AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Daniel Barenboim and Guests

Artist:Daniel Barenboim and Guests

Song:Take the A Train

Album:Tribute to Ellington

Daniel Barenboim is a renowned classical pianist and has been around for decades. This 1999 album appears to be his only attempt to play jazz. His discography is massive. And I even used AI. But this appears to be Barenboim's only attempt to play jazz. There are some guest jazz musicians. But the album doesn't really take off which is why I'm not a fan of this kind of crossover. And I don't think record companies like it either. Barenboim was born Nov. 15, 1942 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father taught him to play piano. Barenboim's family moved to Israel in 1952. After he married British cellist Jacqueline Du Pre in 1967, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, retired from music in 1973 and died in 1987. He remarried in 1988. Barenboim started to get critical acclaim in the 50s. The turning point was when he was named director of the Chicago Symphony in 1989. He had recorded for different labels. But he had been with Deutsche Grammophon since 1973. He left in 1991 to record for Teldec. This was a lesser known German label that by the 90s was owned by Warner Bros. The idea to record an Ellington album came up after Barenboim had recorded a tango album. But he wasn't sure if he could do it. So Cliff Colnot of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago was brought in to write the arrangements. They brought in guests like singer Dianne Reeves and clarinetist Don Byron. But most of the musicians were from the Chicago Symphony. And those guys know how to play notes. But playing jazz is not just notes. And as you will see in the video, Barenboim can't play jazz. This album is available as a budget CD. At the time, Barenboim told the Los Angeles Times that he would like to play jazz again. But he hasn't. And no one else had tried to do it either. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma plays all kinds of music but not necessarily jazz. There's no audience for classical musicians playing jazz. And I would expect record companies would discourage musicians from trying it. Here's Daniel Barenboim performing Take the A Train as part of an EPK for the album.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Simple E

Artist:Simple E

Song:Play My Funk

Album:Colouz of Sound

Play My Funk was a song that made the R&B charts after it appeared in the 1993 film Sugar Hill. Then Erica "Simple E" Williams got to make an album. And that's it. Erica was born in New Jersey and grew up in Texas. She studied psychology at Texas Southern University while working as an MC. Then she moved to Los Angeles and was spotted by D'Wayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Tone!. The 1993 film Sugar Hill was produced by 20th Century Fox and they wanted a soundtrack album for it. Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard composed the score. Play My funk was the first single from the album. It reached #55 on the R&B Singles chart. It was enough that Fox let Erica record an album. It was released on Fox Records with RCA distribution. The album was written and produced by Wiggins. Erica co-wrote some songs including Play My Funk. She got positive reviews for her mix of singing and rapping. The album didn't sell but it is available on CD. The soundtrack for Sugar Hill is out of print. Erica never recorded another album but she did appear on a few, most notably Cherokee's 1999 album I Love You...Me. That was Erica's final appearance. I presume she now has a family. Some hip hop fans believe Erica should have been bigger. Maybe if she had been on a hip hop label. But Fox Records was never going to be able to promote her properly. Here's the video for Play My Funk by Simple E. Thanks to the Queen of Bars Instagram page for Erica' bio info. 

AccuRadio Song Of the Day-Euge Groove

Artist:Euge Groove

Song:Get Em Goin'

Album:Just Feels Right

Tenor saxophonist Euge Groove has been a staple of Smooth Jazz for over twenty years when he was on top of the Jazz charts. He still records and tours but he doesn't record for a major label anymore. He was born Steven Eugene Grove Nov. 27, 1962 in Hagerstown, MD. He was given the nickname Euge Groove by European fans. Grove played piano as a child and then switched to sax. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Music in 1984. He played sessions in Miami and most notably on the Freestyle girl group Expose's 1987 #1 hit Seasons Change. Then Grove moved to Los Angeles and replaced Richard Elliot in Tower of Power. After four years, he got into session work. His most notable sax solo was in Richard Marx' 1991 top 20 hit Keep Coming Back. That's when he started calling himself Euge Groove. He sent demos to record companies and signed with Warner Bros. He was touring with Tina Turner at the time. He recorded two albums for Warners. They did OK on the jazz charts. But Grove thought he would be better off on a jazz label. So he signed with Narada Jazz. They were a subsidiary of the New Age label Narada. Grove recorded three albums for Narada and they did very well on the jazz charts. Get Em Goin' is from the 2005 album Just Feels Right. Grove wrote and produced everything with guitarist Paul Brown. On Get Em Goin', Grove plays sax and electric piano. Other musicians are Tony Maiden on guitar, Roberto Vally on bass, Michael White on drums and Lenny Castro on percussion. The album reached #3 on the Jazz chart. The problem was Narada was sold to Virgin/EMI in 1997 and they sold them to Universal in 2006. But you can get this album as a digital download. Grove has recorded for Shanachie since 2009. They are only a distributor so Grove has to promote himself. But he owns the recordings. His latest album The Phoenix was released July 2026. As with all his albums, Grove wrote and produced with Paul Brown. Grove is always on tour. He will be at the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival in Avalon, CA. tomorrow followed by other dates. Here's Euge Groove performing Get Em Goin in Chicago. The musicians are not identified but I presume that Paul Brown played the guitar solo.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Billy Preston

Artist:Billy Preston

Song:Nothing from Nothing

Album:Ultimate Collection

These days Billy Preston is probably best remembered for playing keyboards on Beatles albums in the late 60s. But he went on to have success in the mid 70s. The 1974 single Nothing from Nothing was one of his two #1 hits. He was born Sept. 2, 1946 in Houston but he grew up in Los Angeles with his mom. He was a self taught child prodigy who played organ with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson at age ten. Then he appeared on Nat King Cole's TV show singing Blueberry Hill with Cole. Then he appeared in the 1958 W.C. Handy biopic St. Louis Blues playing a young W.C. Handy. Preston joined Little Richard's band in 1962. And while touring Europe, he met The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. He released his 1963 debut album 16 Yr. Old Soul on Sam Cooke's SAR label. Preston signed with Vee Jay for the 1965 album The Most Exciting Organ Ever and performed on the TV show Shindig!. Preston joined Ray Charles' band in 1967. Musicians were asking him to play on their records. But the big one was The Beatles. Preston played on the Get Back sessions. He was known as The Fifth Beatle. Preston appeared in the film Let It Be. I recommend watching the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back which features the concert on the roof of the Apple Records building. This was The Beatles' final concert. Preston plays electric piano. That documentary can be streamed on Disney+. Preston signed with Apple and released the 1969 album That's the Way God Planned It. The single That's the Way God Planned It was a hit in England. George Harrison produced that album and Preston toured with Harrison after The Beatles split up. Preston signed with A&M Records in 1971 and that's when he had his greatest success. The 1972 instrumental Outa-Space reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then he topped the charts with the 1973 single Will It Go Round in Circles. And he topped the charts again with the 1974 single Nothing from Nothing. And that was the peak of Preston's career. Nothing from Nothing is from Preston's 1974 album The Kids & Me. Preston produced and played keyboards. He wrote most of the songs with longtime songwriting partner Bruce Fisher. They wrote plenty of songs together. You can get all of Preston's hits on this Hip-O budget comp. Preston also played on The Rolling Stones albums and toured with them. Preston left A&M and signed with Motown in 1979. He also recorded for Word's CCM label Myrrh. He scored a 1979 top five hit with the single With You I'm Born Again featuring  Syreeta. He recorded for Motown until 1984. By the 80s, Preston was addicted to cocaine and alcohol. After leaving Motown, he played sessions with Luther Vandross and others. He went to jail for cocaine possession and insurance fraud. After leaving jail, Preston's health deteriorated until he died on June 6, 2006 at age 59. Here's Billy Preston and an all star band performing Nothing from Nothing in a 1975 episode of The Midnight Special. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Gene Pitney

Artist:Gene Pitney

Song:Only Love Can Break a Heart

Album:Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart: The Collection

Gene Pitney was one of the top singers of the early 60s. He had several top ten hits. The 1962 single Only Love Can Break a Heart was his biggest hit. He also wrote songs. He was born Feb. 17, 1940 in Hartford, CT. and he grew up in Rockville, CT. He listened to doo wop and R&B singer Clyde McPhatter was a big influence. He had a band in high school and he recorded a couple of singles for Decca and recorded as Billy Bryan. After releasing the 1960 single I'll Find You on the Festival label in 1960, he signed with songwriter Aaron Schroeder's new label Musicor. Schroeder had written several Elvis Presley hits including Elvis' biggest hit It's Now or Never. Then Pitney had a little luck when he sang the theme for the 1961 film Town Without Pity and it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was nominated for an Oscar and Pitney sang it on the broadcast. That was followed by Pitney's first top five hit (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance and that was followed by Only Love Can Break a Heart. That song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The #1 song at the time was He's a Rebel by The Crystals. Guess what? Pitney wrote that song. The album Only Love Can Break a Heart was produced by Schroeder and his frequent partner Wally Gold. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote Only Love Can Break a Heart and (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance and Bacharach arranged and conducted. Those two singles turned out to be Pitney's biggest hits. Musicor was sold to Gusto Records and they license Pitney's music to oldies labels. This 2CD comp is on the British label Music Club and is available as a budget CD. Pitney was actually more popular in England than the US. Like many singers of that era, Pitney career was derailed by Beatlemania. After a couple more hits, Pitney turned to the country market and recorded with George Jones. By the 70s, he was touring mostly in England, Europe and Australia. Pitney topped the British charts in 1989 when he recorded his 1967 single Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart with Soft Cell lead singer Marc Almond. Pitney was inducted into The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Pitney was on tour in Cardiff, Wales when he died in his hotel room from a heart attack on Apr. 5, 2006 at age 66. Here's Gene Pitney performing Only Love Can Break a Heart. This is the only live footage I could find of Pitney performing this song. And yes, he is lip syncing but he would have lip synced anyway.  

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Bill Frisell

Artist:Bill Frisell

Song:Moon River

Album:When You Wish Upon a Star

I have written about jazz guitarist Bill Frisell before. But he's so versatile and records so many different kinds of music, he's kind of hard to classify. This recording of Henry Mancini's Moon River is from the 2016 album When You Wish Upon a Star. It's an album of movie themes. Frisell studied with Jim Hall at Berklee in Boston. Hall is probably his main influence and Frisell has mostly stuck with acoustic guitar. Frisell's big break came in 1982 when Pat Metheny was unable to make a recording session and he recommended Frisell to drummer Paul Motian. Frisell became ECM Records' in house guitarist through the 80s and recorded three albums for ECM. He also worked a lot with John Zorn in his band Naked City and also Paul Motian and Joe Lovano. Then Frisell signed with Warner's Nonesuch label in 1989 and recorded for them for twenty years. And that is when most jazz fans got to hear Frisell on albums like Have a Little Faith (1992) and This Land (1994). Since leaving Nonesuch in 2009, Frisell has recorded for Savoy, OKeh and he currently records for Blue Note. He first recorded Moon River on the 2001 album Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones. That album is out of print. But when I saw that Frisell recorded an album of movie themes and that was more interesting anyway. Of course Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote Moon River for the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Star Audrey Hepburn sang it in the film and it won a Best Original Song Oscar. Andy Williams performed it on the Oscar broadcast. It's generally considered to be his signature song though it was never released as a single. The album When You Wish Upon a Star is on OKeh and was produced by Lee Townsend who was recommended by Charlie Haden's daughter Petra Haden who sings on this album. Other musicians are Eyvind King on viola, Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. Morgan and Royston have toured with Frisell. I know there are jazz fans who like jazz versions of movie themes so this would be of interest to them. As I said, Frisell currently records for Blue Note and he released an album in Feb. 2026. He will appear at Birdland in New York with Ron Carter in October. Then he will tour Europe. Here's Bill Frisell with Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston performing Moon River at the 2025 Jarasum Jazz Festival in South Korea. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Richard Elliot

Artist:Richard Elliot

Song:When a Man Loves a Woman

Album:The Best of Richard Elliot

Saxophonist Richard Elliot was a member of Tower of Power in the 80s. Since leaving the band, he has had a lot of success in the Smooth Jazz market. Elliot recorded for Blue Note in the 90s. This 1989 cover of the Percy Sledge classic When a Man Loves a Woman is one of his most popular recordings. he was born Jan. 16, 1960 in Glasgow, Scotland but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was three. He played clarinet as a child and switched to saxophone as a teen. Elliot was a fan of Motown and Philadelphia International. So he moved to Detroit in 1972 and toured with Natalie Cole and The Pointer Sisters. Elliot returned to Los Angeles and while touring with Melissa Manchester, he also played in the fusion band Kittyhawk led by guitarist Daniel Bortz. Elliot played lyricon and saxophone. After Kittyhawk released two albums on EMI America, Elliot left to join Tower of Power in 1982. He also worked with Yellowjackets, recorded his first solo album in 1984 and played sessions. The 1989 album Take to the Skies was one of three albums that Elliot recorded for Intima Records which was owned by Enigma Records with Capitol distribution. After Elliot had success with his recording of When a Man Loves a Woman, he signed with Capitol owned Blue Note Records. Elliot wrote and produced most of the songs. Musicians were Alan Hinds on guitar, Naoki Yanai on bass and Bob Harsen on drums and percussion. I think this was his band at the time. Elliot played keyboards and sax. Bobby Caldwell and Marilyn Scott were special guests. You can get When a Man Loves a Woman on this budget comp. Elliot recorded for Blue Note until 2001. He currently records for Shanachie meaning he owns the recordings. Shanachie is strictly a distributor. Elliot's latest album was released in 2024. Like many Smooth Jazz artists, Elliot is always touring and he does a lot of Smooth Jazz Cruises. Here's Richard Elliot performing When a Man Loves a Woman on the German TV show Ohne Filter. There's a video for When a Man Loves a Woman but Elliot barely appears in it. So I prefer this.