest of the Classical period composers. But Haydn and Gluck are great too. So are a number of other composers that I don’t want to take the time to list.

I am not, however, a Mozart idolator. One thing I hate is this idea people have that Mozart was born a great composer. “This man had written his first concerto at the age of four — his first symphony at seven — a full-scale opera at twelve!” Yeah, but they sucked. I mean, not for a four, seven, or twelve year old. They show great potential. But Mozart learned a great deal over the years. In particular, it was his formal study of counterpoint that really moved his music from charming to great. And the music that I love the most was written during the last couple of years of his life. That’s the great tragedy of his short life.

Anyway, let’s listen to some music. I can’t help but present to you this performance of his D major flute concerto. It is not one of his great works. It is a total hack job, yet it is still wonderful. But the flutist is Emmanuel Pahud, who is 45 today:

Since we listened to the G minor symphony last year, let’s do some opera today. I wanted to provide something from his first unquestionably great opera, Idomeneo, King of Crete. But there really isn’t anything good online. The same is true of The Abduction from the Seraglio. So let’s just cut to the chase and present The Magic Flute:

Happy birthday Mozart!

On this day in 1945, the great cellist Jacqueline du Pré was born. In her lifetime, she was hugely popular. And as is usual with classical music stars, that also meant that she was just ridiculously good. There is quite a lot of her work online. You could do worse than spend the evening listening to her. From my standpoint, she was rather too interested in the Romantic period. Just the same, her intense style fits the period well.

She had a tragic life. She only performed up the age of 28 — and her last recording was at the age of 26. At that time, she started to lose sensitivity in her fingers. In 1973, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She lived another 14 years, but without being able to play. That’s not just publicly; she couldn’t play at all. That strikes me as a kind of hell on earth — to have such an intimate relationship with an instrument and yet be estranged from it. If there is a god, she is evil and certainly not worthy of worship.

Here is du Pré playing Brahms’ Cello Sonata Op 99 with her husband on piano. I had to put it together in a playlist, because there isn’t a single video. But it cuts at the right time. It is very good. You should listen to it:

Happy birthday Jacqueline du Pré!

On this day in 1944, the great Iranian singer-songwriter Farhad Mehrad was born. I don’t really know that much about him — and I’m not sure how reliable Wikipedia is regarding him. And even though I’ve listened to a lot of his music, I have no idea what the lyrics are. The music speaks for itself, I think. And the emotion comes through very clearly in his singing.

He was very successful before the Iranian revolution. And he supported the revolution — even writing a song, “Vahdat” — that was kind of an anthem for it. But as often happens in revolutions, the most reactionary factions take control. After the revolution, the theocratic government refused to allow him to release any of his music. So for roughly 14 years, he didn’t do music publicly. Then, in 1993, he started releasing music and performing. Sadly, he died less than a decade later of Hepatitis C at the age of 58.

Here is the song “Marde Tanha,” which first brought him to fame:

And here is a short set of songs performed later in his life:

Happy birthday Farhad Mehrad!

On this day in 1935, the King of Rock-n-Roll, Elvis Presley was born. Since I don’t have a lot to say about The King, I’m going to recycle an article I wrote almost two years ago that never got the attention that it deserved, Transubstantiation of Elvis. But let me just add that Elvis would only be 80 years old today. He left us far too young.

In 1992, I went to Hong Kong for the first time. I was sitting in the back of a little Irish pub. And I was pretty drunk. And in walks a Chinese Elvis impersonator in a white jumpsuit studded to the ridiculous extreme that we are all accustom to. Holding an acoustic guitar, he performs “Hound Dog,” collects tips and leaves. You got all that, right? Hong Kong, Irish pub, Elvis. The next day I wasn’t sure myself. I had to ask my colleagues, and they confirmed it: I did in fact see a Chinese Elvis do “Hound Dog” in an Irish pub in Hong Kong. Many people go their entire lives without ever experiencing something as magical.

I love Elvis and even more, I love Elvis Culture. In a sense, Elvis is America: a drug addict who wanted Nixon to make him an undercover DEA agent; a white guy who made millions off the work of poor blacks; and a country rube who somehow connects to a universal audience. In addition to all of this, the music is just fantastic. But it’s the Vegas act silliness that drives the culture. Although I do not particularly like watching Elvis at that stage of his career, I do like what it has spawned. I never would have gone to see one of those shows, but I’d thrill to see Elvis impersonators.

So when I noticed that the film Almost Elvis was available on Netflix, I had to watch it. It isn’t a great film, but it is fascinating. It follows a group of Elvis Impersonators as they compete for the “Images of Elvis” prize for the best Elvis impersonator in the world. It focuses on Irv Cass, a professional from Michigan. Little did I know it, but there is a network of Elvis impersonators throughout the world. If you want one, you call up EEN (Elvis Entertainment Network) and they will send one out. Cass is one them, and seems to make a decent living doing it:

Cass is very free with his opinions of the competition. Since he was one of the most established people in the field at that time, he knows them all. He’s rather good at talking about their strengths and weaknesses. In this way, he nicely systematizes what it is to be an Elvis impersonator. And this brings up probably the most interesting part of the film: race. One of the top people in the field is Robert Washington, who is a black man. Mostly everyone is very respectful of him. But they also admit that he doesn’t look like Elvis because of his race.

But here’s the thing. I don’t think that any of the impersonators looks like Elvis the man. If you take away the hair and the sideburns and the outfits, they just look like random white guys. So really, when we are talking about Elvis, we aren’t really talking about his face. Elvis isn’t a person anymore; he’s an archetype. So to me, it is all about getting up on stage with “the look” (hair, burns, suit) and moving and sounding like Elvis. What’s more, in Washington’s case, he isn’t all that black. Until people started talking about it, I just thought he was really tanned.

All the people said the same thing: I question whether Washington will ever win the title, not because I don’t like him, but because of the judges being, well, racist. This is typical: people generally think their neighbors are more racist than they actually are. At the end of the film, Washington came in second. The good news is he later won the event. Check him out; he’s great:

An academic interviewed for the film referred to the “transubstantiation of Elvis” to explain why people want more than just the music. The music is enough for me. But he’s right: these guys do become The King. And that’s pretty great.

Happy birthday Elvis Presley!

Afterword

This is probably the guy I saw in Hong Kong. He started in 1992, and I believe I saw him on my 1994 visit.

On this day in 1899, the great French composer Francis Poulenc. And exactly 23 years later, the great flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal was born. I believe the two were friends. They were certainly colleagues. Poulenc wrote Sonate Pour Flute et Piano specifically for Rampal.

I know what you might think, “Okay, so he wrote a piece of music for Rampal! Who cares?!” When I was seriously studying flute, my teacher often (Too often!) lamented the fact that there was no great music written from the flute after the Baroque Period and before the Modern Period (if we can define that as starting with Debussy). She was pretty much correct. The great Classical composers didn’t seem to care much for the instrument. When Mozart was commissioned to write three flute concertos, he only managed two write two of them, and one was just a slight reworking of an oboe concerto he had written a year earlier. The Romantic Period was even worse with most of the works written for the flute being tiresome — all fireworks.

Poulenc’s sonata has rightly become a flute standard. As far as I’m concerned, it is the best piece ever written for the flute. But then, Poulenc is one of my very favorite composers. Part of that is just that he is alternately fun, sad, thrilling, sensuous, you name it. But it is also that I never hear him working. That’s my biggest complaint with modern composers: I too often realize what they are trying to do — it doesn’t sound organic. Poulenc always made it sound easy, even when he was being extremely serious.

I feel much the same way about Rampal. Other unbelievably great flutists like James Galway and William Bennett still seem to me to be working at times. I don’t know what it is. But with Rampal it just sounds easy, like water flowing through a stream.

Anyway, here is Jean-Pierre Rampal playing Francis Poulenc’s Sonate Pour Flute et Piano. It features Rampal’s longtime associate Robert Veyron-Lacroix on piano. It is wonderful:

Happy birthday Jean-Pierre Rampal and Francis Poulenc!

On this day in 1936, the great songwriter and performer Roger Miller was born. It is best to consider him a songwriter. He was amazingly prolific and although I like his casual singing style, there is nothing especially notable about it. It did, however, go well with his songs. But it is his writing that really shines. He did a whole lot with very little. His songs are rarely more than I-IV-V numbers, but as has been shown for centuries, much can be done for that. Miller created very smooth and memorable melodies.

If it weren’t for one song, I probably wouldn’t be writing about him. That wouldn’t take anything away from him as a talent. He was a superb songwriter. He not only wrote a number of hit songs for himself, he did so for a number of other artists as well. That’s partly because he got his start as a songwriter, but that was also true of him later. And today, he’s come back into favor. What’s not to like?

The one song that really sets him apart, however, is also his biggest hit, “King of the Road.” It’s like On the Road in two minutes with far more to say. It’s interesting that that a song from 1964 that hearkens back to the Great Depression is probably as relevant today as ever. Except, of course, it is hard to have such a good attitude these days. Things are getting worse now and pretty much no one pays union dues. Instead, they’re on food stamps.

Happy birthday Roger Miller!

On this day in 1928, the rock legend Bo Diddley was born. It’s a little strange though. He is literally a household word. But people don’t so much know his music. This is partly due to the fact that he never had a song that charted high on regular pop radio. His biggest hit was the confusingly titled “Bo Diddley” — which made it to number one on the R&B charts but didn’t make it on the pop charts at all.

I know that when I was younger, I was confused as to whether Bo Diddley was an actual person or not. Of course, he isn’t really. That’s just the stage name of Ellas Otha Bates. But even at that time he was an important artist. And he was hugely influential with musicians I would go on to love like The Velvet Underground.

What most defines his work is his use of really compelling, driving rhythms. You hear this on his first and biggest hit, “Bo Diddley” where there isn’t really much more than the rhythm. Additionally, the vocal to it has the sound of a field song. It’s all very simple but fascinating:

Happy birthday Bo Diddley!