Tossi Aaron - Tossi Sings Folk Songs & Ballads - Prestige International INT-13027 - Original Prestige Pressing, Orange Label, Mono
Tossi Aaron - Vocals & Guitar
Linda LaBove - Guitar & Banjo
Lee Aaron - Mandolin
Recorded - Summer 1960, Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
[Per Tossi Aaron]
Produced by Kenneth S Goldstein
Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder
[Van Gelder in the dead wax]
Cover Design/Photo -Don Schlitten
Released - March 24, 1962
[Tossi recalls sometime in 1961]
Tossi Aaron is my own personal favorite/cult artist on Prestige. Of course as an early 60s folk singer she doesn't easily fit into the canon/conventional narrative histories of Prestige (reflected in the enduring jazz cliche:"The difference between Blue Note and Prestige is two days of rehearsal" - which is fundamentally misleading anyway). However, with two (maybe three) releases in the Prestige International 13000 series and a single release in Riverside's Wonderland [Children Records] subsidiary - Tossi is an interesting and rather undiscovered part of Jazz label history. (
For obsessive compulsive types/label completists, maybe).Tossi has a distinctive voice with interesting vocal phrasings - not polished and 'bell like' (e.g the booming soprano) like you'd expect in early 60s folk music -
but a bit more fragile and vulnerable, low key and more considered. After hearing her version of "Gyspy Davy" on the 1995 Fantasy CD , "The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol. 4: Singing Out Loud", (the sole representative of Tossi in the CD era) I immediately sought out her original Prestige sides on Vinyl which are quite difficult to find - both released in 1962-63, pressed in rather limited quantities and never reissued or repressed.
So it was with great delight and giddiness that I was recently able to connect with Tossi Aaron herself - who remains quite vital and active today in Philadelphia at 84 years old (Yes, very much still here, thank you very much!) After her performing career ended, Tossi continued as a music teacher/early childhood music educator (Orff), writer-editor, and activist with her husband, Lee.
Tossi has some interesting stories about her experiences in the Philadelphia folk music scene of the early 60s. She was long involved in the Philadelphia folk song society which arranged Bob Dylan's first landmark performance in Philadelphia in 1962. Dylan and his then girlfriend, the late Suze Rotolo, even stayed with Tossi and her family after this performance. The following Sunday morning they all had a pancake breakfast together. Dylan regaled them with tales - and played a fast game of dodge ball with Tossi's kids on her small front lawn!
However, what this blog is really interested in is the minutia of the Prestige International subsidiary... Tossi, generously after nearly 50 years (!) was able to provide some reminiscences about her performing career and some specific recollections of recording her Prestige sides. Tossi writes:
"Yes, [both] recordings ["Tossi Sings Folk Songs and Ballads" (1961) and "Tossi Aaron Sings Jewish Folksongs For the Second Generation"(1963)] were made by Rudy van Gelder . Kenneth Goldstein (then prof at Penn was a friend, mentor, director and producer of the two albums. (I think it says so at the bottom of the album back covers! ) The third album [Folk Songs of Love", 1964, planned as PR-INT 13078) was never released that I know of, was cut at a live performance in Baltimore club "Blue Dog Cellar," engineered by Paul Rothschild [Future Elektra/Doors Producer]. Kenny put a stop to it. He was not the director, and 2 or 3 cuts, sung as warm ups, were not copyright free. The children's album ["A Child's Introduction to Going to School", 1963, RLP 1496) was made when I was teaching music at a private school-- the kindergarten teacher's comment? It assumes that children are afraid of going to school! I do have a vinyl of it- somewhere.
Album #1 [ This side] was recorded perhaps in 1960, summer and released in 1961. On the cover, I am wearing my husband's shirt because the photographer was there and didn't like my summer t shirt. The photo was taken at the first album session, all in one day, after recording. The guitar I am playing is an 1843 peg head Martin-- and that's another story! To promote the release, Bonnie Dobson and I were booked together at a nearby music store . Mine is #13027, hers #13021. Neither disc arrived in time. We alternated singing to the group and sang "Plaisir d'Amour" as a duet.
The biggest noise about the first album came due to " I Know You Rider" and that I was the first to record it. Liner notes: I don't recall where I learned it, but more than a year ago, the result was a home made private gift CD from Chicago, titled "Tossi's Children," of all those who recorded the song in its dozens permutations, including the Grateful Dead! Jerry Garcia admits he changed the song, making it male, dropping verses, etc. Didn't know till I saw it in Lomax book that it was collected from a young Black woman in prison ,originally in dialect, I didn't learn it that way never sang it that way. Still love its poignancy and flatted high note on "miss me" that touch the feelings.
I remain happy with true folk music, but am not performing. As I have for many years, I write a monthly column for the Philadelphia Folksong Society newsletter, on any related topic I choose to research and explore. All music is my life treasure-- Early, Baroque and before, a little jazz, rounds... all of it to share, always."
