It's A Beautiful Day
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It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist
David LaFlamme David LaFlamme (born May 4, 1941 in New Britain, Connecticut) is an American singer and violinist best known for his longstanding association with the San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. LaFlamme's mother was from a Mormon family in Salt La ...
and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once performed as a soloist with the
Utah Symphony Orchestra The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving c ...
, had previously been in the group Orkustra playing
five-string violin A five-string violin is a variant of violin with an extra string tuned below the violin's usual range. In addition to the G, D, A, and E strings of a standard violin, a five-string violin typically includes a lower C string. Violins with 6 or more ...
. The other members of It's a Beautiful Day in its early years were Val Fuentes (drums), Mitchell Holman (bass) and Hal Wagenet (guitar). Although they were one of the notable San Francisco bands to emerge from 1967's Summer of Love, the band never achieved the success of contemporaries such as the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
,
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
, and
Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...
, with whom they had connections. The band created a unique blend of rock, jazz, folk, classical, and world-beat styles.


Early history: 1967–1969

The band's original manager,
Matthew Katz Matthew Katz (born 1929) is an American music manager and producer, most notably as the former manager of Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape and It's a Beautiful Day. He is the owner of the record label San Francisco Sound, and the owner of Matthew ...
, had previously worked with the rock bands
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
and
Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting, and who collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz with rock and psychedelic music. They were ...
. The members of the band were unaware that the other two bands were already trying to end their business relationships with Katz. During 1967 and early 1968, Katz prevented It's a Beautiful Day from performing in San Francisco, telling them they were not ready. He booked their first public appearances at a club he controlled in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
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, formerly known as the Encore Ballroom. Katz renamed the club San Francisco Sound. While in Seattle, the group lived in the attic of an old house owned by Katz while writing and rehearsing new songs in between club performances. Few customers came to the club during the band's engagement in Seattle during December 1967. The band's signature song " White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle. The song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview, David LaFlamme said:
Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.
By the time the group members returned to San Francisco they had no money and were frustrated by Katz's attempts to manipulate their career. In desperation, they began playing at a few clubs without his approval. The band gradually began to gain some recognition and earn money. Some of that recognition came from their performance at the Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair, occurring over the 1968 Labor Day weekend in Sultan, Washington. Sky River is considered by many to be the first successful multi-day rock festival, and a number of major bands had the opportunity to hear It's a Beautiful Day there. The band got its first big break when offered a chance to open for
Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
at the
Oakland Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home b ...
, in
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, California on October 4, 1968. Around this time, the band first began a long process of trying to disentangle themselves from Katz. The band's debut album, ''
It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...
'', was produced by David LaFlamme in
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, California, and released by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 1969. It features tracks such as "White Bird", "Hot Summer Day", and "Time Is". The album reached number 47 in the U.S. charts"It's a Beautiful Day USA chart history"
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 databas ...
. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
and number 58 in the UK."It's a Beautiful Day UK chart history"
The Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
The theme from the song "Bombay Calling" was later used, at a slower tempo, by
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
as the intro to "
Child in Time "Child in Time" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, taken from their fourth studio album, ''Deep Purple in Rock'', released in 1970. The track is loosely inspired by the Cold War and runs over ten minutes. History and characteristic ...
" on its ''
Deep Purple in Rock ''Deep Purple in Rock'' is the fourth studio album by Deep Purple, released on 5 June 1970. It was the first studio album recorded by the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. Work on ''In Rock ...
'' album. The band retaliated by recording "Don & Dewey" which was, to all intents and purposes, identical to Deep Purple's "Wring That Neck". The vocals and violin playing of David LaFlamme plus Santos's singing attracted FM radio play attention, and nationally, "White Bird" bubbled under Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 118.


1970s and beyond

By 1970, the original lineup of the band had changed; the LaFlammes had split up and Linda left the band, replaced by Fred Webb. On July 5, 1970, the band played the second Atlanta International Pop Festival in
Byron, Georgia Byron is a city located primarily in Peach County, Georgia, United States. A small portion of the city also extends into parts of Houston and Crawford counties. The population was estimated to be 5,149 in 2019 by the Census Bureau, an increasi ...
to an estimated 250,000 people. The group's second album, '' Marrying Maiden'', recorded at Pacific High Recording Studios in San Francisco, was released in 1970. It was their most successful on the charts, reaching number 28 in the U.S. and number 45 in the U.K. In that same year, the band performed at the Holland Pop Festival at the Kralingse Bos in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
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, and at the
Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was a counterculture era music festival held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on 27–29 June 1970. Bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin performe ...
. It's a Beautiful Day was one of the last acts to appear at the
Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...
in San Francisco in July 1971. Its performance of "White Bird" was featured as part of the musical
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
'' Fillmore'', released the following year. Mitchell Holman and Hal Wagenet left in the summer of 1971, replaced by bassist Tom Fowler (later with
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
) and guitarist Bill Gregory. Their first performance was broadcast live on San Francisco's KSAN FM radio, with host
Tom Donahue Thomas or Tom Donahue may refer to: * Thomas R. Donahue (born 1928), American trade union leader * Thomas Michael Donahue (1921–2004), American physicist, astronomer, and space and planetary scientist * Tom Donahue (DJ) (1928–1975), pioneerin ...
introducing them as the band's two new members. The group released their third album, ''Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime'', in 1971, followed by the live album, ''It's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall'', in 1972. Tom Fowler left that same year. Citing exhaustion, and with differences arising over the direction and management of the band amongst band members, David LaFlamme resigned later in 1972. ''It's A Beautiful Day...Today'' was recorded and released the following year, the band touring until the summer of 1973 when it split up. Replacement bassist and vocalist James "Bud" Cockrell would help form
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shortly thereafter, and violinist Gregory Bloch joined the Italian progressive rock group
Premiata Forneria Marconi Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: ''Award-winning Marconi Bakery'') is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group ...
and later the
Saturday Night Live Band The Saturday Night Live Band (referred to in the closing credits as The Live Band) is the house band of the NBC television program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Role on ''Saturday Night Live'' The band consists of mostly jazz, R&B, and ...
. In 1976, LaFlamme's solo version of "White Bird" finally cracked the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at No. 89. Pattie Santos, who together with her husband, former group bassist Bud Cockrell, had formed Cockrell & Santos in 1977, was killed in a car crash near Geyserville in Sonoma County, California on December 14, 1989. Cockrell himself died in 2010. It's a Beautiful Day reformed occasionally for reunions and special concerts. The band's music continued under the name David LaFlamme Band as well as It's a Beautiful Day until Katz let his trademark of the name go unrenewed, when the use of It's a Beautiful Day was formally resumed. Since 2000, It's a Beautiful Day features founder David LaFlamme and original drummer Fuentes. Other band members are LaFlamme's current wife, whom he met in 1974, Linda Baker LaFlamme (vocals), Toby Gray (bass), Gary Thomas (keyboards), Rob Espinosa (guitar) and Michael Prichard (percussion). They continue performing today, with LaFlamme contributing to Jefferson Starship's 2008 release, ''
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty ''Jefferson's Tree of Liberty'' is the tenth album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008.[] It is the band's first studio album since 1999's ''Windows of Heaven''. The new album includes cover songs from Irish, American, English, ...
''. This line-up was the longest continual group that has ever performed the band's material. In 2014, Rob Cunningham replaced Espinosa on lead guitar. Rob Espinosa returned as lead guitar in 2018 In 2009 David LaFlamme began playing with the Phil Lawrence Band and transformed the group int
It's A Beautiful Day Acoustic
The band played acoustic versions of the best-known originals from the early albums, plus instrumental originals b

on the mandolin. They performed until the pandemic shutdown in March 2020.


Personnel

Current members *
David LaFlamme David LaFlamme (born May 4, 1941 in New Britain, Connecticut) is an American singer and violinist best known for his longstanding association with the San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. LaFlamme's mother was from a Mormon family in Salt La ...
vocals, violin, rhythm guitar (1967–1972, 1997–present) * Linda Baker LaFlamme (aka Dominique Dellacroix) vocals, backing vocals (1997–present) * Val Fuentes drums, backing vocals (1967–1973, 1997–present) * Toby Gray bass, harmonica, backing vocals (2000––present) * Gary Thomas keyboards, backing vocals (2000–present) * Rob Espinosa guitars, backing vocals (2000-present) * Michael Prichard percussion (2006–present) Former members * Pattie Santos vocals, backing vocals, percussion (1967–1973; died 1989) * Linda LaFlamme keyboards (1967–1969) * Mitchell Holman bass, harmonica, backing vocals (1967–1971, plus several reunions) * Hal Wagenet guitar (1968–1971, plus several reunions) * Fred Webb keyboards, backing vocals (1969–1973; died 1989) * Tom Fowler bass (1971–1972) * Bill Gregory guitar (1971–1973) * Bud Cockrell bass, vocals (1972–1973; died 2010) * Greg Bloch violin, mandolin (1972–1973; died 1989) * Rob Cunningham guitar, backing vocals (2014–2018) Timeline


Discography


Albums


Studio albums

*''
It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...
'' (Columbia Records, 1969) US Album Chart No. 47 / UK Album Chart No. 58, 1970 (US: Gold) *'' Marrying Maiden'' (Columbia Records, 1970) US Album Chart No. 28 / UK Album Chart No. 45, 1970 *''Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime'' (Columbia Records, 1971) US Album Chart No. 130, 1971 *''It's a Beautiful Day... Today'' (Columbia Records, 1973) US Album Chart No. 114


Other albums

*''It's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall'' (Live) (Columbia Records, 1972) US Album Chart No. 144 *''1001 Nights'' (Compilation) (Columbia Records (Import Only), 1974) *''White Bird'' (David LaFlamme) (Amherst Records, 1976) *''Inside Out'' (David LaFlamme) (Amherst Records, 1978) *''Workin' the Gold Mine'' (Live) (David & Linda LaFlamme) (It's About Music, Classic Music Vault, 2000) *''Beyond Dreams'' (David LaFlamme) (Repertoire Records, Classic Music Vault, 2003) *''Hot Summer Days - San Francisco Nights'' (David LaFlamme) (Non-labeled, 2004) *''Live in Seattle'' (Live) (David LaFlamme) (It's About Music, 2004) *''Misery Loves Company'' (David LaFlamme) (It's About Music, 2005) *''The Columbia Years 1969-1973'' (Compilation Box Set) (Muskrat Records, 2008) *''Girl With No Eyes'' (Hookah Records, 2013) *''Live at the Fillmore '68'' (Live) (Classic Music Vault, 2013), with DVD ''The David LaFlamme Story''


Singles

*"Bulgaria" / "Aquarian Dream" (1968) San Francisco Sound 7 *" White Bird" / "Wasted Union Blues" (1969) Columbia 44928 *"Soapstone Mountain" / "Good Lovin'" (1970) Columbia 45152 *"The Dolphins" / "Do You Remember the Sun" (1970) Columbia 45309 *"Anytime" / "Oranges and Apples" (1972) Columbia 45536 *"White Bird" (live) / "Wasted Union Blues" (live) (1973) Columbia 45788 *"Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" / "Time" (1973) Columbia 45853


See also

*
List of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area This is a list of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area, music groups founded in the San Francisco Bay Area or closely associated with the region. Individual musicians who formed bands under their own name there are included, but not if they are ...


References


External links


David LaFlamme Presents the Music of It's a Beautiful Day
*
Allmusic.com 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 databas ...
* * {{Authority control 1967 establishments in California Musical groups from San Francisco Musical groups established in 1967 Psychedelic rock music groups from California Columbia Records artists