The natural and nuclear disasters that have unfolded in Japan over the past 10 days are positively heartbreaking. As a resident of New York City during 9/11, I know firsthand what it's like for millions of people to become stunned into disbelief by an epic-size calamity. In one day, Japan was hit with a six-minute earthquake followed by one of the largest and most disastrous tsunamis in modern history. And now the threat of meltdowns at four ocean-side nuclear power plants. Three blows that would shock any nation.
No country has been a greater ally of American jazz than Japan. Since the end of World War II, Japan has embraced jazz and jazz artists, encouraging tours by American artists. Japan also took the lead in sparing no cost to remaster and reissue American jazz albums long dismissed by American record companies.
I think I speak for all readers when I say that I hope Japan, with the help of the international community, locates its missing, repairs its infrastructure and mends its national psyche. The world sorely needs Japan's love and respect for art. We all are counting on the courage of the Japanese people and hoping for a speedy recovery. It's worth taking a minute to wish the nation well.
Speaking of Japan's love for jazz, here's a remarkable clip a friend sent along featuring an all Japanese school-girl big band swinging Sing, Sing, Sing.
Ferlin Husky. Back when different parts of the country developed their own indigenous forms of music that were rarely heard outside of those individual regions, recording artists hoped for what was known as a "crossover" hit. Such a song often began as an r&b, country or blues single that pop audiences took a shining to, thanks largely to jukeboxes and radio. Ferlin Husky, who died last week, had one of those crossovers in 1956 with Gone. The song gave Nashville an identity at a time when Memphis ruled the South. Here's Ferlin Husky's Gone—and here's his I Feel Better All Over...
Harry Carney radio. Jazz musician Bill Kirchner is hosting Jazz From the Archives tonight at 11 p.m. (EDT) on WBGO. His focus will be on baritone saxophone giant Harry Carney, the Ellingtonian, from 1927 through the late 1960s, as well as a rare 1954 date as a leader with strings. You can access the show from anywhere in the world on your computer by going here.
Melvin Sparks. Chris Cowles sent along links to two, hour-long shows he produced and hosted for WRTC-FM in Hartford, CT, on Melvin Sparks, the great jazz-soul guitarist who died last week. You'll find Chris' shows here and here (the podcasts start automatically).
Joe Morello. Dan Brubeck, the drummer and one of Dave's sons, posted a touching tribute to the late drummer Joe Morello, a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, at the Brubeck Brothers' site here.
Tito Puente. Percussionist and educator Bobby Sanabria will be joined by Joe Conzo, Sr. to discuss the legacy of Tito Puente. When: Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. at New York's Manhattan School of Music. Admission is free. Conzo is the author of Mambo Diablo: My Journey with Tito Puente, which is available here.
Candido Camero turns 90. The father of modern conga drumming and NEA Jazz Master Candido Camero will perform in concert on April 1 at New York's Manhattan School of Music, in the Borden Auditorium. Tickets are $5, with proceeds going to the MSM Scholarship fund. More information: 917-493-4428.
CD discovery of the week. Too often, the genius and contribution of Tito Puente is overlooked by jazz fans. Perhaps that's because Tito was a jovial entertainer in his later years. But behind that smile and clowning was a monster percussionist and arranger. Now percussionist and educator Bobby Sanabria and the Manhattan School of Music's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra have paid tribute to El Rey with Tito Puente: Materworks Live!!!Thirteen of Puente's powerful arrangements have been updated, including Cuban Nightmare and Ran Kan Kan. It's hard to believe this is a college band. Then again, Bobby's leading it. You'll find this one at iTunes or here.
Oddball album cover of the week. I'm not sure what's stranger about this one, sent along by reader Michael Bloom: Mae West's senior preening or the young rockers checking out her hourglass figure. Stranger still, perhaps, are the song choices, which include Day Tripper and You Turn Me On. Too much information.
Today is Nat King Cole's birthday. He would have been 92. The pianist and singer was an inspiration to nearly all piano players coming up in the 1940s, and he was all class throughout his life. Cole made everything look easy, even appearing on television. One of his many gifts was the ability to come through the TV camera and into viewers' hearts.
Melvin Sparks, a much-in-demand soul-jazz guitarist who recorded with virtually all of the great organists of the late '60s and '70s and pioneered a sound that borrowed from Grant Green and Sly Stone, died on March 13 . He was 64.
Sparks was at his best playing a muscular, groovy rhythm guitar behind organists like Leon Spencer and Charles Earland, breaking out occasionally with a melodic, groovy solo. He was a mainstay at Prestige during the '70s, where he was a first-call session guitarist noted for his pulsating twangy feel.
Two of my favorite albums featuring Sparks are Leon Spencer's Louisiana Slim (1971) and Charles Earland's Infant Eyes (1978).
Here's Leon Spencer on Mercy, Mercy Me with Sparks keeping jazz-soul time...
And here's Charles Earland's Thang from 1978 off of Infant Eyes, with Sparks running a string-bending solo. Also on the date: Bill Hardman (tp), Frank Wess (fl,ts), Grady Tate (d) and Lawrence Killian (perc).
Here's pianist Marty Napoleon, from Betty's fabulous collection of photos, sent along by her friend Chris. Betty has donated all of her prints, including this one, to Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. But since she and Chris also are big JazzWax readers, they wanted you to see them, too. To my eye, this looks like it was taken right around the time Napoleon joined the Louis Armstrong All Stars in 1952.
Want more JazzSnaps? Go to the right-hand column of JazzWax and scroll down to "JazzSnaps" for links.
JazzWax clip: Here's Marty Napoleon on piano backing up Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden during an NBC broadcast in 1957...
Joe Morello, long-time drummer in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, died on March 12. He was 82.
In Doug Ramsey's superb book, Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Doug writes of the song Take Five's origin: "Morello said that in concert he used to go into 5/4 time in the drum break of a Brubeck piece called Sounds of the Loop, which the group recorded in 1956 on its album Jazz Impressions of the USA."
Doug then quoted Morello:
"I'd just mess around in 5, go from 5/4 to 7/4, and I guess they hadn't heard that kind of thing before, so I kept saying, 'Come on Dave, why don't you write something in 5/4?' He never did, so Paul said one night, 'I'll write something.' We were rehearsing up at Dave's house one time, and Paul came in with that. So we recorded the thing in the studio at Columbia, and I think it was the first take or the second take, and Dave was playing the vamp. I hear it every day somewhere, so it was a very lucky thing. It was my idea."
JazzWax note: You'll find Doug Ramsey's Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmondhere. This coffee-table sized book is loaded with photos and is a must own—especially if you dig Desmond and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
JazzWax clip: I could offer you countless clips of solos by Morello on Take Five. Instead, check out this clip of Morello working the brushes...
It suddenly dawns on me that many JazzWax readers may not be aware of JazzWax's presence on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. If your natural reaction to this news is, "Oh, goodness, not you, too?" or aren't aware of what these things are, let me explain. They're actually pretty neat.
All three are what's known as "social networks" that connect like-minded folks on your computer and mobile devices. All allow you to sign up for free, and all allow you to follow or "friend" others to keep up with what they're saying or doing. And they can read what you're up to, too.
You will find that some people post information artfully, while others yammer all day long about incidental stuff. The beauty is you can pick and choose who you follow or friend.
To read my tweets at Twitter, go here and type in "JazzWax."
To friend me at Facebook, go here and type in "Marc JazzWax Myers."
And to catch me at Tumblr, gohereand type in "JazzWax."
In each case, you may have to create a free account of your own first.
You may or may not find that what I have to say at Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr bores you to tears. You also may or may not find what others are saying of interest. But I guarantee you'll have a wee bit of fun for the few seconds you spend checking. And you may make a few new global friends along the way.
JazzWax Insider. The March issue of the JazzWax Insider, my extra bonus e-newsletter, is ready and will be emailed to subscribers early this week. The JazzWax Insider is free—so if you haven't signed up yet, take 7 seconds to subscribe here.
Cry of Jazz. The Jazz Video Guy Bret Primack sent along a link to what may be one of the oddest and worst-acted jazz movies ever made. And yet there's a certain charm. Here's Part 1...
Jimmy Heath. Bret Primack captured an animated Jimmy Heath in the groove at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in February...
Mary Osborne. My main radio man David Brent Johnson of WFIU's Night Lights has posted his most recent show on swinging guitarist Mary Osborne. Go here.
CD discoveries of the week. Italian-born Dado Moroni approaches the piano with enormous power but he never overstays his welcome. When you have as much technique as he does, there's always great temptation to pound the life out of the keyboard. Moroni carries huge clout in his left hand but his right hand remains as lyrical and as tender as a vocalist. His latest album is Live in Beverly Hills, and his originals are as arresting as his treatment on the four standards. This is superb jazz. Ghanian Village is a great example. But Where Is Love will really knock you out. Joining Moroni are Marco Panascia on bass and Peter Erskine on drums. You'll find this one at iTunes. The CD package comes with a DVD here.
The Sean Smith Quartet's latest album, Trust, is the group's third. Bassist Smith composed all of the songs, and he's joined by saxophonist John Ellis, guitarist John Hart and drummer Russell Meissner. Smith's songwriting is sensitive, edgy and experimental, with a '70s, Steely Dan feel. Whoever miked and mixed this album did a swell job bringing Hart's guitar up so that it plays an equal sonic role to Ellis' saxes. Sample Wayne's World and Lawn Ornaments. Both are enormously smart and sophisticated. A terrific package from start to finish. You'll find this one at iTunes and here.
I've always been a softy for Michel Legrand's music. You, too? Then you'll dig pianist Roger Davidson and bassist David Finck's Umbrellas & Sunshine: The Music of Michel Legrand. As author James Gavin writes in the liner notes: "To hear his songs in the stripped down versions—just piano, with and without bass—is the true proof of their seductiveness." Davidson's left hand is so rhythmic that you never miss the sound of drums. All the songs you'd want to hear are present and accounted for—Theme to Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Summer Knows, Watch What Happens, You Must Believe in Spring and How Do You Keep the Music Playing. But there also are a few left-fielders—Les Enfants Qui Pleurent, Look and one of my favorites, His Eyes Her Eyes, from The Thomas Crown Affair. You'll find this one at iTunes and here.
The late singer Abbey Lincoln recorded in Paris with tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp in February 1980. The result is spotty, but several tracks stand out: What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life and Golden Lady. The latter is so good one wishes Lincoln had recorded an entire album of Stevie Wonder's material. Her voice was perfect for Wonder's melodic complexity and poetic depth. Wonder tunes that could have used the Lincoln treatment are Tuesday Heartbreak, Creepin', Bird of Beauty and Ordinary Pain. This one is available at iTunes or here.
Oddball album cover of the week: The musicians on this 1959 Coral album were top shelf: Pete Candoli, Buddy Childers (tp) Milt Bernhart (tb) Bud Shank (fl,as) Herb Geller (as) Bill Holman (ts) Dave Pell (bar) Russ Freeman (p) Joe Mondragon (b) Shelly Manne (d) Johnny Mandel (arr) Leith Stevens (dir). A child prodigy, Stevens was big in Hollywood, having scored The Wild One, The James Dean Story and others. He also was musical director of about two dozen TV series. Pretty arresting cover.
Here's guitarist Herb Ellis in the mid-1940s, probably in New York while he was with Jimmy Dorsey's band. It's another one of Betty's fabulous snapshots taken of famous jazz musicians and sent along by her friend Chris. Betty has donated all of her photos, including this one, to Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. But since she and Chris also are JazzWax readers, they wanted you to see them, too.
Want more JazzSnaps? Go to the right-hand column of JazzWax and scroll down to "JazzSnaps" for links.
Few English saxophonists could out-swing Tubby Hayes. In fact, many American jazz reed players of the '50s and '60s struggled to keep up. Listening to Hayes' recordings today without knowing who was playing would likely leave you guessing for hours. One of his most exciting albums (and there are many) is Tubby the Tenor, which was recorded on October 4th and 5th in 1961 in New York for Epic, Columbia's jazz and pop subsidiary.
Hayes was accompanied on the dates by a hard-charging trio—the eloquent blues pianist Horace Parlan, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Dave Bailey. And if those guys weren't enough, Hayes was joined on several tracks by trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry and on others by vibist Eddie Costa.
What's remarkable here is how at ease Hayes sounded and how fast and furious the ideas came to him. According to the album's 1961 liner notes by Stanley Dance, Hayes after the session took his horn to the Half Note to blow with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. Dance quotes Cohn as saying: "He came down and made us feel sluggish."
Hayes knew this session was a big deal. Put differently, Hayes was well aware that he was being teamed with some seriously tough talent, and anything short of a mind-blowing effort on his first New York record date would be viewed as a flop.
So days before the two sessions, Hayes headed to Columbia's studios and shut himself in a room for four hours at a time with just a piano, running through all of the songs' chord changes again and again. When it was time to record, Hayes was so familiar with the material that he was creatively free to whip out one idea after the next without worrying about song recall.
The first session began at midnight on October 4. Three hours later, a five flawless tracks were captured—enough to complete an album. Hayes and the trio recorded again the next night, and the same thing happened—track after track of perfect music. The musicians weren't alone in the studio. Word had spread about Tubby, prompting musicians like alto saxophonist Gene Quill and arranger-pianist Bill Potts to stop by.
According to the liner notes, arranger Manny Albam occupied a front-row audience seat during both sessions. Interestingly, Costa's appearance occurred because he happened to be playing at Birdland at the time, which was located a few blocks away. He dropped by during his intermission to record.
Costa and Terry [pictured] are superb additions to this date, but the real maverick surprise is Parlan. The pianist was at his peak here, and I can't recall hearing him play more robustly on other any other session, from both an accompanist perspective and as a soloist.
Among the standout tracks are the swinger You for Me, the hardbop Half a Sawbuck and Soho Soul, which has a John Coltrane feel. Dig Eddie Costa's solo on Sonny Rollins' Airegin and Parlan's red-hot solos on Soon and Opus Ocean. Terry, of course, is superb on all of his tracks.
Hayes not only played tenor sax but he also could play the flute and vibes superbly. Sadly, Hayes died in June 1973 during heart surgery in London. He was just 38 years old.
JazzWax tracks:Tubby the Tenor featured only You For Me, A Pint Of Bitter, Airegin, Opus Ocean, Soon and Doxie. Tubby Hayes: New York Sessions, which was released in the CD era by Columbia, united all of the tracks from both October sessions, including Soho Soul, Opus Ocean, Half a Sawbuck, You're My Everything and The Simple Waltz. Fontana also issued the LP in the Netherlands as Tubbs in New York.
Unfortunately, this CD appears to be out of print and going for around $35 on CD—though it is available at some download sites. Hopefully Sony will reach into its Columbia vaults and reissue.
JazzWax clip:Here's Tubby with Paul Gonsalves on Tupa, recorded in 1965 in London with British sidemen. Gonsalves solos first...
Gene Ammons' Boss Tenor is arguably the tenor saxophonist's best known and most critically acclaimed album. With songs like Canadian Sunset, Close Your Eyes and Blue Ammons, the June 1960 album has enormous cohesion and creative aggression. But as rich as Boss Tenor is, I've always been more partial to Ammons' Up Tight! and its sister album, Boss Soul.
Recorded on October 17, 1961 for Prestige, Up Tight! featured Ammons with a sound that seemed bigger, fatter and more gospel-influenced than past outings. Joining Ammons on the date were pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Art Davis and drummer Art Taylor, with Ray Barretto on conga. The personnel remained the same on October 18, except for a switch at the piano: Patti Bown replaced Walter Bishop, Jr.
Up Tight! has a tough, sad history, which makes the recording that much more meaningful. Ammons recorded the album between prison terms. Addicted to heroin since the mid-'50s, Ammons was arrested in 1958 and charged with possession. After his conviction, Ammons was sentenced to Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet, Ill.
Shortly after his release in 1960, Ammons was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole. Apparently playing in nightclubs was against the agreed-upon terms set by the parole board. When he was released the second time in 1961, Ammons began to record with a soul-jazz feel that was heavy on the blues and deeply introspective. Up Tight! is from this period.
Mindful of Ammons' continued addiction and risks the musician was taking with his health and the law, Prestige owner Bob Weinstock in 1961 decided to record Ammons as often as possible to build up a treasure chest of material to release in case the tenor saxophonist was re-arrested. Ammons agreed. So the day after Ammons recorded Up Tight!, he recorded another album's worth of material, which was placed on the shelf.
Weinstock's gut proved to be accurate. In late 1962, Ammons was arrested again for heroin possession, and this time he was sentenced to seven years at Joliet. Material from the session recorded a day after Up Tight! was released in 1966 as Boss Soul. In the liner notes to the second album, Bob Porter wrote:
"Perhaps a young jazz fan will hear Boss Soul by accident or out of curiosity and discover something. The something he gets from the LP will be hard to explain, perhaps just a feeling for the man and his music, but this is what Ammons wants and needs.
"In letters to Prestige president Bob Weinstock, Ammons continually hopes that the company has enough albums "to keep my name alive." Fortunately thus far it has had enough but the supply is dwindling. For those discovering Ammons for the first time, there is much to go back for, and for those who have passed him by, there is much to re-discover and re-evaluate. For those of us who have been there, we, like Gene Ammons, can only wait."
If you're like me, you'll be swept away by I Sold My Heart to the Junkman, Soft Summer Breeze and Don't Go to Strangers. Up Tight! and Boss Soul is Ammons at his very best.
JazzWax tracks:Up Tight! and Boss Soul together document two of Gene Ammons' most perfect recording sessions. Patti Bown's piano playing on the latter is deliciously bluesy and relentlessly interesting. You'll find both albums together on one glorious CD, called Up Tight!, at iTunes and here.
JazzWax clip:Here's The Party's Over, with Gene Ammons (ts), Patti Bown (p), George Duvivier (b) and Walter Perkins (d). Though this track does not appear on Up Tight! or Boss Soul, it is from the same period (1962)...
Marc Myers writes frequently on music and the arts for the Wall Street Journal. He is author of "Why Jazz Happened" (University of California Press). In 2012, JazzWax was named the Jazz Journalists Association's "Blog of the Year."
