As short as it is, this short 18-minute documentary from 1994 by Greg Wolske of Columbus (Ohio), is the best introduction to rockabilly music around. Rather than the planned film, this is a taster of a more ambitious project which has not yet – it would seem – been completed. This taster contains some testimonies […]
Music/Dance/Reads
The rockin’ sax
Illinois Jacquet, Red Prysock, Big Jay McNeely one-note solos, altissimo squeals 1942 ‘flying home’ featuring Illinois Jacquet in Lionel Hampton’s band. audiences went wild for the aggressive, exciting, primal, frenzied, raw, screeching, in contrast to smooth, fluid, dense, cerebral improvisations of be-boppers such as Charlie Parker. sax battles at the Jazz at the Philharmonic
1959 ‘Six O’Clock Rock’ Aussie rock’n’roll tv show
Lightning Recorders studio, Berlin – another perfect recreated 50s recording studio
You can have a look at Sugar Ray’s recreated 50s recording studio in England, but another perfectly recreated 1950s recording studio that has been set up recently is the Lightning Recorders studio in Berlin which is associated with Randy Richter, the doyen of authentic rockabilly and rock’n’roll guitar style. Here, Randy gives us a tour […]
1981 Jack Good’s ‘Let’s Rock!’ – 3rd series
Jack Good’s ‘Oh Boy!’ returned for a third series on ATV under the title ‘Let’s Rock!’. Apparently ‘Let’s Rock!’ was made with a US audience in mind and had six series, only one of which was ever broadcast in Britain in 1981. No complete show has been uploaded on the internet, so we can only […]
1980 ‘(Jack Good’s) Oh Boy!’ – 2nd series
Filmed in Birmingham, the format of the second series of ‘Oh Boy!’ (not the second series as per YouTube clips) was quite different from the first with more than a nod to the style of the 1950s original with musical backing by the Oh Boy! Cats & Kittens and a starker set with no audience […]