January 2011
5 posts
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Down Beat review: "Friends"
Down Beat Magazine review: “Friends” June 5, 1975
Before “fusion” became a dirty jazz word, Down Beat writer Bob Rusch was one of the few who could hear the difference between a commercial extreme and Marc Cohen Copland’s thoroughly original, musical approach.
FRIENDS — Oblivion Records (New Music Distribution) od 3: ⅝ Tune; Black Vibrations; Nursery Rhyme;...
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"...the enigma of enigmas..."
Talk about an ironic compliment!
I’d pretty much forgotten that anyone had ever written anything about Oblivion Records itself, rather than our records. In fact, this Bob Rusch paragraph from a 1975 Down Beat review of Friends might be our only company shout out. In the retrospect of 35 years I couldn’t ask for anything better.
The “indies” for the most part stand out as enigmas...
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Scams and flim flams.
Charles Walker @ WKCR-FM, 1973. Polaroid Big Shot portrait by Fred Seibert.
In retrospect, it’s no surprise to me that Blues from the Apple was Charles Walker’s only album as a leader after 20 years of singles for Danny and Bobby Robinson labels. Charles was a talented musician, but he was an ace huckster. Two stories in particular stand out in my memory.
We had a session planned...
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The making of "Blues from the Apple."
Charles Walker @ WKCR-FM, 1973. When I reflect on all the hard work the musicians put into the recording of Blues from the Apple, it’s sad to realize it didn’t even sell out the initial pressing of 1000 LPs, Oblivion’s poorest selling release. But it’s probably supports the thesis in Dick Pennington’s liner notes that “the New York City blues scene has been so...
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Liner notes, "Blues from the Apple"
Almost everything we know about the personnel on Blues from the Apple comes from the album’s liner notes. Researched as thoroughly as was possible (by Tom Pomposello; Dick Pennington gets the writing credit as a tip of the hat to our departing partner) about a group of almost entirely itinerant musicians, I suppose the scant biographies are an indication of the plight of a blues...