Cary Ginell Brings Cannonball Adderley to Life in New Biography
Cary Ginell is a busy guy. He splits his time between acting as Publishing Administrator for Megatrax, writing, and playing flute and piccolo for the Sedalia Ragtime Orchestra. In March, he published the first in a new series of jazz biographies for Hal Leonard Books,Walk Tall: The Music & Life of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Walk Tall is Cary’s sixth book, following his successful Hot Jazz for Sale: Holly zz Man Record Shop, for which he won the “Best Research in Recorded Jazz” award from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). Cannonball Adderley was an influential alto saxophonist who helped introduce soul and gospel to jazz in the 1960s. He met impresario Quincy Jones when [...]
SONGSTUFF by Cary Ginell: Ransacking the Public Domain, Part 4 Folk Songs on the Charts
Last time we focused on Elvis Presley’s use of traditional material in crafting some of the best-selling hits of his career. Today we look at how folk music has been a constant source for other popular performers to draw from, especially songs that told stories. Folk music has been used in popular music for as long as records have been made. From early renditions of Stephen Foster songs and spirituals on cylinders to today, the timelessness of familiar melodies have always been a surefire recipe for success, especially when you add in the fact that with public domain songs, there are no royalties to pay. Folk music has produced hits [...]
SONGSTUFF by Cary Ginell: Ransacking the Public Domain, Part 3– Elvis & the Public Domain
In our first two installments relating to the use of public domain songs in pop music, we examined how classical music melodies have been adapted, both successfully and unsuccessfully during the rock era. Today we focus on one artist, Elvis Presley, and his successful use of public domain melodies in some of his best-known works. LOVE ME TENDER When Elvis signed with RCA Victor in 1955, he became the hottest property in American pop music. After his first release, “Heartbreak Hotel,” became a #1 hit, Hollywood beckoned, and Elvis was signed to star in his first motion picture, a period piece set in 1864 that was tentatively titled “The Reno [...]
Cary Ginell Brings “Cannonball” Adderley to Life in New Biography
Walk Tall is the latest from this award-winning author and jazz historian. Award-winning author Cary Ginell has just published the first in a new series of jazz biographies for Hal Leonard Books, Walk Tall: The Music & Life of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Walk Tall is Ginell’s sixth book, following his successful Hot Jazz for Sale: Hollywood’s Jazz Man Record Shop, for which he won the “Best Research in Record Jazz” award from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). Cannonball Adderley was an influential alto saxophonist who helped introduce soul and gospel to jazz in the 1960s. He met impresario Quincy Jones when he signed his first contract with EmArcy Records in 1955, and Jones has contributed a touching foreword to Walk [...]
SONGSTUFF by Cary Ginell: Ransacking the Public Domain, Part 2
In my last blog, I introduced the subject of using public domain melodies to create or inspire new musical compositions. I cited two numbers from the 1960s, “A Lover’s Concerto” by the Toys and “A Groovy Kind of Love” by the Mindbenders, both of which utilized classical melodies to craft new songs, both of which became sizable hits. But don’t think that because these two songs made it that stealing from the public domain is a sure fire way of getting a hit record. For every hit there is probably a stack full of misses. Let’s compare a few other songs that used this formula in the 1960s and see [...]
Ransacking the Public Domain – Part 1, By Cary Ginell
Composer: do you ever get writer’s block? Can’t come up with a melody? Do you get frustrated and think, “There are only twelve tones in the chromatic scale. Surely all the permutations and combinations have already been used!” Consider a repository that is inexhaustible; a bottomless pit of classic, familiar melodies just waiting to be accessed. It’s called the public domain. For those looking to jump start a composition, whether it is a background track, YouTube hit, or even just something to work out by, the public domain is a great place to start. Many writers are not quite sure what the public domain is and how a piece of [...]
Cary Ginell’s “The Twelve Songs of Christmas” (Stories behind a dozen Yuletide favorites- Part 3 of 3)
(This is the third entry in a series of three. To read the first entry, please click HERE. To read the second entry, please click HERE.) Jingle Bells The most well known, most often sung Christmas song in America actually got its start as a song for Thanksgiving. In 1840, a Massachusetts-born church organist named James Pierpont was writing special music for a Thanksgiving service, when he looked out his window and saw some boys racing their sleds down a hill. A catchy little tune came into his head, and after putting on his coat, he trudged over to the home of Mrs. Otis Waterman, who owned the only piano in town. [...]
Cary Ginell’s “The Twelve Songs of Christmas” (Stories behind a dozen Yuletide favorites- Part 2 of 3)
(This is the second entry in a series of three. To read the first entry, please click HERE.) FROM ASCAP White Christmas (Irving Berlin) One of the most incongruous and unlikely combinations in music history was this Christmas classic and its writer, a Jewish immigrant from Russia named Israel Baline. Thanks to a misprint on one of his early songs, he became Irving Berlin and went on to write one enduring classic after another, including Blue Skies, God Bless America, and Always. In 1941, Berlin was hired to write the score for the motion picture Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. As a secular Jew who married a [...]
Cary Ginell’s “The Twelve Songs of Christmas” (Stories behind a dozen Yuletide favorites- Part 1 of 3)
The Christmas Song (Mel Torme/Robert Wells) This song, which conjures up images of bundled-up revelers roasting chestnuts on a frosty New York street, was actually written in 1946 on one of the hottest days in Los Angeles history. Lyricist Bob Wells was jotting down memories of chilly New England winters in an attempt to keep cool when songwriting partner Mel Torme spied his notes and thought there was a song there somewhere. Within forty minutes, they had completed the song and were off to Nat King Cole’s house to play it for him. Instantly impressed, Cole made the song into a classic, and the first Christmas standard introduced by an [...]
Songstuff by Cary Ginell: Why Didn’t he Dream of a Blue Chanukah?
Around this time of year, when people’s thoughts turn to Christmas, one song has taken its place alongside the venerable traditional songs of long ago, including Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Joy to the World, etc. The song is White Christmas, but what most people do not realize is that it was written by a short, shy, introverted Jewish immigrant from Russia named Izzy Baline. Baline was the son of a cantor, who not only became the 20th century’s most celebrated songwriter, but who also penned some of the music world’s most endearing and enduring anthems under his new name, Irving Berlin. Some of his most famous songs include God Bless America, Always, Puttin’ [...]
