Songs From My Father's Record Collection

When I really stop and think about it, almost everything I've ever featured here in Birds With Broken Wings is conceivably a song from someone's father's collection. Figure it this way, I'm old enough myself to be the parent of an adult child, so if you're under say, 30 years old tops, the material I've brought to the table could squarely fall into your father's record collection. But my Dad is almost 85! So do the math. That would mean the music of his youth dates back to the Swing era of the 1940's --- The Dorsey Brothers, young Sinatra, Benny Goodman, The Andrew Sisters, Glenn Miller --- the whole big band thing. Of course, the 40's also marked the beginnings of bop and rhythm & blues, but my father didn't live in the centers for urban black music, so those forms never really touched him. What did reach him however was their fashion. The old man was a 'Zoot Suiter.' A dance hall hound. Just like the British Mod's of the early 60's, my father spent all of his teenage earnings on clothes --- 'drapes' --- all custom designed and hand tailored. And like the Deadheads to follow, he traveled to surrounding ballrooms to swing to the sounds of his favorite bands and chat up the girls. My dad was sharp! Tall and slender, one of a kind suits, hand-painted silk ties, thick black wavy hair, pencil mustache, and Errol Flynn good looks. My mother too, a small town Italian girl, looked like a Hollywood movie starlet! But then, a lot of people looked that way in the 40's. It was the end of an age of glamor, elegance, style and taste. And my dad had plenty of taste, not only in his preference for hand tailored threads, but also in his choice of women and his refinement in music.

Now before you click away thinking you're only going to find some musty big band records here, think again. For an 85 year old guy, my father's got a pretty good record collection, not just a bunch of old 78 r.p.m.'s in yellowed slipcases, but some real great stuff! Of course, a lot of it came from me (in the form of gifts), but a lot more he sussed out on his own. He really enjoys hearing sounds that are new to him. Now, you've got to remember that with his generation, it was not at all unusual to abandon your youthful passions once you settled down, married, and started a brood. Record collecting and keeping abreast of popular trends in music were not considered becoming of a career and family man. But my father bucked that societal trend and continued to keep his ear to the ground for new sounds. Not to suggest that he went as far as to run out and buy 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols,' or N.W.A.'s 'Straight Outta Compton,' but he did always manage to listen with interest to the up and coming without prejudice. Today, he still harbors a penchant for orchestras, though not the type that are all brassy trumpet and lumbering arrangements. You know the type, an outfit with some hotshot drummer and a blaring horn section that sound more like a thundering herd than simply a swinging band that just happens to be large. He likes tasteful arrangers like Gerald Wilson and Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones and Duke Ellington. Stuff that swings easy. He also (like his son) holds a fondness for organ and sax combos, that big B3 sound with a full-bodied tenor.

My dad enjoys his music, and you know what? I like it too. Check out this set and you'll probably agree, the old man's got great taste!

1) Blue Star/Benny Carter

2) The Ballad Of Oren Bliss/Rusty Bryant

3) Little Sheri/Stanley Turrentine
4) Quintessence/Quincy Jones
5) Stolen Moments/Oliver Nelson
6) Dameron/Houston Person
7) The Voice Of The Saxophone/Jimmy Heath
8) The Real Deal/Hank Crawford & Jimmy McGriff
9) Prelude To A Kiss/Duke Ellington
10) Could Be/Les McCann
11) Step Lightly/Joe Henderson
12) Deep Purple/Groove Holmes

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