The theme song most people know best for Naked City, a popular TV police-drama series that aired from 1958 to 1963, was called Somewhere in the Night. But it was referred to most often as the Naked City Theme, largely because there already was an older and completely different pop song called Somewhere in the Night that Frank Sinatra and others had recorded. That wasn't the only bit of confusion. The original song for the series from 1958-'59 was This is the Naked City, composed by George Duning.Then arranger-composer Billy May wrote Somewhere in the Night for the 1960-'62 season. Nelson Riddle was next with The New Naked City Theme for the 1962-'63 season.
Confused? Don't be. The only song that matters for this post was Somewhere in the Night, which has been covered by jazz and pop artists over the years. First let's give a listen to the three themes:
And here's Bobby Hutcherson, with Joey DeFrancisco playing Larry Young's original opening on Grant Green's version...
Bonus:Here's Bobby Scott singing "Eight Million Stories (in the Naked City)," by Eddie Snyder, who used the pseudonym of C. Colatral and J. Tansey on the song, with Scott as the arrangers and Torrie Zito conducting...
Following my post yesterday on salsa and Joe Bataan's Ghetto Records, many readers emailed me about Joe Bataan and boogaloo. As I posted yesterday, boogaloo was a funky Latin-soul hybrid geared to a younger generation of freestyle dancers. The boogaloo emerged in New York, primarily in the Latin dance clubs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Among the first boogaloo hits was Mongo Santamaria's recording of Watermelon Man in 1962.
Over time, the music evolved from infectious rhythm-fueled riffs built on catchy pop phrases like Bang Bang and I Like It Like That to deeply personal statements and observations about romance and inner-city life. In this regard, the music developed much like rock and soul, beginning as singles-driven and winding up as album concepts.
A member of an East Harlem street gang, Joe Bataan was incarcerated for a brief time for auto theft. In prison, music became a passion. Upon his release in 1965, Bataan began exploring music and singing as a career. His first album, Gypsy Woman, was recorded in 1966 and released in 1967. Bataan advanced the boogaloo by adding the feel of R&B vocal harmony groups and givng songs a personal spin with lyrics that were more autobiographical. Though the album's title track was a cover of Curtis Mayfield's ballad hit for the Impressions in 1961, Bataan added a dramatically new flavor and punch that was less romantic and more urgent. [Photo above of Joe Bataan]
Bataan's Gypsy Woman album was originally released on Fania Records as a house-party LP but recently was re-issued by Concord's Craft Records on 180-gram vinyl. It's terrific that the label is taking this music seriously and treating Gypsy Woman as the classic it has become. The vinyl's sound is fantastic and way more dimensional than the original record, allowing Bataan's crooning style to soar and the instrumentation and percussion to spread out.
Following the title track, the album proceeds with So Fine, a love song that continues the groove of Gypsy Woman beneath Bataan's powerful vocal. In keeping with the boogaloo's crossover formula, several songs are sung in English, including Too Much Lovin', Figaro and the album's closer and other big hit, the romantic ballad Ordinary Guy.
Joe Bataan would go on to record more than 20 albums, many of them outrageously great. If you want to begin collecting or listening, try Singin' Some Soul (1970), Salsoul (1973) and Call My Name (2005).
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Joe Bataan's Gypsy Woman (Craft) in vinyl and other formats here.
If you plan on discussing the origins of salsa, you'd better make a large pot of Café Rico coffee. You're going to be arguing late into the night. There are multiple definitions of the music as well as a raging debate over its roots, starting point and how it evolved. To me, as a former resident of Washington Heights, the definition is rather simple: salsa began at the dawn of the 1970s and followed the boogaloo as a popular style in New York's Latin communities.
The boogaloo was a funky Latin-soul form that originated in the early 1960s by young black and Puerto Rican musicians seeking a form in sync with the youth culture. At clubs, the music encouraged a freestyle dance form, much in the way discotheque go-go dancing surfaced around the same time in response to big-beat pop music. Dance partners did their own thing across from each other and never touched. Salsa, by contrast, restored touch dancing as couples sought a more intimate form on the dance floor.
Most notable about salsa is the distinct lead vocal approach known as son montuno, a conversational shout style, and the unison horn arrangements, which have a certain bravado and are crafted to mirror the vocals of background singers. It should be noted that salsa had a profound influence on the rise of disco's touch-dancing in the early 1970s, as soul dance beats merged with the sleek heat of Latin dance music. This fusion gave rise to several disco dances, including the hustle, an early incarnation of Salsoul Records and a range of cross-over artists ranging from Yambu to Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. The Fania All-Stars helped pioneer salsa early on, Izzy Sanabria promoted the music and the Miami Sound Machine helped mainstream it mid-decade. That's the short story.
Now, Vinyl Me Please and Now-Again Records have released The Story of Ghetto Records, a blockbuster box of seven early salsa albums on Ghetto Records, a label formed by Joe Bataan and George Febo in 1970. The seven albums are Joe Acosta's The Power Of Love, La Fantastica's From Ear To Ear, Paul Ortiz Y La Orquesta Son's Los Que Son, Candido Y Su Movimiento's Palos De Fuego, Eddie Lebron's Ghetto Records Presents...Eddie Lebron, Papo Felix and Ray Rodriguez's Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez and Joe Bataan's previously unreleased Drug Story.
If you want to hear the real deal, these seven albums provide a smashing early salsa survey. It's the sound you would have heard live at Latin clubs in New York in the very early 1970s. The flavor on these albums is so rich and pure, you can't sit still. One track after the next engages and captivates with a brash, brassy and bossy sound. I've been listening to the box for days in a state of joy. Hopefully this is the start of an early salsa revival as dozens of other albums are re-issued and a firmer history of this glorious music is codified by gifted writers and documentarians. Caliente!
JazzWax: You'll find the limited edition The Story of Ghetto Records (VMP/NAR) on vinyl here for $319.
Lacquers for all titles (except Drug Story) were cut by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. All seven titles are pressed on exclusive 180g black vinyl.
Hopefully these individual albums will be digitized soon.
JazzWax tracks: The following tracks aren't from the new vinyl releases. They are from the original albums. But they are from the seven albums in the box and will give you a taste of what you're getting:
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Rock Concert: An Oral History" (Grove), "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax has won three Jazz Journalists Association awards
