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From '50s NYC clubland, a Yma Sumac-inspired version of "Babalu" by jazz/calypso singer Phyllis Branch.
Author Archives: Little Danny
Vibraphones, flutes and California Latin jazz
I’ve posted extensively about Afro-Latin music in California (here, here, here and here). The subject fascinates me, so I’ll try not to belabor the point too much. Latin jazz in the post-War Bay Area and Los Angeles was a diffuse, … Continue reading
The sea
The sea. Its mystery and expanse has inspired innumerable poets, writers, artists and musicians throughout the millennia, its endless capacity for beauty and violence has silenced individuals not usually given to speechless wonder. Cursed, mythologized, prayed to, every seafaring culture … Continue reading
12-Strung
When we think about the 12-string guitar – if we think about it at all – we associate it with the ‘60s. More precisely, we associate it with the Byrds, whose dense California jangle was such a tonic amidst the … Continue reading
Farewell, for a little while
It’s come time to say goodbye, if for a little bit. My first semester as a full-time graduate student at the University of Texas’s School of Information just lurched to a start. It’s a turn of events that came only … Continue reading
Naked City Latino
Few of Tinseltown’s directors, writers, cinematographers or creative minds – and certainly none of its soundtrack and television composers – turned a blind eye to opportunism in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Each location or genre came with its familiar set … Continue reading
Office Naps takes the week off…
…as I move back to Austin and gird myself for the beginning of my graduate school career. Like Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School, just not as hilarious. More soon.
Psychedelic folk
Much is made of Bob Dylan plugging in an electric guitar at 1965’s Newport Folk Festival. Less tends to said of either the ensuing folk-rock – young, post-Beatles groups like the Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield who merged folk’s lyrical … Continue reading
