JazzWax

Jimmie, Coleman and Elvis

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Jimmie Johnson for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jimmie is is a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and two-time winner of the Daytona 500. He also is the winningest active NASCAR driver and sixth among all-time winners. We talked about growing up in Southern California, where he raced motorcycles at age 5. His grandparents ran a motorcycle shop and his parents rode bikes as well. Eventually, he switched over to stock cars.

Here's Jimmie in action...

Paul Wood, an exceptional architect and long-time friend who lives in France, sent along this lovely clip by Sarah McKenzie playing piano and singing Paris in the Rain, from her album of the same name...

Coleman Hawkins radio. WKCR-FM in New York presents its annual "Coleman Hawkins Birthday Broadcast" celebrating the career of the tenor saxophonist. The station will play Hawk's music around the clock for 24 hours (EST) on his birthday anniversary next Wednesday, November 21. You can listen to the broadcast from anywhere in the world on your computer or phone by going here.

Music I enjoyed that you might dig, too...

Elvis Costello—Look Now (Concord). This album should be getting much more play in the media than it has thus far. It's brilliant and among Elvis Costello's best. For the first time since 2008, Elvis has reunited with his band the Imposters. The arch neo-pop songs are smartly crafted, sophisticated and arranged with a Brit-Memphis feel. Many of the songs are reminiscent of Painted From Memory, Costello's 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach. Most of the songs on Look Now were written solely by Elvis. The exceptions are Don't Look Now and Photographs Can Lie, which were co-written with Burt, who plays piano with the Imposters on the two songs. Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter was co-written by Elvis and Carole King. An album that is as hip as it is addictive. On Spotify—or go here.

If you think Elvis's music is New Wave synth stuff from the early 1980s that you won't dig, you're so wrong. Trust me. Here's Stripping Paper...

Richie Cole—Cannonball (RCP). Alto saxophonist Richie Cole is a throwback to a time when swing mattered. On Cannonball, a tribute to Cannonball Adderley, Cole has assembled a gorgeous group—Reggie Watkins (tb), Eric Susoeff (g), Kevin Moore (p), Mark Perna (b) and Vince Talieri (d). The songs all have the perfume and eager edge of Adderley but the sound is unmistakably Cole, who also wrote the arrangements. This album is perfect and a must own. Go here.

Here's a promo video for the album...

Iris Ornig—Storyteller (IOM). I love Iris Ornig's music and have been raving about her since 2008. If you're unfamiliar with the bassist and composer, you simply must check her out. Iris is one talented artist. Once again, she has produced the album and has written all the songs. Usually that's a recipe for disaster with many artists. But with Iris, she knows exactly what she's doing. Her band on Storyteller features Jonathan Powell (tp,flghn), Jeremy Powell (ts), Addison Frei (p), Iris (b) and Allan Mednard (d). Iris arrived in New York from Germany in 2013 and has played with everyone. Here's more on Iris. For her new album, go here. 

Kika Sprangers—Leaves of Lily (Zennes). Dutch saxophonist Kika Sprangers composed all the songs on her new album except for Gridlock, which she co-wrote with Eric Brugmans. Recorded live at Tivoli Cloud Nine, a club within the The TivoliVredenburg music complex in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Sprangers's album has a floating, spiritual feel with cinematic sensibility. She's backed by Manuel Wouthuysen (p), Eric Brugmans (g), Danny van Ruitenburg (b) and Benjamin Torbijn (d), plus three vocalists, a flutist, a trumpeter, a French hornist and a bass clarinetist. Beautiful music. Go here.

Pat Bianchi—In the Moment (Savant). Organist Pat Bianchi has recorded a swinging new groove-maker. His tightly wound Larry Young-like attack on the Hammond and fast-flying fingers will knock you out. He's backed on most tracks by Paul Bollenback (g) and Byron Landham (d), with special guests Peter Bernstein (g), Carmen Intorre Jr. (d), Joe Locke (vib), Kevin Mahogany (vocal) and Pat Martino (g). A nifty ensemble. Songs range from Chick Corea's Humpty Dumpty and Stevie Wonder's Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing to Billy Eckstine's I Want to Talk About You and Thelonious Monk's Four in One. A group that's on fire and an album that percolates with jazz-soul. Go here.

Frank De Felitta. Last week, I shared with you the documentary Stately Ghosts of England, which was produced, directed and written for NBC in the mid-1960s by the late Frank De Felitta. This week, director Raymond De Felitta sent along links to his father's NBC documentary on World War II's Battle of the Bulge. You can learn more about the film at Raymond's blog, Movies Til Dawn.

Here's Part 1...

Here's Part 2...

What the heck. Here's one of my favorite groups from soul-disco's peak in 1976—Double Exposure singing My Love Is Free...

Oddball album cover of the week.

For some reason, when I saw this cover, I imagined the squirrel in the photo singing the following to the seated model...

Sonny Rollins: Norway, 1971

Between 1969 and 1971, Sonny Rollins took a sabbatical, traveling first to Jamaica and then to India where he studied yoga, meditation and Eastern philosophy. When he returned to playing publicly, one of his first gigs in June 1971 was a performance in Kongsberg, Norway. Backing him that evening were Bobo Stenson (p), Arild Andersen (b) and Jon Christensen (drums). Here's Sonny performancing Sonnymoon for Two and In a Sentimental Mood...

Hot Track: Venus De Milo

In 1949, Gerry Mulligan arranged a song he wrote called Venus de Milo for the Miles Davis Nonet, better known now as the Birth of the Cool Band. The group recorded the song in April of that year. Eight years later, the song was recorded again in December of 1957 by an octet. The album was The Gerry Mulligan Songbook Vol. 1 and featured a killer lineup of players: Lee Konitz (as); Allen Eager (ts); Zoot Sims (as,ts); Al Cohn (bar,ts); Gerry Mulligan (bar); Freddie Green (g); Henry Grimes (b) and Dave Bailey (d). Bill Holman wrote the arrangements.

Who came up with the idea to record some of the top section reed players playing Mulligan songs (it could have been World Pacific's Dick Bock), who decided to call Bill Holman to write the octet arrangements (it might have been Mulligan or Bock) and why the album was recorded in New York rather than Los Angeles remains a mystery. What we do know is that Bill wrote sensational arrangements and the blowing is stellar, particularly on Venus de Milo. [Photo above, from left, of Lee Konitz, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn in the studio]

In 2008, I asked Bill about the session:

JazzWax: In late 1957, you wrote all of the arrangements for The Gerry Mulligan Songbook Vol. 1. Those are breathtaking by any measure.
Bill Holman: Originally that album was supposed to be recorded in 1956, with the usual West Coast guys—probably Bob Cooper, Bob Gordon, me, Herb Geller and Art Pepper—but we never got that far. Something happened with Gerry's scheduling and he couldn't make it out to California. So he put the session aside for a year. Which turned out great, considering the players he got to record with him in New York—Lee Konitz, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. [Photo above of Gerry Mulligan]

JW: Did you enjoy writing those arrangements?
BH: Very much so. I always felt a kinship with Gerry and felt that I would be giving him a tribute if I did the tunes my way.

JW: Were you at the session?
BH: No. Since they recorded it in New York. I was never in the studio.

JW: Were you happy with the result?
BH: Oh, sure. My only complaint was that they added Freddie Green on guitar. I love Freddie, but the feeling I wanted when I wrote the arrangements was not a guitar thing. A guitar playing a steady four-four rhythm nails down the rhythm section a little too tightly. The sound worked well for [Count] Basie for years, but I had a different feel in my writing. It's really a sax soli album, and the guitar makes the trio behind the saxes sound too rigid instead of the looser feel I wanted. [Photo above, from left, Dave Bailey, Freddie Green and Henry Grimes]

Why the album had "Vol. 1" in its title can only mean a "Vol. 2" was planned. One can also assume that Bill and the saxophonists on the date didn't have the time for another. [Photo of Bill Holman courtesy of Bill Holman]

Here's Bill Holman's arrangement of Gerry Mulligan's Venus de Milo, with solos, in order, by Mulligan, Konitz, Cohn and Grimes. Dig Mulligan's huge anchor on the bottom with Lee loud on top...