Famed composer John Barry died of a heart attack yesterday in Glen Cove, New York. His career spanned 50 years, during which he won 5 Oscars and composed the score for 11 James Bond films. Here's my favorite of his compositions.

Filmsite.org:

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) is one of Hollywood's greatest, grandest and slickest musicals. The nostalgic, shamelessly-patriotic, entertaining film also supported the war effort as it paid tribute in its mostly fictional story to [George M. Cohan,] a popular Irish/American entertainer and the grand American gentleman of the theatre in the early 20th century.

The timeliness of its release, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, helped the 'propaganda machine' of going to European battlegrounds overseas with a song that was a rousing theme song written years earlier for WW I - Over There. And a second song, You're a Grand Old Flag, contributed to morale-boosting, flag-waving patriotism and love of one's country. And it was the first time that a living US President (FDR in this case, played by Jack Young) was portrayed in a motion picture.

I'm A Man

This is C&L's 500th music post! Give a listen to our past music selections and enjoy...

Get well soon, Bo:

Bo Diddley suffered a heart attack during a medical check-up in a Florida hospital and is now in stable condition, his spokeswoman said today (August 28).

The 78-year-old rock pioneer felt ill during his checkup at North Florida Regional Medical Center, and was transferred to the emergency room where the heart attack occurred.

He then underwent a surgical procedure to help the blood flow to his heart, reports Reuters.

C&L's Late Night Music Club with Tommy Bolin and Billy Cobham
I couldn't wait to buy Billy Cobham’s record called "Spectrum," when it was released back in '73. Billy was the dynamic drummer from the "Mahavishnu Orchestra," at the time and he had much love in the Rock community. The sample for tonight is the song called "Stratus."
Download | play -MP3 (sample)

If I'm not mistaken, Jeff Beck cited this album as his main influence for "Blow by Blow." I’d never heard of Tommy Bolin before this record and I had always wondered why Cobham chose him. Read Tommy’s website for the history behind this alliance. It's fascinating and this guitar solo ranks with some of the best ever recorded. Sklar's bass line ain't bad either and was "sampled by Massive Attack for "Safe" from their hit 1991 album Blue Lines."

Check out this lineup:

Billy Cobham: drums, percussion
Tommy Bolin: guitar
Jan Hammer: piano, synthesizer
Lee Sklar: bass
Ron Carter: acoustic bass
Jimmy Owens: flugelhorn
Joe Farrell: flute, saxophones
Ray Barretto: congas
John Tropea: guitar (on "Le Lis")

I played a couple of gigs with Glenn Hughes (the former singer /bass player of Deep Purple) and Ronnie Montrose, a few years ago and it was at the "NAMM" show in Anaheim that I met Tommy's brother. He shared with me some of his favorite memories of his late brother and I told him how much Tommy influenced my playing even though I'm a sax player. I'm a rocker at heart. I hope you enjoy.

Here's the link again to purchase this great record...