I think they're still around, but JAM Creative Productions (whose founder previously worked for PAMS)
― aegis philbin (crüt), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:20 (two years ago) link
Thanks. Never really heard about either of those two before this week. The biggest one in my mind was always Pepper Tanner in Memphis. Some stories I always heard were about Rita Coolidge starting out there and maybe being on a related record label which Elvis associate Marty Lacker might have been associated with. Also think Marty Lacker produced a few jingles with Chips Moman at American Studios, which is one of the things that led to Elvis recording there. Also thinking about the Ron Hicklin Singers who were based in L.A. They seemed to have sung every other T.V. theme for the good part of a decade or so but I believe they also sang commercials and radio ids.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:24 (two years ago) link
TM Productions in Dallas is the one that springs to mind. I still own a copy of this promo LP. Side one introduces their product, but the second side is a radio play that’s super fun if you have inside knowledge of the politics of radio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BciNvhrb2Kg
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:35 (two years ago) link
Thanks. In fact I’m still not sure where they recorded but this Ron Hicklin demo mentions TM Productions almost right off the bat.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PUHOQ0AIDE
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:43 (two years ago) link
I’m gonna have to take off my rainbow shades!
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:44 (two years ago) link
Okay, the #onethread continues with that video making an outrageous, Purdie-level claim about The Monkees.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:46 (two years ago) link
Here are their actual Monkees credits, I believe: https://monkees.coolcherrycream.com/people/ron-hicklin/musician
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:48 (two years ago) link
In addition to JAMS and TM Productions, the Ron Hicklin Wikipedia article mentions The Heller Corporation. I found some info here: https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/10/heller_corporat.html
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:58 (two years ago) link
Lots of stuff on Pepper Tanner in various Memphis music books. Will try to distill some of it.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:06 (two years ago) link
There was another jingle company based in New York called HEA, Herman Edel Associates. http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/246-Chuck-Berrys-Recording-Session-for-Dr-Pepper.html
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:11 (two years ago) link
Which was later owned by this woman, who wrote a book, which gets praise from both Randy Newman and Will Lee!http://www.susanhamilton.com/bio/
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:14 (two years ago) link
Really just go to this page to start:http://www.susanhamilton.com/about-the-book/
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:15 (two years ago) link
Before Herman Edel had his own company he worked at Music Makers with/for Mitch Leigh.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:25 (two years ago) link
Who studied at Yale under Paul HIndemith and also wrote Man of La Mancha.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:53 (two years ago) link
(Thank for the opportunity to create this crazy thread)
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:55 (two years ago) link
Who widow is some kind of big deal artist.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:57 (two years ago) link
Whose
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 06:02 (two years ago) link
There was also a joint venture between Herman Edel and George Martin: https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/air-edel-london
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 06:19 (two years ago) link
Susan Hamilton’s first husband was folk guitarist Walter Raim, whose stuff must be pretty deep crate-wise, as he has never been mentioned on this borad:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNOpT0HIPlA
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 06:35 (two years ago) link
Paul McCartney and Charlie Drayton’s dad Bernie are just two of the players in the story of the Dr. Pepper jingle.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 08:23 (two years ago) link
Was coming at this from a different angle but all roads lead back and I relocated this video and reread the comments. It turns out Walter Raim wrote this famous piece of music while at Herman Edel, which Susan Hamilton and Bernard Drayton produced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfksiAUfQ6M
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 14:01 (two years ago) link
I actually talked with some people at HEA (or maybe it was their successor/spinoff, 4/4 Productions) about working there doing clerical duty one summer in the mid-1980s, though it didn't work out. Besides Susan Hamilton (who I didn't realize had written a book - must read!), Bernie Drayton and Jake Holmes worked there. Jake Holmes and Randy Newman wrote the Dr. Pepper "Most Original Soft Drink" jingle that Chuck Berry sings (although I think Chuck improvised on this version enough to deserve a credit too). Jake also wrote (and sometimes sang) the "Be a Pepper" jingle that replaced it a few years later. Didn't know about the rejected McCartney jingle though; there's a pic on Susan's blog site of her and Bernie Drayton with George Martin, so the Beatles connection must go beyond just knowing Paul through Linda's dad.
― Lee626, Saturday, 1 January 2022 16:28 (two years ago) link
#TBT @air_edel Studio in London, originally known as Audio International Recording Studios was renamed as AIR-Edel after it was acquired in a joint venture between Sir George Martin and Herman Edel in 1990. https://t.co/nU30tarPRo#AIREDEL #recordingstudio #musicproducer pic.twitter.com/3lfA6I5TLJ— Sound On Sound (@soundonsoundmag) February 18, 2021
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 16:53 (two years ago) link
That year seems wrong though.
Founded 50 years ago by Sir George Martin & Herman Edel, we are a prolific force within the industry, working as an all-encompassing music services company for all forms of visual media, providing music representation, supervision, recording facilities, publishing & record labels— Air-Edel Studios (@airedelstudios) March 26, 2020
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 16:54 (two years ago) link
Seems like the original owner of HEA Herman Edal flew to London to meet Sir George in October of 1969 to work on some jingles and discuss further plans and they opened Air-Edel in 1970..
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 16:57 (two years ago) link
Somewhere I have a cassette that HEA sent out to prospective clients (usually ad agencies, not directly to the companies whose products were advertised) of their best jingles up to that point. I was impressed with how many diverse styles they could pull off.
― Lee626, Saturday, 1 January 2022 17:10 (two years ago) link
Interesting. Yeah, Ad agencies seem to always be a part of this. My friend Mr. Fine Wine was just reminding me of Roquel "Billy" Davis and his super-well-known jingle work: https://medium.com/message/mad-men-and-the-coke-jingle-theory-4a5bf1fbaf02I learned the name of the ad agency involved, McCann Erickson, but not the jingle company.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 17:14 (two years ago) link
Who knows how many familiar jingles well-known session cats played on that we'll never know. The bass player on this Chuck Berry Dr. Pepper seems to be Bob Babbitt, for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJfpexPfEc
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 17:19 (two years ago) link
Hamilton says in her book that in the run up Air-Edel George Martin would come to NYC where Edel had him follow her around to various studios and ad agencies to get the lay of the land. Later she had lunch with him in London and recorded at Air-Edel.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 18:12 (two years ago) link
Run up to Air-Edel.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
I have actually met the guy discussed in this article, he is super nice and sometimes tolerates my fan boy questions about his earlier days as a session man but I haven't asked him about the jingles, yet. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/22/business/advertising-sammy-honors-winning-ad-music.html
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:47 (two years ago) link
This is a much longer article building on that one by the same guy: https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/11/business/advertising-a-tuneful-shop-with-5-sammys.html
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:49 (two years ago) link
Herbie Hancock also had a relationship with HEA (not mentioned by name here though):https://www.herbiehancock.com/album/the-prisoner/
During this time, Herbie began composing television commercials for a few agencies in town. He composed a jingle for Silva Thins cigarettes, and it was so beautiful, he wanted to record the song for his own album, but the agency didn’t give Blue Note permission. Herbie changed the title to “He Who Lives In Fear” and recorded it on The Prisoner session.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:01 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, Herbie blurbs the book too.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:22 (two years ago) link
This might belong on another thread, but putting it here now, as kind of a pre-history: https://www.mixcloud.com/musicmankevin/a-soulful-conversation-with-al-gorgoni/
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:27 (two years ago) link
Miss it if you blink appearnance of Rusty Evans!
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:30 (two years ago) link
Also New Orleans funkmaster James Black.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:36 (two years ago) link
And Allan Schwatzberg.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:47 (two years ago) link
Guess last fifteen minutes relative to this thread.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:48 (two years ago) link
Forgot to mention Rob Mounsey.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link
Wow, Herman Edel himself made it to 95 and only passed away last August. Still waiting for the Air-Edel tribute though.https://www.air-edel.co.uk/herman-edel/https://coloradosun.com/2021/08/17/former-aspen-mayor-herman-edel-dies-at-95/
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 January 2022 01:35 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q0SkTH1rnQ
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 January 2022 14:18 (two years ago) link
^Susan Hamilton’s father, Roger. Her book is some kind of Redd catnip.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 January 2022 14:32 (two years ago) link
Here is some kind of jingletastic recreation of an oldtime AM radio station Mr. Fine Wine just sent me: https://wiwsradio.com/live365player.htmlAlso, keep thinking one day I want to do a full on thread about the old NYC recording studios, but that is kind of an ambitous, um, project I am not up to right now and this thread still needs some work anyway.
― (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Razor (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 January 2022 19:21 (two years ago) link
So John Pepper, who started Pepper-Tanner (maybe it was Pepper first, then Tanner), was also the owner of WDIA.
― Tapioca Tumbril (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 21 January 2022 06:22 (two years ago) link
In the early to mid-1970s, the most chaotic years of recording in Memphis, the productions at Pepper-Tanner remained the most reliable and efficient session work in town. The Memphis Symphony Orchestra conveniently eliminated Wednesday nights from its rehearsal schedule to facilitate the weekly sessions at Tanner's Studio V. Jingles produced by the Pepper-Tanner staff were regularly heard all over the United States and Canada, representing major corporations such as Toyota and Sears and supplying an untold number of radio station identifications. String Musicians in the Recording Studios of Memphis, Tennessee, by Roy Brewer. Popular Music, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), p. 212.
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 20 March 2022 16:06 (two years ago) link
Old school jingle companies = original jinglists.
― feed me with your clicks (Noel Emits), Sunday, 20 March 2022 17:58 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfi8XtSSiE
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 20 March 2022 17:59 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRGXvfSu3sit's the best
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Friday, 25 March 2022 04:16 (two years ago) link
http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/246-Chuck-Berrys-Recording-Session-for-Dr-Pepper.html
― Build My Gallows Hi Hi Hi (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 July 2022 06:40 (one year ago) link
Free association leads me to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSEdBNslGOk
― Bunheads Pilot Enthusiast (morrisp), Monday, 4 July 2022 06:54 (one year ago) link
Some stuff about Susan Hamilton’s other company, HB&B, seems like maybe it coexisted with HB&B: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-03-09-9001200114-story.html
― Mr. Art-I-Ficial (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 6 July 2022 05:13 (one year ago) link
Here's an LA Times article from the prior year: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-19-ca-484-story.html
― Mr. Art-I-Ficial (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 July 2022 23:37 (one year ago) link