Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “All My Sorrows” by The Kingston Trio Before The Beatles…there was The Kingston Trio! The Trio of Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane were the most recognized act of the initial folk boom of the late 1950s causing a sensation throughout college campuses. Their brand of exuberantly sung folk songs mingled with a healthy dose of good natured “aw-shucks” humor offered pure entertainment and insured them a place on the charts and on concert stages. Their hits included “Tom Dooley,” “The M.T.A.,” “The Tijuana Jail,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” ”A Worried Man,” plus many others. I was introduced to the music of The Kingston Trio by my...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “House Party Starting” by Herbie Nichols Trio If Herbie Nichols is remembered for anything, it’s probably for composing one of Billie Holiday’s signature songs “Lady Sings The Blues.” Problem is, Nichols is all but totally forgotten, even though he recorded a handful of seminal EPs and an album for the Blue Note record label between 1955 and 1956. For the 30 or so years after these recordings were made, the music sat in the vaults, out of print and out of most people’s minds. Sometimes the greats don’t get their due during their own lifetime. During the late ‘30s, Nichols was part of the Harlem jazz scene, playing at such Harlem...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Chantilly Lace” by The Big Bopper Jiles “Jape” P. Richardson became a radio D.J. in 1952 and worked for ten years (with a two year break in the middle for army duty) at Texas radio station KTRM where he ultimately became their music director. While working at a sock hop, he decided to change his name to The Big Bopper after he witnessed teenagers dancing to a new dance called The Bop. Richardson wanted to get into the performing side of the business because he saw it as a way to earn enough money to buy his own radio station. So when a promo man from Mercury Records gave him the...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Woo Hoo” by The Rock-A-Teens Every so often, when I’m jonesin’ for some ‘50s rockabilly or some good old rock ‘n’ roll, I need not look any further than Rhino’s exceptional Loud Fast & Out Of Control: The Wild Sounds Of The ‘50s box set. The set was compiled by Gary Stewart, James Austin and Bill Inglot and released in 1999. Its 104 tracks are a comprehensive and enjoyable survey of the late ‘50s rockabilly scene including prime cuts by everyone including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and dozens of others. While the hits are well represented, it’s the many rarer picks...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “At The Hop” by Danny & The Juniors Three groups…three decades… three stories…one song! 1950s Philadelphia school friends Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova formed a group called The Juvenairs in 1957.  They were discovered at a Record Hop by John Madara who changed their name to Danny & The Juniors and introduced them to local record label owner Artie Singer. Madara and Singer liked Dave White’s song “Do The Bop,” but suggested that the title be changed to “At The Hop.” They also took a writing credit on the song for their efforts. The song was released in late 1957 on Singer’s Singular Record label. Singer brought...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by Billie Holiday You can tell a lot about people by the records they own. A relative of a friend dropped some records off at my house this weekend for me to look at. While most had condition issues and were hardly worth selling on eBay, the guy did have some interesting and really good records which he graciously told me to keep anyway. There were jazz records from the 1950s, at least a dozen Sinatra albums, a fair share of classical recordings including several by Russian composer Shostakovich, some requisite Broadway cast albums, and, of course, a copy of Herb Alpert’s Whipped...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dancin’ Wild” by Tom & Jerry Before “The Boy In The Bubble” and “Graceland”…before “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” and “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard”…and before “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Sound Of Silence,” there was “Hey Schoolgirl” and a multitude of early recordings by the likes of Tom & Jerry, Jerry Landis, Tommy Graph, Artie Garr, True Taylor, The Mystics and Tico And The Triumphs. No matter what name they recorded under they were still two teenagers named Art and Paul, and when their voices blended, they were undeniably Simon & Garfunkel. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were childhood friends who grew up living three blocks...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#685 in the Series) is Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours Recorded in 1955 In the Wee Small Hours is the ninth studio album and widely considered to be the first set of songs that Frank Sinatra recorded specifically for an L.P.  With songs arranged by the incomparable Nelson Riddle, the album could almost be considered a heart broken follow-up to his more romantically wide-eyed prior release Songs For Young Lovers, and is considered by many to be the first concept album. This time around neither hope nor love springs eternal, and if the song selections on this album are any indication The Chairman of the Board was taking the end...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#638 in the Series) is Erroll Garner, Contrasts Today I’m going to take you in a completely different direction for our website, as we look at a magnificent pianist named Erroll Garner. Erroll released a ton of albums with a career spanning from the mid-40s to the mid-70s. He was known for his swing style while also delivering some lush ballads at times. He did have one major hit and that would be a song of his own writing called “Misty.”  This song was the subject of the well-known horror movie of 1971 starring Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walters titled Play Misty for Me. You can hear the song and the video...