In 1975, record and concert producer Norman Granz assembled a sizable ensemble of jazz legends and took them off to Europe. The players on this Jazz at the Philharmonic tour were trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and Clark Terry; tenor saxophonists Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Johnny Griffin and Zoot Sims; alto saxophonist Benny Carter; guitarist Joe Pass; pianists Oscar Peterson and Tommy Flanagan; bassists Keter Betts and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; and drummers Bobby Durham and Mickey Roker, among others.
In July, the traveling all-star festival played for three nights in Montreux, Switzerland. Gillespie's group was called The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 and featured Gillespie (tp), Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin (ts); Milt Jackson (vib), Tommy Flanagan (p), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b) and Mickey Roker (d).
Three days ago, the septet's set from July 16, 1975 was uploaded to YouTube. Here's The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 playing Lover Come Back to Me, I'll Remember April, What's New? and Cherokee...
Renee Rosnes is one of the most dynamic jazz pianists around today. She is an exceptional composer and an exciting player, and has been recording since Gary Thomas's “Seventh Quadrant” (Enja), recorded in April 1987 and released later that year. Best of all, Renee is breathtakingly sophisticated without leaving the listener behind. Not easy to do.
So when she took on her first full album of Brazilian music recently, the work wasn't going to be a tourist-trap adventure with all of the usual ear-candy bossa novas. Instead, Crossing Paths (Smoke) is a journey through a range of beautiful and emotional songs that are largely off the beaten path. Her piano throughout is a warm and compelling force that's tender, supportive and colorful.
Just so you know, I wrote the liner notes to Renee's album, and I only take on such projects when the music knocks me out. This was certainly the case here. From Renee's choice of songs to the musicians she assembled, her excellent taste is on full display on every track.
Here are my first three paragraphs:
The first Brazilian album that inspired Renee Rosnes wasn’t João Gilberto’s "Chega de Saudade" or "Getz/Gilberto." It was music from Wayne Shorter’s "Native Dancer." That’s how the pianist discovered singer-songwriter and guitarist Milton Nascimento, who wrote or co-wrote five of the nine tracks on the saxophonist’s 1975 LP. Renee, of course, would go on to perform pieces from that record once she joined Wayne Shorter’s band in 1988. [Photo above of Renee Rosnes by John Abbott]
But in Renee’s teens, while listening to "Native Dancer," Nascimento’s songs caught her ear, and down the rabbit hole she went, savoring Brazilian composers, musicians, singers and rhythms. After a career of 18 albums as a leader, seven Canadian Juno Awards and serving as pianist-artistic director of the quintet Artemis, "Crossing Paths" marks her first album-wide tribute to a vast range of Brazilian music—a poetic project that for a long time was just an aspiration.
Ever since the samba and bossa nova became global sensations in the early 1960s, Brazil’s romantic, rhythmic music has been catnip for listeners worldwide. But there’s a catch for artists who take on the genre. Choose too many mainstream hits and you risk winding up with a slick, trite album. Choose too many songs with overbearing rhythms and a lack of lyrical content and the allure will be lost. As you can hear on this album, Renee’s sensitivity, taste and skill produced a mix that’s just right.
What makes Crossing Paths so interesting is that it constantly changes from track to track, like the sunlight playing off the water. Violets turn to orange and blues take on green as the hours pass or clouds filter the light. The same is true here with the ever-shifting moods of the Brazilian songs.
The tracks:
Frevo (Egberto Gismonti)
Pra Dizer Adeus w/vocalist Edu Lobo (Edu Lobo/Torquato Neto)
Trilhos Urbanos (Caetano Veloso)
Canta, Canta Mais w/ vocalist Maucha Adnet (Jobim/de Moraes)
Casa Forte w/ vocalist Edu Lobo (Edu Lobo)
Essa Mulher w/ vocalist Joyce Moreno (Joyce Moreno/Ana Terra)
Amor Até O Fim (Gilberto Gil)
Estórias da Floresta (Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brant)
Melvin Sparks was one of the finest and most important guitarists during the jazz-funk movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the Prestige label, Sparks recorded with Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, Leon Spencer Jr., Johnny Hammond Smith, Caesar Frazier and many others. He was known for his Houston shuffle rhythm guitar and funky jazz lines. [Photo above of Melvin Sparks]
Sparks came out of the Houston blues and soul scene in the 1960s and began playing soul-jazz with organist Brother Jack McDuff mid-decade. Next came a year with Dr. Lonnie Smith and then Lou Donaldson. Major jazz-funk albums followed, including Charles Earland's Black Talk! (1969). He also recorded his first leadership album for Prestige: "Sparks!" in 1970, followed by Spark Plug and many others for a variety of labels, including Savant.
As a sideman in th 1970s, he can be heard on a large number of artists' albums, including Rusty Brown's Soul Liberation (1970); four by Lou Donaldson, from 1969 to 1971; Charles Kynard's Wa-Tu-Wa-Zui (1970); Reuben Wilson's The Cisco Kid (1973); and four by Leon Spencer Jr. His recordings into the 1980s and beyond are also extensive.
Here are a few clips by Sparks, followed by a new documentary:
Here's Sparks on the title track of Earland's Black Talk!...
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of 55 More Songs," "Anatomy of a Song," "Rock Concert: An Oral History" and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax has won three Jazz Journalists Association awards.
