The Wichita Train Whistle Sings
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The Wichita Train Whistle Sings
''The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' is the ''de facto'' first solo album by Michael Nesmith, although the artist credited on the initial release is actually "The Wichita Train Whistle". It was recorded while Nesmith was still a member of the Monkees, and it peaked at No. 144 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. The album comprises instrumentals performed by a full orchestra. All but one of the songs were also recorded by the Monkees (although a few of them weren't released until the Monkees' '' Missing Links'' albums.) Background The album was made over a two-day session on November 18–19, 1967 at the RCA studios in Hollywood, and it featured the best musicians in Hollywood (including many of the key members of " The Wrecking Crew"), including ten trumpets, ten trombones, ten saxophones, two drummers, five percussionists, four pianos, eight basses, seven guitars. Because it was the weekend, all musicians were paid double time and the session was catered by Chasens, the finest ...
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Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966–1968). His songwriting credits include "Different Drum," which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. After the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, " Joanne", and then as a solo artist. He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric with the Monkees and afterwards. Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, ''PopClips'', which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980. He was asked to h ...
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Larry Knechtel
Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, Billy Joel, the Doors, the Grass Roots, Jerry Garcia, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s band Bread. Biography Born in Bell, California, in 1940, Knechtel began his musical education with piano lessons. In 1957, he joined the Los Angeles-based rock and roll band Kip Tyler and the Flips. In August 1959, he joined instrumentalist Duane Eddy as a member of his band the Rebels. After four years on the road with the band, and continuing to work with Eddy in the recording studio, Knechtel became part of the Los Angeles session musician scene, working with Phil Spector as a pianist to help create Spector's famous "Wall of Sound". Kn ...
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Dick Hyde (musician)
Richard John Hyde (July 4, 1936 – July 15, 2019), sometimes credited as Slyde Hyde, was an American trombonist who played several brass and woodwind instruments. He was a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) Hall of Fame. He worked as a session musician and sideman for Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Frank Sinatra, Jaco Pastorius, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Beach Boys, Tom Waits, Supertramp, Temptations, Boz Scaggs, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Madonna, and Donna Summer. Biography and career Hyde was born Richard John in Lansing, the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan, on 4 July, 1936. He began his trombone studies in fourth grade when he was living in Bluffton, Indiana and later in Los Angeles, California. He lived (in 2013) with his wife Yolanda (Yolee) of 42 years in Hawi, Hawaii. Hyde continued his studies first at the Los Angeles City College and then at the Navy School of Music, which at the time was located at the Naval Receivi ...
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Lou Blackburn
Lou Blackburn (November 12, 1922 – 7 June 1990) was an American jazz trombonist. Biography Blackburn was born in Rankin, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work in the swing genre but he also performed in the West Coast jazz and soul jazz mediums. During the 1950s, he played swing music with Lionel Hampton, and also Charlie Ventura. In the early 1960s, he began performing with musicians like Cat Anderson, among others. He also appears on the album '' Mingus at Monterey'' by Charles Mingus. He also did crossover work with The Beach Boys and The Turtles, among others. From 1970, he lived in Germany, where he toured successfully with his ethno jazz band ''Mombasa''. Blackburn died in Berlin in 1990. Discography As leader * ''Jazz Frontier'' (Imperial, 1963) * ''Two Note Samba'' (Imperial, 1963) * '' The Complete Imperial Sessions'' (Blue Note, 2006) As sideman With Duke Ellington * '' Paris Blues'' (United Artists, 1961) * '' First Time! The Count Meets the Duke'' ( ...
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Milt Bernhart
Milt Bernhart (May 25, 1926 – January 22, 2004) was a West Coast jazz trombonist who worked with Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others. He supplied the solo in the middle of Sinatra's 1956 recording of '' I've Got You Under My Skin'' conducted by Nelson Riddle. Biography Bernhart (occasionally spelled Bernhardt) began on tuba, but switched to trombone in high school. At 16 he worked in Boyd Raeburn's band and later had some "gigs" with Teddy Powell. After time in the United States Army he worked, off and on, with Stan Kenton for the next ten years. He is perhaps most associated with Kenton, but in 1955 he had his first album as a leader. In 1986 he was elected President of the Big Band Academy of America. Although known as "mild-mannered" or humorous, his brief period with Benny Goodman was one area that brought out his ire. He indicated working with Goodman was "the bottom", except for basic training in the Army, of his first 23 years of life. He called Goodman a "bore" and c ...
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Tony Terran
Anthony Terran (May 30, 1926 – March 20, 2017) was an American trumpet player and session musician. He was part of the Wrecking Crew, a group of largely uncredited session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who helped famous artists record hit records in the 1960s. Career Terran was in high school when he started working on live radio shows in Buffalo, New York. In 1944, he arrived in Los Angeles after touring with Horace Heidt. In 1945, he began working with Bob Hope, and then with Desi Arnaz in 1946. Terran was the last surviving member of the Desi Arnaz Orchestra from the '' I Love Lucy'' television show. Terran performed and recorded with many artists including the Jackson 5, the 5th Dimension, the Mamas & the Papas, the Beach Boys, Harry Nilsson, the Bee Gees, Ray Charles, Neil Diamond, Chicago, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Commodores, Perry Como, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Eartha Kitt, Peggy Lee, Madonna ('' I'm Breathless''), Dean Mar ...
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Jim Horn
James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for five years, playing sax and flute on the road, and in the recording studio. Along with Bobby Keys and Jim Price he became one of the most in-demand horn session players of the 1970s and 1980s. Horn played on solo albums by three members of the Beatles, forming a long association with George Harrison after appearing at the latter's Concert for Bangladesh benefit in 1971. Horn toured with John Denver on and off from 1978 to 1993. He also played with Denver in concert occasionally after the Wildlife Concert in 1995. He played flute on the original studio recording of "Going Up the Country" by Canned Heat, reproduced in the film '' Woodstock''. Horn played flute and saxophone on the Beach Boys' album ''Pet Sounds'', and played flute on th ...
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Israel Baker
Israel Baker (February 11, 1919 – December 25, 2011) was an American violinist and concertmaster. Through a long and varied career he played with many of the greatest figures in the worlds of classical music, jazz and pop. He appeared on hundreds of recordings by artists as diverse as Igor Stravinsky, Ella Fitzgerald, and Tom Waits, and appeared on many film scores including '' Psycho'' and '' Jonathan Livingstone Seagull''. Baker was the concertmaster on The Dameans ''Beginning Today'' album from 1973.Vinyl record album notes. Biography Born in Chicago, he was the youngest of four children of Russian immigrants. He showed great talent as a violinist from an early age, appearing on national radio at the age of six. By the age of 22 Baker was concertmaster of Leopold Stokowski’s All-American Youth Orchestra. Later he was a member of Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra. During World War II he served as a violinist with the Army Air Forces in Atlantic City, NJ, p ...
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Victor Feldman
Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers. Early life Feldman was born in Edgware on 7 April 1934. He caused a sensation as a musical prodigy when he was "discovered", aged seven. His family were all musical and his father founded the Feldman Swing Club in London in 1942 to showcase his talented sons. Feldman performed from a young age: "from 1941 to 1947 he played drums in a trio with his brothers; when he was nine he took up piano and when he was 14 started playing vibraphone". He featured in the films '' King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' (1942) and '' Theatre Royal'' (1943). In 1944, he was featured at a co ...
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Frank Capp
Francis Cappuccio (August 20, 1931 – September 12, 2017), known professionally as Frank Capp, was an American jazz drummer. Capp also played on numerous rock and roll sessions and is considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew. Biography Capp was born Francis Cappuccio in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing with Stan Kenton in early 1952 and remained with Kenton until the end of that year. He then joined Neal Hefti's group. He often accompanied Peggy Lee on her road dates and subsequently went to Los Angeles where he joined Billy May, and recorded with The Wrecking Crew. He played with Ella Fitzgerald, Harry James, Charlie Barnet, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, and Dave Pell. He recorded often with André Previn's trio (1957-1964), and also made records with Benny Goodman (1958), Terry Gibbs, and Turk Murphy. Capp worked steadily on television shows and in the film studios in the 1960s. He spent more than 13 years as drummer for the David Rose Orchestra o ...
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James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Critic Mark Deming writes that "Burton has a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest guitar pickers in either country or rock ... Burton is one of the best guitar players to ever touch a fretboard." He is ranked number 19 in Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. Since the 1950s, Burton has recorded and performed with an array of singers, including Bob Luman, Dale Hawkins, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley (and was leader of Presley's TCB Band), The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, John Denver, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Claude King, Elvis Costello, Joe Osborn, Roy Orbison, Joni Mitchell, Hoyt ...
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Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one. Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blaine moved with his family to California in 1943 and began playing jazz and big band music before taking up rock and roll session work. He became one of the regulars in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed " the Wrecking Crew". Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single "Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds. Blaine's workload declined in the 1980s as recording and musical practices changed. ...
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