The Buddy Rich Big Band was the last great swing orchestra. The band toured relentlessly in the late 1960s, '70s and '80s, up until Rich's death in 1987. The band's ballads and barn-burners were compelling. What's more, the band had its own sound and featured sterling arrangements and captivating soloists. Rich's '78 band was particularly exceptional, especially on the road.
Here's the Buddy Rich Big Band in Sweden in '78, with special guest soloists Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Harry "Sweets" Edison in Part 2...
As the early 1970s unfolded, rock became a viable album and entertainment business. National record chains sprang up, rock bands filled arenas and FM radio was ruled by young DJs spinning entire sides of new rock releases. A shadow began to fall over acoustic jazz as producers, promoters, marketers, publicists and others were let go or shifted to the rock and jazz fusion sides of major labels. Pianist Bill Evans, who throughout the 1960s looked like an accountant or advertising executive, had a midlife crisis and began to let his hair grow.
Evans's approach on the piano also changed. By 1973, he was well into what I have referred to as his "percussive poet" phase—featuring a more robust, determined feel with pronounced chord and finger strikes and an increasingly agitated, almost rushed feel. During his earlier “swinging romantic” period of the '60s, Evans tended to listen most intently to his bassists for inspiration. By the early '70s, Evans was paying closer attention to the aesthetics of his drummers, especially the cymbals and brushes, and how he wanted both to frame his sound.
Here are two newly posted videos from Evans's early long-hair period:
Here's Bill Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell performing in São Paulo, Brazil. The video says it's 1970, but I seriously doubt the date. When the trio was in Helsinki, Finland, in 1970, they looked very different. Evans's hair was only beginning to grow long but not nearly down to his shoulders, the way it is in the São Paulo video. In addition, Marty has short hair and no mustache in Finland and Eddie hadn't yet grown his beard. I'm guessing the Brazil clip took place in 1973, when the trio toured in South America...
Here's the Bill Evans Trio at the March 1972 Grammy Awards. Andy Williams also announces that Evans was the winner of a Grammy for The Bill Evans Album on Columbia, released in September 1971. Evans actually won two that evening—for best jazz performance by a soloist and best jazz performance by a group. Months after his Grammy appearance, Evans would be released from Columbia along with Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett and Charles Mingus as the label put nearly all its chips on rock and jazz fusion...
In Paris, after you've hiked up many flights of stairs to Montmartre and made your way to Sacré-Cœur, the basilica that overlooks the city, walk a little further. Along Rue du Poteau, you'll find one of the city's best kept jazz secrets. There, at No. 68, is a small shop called Jazz Museum, run by Alain Marquet. The oddly named store opened in 2009 and specializes in rare jazz recordings and artifacts. [Photo above of Alain Marquet; all photos in this post by Gilles D'Elia]
I've never been to Jazz Museum and only learned about it recently from Parisian photographer Gilles D'Elia. Gilles frequents the store and was willing to pay a visit last week with his camera. Fortunately, Alain isn't camera shy. We may not be able to travel to Paris now, but thanks to Gilles, we can do the next best thing.
Here's Gilles on Jazz Museum and its swinging proprietor:
Marc, Alain is so in love with the records he owns that he often regrets selling them to customers. In other cases, he'll refuse to sell, and for good reason. His collection includes original first pressings by Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Django Reinhardt. In 2013, when the city of Paris asked Django's family for items they could include in the exhibit, "Django Reinhardt, Paris Swing," at the La Cité de la Musique, Django's family rushed to Jazz Museum to seek out material. Of course, Alain had plenty on hand. [Photo above of Alain Marquet with a picture disc signed by Brigitte Bardot]
Initially, Alain was just another avid jazz collector. Before long, his passion and collection grew so large that he ran out of room in his apartment. That's when he decided to rent space in his neighborhood. The storefront became something of a street-level attic, a cozy place where he could enjoy his collection. To bide his time while he listened to his records, Alain repaired old radios and 78-rpm record players—first for himself and then for musician friends. He knows plenty of them, since Alain is an excellent clarinetist. So much so that musicians who first came to see him at Jazz Museum to listen to his record collection began meeting to rehearse and play together. [Photo above of Alain Marquet with photos of himself and Woody Allen; the American movie director has frequented the shop for pristine recordings that he then uses in his films]
Now Alain performs with bands, but above all he's an essential Parisian jazz character. On many nights, he can be heard in his shop playing the clarinet with friends. Whether the players are professionals or amateurs, it's a distinction Alain does not seem to make, which is good.
Over time, Jazz Museum began to attract the attention of local residents. So Alain transformed his private jazz museum and meeting spot into an official shop. It is space reserved for insiders, those in the know. But the number of those in the know has grown steadily, since everyone he meets becomes a friend, and they tell others. Jazz Museum is undoubtedly one of the last places in Paris where jazz is still about rare recordings, the joy of an owner playing them for you and people pleading with him to let them buy what they just heard. Every trip is a discovery. [Photo above of Alain Marquet swinging away in his shop]
For more information, email Alain at alainmarquet75@yahoo.fr.
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's best blog award.
