David McCallum RIP

[sgcim]

7 hours ago, medjuck said:

According to Milt Hinton he ran into him  the street and hired him for his (Gleason's) next session thus beginning Milt's studio career. 

Well, at least that's something.

[sgcim]

8 hours ago, rostasi said:

What are your feelings on Mitch Miller?

Mitch Miller has been literally accused of destroying American Popular Music, in a book I read about APM in the 50s.

As head of A&R at Mercury and Columbia,  he ignored the sophisticated pop songs written by songwriters such as Alec Wilder,Tommy Wolfe and Fran Landesman, and others of that ilk, and championed gimmicky crap like, "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" To quote music historian Will Friedwald:

"Miller exemplified the worst in American pop. He first aroused the ire of intelligent listeners by trying to turn—and darn near succeeding in turning—great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into hacks. Miller chose the worst songs and put together the worst backings imaginable—not with the hit-or-miss attitude that bad musicians traditionally used, but with insight, forethought, careful planning, and perverted brilliance.^[12]

^{It's no wonder kids turned to Elvis.}

[JSngry]

 

[sonnymax]

[felser]

On 10/3/2023 at 2:15 AM, sgcim said:

Mitch Miller has been literally accused of destroying American Popular Music, in a book I read about APM in the 50s.

As head of A&R at Mercury and Columbia,  he ignored the sophisticated pop songs written by songwriters such as Alec Wilder,Tommy Wolfe and Fran Landesman, and others of that ilk, and championed gimmicky crap like, "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" To quote music historian Will Friedwald:

"Miller exemplified the worst in American pop. He first aroused the ire of intelligent listeners by trying to turn—and darn near succeeding in turning—great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into hacks. Miller chose the worst songs and put together the worst backings imaginable—not with the hit-or-miss attitude that bad musicians traditionally used, but with insight, forethought, careful planning, and perverted brilliance.^[12]

^{It's no wonder kids turned to Elvis.}

Yet none of that holds true for the marvelous Johnny Mathis albums of the period, most were also produced by Miller.   Barbra Streisand and Andy Williams also produced albums of artistic merit on Columbia during Miller's reign.   So the truth is actually more complicated.  Miller was about selling records, by whatever means necessary.  In some cases that meant schlock and novelties for older artists.  In others it meant quality albums for younger artists.

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, sonnymax said:

Supposed to have been a aDsily Motion video of a  Hart to Hart episode guest starring David McCallum ( and Tipi Hedrin) but I guess that ain't happenin' here. Sorry. 

[Teasing the Korean]

52 minutes ago, felser said:

Yet none of that holds true for the marvelous Johnny Mathis albums of the period, most were also produced by Miller.   Barbra Streisand and Andy Williams also produced albums of artistic merit on Columbia during Miller's reign.   So the truth is actually more complicated.  Miller was about selling records, by whatever means necessary.  In some cases that meant schlock and novelties for older artists.  In others it meant quality albums for younger artists.

Mitch is also responsible for that wonderful 30th Street studio reverb that was placed on vocalists such as Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Eydie Gorme, and others.  I love that sound. 

[sgcim]

I was listening to an interview with Danny Thompson on his time as a bass player for John Martyn and Nick Drake, and he talked about the session for "River Man". He talked about the violin section, and said that the leader of it was David McCallum. It turned out he was talking about the actor's father. He said that his son became a big actor on the American TV show, I Spy. We all know what series he meant.

Edited February 5, 2024 by sgcim