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It's still hot in New York, though slightly cooler weather is promised for the weekend. In these last days of summer and in the wake of yesterday's post on Eumir Deodato, let's stick with Brazil. How about legendary bossa nova guitarist Roberto Menescal and vocalist Wanda Sa? Here they are performing Roberto's O Barquinho...
Here they are performing Roberto's Telefone...
And here they are on his Rio...
Sometime around 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, I had a craving for Eumir Deodato, the Brazilian composer-producer and jazz-fusion electric pianist. I have no idea why. Maybe it's the heat or that the sunlight is fading earlier in the day now and has already begun transitioning to early autumn. Or maybe I just wanted to hear a Fender Rhodes. It happens. So I finished the afternoon with my Deodato folder in iTunes. So you can share, here are four Deodato clips:
Here's Deodato in 2011 playing Super Strut...
Here's the Deodato Trio playing Carly and Carole...
Here's the Deodato Trio playing Whistle Bump...
And here's the trio playing Steely Dan's Do It Again...
At the dawn of the 1960s, the Beach Boys were a teenage vocal group who bridged elements of West Coast jazz with California pop rock. The fusion wasn't a calculated plan as much it was the result of happenstance. The five singer-musicians had long admired the Four Freshmen and other vocal-harmony groups but were looking for a way to update the sound with original contemporary songs that would appeal to their friends and local teens. [Photo above, from left, Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson in 1961]
When the three Wilson brothers formed the group with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, they set out to frame their songs with a jazz-pop vocal-harmony approach. Then one day, Dennis Wilson came back from the beach and told the others that surfing was trending. Songs were written by Brian and Mike that combined the new craze with a Four Freshmen-like harmony and rock instrumentals, both of which Brian arranged. [Photo above of Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson (partially shown) as the Pendletons in 1961]
Let's jump ahead for a moment. On May 24, 1962, the Beach Boys signed a seven-year contract with Capitol Records. Why did Capitol sign the quintet in '62 for such a long period of time? The answer can be found on a terrific new two-CD set—Becoming the Beach Boys: The Complete Hite and Dorinda Morgan Sessions (Omnivore).
In 1961, Hite and Dorinda Morgans ran a Los Angeles recording studio on Melrose Blvd. When the three Wilsons, Love and Jardine showed up in October 1961 as the Pendletones and sang a cover of Sloop John B, a song recorded in '58 by the Kingston Trio, Hite Morgan passed and asked for an original. The quintet happened to have one based on the beach trend spotted by Dennis. They recorded a demo of Surfin', and Dorinda Hite flipped. The Hites agreed to help turn the demo into a record.
A month later, when Surfin' was released on the local Candix Records, the group was listed as "Beach Boys," a name Russ Regan, the label's promotion executive, had come up with to match the song's theme. Weeks after its release, Surfin' became something of a sleeper sensation in Los Angeles, selling 40,000 copies and reaching #75 on Billboard's pop chart—remarkable for a regional label. (The band would, of course, record the song again once at Capitol.)
A handful of new singles recorded at the Hites' studio followed, including Surfin' Safari, Surfer Girl, Judy and Beach Boy Stomp. A reel was assembled in April 1962, and by May, the Beach Boys were Capitol recording artists—roughly a year and a half before the label began releasing records by a group called the Beatles, who in June '62 had recorded for the first time for EMI, Capitol's parent company.
The new set's pre-Capitol recordings by the Beach Boys are a fascinating document. There are only nine songs on the two CDs, but we hear multiple takes of each one as the group keeps polishing the song until they get it right. The CD also reflects Brian's early musical and vocal vision as well as Love's lyrics. [Photo above, Hite and Dorinda Morgan]
If you love the Beach Boys, this set captures an innocent moment in time after the culture had begun to shift to pop rock and away from traditional adult pop and before the Beatles arrived in the States and the two bands would begin competing for the teenage mass market.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Becoming the Beach Boys: The Complete Hite and Dorinda Morgan Sessions (Omnivore) here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Lavender, a song written by Dorinda Morgan, with vocals arranged by Brian Wilson and recorded by the Beach Boys in the style of the Four Freshmen. I emailed the track to a few friends, who had no clue who the group was but were convinced it was an early Four Freshmen outtake...
In this week's Wall Street Journal, I interviewed Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow for the Mansion section's "House Call" column on growing up in Forest Hills, Queens in New York (go here). Ron was a straight-A student, graduated first in his class in high school and went to Yale. But tragedy struck in 2006, delivering an emotional blow he still hasn't completely recovered from. Ron is currently hard at work on a biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
Also in the WSJ, my interview for the Review section's "Playlist" column with surgeon, author and New Yorker magazine writer Atul Gawande (go here). His favorite song is Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill. Atul only owns the song on vinyl, and he talks about how it helps him make difficult decisions. His book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, is fabulous (go here).
Joe Bushkin. Following my post last week on pianist Joe Bushkin, Duff Bruce sent along a link to NPR's Piano Jazz in 1998 when Marian McPartland had Bushkin on her show. Go here.
Toots Thielemans. Following my in memoriam post last week on Toots Thielemans, reader David Ronald sent along a clip of Quincy Jones and Thielemans on Brown Ballad...
I'll add this one from the same album—Jones and Thielemans (whistling) on What's Going On...
Reader Gregory Lee sent along this clip of Jaco Pastorius on piano and Thielemans on harmonica playing Three Views of a Secret...
Larry Adler. Following my post on Larry Adler, the harmonica's first superstar, reader John Herr drew my attention to British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams's Romance in D-flat for Harmonica, Piano & Strings, originally written for Tommy Reilly in 1951. John sent along this clip of Adler performing the work with Sir Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Symphony...
Bobby Hutcherson. Following my in memoriam post on vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, reader Jimi Mentis reminded me that Hutcherson appeared as Ace in Bertrand Tavernier's 1986 film, Round Midnight. Here's Hutcherson, as the food-obsessed U.S. expatriate living in Paris next door to Dexter Gordon's character...
Jazz in Sweden. Reader Ian Mackenzie sent along a link to a site of mostly Swedish jazz that also features concert videos by Monty Alexander, Bobby McFerrin and Gregory Porter....
Charlie Parker and Lester Young radio. If you live outside of New York City, you're in luck. WKCR-FM is once again streaming live worldwide on the web. This weekend, the station is presenting its annual 72-hour radio show featuring Lester Young and Charlie Parker for 72 hours straight. The marathon broadcast started at midnight (EDT) and will continue through Monday. Tune in from anywhere in the world on your computer by going here. [Photo above, from left, Max Kaminsky, Lester Young, Hot Lips Page, Charlie Parker and Lennie Tristano]
Jimmy Raney radio. On Sunday, Danny O'Bryan, host of Jazz Insights on WFPK-FM in Louisville, Ky., is re-broadcasting a rare 1978 interview he conducted with the late jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney. To tune in from anywhere in the world on your computer, go here.
Jazz-soul radio. Chris Cowles, who typically hosts Greasy Tracks on WRTC-FM in Hartford, recently filled in for a jazz host. He sent along links to a three-hour podcast of the show. If you're working this weekend, this is perfect background music.
Here's the playlist...
Sookie Sookie—Grant Green
Blooze In G—Brother Jack McDuff (above)
Pipe Bomb—Vinyl
Baby You Know—Chico Hamilton
Inner City Blues—Gil Scott-Heron
Space Circus Pt. II—Return To Forever
Go Lil Lisa—Coleman Hawkins Quartet
Slippin’ & Slidin’—Yusef Lateef
Country Road—John Mayall
Stolen Moments—Oliver Nelson
Asso Kam—Blue Mitchell
No Trouble on the Mountain—Groove Holmes
Sweet Sister Funk—Ramon Morris
Solid Air—John Martyn
Fat Albert Rotunda—Herbie Hancock
Senorita Eula—Don Wilkerson
Severe Tire Damage—Zero
A Little Busy—Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
Mahdi (The Expected One)—Tower of Power
Soul Special—Andrew Hill
Memphis Junction—Milt Jackson
Ghetto Woman—Marlena Shaw
Black Fox—Freddie Robinson
Heaven on Earthy—Larry Young
Baby Baby—Steve Kimock
What the heck. I'm sure I became a journalist as a result of watching endless episodes of The Adventures of Superman in the early 1960s. On the show, Daily Planet editor Perry White (John Hamilton) had a habit of insisting that reporter Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson) not call him "chief." I found this clip on YouTube...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Easy listening for the kids? "Music for Children Who Think Dad's a Jerk?" "Music to Drown Out Dad's Tired Stories?" Or "Music When You're Going Straight to the Moon?" Actually, the Gleason recording is even creepier than you might imagine. More like "Soliloquies for Dads Who Can't Express Themselves"...
Rudy Van Gelder, a New Jersey optometrist who in the late 1940s extended his passion for ocular precision to professional recording and wound up becoming one of jazz's finest and most enigmatic studio engineers, died on Aug. 25. He was 91. [Photo of Rudy Van Gelder by Hank O'Neal]
When Rudy started recording at his parents' Hackensack, N.J., home (above), he knew little about the workings of jazz. And throughout his career, he never developed much of a passion for the music, despite being an ear-witness to some of jazz greatest studio performances. Rudy simply didn't have the time to become a pure fan given how much he had to get right with the studio's technology on his sessions. As Rudy put it, he didn't have the luxury of listening for enjoyment. Nevertheless, he had an abiding respect for the extraordinary artists and producers who traveled to record at the Van Gelder residence and, later, at his own home-studio in Englewood Cliffs. All of his visitors also knew that when sessions were over at Englewood Cliffs, they'd have to brave his treacherous driveway, which forced you to pull out into fast-moving traffic.
When Rudy began recording professionally at the dawn of the 1950s, magnetic tape was just emerging in studios and the long-playing album was fast becoming the dominant format in jazz. Both technologies revolutionized jazz. As jazz listening increased in homes nationwide, so did the demand for Rudy's talents, and the widespread use of recording tape allowed for faster turnover.
As a silent partner in the rise of musical individualism in the 1950s and the spread of modern jazz's development and popularity, Rudy was quick to experiment with his studio equipment. His efforts were motivated solely by his determination to preserve the music as he heard it and to provide record buyers with the same listening experience. In effect, Rudy invented techniques to reproduce jazz's salon intimacy on vinyl, strategies he kept secret his entire career for fear of losing what made him special.
Back when setting up microphones in recording studios was fairly standard and engineers were there merely to make sure everything was plugged in and that nothing went awry with equipment or recording levels, Rudy quickly became an improviser in his own right. For Rudy, microphones had distinct characteristics and properties, and when they were placed in unusual studio locations or wrapped in strange ways, they could produce a cozier, more realistic result. [Max Roach at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, N.J., studio in the 1950s]
To Rudy's credit, he always remained himself—a quiet, nerdy technician fussing with dials, tapes and wires. He never became a hipster, like so many in the jazz business, and musicians respected Rudy's eccentricity, even when he chastised them for touching or adjusting microphones or stands. Shocked at first by his manner, musicians soon came to respect Rudy's rules, since they, too, were protective owners of delicate instruments. In Rudy's studio, microphones could be touched only by the sounds emanating from instruments or his own gloved hands.
Relentlessly employed by major jazz labels throughout his career, Rudy became a cult figure among international audiophiles and musicians. An album engineered by Rudy sounded rich in an organic, understated way, as if all of the musicians had recorded in a small storage closet lined with suede. None of the musicians sounded distant or faint, while session leaders were distinct but never sonically overwhelming. As Rudy told me during my 2012 visit to his famed Englewood Cliffs, N.J., home/studio, where he had moved with his wife in 1959, he was constantly striving for a natural, realistic sound.
Today, I'm going to do something a little different. I know many of you cannot access WSJ.com. So below is my complete profile of Rudy for the WSJ in 2012, when I visited with him at his studio. As we ate chicken-salad sandwiches and potato chips at a tall table in the middle of his studio space, we talked for two hours about his house and all of the jazz history that was created and recorded there [photo above of Rudy Van Gelder and Marc Myers in January 2012]:
(c) Marc Myers
By Marc Myers
February 7, 2012
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Rudy Van Gelder warned his guest not to trip over the thick cables snaking along the floor as we made our way through a forest of microphone stands at the far corner of his famed recording studio. "Here it is," he said, tugging a gray plastic cover off a Hammond organ. "Nearly every organist I've recorded—Jimmy Smith, Ray Charles, Jack McDuff, Charles Earland and others—used this instrument. Many people would probably be surprised to learn that it's actually a C-3 model, not a B-3."
Mr. Van Gelder is still a stickler for details. Since 1952, the 87-year-old engineer has recorded thousands of jazz albums—first at his parents' home in Hackensack, N.J., and then here. The lengthy list includes Miles Davis's "Workin'," Sonny Rollins's "Saxophone Colossus," Art Blakey's "Moanin'," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" and Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay."
On Saturday, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences will honor Mr. Van Gelder with a Trustees Award—a Grammy that recognizes his lifelong contribution to jazz recording. As an engineer, Mr. Van Gelder is credited with revolutionizing the sound of music in the LP era—capturing the distinct textures of each instrument and giving jazz albums a warm, natural tone.
From the outside, the building that houses Mr. Van Gelder's studio looks like any chocolate-brown suburban home—except there are no windows. Inside, the butterscotch-hued, cathedral-like space features a vaulted ceiling made of laminated Douglas-fir arches and cedar planks, giving the room a Scandinavian feel. Snap your fingers or talk, and the sound appears to hang in the air momentarily, as if the rafters were evaluating the sonic quality before letting it go.
Mr. Van Gelder is notorious for stonewalling questions about his recording techniques. "But I'll tell you this," he said, seated in his studio's long control room. "I used Neumann Condenser mikes before anyone else did. I bought one of the first ones sold here. They were extremely sensitive and warm-sounding."
When asked about the creative ways he placed microphones near instruments—in one case reportedly wrapping a mike in foam and sticking it into the piano's tone hole—Mr. Van Gelder channeled his inner Sphinx. "All I'll say is nothing is simple, everything is complex."
Born in Jersey City, N.J., Mr. Van Gelder began listening to jazz on the family radio. At age 12, he ordered a home recording device that came with a turntable and blank discs. "I tried playing trumpet in my high-school marching band but I was soon demoted to ticket-taker at football games," he said.
After high school, Mr. Van Gelder attended the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia. "I wanted the mental discipline and the prospect of a steady income after college." While there, he visited a network radio station. "A powerful feeling swept over me. The music, the equipment's design, the seriousness of the place—I knew I wanted to spend my career in that type of environment."
Immediately after graduating in 1943, Mr. Van Gelder opened an optometry office in Teaneck, N.J. By day he worked on eyeglasses and in the evening he recorded local artists who wanted a 78rpm record of their efforts. "I was obsessed with microphones," Mr. Van Gelder said. "When I'd see photos of jazz musicians recording or performing, I found myself looking at the mikes, not them."
In 1946, his father decided to build a house in Hackensack, N.J. Mr. Van Gelder asked for a control room with a double glass window next to the living room, which would serve as the studio. His father agreed. "The architect made the living room ceiling higher than the rest of the house, which created ideal acoustics for recording," he said.
Early clients included singer-accordionist Joe Mooney and pianist Billy Taylor. Then in 1952, Gus Statiras, a local producer, brought baritone saxophonist Gil Mellé to Mr. Van Gelder's studio to record. Mellé later played the results for Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records in New York. "Alfred wanted more tracks and went to his engineer at WOR Studios to see if he could duplicate the natural sound," Mr. Van Gelder said. "The guy told him he didn't know how, and urged Alfred to see the person who had recorded the originals. So he did."
Before long, Prestige, Savoy, Vox and other labels began booking studio time for LPs. "To accommodate everyone, I assigned different days of the week to different labels," he said. "But I continued to work as an optometrist, investing everything I made in new recording equipment."
Mr. Van Gelder learned his craft on the job. "Alfred was rigid about how he wanted Blue Note records to sound. But Bob Weinstock of Prestige was more easygoing, so I'd experiment on his dates and use what I learned on the Blue Note sessions."
As the home's driveway filled with cars, Mr. Van Gelder's parents added a separate entrance to their bedroom wing to avoid walking in on the musicians. "My parents and the neighbors never complained," he said. "Only once my mother left me a note asking me to do a better job tidying up."
In 1954, Mr. Van Gelder and his wife, Elva, moved into a nearby apartment. A museum exhibit in New York on Usonian architecture gave the couple an idea. "The image I had in mind was a small concert hall," Mr. Van Gelder said. Then came a meeting with David Henken, a Usonian architect and student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Henken designed plans for Mr. Van Gelder, and Armand Giglio, one of Henken's developers, built the studio on a wooded lot in Englewood Cliffs.
"A crane had to hoist the arches and rafters into place," Mr. Van Gelder said, pointing up at his studio's ceiling. "They were bolted together at the top and joined at the bottom with a steel cable under the floor. This design allowed for the large space to stand unencumbered by columns, which was essential for a studio."
During the 1960s and '70s, Impulse, Verve, A&M, CTI and other labels used the Van Gelder studio. "'A Love Supreme' was recorded right here," Mr. Van Gelder said. "The session was hypnotic, exciting and different. But I didn't realize that until I remastered the tapes many years later. When Coltrane was here, I was too worried about capturing the music."
Before departing, this writer tried once again to pry Mr. Van Gelder's techniques loose. "All I can tell you is that when I achieved what I thought the musicians were trying to do, the sound sort of bloomed. When it's right, everything is beautiful. I was always searching for that point."
I'm going to miss Rudy, who taught all of us that the road to success is to stick to your knitting and to make sure your knitting is better than everyone else's.
JazzWax notes: For my multipart JazzWax interview with Rudy Van Gelder, start here. To read Peter Keepnews's excellent obit in The New York Times, go here.
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JazzWax clips: Here's Rudy's first engineered jazz recording in 1949—Joe Mooney's I'll See You in My Dreams...
Here's Four Moons from Rudy's first 10-inch LP recording, Gil Melle's New Faces, New Sounds, featuring Eddie Bert (tb), Gil Melle (ts), Joe Manning (vib), George Wallington (p), Red Mitchell (b) and Max Roach (d)...
And here's Hank Mobley's This I Dig of You from Soul Station (recorded Feb. 7, 1960), with Hank Mobley (ts), Wynton Kelly (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Art Blakey (d). For some reason, this song has always reminded me of Rudy and illustrated why he was special...
The arrangements of Pete Rugolo are an acquired taste. Listening to his leadership albums from the 1950s and early '60s, one initially might dismiss them as bombastic, elephantine works that relied too often on shrill trumpets and tympani drums. What's more, many of Rugolo's albums include a clunker or two that are so bad one could question his taste and judgment. [Photos of Pete Rugolo above and below by William P. Gottlieb]
But by the third go-through, you wind up in a state of hypnotic bliss, surprised that these albums have held up so well over time. What changes by the third listen? Acclimation to Rugolo's orchestral language and appreciation for his intricate and bold instrumental textures. Which just proves that the more you listen to Rugolo's leadership albums, the more they grow on you. The sound is like riding in a massive chrome-trimmed car from the '50s. There's a bigness at every turn and nothing is small. There's also a charm to the dramatic sound and a design that makes the music perfect for driving around Los Angeles today. I'll have to try it next time I'm out there. [Photo above of Pete Rugolo by William P. Gottlieb in 1946]
From Introducing Pete Rugolo and His Orchestra—his first leadership LP recorded in February 1954 for Columbia—to TV's Top Themes from February 1962, Rugolo's arrangements maximized every corner of his orchestras, which typically featured the cream of the West Coast studio jazz scene. In 1954, Rugolo also recorded Adventure in Rhythm and Rugolomania. His charts for You Stepped Out of a Dream, California Melodies, 360 Special, Rugolo Meets Shearing and 4:30 A.M. are brash, daring and nothing short of spectacular.
By 1956, Rugolo began a series of Hi-Fi albums that were arranged wide to take advantage of the new high-fidelity spectrum of sound on LPs that exploited home phonograph speakers. These albums included For Hi-Fi Bugs, Reeds in Hi-Fi, Brass in Hi-Fi and Percussion at Work. Choice cuts here are Theme for Alto; Interlude; Sunday, Monday or Always; Godchild; My Mother's Eyes and Brass at Work.
In 1959, Rugolo scored the music for the Richard Diamond TV detective series. Songs such as All Star, The Sleeve Job and The Teaser are priceless. The music, along with Henry Mancini's music for TV's Peter Gunn (1958-1961), are among the very finest expressions of "crime jazz."
And then came the introduction of stereo in 1958. Rugolo set to work on a series of albums that took advantage of the new format, with different sections of the orchestra isolated in one speaker or the other. This series for Mercury included 10 Trombones Like 2 Pianos (1960), 10 Trumpets and 2 Guitars (1961) and 10 Saxophones and 2 Basses (1961). The songs Love Is Just Around the Corner and Angel Eyes are hip, refreshed arrangements from Rugolo's Four Freshmen and Five Trombones album in 1955. Struttin' with Some Barbecue, Guitarsville, Skyliner, Sometimes I'm Happy and, most of all, Holiday for Strings, are sensational.
As mentioned, you have to ease into Rugolo. At first the music may seem a bit jumpy, jarring and circus-like. But the more you listen, the more you come to appreciate Rulgolo's genius for action-packed arranging and colorful instrumental collisions. While I could do without the novelty songs, such as Saxophobia, they're a small price to pay for the vast majority of swinging fireworks. The weird part is I'm now sort of addicted to Rugolo's material and can't wait to resume my listening today. It's the purest sound of 1950s Los Angeles expanding into the future.
Pete Rugolo died in 2011 at age 95.
JazzWax tracks: You'll many of the recordings mentioned above on Fresh Sound's Adventures in Jazz (here), Adventures in Sound (here) and Exploring New Sounds (here), which includes the stereo albums. The rest you can cherry-pick out of Amazon or iTunes. A bunch are also available for a free listen at Spotify.
JazzWax clips: Here are six amazing arrangements by Pete Rugolo. I must say, these sound particularly great cranked up:
Here's You Stepped Out of a Dream, an adorned instrumental arrangement Rugolo first wrote for Nat King Cole in 1952...
Here's the spectacular 4:20 A.M...
Here's Brass at Work (with Don Fagerquist and Andre Previn)...
Here's The Sleeve Job...
Here's Sunday, Monday or Always...
And here's Holiday for Strings...
The late Toots Thielemans, who died earlier this week, was one of the first chromatic harmonica players to play swing and bop on the instrument. And no one could touch Toots or even sound like him when it came to his "singing" playing style. But he wasn't the first harmonica star. That title belongs to Larry Adler, who died in 2001. Born in Baltimore in 1914, Adler taught himself to play before running away to New York, where as a kid he got a job in vaudeville. Adler was so proficient on the harmonica that leading classical composers of the 1930s and '40s wrote specifically for him. He quickly became a recording star and showman, and he appeared in a handful of movies. But after being blacklisted in the late 1940s, Adler moved to London, where he lived for the rest of his life. In his later years, he recorded with Elton John and Kate Bush. [Photo above of Larry Adler by William P. Gottlieb in 1947] Here are five clips:
Here's Adler playing The St. Louis Blues in 1937...
Here's Adler playing Strauss's Blue Danube...
Here's Adler in the '40s playing Night and Day and Tiger Rag...
Here's a player piano running through Gershwin themes from Rhapsody in Blue with Adler on harmonica...
And here's Kate Bush in 1994 singing The Man I Love, with a solo by Adler...
Toots Thielemans, a highly gifted swing-jazz guitarist, accordionist, harmonicist and whistler who began recording in his native Belgium just after World War II before relocating to the States in 1952 and whose catchy waltz, Bluesette, became a jazz standard, died Aug. 22. He was 94.
In many respects, Thielemans brought a new level of respect to the harmonica in jazz circles. For years, the chromatic variety was viewed either as a classical reed instrument in the hands of Larry Adler or a novelty mouth organ as played by Johnny Puleo's Harmonica Gang and Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats. Thielemans' advantage on the harmonica was that he had a keen understanding of harmony and could get feet moving swiftly, functioning almost as an accordionist.
Throughout his career, Thielemans had an innate ability to be in the right place at the right time. In 1949, he was at the Festival of Jazz in Paris where he met many of America's most important jazz musicians. This encounter led to a European tour with Benny Goodman and a Stockholm record date with Zoot Sims in 1950. When Thielemans emigrated to the States in '52, he worked with Charlie Parker, Dick Hyman and many other artists.
Thielemans' instrumental versatility came in handy as well. Recording with George Shearing for MGM in the early and mid-1950s, he played mostly guitar and some harmonica. Their close relationship led to a tour with The Stars of Birdland in 1955. When Shearing signed with Capitol that year, the pianist brought Thielemans aboard, and they recorded together on most of Shearing's Capitol sessions through Satin Brass in 1959. [Photo above in the 1950s, from left, guitarist Bobbejan Schoepen, pianist George Shearing, Toots Thielemans and singer Joe Williams in Belgium]
By then, Thielemans was making a name for himself as a leader. The Sound in 1955 for Columbia was particularly noteworthy for its use of four trombones on four of the album's songs: Lou McGarity, Al Godlis, Billy Rauch and Jack Satterfield. Man Bites Harmonica in 1957, his first album for Riverside, produced by Orrin Keepnews, was an ingenious pairing of Thielemans and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. On paper, the combination never should have worked—the gentle, mournful high-pitched harmonica hanging out with the gruff and bossy baritone saxophone. But it did, especially with the rhythm section of Kenny Drew (p), Wilbur Ware (b) and Art Taylor (d). Thielemans and Adams had swing and a driving, all-in playing style in common.
The Riverside session led to one of Thielemans' most superb 1950s albums—Time Out for Toots, on Decca (1958). Four of the tracks—The Nearness of You, The Cuckoo in the Clock, Body and Soul and A Handful of Stars—featured Urbie Green, Billy Byers and Sonny Russo (tb); Toots Thielemans (hca,g); Hank Jones (p); Bucky Pizzarelli (g); Doug Watkins (b) and Art Taylor (d), arranged by Ralph Burns. Burns also arranged Clap Yo' Hands, Them There Eyes, Early Autumn and You Took Advantage of Me, with Toots Thielemans (hca); Al Cohn and Zoot Sims (ts); Al Epstein (as); Danny Bank (bs); Hank Jones (p); Barry Galbraith (g); Doug Watkins (b) and Art Taylor (d).
As the 1950s wound down, Thielemans began recording with Peggy Lee, on Beauty and the Beat, which was led by Shearing. He also recorded an avant-garde album (Lute Song) as a member of the Raymond Scott Plus the Secret Seven (for my post on this group, go here). In the early 1960s, Thielemans returned to Europe for a few years and recorded for labels there. In 1963, he recorded his song Bluesette for ABC-Paramount while in Sweden. The song, on the album The Whistler and His Guitar, became a huge hit, and the song was easily Theielmans' most popular recording.
In the 1960s and '70s, Thielemans' albums became pleasantly commercial, particularly his work with vocalists, Quincy Jones and violinist Svend Asmussen. He also was featured in many movie soundtracks and TV-show scores. His last known recording was in 2011 with Gregoire Maret.
Favorite Toots Thielemans clips...
Here's Crazy Bop, with the Toots Thielemans Quartet Du Hot Club De Belgique, in Paris in 1949...
Here's So Rare from The Sound in 1955...
Here's East of the Sun from Man Bites Harmonica in 1957...
Here's Early Autumn from Time Out For Toots in 1958...
Here's Thielemans with Elis Regina in Sweden in 1969 performing his own Bluesette...
And here's Thielemans and Bill Evans on Evans's album Affinity in 1978 playing Paul Simon's I Do It for Your Love...
Back in 1952, 161 E. 54th St. was home to the Embers, a Midtown Manhattan restaurant and nightclub that routinely featured jazz. Artists tended to play swing standards during their runs there so older patrons would feel at home. Among the great artists who were recorded at the Embers were Art Tatum, Buck Clayton, Teddy Wilson, Dorothy Donegan and many others.
Early in 1952, pianist Joe Bushkin recorded there over a series of days with bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Jo Jones, plus a special guest, trumpeter Buck Clayton. It wasn't an official label recording. Violinist and audio engineer David Sarser had brought in a portable Ampex reel-to-reel tape recorder to preserve what he heard. The results on The Joe Bushkin Quartet: Live at the Embers, 1952 is a clean and fascinating recording by the pianist, who began his career with New York dance bands.
In the late 1930s, Bushkin played with Bunny Berigan's orchestra and, in 1940, was at the keyboard in Tommy Dorsey's band when Frank Sinatra was the male vocalist, between 1940 and '42. In fact, Bushkin, who also was a gifted songwriter, wrote Sinatra's first big hit with Dorsey, Oh! Look at Me Now. After serving during World War II, Bushkin played with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman and others. In the mid-1950s, he recorded extensively for Capitol following his hit for the label, Midnight Rhapsody, in early 1956.
On this album, which was previously released in 2006 on a different label under Buck Clayton's name, we hear a relaxed Bushkin backed by Hinton and Jones, two gold-standard sidemen. Tracks with Clayton also are top shelf. Perhaps the high point is the ballad medley featuring Easy Living, I've Got the World on a String, If You Were Mine and Body and Soul. Honeysuckle Rose, also is stunning, provides us with Clayton's beautiful horn and a Jones drum solo that's absolutely amazing.
Listening to this album at the Embers (above), one hears old New York, when the East Side was dominated by brownstones and six-story apartment buildings. Today, the block is the sterile home to massive skyscrapers, including the north end of the Citicorp Building.
Joe Bushkin died in 2004.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Joe Bushkin Quartet: Live at the Embers, 1952 here.
To download the liner notes by Robert Merrill for free, go here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Honeysuckle Rose...
And here's Bushkin on the Rosemary Clooney Show in 1956 singing his own composition, Oh! Look at Me Now...
In this week's Wall Street Journal, I interview golf legend Arnold Palmer (go here), who talks about the two most important lessons he learned on the golf course growing up and how the the Arnold Palmer beverage came to be and what he adds to the tea-lemonade mixture today.
Also in the WSJ, my chat with author Tama Janowitz on the Rolling Stones' Get Off of My Cloud (go here) and how she came to hear it on New Year's Eve in 1986 in the back of a Rolls Royce with Andy Warhol.
Louis Stewart (1944-2016), a lyrical Irish jazz guitarist who began his career in the 1960s and recorded his first leadership album in 1976 before touring with George Shearing in the 1970s, died on Aug. 20. He was 72. Stewart could play swing and bop, and he spent the balance of his career touring in Europe. He often was paired with touring American musicians (including Benny Goodman), and he recorded quite a few leadership albums, many of which are out of print. Here are three examples of Stewart's grace and time:
With Benny Goodman in Italy...
Here's Stewart playing with bassist Peter Ind...
Here's Stewart three years ago playing But Beautiful with pianist Jim Doherty at a party...
Billy Byers. Following my post last week on arranger Billy Byers, I received quite a few emails praising Byers's gifts as a trombonist and orchestrator. This one is from Brett Gold...
"I appreciated your post on Billy Byers. You may be interested in a video of arranger David Berger discussing arrangers' writing habits. The first person he discusses is Byers"...
Chubby Jackson. Following my post on bassist, songwriter and bandleader Chubby Jackson, I received three related links from Geri Reichgut...
Here's clip #1, featuring drummer Duffy Jackson, Chubby's son, with Lionel Hampton and his orchestra at Disneyland in 1984...
Go here for an article on Chubby and Duffy.
And go here for my post on Duffy Jackson from 2014.
JazzWax milestone noted. Fradley Garner, the international editor of Jersey Jazz, the monthly journal of the New Jersey Jazz Society wrote a swell piece marking JazzWax's ninth anniversary. If you're curious about the publication edited by Tony Mottola, son of Tony Mottola Sr., the great jazz and pop guitarist, subscribe by joining the New Jersey Jazz Society here. Free journal covers and part-samples can be downloaded ther as well. The monthly journal covers jazz in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. [To enlarge the image above, click and then adjust by holding down your control button and tapping the + or - sign on your keyboard]
Franco Cerri. Jimi Mentis sent along two video clips of Italian jazz guitarist Franco Cerri. In the first, from 1967, Cerri accompanies Mina, the Italian pop singer...
In the second, from 2015, the Frank Cerri Quartet plays Take the A Train. The band featured Franco Cerri (g), Alessandro Usai (g), Alberto Gurrisi (org) and Roberto Paglieri (d)...
Tokyo jazz. Jimi Mentis also sent along this article on the jazz bars in Tokyo and their vinyl-loving proprietors.
Album of note. Bummed out when the Beatles broke up in 1970? Not Seth Swirsky, a renaissance mensch. Seth is a pop music songwriter (including the Grammy-nominated Tell It To My Heart), an author, a recording artist, a filmmaker, a political writer and a noted baseball memorabilia collector. But best of all, he's a recording artist. On his new album, Circles and Squares, Seth has captured the spirit and textured sound of the Fab Four in their late period. Seth plays virtually all of the instruments (go here). Here's Far Away:
Books of note.
Softly, With Feeling: Joe Wilder and the Breaking of Barriers in American Music, by Edward Berger (Temple University Press). You know Joe Wilder's trumpet from his many recordings but you probably aren't familiar with the personality that went along with those high notes or how he climbed through the ranks of great players. In his new biography of the trumpeter, Ed Berger weaves together Wilder's career with extensive interviews that not only shed light on the life of an ambitious jazz musician but also exposes the hardships that African-American musicians faced. Each page offers insights and revelations, but ultimately, what you learn is that Wilder, in addition to being an extraordinary big-band and small-group trumpeter was a wise and gentle soul. Written free of the faux drama injected into some jazz biographies, the book is rich with judicious quotes from Wilder and it breaks new ground. Go here.
Altamont: the Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels and the Inside Story of Rock's Darkest Day, Joel Selvin (Dey St.). Inviting the Hells Angels to keep order at the Altamont Raceway free concert in December 1969 was probably the dumbest and smartest thing the Rolling Stones had ever done. Billed as the West Coast Woodstock when the concert was held, Altamont was a tragedy waiting to happen. Poorly planned and lacking the proper barriers and stage design that had kept hundreds of thousands of fans from rushing the stage at Woodstock four months earlier, Altamont exposed the era's biggest rock bands to risks of physical harm. The Stones' move to hire the Hells Angels was a reckless move because the motorcycle gang in San Francisco was a notoriously thuggish group with a seething contempt for the counterculture, viewing concertgoers as little more than pampered, drug-addled suburban runaways. But without the Hells Angels present in the front rows, performers might well have been victims of a horrible stampede or worse. In Joel Selvin's book, we learn the full story behind the concert and the deadly events that would unfairly tar the Rolling Stones for years as a careless self-absorbed rock band that went out of its way to court violence as part of its shows. Go here.
Jazz: The Iconic Images of Ted Williams (ACC Art Books). Ted Williams was among a handful of African-American photographers who documented post-war jazz musicians, from the 1940s through the 1970s. Williams wasn't the most flashy or dramatic photographer in the jazz space. Many of his images seem to have been taken on the fly without much advance thought to narrative or results. But what does come through is the humanity and social scene surrounding the musicians in bars, on stage and on the streets. This 352-page book documents Williams and his jazz images splendidly, and unlike the works of many photographers who were shooting for gloss and style, Williams had his eye on substance. His love for the artist's struggle is evident in every frame. Go here (coming in October).
What the heck. Here's a 1944 jitterbug short called Groovie Movie. The narrator is Pete Smith, and the title may be one of the first uses of the word "groovy"...
Oddball album cover of the week.
I'm not quite sure what exactly is vulgar about the British loo pictured on the cover of this U.K. album. Unless, of course, the word "vulgar" wound up in the wrong spot. Try this: "Vulgar Songs for Bathrooms."
Click the covers to order...
