As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

#161 Tryin’ Times – Roberta Flack (1969)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La8_flXOTrI
 
The great Roberta Flack, who got her musical start in DC (after enrolling in Howard University at the tender age of 15), is best known for such hit singles as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, each of which won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year. This song, like the material from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On LP, continues to resonate today, despite being nearly 50 years old. Written by frequent duet partner Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson, it’s the only track on her debut album First Take with neither a string or horn section, simply featuring a small all-star combo with Flack on piano, Ron Carter on bass, John Pizzarelli on guitar, and Ray Lucas on drums.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)