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Taj Mahal (album)
''Taj Mahal'' is the debut album by American blues guitarist and vocalist Taj Mahal. Recorded in 1967 with backing musicians that included guitarists Jesse Ed Davis and Ry Cooder (credited as "Ryland P. Cooder"), it was released by Columbia Records in 1968. The album contains mostly updated versions of early blues songs by Sleepy John Estes, Robert Johnson, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Also included is Taj Mahal's blues rock adaptation of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues", which inspired the popular Allman Brothers Band recording. The Victorian house featured on the cover, known as The Salt Box, was once located on Bunker Hill Avenue in Los Angeles' famous Bunker Hill neighborhood. Designated a city landmark in 1962, it was one of only two homes that were saved and relocated, only for both be destroyed by an arson-caused fire in 1969 while awaiting restoration at the future site of the Heritage Square Museum. Bunker Hill Avenue no longer exists and the entire 2-block area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. (born May 17, 1942), better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments,Evans, et al., xii. often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.Komara, 951. Early life Mahal was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York City. Growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, he was raised in a musical environment: his mother was a member of a local gospel choir and his father, Henry Saint Claire Fredericks Sr., was an Afro-Caribbean jazz arranger and piano player. His family owned a shortwave radio which received music broadcasts from around the world, exposing him at an early age to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Salt Box
The Salt Box was a house built in the early 1880s in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles, California. Designed in the saltbox style that was popularized in New England, it was originally located at 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue (231 South Bunker Hill prior to a renumbering in the early 1890s). It was the home of physician Dr. A.G. Cook for most of the 1880s. In the late 19th century, Bunker Hill was one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Los Angeles and was the site of many elegant Victorian homes. The ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote of old Bunker Hill: "Nowhere else in Los Angeles was the architecture so ornate. The mansions were wooden-frame Victorian with Gothic gingerbread touches applied with a heavy hand to simulate masonry." Though not as elegant as many of its Victorian neighbors, the Salt Box was "cherished by architecture students for the simplicity of its design." In the 1950s, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency adopted a redevelopment plan for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slide Guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position (flat against the body) with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle. The term bottleneck was historically used to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked (not strummed) while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar (lap steel guitar). Creating music with a slide of some type has been traced back to African stringed instruments and also to the origin of the steel guitar in Hawaii. Near the beginning of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Johnson (musician)
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. Although his recording career spanned only seven months, he is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style, and is also one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as being "the first ever rock star". As a traveling performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson had little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime. He participated in only two recording sessions, one in San Antonio in 1936, and one in Dallas in 1937, that produced 29 distinct songs (with 13 surviving alternate takes) recorded by famed Country Music Hall of Fame producer Don Law. These songs, reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dust My Broom
"Dust My Broom" is a blues song originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" by American blues artist Robert Johnson in 1936. It is a solo performance in the Delta blues-style with Johnson's vocal accompanied by his acoustic guitar. As with many of his songs, it is based on earlier blues songs, the earliest of which has been identified as "I Believe I'll Make a Change", recorded by the Sparks brothers as " Pinetop and Lindberg" in 1932. Johnson's guitar work features an early use of a boogie rhythm pattern, which is seen as a major innovation, as well as a repeating triplets figure. In 1951, Elmore James recorded the song as "Dust My Broom" and "made it the classic as we know it", according to blues historian Gerard Herzhaft. James' slide guitar adaptation of Johnson's triplet figure has been identified as one of the most famous blues guitar riffs and has inspired many rock performers. The song has become a blues standard, with numerous renditions by a variety of mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Checkin' Up On My Baby
"Checkin' Up on My Baby" (or sometimes "Checking On My Baby") is a song recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson II in 1960 that has become a classic of the blues. The song was not released as a single, but was included on Williamson's ''The Real Folk Blues'' album released after his death in 1965. The song has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists, making it one of Williamson's most recorded songs. Earlier songs Williamson's namesake Sonny Boy Williamson I, also known as John Lee Williamson, recorded an earlier song titled "Check Up on My Baby" in 1944. It is a topical song, with references to World War II political figures (its flip side is titled "Win the War Blues"). Although it has a different melody and lyrics, the refrain includes the line "I've got to check up on my baby, I've got to see how my baby been getting along", similar to "I'm checkin' up on my baby, find out what she's puttin' down", which later appears in the Sonny Boy Williamson II song. In 1958, Otis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year."About Penguin – company history" , Penguin Books. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), Woolworths and other stores for Sixpence (British coin), sixpence, bringing high-quality fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. Its success showed that large audiences existed for serious books. It also affected modern British popular culture significantly through its books concerning politics, the arts, and science. Penguin Books is now an imprint (trade name), imprint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Penguin Guide To Blues Recordings
''The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings'' is an encyclopedia of blues music albums released on CD. Content The book was released on 31 October 2006 and was written by Tony Russell and Chris Smith with contributions by Neil Slaven, Ricky Russell and Joe Faulkner. Russell in particular is known as a musical historian, working closely with programs presented on BBC Radio, as well as documentaries on the blues. In the book, artists are set up alphabetically and include short (usually one paragraph) biographies before showing a complete listing of their discography. Each album includes title, a rating out of four stars, label, musicians on the album, month and year of recording, and finally a review of varying length. See also * ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine edi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular culture. The magazine debuted on February 16, 1990, in New York City. Different from celebrity-focused publications such as ''Us Weekly'', ''People'' (a sister magazine to ''EW''), and ''In Touch Weekly'', ''EW'' primarily concentrates on entertainment media news and critical reviews; unlike ''Variety'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter'', which were primarily established as trade magazines aimed at industry insiders, ''EW'' targets a more general audience. History Formed as a sister magazine to ''People'', the first issue of ''Entertainment Weekly'' was published on February 16, 1990. Created by Jeff Jarvis and founded by Michael Klingensmith, who served as publisher until October 1996, the magazine's original television advertising soliciting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles)
Wells Fargo Center is a twin tower skyscraper complex in Downtown Los Angeles on Bunker Hill, in Los Angeles, California. It comprises South and North towers, which are joined by a three-story glass atrium. The project received the 1986–1987 and 2003–2004 Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Office Building of the Year Award, and numerous others. A branch of the Wells Fargo History Museum is located at the center. Wells Fargo Tower Wells Fargo Tower (Tower I), at it is the tallest building of the complex. It has 54 floors and it is the 8th tallest building in Los Angeles, and the 92nd-tallest building in the United States. When it opened in 1983, it was known as the Crocker Tower, named after San Francisco-based Crocker National Bank. Crocker merged with Wells Fargo in 1986. During initial construction it was featured in the 1983 film, ''Blue Thunder''. The top upper floors were not completed at the time of filming, so Roy Scheider's character shot a helicopter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heritage Square Museum
Heritage Square Museum is a living history and open-air architecture museum located beside the Arroyo Seco Parkway in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southern Arroyo Seco area. The living history museum shows the story of development in Southern California through historical architectural examples. The museum focuses on interpreting the years 1850 to 1950, a century of unprecedented growth in Los Angeles. Volunteer interpreters give thorough tours that incorporate the history, architecture, and culture of the region. Other specialized living history events, lectures, and items of historical interest are given on a periodic basis. History During the rapid urban expansion of the 1960s, Victorian buildings in Los Angeles were being demolished at an alarming rate. The Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument program, established in 1961, could evaluate properties and list-register them, but not protect them. In 1969, at the request of the Los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
