Album – CARNEGIE CONCERT & HOOTENANNY AT CARNEGIE

CARNEGIE CONCERT

Bob traveled extensively amassing a collection of Calypso and gospel songs, many of which he performs here with a live audience at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall. This 1957 recording showcases Bob’s captivating ability to inspire audiences to sing along. The album introduces several tunes which went on to become folk standards including Michael, Row the Boat Ashore, Day-O and John Riley.

Riverside, 1957

JOY JOY! THE YOUNG AND WONDERFUL BOB GIBSON
Fantasy/Concord Music Group
Includes tracks 2, 3, 5 and 8.

HOOTENANNY AT CARNEGIE

By 1963, Bob’s popularity in the folk field was at its pinnacle. He had recorded four top-selling albums on Riverside, three best sellers on Elektra (with one more to come) and initiated the hootenanny night at The Gaslight in Greenwich Village. Bob was a regular featured act on ABC’s Hootenanny Show and his name became synonymous with sing-alongs. With this in mind, in 1963 Riverside rearranged the song list, redesigned the graphics, and re-released the 1957 Carnegie Concert album, now calling it Hootenanny at Carnegie.

Riverside, 1963

JOY JOY! THE YOUNG AND WONDERFUL BOB GIBSON
Fantasy/Concord Music Group
Includes tracks 2, 3, 5 and 8.

06 There Once Was a Poor Young Man

07 Some Fragments of Marital Advice

12 You Must Come in at the Door

13 Good News

Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

Digital recording not yet available except tracks 2, 3, 5, and 8 which are included on Joy, Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson.

NEWS, REVIEWS & NOTES

This is an album that could rate highly with lovers of folk music. Gibson has a commentary and introduction on his selections that describes the origins or circumstances that inspired the melodies. He encourages audience participation and the appreciation of those attending is evident. Market may be somewhat restricted, but as folk albums go, this is one of the better sets available. Includes “Day-O,” “Good News” and “Go Down to Bimini.”

Billboard - Dec 2, 1957

I was notably surprised at this concert. For one thing, Gibson as a leader and impromptu teacher is a wonderfully warm individual: you will immediately sense and hear the enthusiasm and high spirits he generates. For another, the Gibson comments on the audience’s doings and shortcomings are, as the saying goes, worth the price of admission all by themselves. Particularly noteworthy is the segment that opens this side of the album, in which Bob sets forth his views on group singing…

Orrin Keepnews

Few musical experiences can be as stimulating and as satisfying as those in which strong, direct contact between the performer and his audience are clearly in evidence. For this reason, few studio recordings-no matter how high the degree of technical excellence-can approach the excitement of a first-rate live performance by an artist whose personality reaches out to spark his listeners. BOB GIBSON is just such an artist; and the evening on which he captured his audience at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall was one of those excitingly live occasions. Gibson is a young folk singer of rare charm and talent: his many club appearances (including the Village Vanguard in New York, and Chicago’s Gate of Horn) and his two previous 12-inch LPs on Riverside* have made this quite clear, and have helped to provide him with a rabid following and a swiftly zooming reputation as one of America’s most outstanding performers in the wide field of folk song. The present album offers those who may not previously have heard him in club or concert performance a substantial taste of Gibson in action. Those who are familiar with Bob’s in-person approach will know what to expect…and should need no further urging.

The LP offers considerably more than the songs listed in the next column. There is Gibson’s running introductory commentary on the selections, his remarks to the audience and their spontaneous reactions to his comments and his songs. (This is authentically “on the spot” recording, right down to the sound of Bob’s banjo being tuned and re-tuned now and again.)

The second side of the album is devoted to what might be called group singing-but don’t let that put you off. As an old scorner of “community sings” (where no one really seems to know the words and half don’t particularly care), I was notably surprised at this concert. For one thing, Gibson as a leader and impromptu teacher is a wonderfully warm individual: you will immediately sense and hear the enthusiasm and high spirits he generates. For another, the Gibson comments on the audience’s doings and shortcomings are, as the saying goes, worth the price of admission all by themselves. Particularly noteworthy is the segment that opens this side of the album, in which Bob sets forth his views on group singing.

The material is Gibson’s usual adept combination of the unhackneyed and fresh treatment of the familiar. He can breathe new life into as standard an item as Erie Canal, can restore a full folk feeling to Day-O (which has recently undergone the Tin Pan Alley face-lifting treatment), can convey the rich beauty of John Riley and Bimini, and the sheer nonsense of There Once Was a Poor Young Man, as well as the rousing power of the three quasi-religious songs that close the album. As a result, everyone has an extraordinarily good time at a concert by Bob Gibson and his banjo. This time, “everyone” can include record-buyers, too.

Orrin Keepnews <br /> Liner Notes