Richard, Little - 1957 - Here's Little Richard

Little Richard had been making records for four years before he rolled into Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans and cut the epochal "Tutti Frutti" in the fall of 1955, but everything else he'd done -- and much of what others had recorded -- faded into insignificance when Richard wailed "A wop bop a loo mop a lomp bomp bomp" and kicked off one of the first great wailers in rock history. In retrospect, Little Richard's style doesn't seem so strikingly innovative as captured in 1956's Here's Little Richard -- his boogie-woogie piano stylings weren't all that different from what Fats Domino has been laying down since 1949, and his band pumped out the New Orleans backbeat that would define the Crescent City's R&B for the next two decades, albeit with precision and plenty of groove. But what set Richard apart was his willingness to ramp up the tempos and turn the outrage meter up to ten; "Tutti Frutti," "Rip It Up" and "Jenny Jenny" still sound outrageous a half-century after they were waxed, and it's difficult but intriguing to imagine how people must have reacted to Little Richard at a time when African-American performers were expected to be polite and the notion of a gay man venturing out of the closet simply didn't exist (Richard's songs were thoroughly heterosexual on the surface, but the nudge and wink of "Tutti Frutti" and "Baby" is faint but visible, and his bop threads, mile-high process and eye makeup clearly categorized him as someone "different"). These 12 tunes may not represent the alpha and omega of Little Richard's best music, but every song is a classic and unlike many of his peers, time has refused to render this first album quaint -- Richard's grainy scream remains one of the great sounds in rock & roll history, and the thunder of his piano and the frantic wail of the band is still the glorious call of a Friday night with pay in the pocket and trouble in mind. Brilliant stuff.

1 Tutti Frutti LaBostrie, Little Richard, Lubin
2 True Fine Mama Little Richard, Penniman
3 Can't Believe You Wanna Leave Price
4 Ready Teddy Blackwell, Marascalco
5 Baby Little Richard
6 Slippin' and Slidin' Bocage, Collins, Little Richard…
7 Long Tall Sally Blackwell, Johnson, Little Richard…
8 Miss Ann Johnson, Little Richard
9 Oh Why? Scott
10 Rip It Up Blackwell, Marascalco
11 Jenny, Jenny Johnson, Little Richard
12 She's Got It Little Richard, Marascalco

¡Aquí!

Puente, Tito - 1957 - Dance Manía

Dance Mania, Tito Puente's best-known and best-selling album, came ten years into his career, but at a time (1957) when the craze for mambo and Latin music was beginning to crest. (Another landmark LP, Pérez Prado's Havana 3 A.M., had been released the previous year, and Prado's "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" had hit number one in 1955.) Recorded as part of a just-signed exclusive contract with RCA and appearing in vibrant sound as part of the label's Living Stereo series, Dance Mania exploded with a series of tight arrangements, propulsive playing, and the features of new additions in vocalist Santos Colón and conguero Ray Barretto (who helped, in part, make up for the recent loss of Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria to Cal Tjader's group). Puente didn't dilute his sound for Dance Mania -- unlike the many commercial crossover LPs that were released by both established groups and ad hoc studio collectives -- but his hard mambos here were performed at tempos that encouraged dancing by more staid LP-buyers, slightly slower than the high paces of his Tico sides or Palladium shows. Brassy and swinging, yes, and certainly as precise as a great Latin band could get, but not as torrid as Spanish Harlem dancers would be accustomed to. Most were Puente originals, spanning mambo and cha-cha and guaguanco, and Dance Mania built the foundation for great Latin LPs to come.

1 El Cayuco Puente 2:33
2 Complicación Aguabella 3:18
3 3-D Mambo Santos 2:23
4 Llego Mijan Puente 3:10
5 Cuando Te Vea Puente 4:10
6 Hong Kong Mambo Puente 3:42
7 Mambo Gozón Puente 2:44
8 Mi Chiquita Quiere Bembe Puente 3:55
9 Varsity Drag [Mambo] Brown, DeSylva, Henderson 2:48
10 Estoy Siempre Junto a Ti Delgado 3:10
11 Agua Limpia Todo Aguabella 2:55
12 Saca Tu Mujer Puente 3:02

¡Aquí!

Vaughan, Sarah - 1957 - At Mr. Kelly's

During the mid-'50s, Sarah Vaughan spent most of her time recording songbook standards backed by a large orchestra in florid arrangements, with only the occasional breath of fresh air like her masterpiece, 1954's Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown. Four years after that milestone, another landed with the live album At Mister Kelly's. Recorded quite early in the days of the live LP, the album captured Vaughan at her best and most relaxed, stretching out on a set of late-night torch songs and ballads. With a trio including Jimmy Jones on piano, Roy Haynes on drums, and Richard Davis on bass, Vaughan is simply captivating, easily disproving the notion that, to be entertaining, singers needed inventive arrangements and multiple voices (instrumental or otherwise) behind them. Her unerring sense of rhythm carries her through every song on this set, whether the occasion calls for playfulness and wit ("Thou Swell," "Honeysuckle Rose") or a world-wise melancholia ("Willow Weep for Me"). Her accompanists are a valuable anchor, with Haynes' drumming just as precise as Sassy's vocals and Jones' piano solos adding additional vitality.

		1		September in the Rain	Dubin, Warren	3:34
		2		Willow Weep for Me	Ronell	5:18
		3		Just One of Those Things	Porter	3:13
		4		Be Anything But Darling Be Mine	Gordon	4:46
		5		Thou Swell	Hart, Rodgers	2:45
		6		Stairway to the Stars	Malneck, Parish, Signorelli	5:05
		7		Honeysuckle Rose	Razaf, Waller	3:37
		8		Just a Gigolo	Brammer, Caesar, Casucci	4:16
		9		How High the Moon	Hamilton, Lewis	2:58

¡Aquí!