Harmony

(This live tribute is based on the musicians who are depicted on the wonderful wall mural at HY61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves, MO.)



PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
 
Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of traditional jazz musicians from New Orleans playing there and on tours as organized by Preservation Hall. The participants in the groups have varied during the years since the founding of the hall in the early 1960s

• Bill Bailey: published in 1902, words and music were written by Hughie Cannon, 1877 – 1912,  an American songwriter and pianist.

• When the saints: in the 1930s, Louis Armstrong helped make The Saints into a jazz standard.


LOUIS ARMSTRONG

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers.

• Wonderful World:  A song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968.


FATS DOMINO

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. His 1956 up tempo version of the 1940 Bobby Cerdeira, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit.

• Blueberry Hill:  sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others.


CLIFTON CHENIER
 
Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 - December 12, 1987) a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Louisiana Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983. He also was recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship, and in 1989 was inducted posthumously into the Blues Hall of Fame. With the Zydeco Ramblers, Chenier toured extensively. They signed with Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois in the fifties.

• AY, AI, AI


• Louisiana: Harmony original by Jim Ford dedicated to the strong and wonderful people of Louisiana   http://stlharmony.com/original_lyrics/admin/




ROBERT JOHNSON
 
Robert Leroy Johnson   (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician, among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians.
Clapton has called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived".  Johnson has been called "the Grandfather of Rock and Roll", and in 1986 he was among the first musicians to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's.  He was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

• Crossroads: The legend of Johnson selling his soul to learn to play guitar is said to have taken place in Rosedale, Mississippi, at the intersection of Highway 8 and Highway 1.  Another, less common, belief is that the crossroad is at the intersection of Highway 49 and Highway 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

• Come into my Kitchen: Johnson recorded the song on Monday, November 23rd, 1936 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas - his first recording session. The melody is based on a hit record by the string band the Mississippi Sheiks, "Sitting on Top of the World", (1930).


MUDDY WATERS
 
McKinley Morganfield  (April 4, 1913 - April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". A major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, Waters was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 1947 he began recording for Aristocrat, a newly-formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their label name to Chess Records and Waters' signature tune, "Rollin' Stone", became a smash hit.

• Got my mojo working: a 1956 song written by Preston Foster and popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957. Sex appeal or talent

• Hoochie Coochie Man: 1954 song written by Willie Dixon and first performed by Muddy Waters. The Hoochie coochie was a sexually provocative dance that became wildly popular during and after the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.



JOHNNY CASH:
 
Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932–September 12, 2003), born J. R. Cash, was an American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.  Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll (especially early in his career), as well as blues, folk and gospel.

• Ring of Fire (by June Carter)

• Folsom Prison Blues: A source for the song was Gordon Jenkins's (born in Webster Groves, Missouri) 1953 Seven Dreams concept album, specifically the song "Crescent City Blues". Cash used the same melody, and borrowed many of the lyrics without crediting or getting permission from Jenkins when he recorded the song, now entitled with his trio in 1955 for the Sun Records label. Jenkins later filed an infringement lawsuit and received a settlement after Cash's 1968 live recording achieved widespread success.



ROY ORBISON
 
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter and musician, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison was initiated into the second class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Rolling Stone listed Orbison as No. 37 in their list of The Greatest Artists of All Time.

• Pretty Women: The title was inspired by Orbison's wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out; when Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected "A pretty woman never needs any money."


ELVIS

Elvis Aaron Presley  (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King.

• That's All Right:  is the name of the first single released by Elvis Presley, written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup (1946) as "That's All Right, Mama". Elvis' version was recorded in July 1954, and released on 19 July 1954 with "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as the B-side. The Beatles used to cover this song during their BBC Sessions.

• I can’t help falling:  by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, is a pop song based on "Plaisir d'amour" (literally "The joys of love" is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Jean Paul Egide Martini.) It was rewritten for the 1961 film Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis Presley.

• Blue suede shoes: a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. The 12-bar blues is considered one of the first rockabilly (rock and roll) records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time. This single reached #20 (in 1966), whereas the Perkins version had topped the chart.



AL GREEN

Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946) better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer who was popular in the 1970s, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• Take me to the river: Al Green Explores Your Mind (1974) is the eighth album by soul singer Al Green. In 2004, the song "Take Me to the River" was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.


BB KING

Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing. Critical acclaim and widespread popularity have cemented his reputation as possibly the most respected, successful, and most recognized bluesman, not just in the United States, but in the world. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at #3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time".

• The Thrill is Gone: a blues song written by Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins in 1951 and popularized by B. B. King in 1970. King's version of the song was also placed at number 183 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs ever.




IKE AND TINA

Ike Turner's first taste of musical stardom occurred in 1951 when his band, The Kings of Rhythm, recorded the blues single, "Rocket 88", later debated as the first rock and roll record ever issued.
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo played among its repertoire, rock & roll, soul, blues and funk. They are known for their wild and entertaining dance shows and especially for their scintillating cover of "Proud Mary", for which they won a Grammy Award. The duo were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

• Proud Mary: by John Fogerty written on a steamboat called the Mary Elizabeth.


FONTELLA BASS

Fontella Bass (born July 3, 1940, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me", which she also co-wrote.

• Rescue Me: placing at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.


CHUCK BERRY

Charles Edward "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. John Lennon said: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.” Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berry #5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, being the 3rd individual singer behind Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley.  He was also ranked 6th on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists of All Time.
 
• Rock and Roll Music: is a song written and originally recorded by Chuck Berry which became a hit single in 1957, reaching 8 in the U.S. chart, and was later covered by many artists, notably The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

• Johnny B Good: The opening guitar riff on "Johnny B. Goode" may be the most famous single riff in rock and roll history. It is essentially a note-for-note copy of the opening single-note solo on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman" (1946), played by guitarist Carl Hogan.  Although partly autobiographical, some of the inspiration for the song is said to have been Johnnie Johnson, Berry's piano player and a contributor to the Berry sound. Johnson had been drinking too much, and Chuck thought, "Johnnie be good." As a possible source for the last name, it has been noted that Berry was born on Goode Avenue in St. Louis.