Smorgasbord Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – #Classical – Luciano Pavarotti – The 1960s and Joan Sutherland

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Luciano Pavarotti – The 1960s Joan Sutherland

We are now in the 1960s and still in his late 20s, Luciano has already come to the attention of two opera singers who take him under their wings. One was a tenor who Luciano has admired since his teens, Giuseppe Di Stefano who mentored the young singer and helped him preserve his voice as he began to take on more and more demanding parts. The second was the soprano Joan Sutherland who invited Luciano to accompany her on a 40 date tour of Australia in 1965.

Joan Sutherland was performing with the Greater Miami Opera singing in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, but the tenor who was scheduled to perform was ill. As the soprano was already travelling on tour with Luciano Pavarotti, she recommended him for the role which he knew very well. Following this successful collaboration, Luciano signed up with the Sutherland-Williamson company for the Australia tour where he sang Edgardo to Joan Sutherland’s Lucia.

Here is a little background on this particular tragic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti with the Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. It was loosely based on Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor written in 1819 and set in the 17th century south-east of Scotland. Lucy Ashton (Lucia) becomes entangled in the feud between her own family and that of the neighbouring Ravenswoods.

Donizetti wrote Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835 when he found himself as the leading composer of Italian Opera.. There was also a great interest in Italy and the rest of Europe in the history and culture of Scotland and the violent conflicts and legends made for a perfect vehicle for a dramatic and tragic opera.

In the first performance today here is Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti with an aria from Lucia di Lammermoor.

Another performance on the Australian tour was La Traviata which is now one of the most performed operas world-wide.

La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. Verdi wanted it to be a contemporary piece but the management of La Fenice wanted it set in 17th century France. It was not until the late 19th century that the opera was performed in modern dress.

Here are excerpts from La Traviata from that 1965 Australian tour uploaded by Homoclassicus.

In this duet with Joan Sutherland, Pavarotti shows outstanding vocal control as he sings with his characteristic breadth, vigor, and intensity. Sutherland demonstrates the lightness and agility of her coloratura soprano technique and is very convincing as Violetta, singing this aria with incredible emotion. Together they offer us a satisfying balance of lyrical flexibility.

On his return for the extended Australian tour Pavarotti debuted at La Scala in Milan in La bohème reprising his role as Rodolfo with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing ‘Mimi’.

La bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio,conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. 50 years later Toscanini would conduct La bohème with the NBC Symphony Orchestra which was then released on record and disc making it the only Puccini opera to be recorded by an original conductor.

In the next two years Luciano would add more roles to his repetoire and his first appearance as “Tonio” in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 June of 1966. In the later production at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the tenor hit the nine high Cs of his aria so effortlessly that the audience apparently erupted into a spontaneous ovation.

“Ah! Mes Amis” – from Donizetti’s La Fille du regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) Live at the Met 1972 – Uploaded by Angus.

Pavarotti is dazzling in his performance of “Ah! Mes Amis.” This famous aria can be a tenor’s dream or nightmare. Being able to hit 9 high C’s consistently, in the context of a moving line and keeping a ringing, beautiful sound, requires exceptional talent, but also technique – a challenge no tenor should face halfheartedly. Pavarotti did this with what can only be described as astounding force and control. His chest voice, the strongest source of sound, and his head voice, where sound vibrates in the head’s cavities, were perfectly balanced in this aria making him the undisputed King of the 9 high C’s.

During the rest of the decade, apart from developing his career, Luciano began to record with London Records.

The World’s Favourite Tenor Arias – Arias from La Bohème, Tosca and Rigoletto. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Edward Downes Decca Records 1966

Arias by Verdi & Donizetti – Arias from Luisa Miller, I due Foscari, Un ballo in maschera, Macbeth, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il duca d’Alba, La favorita and Don Sebastiano (with the Wiener Opernorchester under Edward Downes, 1968)

Additional material : Wikipedia

Autobiography: Amazon

Buy the music of Luciano Pavarotti:Amazon

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Smorgasbord Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – #Classical – Luciano Pavarotti – The Early Years

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Welcome to a brand new series by William Price King.In the last few months we have featured some of the most talented and legendary Jazz artists and it is now time to turn our focus to some classical performers who have opened our hearts to the magic of beautifully crafted music. William originally trained in classical music and performed in North America and Europe before turning his musical talents to Jazz.

Luciano Pavarotti was an Italian tenor and one of the most popular contemporary vocal performers in the world of opera and across multiple musical genres. Known for his televised concerts, and as one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti was also noted for his award-winning charity work for raising money on behalf of refugees, the Red Cross, War Child, and many other charitable organizations.

He is best known worldwide, both amongst opera aficionados and the general public with whom he achieved his international celebrity, when in 1990 his rendition of Giacomo Puccini’s aria, “Nessun Dorma” from opera “Turandot”, became the theme song of the BBC television coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Discogs Luciana Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti – The Early Years

In October 1935, a legend was born on the outskirts of the northern Italian city of Modena, on the south side of the Po Valley. The city is well known for other legendary names too. The automative industry has been producing such iconic cars carrying the Ferrari, Lamborghini and Masarati names for many years.

Luciano’s parents Fernando and Adele Venturi were hard working people. His father was a baker but was also an amateur tenor, who despite singing with the local choir, was reluctant to commit to a professional singing career due to a lack of self-confidence. Money was tight and the family of four lived in a small apartment until 1943 when the war began to impact the city. They moved into one room on a farm in the safer surroundings of the countryside.

Luciano had an active childhood and loved playing football, but he also found himself listening to his father’s recordings of tenors of the day. These included one of Luciano’s favourite artists, who would later have a direct influence on his career, the great tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano. Another of Luciano’s influences in those early years was Mario Lanzo, and he used to watch his films at the cinema and then come home to imitate him in front of the mirror. Fernando encouraged Luciano to sing with his choir and at the age of nine years old he made his first public appearance.

The young Luciano faced a difficult choice when he graduated from school. He was interested in following a career in professional football in the key position of goalkeeper, but his mother Adele persuaded him to train as a teacher instead. Following his training Luciano taught for two years but his love of music persisted leading to his decision to spend the next seven years in vocal training.

At nineteen he enrolled with Arrigo Pola a teacher and professional tenor in Modena who agreed to teach him free of charge.To support himself Luciano worked at part-time jobs including as a school teacher and then an insurance salesman. Arrigo discovered that his student had perfect pitch but according to those who worked with this talented tenor; he never learned to read music.

At age 20, Luciano had his first taste of success when the Corale Rossini, the male voice choire he and Fernando were members of, won the first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. This experience cemented his decision to become a professional singer.

Following the departure of his teacher Arrigo Pola for Japan, Luciano became the student of Ettore Campogalliani who was also teacher to a childhood friend, Mirella Freni. She too would go on to achieve fame on the operatic stage and they performed and recorded many times together.

During the next few years apart from studying, Luciano performed in surrounding towns without pay. Then disaster struck when he developed a nodule on his vocal chords; resulting in a very poor performance at a concert and his subsequent decision to give up singing. Thankfully for the world of opera and his legions of fans, the condition did heal and Pavarotti attributed this to the psychological release of stepping away from performances and the stress and intensity of training.

Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography: “Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve”.

Then came a breakthrough in 1961 when he won the Achille Peri Competition and the first prize was the role of Rodolfo in a production of Puccini’s La Bohème to be given in Reggio Emilia on April 28 of that year.

In his debut performance of this famous aria, Che Gelida Manina from La Boheme, the young Pavarotti was quite convincing. He expressed the passion and style that later characterized his career. He sang the lyrics in long, sustained, legato breaths and with impeccable diction. He was at ease and flawless in vocal quality and presence. The “bravos” at the end of the aria were well deserved!!!

His debut was a success but moving forward with his career would require a new approach to obtaining roles and luckily for Luciano a well-known agent, Alesandro Ziliani was in the audience. He offered to represent him and when La Bohème was to be produced in Lucca, Italy, Ziliani told the management that they could only have the services of a well-known singer they wanted if they took Pavarotti in a package deal.

Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as “Rodolfo” and as “Duca di Mantova” in Rigoletto.

The same year saw his first concert outside Italy when he sang in Dundalk, Ireland for the St Cecilia’s Gramophone Society and his Royal Opera House debut where he replaced his teenage idol Giuseppe Di Stefano who was ill as Rodolfo.

During the critical time in his career two established performers took Luciano under their wing. Giuseppe Di Stefano would mentor the young tenor and this included preventing him taking roles before his voice was ready.

In a huge boost to his career Luciano had the opportunity to work with the great Joan Sutherland. Luckily Ms. Sutherland was looking for a young tenor who was taller than herself to take on an extended tour to Australia and found the perfect answer in the physically imposing Pavarotti. The two sang some forty performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing technique that would sustain him over his career. More about this tour in next week’s post.

To end this chapter in Luciano Pavarotti’s early career, is this delightful concert version of the aria “La donna è mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto performed in the film 1983, Pavarotti, as the Duke, sings with real vigor. He shows off the power, intensity and sparkle that made him such a great performer. This aria is in strophic form, which basically means the same music is repeated throughout the piece. His crisp diction, emphatic accentuation, and bright vowels are quite impressive. No wonder this song was the hit of the opera. Cristiano Grimaldi 

Additional material : Wikipedia

Autobiography: Amazon

Buy the music of Luciano Pavarotti:Amazon

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Nina Simone – Finale – Hit Singles

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Nina Simone – Finale – Hit Singles

Today the finale of the Nina Simone story and a celebration of her life and music, particularly the singles that she released.

In her autobiography, Nina Simone writes that her function as an artist is “…to make people feel on a deep level. It’s difficult to describe because it’s not something you can analyse; to get near what it’s about you have to play it. And when you’ve caught it, when you’ve got the audience hooked, you always know because it’s like electricity hanging in the air.”

After travelling the world for nearly over 20 years, Nina Simone settled in Carry-le-Rout in Southern France in 1993. She also released the album Single Woman that year with the title track reflecting her solitary existence after the failure of her two marriages. Here is A Single woman written by Rod McKuen

Although she remained single she was surrounded by her entourage and certainly her enduring friendship and collaboration with both percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al Shackman was life and career sustaining. Nina Simone had never been afraid to voice her opinions about key issues and she certainly understood the pain of being both misunderstood and at times misrepresented in the media.

However, her fans were and still are steadfast and this was down to her magical performance skill in bringing the emotional elements of life through into her lyrics and music that resonated with all of us. She had a hypnotic quality that is best summed up in this performance of I Put a Spell on You. Written in 1956 by Jay Hawkins it was a song with a great pedigree and the original recording was named as one of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Here is Nina with her version recorded and released as a single in 1965 as the title track from her album.

Nina had a keen ear and also business acumen and picked songs to record that had already proven themselves. This was the case with To Love Somebody written by Barry and Robin Gibb and released as their second single from Bee Gees 1^st album in 1967. Having reached No 17 in the charts in the United States and No 41 in the UK, Nina released as a single in 1968 and the song out-performed the Bee Gees reaching No 5 in the UK charts.

There was an element of aloofness in Nina Simone’s performances which earned her the name ‘High Priestess of Soul‘. But on stage she could move seamlessly between gospel, blues, soul, jazz, folk and also pop music always maintaining that classical element that so defined her music. Whatever the style of music there is no doubt that those who were privileged to see Nina Simone live would leave the concert feeling good… Although it was not released as a single until 1994, Nina recorded Feeling Good in 1965 for her album I Put A Spell On You.

The song had been written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint- The Smell of the Crowd which was performed in the UK and on Broadway. The song would be covered many times but few have managed to perform it in quite the same way as Nina Simone.

For those who were not able to see Nina Simone in person the development of CDs and now digital reproduction meant that her work lives on and a new generation of fans is now buying her Music. Over one million of her recordings were sold on CD alone in the last ten years of her life.

Honours and Grammy Nominations

Nina Simone received many honours during her lifetime with fifteen Grammy nominations, two honorary degrees in music and humanities from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Malcolm X College. Ironically, shortly before her death she was also awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute of Music school that rejected her application so many years before. In 2009 she was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and in 2010 a statue was erected in her honour in her home town of Tryon, North Carolina.

Nina had suffered from illness for several years and died in her sleep in 2003 at her home in France. She left behind an incredible legacy of music that more often than not reflected the anguish, passion and the joy of life in the 20^th century. An unforgettable artist, woman and her star will shine on for all time.

For her finale I have selected Angel of the Morning. Written by New York songwriter Chip Taylor from the 1971 album Here Comes The Sun.

We hope that you have enjoyed the life and work of Nina Simone and if you are unfamiliar with her work that you will go out and buy her music so that you can experience yourself the magic of her legacy.

Buy Nina Simone Music: Amazon

Additional sources
Nina Simone Website
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Nina Simone – Part Four – The 1970s

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Nina Simone – Part Four – 1970s

This week part four of the Nina Simone story, and after the Civil Rights Movement in the early 60s the 70s were to prove a challenging time personally but a very productive period in Nina’s career.

In her autobiography, Nina Simone writes that her function as an artist is “…to make people feel on a deep level. It’s difficult to describe because it’s not something you can analyze; to get near what it’s about you have to play it. And when you’ve caught it, when you’ve got the audience hooked, you always know because it’s like electricity hanging in the air.”

As Nina moved into the 1970s she was settled at RCA and producing some outstanding albums and singles. However by 1974 she was ready to move on from the label and the second half of the decade was spent travelling the world.

In Nina’s seven years with RCA she produced nine albums beginning with Nina Simone Sings The Blues and including To Love Somebody, Here Comes The Sun and Emergency Ward. Her third album ‘Nuff Said’ featured the medley combining two songs from the hit Broadway musical Hair, lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni with music my Galt Macdermot. Nina’s version was No 2 in the UK charts and No 1 in the Netherlands and helped Nina reach a new pop fan base. Ain’t Got No – I Got Life,

George Harrison’s Here Comes The Sun, was the title track of Nina’s seventh album which also featured Angel Of The Morning and What Have They Done To My Song, Ma? Here is the title track. Nina Simone 

She recorded her last album for RCA, It Is Finished, during 1974 one of the tracks was the evocative Let It Be Me written by Gilbert Becaud, Mann Curtis and Pierre Delanoe.

After Nina left RCA it would be four years before she recorded her next album in 1978. Nina was persuaded by Jazz musician Creed Taylor to release an album for his CTI label. She recorded it in Belgium with the strings and vocals added in New York. Although Nina herself claimed that she did not like the album, her fans did. The title track written by Randy Newman, Baltimore combined a reggae beat with some of the best musicians in the business including Nina’s long time collaborator and musical director, Al Shackman. Other tracks on the album remained true to Nina’s roots ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates Rich Girl. Here is the title track Baltimore written by Randy Newman. Nina Simone 

Nina Simone had been married briefly in 1958 to Don Ross a fairground barker but following her divorce had married a New York police detective in 1961. Andrew Stroud would take on the role of Nina’s manager in the coming years and he was also responsible for her finances. In 1970 Nina left America for Barbados and apparently assumed that as her manager he would contact her about upcoming performances. Unfortunately Andrew Stroud assumed that as Nina had left her wedding ring behind that she intended to divorce him.

When Nina returned to the US she found that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes. Although it is highly likely that this was down to her lack of control of her own finances it was also thought to be strongly connected to her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 60s. Nina immediately turned around and headed back to Barbados where she lived for some time.

Nina felt increasingly alienated under the Nixon regime and disenchanted with those organisations that she had associated with in the 60s. After leaving RCA she became literally a citizen of the world and stated that she could not live in America again. She spent the latter part of the 70s and early 1980s living in Barbados, Liberia, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland and The Netherlands before finally settling in France.

Next week a look at Nina’s life abroad and some of her memorable live performances in Europe.

Buy Nina Simone Music: Amazon

Additional sources
Nina Simone Website
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Nina Simone – Part Three – 1960s and Civil Rights

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

This week in part three of the Nina Simone story and we look at Nina’s enormous impact on the Civil Rights Movement in the turbulent sixties. Her music crossed many different styles and we begin with Nina Simone’s own words about her music and where she felt she fit into the industry of the day.

Nina Simone – Part Three – 1960s and Civil Rights

“Critics started to talk about what sort of music I was playing,” writes Nina in her 1991 autobiography I Put A Spell On You, “and tried to find a neat slot to file it away in. It was difficult for them because I was playing popular songs in a classical style with a classical piano technique influenced by cocktail jazz. On top of that I included spirituals and children’s song in my performances, and those sorts of songs were automatically identified with the folk movement. So, saying what sort of music I played gave the critics problems because there was something from everything in there, but it also meant I was appreciated across the board – by jazz, folk, pop and blues fans as well as admirers of classical music.”

Nina had moved to Phillips which was a division of Mercury Records and this would propel her firmly into the global music scene. In 1964 her first release with Phillips, Nina Simone In Concert was a platform for her belief in equality and confirmed her position as a pioneer and champion of freedom. One of the tracks, Mississippi Goddam was released and a single and banned in several states in the south which indicates the impact she had as a performer. The song was her response to the murder of Medgar Evans and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children. The ban was allegedly because of the use of the word Goddam!

Her other protest songs that would become synonymous with the Civil Rights movement were Four Women and one of her most popular To Be Young, Gifted and Black. Here is a fascinating interview with Nina at the time talking about the inspiration behind the song and a live performance of the track.

Although Nina used her music to demonstrate her solidarity for Civil Rights and her belief in freedom and justice for everyone, she initially had misgivings about performing songs that were linked to the movement and this is how Nina described her feelings on the subject in her autobiography I Put A Spell On You.

“Nightclubs were dirty, making records was dirty, popular music was dirty and to mix all that with politics seemed senseless and demeaning. And until songs like ‘Mississippi Goddam’ just burst out of me, I had musical problems as well. How can you take the memory of a man like Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers and reduce all that he was to three and a half minutes and a simple tune? That was the musical side of it I shied away from; I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”

Nina was part of an influential group of African American playwrights, poets and musicians who were living in Harlem and included Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes. These and others influenced and inspired Nina’s own creativity. Including tracks such as Backlash Blues by Langston Hughes, on her first album with the RCA Victor label in 1967, Nina Simone Sings The Blues. The song’s lyrics originated from the last poem Langston Hughes submitted for publication prior to his death in May, 1967 and gave to Nina.

Nina would perform and speak at many civil rights meetings including at the Selma to Montgomery marches. She unlike Martin Luther King was not opposed to a more violent approach to achieving the goals of the movement, although she did stress in her autobiography that she regarded all races as equal. It was clear however that she deeply admired Martin Luther King and was deeply affected by his murder in 1968.

Her next album in 1968, Nuff Said contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7, 1968, three days after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr… She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang “Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)”, a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor, directly after the news of King’s death had reached them.

It was clear that there were many facets to Nina Simone the woman as well as the musician and one of the songs that probably illustrates this the most is “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

Next time the late 60s and more performances from Nina’s seven years with RCA and her work on the musical Hair and collaboration with other musicians.

Buy Nina Simone Music: Amazon

Additional sources
Nina Simone Website
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Nina Simone – Part Two – The 1960s

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Nina Simone – Part Two – The 1960s

Last week in the first part of the Nina Simone story, we left the story at the point when Nina’s debut album Little Girl Blue in 1958, was gaining her a much wider audience and she had moved on from Bethlehem Records to sign a contract with Colpix which was a division of Columbia Pictures.

With more experience of the record industry under her belt, Nina’s contract with Colpix included the important clause which clearly handed all the creative control over to her as an artist. This included all the material that she recorded. Her first album for Colpix was the 1959 release of The Amazing Nina Simone and here is one of the tracks from the album It Might As Well Be Spring.

The song was from the 1945 film State Fair with music by Richard Rogers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year.Classic Mood Experience  

This album led to opportunities to perform in upscale venues including her first major New York show in theTown Hall in Manhattan. The evening was a resounding success and critics and audience alike were captivated not just by her incredible musicality but also her unique and spontaneous performance style. One of the songs that she performed that night was You Can Have Him by Irving Berlin, which had previously been covered by both Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. It was such a stunning version that Colpix released the track as a single. Note the opening keyboard arpeggio that would become Nina’s signature throughout her career.

In 1960 Nina would achieve her second Pop and R&B chart success with her version of the original Bessie Smith classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out.” The blues song was written in 1923 by Jimmy Cox and the lyrics told the story from the point of view of a one-time millionaire during prohibition.

Nina’s increasing chart success and rising popularity resulted in an invitation to perform at the prestigious Newport Festival.

The festival had been established in 1954 as the First Annual American Jazz Festival and was held at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. It was financed by socialites Lorraine and Louis Lorillard for many years and it became one of the key venues for the top performers of the day. Following the success of the festival in the first year with over 13,000 attendees, the Lorillard’s bought a large estate called Belcourt in the hopes of holding the larger event in 1955 but planning permission was not granted. The festival did go ahead at Freebody Park which was a sports arena and workshops and receptions being held at Belcourt.

Not all the residents of Newport were in favour of the event. Jazz was not as popular amongst the wealthy residential community and they felt that the festival attracted an undesirable element. Mainly low income students and music fans without money for the high-end hotels who were sleeping rough across their exclusive environment. And of course many of the musicians and their fans were African American which in the 50s was a factor as it was across most of the country. The influx of thousands of people also caused logistic problems such as traffic congestion which only increased each year until 1960. Things got out of hand amongst the festival goers that year and the National Guard was called in to restore order. After that the festival underwent a number of changes to format before relocating to New York in the 70s.

However 1960 was the year that Nina Simone was invited to perform which she did on June 30^th. She was accompanied by her long term musical collaborator Al Shackman on guitar, bassist Chris White and drummer Bobby Hamilton. Colpix recorded their performance and in 1961 released the popular blues track Trouble in Mind which gave Nina her third chart success.

Trouble in Mind is a blues song written by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones in the early 1920s and the first known recording of the song was in 1924. It has been covered many times by artists such as Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke and of course this version by Nina Simone.

Over the five years with Colpix Nina recorded nine albums and she had several tracks that were pivotal to her career including Cotton Eyed Joe and the lyrical and descriptive Norwegian folk song Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair. Nina also recorded one civil rights song, written by Oscar Brown jnr, Brown Baby which was a track on her fifth album for Colpix, At The Village Gate.

Next time we catch up with Nina Simone as she moves on from Colpix Records. 

Buy Nina Simone Music: Amazon

Additional sources
Nina Simone Website
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

As always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Roberta Flack – 70s and 80s Collaborations

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Roberta Flack – The 70s, 80s and collaborations.

Following on from her success with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in 1973 Roberta Flack also celebrated that year with her second No 1 hit with Killing Me Softly With His Song.

The song, originally performed by Lori Liebermann in 1972 was written by Charles Fox, a composer who worked mainly in television and film. The lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel a veteran in the music industry whose English lyrics to the Brazilian hit The Girl From Ipanema made the song a global success.

Roberta’s version of Killing Me Softly was awarded Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female artist at the 1974 Grammy Awards and her album that featured it was her biggest selling record earning Double Platinum Certification in the same year.

That year Huckleberry Finn the film was released and Roberta Flack sang the lead on the opening and closing track Freedom written by brothers Robert and Richard Sherman.

1975 saw the release of the album Feel Like Makin’ Love which Roberta Flack produced despite the misgivings of Atlantic Records. Collaborating with musicians including Bob James and Patti Austen she brought an edgier jazz element to the tracks. It would become her third No 1 album. Here is Roberta performing Feel Like Makin’ Love from a later live album Roberta Flack in Concert. The song was written by singer/songwriter Gene McDaniels

During the 80s and following the sad loss of Donny Hathaway in 1979 Roberta Flack would perform with two other artists and their collaboration would help her stay in the charts throughout the decade.

Peabo Bryson (Robert Peapo Bryson) is an R&B and Soul singer-songwriter who is known for his ballads particularly performed with female singers such as Roberta Flack. He has contributed to several Disney animated feature soundtracks and his solo hits include If Ever You’re In My Arms which was a Top 10 pop single in 1984 and Can You Stop The Rain in 1985. He went on to win a Grammy in 1992 for his performance of the song Beauty And The Beast with Celine Dion and again in 1993 for A Whole New World from Aladdin.

In 1983 he recorded the album Born to Love with Roberta Flack that featured Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You. RHINO 

Another successful collaboration was with Maxi Priest the British reggae vocalist. He is recognised as one of the most successful Reggae Fusion artists combining his musical roots with an R&B influence. His first major release was Maxi Priest in 1988 and his cover of Cat Steven’s Wild World helped establish his success. His duet with Roberta Flack Set the Night To Music reached the American Top Ten in 1991. The song written by Diane Warren, was originally recorded by the American group Starship on their 1987 Album No Protection. The song was the title track for Roberta Flack’s 1991 album released by Atlantic.

In 1988 Roberta released her album Oasis which featured And So It Goes which was co-written by poet Maya Angelou. Maya had enjoyed a brief musical career in the 50s and had released an album of calypso music in 1957. She then spent the next 30 years focusing on her successful writing career. In a tribute to Maya Angelou after she died in 2014 Roberta Flack said this about her close friend in a statement to TIME.

“Thank you for your wisdom, for your unfailing strength, your courage and your honesty which have moved people around this world to a better place. We all have been inspired by you to not give up when we otherwise might have.”

And So It Goes was composed by Barry Miles with Maya Angelou and Roberta Flack.Roberta Flack 

Next week in the final part of this series we will bring you bang up to date with some of Roberta’s more recent live performances. You will find her tour dates in the link below and if you are lucky enough to live close by I hope you will book your tickets to this amazing artist’s shows.

Please join us next time for the last part in the Roberta Flack story with her more current work.

Buy Roberta Flack’s music : Amazon

Additional Sources
Roberta Flack

Photographs
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

Thank you for dropping and as always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Smorgasbord Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Roberta Flack – 1970s and 1980s

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Roberta Flack – The 1970s and 1980s.

Roberta Flack was hugely talented and this did not go unnoticed by some of the best artists of the time. Whilst Roberta was performing at Mr. Henry’s restaurant she was discovered by Leslie Coleman McCann, known in the business as ‘Les’ McCann. Les was born in Kentucky and was a successful American soul jazz pianist and vocalist who later moved into R&B and soul. His big break had come when he won a Navy talent singing contest which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and his career took off in the early 60s.

He was very impressed with the young singer and introduced her to Atlantic Records and they too were very aware that they had a star in the making. They recorded her debut album First Take in November 1968 releasing it in 1969.

Compared to What was a political anthem about the Vietnam War written by Eugene ‘Gene’ McDaniels a singer/songwriter and Roberta Flack released it as the opening track on First Take. It would go on to be covered by over 250 artists including Ray Charles.

Les McCann also covered the song on his album Swiss Movement recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival and both the album and his version of the song when released as a single, were huge Billboard pop chart successes.

‘Gene’ McDaniels would go on to write another of Roberta’s hits Feel Like Making Love. The song was released before her album of the same name and was one of the biggest musical hits of 1974 and of Roberta Flack’s recording career. No. 1 on the Billboard hot 100 singles chart, five weeks No. 1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and two weeks as No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in Canada and the US. It received three Grammy nominations, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

Between 1969 and 1972 Roberta released three albums Chapter Two, Quiet Fire and an album of duets Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. This album became a smash hit and the tracks received a lot of radio plays including Where is the Love and You’ve Got A friend. Other tracks that went on to become classics in their own right were For All We Know and I (Who Have Nothing). This song was originally released by Ben E. King 1963 and reached No 29 on the Billboard charts. It would go on to be covered by many artists in different languages but this version by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway is one of the best. Donny Hathaway 

Record sales for Roberta’s albums with Atlantic Records gained a huge boost when Clint Eastwood chose the track from Roberta’s first album, First Take, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for the soundtrack of his film Play Misty For Me. The song stayed in the charts at No. 1 for six weeks and earned Roberta Flack a million-selling Gold Disc. It also boosted the sales of First Take which went on to sell nearly two million copies.

The song was awarded Grammy for Record of The Year in 1973 and Clint Eastwood also asked Roberta to record the end music for the Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact in 1983. The song This Side of Forever was composed by Lalo Schifrin with lyrics by Dewayne Blackwell.

Next time a look at the successful collaborations during the 70s and 80s between Roberta Flack and other top artists.

Buy Roberta Flack’s music : Amazon

Additional Sources
Roberta Flack

Photographs
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

Thank you for dropping and as always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.

 

Smorgasbord Music Column 2022 – William Price King meets the Music Legends – Roberta Flack – The Early Years

It is eight years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. It is six years since we have featured some of the music legends and delighted to showcase them again in 2022.

Roberta Flack – The Early Years.

Roberta Flack is a musician and singer best known for her gentle arrangements and performances of Gospel, Soul, Jazz, Pop, R&B and folk music. Some of her most well-known hits include The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Killing Me Softly With His Song and Feel Like Making Love.

Here is one of the most haunting arrangements of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. The folk song was written by Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger in 1957. When they eventually married they would perform the song in folk clubs around Britain and whilst covered by various singers, it would not become a major international hit until recorded by Roberta Flack in 1972. It won Grammy awards for both Record and Song of the Year and it was ranked number one song of the year in 1972

Over her long career Roberta Flack has influenced and opened doors for many other female singers who were empowered by her spirit and talented dedication to outstanding music. She is a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition which advocates the right of artists to control their creative properties and Roberta also founded The Roberta Flack School of Music in the Bronx in New York City. In partnership with the Hyde Leadership Chart School. The programme provides free music education to underprivileged students.

The Early Years.

Roberta was born in 1937 in Black Mountain, North Carolina to Laron and Irene Flack. Her mother was a church organist and Roberta and her family moved to Arlington, Virginia where she was brought up. She was introduced to outstanding musicians such as Sam Cooke through the family Baptist church. And she was influenced by one of the great Gospel singers of the day, Mahalia Jackson. Here is Mahalia’s powerful version of Amazing Grace.

By age nine Roberta began learning to play the piano. It was clear as she entered her teens that she was a very talented classical pianist and she was accepted into Howard University on a full music scholarship. At only 15 she was one of the youngest ever to enrol and it was here that she became interested in using her voice as another instrument. She changed her major from piano and eventually became the assistant conductor with the university choir. Whilst at Howard, Roberta met Donny Hathaway who would become her singing partner on hits such as Where Is The Love.

The song was written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter and recorded by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway in 1972. It reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and a week each at number one on the Easy Listening and R&B charts. It also won best Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with vocal.

Unfortunately, after graduating and continuing her studies in music, her father Laron died and to help support the family, Roberta took a job teaching music and English in North Carolina. She also taught private music lessons at her home but in the evenings and weekends her own music career began to take off in the Washington D.C hot spots.

At first she employed her wonderful musicality as a pianist and would accompany other singers including an opera singer at The Tivoli Club. During the breaks she would entertain in a back room playing piano, singing blues and folk songs with some of the pop standards of the day. These short performances developed into her own gigs several nights a week at the 1520 Club.

Roberta was still taking voice lessons and her teacher, Frederick Wilkerson told her he thought her future lay in pop music rather than in the classics. She took his advice and changed the content of her performances. Her reputation began to spread and in 1968 her professional career took off with a regular engagement at Mr. Henry’s Restaurant, in Georgetown.

Eventually Roberta was performing three or four shows a day to a very appreciative audience and that audience included some famous and influential artists of the time including Burt Bacharach and Johnny Mathis.

To close this first part of the Roberta Flack here is Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye from the 1969 album First Take released in 1969. The song had been written by Canadian Leonard Cohen and released originally in 1967

Next week we follow the meteoric rise in Roberta Flack’s career in the 70s and 80s.

Buy Roberta Flack’s music : Amazon

Additional Sources
Roberta Flack

Photographs
Wikipedia

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

 

Thank you for dropping and as always William would love to receive your feedback… thanks Sally.