Be Bop Wino Pages

Joan Selects - the complete Joan Selects Collection

Big Ten Inchers - 78rpm rips by El Enmascarado


Attention Mac Users!

Mac users have been experiencing problems in unpacking the WinRAR archives used on this blog. Two solutions have been suggested.

1. Use The Unarchiver - www.theunarchiver.com - see comments on Little Esther Bad Baad Girl post for details.

2. Use Keka - http://www.kekaosx.com/en/ - see comments on Johnny Otis Presents post.

Saturday 22 September 2007

"They are not long, the days of wine and roses"

Join me for a trip into the origins of rock'n'roll via rhythm & blues, swing, jazz, and whatever. The music which appears on this blog includes the kind of stuff that falls outwith the conventional rock'n'roll parameters. Stuff such as early jump bands, swing bands, be bop and 40's/50's jazz. There's also plenty of vocal groups, blues shouters, tenor sax honkers, big names, half-forgotten names, and complete obscuros.

They've mostly passed on now, those artists whose music has formed the soundtrack to the last few decades of my life. In fact when I started listening to this kind of music thirty years ago, many of its creators were already deceased. But the music lives on - the notes still echo somewhere in the eternal bop night, down dark alleyways and through long deserted rooms which were once full of life, laughter and the clink of wine glasses. Ballrooms and theatres, night clubs, bars, juke boxes and the glowing dials of valve radios - they've all gone. However, in the mind's eye, we may yet catch fleeting glimpses of the past captured forever in a tenor sax solo, in a tinkling cocktail jazz piano, in voices long stilled yet living on in grooves on shellac and vinyl.

I hope that the music you hear on this blog will inspire you to go out and buy more. There are no CDs here. The music files consist of digitized tracks from my collection of vinyl and cassettes, plus the generous donations of fellow enthusiasts. Whenever I am aware of the availability of a newer, still in-print version of the music I post here, I encourage readers of this blog to investigate it and buy it. Re-issue companies such as Ace, Proper, JSP and Rev-Ola need your support.

Please support the artists (or their estates) by going out and buying the latest issues of this kind of music. Please support the legitimate reissue companies by buying their CDs.

Now it's dark. The neon lights are beckoning. We can hear the music filtering into the street from basement clubs and through the brightly lit barroom doors. Those saxes are honking and the bass is walking the boogie. Tonight we're going to let the good times roll.

10 comments:

NBboy said...

Hi boogiewoody, I for one will absolutly visit your site, i love this type of music,congratulations and thank you for the great shares and good luck with the site,regards,NBboy

boogiewoody said...

Thanks, NBboy, I hope you'll find lots of stuff you like here.

Boogiewoody (blogmaster, moderator, etc. Ye gods! the power's gone to my head!)

Anonymous said...

Tis a thing of beauty, be ye an ole winehead or not.

Now let's just hope that "power" is never gonna extend to threats of "banning" those who don't partake in regular doses of the groove juice... (!)

Keep the rhythmic riches a-comin'!

(Oooh la la ... a vintage Dr. Horse album...!!!)

- Brian (He Who Bops)(But Only With Grape Juice)

boogiewoody said...

Partaking of the groove juice is entirely voluntary oh boppin' one!

I'll try to keep the goodies coming - but we're probably looking at 4 or 5 posts a week at the most.

Please keep posting comments!

Rockinbavarian said...

Great! Great! Great! Let the honkers keep on comin'! I'll be there for sure. Thanks a lot!

boogiewoody said...

Servus, rockinbavarian, glad you're aboard. It won't be all honkers ... there's lots of other swingin' stuff to listen to and discuss. Nat King Cole anyone?

Anonymous said...

Hi boogiewooody!

Just found your marvelous blog, full of goodies, can´t wait to explore them all...!

Long live rock´n swing!

keep on good work,

M

Anonymous said...

Hi Boogie Woody, I'm loving your revamped posts. What an incredible blog - I've learned so much about this great music from you. Thanks. Marie

niki said...

I'm just happy to see this post. Thank you, and my congratulations for the music, pictures and texts on Be Bop Wino!

boogiewoody said...

Many thanks for swinging by, Niki. I love the poetry and art on una medianoche clara. A special thank you for pointing me towards Ernest Dowson.