...And Spike Begat Spike
November 27, 2007

The recently released Spike Jones: Legend DVD (Infinity) offers hours of footage of the legendary bandleader and musician who specialized in satirizing musical forms and popular songs with his own unique arrangements. It’s a delicious collection of material of an artist whose records are much more well-known than his live

One of my goals was to give viewers an opportunity to actually watch my father perform,” Jones, Jr. told us in a recent interview. “I watched him for years, ever since he worked in Vegas when I was a kid, he told us. “A lot of people have heard the records over the years and this gives them an opportunity to actually see Spike perform live, and that’s really something.”

Much of the material in collection is taken from Spike Jones’ “Musical Depreciation Review,” a live tour conducted in the Forties and early Fifties that was in turn adapted for such television broadcasts as the Colgate Comedy Hour.

“I wanted the overall package to be centered around television, not his entire career,” said Jones Jr. “I wanted to narrow the scope a bit.”

Jones Jr., who currently produces television awards show (such as this year’s Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards), worked for his Jones Jr. for many years in the Fifties and particularly the early Sixties, when his father’s health began to fail. He often filled in as the bandleader for his father on the road—frequently, Sr. would play the first couple of shows of the day and Jr. would take on the duty for the later shows—and nobody was really the wiser as to who the bandleader actually was. And the band itself was a success.

My father really knew how to market the band--he really enjoyed it and was far more of a producer than he was a personality,” he told us. “He loved to produce the show, and he really loved to market it.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on November 27, 2007 | Comments (0)