Invisible Visionaries - the playlists

[Charlie]

Invisible Visionaries are producers and A&R men behind the scenes, whose careers made a difference.

If they had not been there, not only would many great records not have been made, but in some cases entire genres might not have emerged.

The series runs 10.00 pm each Wednesday for the first ten weeks of 2006 on BBC Radio 2.

Listen Again at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/
choose 'Without Frontiers'

[Alan]

BBC Radio Publicity Release

BBC RADIO 2

Wednesday 4 January 2006

Without Frontiers Ep 1/10

10.00-10.30pm

Charlie Gillett begins a fourth series of Without Frontiers where, each week, musical boundaries are crossed, mixed and blurred to bring together an eclectic selection of music.

The topic for this series is Invisible Visionaries, focusing on the behind-the-scenes people who work as producers, record label bosses and A&R men, who have similarly worked over an eclectic mix of music. These include Allen Toussaint, Island's Chris Blackwell, Nick Gold of World Circuit, Nick Lowe and the man described as "the Berry Gordy of African music", Ibrahim Sylla.

Over the next 10 weeks, Charlie shows how these visionaries have affected the course of musical history through recordings by a diverse selection of artists, including Wreckless Eric, Salif Keita, Dr John, Ofra Haza, Radio Tarifa and Jimmy Cliff.

The central figure in the first programme is John Hammond, whose credits include Billie Holiday, Babatunde Olatunji, Ray Bryant and Bob Dylan.

Presenter Charlie Gillett, Producer Neil Myners

1st of 10 programmes.

[Charlie]

John Hammond - born 15 Dec 1910, died 10 July 1987

seq - artist - song - album - year

1 - Ray Bryant - Madison Time (Eddie Morrison calls the steps) - Groove n' Grind - 1960

2 - Billie Holiday - What a Little Moonlight Can Do - Essential Billie Holiday - 1935

3 - Joe Turner & Pete Johnson - It's All Right - Spirituals to Swing - 1939

4 - Babatunde Olatunji - Jingo-La-Ba - Drums of passion - 1959

5 - Aretha Franklin - Maybe I'm a Fool (with Ray Bryant) - Soul Sister - 1961

6 - Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Freewheelin' - 1963

7 - Bruce Springsteen - Growing Up (demo) - Eighteen - 1972

[Charlie]

Chris Blackwell born 22/06/1937

seq - artist - song title - album title - yr

1 - Millie - My Boy Lollipop - Tougher Than Tough - 63

2 - Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Running - And The Beat Goes On Vol 3 - 65

3 - Traffic - Feeling All Right - And The Beat Goes On Vol 4 - 68

4 - Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers to Cross - The Harder They Come - 72

5 - Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry - Tougher Than Tough - 74

6 - Robert Palmer - Best of Both Worlds - Double Fun - 78

7 - King Sunny Ade - Ma Jaiye Oni - King of Ju Ju - 82

[RobHall]

Just curious Charlie - did you play one of the few early Traffic songs that does not have Stevie Winwood singing because he'd already been used on the Spencer Davis track, or was it just coincidence?

Rob

[Charlie]

Just curious Charlie - did you play one of the few early Traffic songs that does not have Stevie Winwood singing because he'd already been used on the Spencer Davis track, or was it just coincidence?

Rob

Yes, is the simple answer Rob. But there are no fixed rules - the programme on Tom Wilson has trwo tracks by Dylan and even two versions of the same song by another artist he produced.

[Charlie]

email from Michael Hales

-----------------------------------

Great idea, Charlie - Invisible Visionaries.

I had no idea about John Hammond.

Chris Blackwell's a whole lot more familiar - but even then I hadn't connected Millie Small and King Sunny Ade.

Looking forward lots to the rest.

Where would we be without these visions?

Thanks.

PS: And a second series?
Ahmet Ertegun?
Floyd Soileau? ??????

[Charlie]

3 Allen Toussaint - born14/01/1938 - New Orleans producer, pianist and songwriter

1 - Chris Kenner - I Like It Like That - Sound of the City: New Orleans - 61

2 - Ernie K-Doe - Mother in Law - Crescent City Soul - 61

3 - Irma Thomas - Ruler of My Heart - Time is on My Side - 63

4 - Lee Dorsey - Working in a Coal Mine - Crescent City Soul - 66

5 - Aaron Neville - Hercules - Treacherous: History of the Neville Brothers - 73

5 - Dr John - Right Place Wrong Time - Best of Dr John - 73

6 - LaBelle - Lady Marmalade - Crescent City Soul - 75

7 - Allen Toussaint - What do you want the girl to do? - Best of Mountain Stage Live, Vol 4 - 92

[Charlie]

Ibrahim Sylla - "the Berry Gordy of West African music"

1 - Orchestre Baobab - Autorail - Golden Afrique, Vol 1 - 81 - Senegal - Network - 27.677

2 - Bopol Mansiamina - Manuela - The Very Best of Sylla - 83 - Congo - Sono/Next - CDS 8911

3 - Salif Keita - Cono - Soro - 87 - Mali - Sterns - STCD1020

4 - Oumou Sangare - Ah Ndiya - Oumou - 92 - Mali - World Circuit - WCD067

5 - Africando - Lakh Bi - Africando Vol 1 - 92 - West Africa/Cuba/USA - Sterns - STCD 1045

6 - Kekélé - Bebe Yaourt - Congo Life - 2004 - Congo - Sterns - STCD1097

7 - Thione Seck - Siiw - Orientation - 2005 - Senegal - Sterns - STCD 1100

[Charlie]

seq - artist - song title - yr - album - label

1 - Isley Brothers - Twist & Shout - 1962 - Land of a Thousand Dances - Ace

2 - Betty Harris - Cry to Me - 1963 - Soul Perfection - Sequel

3 - Drifters - I Don’t Want to Go On Without You - 1964 - The Heart & Soul of Bert Berns - Universal

4 - Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love - 1964 - The Best of Solomon Burke - Atlantic

5 - Them - Here Comes the Night - 1965 - Them: Gold - Decca

6 - Van Morrison - Spanish Rose - 1967 - Van Morrison: The Early Years - Bang

7 - Erma Franklin - Piece of My Heart - 1967 - The Heart & Soul of Bert Berns - Universal

8 - Isley Brothers - You'll Never Leave Him - 1963 - The Heart & Soul of Bert Berns - Universal

[ian macdonald]

dear charlie
congratulations on an exemplary radio tribute to the great Bert Berns. I
loved the closing Isleys track, which I don't think I had heard before
by them, although I have a vague recollection of a version by either
Garnett Mimms or Freddie Scott...of all Berns'work I loved the tracks
with Mimms and Ben E King, whose 'What is Soul' album remains my all
time favourite, the extended CD release was a 60s soul heaven. Nice to
hear Betty Harris as well, her cuts on 'why don't you tell him?'are
awesome deep soul.

So, thanks for bringing Ragavoy and Berns to the UK airwaves, I never
thought I would live to see the night...
regards ian

[stephenG]

totally agree about the Isley's track 'You'll never leave him'...

...I've come to rely on Charlie for this level of insightfulness....

...the following is from a long interview floating around the internet

[Jimmy] Page says that on the Them sessions for Here Comes The Night each member of the group was replaced in turn by session men with even Van's vocal ability called into question.

Look forward to the rest of this well researched and delivered series....I can't really get the hang of all these boards and posts but Charlie I worship you as a god.....(no irony or offence to Muslims intended)

[Charlie]

Tom Wilson - New York based producer - born Waco Texas, 1931 - died 1978

seq - Artist - Song title - year - album

1 - Blues Project - No Time Like the Right Time - 67 - Nuggets, Vol 1

2 - Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence - 64 - Wednesday 3 AM

3 - Bob Dylan - She Belongs to Me - 65 - No Direction Home

4 - Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone - 65 - Highway 61 Revisited

5 - Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence (single version) - 65 - The Essential S & G

6 - Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning - 66 - The Velvet Underground & Nico

7 - Mothers of Invention - Motherly Love - 66 - Freak Out

[Charlie]

email from Allen 'Gaz' Gaskell

Allen Toussaint - born14/01/1938 - New Orleans producer, pianist and songwriter

I look forward to and take great delight in your enthusiastic & insightful dissertations on `ethnic`/regional music styles & personalities, obviously close to both heart and mind. The "Sound of the City" series was particularly enjoyable & informative; my brother, a keen soul and R & B collector still has them all on the cassette copies I did for him!

However - cutting to the chase! - I was quite taken aback when you mentioned being puzzled by the term "Second Line" [musicians & 'revellers' following the main funeral group] when quoted by New Orleans musicians...seeing as it is a multi-rythmic phenomenon basic to their musical culture: both Jazz AND the subsequent Rhythm & Blues.

Keep up the good work...We need it!

Best Wishes,

Gaz

----------------------------

Thanks Gaz

Everybody who ever talks about New Orleans music always goes into raptures about the city's unique Second Line rhythm, but they are never very specific about what they mean, and I was trying to avoid repeating cliches. In doing so, I may have been more off-hand than I intended. I would welcome a more precise musical definition.

CG

[RobHall]

When I saw this post earlier today I figured I could answer Charlie's question as soon as I got home to blow the dust off my copy of "The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz",; but I could find no reference to "second line" in it. I then went through biographies of Dr John and Louis Armstrong, Don Marquis' "In Search of Buddy Bolden", Don Clarke's "History of Popular Music", Chalie's "Sound Of The City" and Albert Murray's "Stomping The Blues"... and found no reference in any of them (at least, not one that was indexed - even my life is too short to re-read them in their entirety). Colour me surprised.

So we are left with the poor man's oracle, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_line which clarifies to some extent, but leaves us short of a definitive view.

The beat goes on.