Sonny Til and the Orioles - Live at the Academy of Music - 1970

Описание: The first of the legendary rock’n’roll revival shows at the Academy of Music, located on East 14th Street in New York City, took place over two nights, Friday and Saturday April 17-18, 1970. In front of enthusiastic sellout audiences, the Harptones, Danny and the Juniors, Don & Juan, the Del Vikings, Monotones, Bobbettes, Mystics, Cadillacs, Passions, Dubs, Cleftones, Orioles and Skyliners all sang their classic hits. The event was conceived and produced by MCA Records producer Fred Bailin. Veteran disc jockey Alan Fredericks, host of the popular “Night Train” radio show, was selected to be the host. For the house band, Bailin brought in many of the musicians who worked with the acts on stage in the 1950s and appeared with the Alan Freed Orchestra. For these performances, the reunited Alan Freed Orchestra was conducted by Count Basie band alumni Earle Warren and included legendary tenor sax players Big Al Sears and Budd Johnson. Guitarist Leroy Kirkland arranged and oversaw the music. Both nights were professionally recorded and mixed for a double album release of the concert, later reissued on CD in 2000 by Goldisc Records.
A one camera black and white film of the first night’s concert was shot and tucked away for safe keeping but was never professionally produced or released. Several collectors were believed to have copies of the print including producer Bailin, record producer Wayne Stierle, and archivist-historian Little Walter DeVenne.
This 14 minutes of footage is from the first night of the two-night event and is one of very few surviving films of rhythm and blues pioneer Sonny Til (1925-1981) and the Orioles. The video begins with Alan Fredericks introducing the quartet, which bounds on stage and opens with the group’s 1948 debut hit, “It’s Too Soon To Know”. Accompanying Sonny are second tenor John Wayne “Gregory” Carroll (1929-2013), an original member of the Four Buddies on Savoy who first joined the Orioles in 1953. From Asbury Park, New Jersey’s Vibranaires, tenor Bobby Thomas (1935-2012) and baritone Clarence “Bobby” Young rounded out the lineup. Both men had first performed with Sonny as early as 1966. Til had several sets of Orioles in the 1970s and early 1980s, but Thomas, Young and fellow Vibranaires alumni Mike Robinson recorded and performed with Sonny steadily until the leader relocated to the West Coast in 1975.
The group and orchestra shine on the second selection, “Secret Love”, issued in 1954. Sonny dedicates “Crying In The Chapel” to Tommy Gaither, Alexander Sharp, and George Nelson, the three deceased members of the original group, leaving the stage to a standing ovation. Fredericks brings the group back for an encore and Sonny attempts to honor some of the requests he has received. They offer short versions of “At Night”, “In The Chapel In The Moonlight” and “Till Then”.
The performance from the second night was used for the soundtrack album with the set list differing only in this request medley. “Till Then” was dropped and “Tell Me So” and a splendid full version of “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” were added. The audio and video have been restored and resynchronized for this upload.
Sonny continued performing until his death in 1981. Bobby Thomas organized his own Orioles group and, with the later addition of founding member Johnny Reed, kept the sound alive for nearly 30 years. Gregory Carroll, who had co-written and produced Doris Troy’s hit, “Just One Look” in 1963, left the Orioles after this performance and worked with Jimmie Nabbie’s Ink Spots group into the late 1980s, eventually retiring to North Carolina where he died in 2013.