Skip to main content

McCoy Tyner Quartet - Ask Me Now

The achievement of material affluence became a goal for many US citizens as well as an object of satire and ridicule for the writers and intellectuals of the Lost Generation.
Technological innovations like the telephone and radio irrevocably altered the social lives of Americans while transforming the entertainment industry. Suddenly, musicians could create phonograph recordings of their compositions. For jazz music, which was improvisational, the development of phonograph technology was transformative. Whereas previously, music lovers would actually have to attend a nightclub or concert venue to hear jazz, now they could listen on the radio or even purchase their favorite recordings for at home listening.

After Congress passed the Volstead Act in 1919, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, many Americans sought refuge in speakeasies and other entertainment venues that hosted jazz bands. Harlem’s Cotton Club was one famous venue, where both whites and blacks gathered to listen to jazz, dance the Charleston, and illicitly guzzle booze. Women attended jazz clubs in large numbers, and the flapper girl became a staple of US pop culture. These women flouted orthodox gender norms, bobbing their hair, smoking cigarettes, and engaging in other behaviors traditionally associated with men.


McCoy Tyner Quartet - Ask Me Now
  • Recorded at: RCA Studio A
  • Composed by: Thelonious Monk
  • Released in: 1991

"McCoy Tyner worked as a beautician. It was his mother who first encouraged him to play piano, starting him on private lessons at age 13 and letting him practice on the piano in her salon."

See Previous Song of the Day 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Long Before

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Long Before Recorded in: December, 2005 Recorded in: New York, NY Genre: Jazz "Pat Metheny has participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate." See Previous Song of the Day  

Dusty Springfield - Something In Your Eyes

Dusty Springfield - Something In Your Eyes Released in: September 1987 Genre:bPop Backing Vocals: Richard Carpenter "Dusty Springfield presented many episodes of the popular 1963 - 66 British TV series and between 1966 and 1969, hosted her own series on the BBC and ITV. She has been inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the UK Music Hall of Fame." See Previous Song of the Day 

David Sylvian - The First Day

When the story of Blues is told to the world, the small town Holly Springs, Mississippi and the North Mississippi region as a whole, is often left out. But, those who know, know that this region is the Hill Country, and it is the home of a style of blues unlike others and continuing to shape popular music culture. Mississippi Hill Country Blues, like all forms of the blues, is deeply rooted in the cultural memories and experiences of those who first performed it. It builds upon the African and diasporic emphasis upon rhythm as not just beats and timing, but giving syncopation and polyrhythm both rhythmic elements, an elevated role in music much like that of the melody. The driving rhythm and aggressive groove, established primarily by sitting on one chord for long phrases, set Hill Country Blues apart from other forms like Delta Blues. Hill Country Blues is the soundscape of the region that includes several counties and towns around Holly Spring, Senatobia, and Como, Mississippi. The r...