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Doo Wop
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Originally posted by Sits View PostI did a Doo Wop thread a few years back where people shared some lovely stuff I would share it if I could find it.
https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...the-fleetwoods
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Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View PostDoo-wop was really a subset of R&B harmony singing derived heavily from gospel so I am taking the liberty to include this gorgeous duet: I'll Never Be Free by Annie Laurie with the Paul Gayten Orchestra (1950)
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I watched and very much enjoyed the "Streetlight Harmonies" doc on AdC's recommendation. The interviews with surviving members of some great groups were interesting & probably just in time. This will always be a favourite track, lead vocals by Harvey Fuqua who went on to Motown where he had many writing & production credits including Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, the Supremes & Jr Walker.
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Fuqua was Marvin Gaye's mentor.
I too enjoyed the "Streetlight Harmonies" doc after seeking it out on AdC's recommendation. The section on the Deep South was indeed very well done, and there was an important distinction between white acts who were clearly ripping off black music (like Pat Boone) and those for whom it was a genuine love and blended with elements of their own culture (such as The Elegants).Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 29-03-2021, 12:07.
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Maybe a bit hard on Pat. He was probably just singing what the company A&R man put in front of him.
Yeah if the doc had a lack it was in Italian-American content. It would have been great if Dion had been interviewed (perhaps he was asked?) Aside from The Elegants and Jay & The Americans, who didn't contribute much, that was it. No one from The Chimes or the Duprees, not to mention The Four Seasons. It did have a different sound, less smooth, more of an "edge." heavy use of falsetto etc.
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I thought it jumped around in the timeline quite a lot, and you wouldn't have realized the jumps if you weren't familiar with the records. The Orioles themselves were different in 1953 than 1948. I was please that Deborah Chessler got her due, e.g. she wrote the song in the OP above that inspired a new generation of harmony groups to take over from the Ink Spots, and incorporate gospel more directly into the vocal.
One thing that has struck me listening to the records is that tempos in 1947-50 were quite slow (especially The Ravens) and I'm curious as to when and why they speeded up thereafter; perhaps the influence of New Orleans R&B (Fats Domino, Lloyd Price) was a factor, as was the emergence of The Drifters with the writing of Lieber and Stoller, who were also writing for Big Mama Thornton? Electrification generally meant that the backbeat could become more prominent and the the dances being fed by the music because louder and quicker.
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Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View PostOne thing that has struck me listening to the records is that tempos in 1947-50 were quite slow (especially The Ravens) and I'm curious as to when and why they speeded up thereafter;
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A good collection of early 50s Jump/R&B is Gabe's Dirty Blues. Gabe ran a bar on Seattle's waterfront during that era and this was the stuff on his jukebox.View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1978 Vinyl release of "Gabe's Dirty Blues" on Discogs.
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Ooooo. I'll have to look into that. Johnny Otis is an interesting dude. He's one of the few white musicians/producers that was all over black music in the late 40s and 50s, you really can't avoid him. The son of Greek immigrants, his father was a grocery store owner in Berkeley CA, which then was a predominately black neighbourhood. At nineteen he eloped with an eighteen-year-old African American woman Phyllis Walker. Together they had four kids including Shuggie Otis, also a musician. He auditioned Big Mama Thornton in 1952, producing co-writing and playing drums on Hound Dog. He also discovered, Etta James, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard and Jackie Wilson. He ran for political office in California and had his own church where he preached every Sunday. Quite the career.
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I have just noticed that Sirius XM has a blues channel:
Ch 74
B.B. King's channel for blues music from the past to the present: B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray, Keb' Mo', Taj Mahal, John Lee Hooker and others.
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