JazzWax

Joe Chambers: 'Dance Kobina'

Drummer Joe Chambers is best known for playing on a long list of critically acclaimed Blue Note jazz albums in the 1960s. These include Joe Henderson's Mode for Joe; Freddie Hubbard's Breaking Point; Dialogue, Components, Happenings and Total Eclipse by Bobby Hutcherson; Tender Moments by McCoy Tyner; Andrew!!! and Compulsion!!! by Andrew Hill as well as All Seeing Eye, Adam's Apple and Schizophrenia by Wayne Shorter. [Photo above of Joe Chambers in the 1960s by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]

He also played on Chick Corea's Tones For Joan's Bones, Woody Shaw's In the Beginning and in Max Roach's M'Boom percussion ensemble and Charles Mingus's groups in the 1970s. In addition to his intricate, sensitive polyrhythmic drum style, Chambers is a gifted vibraphonist and pianist.

His new album is Dance Kobina (Blue Note), proving once again that the 80-year-old percussionist still has it. The album is superb. What's most beautiful about the album and Chambers's playing is that he has retained the flavors of many totemic greats he has played with over the decades.

Produced and arranged by Chambers, the album features him backed by a range of players, depending on the song's rhythmic and modal mood. Here are the nine tracks and personnel for each:

1. This Is New (Kurt Weill)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone and percussion), Richard Germanson (piano) and Mark Lewandowski (bass).

2. Dance Kobina (Andrés Vial)—Joe Chambers (drums), Caoilainn Power (alto saxophone), Andrés Vial (piano), Michael Davidson (vibraphone), Ira Coleman (bass) and Elli Miller Maboungou (ngoma drums).

3. Ruth (Joe Chambers)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone and percussion), Richard Germanson (piano), Mark Lewandowski (bass), Emilio Valdes Cortes (Latin percussion) and Marvin Carter (alto saxophone).

4. Caravanserai (Joe Chambers)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone), Richard Germanson (piano), Mark Lewandowski (bass) and Emilio Valdes Cortes (Latin percussion)

5. City of Saints (Andrés Vial)—Joe Chambers (drums), Caoilainn Power (alto saxophone), Andrés Vial (piano), Michael Davidson (vibraphone), Ira Coleman (bass) and Elli Miller Maboungou (ngoma drums).

6. Gazelle Suite (Joe Chambers)—Joe Chambers (drums), Caoilainn Power (alto saxophone), Andrés Vial (piano and bombos legüeros), Michael Davidson (vibraphone and marimba), Ira Coleman (bass) and Elli Miller Maboungou (ngoma drums).

7. Intermezzo (Joe Chambers)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone and percussion), Richard Germanson (piano) and Mark Lewandowski (bass).

8. Power to the People (Joe Henderson)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone and percussion), Richard Germanson (piano). Mark Lewandowski (bass) Emilio Valdes Cortes (Latin percussion) and Marvin Carter (tenor saxophone).

9. Moon Dancer (Karl Ratzer)—Joe Chambers (drums, vibraphone and percussion), Richard Germanson (piano) and Mark Lewandowski (bass).

What I love most about Dance Kobina is that you can listen to it from start to finish and be completely engaged in the art, one track after the next. It also can be counted among the Blue Note label's standouts, just like the ones listed at the top of this post.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Joe Chambers's Dance Kobina (Blue Note) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's the title track (dig Chambers's polyrhythmic figures)...

Here's City of Saints...

And here's Moon Dancer...

Jim, Wanda and Rudy

For The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed James Brolin for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jim, who is married to Barbra Streisand, starred in the film Gable and Lombard (1976) and played Ronald Reagan in the TV miniseries The Reagans (2003). Most recently, he was in Royal Hearts (2018).

Here's Jim in The Reagans...

Here's Jim in Royal Hearts on Hallmark...

And here's Jim on 60 Minutes...

Howard Stern. Recently, I was on Howard Stern's Howard 101 SiriusXM network with Jon Leiberman to talk about David Crosby, breakup songs and my latest book, Anatomy of 55 More Songs. To hear our conversation, go here...

Wanda Stafford. In 2014, I interviewed singer Wanda Stafford on her 1960 Roulette LP that included the cream of New York's session musicians plus pianist Bill Evans. We've been in touch ever since. Recently, Wanda sent me a video of her singing and working the snare while accompanied by bassist Doug Miller and guitarist John Hoy. I asked if I could share with readers. She said, "Of course." Here's Wanda...

To read my two-part JazzWax interview with Wanda, go here and here.

Peanuts Hucko. Last week, I heard from Les Johnston in Australia...

Thanks Marc for the links to the Peanuts Hucko recordings. A great clarinet player and a great gentleman. Back in 1983, a Glenn Miller reunion band played major venues in Australia. Among the Miller originals in the band was Peanuts Hucko.

At the time, I was working in one of the clubs where the Miller band played a one-night concert. I had just finished my shift and hurried up to the packed auditorium. The band was already into its second number when I saw a table for two, but with just one woman sitting there. I went over and asked would she mind if I sat with her so that I see and hear the band for a short while.

She gave me a big smile and told me to sit down saying that she didn't expect her husband to join her until the band took its first break. I started tapping to the beat of "American Patrol." She smiled again and said, "You obviously like this kind of music." I explained that although I wasn't a musician, I had been on the fringe of the music world back in the U.K. before migrating to Australia and that I'd been friends with musicians in many of the British big bands.

She told me she'd introduce me to her husband when he came off the stand. It turned out that the lady was Louise Tobin and, of course, her husband was Peanuts Hucko! Another chair was brought to the table and, during the intermission I was enthralled when Peanuts and Louise related stories about the great days of the big bands and the musicians and singers who worked in them.

The evening led to another, much longer, meeting with them when Peanuts invited me to join them for drinks at their hotel. On that occasion I met George Best, Billy May and Ray McKinley—three more of the Glenn Miller originals. It was a non-concert night and I still can't believe I spent a couple of hours with some of the stars of the big band era.

Louise and Peanuts were a very gracious couple. I still treasure my copy of George Simon's "The Big Bands" that I took with me that night and had the people whose photographs were in the book sign them for me.

João Gilberto. Following my post on the new live recording of João Gilberto and Os Cariocas in Buenos Aires last week, Carl Woideck reminded me of another album featuring the same group in Brazil in 1962. They were joined by Antonio Carlos Jobim on piano and vocals, Vinicius de Moraes on vocals, Octavio Bailly on bass and Milton Banana on drums. This live album is Um Encontro No Au Bon Gourmet and can be found at Spotify here.

Don Ferrara. In a follow up to my post on trumpeter Don Ferrara, Bill Kirchner sent along a few interesting tracks:

Here's Ferrara with the Gerry Mulligan Sextet playing La Plus Que Lente, a Claude Debussy composition. It features Don Ferrara (tp), Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb), Zoot Sims (ts), Gerry Mulligan (bar), Bill Crow (b) and Dave Bailey (d), and was recorded September 26,1956 with an arrangement by Gil Evans...

Here's the Debussy piano version...

And here's the Debussy orchestral version...

Listen to FM concerts. In the wake of my recent posts on Count Basie (above), David Crosby, Dexter Gordon and Bobby Hutcherson, Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive sent along links to FM radio concerts that have been preserved for your listening pleasure:

Count Basie—three relevant recordings provided by Mark Rabin from the 1981 Chicago Jazz Festival: Count Basie with vocalist Joe Williams, Earle Warren with the Basie Alumni Band, and vocalist Joe Williams playing his own set. Go here to listen.

David Crosby—eight broadcast recordings of concerts on the FM Radio Archive, ranging from a 1967 recording for Los Angeles AM station KFWB to a 1992 Jeff Porcaro tribute concert on KLOS. These include a solo concert and one with CSN, both from 1989, a CSNY concert from 1970, a Byrds reunion concert from 1978, and two recordings with the Grateful Dead, in 1970 and 1972. Go here to listen. 

Dexter Gordon—three recordings with Dexter Gordon in the archive, with two that feature Bobby Hutcherson. Dexter Gordon & Friends live at the Keystone Corner in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1980, Dexter in Montreux with the Round Midnight Band featuring Bobby Hutcherson in 1987, and a tribute to Bobby Hutcherson by KJAZ DJ Sonny Buxton that includes some recordings with Dexter Gordon. Go here to listen.

And a note from Kim:

Mark Rabin provided two of the above Dexter Gordon recordings, and the Keystone Korner broadcast was initially incomplete. Thanks to your mention in JazzWax last June, a JazzWax reader contacted me with the missing portion of the recording. Thanks to you and JazzWax for your help.

Rudy Van Gelder. Tom Fine let me know last week that late, great jazz recording engineer now has a superb tribute site created and hosted by Rich Capeless. Go here.

Here's a clip on Rudy...

And here's a documentary on Rudy...

Jack Kleinsinger has produced New York's longest running jazz concert series. This year marks Jack's 50th anniversary, and will be his last jazz concert series. On February 23, at 8 p.m., at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, an all-star lineup will mark the occasion. Appearing will be NEA Jazz Master vocalist Sheila Jordan; guitarists Russell Malone and Roni Ben-Hur; bassists Jay Leonhart and Harvie S; and drummer Danny Gottlieb. In keeping with the long-running HIJ tradition, there will be surprise special guests. For more information and tickets, go here.

Here's Lee Konitz playing the first Highlights in Jazz Concert on February 8, 1973, at the Theatre de Lys on Christopher Street in New York's Greenwich Village...

And finally, here's Shazam, a killer track off Al Cohn and the Sax Section. Here's the sax section: Sam Marowitz and Gene Quill (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Eddie Wasserman (ts) and Sol Schlinger (bar) with John Williams (p) Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...

Peanuts Hucko: Big Band Clarinet

A few days ago, when I mentioned Peanuts Hucko in a post on trumpeter Don Ferrara, I received a bunch of emails from readers either wondering who he was or chortling about his nickname. Michael "Peanuts" Hucko was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and would become one of the biggest and most prolific clarinetists after Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Buddy DeFranco. The name was given to him as a child after displaying an unstoppable passion for the shelled kernels. [Photo above of Peanuts Hucko]

Hucko came up during the late 1930s, when he played tenor saxophone for bands led by Will Bradley, Tommy Reynolds and Joe Marsala. He soon doubled on clarinet and played with a long list of dance bands. In 1943, he joined the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band on clarinet, which meant he was the sound in the Miller-voiced reed section that mattered most to the bandleader. [Photo above of Glenn Miller]

After World War II and Miller's death following an English Channel plane crash, Hucko remained in Paris with the Miller band under the direction of Ray McKinley. He also gigged and recorded there with small groups until June 1945. Back in New York, he played tenor saxophone in Benny Goodman's band and clarinet with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and other swing orchestras and New Orleans- and Chicago-style combos. He also recorded extensively with guitarist Eddie Condon. [Photo above of clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, trombonist Jack Teagarden, bassist Jack Lesberg, trumpeter Max Kaminsky and unknown drummer, perhaps playing Specs Powell's kit, at the Famous Door]

Into the 1950s and beyond, Hucko recorded with or led big bands playing swing era hits. He also was a mainstay on the Lawrence Welk Show in the early 1970s. Hucko was still going strong in the 1980s and 1990s. He died in 2003. I particularly love his recordings with Miller and his 1950s jazz sessions with Billy Butterfield, Al Cohn and others on the New York scene. [Photo above of Billy Butterfield]

Here are YouTube clips to illustrate Hucko's gift on clarinet and saxophone:

Here's Peanuts Hucko with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band in 1944 backing Johnny Desmond singing Now I Know...

Here's Hucko on tenor saxophone with pianist guitarist Django Reinhardt and the Glenn Miller All Stars playing How High the Moon in Paris in January 1945...

Here's Hucko in June 1947 playing Peanut Butter...

Here's Hucko in 1947 playing Stolen Peanuts, a play off of Fats Waller's Stealing Apples...

Here's Hucko leading a big band on Don't Be That Way, off his Tribute to Benny Goodman album in 1953...

Here's Stompin' at the Savoy off the same album...

Here's Hucko on Robins and Roses from Mellow Moods of Jazz, recorded in 1956, which you can find at Fresh Sound here...

Here's Hucko playing on Double Fracture, from Al Cohn and the Sax Section in 1956, featuring Romeo Penque (oboe), Charlie O'Kane and Phil Bodner (fl), Peanuts Hucko (cl), Boomie Richman (b-cl), Sam Marowitz and Gene Quill (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Eddie Wasserman (ts), Sol Schlinger (bar), John Williams (p), Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...

Here's Hucko on clarinet opening Frank Sinatra's What Is This Thing Called Love? from The Wee Small Hours of the Morning album in 1955...

And here's Hucko playing Memories of You live in 1990...