Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl

We are going to have a ton of fun with this episode. Well 16 tons. Ah. That was too easy. 

This is the only album my dad has of this great singer. But, it’s obviously the most important one from his releases.

This artist was really a radio personality at heart, but when producers discovered that deep voice of his, well, the rest is history.

So get ready to hear one of the truly great voices of pop music from the mid 20th century in...

We’ve already come close to proving that the named orchestra leader on this album probably doesn’t exist. I discussed that mystery in Volume 199: Tea and Trumpets.

But the man who wrote all of the tunes on this album most certainly existed. He wrote the scores for more than 30 stage and film musicals. Many of those songs have been performed and recorded by some of the most famous artists in history.

So, get ready to hear memorable ...

What? Yet another trumpet player in my dad’s collection I haven’t introduced you to yet? But of course.

Clyde McCoy is not nearly as well known as the myriad of other horn players I’ve shown off, but he recorded a lot of music from 1917 through 1985.

His 1931 version of a song written nine years earlier set off a mini craze within jazz and set his career on fire.

So get ready to hear a trumpet played in such a style that it inspire...

Well, it’s Fathers Day.

For me, that means another trip to the cemetery rather than a trip to visit my dad for dinner. I’m not looking for sympathy. That’s just the way it is. I mean. That’s life!

And this episode’s featured artist certainly saw his share of ups and downs during his incredibly influential and talented life. He was also my dad’s favorite singer.

This is the last of five of his solo albums my dad had. But we have hea...

Time to take a road trip around this great country we call the US of A. And who better to be our tour guide than the incredible Ray Charles. 

He had over 1,700 listings in discogs, the website I use to catalog my vinyl collections. And it’s not easy to catalog just what genre this genius belongs to.

Well, he belongs to them all: pop, blues, jazz, gospel, country, and rock.

So get ready to hear a guy who once tried to sell an electr...

When I featured this artist the first time on this show, he was still with us. 

Unfortunately, Harry Belafonte passed away just a few weeks later. 

This is the second record we will hear of the two my dad had from this singer. This was Harry’s second LP in his illustrious career. While his first did hit number three on the Billboard charts. This was his first of two number one albums.

So, get ready to hear one of the purest singing...

We now pull out the final disk of this six record box set filled with memories of radio days past. Back in the days before television when you had to imagine what was being described. To the days of live happenings. Expected and extremely unexpected.

This last LP features many news recordings that were captured as they happened from 1920 through the early 1940s.

So get ready to hear history as it unfolded live to countless listener...

It’s a 78 RPM Sunday. These episodes should probably more appropriately be labelled spinning my dad’s dad’s shellac. 

In the old days of records coming on 10” disks with one song per side, it made collections rather large. So in order to organize them, record stores would sell large books that you can put several records in. The same you would do with photos. They came with a generic front cover and several sleeves to slip the disk...

Happy mothers day. This one’s for my mother who we lost ten years ago this month.

As we go through this large record collection, I can tell which records my mom might have picked out. This is one of them.

It’s a self-titled debut album from a singer who already had a hit single and a starring role in a popular TV show. He was just a bit of a heartthrob.

So get ready to hear a singer and actor who gave up that life to save lives in ...

We now pull out the third record from this seven disk box set. A record that features a relatively unknown work AND probably one of the most famous works in music history. Talk about a dichotomy.   This is music from the immortal Ludwig Van Beethoven. His symphonies live on in performances to this very day.   Plus I decided to play three movements from each symphony. I thought this joint needed some classing up.   So, settle in and...

Here’s a trumpet player we’ve heard from before. He was a favorite of my dad’s. He’s also a favorite of mine. He’s loud and powerful. He plays at just below a blatting level, but keeps in control with some of the most intricate music.

He performed at halftime of the first Super Bowl and owned his own New Orleans jazz club.

So get ready to hear a musician who could shift gears to play many styles of music, even being critiqued for t...

We’re going to have a little extra fun with this episode. In fact, you might say I have high hopes for it.

One of my dad’s, and my, favorite artists is Willie Nelson. One of my favorite holidays is the day this episode drops, and I’m not talking about Easter.

Some of the most favorite songs-to-record in music history are on this album. So famous, just the songs you’ll hear have been recorded more than 63 hundred times. That’s what ...

We haven’t reached into the great Franklin Mint section of my dad’s collection for a while. Most of the episodes featuring the Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time often get blocked by YouTube. 

But I’ve really grown attached to this specific box set lately. It’s filled with some great and legendary jazz singers.

So get ready to hear a variety of voices with various styles in Volume 224: Big Band Bards Record 2.

More information ab...

We now pull out yet another one of the seven Henry Mancini albums my dad had. He’s one of my favorites too.

This one is a follow up to Mancini Plays The Great Academy Award Songs, the album you heard in Volume 43: Mancini and the Oscar Winners.

There’s just something about his music. You just recognize the sound right away.

So get ready to hear music from a composer arranger who had his hands on the scores for more than 100 big scr...

I attended the Wednesday, March 26, 2025 Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass concert at the Goodyear Theater in Akron, Ohio. 

Yes, Herb is still touring at 89 years old. Yes, I was excited to see him again. 

Obviously, I can’t can’t record the show. That’s why I’m going to do something the FM radio stations did when I was younger. After a show, they would play the entire set list in order. Sit tight. This will be a long episode.

So g...

This is going to be an extra fun episode. Many of the tunes have melodies you already know. Some tunes were created for this album.

The trumpet player leading the band was part of some great music history in the form of some famous big bands, including some history he claimed on his own.

So get ready to hear the last living member of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra in Volume 221: Every Twist You Take.

More information about thi...

Gee, imagine that! Another album featuring a trumpet player from my dad's collection. And a trumpet player we've heard from before.

This time, we get to hear some great ragtime.

This artist not only fronted his own band, but got his pedigree through some of the best big bands in history.

So, get ready to hear a musician who had a movie made about his life in Volume 220: Red Hot Pennies.

More information about this album, see the Di...

There’s an old business saying that goes, how do you eat a whale? One bite at a time. 

In this episode we take several small bites and a couple of big ones from the incredible output of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Ahhhh Bach.

And to continue that M*A*S*H connection right now in the opening, the scene goes, “Somehow... there's a mathematical precision about Bach, a complexity that adds up to actual simplicity. It goes beyond...

Episode dedicated to Dino Baskovic (1974-2025)

This is the third of four records from Connie Francis that my dad has in his collection. She WAS the top charting female US artist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

Her popularity was due to her voice and being able to sing in multiple languages. And she was a hit maker during the early days of rock and roll.

So get ready to hear a star who was estimated to have sold more than 200 mi...