Exploring the music of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack era
On the heels of MITM’s 6th Anniversary……Brad “Martini” Chambers is celebrating his birthday today … Somewhere around his 13th or 14th 39th birthday I figure!
All the best Brad! Have a great day and an extra olive in your martini this morning, uh tonight. 
scox
All the best……to Brad “Martini” Chambers, Mother Miriam and the crew over at MartiniInTheMorning.com — Happy 6th Anniversary and here’s to many more years of playing The Great American Songbook “around the clock and around the world”!
scox
…on the Internet.It’s been awhile since I reviewed American Songbook offerings available on the ether-webs radio dial.
Over the past 9 months, I’ve crossed paths with one outstanding station, and a couple of other strong players that I did not catch in my first cast of the internet radio net last summer.
These stations are “top drawer” additions worthy of an interim update to the vocalstandards.com top stations list.
Hey, you may already be listening to these cool American Songbook radio stations … but if not, there’s no reason to wait around until my annual radio review next August to dial them in!
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‘bagas baby … Yeah!Rutabagas that is … you know, that wild purple and yellow root vegetable that nobody eats? Well, I got it bad for ‘bagas … at least twice a year on T-day and Christmas.
My lovely bride and I celebrated Thanksgiving with her family in Dallas and there were no ‘bagas in sight. I did not expect the lovely, bitter little root veggies to make the scene — rutabagas find little respect out in the world — but I found myself back home back home Saturday pining for ‘bagas in the worst way.
So while listening to the Martiniinthemorning gang do their annual countdown of the “Top 100 Holiday Songs” last Saturday, I decided to cook up a meal that could sate my holiday rutabaga addiction. [Read more...]
Working on a review of “DEAN MARTIN cool then, cool now” book/CD for this afternoon but I wanted to get a shout out to Brad, Mother Miriam, John, John and the extended MITM family … Happy 5th anniversary!
You guys are the best — here’s to many more years of great Standards radio from the Martini In The Morning spot on the internet radio dial!
One of my favorite ways to listen the Standards is to grab a glass of wine, dial up one of the better Standards internet radio stations and let someone else do the driving.
I have a sizable library, a myriad of hand crafted VS_guy playlists, Spotify, MOG, Napster, Pandora … a ton of material to call up at will. But sometimes it’s fun to relinquish control and listen “old school radio” style … just let the music wash over me for a few hours (refilling my wine glass as needed of course).
With a quality DJ at the helm, I invariably end up hearing material or artists that are new to me, or a pan a new deep catalog nugget from one of my favorite artists. Radio style listening can be a fun way to explore the vast American Songbook realm IF it’s done right. For me there needs to be a mix of familiar contemporary and classic stuff commingled with the “new to me” songs or it can just wear me out.
Fortunately there are several good internet radio stations out there, a few great ones that deliver a high quality Standards listening experience … and one clear winner!
Welcome! I'm Steve Cox, the VocalStandards Guy and this site is all about the music of the Rat Pack era… “the standards” performed by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and their many contemporaries of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s… on through to today where Michael Bublé, Diana Krall and the Next Generation of vocal performers, Crossover Artists and Fresh Faces continue to deliver the Great American Songbook. MORE
Had he not died way too young... ...(in 1985 at age 64), Nelson Riddle would be celebrating his 92nd birthday today. There are many, fabulous arrangers … Read More...
No one wore a fedora better... ...but more than just being a dapper dresser, Frank Sinatra really believed that clothes very much made the man. He was … Read More...
Louis Armstrong loved Christmas... Coming from profound poverty, Louis didn't experience much Christmas spirit as a kid. His amazing talent raised him and … Read More...
