Singer-educator-historian Teri Roiger and the jazz faculty at the State University of New York at New Paltz have invited me up to campus this Tuesday, April 30,
to speak about the history of jazz—from World War II to Watergate. I'll be illustrating my points with images of jazz artists projected onto a large screen along with music tracks. The presentation will be based on my book, Why Jazz Happened, and the talk will be part of the university's events in support of International Jazz Day. My talk starts at 5:30 p.m. Location: Shepard Recital Hall (115 College Hall) SUNY New Paltz Campus. Best of all, it's free and open to the public. Directions and information, go here.
Happy birthday, Duke! WKCR-FM in New York will present its annual "Duke Ellington Birthday Broadcast" this
Monday, April 29. Duke discs start spinning on Sunday at midnight (EST) and continue twirling for 24 hours—all day Monday, up to midnight. You can tune in from anywhere in the world on your computer by going here.
West Coast jazz festival. Ken Poston, director of the L.A. Jazz Institute, is producing another one of his organization's four-day, 18-concert extravaganzas from May 23 to 26. Plenty of legends will be performing—including Bill Holman and Don Menza. There's also this intriguing concert "Birth of the Cool and the Origins of the West Coast Sound." You can download the colorful schedule and info pack PDF by going here.
Ever work in a record store? You're not alone. Reader John Herr sent along an article from the U.K.'s Guardian, featuring lots of people talking about their vinyl sales experience and how much fun it was.
Art Pepper, for free. Laurie Pepper, Art Pepper's widow, has made another rare track available as a free download. This time it's I'll Remember April with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. The recording was made on April 20, 1975, at an afternoon gig at The Foxy Lady club in Los Angeles. Go here. [Pictured above, from left, Art Pepper and Warne Marsh at Donte's in North Hollywood, Calif. in 1977]
Benny and Zoot in '58. Here's a clip of the Benny Goodman Orchestra at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958. The band featured Billy Hodges,Taft Jordan, John Frosk and E.V. Perry on trumpets; Vernon Brown, Willie Dennis, Rex Peer on trombones; Al Block, Ernie Mauro, Zoot Sims and Seldon Powell on saxophones; Roland Hanna on piano; Arvell Shaw on bass; Roy Burns on drums and Billy Bauer on guitar.
CD discoveries of the week. When smart musicians look way back in time for inspiration, they wind up with an album like Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock (Almost Loaded). Recorded today, not yesterday, the band Drivin' N' Cryin' attempts to recreate the garage band sound of the '60s. Yes, there were dozens of such bands back then,
including Pat Farrell & The Believers, Mo-Shuns, the Shags and the New Invaders. I know because I used to spend many an hour in an odd store called Midnight Records that sold such discs across from the Hotel Chelsea on 23d St. This EP (short album) delivers that sound with today's sonics. It's the third of four theme albums with original material from Drivin' N' Cryin'. Previous retro efforts have been Songs from the Laundromat and Songs About Cars, Space and the Ramones. Sample Upside Down Round And Round and tell me you're not in love.
Back in 1986, pianist Steve Kuhn played the Village Vanguard with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Al Foster. The Vanguard Date (Sunnyside) is Kuhn at his gentle best, with lilting songs like Clotilde, Little Waltz and
Dance Only with Me. His The Zoo is on here, too. Kuhn approaches songs head-on and finds ways through their windows, cellar doors and rooftops. To hear him develop rhythmic patterns and lines on songs is to hear them evolve in motion, seemingly without pre-planning. Ron offers firm, engaging support as does Foster—without stepping on Kuhn's toes. Sample Music Prayer for Peace. A hushed album by an artist fully in control.
You either love the French horn and understand why it's such a fabulous instrument or you don't get it at all. The French horn is a hushed romantic, a swinging fop, if you will. Up front, it has an orchestral, cinematic cry but deep
down it's a trombone without the attitude. French hornist Jeffrey Snedeker obviously feels the same way. On Minor Returns: Tributes to the Horn in Jazz, Snedeker takes on 14 songs. Oddly, many of these song choices have nothing to do with the French horn. In cases where songs work, however, they're out of the park. These include George Wallington's Godchild, George Butcher's Linda Delia and Gigi Gryce's Two French Fries. I only wish Snedeker had adhered closer to his album's title—sticking to jazz songs that are French horn classics, like Ronnie's Tune from Curtis Fuller's With French Horns (1957) and John Graas' Frappe (1953). But this is a quibble, given what a beautiful player he is.
Oddball album cover of the week.
Capitol Records in the '50s positioned trumpeter Jonah Jones as a pop-jazz instrumentalist. In the process, they created several albums with covers that used models stuffed into tight tops and pants. One assumes these LPs were aimed at young male record buyers in search of an at-home soundtrack for making moves.
I have two articles in today's Wall Street Journal—a "House Call" column for the Mansion section on Sonny Rollins (go here) and an "Anatomy of a Song" column for the Arena section on the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There (go here). [Photo of Sonny Rollins at home in his living room by Ethan Hill/Redux]
Sonny first. Two weeks ago Sonny invited me to up to his house in Woodstock, N.Y. Sonny recently moved there from Germantown, N.Y., where he had lived since the 1970s. Sonny made the move because his former home, a late 19th-century farmhouse, was becoming a bit dangerous and uncomfortable. Too many steep stairs and plenty of cold drafts. His new house is more linear in design and has plenty of heat as well as a swift new gas fireplace that gives him all the heat he needs. Sonny rehearses in there and the room is quite cozy.
As we sat in his living room, we talked about the move, the house, the saxophone note that sounds best in the space, the trees and the moon, being recognized in town and his home's distance from New York. Said Sonny: "Up
here you’re too far for people to drop by. I’m a very private person and I’m
able to express that part of my desire as a human being here."
We also talked about his two Earl Coleman tracks on Tour de Force (1957) and then listened to Art Tatum. Why Tatum? As Sonny said...
"I don’t know why. Maybe I’m longing to get grounded. I used to listen to a lot of music, including Art Tatum. But I stopped listening to music. Maybe I don’t want to get too untethered, to make sure I’m back to what I know a little bit. That’s not something I’m into—trying to do what I did in 1957. I’m trying to avoid that 90% of the time. So I think it might be trying to get back to something I know well, maybe. I love stride piano. It’s familiar but it’s uncharted territory with Tatum. It’s enjoyable but it’s also a lesson."
My last Wall Street Journal article on Sonny was in 2010, when we drove up to Harlem to visit his old neighborhood (go here).
As for the Four Tops, I've always loved Reach Out I'll Be There. Before conducting interviews for the drill-down column, I listened to the 1966 hit roughly 30 times. The more I listened, the more something sounded familiar. Then I put on Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. And there it was, the influence. When I spoke to songwriter Lamont Dozier, he laughed and talked about how he and Brian and Eddie Holland were listening to Dylan then and wanted to create an unusual song for Four Tops' lead singer Levi Stubbs that had Dylan's shout-singing style of delivery.
I also interviewed the legendary Paul Riser, Motown's strings arranger, and the great Duke Fakir, the last surviving member of the Four Tops. [Pictured above: Lamont Dozier]
Here's Sonny and Earl Coleman on Two Different Worlds...
And here are the Four Tops singing Holland-Dozier-Holland's Reach Out I'll Be There...
Plus here's Bob Dylan singing Like a Rolling Stone...
Six hours of Stax. Tomorrow, Saturday, Chris
Cowles and Tom Shaker of Hartford's WRTC-FM are in Memphis broadcasting their annual Stax Records Marathon live from The Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
The six hour radio show—from noon to 6 p.m. (EDT)—features music and rare interviews with the label's
original musicians and producers. Tune in from anywhere in the
world on your computer by going here.
Some of the biggest girl-group hits in the '60s were co-written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The list includes Be My Baby and Baby I Love You (the Ronettes), Leader of the Pack (the Shangri-Las), Chapel of Love (the Dixie Cups) and many more. For years, many people assumed that Greenwich was the brains behind the lyrics that won girls' hearts. The truth is Jeff wrote the words, Ellie the music. How did a guy wind up knowing so much about the female teenage psyche?
In tomorrow's Wall Street Journal (go here), I interviewed Jeff for the Leisure & Arts section on that very topic. Jeff's father was blind and his sister was intellectually challenged, which forced him to be a vivid storyteller. What's more, when his mother and father divorced when he was seven, his mother moved him, his sister and her father into an attic of her brother's house, which made him sensitive. A low-income family, they moved back to Brooklyn four years later into an equally tight space, where Jeff remained until his songwriting career took off when he was about 20. [Pictured above: Ellie Greenwich]
It's the story of a caring songwriter who wrote with his gut and a vivid imagination. His understanding of what girls wanted and why—along with Greenwich's sizzling melodies—resulted in 17 Billboard hits in 1964 alone, which is pretty astonishing. Phil Spector's production was a factor, as was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's guidance after '64 on their Red Bird label. [Pictured, from left: Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry and Ellie's sister Laura]
I spent an afternoon with Jeff at his home in Santa Barbara a few weeks ago. His wife Nancy made a terrific lunch and we ate outside in the Tuscan gardens behind his home. Jeff is just over 6 feet tall with piercing eyes and a warm, friendly smile. He's also as casual and as gentle as they come. He seems truly mystified by his ability to write lyrics that connect with teens. Which adds to the fun and his mystique.
Jeff's secret? "Lyrics have to tell a story and touch on things kids are going through—finding boyfriends, managing their social status, getting caught up in drama, and so on," he said. "I've always managed to figure out what's important to teens by observing them and then imagining them in a film acting out those situations to write the lyrics." [Pictured above: Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich with the Dixie Cups]
My favorite moments though came when Jeff took out his laptop and played me some of the songs he's working on now with artists. Which led me to ask: "Are teenage girls today different than they were 50 years ago?" His answer was priceless:
"Today's girls aren't as cynical as you'd think. Find me a 15-year-old boy singing 'I love you, baby,' and you'll see that girls still believe in true love. I still believe." [Pictured: the Ronettes in studio mode with hair down]
JazzWax tracks: Two great Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich collections are Da Doo Ron Ron: More from the Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry Songbook (Ace) here and Do-Wah-Diddy: Words and Music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry (Ace)here. The sound is great on both.
JazzWax clip: One of my favorite off-beat, lesser-known hits by Jeff Barry and Elli Greenwich is Leslie Gore's Look of Love, which was produced by Quincy Jones in '64...
Earlier this week I received an email from a publicist representing Rachelle Spector—wife of imprisoned Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector. Along with the email's content was a link to a new music video featuring Rachelle, 32, singing P.S. I Love You—a new song she wrote about her husband. [Pictured above: Rachelle Spector]
Phil Spector currently is serving a 19-year term at the
California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in
Corcoran, Calif. after his conviction in 2009 of murdering Lana Clarkson at his Los Angles home in 2003. Spector, 73, will be 88 years old when he is eligible for parole. [Rachelle and Phil Spector in 2009]
I asked Rachelle Spector's publicist if Rachelle would be willing to answer a series of questions by email. The publicist asked and Rachelle agreed. Here is her P.S. I Love You video, followed by her answers to my questions...
JazzWax: Why are you releasing this video now? Rachelle Spector:
The video has been a work in progress. The goal is to show a
sympathetic and humanizing side of a man who has been crucified in the
court of public opinion for way too long. And slowly but surely, with my
music, the videos and all of my prime-time television interviews about
his innocence, I am changing this perception to a more positive one and
putting the focus back on the music, where it belongs.
I'm also getting
people to remember that this is where it all started for both him and
me. Music is such a huge part of both of our lives. Also, as you see in
the beginning of the video, this is about a woman who is dedicated to
her husband and plans on sticking by his side.
JW:
Many people will see this video and assume you are doing this for the
money or career visibility. Is that fair? RS:
First off, people are going to think what they want and I cannot change
this. All I can do is be me. You can't get any more real than writing
and singing from you heart. Actions speak louder than words.
Everything
that I have done has been consistent for almost 10 years. I have stood
by his side and become his biggest and only advocate. I obtained my
private investigative license to help my husband's case. As I mentioned
earlier, I am now also a pilot so I can continue to see him regularly.
Not
to mention, I have been involved with music way before I met Phil
Spector. I have been singing since I was 6. Playing trombone for over 25
years. I've written and produced many songs. Now I am writing lyrics,
engineering, arranging, and dabbling in the production aspect as well.
Everything I have accomplished has been from my hard work and I should
be judged as an artist and my talent.
JW: Who came up with the idea for the song and video? RS: I came up with the idea for not only the video but the entire project. I actually edited the music video myself, which was pretty fun! I have been working on it for about a year and a half now. The project was based on love letters that my husband [Phil Spector] and I would write back and forth to each other over the years. Then at some point I decided to turn some of those letters into songs.
As far as the lyrics and music is concerned, I teamed up with veteran songwriter and producer Chris Seefried. Chris produced the tracks, and we co-wrote the lyrics and music. I engineered the songs. I am very interested in the whole production aspect as well. I have been making all of the executive decisions, even to put the song out in mono. The entire EP will be released at the end of spring.
JW: Was it emotionally hard to do? RS: Yes, absolutely. Especially given my current situation—my husband being away from me and wrongfully convicted. Living it is one thing, but to put those words on paper and to sing them was was emotional. But this was so important for me to get out the sympathetic and humanizing side of my husband that people either don't know or have forgotten about.
JW: How often are you allowed to visit your husband? RS: I visit my husband every weekend. I either drive or fly. I obtained my pilot's license to make it a bit easier on me to see him regularly. Yes, it is very hard and taxing on me. Mentally, physically and emotionally. Most of the world's population does not know what it is like to have a family member incarcerated—in this case my husband—albeit wrongfully.
JW: Where did you two meet? RS: We met at Dan Tana's restaurant in Los Angeles in September 2003. I was there with a friend. I did not know who Phil Spector was or the extent of his musical accomplishments. It was a total chance meeting. I had gotten up to use the restroom and the other gentleman at my table knew that I was a singer so he jumped in front of me and said, "Hey Phil Spector, you have to meet Rachelle," and blah blah blah. Then I got pushed into this table with five different guys. Long story short, Phillip has been telling me he loved me since the first day we met. We have been together ever since. This September will be 10 years!
JW: Did you tell your husband about your plans to do the video? RS: Unfortunately, he will not be able to see any of my videos—though he does have the song. When he first received it in the mail, he called me immediately and was singing it to me over the phone and was so excited about it! He told me he is so proud of me, my accomplishments and just how much I have grown as an artist and person through the years. Not to mention how much he appreciates me and everything that I am doing for him.
JW: Your video seems to be saying, to know him is to love him. While many people in the industry acknowledge he was a genius, they also say he wasn't a nice guy. Is this unfair? RS: Let's just be honest here—we all know life isn't fair. Also you have to consider the source when they are making fun of or criticizing someone else. Many people who say negative things about him have never even spoken to my husband let alone met him. Many people who know him personally and have spent even a little time around Phillip love him! And yes you are correct! To know Phil is to love Phil for sure. He is a very easy man to love. He is a very kind, caring and gentle man. He has done so much for so many people.
JW: What do you want most people who see your video to think about you and Phil Spector? RS: I hope people will keep an open mind with everything and be willing to look at things from a different perspective. This is all about a woman standing by her man and being able to express it through the gift of music.
The big band era didn't come to an end at the end of World War II. People just stopped dancing to them. In the late '40s fans went to theaters and concert halls to hear bands, and in the '50s they listened to them on LP. In the early '60s, with the rise of pop-rock in the States, bands went off to Europe on lengthy tours—thanks to lifting of bans on American artists by musicians' unions there starting in '61 that allowed them to work there for extensive periods. [Pictured above: Kenny Clarke]
Some big bands started outside the U.S. One notable example was the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band—which was formed in '60 by American expatriate drummer Clarke, Belgian pianist Boland [pictured] and former Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode. The band lasted just over 10 years and recorded more than 20 albums. Solos were spread among the 13 all-star musicians, and the band's charts were often intricate and laced with European flavor.
Charts were most often written by Boland, a classically trained composer who spent a chunk of the '50s in the U.S. The band's first album was Jazz Is Universal (Atlantic), recorded in December 1961 in Cologne, Germany. As the Atlantic album's liner notes by public relations maven Bob Altshuler point out, musicians from seven countries were in the band—six from the U.S., two from England while one each from France, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey and Austria.
Here's the sterling lineup: Benny Bailey, Roger Guerin, Jimmy Deuchar and Maffy Falay (tp); Nat Peck and Ake Persson (tb); Derek Humble (as); Zoot Sims and Karl Drevo (ts); Sahib Shihab (bar, fl); Francy Boland (p,arr); Jimmy Woode (b) and Kenny Clarke (d).
It took a year and a half to plan this recording due to the jagged schedules of the musicians and the need for rehearsals. During the time that elapsed, Boland wrote and arranged many of the tunes. Listening back to the album more than 50 years later, it's remarkable how fresh and modern the material sounds.
Among the notable solos are those by tenor saxophonist Drevo on Gloria, Shahib's flute and Sims's tenor sax on Charon's Ferry, pianist Boland on Valutes and Bailey, Shihab, Drevo and Sims on James Moody's Last Train From Overbrook. But truly, there isn't a bad composition on the entire album.
The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band's sophisticated sound paved a courageous new course. Among the modernist bands that were formed during the early '60s were Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band in '60 (both Clarke and Boland played in the band) and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra in '65. The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland band was jammed with all-star talent who spoke the same musical language and performed accordingly—harmonious together, monsters apart. [Pictured above: trumpeter-arranger Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis]
JazzWax tracks: You're in luck: Jazz Is Universal is
available as a download at Amazon for $4.83. How long it remains there at that price is anyone's guess. You'll find it here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Francy Boland's arrangement of Last Train From Overbrook...
Phil Woods is a band guy deep down. Though he has recorded hundreds of small-group albums, Phil always sounds most at home standing out in a crowd. His first commercial recording was with Neal Hefti and His Orchestra (Hot 'N Hearty in 1955), and some of his most memorable recordings have been as the soulful soloist on recordings by superb orchestras: Larry Sonn's The Sound of Sonn (1955), Dizzy Gillespie's World Statesman (1956), Manny Albam's Jazz Greats of Our Time Vol. 2 and The Blues Is Everybody's Business (1957), Michel Legrand's Legrand Jazz (1958), Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan (1958), Bill Potts's The Jazz Soul of Porgy & Bess (1959) and Quincy Jones and His Orchestra from 1959 into the early '60s.
So it's gratifying to hear Phil once again with a bright, intelligent band. His latest album, Right to Swing: Phil Woods with the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble (Jazzed Media) directed by Bob Lark, features Phil comfortably swimming with sharks. The album's first five tracks were arranged by Phil with the final five were handled by Phil and several students. All of the songs were written by Phil.
Phil loves working with DePaul University in Chicago and it's no wonder. The musicians on his recordings with DePaul ensembles are superb and have terrific taste and judgment. Phil's close ties to the school has much to do with Lark [pictured above], who is director of jazz studies and teaches jazz trumpet and jazz pedagogy and jazz style. Phil has donated much of his 300 original compositions to the college.
On Right to Swing, there's no wheel-spinning or attempts to sound like fusion-crazed teens. Songs and arrangements are economical and hearken back to a time when jazz-band recordings breathed, climbed dramatically and moved toward a goal. Weak End, arranged by Carl Kennedy, is a perfect example. A mid-tempo swinger, the song features Phil and trumpeter David Kaiser. The band slides in and out with airy bounce and tonal intelligence. What a rare joy to hear a band that does not succumb to section yammering and showcasing. Every bit of music here has purpose and united execution.
Dig Cormac McCarthy's stealthy and cinematic arrangement of Phil's Casanova. There's plenty of drama and technique in the solos by Phil and vibraphonist David Bugher. You can almost hear Phil listening intently and being motivated by the warm textures behind him. There's a lot of color and supoort by the band. Dig Phil's reedy arrangement of his Scherzo.
If this CD is any indication, Phil is on top of his game at age 81—never relying on cliches or time-worn tricks. With a band this good, Phil has no choice but to show his stuff and exhibit the sound and fifth-gear energy that made him the go-to East Coast alto soloist throughout the '50s. Now, more than 50 years later, he's once again in the thick of a band, soaring away. I'd add this album to the collection of must-haves mentioned above. And that's saying something. [Pictured above: Phil Woods in 1956]
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Right to Swing: Phil Woods
with the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble (Jazzed Media) here.
Are young men coming undone? In an age when computers and handheld devices require greater socializing, deft communication skills and emotional honesty, are some young men ill-equipped for the future? Are some outraged by their changing identities—particularly when father figures from older generations complain bitterly about their shifting status?
The old male traits—acting tough, showing off and keeping silent—are being replaced by co-existence, co-operation and compromise with others, particularly with women. Are some young males unable to make the leap and therefore feeling inadequate? Are these males more willing to lash out? And are some more prone to murderous violence because they have easier access to weapons of destruction and online information about how to build them?
All of this crossed my mind when trying to connect the psychological dots last week running between Boston, Connecticut, Colorado, Arizona and elsewhere. In each case, young males casually killed and injured innocents, young and old. The motive in each case was different, to be sure, and in some cases mental illness and fanaticism appear to have played a role. But I wonder whether feelings of inferiority and inadequacy also are in the flash-point mix.
Even the white-capped Boston bomber, who was a long-time resident of the city's suburbs and reportedly respected by classmates and parents, had a dark, murderous side. Despite being part of his neighborhood's social fabric and an accomplished high school student, something snapped. Was it really a more violent and influential older brother? Cruel parents? Exposure to poisonous family views here or online? Emails from angry friends in his native land abroad? Way too early to tell.
What is clear is that this kid and a growing number of young males are prone to violent fantasy. Some try to regain their status by lashing out and satisfying a father's or uncle's notion of how they should man-up. Others turn to violent video games and action movies and comics. Others go further—particularly when religious zealotry, illegal drugs or ignored prescription meds are involved.
We know that shifting social standards, perceived slights, emasculation and the stigma of being outside the mainstream can get ugly. One-word slurs for outcasts—"hippies," "nerds," "weirdos," "queers" and worse—have been around for some time. So has bullying and other forms of intimidation that shove others beyond the parameter of social circles. What's different now? And why are so many young males winding up as mass killers?
Hopefully someone will figure out how seemingly benign young men become mass-murdering score-settlers. And why young women—even bullied and depressed ones—don't seek this type of retribution. The answer is surely complex and probably has something to do with our youth culture in general. Over the past 10 years, we've seen a lurch away from inspiring music, thought-provoking literature and the arts and toward dark fantasy, instant celebrity, nagging technology, icy electronica and violence.
Perhaps someone will help us make sense of why so many of these destructive crimes are being committed by loathing young males. Something clearly is wrong.
Take Five. Reader and jazz writer Joe Lang sent along the following clip of The Sachal Studios Orchestra from Lahore, Pakistan, playing a cover of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five...
Tom Jones and Elvis Presley. In the wake of my conversation with Tom Jones in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, I thought I'd share this amusing jape...
Songwriter tips. Thinking of a career as a songwriter? Are you already a songwriter who would love to write a hit? Here are 10 foolproof ways to critique your own songs—sage advice from BMI. Go here.
78s set straight. Reader John Cooper sent along a link to a post by a fellow who has figured out how to turn a crunchy 78-rpm record into a pristine-sounding recording. Go here.
Paris, and step on it. Ever wonder what it would be like to power a Ferrari 275 GTB through Paris at the crack of dawn? Painter and sportscar enthusiast Nelson Diaz sent along the following clip...
More on Beverly Kenney. For those interested in the life of Beverly Kenney—the jazz singer who committed suicide in her 20s in 1960—JazzWax reader and blogger Bill Reed has done extensive research. You can read his post on Kenney here. There's more here and here.
Still more on Kenney. Reader Pierre Giroux from Toronto wrote to say he had reached out to drummer Archie Alleyne, one of the musicians mentioned in my post on the new photos of Beverly Kenney that surfaced. Says Pierre: "I am afraid that after 50-plus years, memories are often dim. Archie recalls that Kenney was very young, which if she was in Toronto in the mid-'50s, she would not have been more than 23 or 24. Also that she was quite shy and that shyness seemed to reflect itself in the way she approached and sang the material she was using. Hope this helps."
Joe Alterman and mentor. Pianist Joe Alterman has always admired pianist Ahmad Jamal—particularly his recordings for Argo. Joe has met and spoken with Jamal in the past and has played with bassist James Cammack and drummer Herlin Riley—both members of Ahmad Jamal's trios. So it was with great surprise when Joe was playing the Blue Note on April 16, he looked out and saw Jamal in the audience. As Joe wrote...
"Last night was such a thrill! I can't tell you how amazing it was to look down from the piano and see Ahmad sitting right there, smiling up at me. That meant a whole lot to me, although it was a bit frightening when I almost quoted Israel Crosby's bass line from But Not For Me but caught myself just in time. A real thrill, and I'm so glad someone caught me coming into the audience to say hello to Ahmad [pictured above].
Band behind bars. U.K. reader Philip Andrews sent along a link to the following documentary on the '70s Huntsville prison band in Texas that specialized in soul.
Charles Mingus radio. WKCR in New York will presents its annual "Charles Mingus Birthday Broadcast" on Monday (April 22). The station will play the bassist-composer's recordings around the clock for 24 hours, starting at midnight (EDT) on Sunday. You can tune in on your computer from anywhere in the world by going here.
JazzWax on the radio. If you missed Bob Collins of WRHU-FM in New York interviewing me about my book, Why Jazz Happened, you can listen to the entire 30-minute chat with music by clicking below.
Oddball cover redux. In my post last weekend, my Oddball choice was the cover of Jazz Masquerade.
Several readers wrote in to say that the list of artists on tracks at Amazon was flawed. James Harrod of Jazz Research—a group that specializes in West Coast Jazz—reminded me he wrote at length about the album. Go here.
CD discoveries of the week. Giacomo Gates is hands down my favorite male vocalist on the scene today. His last album—The Revolution Will Be Jazz: The Songs Of Gil Scott-Heron—knocked me out. Now, he's back singing all
Miles Davis on Miles Tones: Giacomo Gates Sings the Music of Miles Davis (Savant). Gates comes out of the club-singer tradition, most specifically vocalese—words added to jazz songs and signature instrumental solos. Think King Pleasure, Eddie Jefferson and Mark Murphy. Gates's hipster baritone, conviction and spry vocal solos take you back to a time when people read poetry in the park and jazz was about the joy of life and intellectual pursuits. Attention Don Was at Blue Note.
Ronnie Cuber is one aggressive baritone saxophonist. On Live at JazzFest Berlin (SteepleChase), you hear him wail away on Horace Silver's Tokyo Blues, Clare Fischer's hard bossa Coco B and his own Arroz Con Pollo. What
sets Ronnie apart from many baritones today is his heady big band experience and R&B, Latin and funk dues. What I love about Ronnie is that he never dances around on songs. Instead, he's in there turning over tables and biting bottle tops off with his teeth. The level of intensity is always near-boil and his lines are daring, churning and fluid. Best of all, his baritone always sound like two seals wrestling. Or the mutterings of a grumpy sailor. The sound is grunty, gritty and swinging.
The French have always had a thing for Latin music. The attraction is the passion and style. On Rhythm of the Heart, French singer Raquel Bitton is joined by a 20-piece orchestra, and the result is a Havana cocktail with
Champagne. Unlike most American singers who take on French songs, Bitton rolls her "r's" authentically with Piafian elan. Meanwhile, the band chunka-chunks along with drama and mystique. I studied French but can't make out the lyrics. It doesn't matter. She's worked up about something on each track—lost loves, cheating beaus and nostalgia for a long-ago love. This CD takes you on a trip to a place where makeup and manners mattered.
Oddball album cover of the week.
Easily the oddest jazz cover of them all, this one for Pacific Jazz rankled Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner when it was released in 1957. As a result, the cover was changed in '58 to a studio photo by William Claxton and the LP was renamed Portrait of Heath. Not sure what irked Hef more—the logo or the puppets. In fact, what do those puppets mean? The original design was by Chuck Hyman and the photo was by Peter Gowland.
For the Mansion section of today's Wall Street Journal (go here), I interview singer Sir Tom Jones on the two years he was confined to bed in the early '50s while growing up in Wales. Sir Tom had tuberculosis and spent those many months at home drawing and dreaming. If you've often wondered how Sir Tom knows so much about soul and R&B, much of that knowledge was picked up listening day and night to the rented radio in his bedroom.
Other things you should know about Sir Tom: He was the first solo male British invasion sensation in the States (the videos speak for themselves). Elvis Presley told Sir Tom he picked up quite a few tips from Sir Tom's successful Las Vegas act in the '60s. And that final, eternally held note on the Thunderball theme? He said he was told by arranger-conductor John Barry to hold it as long as possible. So he did—and by the end, Sir Tom was so out of breath that he was holding himself up by extending both arms and placing his hands against the recording-booth walls.
Sir Tom has a new album out: Spirit in the Room (Rounder). You'll find it here.
Sahib Shihab isn't as well known today as most other storied baritone saxophonists like Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff and Harry Carney. As I recall from my not-yet-transcribed interview with Sahib back in the '80s, when he was a visiting professor at Rutgers University, part of the reason for his obscurity was his lengthy expatriate status.
After a European tour in 1959 and '60 with the Quincy Jones big band, Sahib began spending a growing amount of time playing in Europe and Scandinavia, eventually marrying a Danish woman and remaining in Denmark after 1961. He made only sporadic trips back to the States, where the music scene's rapid shift away from jazz came as a shock to him.
What I remember most about our encounter was Sahib's size—he seemed well over six feet tall, with a large, thick beard and fierce eyes that didn't suffer fools. And yet he was patient and kind in his answers—a natural educator whose mountain-man presence forced you to frame your questions with care.
When you explore Sahib's recordings, you'll find that virtually all of them are magical. As a sideman and leader, Sahib's lines were always hard-crafted and boldly executed while his original compositions were catchy, deep and hip.
Among my favorite Sahib tracks are four originals he arranged for a stellar New York group in November 1957. Originally issued on Savoy as Jazz Sahib, the album featured Phil Woods (as), Benny Golson (ts), Sahib Shihab (bar), Bill Evans (p), Oscar Pettiford (b) and Art Taylor (d).
The three reeds alone would have been dazzling—with Benny's slippery tenor, Phil's urgent alto and Sahib's muscular baritone. But there also was a
remarkable rhythm section behind them in Evans, Pettiford and Taylor. Evans [pictured in '57] has brief solos on Blu-A-Round—a rare blues for the pianist—and Ba-Dut-Du-Dat. Evans and Sahib had first recorded together in late '56 and early '57 on The Complete Tony Scott and then on a string of Scott dates in November '57. And that was it.
Born Edmund Gregory, Sahib moved with his family to New York from Savannah, Ga. as a toddler. As a pre-teen, he began playing alto sax and clarinet, and at age 13 began working professionally with band leader Luther Henderson. When his mother died around this time, he returned to Savannah for a time and worked with Larry Noble.
At age 16 he enrolled at the Boston Conservatory of Music, followed by studies at Juilliard. In the mid-40s, he played in Fletcher Henderson's band and recorded with Jay McShann and Roy Eldridge. In the late 1940s, he converted to Islam and changed his name.
Classic Blue Note recordings with Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey in '47 followed as well as dates with Tadd Dameron's Big Ten in '49.
Throughout the '50s, Sahib played alto, baritone and flute on landmark dates with Lucky Thompson, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Tony Scott. He recorded on Donald Byrd and Gigi Gryce's Jazz Lab, Phil Woods's Four Altos, Oscar Pettiford's big band in '57 and, perhaps most memorably, on John Coltrane's Coltrane that same year.
In fact, '57 was a breakthrough year for Sahib, recording virtually every other week on critical jazz albums as well as leading several sessions. He was in demand the following year as well—and appeared in Art Kane's famous A Great Day in Harlem photo [below] for Esquire. In 1959 Sahib was in the reed section of Quincy Jones's big band, which propelled him to Europe and by 1961 out of America's musical orbit.
As American music changed rapidly in the '60s and beyond, Sahib found he had less and less in common with this country intellectually, preferring to play and record his kind of music in countries where he was most appreciated. Fortunately for us, he recorded often in Europe. Sahib died in 1989 at age 64. I'm just glad I had a chance to spend an afternoon with him. Now I'll have to dig out that tape.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the four small-group tracks
with Bill Evans on Sahib Shihab Complete Sextets Sessions 1956-1957 (Fresh Sound) here.
The Bill Evans and Tony Scott sessions with Sahib from November '57 are on A Day in New York (Fresh Sound) here. Unrelated to Evans but another one of my Sahib favorites—Sahib Shihab & The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra—from 1965 is here.
In the wake of Monday's Boston bombings—clearly committed by someone who can't bear the thought of tens of thousands of people enjoying their families and cheering on the personal triumphs of others—I needed a mind break. And you probably did, too. So I reached for The Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions (Mosaic), which was released in 2002 and I hear is running low. This box features hugely understanding and patient music because it was recorded during similarly anxious times—when the world was changing a little too fast, the news was grim and the future wasn't so certain. Technology and new ways of living also played a role.
As the suburbs expanded in the early 1950s and home-ownership soared, so did sales of phonographs. The iPods of their day, factory models could accommodate the new 33 1/3 speed needed for long-playing records. Columbia introduced the LP in the late '40s but soon other labels followed. At first, the 12-inch LP was for older, wealthier classical fans while the 10-inch platter was for young adult consumers of pop and jazz. Both sizes gave consumers more time in their chairs before having to rise and turn over the discs.
Pop fare was segmented for a range of demographic groups. In the early days of the LP, there was sticky novelty music and overly sincere vocals for basic listeners and jazz from the '20s and '30s for sophisticates. In the middle was a marriage of sorts between music that was easy to follow and a jazz soloist who pushed the envelope instrumentally. In many respects, the model for this genre was Charlie Parker with Strings in 1949 and 1950—in which familiar Tin Pan Alley songs were served up lush but fronted by a freewheeling instrumentalist.
The pioneer of this genre—which would eventually become known as Easy Listening—was Bobby Hackett. The trumpeter and cornetist was a direct stylistic link to the laid-back, punctuating style of Bix Beiderbecke, and in the '30s and '40s he had been a featured soloist in Glenn Miller's and Benny Goodman's bands.
Hackett's role in the '50s as the Pied Piper of Mood Music owes a great deal to Jackie Gleason's foresight. Hackett's earliest recordings of this ilk for Capitol were done for the comedian's mink-and-martini projects. The success of their combined effort was so potent from a sales perspective that Hackett began recording similar though more smartly arranged albums under his own name.
The first—Soft Lights—was recorded in the spring of 1953 and the last—Hawaii Swings—was waxed in 1959. The 10 albums in all are as you would expect—a lyrical, patient trumpeter wandering around songs you know, backed by strings and woodwinds. While the orchestra served up a relaxed, echoing backdrop, Hackett's round tones and dancing style seemingly sing the standards.
All of Hackett's recordings have been gathered on The Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions (Mosaic), which was released in 2002. From my perspective, there's nothing like Hackett circling a song to soothe the worry and sorrow of the unthinkable. His calm and inventiveness gives you hope while the plush arrangements keep your powder dry. In short, what you get here is Hackett playing trumpet as though he's whistling on his way to a fishing hole.
The box's liners are by Dan Morgenstern, and they are as glorious and elegantly spare as Hackett's own notes. Here are the two opening paragraphs...
" ' Bobby Hackett—always lovely to listen to, makes it come out so pretty.' The speaker was Louis Armstrong discussing his favorites. And Louis, of course, was Bobby's idol. 'I worshipped him,' he told Whitney Balliett in 1972. 'I heard my first Armstrong record in a Providence department store when I was a kid, and it turned me around. The sound has never left me.'
"There are many, this writer included, who can say the same about the sound of Bobby Hackett. It is a sound that for a decade or so, when the recordings gathered here were made, was almost ubiquitous, heard in public places throughout an America that now seems almost impossibly innocent, a country in which a genre called 'mood music' sold millions of records and was a constant on the airwaves."
On these 124 tracks, you hear songs served neat—with orchestrations that were always conscious of the listener's nerves and anxieties. After Monday's horrible and traumatic events in Boston, I put on the Hackett box and understood instantly why the '50s recordings had resonated so deeply with a generation still coping with the horror of a world war and trying to block out the Cold War. The music's salve-like qualities are still effective today.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the five-CD box The
Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions (Mosaic) here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Hackett playing Thank You for a Lovely Evening from Capitol's Rendezvous (1956), which is included in this box...
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."
