Elvis-Weak 2009 (Pt. 2) Elvis and Alvino Rey Discography

Blue Hawaii 1961

The song Blue Hawaii
was first introduced by Bing Crosby
in the 1937 film,
"Waikiki Wedding"

Showcased by beautiful panoramic shots of Hawaii the film boasts one of the best selling soundtrack albums of all time. Elvis is in top form returning to the islands after a stint in the army to take up a position with a travel agent showing tourists around. Elvis' relaitionship with Maile Duval (Joan Blackman) is threatened when Elvis has to escort a bunch of amorous school girls around the island on a holiday as well as getting unwelcome attention from the glamorous teacher.

The songs featured in the film were:

"BLUE HAWAII"
"ALMOST ALWAYS TRUE"
"ALOHA OE"
"NO MORE"
"CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE"
"ROCK - A - HULA BABY"
"MOONLIGHT SWIM"
"KU-LI-I-PO"
"ITO EATS"
"SLICIN' SAND"
"HAWAIIN SUNSET"
"BEACH BOY BLUES"
"ISLAND OF LOVE"
"HAWAIIN WEDDING SONG"

Musicians:

Elvis Presley (vocals), Hank Garland, Tiny Timbrell (guitars), Bernie Lewis (steel guitar), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Bernie Mattinson, Hal Blaine (drums), Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brookes (piano), Boots Randolph (sax), George Field (harmonica), Fred Tavares, Alvino Rey (ukeleles)the Jordanaires and the Surfers (vocals).

3/21/61

Aloha-Oe
Ku-U-I-Po
(Hawaiian
Sweetheart)
Slicin’ Sand
Hawaiian Sunset
Released: October
1961 Elvis and Joan Blackman
No More
Released: October 1961 November 1972
&nbs p; All recorded for the movie “Blue Hawaii”.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley
(vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell
(guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Dudley Brooks (piano, Celeste), Bob
Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Hal Blaine, Bernie Mattinson (drums),
Bernie Lewis (pedal steel), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor ax), George Fields (harmonica), Fred
Tavares, Alvino Ray (ukulele), The Jordanaires, The Surfers, Dorothy McCarty, Virginia Rees, Loulie
-Jean Norman, and Jacqueline Allen (background vocals).

KEY: Red Letters: Elvis’ Gold Records
Red Letters #1:Elvis’ Number One Hits UNK: Unknown
Green Letters: Unreleased recordings
Bold Letters: Released recordings

1960

Tues. 3/1/60

Recorded Interview
Elvis holds a press conference at Friedberg Army Base. It’s tape
recorded and filmed.

Tues. 3/8/60 Recorded Interview
Elvis, out of the army, holds a press conference in Vernon’s office at
Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. It is filmed and tape-recorded.

Sun. 3/20/60 Make Me Know It
Soldier Boy
Released: April 1960
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis Presley
(vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Bob
Moore (bass), Hank Garland (guitar, bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy" Harman (drums), and
The Jordanaires

Mon. 3/21/60 Stuck On You #1
Released: March 1960 September 1963 August 1970
January 1974
Fame And Fortune
Released: March 1960 September 1963 August 1971
It Feels So Right
Released: April 1960 May 1965
A Mess Of Blues Hank Garland (bass)
Released: July 1960 February 1968 August 1970
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Studio B, Nashville,
&nbs p; Tennessee. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore
(guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano),Bob Moore (bass), Hank
Garland (guitar, bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy"
Harman (drums), and The Jordanaires (background vocals).

Sat. 3/26/60 Witchcraft
Love Me Tender
Duets with Frank Sinatra.
The Frank Sinatra ”Welcome Home
Elvis” TV-special is video taped at
The Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami,
Florida.

Sun. 4/3/60 Fever
Released: April 1960 March 1975 Frank Sinatra and Elvis
Like A Baby
Released: April 1960
It’s Now Or Never #1
Released: July 1960 April 1961
September 1963 August 1970
January 1976
Recorded at the RCA Studio B,
Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis Presley
(vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore (guitar),
Floyd Cramer (piano), Bob Moore
(bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy" Harman (drums), Homer
"Boots" Randolph (tenor sax), and The Jordanaires (background
vocals).

Mon. 4/4/60 The Girl Of My Best Friend
I Will Be Home Again
The Thrill Of Your Love
The Girl Next Door Went A Walking
Reconsider Baby
Released: April 1960
Dirty, Dirty Feeling
Released: April 1960 July 1965
Such A Night
Released: April 1960 July 1964 January 1976
Are You Lonesome Tonight #1
Released: November 1960 April 1961
September 1963 August 1970 January 1974
I Gotta Know
Released: November 1960 September 1963
August 1970
Recorded at the RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore (guitar),
Floyd Cramer (piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy" Harman (drums), Homer
"Boots" Randolph (tenor sax), and The Jordanaires (background vocals).

Wed. 4/27/60 G. I. Blues
Didja' Ever
Doin' The Best I Can
Released: October 1960
Frankfort Special (fast tempo)
Pocket Full Of Miracles
Tonight Is So Right For Love
Shoppin' Around
These four songs were started but
left unfinished.
What’s She Really Like
18 seconds of this song is sung by Elvis in the beginning of the
movie in the shower.
Whistling Blues
Instrumental
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hilmer
J. "Tiny" Timbrell, Neil Mathews (guitar), Dudley Brooks (piano), Ray Siegel (bass), D.J. Fontana, Frank
Bode (drums), Jimmie Haskell (accordion), Hoyt Hawkins (tambourine), and The Jordanaires (back ground
vocals).

Thurs. 4/28/60 Wooden Heart #1
(Fred Wise and Ben Weisman rewrite of German children’s
song entitled "Muss I Denn" by Kay Twomey and Bert
Kaempfert)
Released: October 1960 November 1964 October 1965
August 1970
Big Boots
Bootleg release.
Two versions, a slow and a fast one, were attempted and
then left unfinished.
Pocketful Of Rainbows
Bootleg release.
These two songs are worked on again.
What’s She Really Like
Blue Suede Shoes (re-recording)
Both released: October 1960
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore,
Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell, Neil Mathews (guitar), Dudley Brooks (piano), Ray Siegel (bass), D. J.
Fontana, Bernie Mattinson (drums), Jimmie Haskell (accordion), Hoyt Hawkins (tambourine), and The
Jordanaires (background vocals).

Mon. 5/2/60 Filming
Filming begins on “G. I. Blues”.

Fri. 5/6/60 Frankfurt Special (medium tempo)
Pocketful Of Rainbows
Big Boots (medium tempo)
Big Boots (slow tempo)
Shoppin' Around
Tonight's All Right For Love
Released: October 1960
November 1972 January 197 4
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Elvis and Juliet Prowse
Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore,
Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell, Neil Mathews (guitar), Dudley Brooks
(piano), Ray Siegel (bass), D.J. Fontana, Bernie Mattinson (drums),
Jimmie Haskell (accordion), Hoyt Hawkins (tambourine), and The
Jordanaires (background vocals).

Late 6/60 Filming
Filming is completed on “G.I. Blues”.

Mon. 8/8/60 Summer Kisses, Winter Tears
Released: April 1961 Released: July 1965
Britches
Cut from the film. Bootleg release.
Black Star
Not used in the film, it was one of the original titles for the film and the
title song.
UNK release date on bootleg.
A Cane And A High Starched Collar
Released: January 1976
Summer Kisses, Winter Tears (movie version)
Left out of the movie “Flaming Star”.
Recorded at the 20th Century Fox Studios, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty
Moore, Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell, Neal Mathews (guitar), Dudley Brooks (piano), Ray Siegel (bass),
D.J. Fontana (drums), Jimmie Haskell (accordion), The Jordanaires (background vocals), and the
remaining musicians are unidentified.

Tues. 8/16/60 Filming
Filming begins on the movie
“Flaming Star”.

Tues. 10/4/60 Filming
Filming is completed on
“Flaming Star”.

Wed. 10/11/60 Flaming Star
Released: April 1961 November 1968
Flaming Star (end title version)
UNK release. Bootleg.
Recorded at the 20th Century Fox Studios, Hollywood, California.
Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell,
Neal Mathews (guitar), Dudley Brooks (piano), Ray Siegel (bass),
D.J. Fontana (drums), Jimmie Haskell (accordion), The Jordanaires (background vocals), and the
remaining musicians are unidentified.

Sun. 10/30/60 He Knows Just What I Need
Mansion Over The Hilltop
I Believe In The Man In The Sky
Released: December 1960 April 1965 August 1971
Milky White Way
Released: December 1960 April 1965 February 1966
His Hand In Mine
Released: December 1960 April 1969 March 1976
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
One source says this song was also recorded on this day, but I don’t find
any confirmation of it.
Surrender #1
(New lyrics/arrangement to Italian song, "Torna a Sorrento".)
Released: February 1961 September 1963 August 1970
Elvis had some trouble with the final high notes and was taken
into the bathroom by the Jordanaires' bass singer, Ray Walker,
to get instruction in breath control. Elvis finally got the ending
right and it was spliced into the take 4 they had finished with a
poor ending.
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis
Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore (guitar), Floyd Cramer
(piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy"
Harman (drums), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor sax), The
Jordanaires, Millie Kerkham, and Charlie Hodge (background
&nbs p; vocals), and the remaining musicians are unidentified.

Mon. 10/31/60 I’m Gonna Walk Dem Golden Stairs
In My Fathers House (Are Many Mansions)
If We Never Meet Again
Working On The Building
Released: December 1960
Swing Down Sweet Chariot
Known Only To Him
Joshua Fit The Battle
All of the above three released: December 1960 February 1966
One source says these songs were recorded on 10/30/60.
Crying In The Chapel #1
Released: April 1965 March 1967 August 1970
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore (guitar), Floyd
Cramer (piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey
"Buddy" Harman (drums), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor
sax), The Jordanaires, Millie Kerkham, and Charlie Hodge
(background vocals), and the remaining musicians are
unidentified.

Mon. 11/7/60 Lonely Man (record version)
(The original title of the film “Wild In The Country.)
Released: February 1961 February 1968 August 1971
Forget Me Never
Released: February 1961 January 1973
These two songs were cut from the film “Wild In The Country”.
Wild In The Country (record version)
Released: May 1961 August 1971
In My Way
Released: July 1965 January 1973
Husky, Dusty Day
&n bsp; Never released other than in the movie. Duet with actress Hope Lange.
Recorded at the 20th Century Fox Studios, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty
Moore (guitar), Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brooks (piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey
"Buddy" Harman (drums), The Jordanaires (background vocals), and the remaining musicians are
unidentified.

Tues. 11/8/60 I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell
UNK first release date. January 1973
Recorded at the 20th Century Fox Studios, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty
Moore (guitar), Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brooks (piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Murrey
"Buddy" Harman (drums), The Jordanaires (background vocals), and the remaining musicians are
unidentified.

Fri. 11/11/60 Filming
Elvis starts filming the movie “Wild In The Country”.

1961
Wed. 1/18/61 Filming
The filming of the movie
“Wild In The Country”
was completed.

Sun. 3/12/61 I Feel So Bad
Released: May 1961
September 1963
August 1970
Gently
Give Me The Right Hope Lange and Elvis
I Want You With Me
In Your Arms
It’s A Sin
I’m Coming Home
All released: June 1961
There’s Always Me
Released: J une 1961 August 1967
These songs are for the album “Something For Everybody”.
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar),
Scotty Moore, Hank Garland (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Bob Moore (bass),
D.J. Fontana, Murrey "Buddy" Harman (drums), Boots Randolph
(tenor sax), The Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham (background vocals).

Mon. 3/13/61 Starting Today
Sentimental Me
Released: June 1961 January 1973
Judy
Released: June 1961 August 1967
Put The Blame On Me
Released: June 1961 July 1965
These songs are for the album “Something For Everybody”.
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Elvis Presley
(vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Bob Moore (bass), D.J.
Fontana, Murrey "Buddy" Harman (drums), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor sax), The Jordanaires, Millie
Kirkham (background vocals).

Fri. 3/17/61 Filming
Elvis starts filming the movie “Blue Hawaii”, his most successful film.

Tues. 3/21/61 Aloha-Oe
Ku-U-I-Po
(Hawaiian
Sweetheart)
Slicin’ Sand
Hawaiian Sunset
Released: October
1961 Elvis and Joan Blackman
No More
Released: October 1961 November 1972
&nbs p; All recorded for the movie “Blue Hawaii”.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley
(vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell
(guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Dudley Brooks (piano, Celeste), Bob
Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Hal Blaine, Bernie Mattinson (drums),
Bernie Lewis (pedal steel), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor ax), George Fields (harmonica), Fred
Tavares, Alvino Ray (ukulele), The Jordanaires, The Surfers, Dorothy McCarty, Virginia Rees, Loulie
-Jean Norman, and Jacqueline Allen (background vocals).

Wed. 3/22/61 Blue Hawaii
Almost Always True
Ito Eats
Ito Eats (movie tag)
Island Of Love (Kauai)
Hawaiian Wedding Song (movie version)
The duet with Joan Blackman is recorded.
Hawaiian Wedding Song (album version)
Released: October 1961
Moonlight Swim
Duet with co-star Joan Blackman. Elvis leaves openings for
her vocal to be dubbed in later.)
Steppin’ Out Of Line (record version)
Steppin’ Out Of Line (movie version)
Cut from the film.
All songs are for the movie “Blue Hawaii”.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California. Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore,
Hank Garland, Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), Dudley Brooks (piano, Celeste),
Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana, Hal Blaine, Bernie Mattinson (drums), Bernie Lewis (pedal steel),
Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor ax), George Fields (harmonica), Fred Tavares, Alvino Ray (ukulele),
The Jordanaires, The Surfers, Dorothy McCarty, Virginia Rees, Loulie-Jean Norman, and Jacqueline
Allen (background vocals)

Thurs. 3/23/61 Beach Boy Blues
Released: October 1961
Beach Boy Blues (movie version)
Rock-A-Hula Baby
Released: October 1961 November 1961 August 1970
Can’t Help Falling In Love (movie version)
Can’t Help Falling In Love #1
Released: October 1961 November 1961 August 1970
January 1974
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California.
Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland,
Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano),
Dudley Brooks (piano, Celeste), Bob Moore (bass), D.J.
Fontana, Hal Blaine, Bernie Mattinson (drums), Bernie
Lewis (pedal steel), Homer "Boots" Randolph (tenor ax),
George Fields (harmonica), Fred Tavares, Alvino Ray (ukulele), The Jordanaires, The Surfers, Dorothy
McCarty, Virginia Rees, Loulie-Jean Norman, and Jacqueline Allen (background vocals)

Mon. 6/26/61 I’m Yours
Released: June 1962 August 1965
(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame #1
The 8th take was used.
Released: August 1961 September 1963 August 1970
August 1971

Little Sister
Both released: August 1961 September 1963 August 1970
Recorded at the RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
Elvis Presley (vocal, guitar), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland,
Neal Mathews (guitar), Alvino Rey (steel guitar), Fred
Tavares, Bernie Lewis (ukulele), Floyd Cramer (piano),
Dudley Brooks (Celeste), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana
and Murrey "Buddy" Harman, Hal Blaine (drums), Homer
"Boots" Randolph (tenor sax), The Jordanaires
(background vocals).

POST #5000 JULY 12, 2009 - FEB. 27, 2007 POST #1 - VISUALGUIDANCELTD - [::] - MRDANTEFONTANA - MRJYN - MALMO - NOLA [HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SEBASTIAN!]

#1 The Birthday Party - Junkyard

Added by Gjervan

I'm so happy Sebastian's post #1 remains intact! Do you know how rare that is for YouTube?

I've replaced or retired literally dozens. I think it's a sign. And P.S., Sebastian always had and still has incredible taste in music and videos, and 2., he was the first person to ever comment or write to me on my former high-roglyphic blog, 'the perfect american,' which still exists, btw, but only for me, as a sort of online storage unit where i keep my collection of new york times and mad magazines, report cards and summonses, girlfriend love letters and tro's [just kidding about that last one]. And so I'd like to thank Sebastian sincerely for beginning a thankless project as a labor of love and similar online diary of his musical-video wanderings outside the realm of then and current, more established, pop-culture aggregator, PCL Linkdump - until Halloween of 2008, when after a brief, unceremonious transferral of title, I began to build, change and keep the same ecclectic smorgasborg of offerings, which easily rested atop the piledriven soil which he had so fertilely tended.

May this soil continue to produce crops as variegated as The Birthday Party, as timely and internecine as Michael Jackson's Death and Videolife, and as straightforwardly badass as the life, times, exploits and music of Jerry Lee Lewis (where Sebastian's and my totally bi-hemispheric taste-bubbles collided into one pink, treacly, pop of pianisimo, glissandi and blissfulness).

And, of course, and as always, may its loamy fecundity provide crops for future harvesters in the fields where we toil, unburdened byan audience, unused to adulation or recognition and unmolested by its burdens.

For if a man has confidence in himself, surely those who share this confidence will soon discover the other, and celebrate together, each to himself and with the other, what is known to one, and then to both, and finally to all who care to discover.

~ mrjyn

KILLER HIGHWAY: JERRY LEE LEWIS [Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee Lewis Highway Unanimously Approved (Shelby County, MS)] *for Phoebe Lewis

KILLER HIGHWAY
Jerry Lee Lewis

April 28, 2009

Jerry Lee Lewis "The Killer," has been honored by Tennessee lawmakers who, on Monday April 28th, 2009 voted to name a stretch of road in his honor.

A proposal unanimously approved Monday evening by the House designates a stretch of 'Getwell Road' in Shelby County, MS [home of Jerry Lee and Phoebe Lewis' Ranch in the Nesbit] as the "Jerry Lee Lewis Highway."

The section runs from the Mississippi state line to Interstate 240.

With daughter/manager, Phoebe Lewis, standing proudly by his side, Lewis addressed the House:

"It's not every day you get a street named after you. It's a great honor."

nichopoulooza

Jerry Lee Lewis PHOEBE LEWIS Highway The Killer rock 'n' roll House of Representatives Mississippi Interstate 240 road Getwell Road Shelby County Jerry Lee Lewis Highway Tennessee Nesbit MS April 28 2009 nichopoulooza mrjyn

Musician Jerry Lee Lewis, left, is honored by Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, right, at the state Capitol on Monday as lawmakers unanimously voted to name a section of Getwell Road in Shelby County in Lewis' honor.

TENNESSEE

Jerry Lee Lewis, the piano-pounding rock 'n' roller known as "The Killer," was honored Monday evening as the Tennessee legislature voted to name a stretch of road in his honor.
Advertisement

A proposal unanimously approved by the House designates a stretch of Getwell Road in Shelby County as the Jerry Lee Lewis Highway. The section runs from the Mississippi state line to Interstate 240.

"It's not every day you get a street named after you," said Lewis, known for hits such as "Great Balls of Fire." ''It's a great honor."

A companion bill unanimously passed the Senate earlier this month and now goes to the governor for his consideration. Lydia Lenker, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Bredesen, said the governor will review the legislation once it reaches his desk.

Tennessee legislature names stretch of road for Jerry Lee Lewis

No, they didn't wheel in a piano -- The Killer didn't seem in the mood for a whole lotta shakin' anyway -- but the Tennessee legislature nevertheless honored Jerry Lee Lewis with a standing ovation Monday evening.

Lewis, his daughter and manager, Phoebe Lewis, and co-manager, J.W. Whitten, standing in the well, the House of Representatives gave final legislative approval to a bill designating the section of Getwell Road between Interstate 240 and the Mississippi border "the Jerry Lee Lewis Highway."

Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis, congratulates

Jerry Lee Lewis after he was honored Monday at the state Capitol in Nashville

.

The vote was 95-0 in favor of the bill, and followed a 33-0 vote in the Senate earlier this month.

But as is standard with many street-naming measures, the resolution requires the City of Memphis to pay the $325 costs for the two signs to be put up at each end of the designated stretch of roadway.

Sponsored by Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, and Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis, the street-naming bill takes note of Lewis' "countless contributions (that) were recently recognized when he was named by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Case Western Reserve University as an American Music Master," the first-ever living recipient of the honor.

Todd said he has known Lewis since the mid-1970s when Todd, then a Memphis police officer, occasionally helped provide security at Graceland when Lewis and other Memphis music luminaries visited Elvis Presley.

"He's the last of the living legends. Gone before him are Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, all who recorded in Memphis," said Todd, who presented Lewis with a framed copy of the legislative resolution.

Lewis kept his remarks short: "I'd just like to say thank you very much and God bless you. It's not every day you get a street named after you. I think it's a great honor. It's a privilege to be here and God bless each and every one of you."

The star stayed afterward for a while having his picture taken and signing autographs.

Another Tennessee legend was present in the chamber, having been honored by the House just before Lewis -- former University of Tennessee head football coach Johnny Majors.

"Whole Lotta Shaking Going On" "saved"
Jesse Lee Turner re-wrote it into a gospel song.
Jesse Lee Turner has "saved" as some of the 50's music fans like to say, some of their oldies favorites, including other Jerry Lee Lewis songs, songs by Elvis, Fats Domino, Jesse Lee's own hit's from the 50's

William Eggleston: Foundation Cartier pour l'art contemporain [4 April - 21 June, 2009 Paris]

William Eggleston

Foundation Cartier pour l'art contemporain

[4 April - 21 June, 2009 Paris]

William Eggleston, born in 1939 in Memphis, is one of the most important contemporary American photographers. From the 1970s onwards, his work has significantly contributed to the recognition of color photography as an artistic medium. Eggleston has published his work extensively, and it has been shown in many major exhibitions around the world. He continues to live and work in Memphis, and travels considerably for photographic projects.

City homage ... Untitled, Paris series, 2006-2008

At the Cartier Foundation, you enter William Eggleston's new exhibition by descending the stairs into a big red room lit by hanging lampshades and furnished with a large leather sofa, two matching armchairs and a baby grand piano. It is a quintessentially Parisian homage to Eggleston's most famous - and strangest - photograph, Greenwood, Mississippi, 1973, otherwise known as "The Red Ceiling".

Last Wednesday evening, as the last of his photographs and drawings were being hung, Eggleston arrived at the gallery for a walkabout. Thin and dapper in a dark suit and polished Oxfords, he made straight for the baby grand and, oblivious to the flurry of activity around him and, indeed, the photographs in the adjacent gallery, sat down and started playing. For a good five minutes or so, he was utterly absorbed in the music he was making, his long, manicured fingers picking out a series of fitful, often fractured, classical extemporisations. When he finally arose, and placed an unlit cigarette in his mouth, he seemed momentarily startled by the burst of applause from those present, bowing and smiling mischievously like a surprised child.

Eggleston, as his images often attest, is a one-off, an American aristocrat from the Deep South with a wild streak and a singular ability to capture in his colour photographs all the often overlooked beauty, strangeness and intensity of the commonplace. His groundbreaking work from the early 70s, collected in books such as William Eggleston's Guide and The Democratic Forest, confused people at first with its capturing of what might be called the heightened mundane, but he is now regarded as the maverick genius who made colour photography the serious art form it is today. Eggleston is, among other things, a supreme colourist. The saturated intensity of those early photographs has given way to a more muted approach of late, but he retains an unerring ability to render the everyday surprising and sometimes surreal.

As he approaches his 70th birthday, Eggleston has finally turned his "democratic" gaze on Paris, perhaps the city that has been most iconised through photography. Three years ago, the Fondation Cartier commissioned him to photograph the city, which he has been doing ever since on regular extended trips from his native Memphis. "I'm taking over where Atget left off," he tells me, laughing. Eggleston's Paris, though, is perhaps as far away from Atget's Paris - or Cartier-Bresson's Paris or Brassaï's Paris - as one could imagine. It is, in fact, closer to Eggleston's Memphis, in so far as it emerges as a place that is both oddly recognisable and utterly alien. "I approached it and am still approaching it as if it is just anywhere," he says in the exhibition guide. "You're not quite sure: is this Paris, Mexico City, elsewhere?"

With Eggleston, though, it is nearly always elsewhere. And yet, Paris - or Parisness - leaks into these images in the most mundane ways. His image of the Bastille is taken from what looks like a wall mural of the same. Silhouetted, it looks like a mosque, the unreal sky around it covered in a graffiti scrawl. His photograph of the famous brasserie la Rotonde shows it empty and gutted, surrounded by metal shutters, awaiting a makeover. In another image that plays with the visual iconography of the city, he frames a stack of chrome chairs outside a cafe, their purple fabric matching the even more lurid tones of a film poster for Batman, le défi

Eggleston's Paris is a messy, often makeshift place - who else would be drawn to the milky water in a cement mixer? - which could indeed be any early 21st-century city. Graffiti is a recurring motif - on walls, vehicles, windows, billboards. He is drawn, too, to the garish - the hyper-bright colours of a children's funfair ride, the unreal pinks and yellows of neon shop signs. The quotidian sublime is glimpsed too, though, in the mossy green haze of street light reflected on a wet pavement or the familiar blue sky, clear and clean, that appears above buildings and treetops throughout his work. Not for the first time I was left wondering whether Eggleston possesses some innate ability to tap into that soft, opaque, unreal otherworld that the rest of us glimpse only in moments of intoxication or chemical realignment. Is he always elsewhere?

One or two of these new images contain echoes of earlier photographs, his own and other peoples. A row of teddy bears in a Parisian shop window recalls the row of dolls on a car bonnet that he shot in Memphis in the early 70s. (It was used on the album cover of Like Flies on Sherbert by Alex Chilton, another Memphis maverick.) A polythene bag packed with used paper cups recalls Robert Frank's photograph of a polythene bag packed with dolls' heads. Eggleston's eye for the heightened mundane may have mellowed of late - there is nothing here as ominous as "The Red Ceiling" or as deathly as, say, his portrait of a pale young woman lying prone on the grass, holding a camera - but he still goes his own way when it comes to composition. He famously only ever photographs a subject once, and his "shotgun" approach whereby a subject is targeted, then shot, accounts for the odd angles and seemingly off-kilter point of view. The shot of a young girl's outstretched leg is pure Eggleston. It is a portrait of sorts - her red shoe, the comic resting on her knee, the sense of childhood reverie caught, too, in that outstretched leg - even though he has done nothing as obvious as training the camera on her face.

At the Fondation Cartier you can also see a series of Eggleston's drawings, busy, colourful abstracts that nod to Kandinsky. They are what they are: involved, often intricate, doodles in pen that seem like spontaneous explorations of colour. Some of them have been placed alongside photographs and sometimes the juxtaposition works. More intriguingly, though, many of the photographs themselves tend towards the abstract in their arrangement of shapes and colours. That suggests that Eggleston, as he enters old age, may have found yet another way of seeing the everyday anew.

For the last three years, American photographer William Eggleston has photographed the city of Paris as part of a commission for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.

Taken throughout different seasons, these new images by one of the fathers of color photography portray the local and the cosmopolitan, the glamorous and the gritty, the everyday and the extraordinary.

This exhibition also provides an exceptional occasion to bring together William Eggleston’s distinctive pictures and his recent paintings, an unknown aspect of his work that has never before been presented to the public.William Eggleston, Paris
A book created specially by William Eggleston on the occasion of the exhibition, which presents his photographs next to his drawings, published for the first time.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
Paris
Steidl, Göttingen
Hardback, 22 x 28 cm, 184 pages,
70 color photographs,
50 drawings
Steidl, Göttingen



An exceptional limited edition of 100 books in a box set,
numbered and signed by the artist

william eggleston

eggleston

photography

memphis

Alex Chilton

Like flies on Sherbert

paris

2009

April

june

cartier

color

lamplighter

leica