Speedy West

Wesley Webb West (January 25, 1924 – November 15, 2003), better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others. He also played on Loretta Lynn's first single.

Born Wesley Webb West January 25, 1924 in Springfield, Missouri to parents, Finley G. and Sue Arthur West. Finley was a Linotype operator at a gospel publishing company, and in his spare time, played guitar and sang gospel songs.

At age nine, Wesley became interested in music because of his friends and neighbors, the Cline's boys, three brothers. One played steel guitar, another banjo and the other played guitar. The boys' parents suggested to Wesley's father, that he should buy him an inexpensive $12 Hawaiian guitar. Wesley spent all the time he could learning to play the instrument with the help of the Cline's as well as his father.

Wesley's interest in music continued to grow and he yearned for a more expensive instrument, namely, a National steel-bodied resonator model costing $125, which the West family could not afford. In order to give Wesley what he so desperately wanted, his father sold his own guitar in order to buy the National. In the 9th grade he won a prize in a school amateur contest. During a jam session sponsored by KWTO-AM, Slim Wilson introduced young Wesley as Speedy West and the name stuck.

Capitol Records and Jimmy Bryant

In 1948, West was working at Murphy's Club, located in the skidrow area of Los Angeles, when he first met Jimmy Bryant. Bryant was working down the street from Murphy's, at the Fargo Club. One night Bryant came to see West play and said to him: "I really like your playing -- why don't you come down to the Fargo Club and dig me". West was so impressed by Bryant's talent that he said, "he couldn't believe what he was hearing". That was the beginning of their long professional and personal relationship.

After 1956, Bryant was dropped by Capitol Records, so West cut a solo LP in 1958 called West of Hawaiï, and then teamed up with guitarist, Roy Lanham. Roy, along with Billy Strange, Billy Liebert and drummer Earl Palmer, played on West's last Capitol album in 1962, Guitar Spectacular, including the tracks "Double or Nothing", "Afternoon of a Swan" and "Reflections from the Moon". Strange and Lanham alternated on lead guitar.
Capitol Records and Jimmy Bryant

In 1948, West was working at Murphy's Club, located in the skidrow area of Los Angeles, when he first met Jimmy Bryant. Bryant was working down the street from Murphy's, at the Fargo Club. One night Bryant came to see West play and said to him: "I really like your playing -- why don't you come down to the Fargo Club and dig me". West was so impressed by Bryant's talent that he said, "he couldn't believe what he was hearing". That was the beginning of their long professional and personal relationship.

After 1956, Bryant was dropped by Capitol Records, so West cut a solo LP in 1958 called West of Hawaiï, and then teamed up with guitarist, Roy Lanham. Roy, along with Billy Strange, Billy Liebert and drummer Earl Palmer, played on West's last Capitol album in 1962, Guitar Spectacular, including the tracks "Double or Nothing", "Afternoon of a Swan" and "Reflections from the Moon". Strange and Lanham alternated on lead guitar.

On November 15, 2003, at the age of 79, West died in his home in Tulsa due to long term health complications. He was preceded in death by his eldest son Don, and was survived by his wife Mary; son Gary who is also a musician and goes by the name Speedy West Jr.; his daughters Tauni and DeAnn; several grandchildren; and ex-wife Opal Mae.

The great hits of Speedy West : Afternoon of a swan, West of Samoa, Yodeling Guitar

Speedy West Jr. die - in may of 2011

The showroom staff wouldn't let him in to see the band because of the holes in his jeans.

The Tulsa guitarist, who had traveled to Oklahoma City after hearing that keyboardist Steve Hardin was looking for a Tulsa guitar player for his band, could see and hear, however, from where he was standing - the band already had a guitarist.

West almost turned around and walked out.
But he didn't, and when the band came out for a break, he introduced himself, told them who he had played with in Tulsa and who his father was.
"They fired their guitarist that night, and I got the best job in town," West told the Tulsa World years later.
West, better known by his stage name, Speedy West Jr., was on his way to establishing himself on a much wider stage.

The son of late steel-guitar legend and Broken Arrow resident Speedy West, Gary West, who graduated from Webster High School, died Wednesday in Oklahoma City of complications from lung cancer. He was 58.
A memorial service is set for 3 p.m. May 11 at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City under the direction of Buchanan Funeral Service of Oklahoma City.

In the early 1990s, West, who grew up in Tulsa, started his own band, the Speedy West Jr. Band, and played local venues frequently.

His father, Speedy West, had been associated with a uniquely identifiable country sound, but Gary West went his own way musically, building a legacy grounded in rock and power blues.

Born in Hollywood, Calif., during his father's prolific days as a Capitol Records musician, West was 5 when he got his first guitar - a gift from legendary guitar innovator Leo Fender, a close friend of his father's.

Weary of the showroom circuit, Speedy West later moved to the Tulsa area and became the manager of a Fender guitar warehouse.

Gary West learned the guitar and played with various Tulsa groups, including the Sweat Band, before moving on.

After his introduction to Oklahoma City through Hardin, he later caught on with Maya, one of the city's top show bands.

He played lead guitar with Maya from 1976 to 1992, when he left to start his own band. Later he played with Wild Oats and, more recently, with the house band at Friends Restaurant and Club in Oklahoma City.

Although they differed in styles, Gary West, who also sang vocals, and his father had great respect for one another.

The elder West once offered his assessment of his son's skills:

"He's a real good player. He plays so clean," he told the Tulsa World. "He plays too damn loud, like the rest of 'em, but he sure plays clean."

The incredible Esquivel

Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002) often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. Esquivel is sometimes called "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkley of Cocktail Music." Esquivel is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known (in retrospect) as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".

He was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, and his family moved to Mexico City in 1928 where he studied at the UNAM.

A very rare compilation with Combustible Edison & Esquivel - Miniskirt, Politecnico Rock & Roll, Aurora (Se você fosse sincera) and Universidad Rock & Roll.

Discography

(12" LP releases, US and Mexico)

Las Tandas de Juan Garcia Esquivel (1957, RCA Victor Mexico)
To Love Again (1957, RCA Victor)
Cabaret Tragico (April 1958, RCA Victor Mexico)
Other Worlds Other Sounds (October 1958, RCA Victor)
Four Corners of the World (December 1958, RCA Victor)
Exploring New Sounds in Hi-Fi/Stereo (May 1959, RCA Victor)
The Ames Brothers: Hello Amigos (1959, RCA Victor)
Strings Aflame (August 1959, RCA Victor)
The Merriest of Christmas Pops (1959, RCA Victor)
Infinity in Sound, Vol. 1 (August 1960, RCA Victor)
Infinity in Sound, Vol. 2 (April 1961, RCA Victor)
Latin-Esque (1962, RCA Victor)
More of Other Worlds Other Sounds (1962, Reprise Records)
The Living Strings: In a Mellow Mood (1962, RCA Camden)
The Genius of Esquivel (1967, RCA Victor)
1968 Esquivel!! (1968, RCA Mexico)
Burbujas (1979)
Odisea Burbujas (1980)
Vamos al Circo (1981)

Jerry Leiber die - author of 50's hits

From left, Mike Stoller, Elvis Presley and Jerry Leiber at MGM Studios in 1957.

Jerry Leiber, the lyricist who, with his partner, Mike Stoller, wrote some of the most enduring classics in the history of rock ’n’ roll, including “Hound Dog,” “Yakety Yak,” “Stand By Me” and “On Broadway,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 78.

The cause was cardio-pulmonary failure, said Randy Poe, president of Leiber & Stoller Music Publishing.

The team of Leiber and Stoller was formed in 1950, when Mr. Leiber was still a student at Fairfax High in Los Angeles and Mr. Stoller, a fellow rhythm-and-blues fanatic, was a freshman at Los Angeles City College. With Mr. Leiber contributing catchy, street-savvy lyrics and Mr. Stoller, a pianist, composing infectious, bluesy tunes, they set about writing songs with black singers and groups in mind.

In 1952, they wrote “Hound Dog” for the blues singer Big Mama Thornton. The song became an enormous hit for Elvis Presley in 1956 and made Leiber and Stoller the hottest songwriting team in rock ’n’ roll. They later wrote “Jailhouse Rock,” “Loving You,” “Don’t,” “Treat Me Nice,” “King Creole” and other songs for Presley, despite their loathing for his interpretation of “Hound Dog.”

In the late 1950s, having relocated to New York and taken their place among the constellation of talents associated with the Brill Building, they emerged as perhaps the most potent songwriting team in the genre.

Their hits for the Drifters remain some of the most admired songs in the rock ’n’ roll canon, notably “On Broadway,” written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and “Stand By Me” with Ben E. King. With Phil Spector, Mr. Leiber wrote the Drifters hit “Spanish Harlem.”

They wrote a series of hits for the Coasters, including “Charlie Brown,” “Young Blood” with Doc Pomus, “Searchin’,” “Poison Ivy” and “Yakety Yak.”

Werner Muller and his great sucess

He contributed numerous albums to London's Phase Four label, the longest-running of the Space Age Bachelor Pad series. But thanks to London's standard approach to liner notes, although we know exactly what channelization was used and what other Phase Four records were available, we are left knowing nothing of Werner Müller.

Fortunately, we don't have to depend on London for details. European light music fans came to know Müller from his many years as director of two of the leading popular radio orchestras in Germany. From 1948 to 1967, he led the Tanzorchester for the powerful station RIAS in Berlin. Bear Family collected a number of RIAS Tanzorchester recordings from the 1950s on Blende Auf. While with RIAS, he became associated with the singer Caterina Valente, whose cover of "Malaguena" was an international success. In an odd flip-flop, several collections of French, Italian, and other national tunes Müller recorded for Decca were released in Europe under the name of "Ricardo Santos," but in the U.S. under Müller's own name, as part of a series of "Musical Holiday" albums tied-in with the travel magazine, Holiday.

In 1967, Müller moved to Cologne to take over the Tanzorchester of radio station WDR, which had an even larger audience. Müller ensured his tenure with a versatile and perfectionist approach to his material, and as a result, his recorded material can be bold or boring, based on what the contract called for. On Hawaiian Swing, for example, he plays with right-left separation and tosses in an enjoyable assortment of percussion effects to liven up the usual selection of Hawaiian standards. On Percussion in the Sky, he uses wordless vocals, sound effects, whistling, and other touches to lend an other-worldly feeling to numbers like "The Theme from The High and the Might." In contrast, on albums like Werner Müller Plays Leroy Anderson or Great Strauss Waltzes, there's not much to write home about.

"Bodybuilder," from one of Müller's later albums, The Strip Goes On, was sampled as the basis for the song "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out" by Bentley Rhythm Ace, a big club hit in the U.K. in 1997.

Werner Muller and his great sucess

Pensylvannia 6-5000

Moonlight Serenade

Alex Steinweiss, Originator of Artistic Album Covers, Dies at 94

By STEVEN HELLER

His death was confirmed by his son, Leslie.

The record cover was a blank slate in 1939, when Mr. Steinweiss was hired to design advertisements for Columbia Records. Most albums were unadorned, and on those occasions when art was used, it was not original. (Albums then were booklike packages containing multiple 78 r.p.m. discs.)

“The way records were sold was ridiculous,” Mr. Steinweiss said in a 1990 interview. “The covers were brown, tan or green paper. They were not attractive, and lacked sales appeal.” Despite concern about the added costs, he was given the approval to come up with original cover designs.

His first cover, for a collection of Rodgers and Hart songs performed by an orchestra, showed a high-contrast photo of a theater marquee with the title in lights. The new packaging concept was a success: Newsweek reported that sales of Bruno Walter’s recording of Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony increased ninefold when the album cover was illustrated.

“It was such a simple idea, really, that an image would become attached to a piece of music,” said Paula Scher, who designed record covers for Columbia in the 1970s and is now a partner in the design company Pentagram. “When you look at your music collection today on your iPod, you are looking at Alex Steinweiss’s big idea.”

Mr. Steinweiss preferred metaphor to literalism, and his covers often used collages of musical and cultural symbols. For a Bartok piano concerto, he rejected a portrait of Bartok, using instead the hammers, keys and strings of a piano placed against a stylized backdrop. For a recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” he used an illustration of a piano on a dark blue field illuminated only by an abstract street lamp, with a stylized silhouetted skyline in the background.

Alex Steinweiss was born March 24, 1917, in Brooklyn. His father, a women’s shoe designer from Warsaw, and his mother, a seamstress from Riga, Latvia, emigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan and eventually settled in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.

On the strength of his high school portfolio, Mr. Steinweiss earned a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design. After graduation he worked for three years for the Austrian poster designer Joseph Binder, whose flat color and simplified human figures were popular at the time and influenced his own work.

During World War II Mr. Steinweiss became Columbia’s advertising manager. He left for a job at the Navy’s Training and Development Center in New York City, where he produced teaching materials and cautionary posters.

After the war, Mr. Steinweiss freelanced for Columbia. During one lunch meeting there, the company’s president, Ted Wallerstein, introduced him to an innovation that the company was about to unveil: the long-playing record. But there was a problem. The heavy, folded kraft paper used to protect 78 r.p.m. records left marks on the vinyl microgroove when 33 1/3 r.p.m. LPs were stacked.

Mr. Steinweiss was asked to develop a jacket for the new format and, with help from his brother-in-law, found a manufacturer willing to invest about $250,000 in equipment. Mr. Steinweiss had the original patent for what became the industry packaging standard (he did not develop the inner sleeve, only the outer package), but under his contract with Columbia he had to waive all rights to any inventions made while working there.

Mr. Steinweiss left the music business at 55, when he realized his design ideas were out of step with the rock era. He turned to his own art, making ceramic bowls and pots and later paintings, often with a musical theme. In 1974 he and his wife moved to Sarasota.

Mr. Steinweiss’s wife of 71 years, Blanche, died in 2010. In addition to his son, of Brooklyn, he is survived by a daughter, Hazel Steinweiss of Sarasota; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.


Mr. Steinweiss said he was destined to be a commercial artist. In high school he marveled at his classmates who “could take a brush, dip it in some paint and make letters,” he recalled. “So I said to myself, if some day I could become a good sign painter, that would be terrific!”

Arthur Lyman - Lyman on Broadway (1959)

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Brasília em capa de LP norte-americano

Obra de Oscar Niemeyer, na capital do Brasil, Brasília, destacada na capa de LP dos anos 60 editado nos anos de 1960. Se alguém o tiver, me avise.

To listen Jean Jacques Perrey

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To Listen Vincent Bell

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