JazzWax

Billy Bauer: Having a Session

In the late 1950s, Irv Kratka began releasing albums that would change jazz. Not necessarily the music but the quality of playing by those who wanted to learn without taking lessons or just wanted to improve their chops. Known since 1950 as Music Minus One, the company founded by Kratka at first focused on classical, pop vocals and then Dixieland jazz. [Photo above of Irv Kratka]

By the late 1950s, modern jazz made it onto Music Minus One's roster. In short, Music Minus One featured albums by a crack jazz group playing backup while the solo instrument was left out. That part was yours. The thinking was that with a club-level jazz group behind you, you'd have an easier time learning to swing and solo. And it worked.

Music Minus One also created a revenue stream for the many jazz musicians who recorded on the albums. The paydays helped them earn a living, since jazz gigs and record dates often weren't sufficient to pay the bills. Muzak also served in this role—employing top jazz musicians to play easy-listening standards for bank lobbies, offices and supermarkets.

But before Kratka steered Music Minus One to the jazz market, guitarist Billy Bauer tried his hand at the concept. Following a career playing with Woody Herman, Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz, Bauer played on a large number of studio dates for NBC TV and recording work behind hundreds of pop artists in the 1950s and beyond. [Photo above of Billy Bauer]

In 1953, Bauer recorded an album called Let's Have a Session. Recorded for Ad Lib, Bauer played rhythm guitar backed by Tony Aless (p) Billy Bauer, Arnold Fishkin (b) and Don Lamond (d). You could play along on virtually any instrument, though the album's cover urged you to "pick up your horn and play."

This is a nifty lost do-it-yourself album for anyone who wishes they could go back in time and solo on the bandstand in front of Aless, Bauer, Fishkin and Lamond. According to the 10-inch album's liner notes, all were television studio players at this point in time. The songs are Easy Walking Blues (in B-flat), Out of Nowhere (G), These Foolish Things (E-flat), Indiana (A-flat), Somebody Loves Me (F), September in the Rain (E-flat), Ghost of a Chance (C) and 'S Wonderful (E-flat).

Even if you're not a musician, it's fun to hear what a top group would sound like if you were up there soloing. It's also a joy to hear Bauer running chords on rhythm guitar.

Billy Bauer died in 2005.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Billy Bauer's Let's Have a Session coupled with Bauer's terrific sole leadership date, Plectrist, on Fresh Sound here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Out of Nowhere...

Out of Nowhere

And here's September in the Rain...

September in the Rain

Horace Parlan: Movin' + Groovin'

By now, it's no secret that Bill Evans is my favorite jazz pianist. In the No. 2 slot would have to be Horace Parlan. Born in Pittsburgh, Parlan at a young age contracted polio, which left his right hand partly disabled and disfigured. Two of the fingers in his right hand were out of commission. As a result, his left hand did double duty, delivering heavy harmony and bass treatment while the three operating fingers of his right hand handled melody improvisation. Parlan relocated to Denmark in 1972. [Photo above of Horace Parlan by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images]

Despite the diminished use of one hand's digits, Parlan became a superb and much-in-demand hard-bop keyboard accompanist and a magnificent trio leader and solo player. For those little familiar with Parlan, the best place to start is his first leadership album—Movin' and Groovin'. Recorded in February 1960 for Blue Note, Parlan's trio consisted of Parlan on piano, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Al Harewood.

As much as I love Red Garland, I give Parlan the edge when it comes to taste and volume of superb material over the course of his career. He had a lovely sense of swing, every one of his songs expressed a joy to be able to play, and his chord voicings were sensational. All he seemed to care about was knocking out listeners. There was no idling or padding. Parlan was a sculptor who kneaded and crafted every song he played into a singular epression.

The songs on this album are C Jam Blues, On Green Dolphin Street, Up in Cynthia's Room, Lady Bird, Bags', Groove, Stella by Starlight, There Is No Greater Love and It Could Happen to You. All are sensationally executed. Even songs you may feel you've heard enough of, like C Jam Blues and Bags' Groove, are re-invented by Parlan's groovy bluesy attack. [Photo above of Al Harewood by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images]

Parlan began his recording career in 1957 with Charles Mingus and then moved on to Lou Donaldson in 1959 before recording Movin' and Groovin'. I came to Parlan in college after picking up Dexter Gordon's Doin' Allright (Blue Note) and hearing Society Red.

Parlan so knocked me out on there that I began collecting. Everything I purchased by Parlan had his ambitious playing style. Best of all are his stylistic fingerprints that pop up often. These include building tension with chords in his left hand while swinging notes with his right, releasing with cascading block chords. Or his ascending scales with three-finger modal riffs and his soul-jazz chords clustered together. [Photo above of Sam Jones]

I could spend the next 30 days writing about Parlan's excellent albums as a sideman and as a leader, but I wouldn't dare. There are too many others to write about. But do yourself a favor. Explore the pianist yourself. Movin' and Groovin' is a perfect gateway. And dig Jones and Harewood here. Jones thumps it out and Harewood is all over the snare. Perfect jazz is such a splendid thing. [Photo above of Horace Parlan]

Horace Parlan died in 2017.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Horace Parlan's Movin' and Groovin' here and here.

JazzWax clips: The following two tracks are absolute knockouts. See if you can sit still when Parlan is on a roll. I find it impossible:

Here's Lady Bird (crank this up; five minutes of a sterling trio in action)...

And here's Bags' Groove...

Art Farmer: Perception

Art Farmer had a way of playing the trumpet and flugelhorn that sounded as if he was singing while dancing. Farmer was less about blasts and taut nuance and more about a light, pretty touch. His horn had a classical elegance and a jazz tone that delighted the ear without being commercial. On ballads, you can hear the blues in almost everything he plays. On uptempo numbers, he's light and juicy, tapping along with ringing empathy, sailing the melody rather than commanding it. [Photo above of Art Farmer, courtesy of Concord Records]

A leadership album rich with Farmer's sensitivity is Perception. Recorded in October 1961 for Argo, the album featured Farmer on flugelhorn backed by Harold Mabern (p), Tommy Williams (b) and Roy McCurdy (d). The songs are Farmer's Punsu, The Day After, Lullaby of the Leaves, Farmer's Kayin', Tonk, The Blue Room, Change Partners and Nobody's Heart.

The album has two things going for it. For one, Farmer's flugelhorn is warm and relaxed throughout. For another, Mabern's piano is lush and intricate, providing Farmer's singular tone with plenty of rhythm and fascinating chords. And on songs like Change Partners, we get to hear a marvelously sensitive solo by Roy McCurdy, who would play with Gap and Chuck Mangione's Jazz Brothers in the early '60s and was the anchor in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet mid-decade.

Fledgling flugelhornists might want to put on Nobody's Heart and transcribe Farmer's solo. It's an enveloping exhibition of regal playing and gentle jazz.

Art Farmer died in 1999; Harold Mabern died in 2019.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Art Farmer's Perception here.

JazzWax note: Special thanks to Peter Levin, who passed along a link to an article on bassist Tommy Williams (go here).

JazzWax clips: Here's Punsu...

And here's Nobody's Heart...