We’re not talking about rhythm and blues or rock ‘n’ roll or elevator music here. Nor songs by all the male and female crooners from the era. We’re talking about big bands and orchestras that emerged a decade or so earlier that supported and backed mostly white singers of the day. We’re talking about bonafide smash number one hits on Billboards charts for a lengthy period of time.
One of my favorite rock and roll drummers died recently. Charles Conner, born in 1935, is best known as Little Richard’s touring or road drummer in the ’50s.
Since it’s almost summer, I thought it appropriate to investigate the world of surf music. Not the culture displayed by vocal surf music, but the sport and the dance as revealed by the instrumental sound . . .
Fifty years ago, Marvin Gaye released one of the best albums ever put on wax, that being the heralded What’s Going On. What made it so great, and why is it still very much relevant today?