Hey, y’all! Sorry for the absence; I’ve been back in a chef coat proper as of the past month, getting accustomed to my new kitchen and working some heavy hours on the day job, so we’ve been in Rerun Land for a minute.
But I ain’t forgotten about y’all! I’ve been spending a lot of time crate-digging between morning brunch shifts as of late, so I’ve got quite a few fun things to share with y’all over the next few weeks on The Piper Block on datafruits.fm!
(And ideally, I’ll have a negative scanning kit on order either this month or next, and hopefully I’ll have some new rolls of film to show you all over on the Photo Rolls page too! But that’s for later on down the line.)
Let’s see what we’ve got on the schedule tonight…
Talkie Time: The Man Called X - Written In The Sand / Treason At White Sands
Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a gigantic espionage fiction buff. I own every single James Bond novel in paperback and about half of the movies on VHS (and all of them in digital form), I have a copy of damn near every book John Le Carre and Tom Clancy have ever written in paperback, I’ve read everything Henry Porter ever fuckin’ wrote…hell, I’ve even worked on a comic book about the SIS in WWII. If it has some cloak-and-dagger stuff going down (and yes, I’m including the old-time-radio show Cloak And Dagger, which had its own dedicated theme night on this show every last Tuesday of the month for most of 2023), I’m into it.
So, with all of that in mind, it’s almost surprising that The Man Called X hasn’t been on this show more. Featuring Herbert Marshall as Ken Thurston, aka “Mr. X”, this show checks all the boxes. Exotic locations? Check. Suave and debonair douchebag with a gun and the ammo billed on the taxpayer’s dime? Check. Lots of problematic depictions of third world countries? Pronounce the word “check” in a stereotypical and mildly offensive accent in your head.
Tonight, we’ve got two sandy episodes for you. First off, it’s “Written In The Sand”, originally aired on November 9, 1947. After that, we’ve got “Treason At White Sands”, originally aired on April 14, 1951.
The Jazz Program : At The Disco With Herbie Mann - Discotheque (1975) / Surprises (with Cissy Houston) (1975) / Super Mann (1978)
That outfit's probably the most disco this show's gonna get until Ovenrake fills in as a guest DJ and plays Giorgio Moroder for three hours straight.
The last time we heard from Mister Mann, we focused on his collaborative works with artists like The Bill Evans Trio and Dave Valentin. This time, we’re focusing on the things he does when he’s left alone in a room for most of the ’70s. No, not that thing. We’re not listening to Push Push tonight. I’m talking about making disco-funk records.
I shouldn’t talk too much shit here; between recording Hunter S. Thompson’s favorite record, collaborating with the likes of Fire Island, Yusef Lateef, and Cissy Houston, making it to the Billboard Top 100 multiple times (including taking the number 27 spot with one of the records we’ll hear tonight), and recording 26 (yes, you read that correctly, TWENTY FUCKING SIX) records in ten years, the ’70s were Mann’s time to shine.
Tonight, we’ll hear three of those twenty-six records that feature the Mann at his most Travolta’d up. First off, from my own LP collection, we’ve got 1975’s Discotheque, released on Atlantic Records.
After that, we’ve got a collaborative effort with the one and only Cissy Houston (who had plenty of her own disco releases as well). It’s 1975’s Changes, also released on Atlantic.
After that, we’re heading to 1978, one year before Comiskey Park would be filled with the smell of burning vinyl, mulch, bad breath and explosives, for Mann’s final proper disco record on Atlantic, Super Mann.
Despite a bunch of pissed off jockeys’ best efforts, disco still isn’t dead…well, at least as far as I (and multiple other DJs here on Datafruits) are concerned. Come tune in tonight, and get your funky fever on like it’s Saturday Night all over again.
aaaaaand that about covers this week’s show! Next week, we’ll be stuck in Sherlock’s home turf under the English gloom, and then heading out to catch some Soular rays before the summer’s over.
(Can you guess what we’re playing next week from these clues? The Talkie Time one may be a bit obscure, but some thinking and searching on Discogs might give you a clue as to the Jazz Program one. If you have a guess, email me at piperbomb (at) protonmail (dot) com. If you can, I’ll give you a shoutout on-air!)
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..