thu 28/03/2024

Birthdays on the Tube: 28 March-2 April | reviews, news & interviews

Birthdays on the Tube: 28 March-2 April

Birthdays on the Tube: 28 March-2 April

Serge Gainsbourg, Herb Alpert, Marvin Gaye, William Walton and Haydn

This week's musicians birthdays include the genius/lecherous mediocrity (according to taste) Serge Gainsbourg, singing a duet with Brigitte Bardot, classic early 60s footage of Marvin Gaye, vibraphone maestro Red Norvo, Herb Alpert in a rodeo video doing “Casino Royale”, and Astrud Gilberto from Ipanema. Composer birthdays of the week are Franz Joseph Haydn and William Walton. Videos below.

2 April 1928: French maverick Serge Gainsbourg, here singing a duet with Brigitte Bardot of “Bonnie and Clyde”.

  

2 April 1939: Marvin Gaye, with an early TV appearance singing the sublime “Can I Get a Witness”.

 

31 March 1908: Red Norvo was the wizard of the vibraphone, here playing a tune called “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” with Benny Goodman and his band.

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31 March 1935: Herb Alpert, trumpeter, composer and record label boss (of A&M), here plays “Casino Royale”, the title tune of the strangest Bond film, at a rodeo.

   

29 March 1902: William Walton's wife Susanna died last week, who had done all she could to keep the flame of his music alight. Here guitarist Marlou Peruzzolo (chk) plays Walton's Third Bagatelle.



31 March 1732: The First Day of Franz Joseph Haydn's Creation performed with typical panache by Les Arts Florissants under the baton of William Christie.

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29 March 1940: Astrud Gilberto singing her best-known and probably best piece “The Girl from Ipanema”. PRS have more than 500 versions of this song registered. Only The Beatles' “Yesterday” has more versions.


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