JazzWax

Laura, Jeanne and Dodo

This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actress-singer Laura Benanti for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Laura co-stars in the film Worth due in September, playing a grieving widow in the drama about the fund set up to compensate families that lost family members during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and those who resisted signing up for payment out of guilt and pride. She's also in Gossip Girl. Laura is such a lovely person and emotionally open and fun, as you might imagine. And so talented. [Publicity still above of Laura Benanti courtesy of Laura Benanti]

Here's Laura last year (in her bathroom during lockdown) singing Stephen Sondheim's I Remember, from his Evening Primrose. Laura has a stupendous Broadway voice...

SiriusXM. For those of you who missed my appearance on SiriusXM twice over the past two weeks, here are both shows:

Here's the entire show on Jackson Browne...

And here's the entire show on Laura Nyro...

Diana Panton. Last week I posted on Diana Panton's first nifty studio concert accompanied by pianist Don Thompson and guitarist Reg Schwager, which you'll find here. The series will continue all summer. Catch Diana Panton's second studio concert at YouTube here [photo above of Diana Panton]...

Jeanne Lamon (1949-2021) died last week. She was 71. A superb violinist, she was the music director of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir for 33 years, helping to make it one of the most important performing baroque ensembles, I love baroque music, probably because of the counterpoint and that it's perfect music for writing, given its highly organized structure. [Photo above of Jeanne Lamon courtesy of Lamon estate]

Here's a terrific New York Times obit of Lamon. And here's a clip of her in action in 2011...

And here's another clip from late last year...

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers '70. Jonathan Horwich wrote to let me know that Discogs.com has CDs for sale of the album I posted about last week with Joanne Brackeen on piano. Go here.

Beach Boys. I just felt like hearing the isolated vocal stack on Wouldn't It Be Nice and thought you'd want to hear it, too...

Arnett Cobb radio. Sid Gribetz presents a five-hour radio broadcast celebrating the career of tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb this Sunday, August 1, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on WKCR-FM's “Jazz Profiles." To listen from anywhere in the world, go here. [Photo above of Arnett Cobb]

Louis Armstrong radio. Louis Armstrong always believed his birth date to be July 4, 1900. Years after the trumpeter's death in 1971, researchers discovered a baptismal certificate indicating Armstrong's actual birth date as August 4, 1901. So WKCR-FM in New York celebrates Armstrong's birthday on both days. Armstrong recordings will be featured all day. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here. [Photo above of Louis Armstrong by William P. Gottlieb]

And finally, let's close out with Dodo Marmarosa's Dary Departs, with Harry Babasin on cello and Jackie Mills on drums, recorded for Dial in Hollywood on December 3, 1947 [photo above of Dodo Marmarosa]...

Beverly Kenney: Vocalist in Distress

By my count, Beverly Kenney recorded seven albums between 1955 and 1959. She had a singing voice that was somewhere between Blossom Dearie and Marilyn Monroe, but her approach on songs was courageous, taking risks on melodies that made her interesting to hear. What wasn't evident from her publicity photos—showing a poised, attractive and seemingly upbeat woman—was her deep depression. Kenney suffered terribly at a time when medications for mental illness were barely effective or were powerfully strong. Those who suffered often were left with a terrible choice—take the pills and remain unable to function or don't take them and fend for yourself. The latter, of course, came with enormous peril. In April 1960, at age 28, Kenney took her own life by consuming a bottle of prescription medicine.

Earlier this week, Brett Gold sent along a link to a 10-minute documentary by Tony Guerrero and a link to Guerrero's Beverly Kenney tribute page. Here's the documentary...

Joanne Brackeen and Art Blakey

Joanne Brackeen is a jazz pianist with thunderous talent. She's an original who soars as a soloist, in duets, in trios, quartets and beyond. Her hands hit the keyboard with enormous power and her churning style mixes abstraction, bop and hard bop, turning standards inside out and setting her own originals on fire. I love her playing. It's daring, fierce and emotionally organic. She's all in and always finds her way out with clarity and polish. [Photo above of Joanne Brackeen from a publicity still]

Born in Ventura, Calif. in 1938, Brackeen was a child prodigy who admired the balance and order of pop music until she heard jazz in the late 1940s. She began playing professionally at 12, performing in the late 1950s with saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Teddy Edwards and Charles Brackeen, whom she would marry. The couple moved to New York in 1965, where she began her recording career by playing and recording with vibraphonist Freddie McCoy from 1965 to 1968. [Photo above of Joanne Brackeen from a publicity still]

Her first solo album was Snooze in 1975 for the Choice label. Then she went on to have an extraordinary career as a leader, recording more than 20 albums under her own name in groups that included Joe Henderson, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. She also recorded on albums led by Stan Getz and Freddie Hubbard, among others.

Between her work with Freddie McCoy and Snooze, she was hired by Art Blakey in 1969 to tour extensively with the Jazz Messengers. They recorded just one album—Jazz Messengers '70. If Blakey ever had a true partner on par with his percussive intensity, it was Brackeen on piano. Recorded in Tokyo in February 1970 for the Japanese JVC label, the Messengers album featured Bill Hardman (tp), Carlos Garnett (ts), Joanne Brackeen (p), Jan Arnet (b) and Art Blakey (d). The tracks were Moanin', Blues March, Whisper Not, It's Only a Paper Moon, Garnett's What the World Needs Now Is Peace and Love, Hardman's Politely and A Night in Tunisia.

Brackeen is miraculous on this album. Blakey and Brackeen power the rest of the band with muscular playing. The way Brackeen and Blakey feed off of each other is spellbinding. I'll even go so far as to say that this is arguably the finest studio recording by any Jazz Messengers lineup. That's why this album is a perfect introduction to Brackeen if you're unfamiliar with Brackeen and you can find it. Then I suggest you move forward with her leadership discography. She's the musical definition of remarkable.

Which brings us to the inevitable question: If Brackeen is so special, why isn't she better known? The decline of pure jazz recording in the 1970s certainly had something to do with her not being celebrated in jazz circles early on. By the 1980s, Brackeen's expressionist style wasn't as in vogue as those playing bop and other familiar forms and therefore not commercially desirable. Sexism also probably played a role, as it often did in jazz and rock of the period. And certainly raising four children would have made touring difficult.

But now you know. Many of Brackeen's recordings are readily available, and exploring her music has never been easier. When you do explore her albums, trust me, you're in for quite an adventure.

JazzWax tracks: Though I own Jazz Messengers '70 digitally, I've never seen a CD of the album. But if you own a turntable, buy it. You'll find the tracks here and here on vinyl.

JazzWax clips: Fortunately I found a track on YouTube. Here's What the World Needs Now Is Peace and Love...

Here's Moanin'...

Moanin'

Here's It's Only a Paper Moon...

It's Only a Paper Moon

Here's Brackeen in 1986 and a stunning solo performance of Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered...

And here's Brackeen being interviewed in 2018, the year she became an NEA Jazz Master...