Did you miss my two CD reviews in Friday's Wall Street Journal?Here they are...
Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 2 (due Sept. 13) In this volume, the 81-year-old tenor saxophonist delivers six towering performances from 2010, including four from his famed Beacon Theatre concert in New York last September. Flashing remarkable stamina and improvisational cunning, Mr. Rollins competes fiercely but gracefully, adjusting his intensity level to different guest artists on stage with him. There's tender repartee "In a Sentimental Mood" with former band-mate guitarist Jim Hall, a fencing duel with guitarist Russell Malone on "They Say It's Wonderful" and a first-time showdown with alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman on "Sonnymoon for Two." [Photo: New York Post]
Elvis Presley: Young Man With the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters (due Sept. 27) The rise of Elvis Presley from hayseed to King in a single year—1956—remains unprecedented in American music history. Guided by a shrewd manager and strategic TV appearances, the 21-year-old Presley won screams from teens with his detention looks and loose hips. And then there was the voice. This five-CD box from RCA/Legacy chronicles Presley's big year in slow motion. All 39 singles released in '56 are here, including overlooked gems like "I Was the One" and "So Glad You're Mine." There also are previously unreleased live performances in Las Vegas (New Frontier Hotel), Little Rock, Ark., and Shreveport, La. But Presley's annus mirabilis wasn't a cakewalk. A disc of outtakes—including 12 "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy" attempts—illustrates the creative struggle. There's even a daily timeline of Presley's grueling year—a granular accounting of rock's greatest sales job.
JazzWax on Facebook and Twitter. Want to share a JazzWax post at your Facebook page or make mention on Twitter? At the bottom of each JazzWax post I've just added these icons (large, because I like large) and icons for other social networking sites. Just click on the icon at the bottom of posts and follow the instructions.
June and Hef. While doing some research last week, I came across this beaut of June Christy singing Something Cool on TV's Playboy's Penthouse in 1959...
Al Porcino followup. On Friday, I received the following from JazzWax reader Sherrill Grogan...
"The highlight of my 18th year in 1956 came when I was a drum student of Art Mardigan's [pictured], who taught out of his apartment in Detroit.
"As I entered Art's apartment he introduced me to Al Porcino and Stu Williamson, both seated on the living room sofa. They were in town with Stan Kenton's band.
"Needless to say I was knocked out. At that time (and still occasionally), I felt that anyone who made a living, scant as it was, playing jazz was like a god to me. Much higher elevated than the professional baseball players of my adolescent years.
"I remember little of the conversations that ensued, only that Mardigan said he didn't have time for my lesson but could I pay for it anyway and he'd make it up to me. He never did.
"Next time I encountered Art, five or six years later, he was gigging at a joint in Detroit where he still lived. I introduced myself and said I was once a student of his (not mentioning he still owed me a lesson). He of course didn't remember me, saying all his students were young kids. I told him I used to be one of those young kids." [Photo, from left, of bassist Dan Pliskow, pianist Matt Michaels and drummer Art Mardigan at Detroit's Playboy Club, circa 1963]
Jazz Video Guy goes daily. Bret Primack has begun a daily "vlog"—a video blog at his YouTube chanel in which he talks for a few minutes each day about jazz, jazz musicians and other topics on his mind. Think of it as Bret-TV. Go here—and either bookmark the URL or subscribe for free. Here's today's installment...
Peg O My Heart. Don't ask. I just love the song and how the Three Suns' attacked it back in 1947. Here's Tony Lovello, a former Sun from later years, giving the swirling hit a stylistic whirl...
Bill Kirchner radio. This week, jazz musician Bill Kirchner devotes his hour-long Jazz From the Archives show to the music of Carol Fredette, a New York singer who has long been a favorite of musicians and insiders. Said Stan Getz: "Carol Fredette possesses a very vivid voice, a voice of great quality. She's as good as they come." Bill hits the air tonight from 11 p.m. to midnight (EDT). Listen in on your computer from anywhere in the world by going here.
What's My Line. Here are those famous feudin' musical siblings Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey in 1955...
More Dorseys. Need some music to go with the above clip? From one of the most glorious big band albums of 1955 (ignore what it says on the clip)...
Jack Hayes, (1919-2011). Film composer and orchestrator Jack Hayes died last week. He was 92.
Hayes orchestrated for dozens of notable film composers, including Elmer Bernstein, Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini. For Mancini alone, Hayes worked on Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses and Hatari!
Los Angeles composer-arranger Roy Phillippe notes that Hayes also wrote charts for the Tonight Show band, collaborating on works with Louie Bellson, including a three-movement big band chart for Ray Brown titled Basso Bravo.
CD discoveries of the week. Buddy Holly's birthday was Wednesday (he would have been 75). To help celebrate, Verve just released Listen to Me: Buddy Holly. Like Rave On: Buddy Holly (Concord), which came out in June, Listen to Me features today's blue ribbon rockers delivering passionate renditions of Holly's songs. The prestige lineup includes Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Chris Isaak as well as young'uns like Zooey Deschanel, Cobra Starship and The Fray. Which interpretation rules? I'd have to go with Brian Wilson's Listen to Me, with Lyle Lovett's Well All Right a close second. Wilson has the best grasp of Holly's sweet-and-sour intent and pink neon feel. Lovett captures Holly's country innocence. And like Wilson, Lovett works with the spirit of Holly's music rather than reloading it. My only wish is that they had let Phil Spector out of jail for a week to participate in the project. You'll find this one at iTunes and here.
David Bowie is indisputably the giant of Weimarian galactic-rock. Mike Garson, an accomplished jazz and classical pianist, was Bowie's pianist in the 1970s and gave the rocker's studio and concert works an abstract expressionistic quality. Now Garson pays tribute to Bowie on The Bowie Variations (Reference Recordings), a solo piano album that feels more classical and jazz than glam or glitter. If you aren't familiar with Bowie's Life on Mars, Space Oddity or Changes, it won't matter, since identifying these songs through Garson's interpretations will take some work on the part of the listener. Which is what makes the album so magical. At one point Garson tags the jazz standard That's All in his rousing version of Changes. Fascinating listening for Bowie fans and those not yet in the know. You'll find this one at iTunes or here.
Oddball album cover of the week. Jack Marshall was one of Capitol's top conductors and producers in the late 1950s and '60s. Sort of a Billy May "Mini Me." Every so often, Capitol would turn him loose for all of his hard work. And what he came up with were albums like this one that included such swinging risk-takers as Hot Sombrero and Tip-Toe Through the Tulips. As for our cover, it's a Freudian field day, isn't it? Where shall we begin? Let's see. How about the microphones hanging like salamis? Or the models in tight-fitting outfits? Actually, a better start for analysis might be where our models were told to place their hands. Jack's all ears.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e008dca1f08834014e8b34b680970d
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sunday Wax Bits:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Road Shows, Volume 2 isn't yet up on Rdio. Showdown with Ornette Coleman?
Love those sexy LP covers from the 'repressed' 50's and early 60's!
Marc; how about a review of all the jazz performers that Hefner booked on those early P.A.D. TV shows? Recently I netflixed a compilation and found those programs to be amazingly sophisticated, especially in contrast to that moronic reality show he does now.
"Hayseed"? Jeez, Marc, couldn't you have gone with "pauper" or "peasant" if you wanted the class distinction? Or "from a commoner to a King" for a bit of alliteration and more pizzazz. The kid may have been drivin' truck and hangin' around Sun, but he loved his Mama and was kindly polite to his elders and ever'one else. He'd even have said "Sir" and "Thank you" to some wisecrackin' Yankee critic.
Also, for strict accuracy, ol' El cut 39 tracks, from which were assembled maybe a dozen singles--or maybe more, but not "39 singles." Not even Presley could press that many in a single singular singles year.
The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
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."
Road Shows, Volume 2 isn't yet up on Rdio. Showdown with Ornette Coleman?
Posted by: Robert Gable | September 11, 2011 at 01:29 AM
I will try to make it a point to watch Tony Lovello every 9/11. The perfect antidote.
Posted by: David Larsson | September 11, 2011 at 01:52 PM
Love those sexy LP covers from the 'repressed' 50's and early 60's!
Marc; how about a review of all the jazz performers that Hefner booked on those early P.A.D. TV shows? Recently I netflixed a compilation and found those programs to be amazingly sophisticated, especially in contrast to that moronic reality show he does now.
Posted by: Rick M | September 11, 2011 at 09:46 PM
"Hayseed"? Jeez, Marc, couldn't you have gone with "pauper" or "peasant" if you wanted the class distinction? Or "from a commoner to a King" for a bit of alliteration and more pizzazz. The kid may have been drivin' truck and hangin' around Sun, but he loved his Mama and was kindly polite to his elders and ever'one else. He'd even have said "Sir" and "Thank you" to some wisecrackin' Yankee critic.
Also, for strict accuracy, ol' El cut 39 tracks, from which were assembled maybe a dozen singles--or maybe more, but not "39 singles." Not even Presley could press that many in a single singular singles year.
Posted by: Ed Leimbacher | September 12, 2011 at 12:23 PM