Musical Noodlings

Recently been getting in to spirituals and gospel music ... Mahalia Jackson, "The Five (Original) Blind Boys of Alabama"- not those pretenders to the throne- " the 7 myopic black guys from Mississippi" . . I'm particularly fond of ye olde-testamente songs - like
"Go Down Moses (Let My People Go)" - this version by Louis Armstrong. Cute cartoon.

Also recently discovered the amazing "stride" pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith (1897-1973) . Actually his real name was William Herny Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff. He was a Jewish-African-American musician from New York. (or should that be Jewish-American--African-American?). From the fantastic NPR podcast "Jazz Profiles" from June - (Never have i heard Yiddish sung like that!)

Just discovered the tune "Elijah Rock"... amazing and unusual harmonies, rhythms.