I Found My Thrill…Through Brill

1619 Broadway in New York CityBefore I began my show on KDHX in August of 2008, I had the honor and privilege to sit in with long-time KDHX programmer Tony C. on his shows Bucket of Blues, Down in the Alley and Biddle Street Beat. Tony no longer has a regular program on KDHX, but he can be heard as the occasional guest or fill-in DJ on a variety of shows. Now I get to repay the favor by having Tony C. during my radio program Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst next week, January 28, 2010, 5-7 a.m. Central.

“I Found My Thrill…Through Brill” is what we are calling this special episode. Tony and I will be exploring the impact of the music produced at the Brill Building. The following information is from Wikipedia:

The Brill Building’s name has been widely adopted as a shorthand term for a broad and influential stream of American mainstream popular song (strongly influenced by Latin music and rhythm and blues) which enjoyed great commercial success in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. Many significant American and international publishing companies, music agencies and recording labels were based in New York, and although these ventures were naturally spread across many locations, the Brill Building was regarded as probably the most prestigious address in New York for music business professionals. The term “The Brill Building Sound” is somewhat inaccurate, however, since much of the music so categorised actually emanated from other locations – music historian Ken Emerson nominates buildings at 1650 Broadway and 1697 Broadway as other significant bases of activity in this field.

By 1962 the Brill Building contained 165 music businesses: a musician could find a publisher and printer, cut a demo, promote the record, and cut a deal with radio promoters, all within this one building. The creative culture of the independent music companies of Brill Building and the nearby 1650 Broadway came to define the influential “Brill Building Sound” and the style of popular music songwriting and recording created by its writers and producers.

Tony C. and I will be playing two hours of music composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Neil Diamond and also other writers — Chip Taylor and Randy Newman — maybe even from the West coast, who fit into that Brill Building Sound (if we can get to all of them). I’ll be adding British Invasion and American bands — The Beatles, The Hollies, The Searchers, Manfred Mann, among others — who recorded songs written by the Brill Building writers.

I knew very little about the Brill Building Sound before I started putting this show together, and it’s given me a much deeper appreciation for it and made me realize what an impact it had on the music that is such an enormous part of the American Pop Songbook (not to mention the music that can be heard on my show). I hope you will tune in and to hear some great songs by some extraordinary songwriters and ”find your thrill…through Brill.”

Photo of 1619 Broadway in New York City courtesy of Americasroof.

Posted by | January 21, 2010 | KDHX, Music | Comment 

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