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Jean de Brunhoff introduced Babar the Elephant to the world in1931…though some credit belongs to his wife and children.
December 4, 2021The pioneers of Country music just sound Country, even by their first names. (Roy, Hank, Gene). Which is why Clarence Albert Pointdexter simply had to go. So how do you get from Clarence to country? Some call Dexter the father of honky tonk music, which can be a bit confusing without musical accompaniment. You see, there’s blues ...
November 30, 2021In 1936 Natalya Sats commissioned Sergei Prokofiev to compose a piece for Moscow’s Central Children’s Theatre. The goal: to introduce children to the principals of the symphony. Somewhat ironically, the Orchestra went unnamed in this 1938, 3-disc RCA Victor recording. And while the initial reaction was lukewarm, Peter and the Wolf has introduced generations of youngsters, ...
November 29, 2021Jay McShann gave birth to the “Kansas City Sound”, but this song has gone down in history as a beginning of another sort.
November 17, 2021Jimmie Davis is regularly credited as creator of the classic “You Are My Sunshine”, heard here from 1941. But…if that’s true, then how did the Rice Brothers record it in 1939?
November 11, 2021Jelly Roll Morton had a habit of making large claims, none larger than the prediction of his own death.
November 10, 2021Who says bluesmen aren’t poets? “Mr. Blues” himself with a nod to an early 20th century British modernist poet. And, a fair bit of double entendre.
November 6, 2021