JazzWax

CD Discoveries of the Week

Thought I forgot about these over the weekend, didn't you? Last evening I finally had time to sit back and write about the ones I've been setting aside for you. It's a daunting task: Each day I receive about 10 CDs, and by week's end there are several stacks on my desk. Not to worry, though. Here are 10 that stood out:

In February 1972—two days before his famed Paris concert (Live in Paris)—Bill Evans, with bassist Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell performed in Groningen, a college town in the Netherlands. The gig was taped in the open by a Dutch pianist, Jan Warntjes, after winning the approval of Helen Keane, Evans' manager. The result is Momentum (Limetree), a two-CD set. It's another night in the life of the mid-period Bill Evans Trio, and many of the usual song suspects are here—with a bunch of surprises. These include Elsa, Sugar Plum, Quiet Now and Gloria's Step. The drawbacks are that the bass is overmiked, Evans is a tad robotic (cranky about the piano again?) and the sound is a little distant. But if you turn up the volume, you'll wind up with a fascinating listen—a preview of the famed Paris concert albums.

Who knows why some artists succeeded in the '70s and others didn't. Bad album promotion, a dumb release date, an artist's acidic personality, lack of confidence by producers or just fate. One lost thoroughbred was Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, a Mexican-American from Detroit with Bob Dylan's voice and songwriting skills. Rodriguez released Cold Fact (1970) and Coming From Reality (1971), and then that was it. But what was lost on the U.S. market became an underground sensation in South Africa, where the albums were banned but passed around illegally. Over there, Rodriguez's urgent vocals became a force for hope and change. A documentary about him and his impact was just released—Searching for Sugar Man—and two albums have been released remastered on the soundtrack album by Sony/Legacy. Two albums with the global impact of Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone.

For those who like their jazz-rock fusion live, hot and nostalgic, Return to Forever's The Mothership Returns (Eagle) is quite a package. It comes with two CDs that are sonically terrific as well as a DVD featuring full live performances of After the Cosmic Rain and The Romantic Warrior, a trailer for a soon-to-be-released Return to Forever documentary and an hour-long film, Return to Forever: Inside the Music, with live footage and interviews. The 2011 revival band: Chick Corea (keyboards), Stanley Clarke (bass), Lennie White (drums), Jean-Luc Ponty (violin) and Frank Gambale (guitar). RTF remains the bedrock of fusion band inventiveness.

On Lifetimes (Blue Forest), the Brubeck Brothers Quartet updates five songs associated with Dave Brubeck—The Duke, Jazzanians, Kathy's Waltz, My One Bad Habit and Take Five. They also record three originals by bandmates Chuck Lamb and Mike DeMicco. The quartet features Chris Brubeck (bass and bass trombone), Dan Brubeck (drums), Chuck Lamb (piano) and Mike DeMicco (guitar). And while you might sense that this is a Dave Brubeck tribute band, nothing could be further from the truth. The quartet has its own sound and delivers solid and smart interpretations of Dave's works, sending-up reconstructions that enhance the originals. Sample The Duke and Take Five. Both sound as fresh as they did when first recorded. 

Pianist Larry Willis began his recording career in 1965 with Jackie McLean on Right Now! On his new solo piano album This Time the Dream's On Me (HighNote), Willis proves he's as lyrical as he is percussive. There are three originals and seven standards, including My Ship, It Could Happen to You and Cole Porter's rarely heard True Love, which Willis plays beautifully. What makes Willis special is his ability to draw you in and hold you fast—not with hysterical speed or splashy inside-out reworkings but with quiet drama and deep meaning. An album that lets you catch your breath while taking your breath away.

Etta James: Live at Montreux—1975-1993 (Eagle) features the R&B singer's appearances in 1975, 1977, 1989 and 1993. What you notice in these snapshots over an 18-year period is how remarkably powerful her voice remained and how deftly she leveraged blues-shouting for party-time purposes. Sample Respect Yourself (1975) and Beware (1993).

Speaking of the blues, Linsey Alexander's Been There Done That (Delmark) features the bump-and-grind guitarist and vocalist delivering the Delta sound, city-style. Alexander has been a competitive force in the Windy City for years, and the tracks on this album—all recorded live—serve up hot-skillet grooves. Backed by up to nine instruments—including organ, trumpet and tenor sax—Alexander works a different feel on each track, and all mix soul, funk and blues effortlessly. Sample the title track and Going Back to My Old Time Used to Be. This is blues of the highest order and you'll surely find it a fabulous discovery. And catch Billy Branch on blues harp (tracks 1, 6 and 8). Music that makes you want to fire up the grill.

August marks the 50th anniversary of the recording of Green Onions, the hit Stax album by Booker T. & the M.G.s that put funky soul on the map. The album has just been re-issued remastered by Concord. As an organ-guitar-bass-drums album, Green Onions set the stage for a wave of similar bands that would follow. It also became a model for every late-night talk-show TV band today, including the Saturday Night Live band. Built on riffs, chink-chink guitar chords and punchy beats, the album provided Stax with a winning model. It also firmly established Booker T. & the MGs as the label's core studio band, and they backed  dozens of artists on hundreds of hits. Still funky as it ever was.

In 1959, Hank Ballard wrote and first recorded The Twist with the Midnighters for King Records. The single topped out at #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in early 1960. Unfortunately for Ballard (or fortunately, since he was the sole writer), the song didn't have the same electricity as Chubby Checker's cover, which soared to #1 in September 1960. Checker's The Twist also ignited one of the most popular dance crazes between 1960 and 1967, instantly giving rise to freestyle dancing—couples facing each other but doing their own thing. Checker, of course, was quickly put to work trying to top his own hit with dance number after dance number. The spray of step-theme 45-rpms included The Jet, The Continental Walk and The Stroll. Many are captured on a remastered Chubby Checker two-fer—It's Pony Time/Let's Twist Again (Real Gone/ABKCO). Where it all began.

Not many rock groups can claim to be from California's San Fernando Valley. Chalk one up for the Electric Prunes. Back in the mid- and late1960s, parents were fond of using the band's name as a punch line to show how dumb popular music had become. In truth, the band was better than its name implied. Ain't It Hard and Little Olive were early psychedelic-rock garage-band numbers, and both remain worthy. Now all of the band's major 45-rpms have been gathered on Electric Prunes: The Complete Reprise Singles (Real Gone). Surprisingly, much of the band's material holds up well—a quaint bridge between the Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas and the heavyweight acidy action put down by bands like Cream, the Yardbirds and Jefferson Airplane. Take that, parents.

JazzWax Spans the Universe

YouTube is like the Milky Way—an infinite number of pros and amateurs performing and hoping to be seen and appreciated. Nosing around on the site yesterday, I plucked three unknowns to share with you...

I have no idea who Max Turati is or where he's from, but his take on Cherokee is super...

 

Here's gospel organist Terry Bradford at the Friendly Temple in St. Louis playing Walk With Me Lord...

 

And here's a gentleman named Vaitano down in Brazil...

 

Weekend Wax Bits

Last week, a brilliant publicist managed to get the U.S. media to pay attention to an obscure popular music study in an obscure publication by obscure Spanish researchers. Congratulations to the publicist, since this isn't easy to do. The problem is the conclusion that was reported by the media—or who fed the flawed conclusion to them. Yet another example of radio and TV editors who accept what they're told at face value. 

Here's the bill of goods the publicist managed to unload:  One leading news-radio station in New York reported that "a new study shows that our grandparents were right—all pop music sounds alike." An all-news TV network reported later in the day that "a new study confirms that all pop music sounds the same—and has for 50 years."

The stupidity of the study's so-called conclusion should have at least been a red flag. But editors all over the place bought it hook, line and sinker.

First off, the original study is virtually unintelligible. Perhaps its coherence was lost in translation. Or maybe it was incoherent to begin with. Second, as far as I can tell, nowhere in the study does it say "all popular music sounds the same."

This is as close to a conclusion as I could find in the study: "Therefore, contemporary popular music may have a well-established set of underlying patterns and regularities, some of them potentially inherited from the classical tradition."

Huh? As any good editor knows, when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is and needs verification. Here's a conclusion: Dumb studies always prove dumb points—and have done so for the past 50 years. Want to read the study? Go here.

Pianist Ronnell Bright, Sarah Vaughan's accompanist in the late '50s, called last week and we had a wonderful chat. Here's Ronnell on The Jeffersons (move the bar on up to 6:02 and 8:40)... 

 

And here's Ronnell with the Count Basie Band in 1989, five years after Basie's death, when Frank Wess and Harry "Sweets" Edison led the orchestra. On I Wish I Knew, Ronnell runs away with the song, even outdoing Sweets...

 

1961 jazz radio. Recently, David Brent Johnson, host of Night Lights, which airs Saturdays on Indiana University's WFIU, featured a show entitled "1961: New Jazz Frontier." The hour-long show examined the year in which jazz styles changed and featured the music of Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Giuffre, Dexter Gordon, George Russell, and Stan Getz. To hear a podcast of the hour-long show, go here.

Bob Willoughby and family. Last week, photographer Paul Slaughter sent along the photo below that he took in 1975 of photographer Bob Willoughby and his family. Here's Paul on the image... 

"In 1975 I was living in Europe and did a photo story for Home magazine, a Sunday supplement of the Los Angeles Times, on Bob Willoughby and his family at their home in Cork, Ireland, before they moved to France.

"His home was called Coolmaine Castle. It was late fall and the castle had central heating and all the comforts of home. In the enclosed picture—shot on an old Kodachrome II at the entrance to their castle—Bob is with his wife Dorothy, their children, the family dog and his mother in-law.

More Kay Starr. My post on Kay Starr struck a chord with many readers. JazzWax readers Ross Firestone and Paul Brown reminded me about the series of 78s Starr recorded for the Lamplighter label in 1945 and '46. Most were standards, and she was backed by small groups that included Barney Bigard, Vic Dickenson, Ray Linn, Willie Smith and Zutty Singleton. For a CD collection, go here.

Ross went on to say, "There also are the sides Starr did with the so-called Capitol International Jazzmen for Capitol records in March 1945, where she was backed by a truly incredible ensemble that included Bill Coleman (tp) Buster Bailey (cl) Benny Carter (as,arr) Coleman Hawkins (ts) Nat King Cole (p) Oscar Moore (g) John Kirby (b) Max Roach (d)."

Here's Starr singing If I Could Be With You with the Capitol International Jazzmen...

 

Oddball album cover of the week. It's King Curtis, so it has to be good. Good thing the music is billed as "authentic" though. Wouldn't have wanted to make the mistake of picking up King Curtis playing the inauthentic kind.

Japanese Bossa Nova

I don't know when Japan caught the bossa nova bug, but I suspect it was in 1964, when Sergio Mendes toured there with Nara, the Brazilian vocalist. Helen Merrill's chill Bossa Nova in Tokyo album, recorded for Victor in March 1967 and released there, probably was influential as well.

Long story short, Japan produced a large amount of home-grown bossa nova albums starting in the 1960s, yet few here in the U.S. know about them. I only found out about this bossa sub-genre while nosing around on YouTube a couple of weeks ago.

Japanese bossa nova collections are pretty pricey. For example, Tokyo Bossa Nova Lounge (Teichiku), a gorgeous CD, is going for around $120.

What follows are three of my favorite YouTube bossa nova tracks that were made in Japan. If you want more, just type "Japanese Bossa Nova" into the YouTube search engine and scroll around.

Here's Keisuke Egusa's Summer Samba...

 

Here are the Thoroughbreds, featuring Izumi Kimoto...

 

I have no idea who this is, but she sounds great...

 

Johnny Smith: Roost Sessions

Each jazz instrument in the '50s had a different set of competitive criteria. Trumpet players were about tension and heat, saxophonists about developing a smooth and swinging sound, and pianists about speed and percussive intensity. As for jazz guitarists, rankings often revolved around the taste of the artists' chord and note choices and who could sound most appealing to the ear. Both of these bars were set by the instrument's own rhythm-keeping role and the need to develop soft, elegant backgrounds while accompanying singers.

One of the finest guitarists of the '50s and the pre-rock '60s was Johnny Smith. Most jazz fans know Smith for his 1952 recording of Moonlight in Vermont, a calming interpretation that included airy obligatos by saxophonist Stan Getz. The recording became something of a hit—its dreamy, sleep-walking approach teasing out the song's melodic beauty while echoing the tranquility of suburbia.

Like Paul Desmond, much of Smith's appeal rested with his ability to play the guitar in the upper register, which is catnip for the ear. Smith also had a way of playing that treated space as sound. He did this largely by allowing chords and notes to ring bell-like and drift into a song's vacant spaces. Smith loved the sound of quiet and marveled at how his ringing notes momentarily hung in that space, suspended in mid-air momentarily. 

Smith's finest small-group work of the 1950s and early '60s was for the Roost label. All of it has been compiled in one of Mosaic Records' finest sleeper box sets—The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions. Comprised of eight CDs, the box features Smith's guitar leading some of the most tasteful sidemen and combos of the decade.

Listening to this box from beginning to end is like watching a light snowfall from inside a warm house. Smith's single lines never crowd space but work with silence to let you hear notes from all sides. They also tended to flurry with beauty, some notes going up while others come down. His dancing notes and chords are exquisite.

Many people think of Smith as an easy-listening player, largely as a result of his initial recordings for Roost in 1952. But if this box proves anything, it's that Smith could turn any song into a work of art. Standard after standard here is given Smith's gentle rocking-chair approach, and there's plenty of inventiveness and hard swinging inside each track. There also isn't any filler here. Like Mosaic's The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions, every one of the 178 tracks features Smith at his artful best.

Wait Till You See Her from 1955 is a solo track, giving Smith a chance to show off how he put together pretty chords interrupted occasionally by skittish lines. Smith takes off on 'S Wonderful in 1955 and There's a Small Hotel in 1957, showing off his uptempo bop chops. Angel Eyes from 1957 is easily one of the finest instrumental workings of this saloon song. A 1959 Moonlight in Vermont gives Smith a chance to top himself—and he does. And Smith on Grant Avenue (1958) from Flower Drum Song gives the whimsical show tune a mid-tempo, Shearing-esque touch.

Even into the early '60s, Smith retained this style, though he seems to move down the guitar neck a bit. Misty (1961), Old Folks (1962) and Lil Darlin' (1964) demonstrate a certain maturity, but in the process his chords only grew in size and impact. Fortunately, he still seemed to be strumming the strings with a feather.

This may be the only eight CD box set that sounds like a single album. There are no brain-freeze out-there detours or sticky commercial entries. It's track after track of the same kitten-stroking sound that made Moonlight in Vermont so popular and Smith famous.

Johnny Smith turned 90 in June.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions from Mosaic Records here. Last I checked, this set is running out.

Jazzwax clip: Here's Johnny Smith in August 1953 with Paul Quinichette (ts), Sanford Gold (p), Arnold Fishkin (b) and Don Lamond (d) playing Cherokee...

 

Cannonball & the Poll-Winners

In the spring of 1960, fate had its way and a perfect jazz moment occurred in San Francisco. Cannonball Adderley was gigging in town with his quintet, the Oscar Peterson Trio was playing at the Blackhawk and Wes Montgomery arrived in the city to join his brothers, the Montgomery Brothers, on club dates. According to Orrin Keepnews, Adderley had been hoping to record with Ray Brown and Wes Montgomery for some time but touring schedules had made such a summit impossible.

Fortunately, Orrin was able to arrange for two sessions on the West Coast starting with San Francisco, and the result is Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners (Riverside), which was recorded in 1960 on May 21 (San Francisco) and June 5 (Los Angeles). The all-star group featured Adderley on alto sax, Montgomery on guitar, Victor Feldman on piano and vibes, Ray Brown on bass and Louis Hayes on drums.

According to Orrin's liner notes, the San Francisco tracks were recorded at a side-street meeting hall, which fortunately afforded ideal acoustics. The Los Angeles tracks were captured at United Recording Studios when Brown [pictured], Adderley and Montgomery were there about two weeks later.

How did Victor Feldman wind up on the date—his first with Adderley? Orrin explains in the album's liner notes...

"Victor Feldman [pictured] had been called up from Los Angeles largely on the strength of his merits on vibes. For in view of the emphasis to be placed on guitar and bass, Adderley had felt that instrument would most suitably round out the unusual musical coloration.

"Then Vic sat down at the piano to run through a new tune of his, The Chant, and all of us were immediately aware that a whole lot of hip people on the West Coast had apparently been asleep for the past couple of years.

"Certainly there had been no words of warning to lead any of us to expect what we were hearing: a genuinely soulful (in the very best sense of that hard-worked word), and immensely swinging, playing and composing talent. When, some months later, Cannonball asked Vic [pictured] to fill a piano vacancy in the Adderley Quintet, it was the end-product of a train of thought that had begun at this moment [during the recording sessions]."

What makes this album so special, in addition to the sterling personnel, is its gentle swinging charm and "walking" and up-tempos that give Brown a chance to stand out. Feldman's vibes chill Adderley's horn ever-so-slightly, and Montgomery's guitar lines and chords add snap and heft to the rhythm section. 

The song choices are equally tasteful. The mix includes Charlie Parker's Au Privave; the operetta-based standard Yours Is My Heart Alone; Never Will I Marry from Frank Loesser's newly opened show Greenwillow; Feldman's soulful The Chant, Barry Harris' Lolita (which Montgomery [pictured] would record three years later on Portrait of Wes) and Azule Serape, another Feldman original.

The last two tracks, for me, are the high points of an already superb album. Lolita features Adderley's searing alto (which would be replaced by Melvin Rhyne's organ on Portrait of Wes) and the up-tempo Azule Serape, which is a finger-snapper. Also, Montgomery's solo on Never Will I Marry should not be missed.

In the weeks that followed in 1960, Montgomery would gig on the West Coast and record The Montgomery Brothers and Movin' Along for Riverside in Los Angeles. Brown would pick up with the Oscar Peterson Trio, playing the Newport Jazz Festival early July and Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit. Adderley [pictured] also would head east to Newport and New York's Birdland before traveling to the West Coast and then Scandinavia that fall.

For a brief moment, the schedules of these three giants overlapped, and Orrin was there to take advantage of the calendar, recording one of Adderley's finest albums.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners, featuring Ray Brown and Wes Montgomery at Amazon here.

JazzWax clip: Here's Never Will I Marry from Cannonball Adderley and the Poll-Winners...

 

Mays, Cecil and Sondheim

Our greatest living Broadway composer is Stephen Sondheim. All you have to do is sit through A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park with George or Into the Woods to be smitten by his wordplay and bitten by his melodies. The songs win you over because they are like the couple in Two for the Road—at odds and in love. Sondheim's music goes its own way while his lyrics understand that an audience must be seduced. [Photo above of Stephen Sondheim by  Ethan Levitas]

I mention Sondheim because pianist Bill Mays and bassist Tommy Cecil have just released one of the most endearing and engaging jazz albums of the year: Side by Side: Sondheim Duos. Here, Mays and Cecil capture the spirit of Sondheim's restless songs, which always seem simultaneously anxious and axiomatic. A question mark that changes into an exclamation point and back again.

As I listened to the high level of sophistication and playfulness by Mays and Cecil, I wondered whether Sondheim has heard the beautifully expressed results and what he might think. I posed this question to Tommy Cecil, also asking him how he came up with the ingenious idea to jazzify Sondheim's show music. [Photo above: Bill Mays]

Here's what Tommy told me:

"Last year I invited Bill to headline a gig of mine at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. He brought some of his charts, including an arrangement of Stephen Sondheim's Send In The Clowns. I thought to myself, 'Leave it to Bill to re-imagine what for jazz musicians is such a hackneyed tune.'

"It turned out great musically and how it appealed to the audience. Playing that gig with Bill was a highlight for me. In its wake, I imagined it would be a fun challenge to record a CD of Sondheim songs. I pitched the idea to Bill and he agreed. [Pictured above: Tommy Cecil]

"I hadn't had much experience with Sondheim's repertoire before this, other than a gig I did with Steve Ross at the Corcoran Gallery some years ago that was devoted entirely to Sondheim's works.

"The gig turned on a light for me. So much of what has become standard repertoire for jazz musicians (at least the ones who inspire me) started on the Broadway stage. Why not continue what I think is a wonderful tradition with Sondheim's songs?


"When the album was completed, I sent Sondheim a copy. He graciously sent me back a note saying, 'Thanks so much for the CD. I can't wait to hear it, and I assure you in advance that any liberties you take are more likely to delight than irritate me. Yours truly.' I had warned him in my note that some musical liberties were taken." [Photo above of Stephen Sondheim by J. M. Chapman]

Liberties indeed were taken. The album opens with Something, but if you think you've heard all of the Somethings you will ever want to hear, you'd be mistaken. Mays and Cecil breathe fresh life into this West Side Story saw (music by Leonard Bernstein and words by Sondheim), sending it up like a mid-tempo kite. On this track and all the rest, Mays never bogs down, constantly moving Sondheim's spirit forward with witty, confident improvisation. Cecil is badgering and powerful on bass throughout, an equal voice at the table.

Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd opens with Cecil using his bass strings like vocal cords, bringing warmth and intonation to the melody line. Broadway Baby from Follies is treated similarly. Everyday a Little Death (from A Little Night Music) is classic Sondheim—a song that yearns and yawns as it stretches and ponders where it wants to go next.

Ballad of Sweeney Todd is among the "liberties" to which Cecil was referring and Sondheim was encouraging. The spirited interpretation is spring-loaded with dark twists and turns, including a vibrant solo by Cecil that sounds as though his plucking hand is several times larger than the normal hand.

One of the album's many high points is Small World from Gypsy. Mays and Cecil retain the stage classic's innocence with conversational exchanges and improvisation. Best of all, they never lose sight of the fact that Sondheim wrote the lyrics, not the music (that was by Jule Styne). No worries, since they stick close to  the song's lyrics sung by Herbie and Momma Rose:

Funny, you're a stranger who's come here,
Come from another town.
Funny, I'm a stranger myself here.
Small world, isn't it?

The final three songs are pure bliss: Side by Side by Side (Company), Anyone Can Whistle (from the show of the same name) and Comedy Tonight (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). Each Sondheim composition sparkles with simplicity and complexity.

This is a perfect jazz album that proves there are no worn songs, just worn interpreters, and that jazz artists can unashamedly love show tunes—even if they turn them inside out a bit. For my money, Mays and Cecil could record seven more Sondheim albums. I'm sure each would sound better than the last. And I'm sure Sondheim loved what he heard here.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Side By Side: Sondheim Duos at Amazon here.

A big JazzWax thanks to Joe Lang.

JazzWax clip: Here's Bill Mays playing Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby, one of the most fluid interpretations of the piece...

 

Here's Tommy Cecil with pianist Chris Grasso and saxophonist Marshall Keys playing Yesterdays...

 

Hal Blaine on 'Good Vibrations'

In February 1966, the Beach Boys began to record their most ambitious album to date—a project called Smile. Coming on the heels of the Beatles' Rubber Soul (released in December 1965), Smile was to be the Beach Boys' game-changer, a massive ante-raiser that would be an immediate sequel to their Pet Sounds album released in May 1966. [Pictured: Hal Blaine, the Beach Boys' studio drummer]

You're about to see an amazing videoclip of the Beach Boys and members of the Wrecking Crew in the studio in 1966 recording tracks for Good Vibrations. But first, some background.

With Smile, Brian Wilson's [pictured] ambitious goal was to take the Pet Sounds vision to the next level and leave every major rock group scrambling to figure out how the magic was done.

But Smile was an over-reach and was never completed. The strain took a toll on Brian's health and his relationship with the band. Only recently was Brian able to cope with assembling the original parts, and the album he had envisioned 45 years earlier was finally released last year. So Smile isn't really an album as much as it is an uncompleted album project. Yet even as a project newly pieced-together, it remains one of the most outstanding psychedelic pop-rock works of the 1960s—leaving many to wonder whether the Beatles heard the shelved tapes prior to composing and recording Sgt. Pepper's.

The big hit recorded during the Smile sessions between February and May 1966 was Good Vibrations. The song shimmers with hallucinogenic energy and can be considered the Continental Divide between the folk-rock era and rock's LSD years.

To this day, the song makes Brian uneasy. As he told me during my interview with him at his home in Los Angeles last year, the song brings back too many jarring memories of Smile and the so-close attempt to show them all.

In truth, the Beach Boys were largely a brilliant studio vocal group, with Brian in charge of composing, arranging, production and the sound of the finished product. On recording sessions as far back as the early '60s, most of the instruments you heard behind the harmonies were played by the Wrecking Crew—a group of highly skilled and inventive Los Angeles studio musicians who became the most in-demand session players in the pop-rock years of the '60s and early '70s. [Pictured above: Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco and drummer Hal Blaine]

I spoke with Hal Blaine yesterday after he sent me a link to the video you're about to see. It was uploaded about two weeks ago—a video that's being called Good Vibrations: The Lost Studio Footage...

  

Here's what Hal had to say yesterday about Good Vibrations when I gave him a call...

"I don’t know where that Good Vibrations footage came from. I’ve never seen it before. Maybe Brian had it and someone got ahold of it. I have no idea.


"It’s hard to remember specifically what was going on during the sessions you see stitched-together in the clip. They’re a composite of many different dates. Remember, the Wrecking Crew musicians were recording all the time, seven days a week, in studios all over Los Angeles—so remembering specific ones is tough. [Pictured above: Wrecking Crew guitarist Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine]

"As a tight-knit group of musicians, we had started in the early ‘60s making demos—two for $35. We used to call them “two-fers.” Then we joined the union, and all of a sudden we were making $1,000 a day. That’s why we were buying big homes.


"We began backing the Beach Boys in the studio from the start. At that point, the music seemed rather infantile to me. But as we grew with Brian and his brothers, the music became increasingly sophisticated. When we recorded Good Vibrations in 1966, the music was hugely sophisticated and imaginative. [Pictured above: Hal Blaine with Brian Wilson and bassist Ray Pohlman]


"We were laying down instrumental tracks for Good Vibrations over seven months. So each day we were hearing just portions of it. Sometimes Brian had us come in to run-down or record just four measures. We rarely recorded with the other Beach Boys. It was almost always an instrumental session for us with just Brian at the piano or on bass. [Pictured: Brian Wilson]

"There were times when Brian would ask me to contract for a Good Vibrations session. I’d bring in the guys, and we’d play with Brian for maybe 10 minutes. Brian didn’t bring fully composed music on paper to the sessions. He heard and felt it so many times he needed to hear what he heard in his head, allowing him to make adjustments and sketch-out new ideas.


"If Brian had a little section of music he wanted to hear, he’d write out just a chord sheet, run off copies in the secretary’s room and hand it out. We’d run it down, add things, and Brian would ask us to change the trumpet to a sax or the sax to a trumpet and other things like that. It was as though he was sculpting a song out of thin air.


"I don’t remember what Brian was saying to me in the clip. He would often say things like, “Let me hear a big smash here” or “Do your own thing.” Why? We didn’t know but it wound up sounding great. Brian often came over to me in the studio to ask me to help him make a great record or to make a joke, so maybe he was saying something like that to me then in the video.


"Brian loved coming up to my house in the Hollywood Hills. I used to live at the corner of Castilian Drive and Outpost Drive. I had a great old Baldwin grand piano in my living room, and Brian sat there and played music with my young daughter Michelle on his lap. Brian loved the feeling of home. Eventually, he bought a magnificent home of his own in Bel Air, and the first thing he did was paint his house purple. But the community group there went nuts and made him repaint it.

"In the video, I recognize the engineer Val Valentin and Mike Melvoin on the organ. Mike was one of the great keyboard players and composers. He died earlier this year in February. So sad. Carl Wilson is on the electric bass. On upright bass is Lyle Ritz, one of the best. He's up in Portland, Oregon, now.

"Brian would never accept a take until he called me in to hear it back. If I thought it felt good, we had a take. The beat was always essential. Remember, while most people heard the records on the radio, the records were made orignally as dance records. A single had to feel solid and pop and make people want to get up and move. That’s why people bought them. [Pictured above: Brian Wilson and Hal Blaine at the piano]


"When I heard Good Vibrations in its final form, I was amazed. I had heard only pieces over the seven months we recorded. When all the pieces were in place, it was an amazing work by Brian [pictured]. I spoke with the Beatles soon after the single came out and they went nuts for the song. They couldn’t believe it. George Harrison especially."

JazzWax note: For my Wall Street Journal interview with Hal Blaine, go here. For my JazzWax interview, go here.

For information on The Wrecking Crew documentary that is being screened in different locations around the world, go here.

JazzWax tracks: The Beach Boys Smile (Capitol)—an album assembled from the 1966 and '67 master tapes and released last year—is available here. Outtakes of Good Vibrations appear on the deluxe edition and box set versions.

Weekend Wax Bits

Using Kickstarter.com to raise money for a project? Let the jazz world know you're looking for donations by buying an ad at JazzWax.

A week ago I made room in the right-hand column of JazzWax for Kickstarter ads. If you look there now, you'll see click-through ads that were purchased by JD Walters (for his new CD project) and by Bret Primack (for his Pauly Cohen documentary project).

If you're unfamiliar with Kickstarter.com, it's an online platform that enables you to solicit money for a project. Think TV's Shark Tank meets old-fashioned panhandling. You make a video outlining your project and how much you need to raise and when. If visitors feel your project has merit, they can donate sums electronically.

Dollars change hands only if you reach your target goal by the date you've specified. If you fall short when time elapses, dollars committed return to donors' pockets. 

To see how it works, click on JD Walter's or Bret Primack's Kickestarter ads in the right-hand column. You'll see how much they're trying to raise, how much they've raised thus far and how much time remains in their fund-raising drives. [Pictured above: JD Walter]

If you have a Kickstarter campaign up now or you are planning one, let JazzWax readers know by placing an ad here at JazzWax. Just click marc@jazzwax.com and tell me how long you want your ad to appear. Then I'll shoot you a rate. Payment is via PayPal, and your ad can be up in a matter of minutes.

Mike McCartney [pictured], a member of the satirical Liverpudlian poet-rock band The Scaffold in the 1960s and '70s and photographer of all things ironic and whimsical, is exhibiting his images of Scotland at the Butler Institute of American Art’s Trumbull Branch—now through September 2. The Butler Institute's Trumbull Branch is in Howland, Ohio. For more information, go here.

Mike sent along an exhibit photo above—Castle of Mey. As Mike wrote in his email, "It's the Queen Mother's house as viewed through Disneyesque trees." For my Wall Street Journal profile of Mike, go here. For my JazzWax interview, go here.

In Memoriam. Kitty Wells, one of Country's first female vocalists to sing songs grousing about the mistreatment of women by men, heartbreak and bad relationships, died July 16. She was 92. If you're unfamiliar with Wells, here's a fine starter collection... Stephen Covey, [pictured] self-improvement author whose 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was a huge bestseller in the 1990s, died on July 16. He was 79. Stephen was a generous friend and a swell source when I edited Bottom Line/Personal in the 1990s. He also provided me with a blurb for my 1999 book, How to Make Luck: 7 Secrets Lucky People Use to Succeed... Jon Lord, [pictured] the keyboard player for early British arena-rock band Deep Purple, died July 16. He was 71. Lord's meaty organ chords on the band's Smoke on the Water (1973) will forever be seared into the memories of teens just learning to drive or tasting a beer for the first time.

Discount at Mosaic. Mosaic Records sent out word last week that it's offering a 10% discount on 12 of its boxes through the end of July. On sale are boxes by Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, Sarah Vaughan, Jazz Crusaders, Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington small groups, Quincy Jones, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson trios, Anthony Braxton and Bing Crosby. Go here.

Kay Starr. In the wake of my post on Kay Starr's I Cry By Night, a nifty jazz album the pop vocalist made in 1961, Larry Kart was first to remind me of her 1975 GNP album Back to the Roots. As Larry noted: "The band led by Jimmy Rowles includes Blue Mitchell, Georgie Auld, Red Norvo, Al Viola, Monty Budwig, and Stix Hooper. Starr was a swinger and a real improviser."

CD discoveries of the week. Pianist Denny Zeitlin takes a new approach on his latest release, Wherever You Are (Sunnyside). Here, Denny plays solo piano and sticks exclusively to ballads. Denny's most recent albums have been spiritual tours de force, with cascades of musical exploration. Here, it's Denny in slow motion, affording an opportunity to hear his voicings up close and learn how he builds ideas on the backs of eight standards and two originals. Sample Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars/How Insensitive and The Meaning of the Blues. For my interview with Denny, go here.

The Richard Sussman Quintet opens Continuum (Origin) with a strong Hank Mobley-esque original by pianist Sussman called Spare Change. From there, the moods change almost by the track. All are compsed by Sussman, except for two—Alone Together and Theme for Ernie. What I love about this album is how it sifts contemporary execution with a sighing '70s feel. Once you have a look at the lineup, you realize why this album is so good: Sussman is on piano and synthesizer with Randy Brecker (trumpet), Jerry Bergonzi (tenor sax), Mike Richmond (bass), Jeff Williams (drums) and Mike Stern (guitar on one track). This is tight jazz with a heart. And anyone who thanks his mom in the liner notes, as Sussman does, has to be a good guy. Sample Meridian, which will take your breath away. And catch Randy Brecker on every track. His horn sounds sensational.

One of this year's finest hard bop albums is trombonist Steve Davis' Gettin' It Done (Posi-tone). All of the songs and arrangements are his, and the sound is Blue Note, circa 1962. Davis is joined by Josh Bruneau on trumpet and flugelhorn, Mike Dirubbo on alto sax, Larry Willis on piano, Nat Reeves on bass and Billy Williams on drums. The pacing and aggression are just right—powerful enough to get the message across but sufficiently spacious to allow the poetry to come through. Sample Village Blues, the title track and Wishes.

Drummer Bruce Cox is new to me. On Status Cymbals, Cox leads a quartet through seven originals and a clutch of jazz standards (Whisper Not, Darn That Dream, Evidence and Night Dreamer). The results are shockingly and consistently superb. In addition to Cox, Abraham Burton is on tenor sax (channeling Dexter Gordon), Aruan Ortiz is on piano and Gianluca Renzi is on bass. Clean, smart and a rock-solid production. Sample Darn That Dream and Cox's Robbie-Jean. More on Cox here. 

Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is special because he was first to merge the electric blues with Seattle funk, producing what is now known as hard rock. He is also special because he is the starting gun for jazz-rock fusion. And he's special because his guitar wailing and vocals forced everyone who followed to get in line. Today, too many rock and blues guitarists sound like Hendrix, so the stalking wailer doesn't sound so revolutionary. But as you listen to Live at Berkeley: The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Sony Legacy), the May 30, 1970 concert will knock you out. This is Hendrix at his peak—four months before his death by overdose. You hear the full flavor of the electric rock guitar and the chill of Hendrix's vocals. Most of all, you hear the Birth of the Tool—the guitar as explosive star-maker, especially in the hands of a virtuoso. If you know nothing about Hendrix and wonder what all the fuss is about, this is your album.

It's always satisfying when a musician records his or her own work and that work turns out to be moving stuff. Such is the case with pianist Collin Shook. On Derivatives (Mont Elefant), Shook and Dylan DeRobertis (bass) and Matt Pirc (drums) play together gracefully. Clearly Shook knows his Bill Evans, a joyous thing. His pacing, voicing and dramatic builds have Evans whispering in his ear. A thoroughly enjoyable album that engages you in spiritual conversation. Sample any of the album's tracks; they're all great. For more on Collin Shook, go here.

Way back in the early 1960s, girl singers and girl groups were all the rage. There are many reasons for this, but first and foremost, the demographics were right. The oldest female baby boomers were 14 in 1960, which meant that they were old enough to know about dating but not old enough to actually go out on one. So they spent hours on the phone talking about crushes. Among the voices high-fiving those anxieties was Timi Yuro. Timi who? Yuro was an Italian-American in her early 20s with the R&B pathos of Johnnie Ray, the delivery of Brenda Lee and the anguish of Little Jimmy Scott. Dig Timi Yuro: The Complete Liberty Sessions (Real Gone) and hear for yourself. At the dawn of blue-eyed soul.

Oddball album covers of the week. I'm not quite sure who was in charge at Decca when these albums were released but clearly pets were allowed. It's nice to know that Don Elliott was a basset hound while Toots Thielemans was a boxer. It could have been worse. They could have used images of canaries and gerbils. 

10 Great Jazz Movie Trailers

I was in a bit of a noir mood yesterday, so I nosed around YouTube. Some people say jazz never really had a big impact on our society at large—that it was always a cult folk form. I beg to differ. Here are 10 movie trailers or openers with powerful jazz scores. I also threw in a noir-ish line that pops-up in each promo...

Young Man With a Horn (1950)—"Music! The kind you can't write. The kind ya just gotta feel."

 

Streetcar Named Desire (1951)—"A vivid, exciting, vibrant story, because every chapter was written by men."

 

Odds Against Tomorrow (1951)—"These aren't men. They're two sticks of dynamite!"

 

Man With the Golden Arm (1955)—"A subject that has never before been seen in a film."

 

Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)—"A nice loose fit, with no lines."

 

The Killing (1956)—"You like money. You got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart."

  

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)—"Alright fellas, here they come. Let's get with it."

 

I Want to Live (1958)—"The wildest of the jazzed-up generation."

 

Manchurian Candidate (1959)—"The chilling classic returns!"

 

Shadows (1959)—"For this is a real story about real people living in the shadows of the neon, crazy streets of Manhattan."