Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Thursday, October 17, 2013

Charles Blackwell and His Orchestra - Freight Train (single)


Producer and arranger Charles Blackwell certainly had his pulse on what British record buyers were looking for in the 1960s. At the age of 22 (that would be about 1965) , according to the All Music Guide, Blackwell was averaging one Top 10 hit a week in the British charts. Among his successes was Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me (1967).

Blackwell recorded a few items under his own name, including this 1962 single for Columbia in the U.K. Death Valley was on the flip side and you can read about and listen to that tune in this previous post.

Freight Train was written early in the 20th century by Elizabeth Cotton. According to her she was 12 years old when she composed it. Cotton -- and Freight Train -- were rediscovered in the late 1950s during the folk music revival in North America and the boom in skiffle music in Britain. Country singer Rusty Draper had a hit with it in the U.S. in late 1957, while in the U.K. a version by the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group featuring Nancy Whiskey made the charts.

In his recording Charles Blackwell featured a rock 'n' roll sax over a bouncy pop beat.

Freight Train



Neither side of this single is available on CD or via download. However, Blackwell did record another version of Freight Train for legendary producer Joe Meek that is included on the CD Those Plucking Strings, which is easily obtained.

Here's another Charles Blackwell single from 1962 in which he tackles the exotica standard Taboo. It's produced by Joe Meek.

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