Nighthawks at the Diner
Encyclopedia
Nighthawks at the Diner is a 1975 album by Tom Waits
, released on Asylum Records
. The title was inspired by Edward Hopper
's 1942 painting Nighthawks
.
The album's working title had been "Nighthawk Postcards from Easy Street," but it was shortened to Nighthawks at the Diner.
The album was recorded live in Record Plant Studios
, in front of a small invited audience. This gives the record an intimate feeling as Waits spends time telling stories, jokes and explaining the stories behind his songs through seven separate introductions.
Howe was mostly responsible for organising the band for the "live show", and creating the right atmosphere for the record.
Dewana was an old-time burlesque queen whom Tom had met on one of his jaunts to the Hollywood underworld.
Jim Hughart, who played upright bass on the recordings recalled the experience of preparing for and recording the album
and performed by Red Sovine
on his 1967 album of the same name.
Side One
Side Two
Side Three
Side Four
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, released on Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
. The title was inspired by Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
's 1942 painting Nighthawks
Nighthawks
Nighthawks is a 1942 painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. It is considered Hopper's most famous painting, as well as one of the most recognizable in American art...
.
The album's working title had been "Nighthawk Postcards from Easy Street," but it was shortened to Nighthawks at the Diner.
The album was recorded live in Record Plant Studios
Record Plant Studios
The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
, in front of a small invited audience. This gives the record an intimate feeling as Waits spends time telling stories, jokes and explaining the stories behind his songs through seven separate introductions.
Recording
Bones Howe, the album's producer, on the recording of the album:We did it as a live recording, which was unusual for an artist so new [...] Herb Cohen and I both had a sense that we needed to bring out the jazz in Waits more clearly. Tom was a great performer on stage [...] So we started talking about where we could do an album that would have a live feel to it. We thought about clubs, but the well-known ones like The Troubadour were toilets in those days. Then I remembered that Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
had made a record at the old Record Plant StudiosRecord Plant StudiosThe Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
, when they were on 3rd Street near Cahuenga Boulevard [...] There was a room there that she got an entire orchestra into. Back in those days they would just roll the consoles around to where they needed them. So Herb and I said let's see if we can put tables and chairs in there and get an audience in and record a show.
Howe was mostly responsible for organising the band for the "live show", and creating the right atmosphere for the record.
I got Michael Melvoin on piano, and he was one of the greatest jazz arrangers ever; I had Jim Hughart on [upright] bass, Bill GoodwinBill Goodwin (jazz drummer)F. Bill Goodwin is an American jazz drummer. Bill has been a professional drummer since 1959, and has performed with many jazz instrumentalists such as: Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Jim Hall, George Shearing and Bobby Hutcherson, and singers such as June Christy, Joe Williams, Tony...
on drums and Pete ChristliebPete ChristliebPete Christlieb is a jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Christlieb was born in Los Angeles, California and is the son of bassoonist Don Christlieb...
on sax. It was a totally jazz rhythm section. Herb gave out tickets to all his friends, we set up a bar, put potato chips on the tables and we had a sell-out, two nights, two shows a night, July 30 and 31, 1975. I remember that the opening act was a stripper. Her name was Dewana and her husband was a taxi driver. So for her the band played bump-and-grind music - and there's no jazz player who has never played a strip joint, so they knew exactly what to do. But it put the room in exactly the right mood. Then Waits came out and sang 'Emotional Weather Report'. Then he turned around to face the band and read the classified section of the paper while they played. It was like Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
with a really, really good band.
Dewana was an old-time burlesque queen whom Tom had met on one of his jaunts to the Hollywood underworld.
Jim Hughart, who played upright bass on the recordings recalled the experience of preparing for and recording the album
Preparing for this thing, we had to memorize all this stuff, 'cause Waits had nothing on paper. So ultimately, we spent four or five days in a rehearsal studio going over this stuff. And that was drudgery. But when we did actually get it all prepared and go and record, that was the fastest two days of recording I've ever spent in my life. It was so fun. Some of the tunes were not what you'd call jazz tunes, but for the most part that was like a jazz record. This was a jazz band. Bill Goodwin was a drummer who was associated with Phil Woods for years. Pete Christlieb is one of the best jazz tenor players who ever lived. And my old friend, Mike Melvoin, played piano. There's a good reason why it was accepted as a jazz record.
Music
The song "Big Joe and Phantom 309" is a cover of a song titled "Phantom 309", written by Tommy FaileTommy Faile
Tommy Faile was an American songwriter and singer best known for composing "Phantom 309" and singing "The Legend of the Brown Mountain Lights"...
and performed by Red Sovine
Red Sovine
Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music...
on his 1967 album of the same name.
Track listing
All songs written by Tom Waits, except where noted.Side One
Side Two
Side Three
Side Four
Personnel
- Pete ChristliebPete ChristliebPete Christlieb is a jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Christlieb was born in Los Angeles, California and is the son of bassoonist Don Christlieb...
– tenor sax - Bill GoodwinBill Goodwin (jazz drummer)F. Bill Goodwin is an American jazz drummer. Bill has been a professional drummer since 1959, and has performed with many jazz instrumentalists such as: Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Jim Hall, George Shearing and Bobby Hutcherson, and singers such as June Christy, Joe Williams, Tony...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Jim Hughart – upright bass
- Mike MelvoinMike MelvoinMike Melvoin is an American jazz pianist.Melvoin began on piano at age three. He studied English at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1959, but decided to pursue a career in music. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he played with Frank Rosolino, Leroy Vinnegar, Gerald Wilson, Paul Horn, Terry...
– piano, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Tom Waits – vocals, piano, guitar