Notes and Quotes: "Yeh Yeh"

Fame's choice of this jazz gem was a gamble in 1964. Although the beat boom was fading, rhythm and blues was the music that was getting the most attention, not jazz. Nevertheless, Fame and the band turn in a convincing performance, gaining airplay on both sides of the Atlantic.

The recording itself is straight-forward: no double-tracking, no (obvious) splices, and no (apparent) overdubbing. The track appears to be a complete performance, unlike most of the other pop performances committed to tape and vinyl in the mid sixties.

Fame: I was a big Jon Hendricks fan -- and I'd bought the album Lambert, Hendricks, and Bavan at Newport, on which he sang "Yeh Yeh" . . . and we started doing it. I suppose you could call it sophisticated Afro-Cuban: originally it was recorded by Mongo Santamaria's band, then Hendricks put some lyrics to it and jazzed it up a bit. (Frame 1997: 25)

Coe: The first thing we did was go down to this studio in Great Newport Street and rehearse "Yeh Yeh" . . . we'd been playing it around the clubs, but we thrashed out a version which we thought was suitable for a single.

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24 February, 2014