JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 84th anniversary of Fela Kuti’s birth.
Category: 1950s
Throwback: Happy 105th Birthday, Thelonious Monk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 105th anniversary of Thelonious Monk’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 96th Birthday, John Coltrane!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 96th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 97th Birthday, B.B. King!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 97th anniversary of B.B. King’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 105th Birthday, John Lee Hooker!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 105th anniversary of John Lee Hooker’s birth.
Throwback: Happy (Belated) 86th Birthday, Buddy Guy!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Buddy Guy’s birthday.
Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday, George Clinton!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates George Clinton’s 81st birthday,
Throwback: Happy (Belated) 83rd Birthday, Mavis Staples!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Mavis Staples’ 83rd birthday.
Throwback: Happy 86th Birthday, Syl Johnson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belated celebrates the 86th anniversary of the birth of Syl Johnson.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, Curtis Mayfield!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 80th anniversary of Curtis Mayfield’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 96th Birthday, Miles Davis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 96th anniversary of Miles Davis’ birth.
Throwback: Happy 89th Birthday, Willie Nelson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Willie Nelson’s 89th birthday.
Back in 2013, Red Bull Music Academy invited the legendary electronic music artist ad producer Giorgio Moroder to speak in front of a small group of music students about music, his creative process and more — and to what was then-billed as his first ever live DJ set at the now-defunct Williamsburg, Brooklyn nightclub Output.
Along with his long-time collaborator and musical director Chris Cox, the electronic music legend played a 75 minute set of re-arranged and exclusive remixes of some of his massive hits, medleys of other big songs, an exclusive song commissioned by Google — and famously, his collaboration with Daft Punk, “Giorgio by Moroder,” which appeared on the French electronic outfit’s last album, Random Access Memories.
Moroder’s DJ set is an encompassing and thoughtful primer on his pioneering work and sound, as well as roughly 50 years of disco and electronic music. Importantly, the set is a bold and swaggering reminder that along with Kraftwerk and a handful of others, Moroder is part of a Mount Rushmore of electronic music, who helped create an enduring “sound of the future” while popularizing the use of synthesizers in just about anything and everything since.
Personally, Moroder’s Red Bull Music Academy set brings back fond and very dear memories during the most formative periods of my life: I can vividly picture myself as a small boy and watching my mother cleaning and singing along — incredibly off key, I should add! — to Donna Summer‘s “Bad Girls,” “I Feel Love” “Hot Stuff,’ and “Love to Love You, Baby” as though it were yesterday.
Moroder turns 82 today and we should give the legendary man, his flowers because his work is that important — for all of us. Happy birthday, Giorgio! May there many, many more!
Throwback: Happy 105th Birthday, Ella Fitzgerald!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 105th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 76th birthday, Al Green!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Al Green’s 76th birthday.
