Return to Vinyls: Golden Age and New Jazz, Classic Soul, RnB and Blues

EP: 32 Miles Davis For Beginners Part Three The Orchestral Projects

For artists many times there is a precursor. Something they dabbled in or explored and then got sidetracked and headed off in a different direction. But that precursor co

EP: 31 There Are Two Kinds of Harmonicas and Two Kinds of Players—Toots Thielemans and Peter "Madcat" Ruth.

When you think of a harmonica you might think of some lonesome cowpoke entertaining the other cowboys with "Home On The Range" sitting around the campfire in a cowboy mov

EP 30: Ray Charles: That Cat Has Nine Lives.

If you know anything about popular music you most certainly have heard of Ray Charles. If you are a fan of jazz, R&B and the blues you probably know his R&B recordings. B

EP 29: Miles Davis For Beginners —100 Years, The Basics

May 26, 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of jazz musician and trumpeter Miles Davis. Return To Vinyls Podcast presents a special episode honoring Miles Davis

EP 28: Rufus, Marvell, Vaneese and Carla Thomas, The First Family of Soul and Stax Records.

Musical families are not uncommon in all genera of music. But few have been as all encompassing as Rufus, Marvell, Vaneese and Carla Thomas were in soul music and the Sta

EP 27: Helen Humes, The Overlooked Blues Singer Who Replaced Billie Holiday.

Generally in the arts and entertainment world you get one chance. If you are lucky you will have some success and maybe even a big hit. If you are very lucky you will hav

EP 26 Buddy Rich. The Worlds Greatest Drummer?

Drums were probably the first musical instrument created by humans. Drum beats are natural —be it heartbeats or the sounds of nature. The oldest drum ever found goes back

EP 25. Bobby Darin Was The Bridge Between Big Band Swing And Rock And Roll, Until The Road Turned.

There are great musicians and singers that transcend musical genera and boundaries. But how about someone who started with a very silly novelty rock and roll song, but en

Return To Vinyls Season 3 Trailer

Return to Vinyls podcast is about music: jazz, soul and the blues. From the classics era to today's artists who draw inspiration from the classics. It is also about the c

EP 24: Roberta Flack She Introduced Soul to Jazz, Jazz to Folk and Soul To Soul.

It is not unusual for a song to come out and basically be ignored, but then it is plucked from obscurity and used in a movie or TV show. And all of the sudden it is every

EP 23: Les McCann; He Introduced Soul to Jazz and Jazz to Soul and Soul To Soul.

In 1971 the African country of Ghana hosted a musical celebration called the “Soul to Soul Festival.” It is often referred to as the “Woodstock of Africa.” Although the f

EP 22: Miles Davis For Beginners Part Two. The Cool and Kind of Blue Years.

Miles Davis was a true jazz lovers — jazz musician. Well, if the criteria is that he was never very popular with mainstream music buyers. Unlike other jazz greats like Lo

EP 21: Miles Davis For Beginners. Part One, The Electric Years.

Think you are not a fan of jazz, think Miles Davis has nothing to offer you? Davis, during his 45 plus year career, released at least 60 studio albums and 39 live albums,

EP 20: Stax Blues Singer Johnnie Taylor Had The First Platinum Record With 2 Million Sales. And it Was A Disco Song.

Memphis based Stax recording star soul singer Johnnie Taylor is probably best remembered today for his R&B hits. But very few crossed over to top 40 radio. So unless you

EP 19. Nina Simone. The Accidental Singer Who Became A Voice Of The Civil Rights Movement.

If you know anything about the American singer Nina Simone it is probably her deep rich voice singing jazz, blues, soul and popular songs. She often wrote and sang songs

EP 18: Bob Wills. The Man Who Put Western in Country Western Drew From Jazz and Blues. And He Is Still The King.

Even if you are not a country western fan you probably know who Waylon Jennings is and very well might know his song "Bob Wills Is Still The King." So who was Bob Willis

EP 17: Mavis Staples and The Staple Singers. Gospel, Folk, Funk or Soul. Or All Of The Above.

So what is gospel music? Google’s AI says that gospel music is a style of Christian music that originated in African American communities. It’s characterized by rhythmic,

EP 16: The Dave Brubeck Trio Featuring Gerry Mulligan – When Returning To The Old Is New And Exactly What Are The Blues Anyway?

I think when most people hit the jackpot, they go out and buy their lottery dream-home and live happily ever after. Well we know from studies that winning the lottery or

EP 15: Bonnie Raitt, ­Living It On Her terms: Blues, Rock and Storytelling

There are some musicians and artists who regularly reinvent themselves. The Beatles did it right up to their final album. Bob Dylan has done it so many times that in I’m

EP 14: Winter In America—Gil Scott Heron, The Singing Poet Who Confronted Power With Music and Poetry

In the 1960s and 70s thanks to the explosion in new FM radio stations and the popularity of records, political songs that might have been too controversial for Top 40 rad