my tribute to harrison ridley jr

http://www.zshare.net/audio/559843767852c940/

Lord Flea

The first almost-superstar exported from Jamaica to the US, Lord Flea -- aka Norman Thomas -- was a standout "mento" artist. Mento was the local Jamaican calypso form, and -- despite all reports indicating a bangin' local jazz scene through the 1940's -- the first music to be recorded in Jamaica.

There was a fairly intense recording scene for mento, and there are quite a few anthologies of the stuff (my favorite being one called Jamaica Before Ska).

Lord Flea died in 1959 at the age of 27 of Hodgkin's Disease, appeared in a couple of American B-movies, and even cut an album for Capitol, Swingin' Calypsos. He truly deserves a second look-see.

Those in the know -- this is definitely a mento cover of Lord Kitchner's "Kitch's Be-Bop Calypso". Also, the young couple is Judy Tyler (of Jailhouse Rock fame) and Mr Julie London and writer of "Route 66" Bobby Troup. Aside from the obvious stuff this video boasts, check out the tenor banjo player, Porkchop.

Jimmy Martin, Part 1

Jimmy Martin: A Life In Bluegrass Music. Part 1: The Early Years

Jimmy Martin was not the first great bluegrass lead singer. But he is the epitome of bluegrass singing, and has no peer. Martin was first heard with Bill Monroe on classics such as "Uncle Pen", "Walking To Jerusalem", and the incredible "On And On", available on Monroe's Country Music Hall Of Fame Series disc (MCA).

According to legend, in 1949, a young factory worker from Sneedsville, TN went down to the Grand Ol' Opry to meet Bill Monroe in the hopes of replacing guitarist/singer Mac Wiseman, whose departure was imminent, in Monroe's Blugrass Boys. Martin recalls:

"I was paintin' machinery in a factory in Morristown, TN, and I was playin' on WCPK from 4:30 to 5 every evening. I got fired on my job for singin' too much, and I cussed out the foreman for firin' me. When I went back after my clothes, I seen him on the street, and told him, 'Listen in on Saturday night, 'cause I'm singin' with Bill Monroe on the Grand Ol' Opry.

"I'd been playin' on the radio a couple years, but all my life I'd been listenin' to the Opry, and I had always wanted to see Bill Monroe.

"I had sang with my stepfather at churches and funerals and learnt all the parts in the quartet -- lead, baritone, tenor, and bass. When I went down to try out for Bill, I told him that I knew all the parts, but that I didn't sing tenor as well as he could."

"He took me in there and asked Mac Wiseman to let me have the guitar, which was the one that Lester Flatt had played with Bill. It was Bill's Martin D-28 herringbone [guitar]. So I sang one with Bill, then I played a solo -- 'Poor Ellen Smith', then I played 'Orange Blossom Special' with [fiddler] Chubby Wise. Bill asked Chubby what he thought, and Chubby said, 'Lordy, I thought Lester Flatt had it, but this boy's flat got it."

Martin got the job that, to a young man in the Tennessee hills in 1949, would now be like someone replacing Michael Stipe in REM. Martin, who will never be accused of false modesty, gives it up to that first edition of the Bluegrass Boys (Monroe, Wise, Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and bassist Cedric Rainwater).

"Lester Flatt was one of my favorite lead singers. I thought he compared in bluegrass as much as Hank Williams or George Jones compared in country music. Lester was on a lot of jukeboxes. He didn't have a tinny voice -- he had a real good tone. I'd listen to [the Bluegrass Boys] on the Opry, and I thought, 'That's how to do it. That's that timing that none of 'em's got. They make it!'"

Martin would spend 1950-53 in and out of Monroe's band, as well as performing and recording with the Osborne Brothers (up until '55) between stints with Monroe. The Osborne/Martin alliance resulted in some great singles for King and RCA . But a feud developed between Martin and the Osborne's that reportedly persists to this day. This led Martin to form his Sunny Mountain Boys -- one of the great bluegrass outfits -- and Martin will discuss their music in the next E-Pulse.