A few mysteries here. I have no idea who June Barton or Emil Coleman were. Probably just another sweet hotel outfit. Also, the images are flipped for some reason, so everything is backward. This becomes apparent when you see Coleman run his hand up the piano when what you hear is him running his hand down the keys. I don't know who "P.R." is on the drums. Just one of thousands of bands in the swing era that went nowhere but was somewhere for a brief moment...
Of course, to hear how this song was done right, here's Benny Goodman in 1945...
Despite being called the Juvenile Jubilee, the college "seniors" in this clip look like parents. Nevertheless, dig our rubber-legged friend with the tray...
Please, let me first apologize for what I'm about to do to you. The Hut Sut Song was a novelty number made popular in the months before World War II in recordings by Freddy Martin, Horace Heidt and the King Sisters. Here's a video clip of the song illustrating what can happen to you if you hear it too often. Oh, did I mention that even 70 years later, the maddeningly awful tune is still hard to shake from your noggin?
In case you want to sing along...
In a town in Sweden by a stream so clear and cool A boy would sit and fish and dream when he should have been in school. Now, he couldn't read or write a word but happiness he found In a little song he heard and here's how it would sound;
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit, Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit. Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit, Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.
Now the Rawlson is a Swedish town, the rillerah is a stream. The brawla is the boy and girl, The Hut-Sut is their dream.
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit. Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla sooit.
While I'm away, I have a different video clip for you each day this week. Each clip is fun and fascinating in its own right. To kick off the series, here's the Bobby Troup Trio in 1951 performing Troup's own Daddy, with singer Virginia Maxey. That's Al Viola on guitar and Lloyd Pratt on bass:
A special JazzWax thanks to Cynthia Sesso of CTSImages.com, the jazz encyclopedia himself Ira Gitler, Tony Middleton and Mark Cantor.
Singer Nancy Wilson shocked audience members at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill in New York last night by announcing that the performance would be her last club date before retiring. According to Miss Wilson's website, she has only one more concert scheduled—at the Ohio University in September.
Miss Wilson's remarks came at the start of her show and produced gasps and shouts of "no" from a startled sold-out house. "I want to go home, and stay home," she said, explaining her decision whimsically but earnestly. The 74-year-old Miss Wilson has been performing for nearly 60 years and has recorded more than 70 albums.
Miss Wilson proceeded to sing for 90 minutes, adding a rare encore of her 1964 hit, How Glad I Am. Following her announcement, both Miss Wilson and the audience seemed to understand the singular importance of last night's performance, with Miss Wilson taking on songs that were not on her official play list and the audience shouting out remarks and words of encouragement between songs.
For my conversations with Miss Wilson, go here, here and here.
Good news and bad news. The good news in CD land is that more new albums that cross my desk are worth listening to. The ideas are better, the artists are better informed and the concepts are more captivating. Which means it's growing harder to for me to reject music to review. [Pictured: Georgia O'Keeffe hand on back tire of Ford V8, 1933, Alfred Steiglitz]
Now the bad news. The sonic quality of the recordings is growing poorer, and I'm not sure why. In many cases, perfectly good artists are being ruined by subpar producers, engineers and studios that seem to have little clue about what they're doing. The bass is rubbery and distorts, the high end fizzles, and the mid range sounds distant.
What all of this means going forward is that I won't be reviewing albums that are poorly recorded and mixed. It's just not fair to readers who care about such things and expect better. Musicians' creative efforts are wasted today if they aren't going to prudently select studios and carefully monitor how they are being recorded and mastered. [Pictured: Fluther, 2011, Penelope Davis, Type C photograph]
My advice to musicians is this: Make sure you are using studios and engineers that truly know what they're doing. Before you engage, ask for the last three albums recorded there and give a listen. Without doing your due diligence, you're taking great digital photos but bringing them to a drugstore for printing.
Candido and (U)nity. Conga legend Candido Camero recently sat in with (U)nity, a Latin-jazz ensemble, in New Jersey. The band is comprised of Axel Laugart on keyboard, Amaury Acosta on drums, Max Cudworth on alto sax, Mike Rodriguez on trumpet, Chris Smith on bass, Michael Valeanu on guitar and Maricio Herrera on percussion. Here's the result...
Jazz Session request. Jason Crane is coming up on his 300th Jazz Session show. Jason runs what amounts to an audio jazz blog. He interviews jazz artists by phone and packages the result into free podcasts. You'll find his great site here. But like all good things these days, he's facing a cash crunch. The expense of conducting these interviews is taking its toll, and he is looking to raise capital. Jason says that if he isn't able to hit his target, No. 300 will be his final show. To see the various levels of contribution and what you will receive for your generous dollars, go here.
Michael Brecker and Bret Primack. Jazz Video Guy Bret Primack interviewed the late Michael Brecker here just after Grover Washington Jr. died in December 1999...
Don and Dave Bartholomew. Dave Bartholomew is a trumpeter who arranged and played on Fats Domino's early great hits. When I was down in New Orleans last fall to interview Fats, I had lunch with Dave and his son Don. Here's a video clip of Don's rap group, Supastarz. The song, Born in the Country, is Dave's. Don reloaded it as a rap song, and that's Dave in the beginning and throughout. Don produced the song, co-produced the video and appears in it...
Bill Kirchner and Jerry Dodgion. In 2004, saxophonist Bill Kirchner interviewed saxophonist Jerry Dodgion at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies. Dodgion shared a range of stories, including a birthday celebration with Charlie Parker and other musicians. To listen to Bill's roundtable, go here.
Buddy Holly & Co. There are plenty of "mania" groups—musicians who perform as rock legends. Beatlemania is probably among the best known. Yesterday, JazzWax reader Jo Martin in Iowa brought to my attention this one, John Mueller's Winter Dance Party, which performs nationwide and pays tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper...
CD discoveries of the week. Drummer Mike Melito leads a hardbop sextet on The Right Time, serving up one terrific track after the next. On his new release, you'll find Mike's take on John Coltrane's Pristine and Just for the Love as well as Sonny Clark's Royal Flush. Also here are Clifford Brown's Daahoud, Gigi Gryce's Nica's Tempo and three by contemporary colleagues Steve Fishwick (New Bossa), band trumpeter John Marshall (Tailwind) and bassist Neal Miner with Night Owls, featuring sharp solos by baritone saxophonist Frank Basile, guitarist Bob Sneider, pianist Dino Losito and Miner. Mike's stickwork throughout this album is driving and crisp without ever crowding out his bandmates. His brushwork is equally spot on. You'll find this one here.
Another powerful hardbop entry is Ernie Krivda's Blues for Pekar(that's Harvey Pekar, the cartoonist who died in July 2010). Krivda moves fast on the tenor saxophone with a hard-edge tone that is direct, distinct and honest. Which is clearly why Pekar adored him. Wait until you hear what the quartet (plus guest trumpeter) does with The End of a Love Affair and Dexter Gordon's Fried Bananas. The group is joined by trumpeters Sean Jones and Dominick Fariniacci on tracks. Krivda comes to play on each track, and you're rewarded by the aggression. You'll find this one at iTunes and here.
It's a shame the Latin Grammy disappeared. Jose Rizo's Mongorama would have been a shoo-in. This tribute to conguero Mongo Santamaria has all the hypnotic energy and seductive punch of Mongo's 1960s albums. The nonet is made up of Grammy winners, and special guests include Hubert Laws and Poncho Sanchez. The album was produced by Rizo and Oscar Hernandez, with arrangements by Hernandez and Francisco Torres. Dig Asi Es La Vida and Que Maravilloso. You'll find this one at iTunes and here.
Oddball album cover of the week. I have nothing against prayer or traditional values. Nor do I have anything against the heartland. I love all of it. But for a vocalist like Jo Stafford, this 1954 Columbia cover seems like a strange way to market the singer, even in her spiritual phase. If you picked up this album today, you'd think the cover subject was Jo herself. Except when this album was released, Stafford was 37 years old. Then again, working for Tommy Dorsey could age you.
Today in the Wall Street Journal (go here) I review Rave On Buddy Holly, an album that will be released this coming Tuesday. It pairs 19 contemporary and established rock artists with songs associated with rock's least-known and most misunderstood founder. The result is expressionistic and interpretive, much in the way that If I Were a Carpenter (A&M) was when the CD was released in 1994. On that album, artists like the Cranberries, Sheryl Crow and Cracker took a shot at Richard and Karen's early '70s catalog.
While researching the Holly tribute album, it was fascinating to revisit the singer-songwriter's original hits and rarities. What I rediscovered along the way was just how dynamic and moody his music was and remains. Holly was from Lubbock, Texas, and was somewhere between Western Swing and cowboy. After seeing Elvis Presley in concert, Holly decided to adapt his style to rock 'n' roll, forming the Crickets in 1957. That'll Be the Day was the group's first hit, and it went to No. 1.
Holly registered 40 original songs with ASCAP and BMI, and his voice could swing easily from rockabilly (Maybe Baby) to pop (True Love Ways) without ever sounding forced or gooey.
Yet Holly is still unfamiliar to most people. Much of this distance is the result of a scarcity of Holly footage, his brief career, and his geeky image, which was less overtly sexual than the brands developed by Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley.
For the short two-year period Holly was around, he was a major mover and shaker. Much of his material is clean, focused on romance rather than barbed double entendres. He also pioneered the setup that most rock groups later adapted—two electric guitars, bass and drums. His songs—both melodies and lyrics—were remarkably Spartan and well crafted. They were at once sophisticated and simple. Consider Take Your Time and Fool's Paradise.
As an artist, Holly's twangy guitar playing was both hill and hip, and his voice was warm and stretched, adding a restless component to his music. And while his look was geeky—with oversized black glasses and hayride suit jackets—there was something contemporary and everyman about him. While most rockers were take-chargers who called the shots with women, Holly came across as a vulnerable soul who women naturally wanted to take care of.
He's the inspiration for the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel, the Hollies and so many other bands and artists who came after Holly was already gone.
As most people know, Holly died in an air crash in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959. Rather than take the tour bus booked by the rock 'n' roll show he had signed on with, Holly chartered a plane to fly from Iowa to the tour's next stop in Minnesota. Performers Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) hitched a ride. The plane lifted off in bitter-cold weather and crashed minutes after lift off, killing all on board.
While rock's other originators went off in different flamboyant directions, leveraging their rambunctiousness and independence as a commercial asset, Holly's golly-gee purity remains frozen in time, untouched by the shifting sands of rock and pop that followed in the '60s. What you have in Holly is rock's core—youthful exuberance, uncertain innocence and songs about what teens still care about most: love.
JazzWax tracks:Rave On Buddy Holly (by Fantasy/Concord) features 19 artists interpreting Holly's songs. The list includes Paul McCartney, Nick Lowe, Graham Nash, Patti Smith, Lou Reed and a range of newer artists with whom you may not be familiar. You'll find it at iTunes and here.
If Buddy Holly's music grabs you, there are two collections that are must owns. The first is Down the Line: The Rarities (Geffen), which features 59 tracks starting when Holly was a teen singing on the radio in Texas. You'll find the collection here. The other is Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection (Geffen). You'll find it here. Both have been remastered.
JazzWax clips:Here's Buddy Holly and the Crickets on the Arthur Murray Dance Party in December 1957...
If you're looking for where jazz is heading, I urge you to take a listen to Adam Rudolph's Both/And (Meta), which is out today. The CD features Adam's Moving Pictures ensemble along with his Organic Orchestra Strings. What makes this album special are the textures Adam whips up with Western and Eastern instruments and improvised motifs. Not content to feature traditional jazz lines and eager to channel music and rhythms of many cultures, Adam has created a hypnotic and spiritual jazz fusion. What may seem far out at first is actually quite familiar, gentle and tender.
I'm not going to get into Adam's background or musical philosophy. You can catch all of that in my 2008 interviews here and here (scroll down a bit).
What is important is how he approaches music and arranging. His passions range from the rain forest and African desert to urban street beats and big band horns. All of his feelings are here on one album. Rather than attempt to describe the music, let me tell you who's playing and the wide range of instruments, many of which may be unfamiliar to you:
Adam Rudolph—hand drumset, thumb piano, bata, mouth bow and percussion.
Ralph Jones—hulusi, bass clarinet, alto and C germanic flutes, soprano and tenor saxophones, bamboo trumpet and bamboo flutes.
Joseph Bowie (Lester Bowie Sr.'s youngest)—trombone, organic electronics, harmonica, congas, bamboo trumpet and percussion.
Graham Haynes—cornet, flugelhorn, bamboo trumpet and percussion.
Brahim Fribgane—oud, cajon, bendir, tarija and percussion.
Kenny Wessel—electric and acoustic guitars and banjo.
Jerome Harris—acoustic bass guitar and slide guitar.
Matt Kilmer—frame drums, kanjira, bata and percussion.
Now add 11 strings and put it all in an imaginative blender. You dig?
This is exciting music, especially when you factor in how Adam arranges his compositions and conducts the group. Within tight pens of structure there is enormous room for improvisation and self-expression.
To quote from an earlier interview with Adam:
"There are through-composed solos, duos, trio and quartets that I add orchestration around in a spontaneous way. How do the musicians know what I want them to play and in which keys?There are 10 cues, each indicated by my fingers. I can cue any of the 10, and they can then improvise freely within them using their imaginations and abilities to listen. In addition, I can use hand signals to give specific directions within each cue that includes held notes, staccatos, range and dynamics, and extended instrumental techniques. There are also 10 different ostinatos [continuously repeated phrases] and 4 orchestration themes."
I can't say enough about this organic-jazz album. It's on the cutting edge but doesn't seem to ever leave home. It's primeval in the most engaging way. And the music, though abstract, never overstays its welcome or becomes dead weight. What happens is that through this music you find your inner spirit. Hey, there's a rogue banjo here with dozens of percussion instruments, a hot jazz trumpet and an instrument that sounds like Bob Dylan's harmonica, all framed by strings on some tracks.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Adam Rudolph's Both/And (Meta) at iTunes and here. His Dream Garden from 2008 is equally fascinating (here). For more on Adam, go here.
Tour: Adam will be at the Jazz Gallery with Moving Pictures in New York on July 29. For his full schedule, go here (scroll down).
JazzWax clip:Here's Adam Rudolph a few years ago...
The Bo-Keys know how to set a Memphis groove. They ought to. The band's musicians have been doing it for some time. As I wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week (go here), the band was formed by bassist Scott Bomar [pictured] in 1998, and the rest of the band's rhythm section are veterans of the Stax and Hi record labels in the '60s and '70s.
In addition to Scott, the band features guitarist Charles "Skip" Pitts, drummer Howard Grimes and keyboard player Archie Turner. Trumpeter Marc Franklin and saxophonists Jim Spake, Derrick Williams and Kirk Smothers round out the octet.
The Bo-Keys' new album is Got to Get Back (Electraphonic). If you dig the soul-funk sound of Memphis, this band's pulled-pork authenticity will certainly grab you. There are also cameos by four Memphis legends: singers Otis Clay, William Bell, Percy Wiggins and Charlie Musselwhite, who also plays blues harp.
Ricky Riccardi's much anticipated What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years (Pantheon) is out today. Ricky is an Armstrong scholar and archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, N.Y. He also writes the terrific blog The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong. [Pictured: Ricky Riccardi]
Here's a taste from Ricky's new book:
Armstrong's longtime physician Alexander Schiff agreed that the engagement [at the Waldorf-Astoria in March 1971] should have been canceled. "Even at the end, when his last date was at the Waldorf-Astoria here in New York City, we wanted to cancel that contract," Schiff said. "But he said, 'Oh, you can't do that to me. This is the first big engagement I have in New York City at the best hotel, and I'm gonna finish that contract.' "He was very, very sick at that time, and he had lost so much weight that people didn't even recognize him."
Writing about the performance a few months later, Richard Meryman inferred Armstrong probably saw it as too important of a gig to cancel. "He had to be helped on and off the stage," Meryman recounted. "To Louis, no doubt, that date—his first at the Waldorf—was a kind of pinnacle, a very specific measurement of the distance from squalid James Alley. For that—and for him—I am much more happy than sad."
As the Waldorf run continued, Armstrong's trumpet playing suffered. "His playing the trumpet was—I wouldn't say 'shameful,' but it wasn't Louie" Schiff said. "It was a different person playing that trumpet." [Clarinetist] Joe Muranyi, too, remembered Armstrong's chops deserting him on a recorded version of Indiana. "He plays Indiana and he's got no chops at all, he's physically in terrible shape," he says about the tape. "And the old man, I cried when I heard it a couple of times and I couldn't play it anymore. He plays Indiana with all the mistakes, and he tries to make something happen with the mistakes. And it's, you know, he wouldn't give up."
Armstrong was so determined to keep playing [at the Waldorf] that he focused all of his offstage time on resting... Nothing would stop Armstrong, as he lived to perform. If he couldn't entertain, he couldn't be happy. His health already had kept him from doing what he loved for almost two years, and it had depressed him tremendously. Now back onstage, he was determined to stay there, even it it killed him.
Armstrong died on July 6, 1971, less than four months after the Waldorf-Astoria gig, his last performance appearance.
JazzWax pages: You'll find Ricky Riccardi's What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years (Pantheon) here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Louis Armstrong on comedian Flip Wilson's TV variety show in 1970...
I came across the following three Chet Baker video clips yesterday. If you're familiar with them, they're worth another look. If not, you're in for a treat. What's fascinating to me is his smoldering intensity and passion. Also haunting is how similar he and Elvis Presley looked in 1956, though Baker appears more morose and a lot less self-confident, albeit much more poetic.
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."
