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In 1971, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin was in Paris performing on French TV. He was joined by drummer and expatriate Art Taylor, pianist René Urtreger and bassist Alby Cullaz. They played Now's the Time, My Little Suede Shoes, Blue Monk and Blues for Harvey.
Here's the entire 30-minute show, courtesy of Jimi Mentis in Athens. Dig Grif's intensity—not to mention A.T.'s stick style. And how about that piano solo by René Urtreger on Little Suede Shoes and Alby Cullaz's upright work?
Once the 12-inch jazz LP became feasible in the mid-1950s, record-company A&R executives began scouring the market for musicians who could assemble and arrange bands. Record companies had quotas to fill, especially as an album's vinyl circumference expanded. So while prestige bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman were given a new lease on life, other bands gathered for one-shots.
Here are five swinging examples of what these one-shot bands were all about...
Larry Sonn—The Sound of Sonn (1955). As of 2010, trumpeter Sonn was still with us, living in Mexico. He only recorded through 1959, but the bands he led were solid and hip, largely a result of the personnel and arrangers. On this date, his penmen were Al Cohn and Manny Albam. You'll find this one here.
Ernie Wilkins—Top Brass (1955). Though not technically a big band, prolific arranger Wilkins assembled quite a horn crew for this session. And everyone gets to solo:
Donald Byrd, Ray Copeland, Ernie Royal, Idrees Sulieman and Joe Wilder
(tp), Hank Jones (p), Wendell Marshall (b), Kenny Clarke (d) and Ernie
Wilkins (arr,dir). You'll find this one here.
Terry Gibbs—Swingin' (1956). Vibist Gibbs
throughout the decade organized dream band after dream band and always
succeeded—even if his swinging efforts in this space aren't fully
appreciated today. What's a dream band? Bernie Glow, Al Derisi, Ernie
Royal and Nick Travis (tp); Don Elliott (tp,mellophone); Bob Brookmeyer
(v-tb,arr); Urbie Green, Tom Mitchell and Chauncey Welsch (tb); Sam Marowitz and
Hal McKusick (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Frank Socolow (ts) and Al Epstein (bar);
Terry Gibbs (vib); Terry Pollard (p); Turk Van Lake (g); Herman Wright (b);
Jerry Segal (d) and Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins (arr). Any questions? You'll find this one here.
Manny Albam—The Jazz Greats of Our Time, Vols. 1 and 2 (1957). Albam was one of the finest band arrangers of the period. And the album's title ain't braggin'. Here's the lineup for Vol. 2: Nick Travis and Art Farmer (tp); Bob Brookmeyer (tb); Phil Woods (as) Zoot Sims (ts) Al Cohn (ts,bar) and Gerry Mulligan (bar); Hank Jones (p), Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d); and Manny Albam (arr,cond). You'll find this one here.
Chubby Jackson—Chubby Takes Over (1958). Bassist Jackson led the Woody Herman Orchestra for a session during Herman's run with the Everest label. Poor Woody had to make do with these guys: Bernie Glow, Marky Markowitz, Ernie Royal, Al Stewart and Nick Travis (tp); Bob Brookmeyer, Jim Dahl, Bill Elton, Tom Mitchell and Frank Rehak (tb); Sam Marowitz (as), Sam Most (fl,cl,as), Al Cohn and Pete Mondello (ts), and Danny Bank (bar); Marty Napoleon (p), Chubby Jackson (b), Don Lamond (d); as well as Fred Karlin, Manny Albam, Ernie Wilkins, Bob Brookmeyer, Nat Pierce and Al Cohn (arr). You'll find this one here.
JazzWax track: Here's Ernie Wilkins 58 Market Street
from Top Brass. To play the track using the JazzWax AudioPlayer below, simply, move your cursor to the left of the title in the bar until the arrow appears, then click it to play. If you're receiving JazzWax by email, just click on the link.
Like many musicians who weren't pure jazz players but had to earn a living in the 1950s, guitarist Bill Jennings spent much of his all-too-brief career in R&B bands. When he did drift into jazz, it was often with groove crossover artists like organist Brother Jack McDuff and tenor saxophonist Willis "Gator" Jackson.
Guitarists like Jennings were solid riff-'n'-pickin' players who could keep swinging time and solo with pronounced lines. Many R&B guitarists like Carl Hogan and Floyd Smith saw minimal jazz recording work in the LP era due to the wealth of studio players like Barry Galbraith, Mundell Lowe, Kenny Burrell and Chuck Wayne and heavy-lifter headliners like Wes Montgomery and Grant Green.
Many of Jennings' '50s recordings were made for Cincinnati's King label, often accompanying high-profile R&B players like Leo Parker, Wild Bill Davis, Bill Doggett and Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. Unlike Grimes, a straight-up blues player, Jennings had more hip soul and wry wit in his inventive lines.
A left-handed picker who also could play while holding the guitar upside down, Jennings was an R&B showman with an earthy sound and urgent attack. Late in his career, he lost a finger on his fretting hand and had to switch to the bass. His last known recording was in 1968.
In August 1959, Jennings recorded Enough Said for Prestige with Brother Jack McDuff (org) Wendell Marshall (b) and Alvin Johnson (d). Jennings made several albums with McDuff, including Glide On (1960) and Brother Jack (1960), as well as others with McDuff and vocalist Betty Roche and with Willis Jackson.
Enough Said stands-out for Jennings' improvisation on an assortment of blues—the loping title track, the uptempo Tough Gain, the slow-as-syrup Brillin' And Bluin' and the slithery Blue Jam. There's also a savvy theme-like tune called Dig Uncle Will. On many tracks, particularly the last one, Jennings' notes sound like rifle shots zinging on canyon walls in '50s Westerns.
Interestingly, the only ballad—It Could Happen to You—is handled by McDuff [pictured above] with Jennings out. And on Dark Eyes, Jennings gets to show off his virtuosity at slow and fast tempos, proving he was much more than an R&B section player.
Jennings [pictured] was a favorite of B.B. King's, and on Enough Said you can hear why. Like many Prestige albums of the period that documented R&B crossovers to jazz, Jennings had a chance to show his jazz-blues roots, with Jack McDuff serving as the perfect provocateur.
JazzWax tracks: Much of Bill Jennings' Enough Said has
been issued on Legends of Acid Jazz: Glide On, which unites Enough Said with Glide On. The only problem is the tracks aren't in album sequence. Go here.
JazzWax clip: To activate clip on the new JazzWax AudioPlayer, roll curser over bar and click on arrow to the left of the title...
Bill Jennings' "Dig Uncle Will"
Trombonist Clifton Anderson's uncle is Sonny Rollins. Which is neither here nor there, since Clifton never brings it up. But the connection is important because it helps explain Clifton's drive and determination to make a jazz statement. He knows there's history at stake, even though making a mark isn't particularly easy these days. Jazz gigs are harder to come by, and the trombone is a tougher sell than most jazz instruments. [Photo above of Clifton Anderson by John Abbott]
Six of the nine tracks are Clifton originals, and each has a different melodic personality. The title track is hard bop with a thunderous and unsettled '70s feel. Niokim is a medium tempo jazz spiritual that opens with Clifton playing solo before the group launches into the song's chorus. [Photo above of Clifton Anderson by John Abbott]
On the ballad Alexer Is, Clifton exhibits enormous tenderness, and his cinematic sense of suspense holds the ear. We're also given a sense of Clifton's plunger technique on the lightly Latin jazz Remember This.
The standards Where or When, Tomorrow (from Annie) and Falling in Love with Love are taken at robust tempos and Clifton raises the ante on the originals, exploding with energy and instrumental texture rather than playing straight and safe.
Clifton is joined by a quite a team of superb musicians—including Monty Alexander (piano) [pictured], Bob Cranshaw and Essiet Essiet (bass), Kenny Garrett (soprano sax), Wallace Roney (trumpet), Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums) and Eric Wyatt (tenor saxophone).
In Clifton's hands, you hear the trombone in a modern guise—a vibrato-less singing voice that is rightly concerned with putting a fast shine on notes rather than lingering and overstaying its welcome.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Clifton Anderson's And So
We Carry On at Amazon here. For more on Clifton, go here.
To listen to all of the album's tracks, go here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Clifton Anderson talking about his new album...
On the evening of October 31, 1965, pianist Lennie Tristano performed solo at the Tivoli Gardens Concert Hall in Copenhagen. The event was captured for Danish television using multiple camera angles. Several additional Tristano concert performances were recorded on the same tour of Scandinavia and Europe. And that was it. The blind pianist performed publicly for the last time in 1968 and spent his last ten years teaching. [Photo above of Lennie Tristano in 1949]
As writer Ted Gioia has noted, Tristano did not have a manager in 1965 and told an interviewer during this tour that playing jazz was only possible if one were "making a living some other way." A bebop protagonist and cool jazz pioneer, Tristano's modern-classical approach to jazz was overlooked by labels in the '50s. By mid-decade, with the launch of the 12-inch LP, most record companies wanted brighter, more easily understood jazz for an ever-expanding at-home market.
Tristano was always an acquired taste—particularly in 1965. While most ears yearned for melody, Tristano preferred masking standards with a brutish, deconstructivist approach that left show tunes platforms for his intricate chord-driven explorations. [Photo above of Lennie Tristano by Roberto Polillo/CTSIMAGES]
Here's 40-plus minutes of Tristano at the piano in Denmark in 1965. A big JazzWax thanks to Jimi Mentis in Athens for making this historic document available...
With the publication date of my new book Why Jazz Happened (University of California Press) fast approaching (December 17), many readers have asked for updates on my upcoming appearances on radio and TV as well as signings. Here's the latest...
Attention radio folks: If you're interested in interviewing me about the book, please contact me soonest at marc@jazzwax.com. As you can see, my calendar is filling up.
And thanks to JazzWax readers everywhere for your continued support. To order Why Jazz Happened, please click here. More to follow.
John Surman radio. On Sunday, jazz musician Bill Kirchner will host an hour-long Jazz From the Archives radio show on Britain's
John Surman—a ferocious baritone
saxophonist who also is formidable on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, synthesizer and other instruments. You can listen for free on your computer from anywhere in the world by going here at 11 p.m. (EDT). [Photo above of John Surman by Ann Odebey]
Michael Pedicin—captured. Saxophonist Michael Pedicin sat down for a video interview with Bret Primack. Fascinating background, great player...
Free Art Pepper. Laurie Pepper, the alto saxophonist's widow and brilliant entrepreneur, has made yet another Pepper track available for free download. This time it's the lyrical and beautiful My Friend John, which Pepper wrote for producer John Snyder. [Photo above of Art Pepper with bassist Tony Dumas (behind, left) and pianist George Cables (right) by Laurie Pepper]
As Laurie notes...
"The song was written in New York and Boston (as it says on the original sheet music) for John Snyder right before Art's appearance at the Village Vanguard in New York in 1977. The original sheet music was, Art said later, too hard to play. So he rewrote the tune a bit. The two-page chart for alto is the modified version. [Photo above: Art and Laurie Pepper]
"It was recorded for the Artists House label and it's now unobtainable—except as part of of $60 Galaxy box set available in iTunes. (It's a bargain, and I encourage you to get it.)"
Is Smooth Jazz Dead? Writer David Adler [pictured above] answers this question in a terrific, robust piece in JazzTimes. To read David's article, go here.
New Chet Baker bio. Funny Valentine: The Story of Chet Baker, Matthew Ruddick's new biography of the trumpeter, is a fluid read and makes solid use of existing material and fresh interviews by the author. Go here.
Oddball album cover of the week...
Yet another one of those Fontana covers from the Netherlands, where an enlarged photo of a jazz musician is made to seem as though he's ogling a model. Just one in a series of about a dozen by Fontana in the 1970s.
Back in 1989, Buddy DeFranco and Terry Gibbs teamed up for an appearance on Club Date—a TV program produced and directed by Paul Marshall for KPBS-TV in San Diego. They played Carioca, I Thought About You, Sister Sadie, What's New?, Love for Sale and Blues for Brody. The rhythm section featured Robert Hamilton (p), Chris Conner (b) and Gerry Gibbs (d).
Here's the show in its entirety, courtesy of Jimi Mentis...
If you love Miles Davis' Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess—both arranged by Gil Evans—then you simply must consider Curtis Fuller's Cabin in the Sky. Recorded over two days in April 1962 for Impulse, the album's orchestrations are on par with both Davis albums and frame Fuller's trombone beautifully. [Pictured above, Curtis Fuller]
Arranged by Manny Albam [pictured above]—one of the finest composer-arrangers of the '50s and '60s, who remains woefully underappreciated—Cabin in the Sky has the same sighing quality and provocative, brassy bombast as the Evans works. They shift, turn, swing and ponder all the way through.
On the album, Fuller (like Davis) is cast as a wandering, vulnerable soloist who must spar with surging sections of the orchestra that hurl all sorts of heavenly bolts at him. From start to finish, Cabin in the Sky is a masterpiece that truly needs fresh critical consideration.
At the time, however, the album was a considered a commercial flop—through no fault of Fuller or Albam. Which is both tragic and baffling, considering its spectacular qualities and the musicians involved. Here's who we're talking about...
On the tracks with strings: Curtis Fuller (tb), Eddie Costa (vib,perc), Hank Jones (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Osie Johnson (d) and Margaret Ross (harp) along with unknown strings
On the orchestral tracks: Bernie Glow, Ernie Royal, Al DeRisi and Freddie Hubbard (tp); Curtis Fuller, Bob Brookmeyer, Kai Winding [pictured above] and Wayne Andre (tb); Alan Raph (b-tb) Harvey Phillips (tu) Jimmy Buffington, Ray Alonge, Tony Miranda and Morris Secon (fhr); Eddie Costa (vib); Hank Jones (p); Art Davis (b) and Osie Johnson (d).
As you can see, the date featured many of New York's finest. So what was the problem? To find out, I pulled Ashley Kahn's The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records off the shelf...
"The trombonist remembers that for a session requiring intricate coordination with large ensembles, all went surprisingly well—until extra studio time was requested.
" 'They allowed me three hours with the strings and three hours with the brass. The strings, obviously, went perfect; we got that done, boom, with time to spare. But we needed time to fuse the thing, to connect the strings with the brass... I said, No, [three hours is] kind of harsh, can we have another hour? They raised hell for about a week.'
"The album was completed, released with an evocative double male-female profile by photographer Pete Turner [pictured above], and received positive notice in the jazz press. Yet what ultimately transpired, from Fuller's perspective, was a bitter lesson in record company accounting that can leave an unwary musician with little chance of recouping expenditures, some of which were hidden.
" '[Bob] Thiele said, If we're going to have strings, we're going to go all out. We went from a six-string ensemble to the New York Philharmonic. Well, now, whose budget is it anyway? Then I found out that they would charge me for the ashtrays and the music stands and everything else—you know, this is a big business... [Photo above of Impulse producer Bob Thiele and John Coltrane by Joe Alper]
" 'I think Creed [Taylor] would have run that over with me. But Bob Thiele was, Let's just do this and let's let it be done. But once the album came out, I just don't think that the company was prepared to put the kind of [marketing and promotional] money into it."
If you are unfamiliar with Fuller's Cabin in the Sky, you will be knocked out by the trombonist's conversational style and Manny Albam's extraordinary gift for turning an orchestra into a rip-tide of brassy energy.
JazzWax tracks: Cabin in the Sky has been remastered
and is available on CD or as a download here. Tracks 7 through 16 made up the original Cabin in the Sky. Tracks 1 through 6 belong to Soul Trombone, featuring Freddie Hubbard (tp), Curtis Fuller (tb), Jimmy Heath
(ts), Cedar Walton (p), Jymie Merritt (b) and Wilbert Granville T. Hogan (d), with Jimmy Cobb replacing Hogan on all tracks except Dear Old Stockholm.
JazzWax pages: Ashley Kahn's The
House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records is indispensable. You'll find it here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Curtis Fuller's Savannah, from Cabin in the Sky...
The Beach Boys' recent 50th anniversary tour had its ups and downs. First Brian Wilson said he wasn't going to re-join the group. Then he agreed. The reunited band played Good Vibrations during the Grammy Awards—with a few technical difficulties and universal acclaim. Then the band hit the road, where they took a little heat for creakiness. Then came unnecessary political comments by band members and recent reports that Mike Love had fired Brian from the group, which Love subsequently denied.
Lost in the all the dust and drama was news that two new Beach Boys CD packages were on their way: 12 albums remastered and issued in glossy mini LP gatefold covers and a greatest hits box (The Beach Boys: Fifty Big Ones) with tracks plucked from the fresh remasterings.
Both packages were released yesterday by EMI and I must say the results are a vast improvement over the previous sets re-issued in 1999. I've given the new releases several hard listens, comparing them with earlier issues, and found the clarity on the new tracks startling. Even more exciting is all of the new information displayed on the latest remasters. You actually can hear instruments you never even knew existed on the originals, resulting in a greater appreciation for Brian's layered rock-meets-harmony vision.
The dozen album reissued are Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Summer Days (And Summer Nights), Beach Boys Today!, Beach Boys Party!, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, Sunflower and Surf's Up—the meat of the band's catalog.
What makes the individual album releases particularly special is that 10 of them feature mono and stereo album tracks back-to-back (Sunflower and Surf's Up weren't recorded in mono.) If you dig the Beatles' The Capitol Albums box sets released in 2004 and 2006, which paired their mono and stereo recordings, you'll love these.
The new Beach Boys' releases have been remastered by Mark Linett [pictured above], who mastered the 1999 sets. But here, Linett has managed to tease out and define the mid-range and brighten the top and bottom, making them more distinct. On earlier versions, mid-range instrumentation tended to bleed together and fade off. Not here. Everything rings like a bell.
The group's rich vocal harmonies also benefit from the latest remasterings, providing a wider, warmer sound—particularly on the mono recordings, which purists find best capture an artist's original intent and ability without the magic trick of stereo.
In some cases the featured material has not been previously released in the digital age. For example, mono tracks on many of the albums have never been issued on CD, while stereo remixes for Summer Days (And Summer Nights) and Beach Boys Today! are only now seeing the light of day.
And there's something delightfullly complete and scholarly about featuring mono tracks followed by stereo versions. Not only are you able to compare the two but you gain further insight into an album's development by forcing your ear to distinguish between the two and appreciate the nuanced differences.
Which brings us to Pet Sounds, widely regarded as one of the greatest rock albums of the '60s. The new release is more vivid than the 1999 release, with the instrumental textures better delineated, allowing you to hear yet another layer of this magnificent work. Interestingly, while Linett is credited alone for remastering the other albums, the credit on Pet Sounds reads, "Produced and mixed by Mark Linett under the supervision of Brian Wilson." The master still has a hand in.
As for those who dismiss the Beach Boys as bland, mainstream and emblematic of a conformist strip-mall culture, I would urge you to suspend those assumptions. If you simply listen to what's going on in these discs as a constructionist adventure, you'll likely to find enormous value. Artists like Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Brian Wilson all were tortured souls in different ways, making their works pained expressions and impossible to ignore.
JazzWax tracks: The 12 individual albums mentioned
above are sold individually as CDs. I suspect many will want to buy Pet Sounds first to size up the new collection. You'll find the new Pet Sounds here.
The Beach Boys: Fifty Big Ones is sold only as a two-CD box set here. The Beach Boys Greatest Hits, a 20-track album, is available as a download here.
Not all Blue Note sessions are alike—even though label owner-producer Alfred Lion favored a cookie-cutter approach that resulted in hundreds of hard-bop albums carrying a distinctive, muscular sound. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean's first leadership date for Blue Note was Jackie's Bag—a stand-out album that consisted of two different sessions separated by almost two years. [Pictured above: Jackie McLean]
On the first session (Quadrangle, Blues Inn and Fidel), the musicians were Donald Byrd (tp), Jackie McLean (as), Sonny Clark (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Philly Joe Jones (d). On the second session (Appointment in Ghana, A Ballad for Doll and Isle of Java), the personnel changed: Blue Mitchell (tp), Jackie McLean (as), Tina Brooks (ts), Kenny Drew (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Art Taylor (d). All of the tracks were by McLean except Isle of Java. [Photo above of Sonny Clark by Francis Wolff]
Why wasn't the first band able to record all of the tracks in one or two sessions? Based on Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, it appears the quintet ran out
of time in the first session—with the three songs requiring 3, 8 and 10 takes, respectively. Which doesn't mean much, since even more takes were required for the longer September 1 session, when a total of six songs were recorded. (The additional three were released only recently on CD.) [Pictured above: Jackie McLean]
So why was the first session so short? I did a little digging. It was held at Rudy's on a Sunday, which actually wasn't that unusual for Blue Note dates. Then I checked the weather. It turns out that a snow and ice storm had hit the New York area and temperatures plunged into the teens. My guess is the musicians either arrived late or they had to leave early to get back to the city in one piece.
A little history to put the two sessions in perspective: Fidel Castro had assumed power in Havana just 10 days before the first Jackie's Bag recording date. Though Fidel had been written by McLean earlier, the song's recording in 1959 clearly was a tribute. By 1960, however, Cuba had become a U.S. adversary, making the inclusion of Fidel on an album released in late '60 a rather bold and provocative political statement for the time. [Photo of Donald Byrd in a New York City subway car by Wiliam Claxton]
Another interesting aspect about the album: The first session was held at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, N.J., studio [pictured above] and was among the last dates recorded there. By the spring of 1959, Rudy's new Englewood Cliffs, N.J., studio was completed, and the second half of Jackie's Bag was recorded there. As a result, we have an opportunity to hear both of Rudy's studios on one album.
As an aside, Walter Davis Jr.’s Davis Cup was the first album recorded at Rudy's Englewood Cliffs studio on August 2, 1959. Davis' session also featured Byrd and McLean.
But what makes the two Jackie's Bag sessions especially interesting are the two pianists—Sonny Clark and Kenny Drew. Clark's extended single-line solos (on Blues Inn, for example) are melodic and suspenseful, like the sound of someone hurrying home. Drew's solos are equally beautiful, though lusher and more of an exchange between his left and right hands (on Isle of Java, for instance).
Byrd is blistering on the 1959 date while Mitchell's improvised patterns are rounder and more colorful. And the addition of the red-hot Tina Brooks, who works both the upper and lower registers of his tenor sax here, seems to raise McLean's game on the second session. [Pictured above: Blue Mitchell]
As for McLean, between the two Jackie's Bag sessions, he appeared on several sessions, including Freddie Redd's monumental Music From the Connection and Lee Morgan's groovy Lee-Way. In 1959 and 1960, McLean was on fire.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jackie McLean's Jackie's Bag
here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Jackie McLean and Donald Byrd on Quadrangle, which is based on I Got Rhythm's chord changes with a spray of Ornette Coleman's influence....
