JazzWax

David Brubeck Trio: 1949-'50

In 1950, New York had the George Shearing Quintet, a group that Shearing harmonized by combining the voicing of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the block-chords piano style of Milt Buckner. In San Francisco, the Dave Brubeck Trio was equally delicious to the ear. The trio consisted of Dave Brubeck (piano), Ron Crotty (bass) and Cal Tjader (drums, bongo, conga and vibes). Thanks to Tjader's versatility on percussion instruments, particularly the vibes, the trio had a Shearing feel.

While Dave was studying at Mills College in 1946, he formed his first group, an octet. Known at Mills as Les Eight, the name was changed to the Jazz Workshop Ensemble and then the Dave Brubeck Octet. It included fellow Mills students Cal Tjader and Paul Desmond. But the octet found itself in a bind. The group couldn't find work outside of Mills College. The music was too far out. Then the group's entire book of arrangements were lost in a flood when saxophonist Dave Van Kriedt took the book to Australia in the late 1940s. The expense of splitting gig payments eight ways forced Dave to start a smaller group. Dave picks up the story in his liner notes to Dave Brubeck: Early Fantasies—a Book of the Month Club box set in 1980 consisting of three vinyl albums:   

When I decided to form a group that would be more economically feasible [than the octet], my logical choice for drummer was Cal Tjader. Ron Crotty, who attended San Francisco State College with Cal, joined us on bass. I had the idea that once a trio was established I would go back to the octet by adding as many horns as the budget would allow. And, in fact, I occasionally did that for some engagements in San Francisco. The trio’s first club job [in 1948] was at the Burma Lounge near Lake Merritt in Oakland. Over the next six months, we became the favorite jazz hangout for university students, one of whom was Carl Jefferson, who would go on to found Concord Jazz Records [in 1972].

Jimmy Lyons played our recordings on his late-night show, and on the strength of the initial response to those airings, he persuaded the KNBC program director, Paul Speegle, to give us a 15 minute once-a-week show. “Lyons Busy” as the program was called, could be heard the length of the West Coast and far beyond Hawaii into the Pacific. Many young people in the military who heard our broadcasts would subsequently come to see us when they passed through San Francisco.

Having to come up with new material for each show quickly expanded our repertoire. In the club we could improvise as many choruses as we wanted, and Cal, who was just learning the vibes, developed rapidly as a soloist. But for radio and recordings, we were pretty much limited to the standard three minutes, which demanded from us some intricate arrangements and less reliance on the long improvisations that would later characterize the quartet. “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Undecided," two such tight arrangements with improvised choruses, were listed among the best records of 1950 in the Metronome yearbook, "Jazz ’51."

A number of the Trio’s early 78s were put on one [10-inch] LP in February l952, and the late Ralph J. Gleason, jazz critic and columnist for the San Francisco Examiner at the time, summarized in the album notes the Trio’s ascendancy:

“In the short space of two years, Dave Brubeck has risen from the obscurity of an unknown jazz pianist to a point where he is accepted in this country and abroad as one of the leaders of the modem school of musicians."

Dave's 24 trio recordings ran from September 1949 to October 1950. All feature Dave's cooly resolving intros, advanced improvisation and the group's taut swing. Dave would form his quartet, with Paul Desmond (as), Dave Brubeck (p), Fred Dutton (b,basson-1) and Herb Barman (d), in 1951.

To read my JazzWax interview with Dave Brubeck start with Part 1 here. Links to additional parts can be found at the top of each post above the red date.

To read my WSJ at-home interview with Dave in 2010, go here.

Dave Brubeck died in 2012, Ron Crotty died in 2015 and Cal Tjader died in 1982.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Dave Brubeck's complete trio recordings here.

You'll also find the album at Spotify.

JazzWax clips: Here's Lullaby in Rhythm...

Here's I'll Remember April...

And here's 'S Wonderful...

BBC Doc: Quincy Jones

Regardless of what you think about Quincy Jones, The Many Lives of Q will likely be a head-turner. The BBC documentary from 2008, directed by Deborah Perkin, tracks the composer-arranger's career from the very beginning in the late 1940s and provides an overview of the many music and film projects that bear his touch and textures. From Lionel Hampton to Dinah Washington, from Lesley Gore to Count Basie, from Paris to Hollywood, and from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, Jones has been at nearly every major turn in post-war jazz and pop music history:

Here's Part 1...

Here's episode 1 of Part 2....

Here's episode 2 of Part 2...

Here's episode 3 of Part 2...

Here's episode 4 of Part 2...

Episodes 5 and 6 seem to be blocked. Let me know if you find them and I'll add.

And here's episode 7 of Part 2...

Gene Rodgers: At the Astor

Gene Rodgers was the pianist on Coleman Hawkins's seminal recording of Body and Soul in 1939. But for some reason, Rodgers didn't record nearly as often as he should have given his gift. Perhaps he preferred playing live rather than sweating re-takes in the studio. Or he wasn't as outgoing as others when it came to networking and bonding with producers. Or maybe he slipped through the cracks and he became a secret. Or was pegged as a dated boogie-woogie player. It's impossible to say.

What is evident is that Rodgers had enormous talent. He had a fleet attack that was reminiscent of Art Tatum, but he also could sound delicate, like Ahmad Jamal. His first 78 was made in 1929 backing vocalist Mamie Smith for Columbia. His releases in the 1930s and '40s were mysteriously limited and included a session in 1931 with King Oliver when he was 16. Most of his too-few 1940s recordings were behind Hawkins. Remarkably, Rodgers's first 12-inch leadership album, Jazz Comes to the Astor, was offered to him when he was 44 in August 1958 by producer Jack Tracy at Mercury. Tommy Williams was on bass and Ben Riley was on drums. The trio had been playing at the Hotel Astor's newly opened Broadway Lounge in Times Square in 1958 before the hotel was torn down in 1967. Hence the title of the album.

The album's songs are a smart lineup of standards plus two original blues: There'll Never Be Another You, Rodgers's Minor Impressions, All the Things You Are, Where Are You, All God's Children Got Rhythm, Lullaby of the Leaves, Rodgers's Just Some More Blues, Whisper Not and Frankie and Johnny.

Rodgers's other leadership albums include Gene Rodgers Plays Richard Rodgers for Mercury in 1959, Gene Rodgers With Slam Stewart and Jo Jones in 1972 for Black & Blue, and It Might as Well Be...Gene!, recorded live at Jacklin', a club in Zurich, Switzerland. And that was it.

My guess is that Rodgers was simply under the radar and probably thought of as an out-of-fashion boogie-woogie player. According to Jack Tracy's liner notes:

I went to the New York's Composer's Club early last summer to hear another trio we were contemplating signing. They finished their first set, then Rodgers took the stand. From their first notes, it was apparent that this was a trio, not a pianist with a rhythm section playing together. By the second tune, the dinner audience had grown quiet and and was looking at the group with appreciation and smiles. They liked what they heard and they showed it. Some 30 minutes later, Gene agreed to join the Mercury roster and record this label. [Photo above of Jack Tracy by Chuck Stewart]

Why the relationship ended after two albums remains a mystery. I wish Jack were still around so I could ask him.

Gene Rodgers died in 1987.

JazzWax tracks: The Gene Rodgers Trio's Jazz Comes to the Astor sadly never made it to the digital format. There are plenty of vinyl copies at eBay and at Discog.com

You'll find Gene Rodgers' Black & White recordings at Spotify.

JazzWax tracks: Here's There'll Never Be Another You...

There'll Never Be Another You

Here's All God's Children Got Rhythm...

All God's Children Got Rhythm

And here's Whisper Not...

Whisper Not

Here's Gene Rodgers in action in 1944...

Here's Jukebox Boogie...

And here's Coleman Hawkins in 1939 recording Body and Soul with Rodgers on piano and his terrific keyboard opening...

A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.