Hey, y’all! Hope you’re doing your best. It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means–it’s once again time for Talkie Time and The Jazz Program on datafruits.fm!
I’m once again AWOL this evening, but never fear – last week’s prerecord went well enough that I won’t be completely out of office. We’ve got another pre-recorded three hour set of all-new programming for you all, including a Jazz Program set I’ve been hinting at on-air for a good minute now.
Read on below to find out what we’ll be playin’ this evening!
At some point I will have to plop my ass down at a local library in one of the primary markets for these shows, go through all the old periodicals on microfiche, and hunt down every single one of these old radio advertisements I can find. Until then, I'll have to keep upscaling the ones I do find.
On a side note, if you happen to run across any old-time-radio adverts in your grandparents' attic or whever you may happen to find 'em...please send 'em my way via email. I'll be happy to scan, digitize, and upload them to the Internet Archive and other such services.
Talkie Time : Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator - Dead Bull In A China Shop / Death And The Purple Cow
“Hello, Willie.”
“Evenin’, Mr Craig. You want some coffee?”
“In Willie’s Wagon?”
“Lay off the crass. It looks like coffee, it smells like coffee…”
“And it tastes like sulfuric acid.”
…
“I’ll have a cup.”
–Death And The Purple Cow, December 12, 1951
Brooklyn’s own hard-boiled actor William Gargon had many roles in the history of old-time radio, including appearances on Lux Radio Theater, I Deal In Crime, This Is Your FBI, and countless others. The one he’s most known for, though – as the openin’ lines of every episode will tell you – is Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator.
Craig’s exploits first hit the airwaves on NBC in 1951 with the slightly different name (and slightly differently named protagonist) Barry Crane, and ran through 1954. You’ll often hear Craig described as one of the more “professional” of the old-time radio hard-boiled boys, but that does not stop him from dropping a solid one-liner five times a minute.
“You on a job?”
“No.”
“Well then, when what’s keeping you up this late?”
“Your coffee, mostly.”
“You didn’t have any before you walked in here.”
“I can dream, can’t I?”
–Death And The Purple Cow, December 12, 1951
We’ve got two episodes for you this evening, both airing sometime around Christmastide and both…involving bovines in the title, for some reason. You can tune in to find out, but you’ll be hard pressed to find out why there seemed to be a Christmas Cow theme going on in this program. I sure was.
First up, we’ve got “Dead Bull In A China Shop”, originally airing December 19, 1954. After that, we’ve got “Death And The Purple Cow”, originally airing three years prior on December 12, 1951.
Barry Craig’s got no patience for bull this evening, but these program are all steak and no filler. Come see what all the beef is about before someone puts me behind bars for pun crimes again.
The Jazz Program: Mann And All His Friends: Herbie Mann And Bobby Jaspar’s Flute Souffle (1957) / Herbie Mann And The Bill Evans Trio’s Nirvana (1964) / Herbie Mann And Dave Valentin’s Two Amigos (1990)
hey look another album cover of a man with his shirt off, it's like i'm foreshadowing something, for next month, perhaps. or maybe i'm just gay. probably that last one honestly
Herbie Mann was a helluva man. A man’s man. Did manly stuff. Played the flute, had a lot of innuendo-laden records. Hunter S. Thompson once told everyone he knew that Herbie’s blowing cured what ailed him. That’s how you know it’s good, man.
We’ll be looking at three records of his tonight–but not just any records. Mann, you see, knew some men. Lots of men. He was a working man, and he sure did work with a lot of men. I’m running out of puns here. We’re listening to his collab records this evening, and if you’ve tuned into the program before, I’m sure you know some of these names.
Up first, it’s Herbie Mann and Bobby Jaspar’s Flute Souffle, originally released in 1957 on Prestige here in the US and subsequently released on Esquire in the UK that same year.
Next up, it’s Herbie Mann and the Bill Evans Trio’s Nirvana, relased on Atlantic in 1957. We’ve already featured Bill multiple times on this program before, including in our tag team tables match theme night last year, which also featured nothing but collaborations. Go check that program out, if you’d like.
And finally, we’ve got Dave Valentine and Herbie Mann’s Two Amigos, which I have been relentlessly bumping in the car since picking up the CD this past December and which was released in 1990 on the successor to the Arista label, GRP. We’ll be taking an in-depth look at that label in an upcoming episode, but until then, here’s a teaser of what they had to offer.
As the man said, men stay swinging, and men always work it out. Come work it on out with us this evening, baby.
Uwu indeed.
That about covers this week’s show! Hopefully we’ll be back to live recordings next week.
If you’re reading this the day of, and you can make it in tonight, you should come hang out in the chat with us on Datafruits! We’ve got a good crowd of folks in the chat every week, and whether you have a suggestion for a future show or just want to hang out and chat with fellow jazz enjoyers, you’re welcome here with us.
You’re all amazing and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not. Stay safe out there, and I’ll see you back again next week. Same time, same station: on datafruits dot fm..