and Bill was not an option. Scotty Moore had not spoken to Presley for two years but was willing to turn up, but Bill Black was pursuing a solo career. On the other hand, DJ Fontana, The Jordanaires and Floyd Cramer were still on board. The other musicians – most of whom were on the June 1958 date that was Elvis’ most recent – were led to believe this was a Jim Reeves session. There was also a lot of business to be taken care of, not least a single (Stuck On You/Fame And Fortune) that had to be in the shops by the end of the week.
By 7am, that 45 plus four other tracks were in the can – Make Me Know It, the faintly biographical Soldier Boy, and two lascivious R&B songs, A Mess of Blues and It Feels So Right. With two weeks before the next date, Presley was whisked off to Miami for the Frank Sinatra TV Show. For the second recording date, April 3, Colonel Tom instructed that Elvis sing eight songs – all he was contractually obliged to give RCA for an LP – one of which was to be Are You Lonesome Tonight, a 1927 hit for Al Jolson, and his wife’s favourite tune. By now Presley was back into his stride, with ideas that far outstripped his pre-draft capabilities. Fever featured just bass and two percussionists separated in the stereo mix; It’s Now Or Never was mock-operatic, an adaptation of O Sole Mio; Like A Baby, Such A Night and Dirty, Dirty Feeling almost verged on the obscene. Recorded in the dark, Are You Lonesome Tonight was the ninth cut, although Elvis felt his voice wasn’t suitable. The twelfth cut, Lowell Fulsom’s bluesy Reconsider Baby, began as a jam and ended with everybody taking solos. By the time he left the studio, Stuck On You was Number 1 and Elvis had two weeks before starting work on GI Blues. A new beginning, but the end was already in sight.
Joan Baez
Joan Baez
As important as Dylan in popularising folk music in the ’60s.
Record label: Vanguard
Produced: Maynard Solomon
Recorded: Manhattan Towers Hotel Ballroom, New York; July 1960
Released: October 1960
Chart peaks: 9 (UK) 15 (US)
Personnel: Joan Baez (v, g); Fred Hellerman (g)
Track listing: Silver Dagger; East Virginia; Ten Thousand Miles; House Of The Rising Sun; All My Trials; Wildwood Flower; Donna Donna; John Riley; Rake And The Rambling Boy; Little Moses; Mary Hamilton; Henry Martin; El Preso Numero Nuevo
Running time: 46.02
Current CD: Vanguard VMD79594 adds: Girl Of Constant Sorrow; I Know You Rider; John Riley
Further listening: Farewell Angelina (1965)
Further reading: Positively Fourth Street: The Life And Times Of Joan Baez, Bob Dyan And Mimi B (David Hajdu, 2002); www.joanbaez.com
Download: Not currently legally available
In 1960, Joan Baez (then 19) was exactly what the flat, dull and worthy folk scene needed. Unattractiveness was almost a mark of authenticity. That Joan was a striking young raven-haired beauty with a sweet, pure voice certainly did not harm the prospects of her debut album.
She had been a huge hit at the Newport Festival in July the previous year, standing apart from a bill that included Bob Gibson (who invited her there), Pete Seeger, Odetta, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Unsurprisingly, Joan Baez was a folk revival landmark. No wonder Bob Dylan initially idolised her – his own rise would have been impossible without her. She turned a new younger generation onto folk music – kids who had no time for Pete Seeger singalongs and fresh-faced college boys singing Tom Dooley. It would have been enough if Joan Baez had simply given folk some sex appeal. Yet the content of her debut album also reflected what was happening on the campuses and in the coffee houses, and as one of the first folk soloists to achieve national (and later international) success, she brought the music into the mass market.
Joan Baez was recorded in a hotel ballroom in New York City and produced by Maynard Solomon, to whose label she signed – in preference to CBS – because Solomon was, like Joan, an idealist; he’d signed The Weavers, despite accusations that Pete Seeger was a Communist. She made her home at Vanguard for most of the decade, releasing a staggering 17 albums before a move to A&M. Despite her beautiful singing and the simple arrangements (she had to be persuaded to allow a second guitarist), the album may not be to current tastes; but at the time, its mixture of Carter Family songs (Wildwood Flower), the Negro spiritual All My Trials and a Spanish political song was quite captivating. The ballads – notably John Riley, Silver Dagger and Mary Hamilton – have lasted best.
In America, Joan Baez was an unlikely chart success. It eventually charted in the UK in July 1964, where she enjoyed a Top 10 single a year later with Phil Ochs’ There But For Fortune.
Miles Davis
Sketches Of Spain
Trumpeter and arranger combine gloriously on timeless, impressionist orchestral jazz.
Record label: CBS
Produced: Teo Macero and Irving Townsend
Recorded: 30th St Studio, NYC; November 20, 1959–March 10, 1960
Released: 1960
Chart peaks: None (UK) None (US)
Personnel: Miles Davis (t, flugelhorn); Gil Evans (ar); Ernie Royal, Bernie Glow, Louis Mucci, Taft Jordan (t); Dick Hixon, Frank Rehak (t); Jimmy Buffington, John Barrows, Earl Chapin (French horn); Jimmy McAllister, Bill Barber (tuba); Al Block, Eddie Caine (flute); Romeo Penque (oboe); Harold Feldman (clarinet, oboe); Danny Bank (bass clarinet); Jack Knitzer (bassoon); Janet Putman (harp); Paul Chambers (bs); Jimmy Cobb (d); Elvin Jones (pc)
Track listing: Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio); Will O’ The Wisp; The Pan Piper; Saeta; Solea
Running time: 41:33
Current CD: Sony Legacy CK 65142 adds: Song Of Our Country; Concierto De Aranjuez (Part One); Concierto De Aranjuez (Part Two ending)
Further listening: Miles Ahead (1957); Porgy And Bess (1958)
Further reading: Miles The Autobiography (Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, 1989); Miles Davis (Ian Carr, 1982); www.milesdavis.com
Download: iTunes
The Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations of the late ’50s were era-defining statements of orchestral jazz that continue to inspire composers and arrangers of all persuasions.
Miles: ‘I loved working with Gil because he was so meticulous and creative, and I trusted his musical arrangements completely.’
The Evans style – lugubrious, luminous brass, woodwind colours and modern shifting-sands harmony – was the ideal backdrop for the doleful splendour of Miles’s horn and the music they made together spoke to an audience beyond jazz listeners. Indeed, some jazz lovers were openly sceptical about
