Leon Redbone - Live in Paris - Up A Lazy River

It is absolutely bucketing down here whilst warm (15 + degrees! it was fourteen at 4 am after the recent below 0 at night here!!?)and the storm winds blow I recommend going Up a Lazy River with our Leon! 

Original sources early mewsics _ Leon Redbone [Wilton Crawley - Big Time Woman]

 Wilton Crawley - Big Time Woman (original)

So Leon Redbone mentioned in the clip (yesterday postings) that the song he was doing was written by Wilton Crawley and I always wondered where Leon got his sources from and still do to a degree! well here’s the original of the song he covered

Leon Redbone - Big Time Woman Commonwealth Pier, Boston, USA 1981

 Now we haven’t had any Leon Redbone for a while and I hadn’t seen this version of a favourite song  may be though because it is poor quality vid I avoided posting before but the sound seems fine and plays enjoyably well so I will bid y’all a jolly Good Evening with this classic

I miss him and pretty much have every offial recording going . . . . . a unique star in that he was enjoyed by both me and my parents( especially my Mum who loved that early 30-40s dance band stuff!) 

I dedicate this to my Mum!

Leon Redbone - Big Time Woman

Full Big Time Woman complete

Leon Redbone Live From Paris, France

 Recorded On October 26th 1992 At The Olympia Theatre.

Leon Redbone “slipped into the next room” five years ago {aged 127!} | Diddy Wah Diddy & Shine on Harvest Moon

Diddy Wah Diddy - Leon Redbone on The Tonight Show

 

“My views on music and life in general, are completely out of step with everything that's going on. I've always been out of step. The only thing that interests me is history, reviewing the past and making something out of it.” - Leon Redbone

Leon Redbone “slipped into the next room” five years ago.

Leon Redbone was a Canadian/American singer-songwriter and guitarist specialising in interpretations of early 20th century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognised for his trademark Panama hat, dark sunglasses and black tie, he first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada in the mid-1970s.

Leon released eighteen albums (sic?) and sang the theme to the television series, Mr. Belvedere. His concerts blended performance, comedy and skilled instrumentals. Recurrent gags involved the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written works originating well before his time.

Leon Redbone made his Woodstock debut on November 12, 2010 in the event gallery at the Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts. 

Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian, August 26, 1949) is a Canadian/American singer-songwriter and guitarist specialising in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics.

Recognised for his trademark Panama hat, dark sunglasses, and black tie, Redbone first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada in the mid-1970s.

Redbone has released approximately fifteen albums (see above ?) and earned a sizeable cult following. His concerts blend performance, comedy, and skilled instrumentals. Recurrent gags involve the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written works originating well before his time. He sang the theme to the television series Mr. Belvedere.

On May 19, 2015 on his web site, his publicist announced his retirement from performing and recording

Redbone died on May 30, 2019, following complications from dementia. At the time of his death he was living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in hospice care. He was survived by his wife Beryl Handler, daughters Blake and Ashley, and three grandchildren.

A statement on Redbone's website noted his death with cheeky humour: 

"It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30, 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127. He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat."

His longtime publicist Jim Della Croce confirmed that his age was, in fact, 69.

As I have said before I think I have everything by Leon but didn’t think it was eighteen . . . . . . must be close and bought Branch to Branch first I think, then Champagne Charlie and the rest is history and I was hooked. Rarely in musical tastes did I find I shared interest with my folks but my beloved Mum was astonished to find me listening to these and adored Redbone’s music! (she loved 30’s and 40’s dance band music and Bix Biederbecke and that kind of genre)

Shine on Harvest Moon - Leon Redbone band live 

Filmed in Nashville, TN. Leon Redbone and Scott Black on cornet perform with a studio orchestra.

When Leon met John [Redbone and Prine that is!]

Finding out that two of your musical heroes once met is always enjoyable and this is no exception and really made me laugh out loud (there should be an acronym for that!?) a random photo with random notes and Leon and John would doubtless have fond memories too which might have made either, or both, burst out laughing , . . . . . . just another random synchronous meeting of the stars aligning!

 

"From a party over at John’s in 1988. Leon Redbone had just attempted to fix John’s jukebox by moving a couple of tubes around when we heard a pssst sound and some smoke curled up from inside. That’s when this picture was taken! Don’t know if it ever worked again."

Photo & story from Jim Rooney 

#JohnPrine #LeonRedbone

Leon Redbone Live From Paris France- Big Time Woman

Leon Redbone Live From Paris, France Was Recorded On October 26th 1992 At The Olympia Theatre.

Leon Redbone: Guitar, Vocals, & Arrangements

Scott Black: Cornet

David Boeddinghaus: Piano

Frank Vignola: Guitar

Enjoy! I did! Wouldn’t be Christmas here without some Leon Redbone . . . . . . 

Leon Redbone - Black Swamp Arts Festival, Bowling Green, Ohio, Sept. 9, 2007 - VOODOO WAGON

 LEON REDBONE!

Well this made my day! I haven't played much Leon Redbone for a while ( I think I have everything since Double Time and since his death (at 167 according to him!) this may explain why I had put him on the shelf for a while but thanks to Jeremiah and Silent Way I have played little else this morning.  I LOVE this stuff! I defy it not to cheer you up! It always does for me and frankly we all need some of this! Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day!

This concert is classic Redbone and many of my favourite songs by him . . . . . he can do no wrong so thanks to everyone over at HQ and especially the Boss, Jeremiah and all the 'assistants'! ;)

Leon Redbone - Black Swamp Arts Festival, Bowling Green Ohio 2007 - Voodoo Wagon

 Leon Redbone

Black Swamp Arts Festival

Bowling Green, Ohio

September 9, 2007

Soundboard Recording

01 - Intro
02 - Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
03 - Stage Banter
04 - I Ain't Got Nobody
05 - Step It Up and Go
06 - Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
07 - My Good Gal's Gone Blues
08 - You Drive Me Crazy
09 - Stage Banter
10 - My Blue Heaven
11 - Stage Banter
12 - Diddy Wah Diddy
13 - Stage Banter
14 - Sweet Sue, Just You
15 - Stage Banter
16 - Love Letters In The Sand
17 - Stage Banter
18 - Police Dog Blues
19 - Stage Banter
20 - Shine On, Harvest Moon
21 - Stage Banter
22 - Polly Wolly Doodle

Videodrome :: Candy Mountain, A ROBERT FRANK Roadtrip movie - AQUARIUM DRUNKARD

From Tom Waits To Leon Redbone with Joe Strummer, David Johansen and Dr John

Robert Frank

In 2019, Robert Frank died in Nova Scotia, Canada at the age of 94. He was, without a doubt, one of the greatest photographers to ever turn his eye on America. In the 1950s, the Swiss-born Jewish twenty-something criss-crossed the country taking pictures always and everywhere. His efforts resulted in a landmark book The Americans, published in 1958. As Jack Kerouac wrote in his introduction to the book, Frank “sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film…”

 . . . . . all these years later, when hardly anyone would bat an eye at footage of a young Mick Jagger hoovering cocaine, viewing C**ksucker Blues as it was meant to be seen is still a rare event. One of the more high profile screenings happened in Boston in 1988, when Robert Frank hosted a double feature that paired C**ksucker Blues with what would turn out to be his final feature film, Candy Mountain.

Candy Mountain is in many ways a strange film, but it makes perfect sense in the context of Robert Frank’s life. Perhaps the strangest thing about the movie is that it was made in 1987, and not ten or twenty years earlier.

Candy Mountain - Robert Frank : a road trip - Aquarium Drunkard article here

(Welcome to Videodrome. A recurring column plumbing the depths of vintage and contemporary cinema – from cult, exploitation, trash and grindhouse to sci-fi, horror, noir, documentary and beyond.)

SONG OF THE DAY - LEON REDBONE 'BITTERSWEET WALTZ'

 There are songs that you think maybe should be played at one's funeral . . . . . this is one of mine

Leon Redbone Performs "Bittersweet Waltz" From The Album: Up A Lazy River Written By: Craig Safan & Mark Mueller Dr. John: Piano Arnold Kinsella Jr. : Drums Vince Giordano: Bass Ken Peplowski: Clarinet & Saxes Alfredo Pedernera: Bandoneon

Another live special from Leon for all you sinners out there . . . . . .

  . . . . . "if you know the words please hum along!"

LEON REDBONE

"Oh behave yourselves"

R.I.P.

Website announces death of Leon Redbone here from Variety . .

Leon Redbone meant a great deal to me and I think I have every album so I am especially sad to hear reports announcing his death at 69. In keeping with everything Redbone and a nod of the fedora (or pith helmet!) to his roots music of a different era, the announcement mentioned his age as 127!

Humour was never far away with Leon's choice of song to cover and specialised, like Ry Cooder, in researching really old vaudeville and roots songs from the 'Sheik of Araby' to 'Champagne Charlie' to dance band numbers of the turn of the twentieth century dance band music from 'Diddy Wah Diddy' to 'Seduced', to 'Shine on Harvest Moon' and 'Up a Lazy River' or even 'Polly Wolly Doodle'. Bob Dylan discovered him early on at the Mariposa Folk Festival and mentioned him in an interview with Rolling Stone causing them to feature an article on him a year before anyone had signed him to a recording deal. 

Leon was notably mysterious about his origins and even his identity (some folks claimed he was in fact Andy Kauffman or even Frank Zappa!He would outlive them both) and he often laid claim to having written many songs composed in Tin Pan Alley long before he was even born but in fact was born in Cyprus to Armenian parents. In the sixties they lived in London but emigrated to Canada. 
He was unique and accompanied on his little parlour guitar with the ever present moustache and stylish headgear with those mellifluous tones crooning out the oldest and loveliest and often most hilarious of classics, Only Leon perhaps could talk Dr John into covering Frosty The Snowman [sic]! I recall my mother was astonished to find out about him and loved that we shared an interest in his music. She adored him too!

Leon passed away this morning aged 69 in a hospice in Pennsylvania

I for one will miss him sorely.

Maybe for those who didn't know him . . . . . . 


















 

The nearest he came to hit in the UK was this that had been used for an advert for . . .the railways I believe (actually an INTERCITY PROMO)


In typical whimsical fashion it seem Redbone had prepared his own announcement, having retired from performing back in 2015 for 'health reasons' his website stated:

“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th, 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127,” it read. “He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat. He’s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence and has plans for a rousing sing along number with Sári Barabás. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, ‘Oh behave yourselves. Thank you…. and good evening everybody.'”

Good night, Leon

LEON REDBONE

We haven't featured any Leon Redbone for a while and it is odd because he is or was certainly an old favourite and I would have a separate section on him back in the day. 
I have pretty much every album released and enjoy them all . . . . . here's why