One More For the Road
Frank Sinatra will always be the voice of America. It is a voice that pops up in my JukeBox Brain when I least expect it. As a jazz drummer it is expedient to be able to play the Sinatra book of tunes, usually with brushes. He defined an era despite his ongoing conflicts with drummer Buddy Rich. This song conjures late night loneliness and a bartender that wants to go home but instead listens to the heartbreaking story of his customer. This era didn’t have therapists on every corner. Folks had to just live with their sadness and put up a good front. Emotional toughness stemming from World War II resulted in a closed down psychological paralysis for a whole generation. The late night bar was the therapy that was acceptable. Frank was the tough guy to tell his tale. We are about ready to say good0bye to the last of that generation of soldiers, heroes, heroines and casualties, We ought to give them one last thank-you for their service whether it be in an after hours bar or a fox hole in the
Ardennes Forest facing imminent freezing death at the hands of Nazi fanatics. And give thanks for the years of relative peace since then and pray that it doesn’t happen again.
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Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter This is proof I have no control over playback. All night long and into this morning, my JukeBox Brain looped through the tune written by Fred Ahlert/Joe Young, Immortalized by Fats Waller and included in the Broadway musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’,…
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Mustang Sally
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Addicted To Love
ReminiscencesRussell Buddy HelmNow that I am seventy six years old my mind is taking inventory all on its own initiative, so I wake up about 8:20 in the morning with a song going through my head like some AI sub routine; faithfully reproducing a song from my past…
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Wanna Take You Higher
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You better Find Somebody to Love
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Won’t you let me Take you on a Sea Cruise
Russell Buddy HelmNow that I am seventy six years old my mind is taking inventory all on its own initiative, so I wake up about 8:20 in the morning with a song going through my head like some AI sub routine; faithfully reproducing a song from my past…
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