In the Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Eddie and Brian Holland for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Eddie and Brian, of course, are brothers and songwriters who, with Lamont Dozier, helped create Motown's sound in the 1960s. For the Supremes alone, Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote 10 No. 1 Billboard pop hits for the group. The Holland brothers were raised by their mother and grandmother, and their sister was a force as well. The brothers had natural musical talent.
As a child, Brian could pick out songs on the piano after hearing them once. Eddie began as a singer managed by Berry Gordy before Berry started Motown, but by the early 1960s, he spent two years studying hits to figure out what made their lyrics special. Then he joined his brother and Dozier, and they became a Motown songwriting team. Their first Billboard pop hit was Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas. Their first No. 1 pop hit was the Supremes' Where Did Our Love Go (1964)...
Here's Heat Wave...
Here's Where Did Our Love Go...
And here's a 2009 video clip (from left) of Brian, Eddie and Lamont being interviewed about their sound...
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Sirius XM. This past week, I was on Sirius XM's Feedback for an hour with co-hosts Nik Carter, Lori Majewski and Alan Light to talk about Stevie Wonder and his 1972 Talking Book album. If you missed the show, you can listen for free here...
Slate. Last week, Evan Chung, producer of Slate's One Year podcast, turned its attention to 1942. Evan had me on along with author Robin D.G. Kelley and other guests to talk about the American Federation of Musicians' recording ban of 1942-1944 and how the job action inadvertently led to the recording and rise of bebop. Listen here...
More Stevie. Last week, I heard from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:
Hi Marc, Thanks for your WSJ essay on Stevie Wonder's "Talking Book" album and your Sirius XM broadcast. For you and JazzWax fans of Stevie Wonder, we have two concerts from 1975 at the FM Radio Archive here.
The first concert was held at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. This concert featured Stevie's Wonderlove band, with a great assortment of his music repertoire, including four songs from "Talking Book." The concert came from CHUM-FM in Toronto.
The second is a combination of songs from a concert in Binghamton, N.Y., in March 1975 and Stevie's appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in early April of that year. The concert portion was likely from WNEW-FM in N.Y., with the "SNL" portion from the NBC TV broadcast.
Freddie Hubbard Quintet. At his Creed Taylor tribute page, Mark Cathcart posted on a Freddie Hubbard concert held at Ebberts Field in Denver in 1973. Freddie Hubbard's quintet featured Freddie Hubbard (tp), Junior Cook (ts), George Cables (p), Kent Brinkley (b) and Ralph Penland (d). As far as Mark is aware, this is the first time online for the complete set. He has added downloads and stream links as well.
New to Spotify. Walter Gross at Sony Music emailed me on Friday with a fresh list of new RCA jazz entries that have just been posted to Spotify. Walter says all come from the master tapes at Sony Japan. As he notes, these should sound better than whatever is currently up online streaming elsewhere...
Shorty Rogers—Cool and Crazy! (1953) go here.
Joe Newman—I’m Still Swinging (1956) go here.
Dave Pell Octet—Campus Hop (Jazz Goes Dancing To Famous Songs By Harry Warren) (1958), go here.
Charlie Parker—Bird With Strings: Live at the Apollo, Carnegie Hall and Birdland, go here.
Dave Thompson. Pianist Dave Thompson wrapped up in the studio yesterday playing Bill Evans's Bill's Hit Tune here...
Illinois Jacquet radio. On Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), Sid Gribetz will host Jazz Profiles on WKCR-FM in New York, featuring a five-hour retrospective on tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
Autumn in Portland, Ore. Following my post on drone and ground-level videos of this year's fall foliage, Kim Paris sent along this beaut from Portland, Ore...
And finally, say what you will about Xavier "Cugey" Cugat, he fronted a serious Latin band. Here's Cougat and Abbe Lane on the Ed Sullivan Show in December 1962 after Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd made Desafinado a raging hit. Notice that there aren't any music stands or music parts, and Lane makes what's hard look easy, especially in a dress that came down to her ankles...