NRBQ's Jazz Jukebox

Hope you all had a Terry Christmas, everybody! Can't let 2022 end without completing the NRBQ Jukebox series.

It seems a shame to separate these jazz tunes from the other NRBQ sets (since the Q is nothing if not eclectic), but some of the songs are quite lengthy.  

Terry's idols Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra are present, as well as the Carla Bley composition "Ida Lupino" (recorded by NRBQ on their debut album), and "Things Are Getting Better" by Cannonball Adderly (which NRBQ covered on Scraps).

"South" by Benny Moten's Kansas City Orchestra appeared on Froggy's Favorites; Sonny Rollins' "Valse Hot" was on The Scraps Companion. The Q took on Roland Kirk's "Here Comes The Whistleman" during the Ludlow Garage live set; and "Paris" (a composition from late in Moondog's career) was featured on NRBQ's live album You Gotta Be Loose.

Claude Thornhill's composition "Snowfall" falls outside the chronology of these compilations (as it was recorded by the reformed NRBQ on 2012's We Travel The Spaceways), but I invite you to listen to NRBQ's version here.  

I first heard "Snowfall" as a child, on the Ramsey Lewis Trio's More Sounds Of Christmas LP (1964).  That album (and its 1961 predecessor, Sounds Of Christmas) were in heavy rotation on the family stereo every December when I was growing up, and they are still the first records I put on when I'm ready to get into the spirit of the season.  It was a thrill to hear Terry and the guys do "Snowfall", back when Pete Donnelly of The Figgs was NRBQ's bassist.  Klem Klimek (a frequent NRBQ collaborator) sits in on harmonica.

Here's the Ramsey Lewis Trio's version of "Snowfall".  If you only think of Ramsey Lewis as a "smooth jazz" player, his acoustic recordings from the 60's on the Chess and Cadet labels are a revelation.  Ramsey passed away in September, 2022.  Ramsey was a pianist who could really swing, and I bet Terry was a fan.

Apples and Peaches for You: It's NRBQ Jukebox 2!

This set of songs that NRBQ taught us starts in 1958 with I Got A Rocket In My Pocket, a single that took Terry Adams over a decade to find after he heard it on the radio as a kid.  Scroll down past Terry's mugshot in this interview for the details.

It's loaded with Q fan favorites: C'mon If You're Coming, Hot Biscuits and Sweet Marie, Wild Weekend, 12 Bar Blues and more (31 songs in all!)

Thanks to blog reader Robert -- who identified Daddy-O as a private press single from a Massachusetts band called The Checkmates -- I finally got my hands on a copy to share with you. It took awhile to find, but nowhere near as long as Terry had to search for Jimmy Lloyd's single!

My Daddy-O 45 isn't in great shape, but Al Santos (seen on the cover of his LP Gaiety Polkas) was in fine form when he cut the tune. The b-side (I Love My Babciu And Dziadziu) is more sentimental. You can get a taste of it in this video of Richie Kendra performing his composition.

There's one more NRBQ Jukebox to come, and it's devoted to the jazz side of NRBQ's repertoire.  But this one's got country music, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, and a little bit of soul.

NRBQ and You!

 

Stinky's sharing another heaping helping of NRBQ for us today. "NRBQ Plays Well With Others" features songs from the albums that the Q made with Carl Perkins, Skeeter Davis, and Captain Lou Albano.

Plus there's various NRBQ members making music  with Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, John Sebastian, PJ O'Connell, Steve Ferguson, Carlene Carter, Michael Hutchence, and NRBQ's brother band, The Incredible Casuals.  And there's more!

I have tracked down a copy of the original "Daddy-O" single (by The Checkmates, with Al Santos) and will be sparing no expense to share it with you in the next installment of NRBQ's Jukebox.  But until that precious cargo arrives, please enjoy NRBQ Plays Well With Others!

As our favorite holiday approaches, here's your annual reminder that Stinky's compilation of Kid Tested and Uncle Approved Halloween Tunes is still available for your enjoyment.  It has the Stinky seal of approval!

Songs That NRBQ Taught Us

The first NRBQ single was a statement of purpose: Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody" with Sun Ra's "Rocket Number 9" on the flipside. Call them eclectic or catholic: the Q have always believed that great grooves can be found in any genre or era. 

Their catalog of studio and live albums contains a wide range of cover songs that date all the way back to 1907.  NRBQ plays blues, country, doo-wop, jazz, R&B, rockabilly, children's music and song poems -- often in the same set. They are the CBGB-OMFUG of bands.

Terry Adams has kept the music going for over 50 years. Omnivore Recordings released a new NRBQ album (Dragnet) in 2021, as well as the 5 disc career overview High Noon and reissues of NRBQ's 1969 debut and 1977's All Hopped Up.

Today we have the first of three sets of NRBQ's Jukebox. This one includes many of the pianists who influenced Terry: Fats Waller, Fats Domino, Charles Brown, Floyd Dixon, Piano Red, Tiny Bradshaw, Little Richard, Big Joe Turner, and Sun Ra. 

Two more volumes of NRBQ's Jukebox will follow, once I find the polka song "Daddy-O".  Grooves In Orbit credits it to "Santos". Is it a norteño? A Daniel Santos composition with new lyrics?  If you can tell me where the Q got "Daddy-O", I've got apples and peaches for you!