JazzWax

December 07, 2022

Minidoc: Vince Guaraldi in the Studio

Vince Guaraldi is best known as the jazz pianist accompanying A Charlie Brown Christmas and other TV's adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip. But Guaraldi was well established before those gentle 1960s holiday specials as a member of Cal Tjader's groups and the leader of his own superb trio. His biggest hit was Cast Your Fate to the Wind, the flip side to Samba de Orpheus, from his 1962 album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. The hit won a Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition.

Last week, Tom Fine sent along a link to a segment from a 1963 documentary on Guaraldi by Ralph J. Gleason. The clip is part of a 90-minute look at the making of Guaraldi's record Cast Your Fate To The Wind, filmed in various locations in and around the San Francisco Bay area. The documentary originally was aired in three parts on PBS. Guaraldi died from a heart attack in 1976 at age 47 after performing at a club in Menlo Park, Calif.

A special thanks to Tom Fine for sharing and to Bill Pauluh, who sent the link to the Connecticut Audio Society email list.

Here's the documentary segment...

Bonus: And because I know that after watching the above clip you will want album recommendations, I figured I'd save you time emailing me by providing you with two uninterrupted hours of the pianist at work. Enjoy! Go here...

Posted by Marc Myers at 12:05 AM | Permalink

Tags: Vince Guaraldi

December 06, 2022

Shorty Rogers: The Swingin' Nutcracker

Once again, it's that time of year to announce my choice for induction into the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame. This year marks the Hall's 15th season and one of JazzWax's oldest traditions.

This year, let's welcome Shorty Rogers's The Swingin' Nutcracker, a hip and happening original interpretation of Tchaikovsky's music. You'll find the album here.

The Nutcracker Suite was first performed in 1892 as a two-act ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. George Balanchine updated The Nutcracker in 1953, which had its premiere by the New York City Ballet on February 2, 1954, at Manhattan's City Center of Music and Drama.

CBS first televised Balanchine's Nutcracker, on Christmas Day of 1958. In 1959, the first stereo LP album set of the complete ballet, with Ernest Ansermet conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, appeared on Decca Records in the U.K. and London Records in the U.S. The New York City Ballet moved to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center when it opened in April 1964 and performed its first Nutcracker there on December 11, 1964.

Four years earlier, two major jazz bands recorded jazz versions of the Nutcracker. Why not, since by then Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady, West Side Story and South Pacific were being given the jazz and big band treatment. On May 3, 1960 Shorty Rogers began recording his Nutcracker interpretation in Los Angeles for RCA. On May 26, Duke Ellington began recording his version for Columbia in New York. Billy Strayhorn wrote six of the arrangements and Ellington penned three. It's unclear whether Columbia had been tipped off about what Rogers was doing or whether the two labels' A&R chiefs had the same idea at the same time.

Either way, both albums were released during the holiday season of 1960. Ellington's version became the bestseller while Rogers's languished and disappeared for decades. I've always preferred Rogers's version. His interpretive score is inventive, daring and packs lots of swinging punch. Ellington's, by contrast, is pretty, but for me, it's wooden and plods along. The only delights come from the soloists. Rogers's rendition, by contrast, engages and has a strong passing gear. [Photo above of Shorty Rogers]

Here's the full album...

Now meet the rest of the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame, in order of their year of induction, with links to buy or listen. Most are probably also available at Spotify or on YouTube. Assembled and shuffled in Apple Music, they make a standout compilation playlist...

Inducted in 2021—Helen Merrill's Christmas Song Book (1991).

2020—Guitars for Christmas (2003).

2019—Christmas With the George Shearing Quintet (2003).

2018—Gap Mangione's Family Holidays (2005).

2017—Doris Day: Complete Christmas Collection (1964).

2016—Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (1960).

2015—Two albums with the same name: Bobby Timmons' Holiday Soul and Don Patterson's Holiday Soul. Both trio albums were recorded for Prestige in Nov. 1964—the former on the 24th and the latter on the 25th.

2014—Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Christmas Album (1968).

2013—Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling! (1964).

Here are albums that have already been inducted into the JazzWax Holiday Album Hall of Fame... - See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2012/11/duke-pearson-merry-ole-soul.html#sthash.V0RZmXiQ.dpuf

2012—Duke Pearson: Merry Ole Soul (1969).

2011—Urbie Green: A Cool Yule Tide (1954).

2010—Eddie Higgins Trio: Christmas Songs (2004).

2009—June Christy: This Time of Year (1961).

2008—Jo Stafford's Happy Holidays: I Love the Winter Weather (1950s).

Posted by Marc Myers at 12:05 AM | Permalink

Tags: Holiday music, Shorty Rogers, The Swingin' Nutcracker

December 05, 2022

Freddie Hubbard: Complete Blue Note & Impulse

Even if you own all 10 of the Freddie Hubbard albums covered on The Complete Freddie Hubbard Blue Note & Impulse '60s Studio Sessions, the newly released seven-CD set from Mosaic Records, this box is a must. The albums in the box were recorded between 1960 and 1967.

First, the box's sound is fantastic. It's much warmer and dimensional than previous issues, and the individual instruments are more vivid and distinct, with a broader and more colorful tonal impact. The music was mastered by Malcolm Addey at Malcolm Addey Studios from high-resolution files of the original analog masters using 24-bit technology throughout the process. [Photo above of Freddie Hubbard on Park Avenue in front of Lever House by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]

Second, after listening to the box multiple times, I found the set to be a fascinating trip that lets you size up the detailed mastery of Hubbard and his sidemen, and weigh him against Miles Davis. Hubbard (and Lee Morgan) were Davis's main artistic rivals throughout the decade, culminating in Davis's Bitches Brew and Hubbard's Red Clay, both groundbreaking fusion releases that were issued in the first half of 1970. [Photo above of Hank Mobley by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]

And third, the 22-page, large-format liner notes by Bob Blumenthal are deep and informative, and the accompanying glossy photos by Francis Wolff are engaging and bring lush visuals to the music.

While Miles Davis in the early 1960s was a modal artist who played in cool, taut lines that were delivered more like a singer's voice than traditional trumpeters, Freddie Hubbard blew hotter and rounder, and was firmly in the hard bop mode during this Blue Note/Impulse period. Each album is like a bouquet of flowers, with carefully chosen colors and textures to create a look. Best of all, each album had a different personality. [Photo above of McCoy Tyner by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]

The albums are Open Sesame (1960), Going' Up (May 1961), Hub Cap (Oct. 1961), Ready for Freddie (April 1962), Artistry of Freddie Hubbard (March 1963), Here to Stay (recorded in December 1962 but not released until 1976), Hub-Tones (November 1963), The Body & Soul (July 1964), Breaking Point! (August 1964), Blue Spirits (February 1967) The two Impulse studio releases are The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard and The Body & The Soul.

Up until Hub-Tones, most of the songs on Hubbard's albums had been composed by other artists. From Hub-Tones on, however, we get to hear Hubbard's original writing, which was marvelous. The sidemen on the box's albums also are extraordinary. The list includes Tina Brooks, McCoy Tyner, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Heath, Julian Priester, Cedar Walton, Wayne Shorter, Elvin Jones, Curtis Fuller, John Gilmore, Tommy Flanagan, Louis Hayes, Herbie Hancock, James Spaulding, Eric Dolphy (on saxophone and flute), Ronnie Mathews, Joe Chambers and Joe Henderson.

I wish I could pluck out high points for you, but I can't. The truth is, every single track is as beautiful as can be. You could throw a dart at the track list and hit a gem. I listened to this box three times through as one long concept album, an evolution that took two days, though I did mange to hear them all in a single listen by starting early in the day. I was electrified at every turn. There were muscular hard bop pieces with Hubbard on fire, tender ballads with Hubbard more introspective, blues, and standards such as Dedicated to You, with Dolphy on flute and Hubbard's horn matching Dolphy's sensuality note for note. And Wayne Shorter's orchestral arrangements on The Body & the Soul are masterful and an eye-opener.

How does this material stack up next to Miles Davis over the same period? Impossible to compare. They're so different. I will say that Hubbard's work was more impressive on this box than I remember it from individual, isolated albums. I will say this: Miles's expression on the trumpet was more surgical and moody in these years while Hubbard's was thicker and operatic, in terms of power and drama. What I found most interesting is that this period for Hubbard in the 1960s was part of a progression that led to Red Clay. To complete the trail leading up to that masterpiece, I'll have to re-listen to the Atlantic recordings. [Photo above of Freddie Hubbard by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]