On December 17, 2024, Alfa Anderson died aged 78. She was singer and educator, founding member (together with her husband Eruliel Barfield) of the band “Voices of Shalom”, but was best known as the lead singer of the band Chic. She recorded with many famous musicians, among them with Luther Vandross, Lou Rawls, The B-52’s, Jaheim, Roberta Flack, The Roches, Marvin Sease, Odyssey, Doc Powell, Martha Wash, Debbie Gibson, Jennifer Holliday, Ashford and Simpson, Nat Adderley, Roy Buchanan and Dionne Warwick. In 2014, Anderson received the “Global Entertainment Media Arts (G.E.M.A.) Foundation’s Golden Mic Award”, and Citation from the City of Philadelphia for her contributions to music “Le Freak” (song by Chis) featuring Anderson on the lead vocals, was inducted into the 2015 “Grammy Hall of Fame”. In 2018, the song was added to the “National Recording Registry” by the “Library of Congress”. In 2018, Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. of Augusta, Georgia gave Anderson the Keys to the City and declared May 5 as “Alfa Anderson Day”.
Tag Archives: National recording registry
Firesign Theater: Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers
On July 22, 1970, “Columbia” label released “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers”, the third Firesign Theatre album. It was recorded April – May 1970, and was produced by Bill Driml, Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Phil Proctor. In 1983, “The New Rolling Stone Record Guide” called it “The Greatest Comedy Album Ever Made”. In 2005, the “US Library of Congress” added the album to the “National Recording Registry” and called the Firesign Theatre “The Beatles of Comedy.”
Personnel:
- Phil Austin
- Peter Bergman
- David Ossman
- Phil Proctor
- Anna-Lee Austin – spoken parts
- Thaddeus Warrick and the Mindermast Mental Music Hall One-Man Sympathy Orchestra
- The St. Louis Aquarium Choraleers (including Anna-Lee Austin, Jane Dansie, Tiny Ossman, Elisabeth Plumb, John Kinick, Cathleen O’Mara)
- The Android Sisters
- Robert Grossman – cover art
- John Rose, Elisabeth Plumb – back cover photography
- James William Guercio – co-production
Track listing:
All tracks by Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Phil Proctor
- This Side
- The Other Side
Dexter Gordon: Go
In December 1962, “Blue Note” label released “Go!” the 18th Dexter Gordon album. It was recorded in August 1962, at “Van Gelder Studio” in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and was produced by Alfred Lion. In 2019, “Go!” was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the “National Recording Registry” for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Personnel:
- Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone
- Sonny Clark – piano
- Butch Warren – bass
- Billy Higgins – drums
- Reid Miles – design
- Francis Wolff – photography
- Ira Gitler – liner notes
Track listing:
- Cheese Cake – Dexter Gordon
- I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry – Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn
- Second Balcony Jump – Billy Eckstine, Gerald Valentine
- Love for Sale – Cole Porter
- Where Are You – Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson
- Three O’clock in the Morning – Julian Robledo, Dorothy Terriss
Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come
In November 1959, “Atlantic” label released “The Shape of Jazz to Come”, the third Ornette Coleman album. It was recorded in May 1959, at “Radio Recorders” in Hollywood, and was produced by Nesuhi Ertegun. In 2012, the “Library of Congress” added the album to the “National Recording Registry”. Magazine “Rolling Stone” included the album in its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2015, the album was inducted into the “Grammy Hall of Fame”.
Personnel:
- Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone
- Don Cherry – cornet
- Charlie Haden – bass
- Billy Higgins – drums
Track listing:
All tracks by Ornette Coleman.
- Lonely Woman
- Eventually
- Peace
- Focus on Sanity
- Congeniality
- Chronology
Little Richard
On May 9, 2020, Richard Wayne Penniman aka Little Richard died aged 87. He was singer, songwriter and musician (piano), one of the most important and influential persons in the popular music. His charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding back beat and raspy shouted vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll, but also had important role in formation of other music genres such as soul and funk. For his work Little Richard received numerous awards and was honored by many institutions. In 1986, he was inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”; in 1993 he received “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award”, he was inducted into the “Songwriters Hall of Fame”, received “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the “Recording Academy”; “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the “Rhythm and Blues Foundation”, and received a “Rhapsody & Rhythm Award” from the “National Museum of African American Music”. In 2012, his song “Tutti Frutti” was included in the “National Recording Registry” of the “Library of Congress”, stated that his “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music”. Three of his songs “Tutti Frutti,” “Lucille” and “Long Tall Sally” are inducted into the “Grammy Hall of Fame”.
The Doors: Same
On January 4, 1967, “Elektra” label released the self titled debut Doors (The) album. It was recorded in August, 1966, at the “Sunset Sound Recorders”, in Hollywood, and was produced by Paul A. Rothchild. Both the album and the song “Light My Fire” were inducted into the “Grammy Hall of Fame”. In 2012, magazine “Rolling Stone” ranked the album on number 42, on its list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2015, based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance, the “Library of Congress” selected “The Doors” for inclusion in the “National Recording Registry”.
Personnel:
- Jim Morrison– lead vocals
- Ray Manzarek– Vox Continental organ, piano, keyboard bass, marxophone
- Robby Krieger– guitar, bass overdubs
- John Densmore– drums
- Larry Knechtel – bass guitar
Track listing:
All tracks by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore, except where noted.
- Break On Through
- Soul Kitchen
- The Crystal Ship
- Twentieth Century Fox
- Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) – Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill
- Light My Fire
- Back Door man – Willie Dixon, Chester Burnett
- I Looked at You
- End of the Night
- Take It as it Comes
- The End
Parliament: Mothership Connection
On December 15, 1975, “Casablanca” released “Mothership Connection”, the fourth Parliament album. It was recorded March – October 1975, at “United Sound” in Detroit and in “Hollywood Sound” in Hollywood, and was produced by George Clinton. In 2011, the “Library of Congress” added “Mothership Connection” to the “National Recording Registry”, declaring that “the album had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music”.
Personnel:
- George Clinton, Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Grady Thomas,Gary Shider, Glen Goins, Bootsy Collins – lead vocals
- Garry Shider, Michael Hampton, Glen Goins, Bootsy Collins – guitars
- Bootsy Collins, Cordell Mosson – bass guitar
- Tiki Fulwood, Jerome Brailey, Bootsy Collins, Gary Cooper – drums, percussion
- Bernie Worrell – keyboards, synthesizers
- Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Boom, Joe Farrell – horns
- Gary Cooper, Debbie Edwards, Taka Kahn, Archie Ivy, Bryna Chimenti, Rasputin Boutte, Pam Vincent, Debra Wright, Sidney Barnes – backing vocals, handclaps
- Gribbitt! – art direction, design
- David Alexander – photography
Track listing:
- Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) – George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell
- Mothership Connection (Star Child) – George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell
- Unfunky UFO – George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Garry Shider
- Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication – George Clinton, Garry Shider, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell
- Handcuffs – George Clinton, Glenn Goins, John McLaughlin
- Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) – Jerome Brailey, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins
- Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples – George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Garry Shider
Ray Charles: What’d I Say
On February 18, 1959, Ray Charles recorded the song “What’d I Say”. The recording was made in the late evening improvisation when Charles, his orchestra and backup singers had played their entire set list at a show. “Atlantic” label released the 7” single in July 1959 and it divided the song in two parts (A side and B side) with total length of 6:30 minutes. The song was produced by Jerry Wax. This was Ray Charles first gold record and it is one of the most influential songs in the history of modern music. In 2002 “What’d I say” was added to the “National Recording Registry” and ranked at number 10 in Rolling Stone ’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of all Time”.
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