JazzWax

Prez Day: Lester Young Clips

Here in the U.S. today, the country is celebrating President's Day, a national holiday set up in the 1880s to cover both George Washington's (22nd) and Abraham Lincoln's (12th) February birthdays. At JazzWax, we celebrate Lester Young today, whom Billie Holiday nicknamed the President or Prez of the tenor saxophone. Whether or not you're familiar with Prez and his music, below are eight of my favorite clips that splendidly illustrate his art over time. [Photo above by Herb Snitzer]

In short, Prrez revolutionized the sound of the tenor saxophone starting in the 1940s. Instead of the gruff and tough approach, his was cool, dry and more relaxed but no less inventive when improvising, as you'll hear below:

Here's the original Vocalion 78 recording in 1939 of Lester Leaps In, featuring Count Basie's Kansas City Seven: Count Basie (p), Buck Clayton (tp), Dicky Wells (tb), Lester Young (ts), Freddie Green (g), Walter Page (b), Jo Jones (ds)...

Here's Prez in 1943 playing Sometimes I'm Happy, with Johnny Guarnieri (p) Slam Stewart (b) and Big Sid Catlett (d)...

Here's Prez in 1950, lip-syncing along with the rest of the quintet to their brilliant rendition of How About You recorded earlier for a film. The quintet features Lester Young (ts), Bill Harris (tb), Hank Jones (p), Ray Brown (b) and Buddy Rich (d)...

Here's Prez in 1954 playing I Can't Get Started with the Oscar Peterson Trio, featuring Lester Young (ts), Oscar Peterson (p), Barney Kessel (g), Ray Brown (b) and J.C. Heard (d)...

Here's Prez in 1956 playing I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan, with Lester Young (ts), Roy Eldridge (tp), Vic Dickenson (tb), Gene Ramey (b), Teddy Wilson (p) and Jo Jones (d)...

Here's 40 minutes of the Birdland All Stars in Hamburg, Germany, in 1956, featuring Miles Davis, Lester Young and Bud Powell...

Here's Prez in 1958 playing Mean to Me on Art Ford's Jazz Party, a TV series in New York...

And finally, here's Prez in 1959, the year he died, playing Louise, with Teddy Wilson (p), Gene Ramey (b) and Jo Jones (d)...

Michael, Felix and Gal

This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Michael grew up in one of London's poorest neighborhoods and had to be evacuated several times during the Blitz between 1940 and '41. The movie Alfie changed his career. Every other actor in London had turned down the role. After Alfie, Michael only wound up with leading roles. As for Michael's favorite song associated with the film, he said Sonny Rollins's music for the score remains his favorite. [Photo above of Michael Caine and his mother in 1964]

Here's nine minutes of Michael as the cad in Alfie, with Sonny's saxophone and Oliver Nelson's orchestration as background (other film parts follow)...

Here's Sonny's Original Music From the Score to Alfie (all of the tracks follow each other)...

To read the JazzWax story of how Sonny Rollins came to record the music with Oliver Nelson for the movie and why Hal David and Burt Bacharach were then asked to write their hit single, Alfie, go here and here.

Supersax. Last week, I came across a wonderful video of Supersax playing Star Eyes in concert. From right to left, facing us, the reed section lineup looks like Jack Nimitz on baritone saxophone, Lanny Morgan on alto sax, Med Flory (the tall one) on alto sax, Jay Migliori on tenor sax and Ray Reed on tenor sax, with Conte Candoli on trumpet, Lou Levy on piano, Monty Budwig on bass and John Dentz on drums. Recorded sometime in the mid-1980s. Here's Star Eyes...

And here's the original Charlie Parker Quartet version in 1950, with Hank Jones (p), Ray Brown (b) and Buddy Rich (d), so you can compare...

Felix Grant. Last week, after posting about the start of America's love affair with Brazil's bossa nova and the crucial role that Washington, D.C., jazz radio host Felix Grant played, I received upward of 30 emails from readers who lived in Washington and recalled listening to him. Here's the Felix Grant Archives, which includes many of his on-air interviews with jazz musicians (including Jackie and Roy!) (go here).

New York transit. One hundred years ago, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) operated the Sixth Avenue Elevated. The line was built during the 1870s by the Gilbert Elevated Railway and was the second elevated line to go up in New York after the Ninth Avenue Elevated (underground subways first opened in New York in 1904). In 1919, someone mounted a movie camera in the last car and filmed a bit going down Sixth Avenue.

I know the opening segment is Sixth Avenue because The Hippodrome Theatre appears on the right. It stood at Sixth between 44th and 43rd Streets. The other locations are hard to decipher and my guess is that the film captures bits of different rides on different days. It's hard to know what park that is in the next scene, since the Sixth Avenue El didn't pass Madison Square Park nor did it pass Union Square or Washington Square Park that closely. It is most likely Battery Park at the bottom of Manhattan that the line skirted, but the architecture looks more like 14th Street and Union Square Park. The other intersections are hard to pin down as well and may be the Ninth Avenue El. There were only four elevated lines in Manhattan in 1919—on Second and Third Avenue Els on the East Side and the Sixth and Ninth Avenues Els on the West Side. I didn't have time to find a Manhattan map from 1919 showing parks that existed then but no longer do now or a map of businesses along the Els. Here's the clip...

Gal Costa, the Brazilian singer, launched her performing career in 1964 and released her first recording as a duet on Maria Bethânia's eponymous first album. Costa's first album, Domingo, was released in 1967. Here she is more recently singing Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave...

What the heck: Here's the eternally charming Cilla Black singing Alfie on stage in 1966...

Oddball album cover of the week.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a quiet hour. I have no idea where that hour went but I'd love it back. By the way, great stage name for a singer. Perhaps the sister of May July?

7 More French Vocal Groups

Back on February 1, I posted seven videos of French vocalese groups from the 1950s and early '60s. As readers know by now, I love French vocal harmony groups. For me, they're like catnip. Fortunately, Rémi Carémel in Paris hosts In the Shadow of Studios, a terrific site devoted to these groups and French pop singers. His posts are in French (no translation button, sadly), but Rémi also stages a Facebook page with videos (go here).

Since it's Friday, the day of the week I typically succumb to wanderlust, I've chosen another seven French video clips. The clips are pre-muted, so be sure to click on the volume icon to turn on the sound:

Here's Henri Salvador and Les Angels singing Lil Darlin' by Neal Hefti...

Here's Les Blue Stars singing Summertime...

Here's Les Doubles Six during a rehearsal singing an exquisite Westwood Walk by Gerry Mulligan...

Here's Les Blue Stars singing With Those Eyes...

Here's a pop group called Les Fizz singing Smokey Robinson's Ooo Baby Baby in 1966...

Here's the male side of Les Six de Paris singing Believe Me, It Will Last...

And here's Le Quatre de Coeur singing a gospelese rendition of Never Forget...