Jackie at New Orleans Jazz Fest – ca. 1990
Oct. 19, 2023
Today would have been my friend Jackie Pilliciotti's 69th birthday. But I think of her often, and especially around her birthday. She was only 52 when she died in 2007, and it's a little hard for me to imagine her on the cusp of 70.
I met Jackie when I briefly worked at New Music Distribution Service in New York, around 1984 or '85. She was welcoming and kind to me from the start, and we soon became good friends. In the 1980s, friendship often meant exchanging mix tapes, and we continued exchanging them for a while after I left NYC in 1988. We had both been college radio DJs, so sharing music came naturally. I loved making tapes for her, but I loved getting them from her even more. They were always full of surprises, and a lot of that music has entered my permanent collection.
Jackie was like the cool big sister I never had, the one with great taste in music and a killer record collection. She turned me on to so much incredible music, and her influence still continues to shape my listening habits. Jackie was the one who schooled me in Latin music and New Orleans R&B, among other things. (I doubt I taught her about much of anything that she didn't already know.) Even now, sometimes I'll hear something new and think, "Jackie would have loved this."
I still have all of the cassettes she made for me, and this two-hour mix is built around some of my favorite songs from them. It's all old, classic stuff from the 1940s - 80s – mostly Latin and R&B, a bit of Gospel and Brazilian, a few wild cards. In some cases I've substituted other tracks by the artists on her tapes, and I've woven in songs that I'm pretty sure I sent to her. It's been a sweet way to remember Jackie on her birthday and to continue our friendship.
00:00 Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Didn't It Rain
02:32 Golden Gate Quartet - My Walking Stick
04:44 Vocal Sampling - Congo Yambumba
08:09 Eugenio Avelino - Girias Do Norte/De Quinza Pra Tras/O Sepo No Saco
11:30 Los Muñequitos De Matanzas - Alma, Libre
14:40 Son 14 - A Bayamo En Coche
20:26 Celia Cruz - Quimbara
25:19 Nat King Cole - Calypso Blues
28:40 Chuck Berry - Havana Moon
31:45 Ansel Wyatt Combo - The Slave
35:03 Conjunto Libre - Elena, Elena
40:58 Barretto - Tumbao Africano
45:22 The Meters - Fire On The Bayou
49:20 Wild Magnolias - Brother John Is Gone/Herc-Jolly-John
54:46 Professor Longhair - In The Wee Wee Hours
58:06 Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle
1:01:04 Young Tiger - Calypso Be
1:03:56 Nellie Lutcher - Fine Brown Frame
1:06:49 Jackie Wilson - No Pity (In The Naked City)
1:10:19 Ray Charles - I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
1:13:59 Mr. Undertaker - Here Lies My Love
1:16:30 Aretha Franklin - Save Me
1:18:45 Captain Beefheart - Too Much Time
1:21:27 Dr. John - Mama Roux
1:24:22 Elizabeth Lands - Ku-Ku-Ba
1:26:21 El Caballo - Mambo Jay
1:29:01 Orlando Marin - WIld Fire
1:31:48 Nina Simone - See-Line Woman
1:34:20 João Gilberto - Undiú
1:40:52 Elvis Presley - Blue Moon
1:43:22 Les Paul & Mary Ford - Moonlight And Shadows
1:46:20 Al Green - Simply Beautiful
1:50:28 Prince - How Come You Don't Call Me?
1:53:43 Milton Nascimento - The Call