My Musical life -- The Early Years 1953-1963

The day I was born the Billboard Magazine No.1 hit was Vaya con Dios by Les Paul & Mary Ford. The transistor radio had yet to be invented. Every home had a radio with vacuum tubes, as was the custom for decades in America. Radios in automobiles were ubiquitous. Television was established as the hot new technology with programming evolved to the level of I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners and the Ed Sullivan Show. Such was the state of the commercial broadcast environment.

As far as the state of community broadcasting, in 1946 Lewis Hill moved from Washington DC to the San Francisco Bay Area and began work toward creating the first listener supported non-commercial radio station in the United States. In 1949 Pacifica first goes on the air April 15 as KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley CA (FM was a novelty and never expected to be widely used). In 1953 KUHT in Houston becomes the first non-commercial educational TV station.

Music was common in my home environment by means of the commercial conduits mentioned above. My mother listened to the popular music of the time by tuning to the local AM station  KTSA in San Antonio, Texas. My father kept the radio in the car tuned to KONO AM.

I remember the hits from those years, many of them from semi-ethereal fever ridden funks of childhood illness with radio accompaniment. For some reason The Wayward Wind, by Gogi Grant (#1-1956) brings back memories of measles. Weekly trips to the Drive-in theater with my parents afforded opportunity to listen to the popular songs of the era over the window-hung speaker, between movies. This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney, and the other novelty song, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor stand out.

Television was an increasingly important source of musical exposure during the period. My mother would watch Liberace during the day, bringing piano music, and some classics into the home. My father liked to watch Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams, Perry Como, and Porter Wagoner, providing a wide range of music. My sister, five years older than I, liked Everly Brothers, Righteous Brothers, and Motown. Me -- I liked cartoons. That brought me into contact with all styles of music. Betty Boop had early jazz, Popeye used hornpipes, and Warner Brothers, especially, Carl Stalling, introduced me to classical themes from Wagner to Mendelssohn.

Sometime late in this period, my father purchased a Curtis Mathis Console Black and White TV, with multi-band radio and automatic phonograph. I was fascinated by the 'Magic Eye' FM tuner (seen at left). At that time FM radio in San Antonio, Texas was 'easy-listening' or environmental music, meant to be used for elevator, doctor's office and mercantile atmosphere. Dad bought one of those classical music collections with '120 beloved melodies,' and his era music (Glenn Miller). I enjoyed school field trips to see the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra educational presentations.

As I was turning ten years old, many changes to my musical life were occurring  By 1963, the Beatles had become established as a major force in music. They had four #1 hits in the U.S. and were due to debut with a bullet on Ed Sullivan Show (Feb 1964).

Oh, and on my 10th birthday I got my first guitar as a present.

Album 65 - Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine - Twin-House

Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine– Twin-House - Elektra ‎– 6E-123 - 1977

Genre: Jazz

Tracks:

1. Ms. Julie
2. Home Comings
3. Airpower
4. Twin House
5. Mortage On Your Soul
6. Gloryell
7. Nuages
8. Twice A Week

Performers:
Guitar: Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine

Joy of Joys. This duo is spectacular. Larry from Beaumont, Texas, and Philip form Brussels, both were influenced by guitarists such as Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt (obvious), Jimmy Hendrix, Wes Montgomery. Both have played with the likes of Stephan Grapelli, and Gary Burton.
Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios London
Remixed at Rüssl Studios Hamburg
Producer – Siegfried E. Loch
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This record had some mold from storage. I hope the infection is minimal throughout the collection.

Album 64 - Arthur Rubinstein - Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, New Symphony Orchestra Of London, The ‎– Chopin, Concerto No. 1

Arthur Rubinstein– Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, New Symphony Orchestra Of London, The ‎– Chopin, Concerto No. 1 - RCA Victor Red Seal – LSC-2575-C - Unknown

Genre: Classical

Tracks:

1. Allegro Maestoso
2. Romanze. Larghetto
3. Rondo. Vivace

Performers:
Unknown

Very little information was available for this album, besides what was on the cover.
"This recording was released to coincide with the series of ten Carnegie Hall Concerts, given by Arthur Rubenstein, between October 30th and December 10th, 1961." All of this is commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his arrival at Carnegie Hall.

Album 63 - Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners

Graham Nash– Songs For Beginners - Atlantic – SD 7204 - 1971

Genre: Folk Rock

Tracks:

1. Military Madness
2. Better Days
3. Wounded Bird
4. I Used To Be A King
5. Be Yourself
6. Simple Man
7. Man In The Mirror
8. There's Only One
9. Sleep Song
10. Chicago
11. We Can Change The World

Performers:
Acoustic Guitar – Graham Nash (tracks: Military Madness to Be Yourself , Man In The Mirror to We Can Change The World )
Backing Vocals – Clydie King (tracks: There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World ), Dorothy Morrison (tracks: There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World ),
Graham Nash (tracks: Better Days , Simple Man ),
Rita Coolidge (tracks: Military Madness , Better Days , Simple Man , There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World ),
Shirley Matthews (tracks: There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World ),
Vanetta Fields (tracks: There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World )
Bass – Calvin Samuels (tracks: Military Madness , Better Days , Be Yourself ), Chris Ethridge (tracks: Man In The Mirror, There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World )
Cello – Dorian Rudnytsky (tracks: Simple Man , Sleep Song)
Drums – Johnny Barbata (tracks: Military Madness , I Used To Be A King , Be Yourself , Man In The Mirror, There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World )
Lead Vocals, Written-By – Graham Nash
Organ – Graham Nash (tracks: Better Days , There's Only One , Chicago )
Performer [Whiskers] – Larry Cox (tracks: Better Days , There's Only One , Chicago , We Can Change The World )
Piano – Graham Nash (tracks: Better Days , Simple Man , Chicago , We Can Change The World ),
Joe Yankee (tracks: Better Days , Man In The Mirror),
Rita Coolidge (tracks: Be Yourself , There's Only One )
Steel Guitar – Jerry Garcia (tracks: I Used To Be A King , Man In The Mirror)
Tambourine – Graham Nash (tracks: Chicago , We Can Change The World )

Produced the year I graduated from high school, and began college. I was already a fan of the Hollies, for years, and had been very fond of Crosby, Stills, and Nash from their initial album, and the performance at Woodstock. I think I bought the album much later, but remember first seeing it at the house of a lady friend in college.

Album 62 - Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt Volume III

Django Reinhardt– Django Reinhardt Volume III - Archive Of Folk & Jazz Music – FS-255 - 1970

Genre: Jazz

Tracks:

1. Minor Swing
2. Blues En Mineur
3. Dinette
4. Topsy
5. Stockholm
6. Vendred 13
7. Belleville
8. Song D'Automne
9. Swing 39
10. Swing 49
11. Blues Primitif
12. Django Blues
13. Sweet Atmosphere
14. Del Salle

Performers:

Certainly Stephane Grapelli played violin, and possibly clarinet on this. Django's brother, Joseph is heard here on guitar. Otherwise, I have no other information. Django died the year I was born. I did not hear his music (and know who he was) until I was out of college.
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I have more of Django's music in my collection than any other artist. Beyond the transcriptions made during this process, I began with ten albums (from a boxed set) already in iTunes.

Heart Hiatus

I made a pretty good start in December. And a month ago yesterday, I made my last post for that series. That was for album 61.

Then came the interruption. A heart attack and subsequent triple bypass operation. The process that put everything on hold until now.

Even though I am recovering, the physical demands of performing these operations required to transcribe these albums into suitable digital form for importing into my iTunes library, is not that demanding. so I can begin again slowly on my path to completion.