Afro-Bossa Hard Bop 2. In response to my Friday post on bossa
nova tracks recorded by hard bop artists between 1963 and 1965, a wise friend from San Francisco writes:
"I like the term "Afro-bossa hard bop"—but Henri Salvador seems misplaced in a brief history of bossa nova. I've read many, many interviews with Jobim and a couple of bios, and the Salvador influence was never raised. He does get a fleeting mention in Ruy Castro's book, Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music
That Changed the World. But let's not forget Laurindo Almeida and Bud Shank's Brazilliance albums of the 1950s. Jobim's bossa rhythm comes out of the samba schools, and Joao Gilberto boiled it down to its rhythmic essence."
Editor's note: Good points all. However, virtually every obituary of Salvador (he died in mid-February) cites the influence of his song, Dans Mon Ile, on Jobim. Of course, the widespread coincidence could merely be the result of Salvador's lifetime of self-promotion. Or perhaps after the bossa nova craze hit, Salvador convinced himself he was the genre's father and said so ever since.
Regardless, Dans Mon Ile did receive widespread distribution in
Brazil at the time and at the very least its commercial appeal accelerated Jobim's already furious songwriting pace. The bigger point is I rightly should have acknowledged the influence of Laurindo Almeida and Bud Shank's Laurindo Almeida Quartet (1954) and Holiday in Brazil (1958)—now known as Brazilliance Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Clearly Bud Shank was the first jazz musician to bring the bossa nova to the U.S., and Stan Getz had Bud Shank in mind during his Verve bossa nova recordings of 1962 and beyond.
Bunny Berigan. Movie director and film blogger Raymond De Felitta ('Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris) dropped a line last week in response to my post on Bunny Berigan's I Can't Get Started and the two studio versions Bunny recorded:
"Excellent post and subject--Bunny is a fascinating and largely forgotten figure (love his small band recordings of Bix's compositions)!
"In 1975, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Jess Stacy [pictured]. Although I was only 10 or 11 years old at the time, I had a lot of questions for him (though I wish the meeting could have happened 5 or 10 years later). The only things I clearly remember from my time with Jess was asking him about his solo on Sing Sing Sing [during Benny Goodman's famed 1938 Carnegie Hall concert].
"Jess told me (and other interviewers as well) that the
whole thing was a surprise to him, that Goodman kept nodding him on even though he didn't expect so much solo time and space. He also said that the whole experience was a 'blur—he had no idea he'd created a solo masterpiece that would so profoundly influence so many jazz musicians.
"The other thing I remember clearly is that he asked me who else I was listening to. At the time I had just discovered Bunny Berigan. I was perplexed by the two separate recordings of I Can't Get Started and said something about how on one (the 1936 version) Bunny sounded drowsy or tired.
"Jess told me that the story was that Bunny [pictured] was so drunk during the 1936 version that he was being held up in front of the microphone by guys from the band. I remembered this (though didn't fully understand it) for years—and when I heard it again somewhat recently I realized that part of the charm of the 1936 version is that Bunny does sound drunk...and that somehow makes the wit of the song more empathic, taking the edge off the cleverness of the lyric. In a sense, it's a recording of a guy crying into his drink about a love he can't seem to capture."
Charlie Parker tribute tracks: Last week I posted my 10 favorite Charlie Parker tribute albums. Reader Chris Harriott sent an email along recommending Barry Harris' Chasin' the
Bird, available here. Jon Foley offered up Requiem—a tribute track from Lennie Tristano's Tristano. As Jon points out: "Requiem was recorded in 1955, 
right after Bird died. Contrary to what you might expect from Tristano, it's just a beautiful, solemn slow blues solo piano track." The track is available on Tristano at iTunes or here. Just for good measure, I'll add another to the kitty: Cecil Payne Performing Charlie Parker Music.
Recorded in 1961, it features
Payne on baritone, Clark Terry on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Charlie Persip on drums. You'll find the CD here.
Stardust site. In response to my post on Stardust and Bix Beiderbecke's contribution to the Hoagy Carmichael standard, Paul Morrissette dropped a line to say that he has listed more than 750 different recordings of Stardust at stardustsong.com. Quite a list.
Francis Wolff photos. During my daily video crawl on YouTube, I came across a trailer for a Michael Cuscuna-produced photo exhibit last February of Francis Wolff's photos at New York's Apple Store in SoHo. To view the clip, go here.
Monk at Town Hall (Part 2). Video documentarian Bret Primack sent along a link to the second part of his podcast on The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (Riverside), which has just been reissued by Concord Records as part of its remastered Keepnews Collection series. Now we know why the opening chorus of Little Rootie Tootie was not recorded and why the song was repeated during the encore. Go here to see the clip.
Cecil Payne and Duke Jordan. Reader Don Frese writes that
the late baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne's albums Patterns of Jazz (Savoy) and East and West of Jazz (Charlie Parker Records) have been issued by Fresh Sound on one CD—Cecil Payne: 1956-1962 Sessions. You'll find it here.
JazzWax at Jazz.com. Several weeks ago, Jazz.com's Ted Gioia invited me to pick 12 of
my favorite, often-overlook Charlie Parker masterpieces. Isolating a
dozen Bird tracks took some doing—and several hours of careful
listening and editing. Hop over to Jazz.com to have a look.
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