JazzWax

João Gilberto (1931-2019)

João Gilberto, whose chiffon-soft vocals, romantic acoustic guitar arrangements and intoxicating rhythms helped gain worldwide exposure for bossa-nova composers and their songs starting in 1959, died July 6. He was 88.

The bossa nova had been evolving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, since 1957, when Antonio Carlo Jobim, Carlos Lyra, Sylvia Telles, Johnny Alf, Roberto Menescal and Luiz Bonfá played the lounges of beach-side hotels and small clubs. According to my interview with Carlos Lyra, this tight group of bossa nova composer-musicians influenced each other. But it wasn't until Gilberto's album Chega de Saudade in 1959 that the new breezy form, inspired by the relaxed, melodic singing approach of Chet Baker and the delicate nature of Brazilian folk music, became a global sensation. The movement also was helped by the mid-1959 release in France of Black Orpheus, which was filmed in Brazil and included the music of Jobim and Bonfá, and U.S. State Department-sponsored musician tours to Brazil.

Shortly after the album's release, Gilberto became the voice of the movement. His tender, compassionate vocals captured the music's seductive spirit and the tropical imagery that accompanied it. Gilberto, himself, was as reserved and as sensitive as the songs he played and sang. He first performed in the U.S. in 1962 at Carnegie Hall and began recording for Verve producer Creed Taylor in 1963 on the seminal Getz/Gilberto album. For the recording, Creed wanted an English-language version of two songs for a single. Gilberto's then wife, Astrud, recorded the English vocal for The Girl From Ipanema and Corcovado. The songs and the album became runaway hits. Despite the album's title, none of the songs were by Gilberto. Most were by Jobim. But Gilberto sang the Portuguese vocals and, in the parlance of the music business, sold them and the bossa nova sound. [Photo above of João and Astrud Gilberto in the early 1960s]

I remember buying tickets to see Gilberto perform in Boston in 2004. At the last minute, the concert was cancelled because he failed to show up. When I saw him perform at Carnegie Hall later that year, he was late and then spent far too many minutes fussing over the monitor speakers. But the aggravation he caused the audience was quickly overlooked once his guitar began accompanying his soothing voice.

Gilberto was thought to be agoraphobic—a prisoner of panic attacks that surfaced whenever he left the confines of his house or hotel rooms. For my liner notes to the 50th anniversary release of Getz/Gilberto, Monica Getz, Stan Getz's wife at the time, told me she spent hours trying to coax Gilberto out of his seedy hotel room to record Getz/Gilberto. Other have told me similar stories of Gilberto's phobia.

The beauty of Gilberto's voice as well as his right thumb, which delivered rhythm and melody on the downstroke and harmony on the upstroke, remain magnificent. Here are 10 of my favorite clips...

Here's Gilberto singing Carlos Lyra and Ronaldo Bôscoli's Saudade Fêz Um Samba in 1959...

Here's Gilberto in 1960 playing Um Abraço No Bonfá, a tribute to Luiz Bonfá that Gilberto crafted by taking one of Bonfá's riffs and building on it...

Here's Gilberto in 1961 playing Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Boscoli's O Barquinho...

Here's Gilberto singing and playing Doralice in 1961....

Here's Gilberto singing and playing Jobim and de Moraes's Só Danço Samba in 1963 with Jobim on piano, Getz on tenor saxophone, Sebastião Neto on bass and Milton Banana on drums from Getz/Gilberto...

Here's Gilberto (green shirt) with Bonfá (mustache) and Jobim (shirtless) serenading women on the beach in Rio in the 1962 Italian comedy, Copacabana Palace...

Here's Gilberto playing and singing Jobim and Newton Mendonça's Desafinado in the early 1970s...

Here's Gilberto in 1980 playing and singing Jobim's Wave...

Here's Gilberto and Jobim reunited in 1992 to sing Girl From Ipanema...

And here's a precious Corcovado with Dinah Shore in 1965...

Jane, Willis and Buzz

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Jane Seymour for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jane talked about growing up outside of London deeply fond of science and opera and eager to be a top ballerina. Then a jazz dance class caused an injury and forced her to become an actress. [Photo above of Jane Seymour at her Malibu, Calif., home in May by Brinson+Banks for The Wall Street Journal]

Here's Jane in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) with Roger Moore...

Here's her most recent film, Bereave, with Malcolm McDowell...

Willis Conover was one of the great voices in jazz radio. Throughout the 1950s and into the '60s, he hosted a show on Voice of America and broadcast jazz into Eastern Europe. Gil Evans was one of the great modernist jazz arrangers who, from the late 1940s to the 1970s, crafted scores with innovative instrumentation and harmony. The blog Take the A Train recently featured a broadcast of Willis Conover interviewing Gil Evans. A special thanks to Mosaic's Michael Cuscuna for sending along the audio link. Go here.

Batter up! I found a video last week of the entire 7th game of the 1952 World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers. TV was brand new, Joe DiMaggio had retired the year before and Mickey Mantle was moved from left field to center. Starting pitchers were Eddie Lopat for the Yankees and Joe Black for the Dodgers. By the final inning, Bob Kuzava was on the mound for the Yanks and wound up being the game's hero, taking the mound in the 7th inning and holding onto the Yankees' two-run lead. The game was played at the Dodgers' Ebbets Field in Brooklyn on October 7, 1952. Watch for a stunning catch by Yankees second baseman Billy Martin in the seventh inning as Jackie Robinson pops up to end the inning with the bases loaded (2:24:10). As for home runs, there were three, all by Yankees—one by left-fielder Gene Woodling and two by Mantle. Here's the game...

Jazz in July from July 16 to 25. If you're in New York from July 16 to 25, check out 92Y's annual Jazz in July festival under the direction of Bill Charlap. 92Y is one of New York's preeminent and most historic cultural institutions. Here's the lineup:

July 16, 7:30 p.m.—Standard Time: The American Songbook in Jazz with John Pizzarelli, guitar & vocals / Harry Allen, tenor sax / Bill Charlap, piano / Jay Leonhart, bass / Dennis Mackrell, drums.

July 17, 7:30 p.m.—Rhythm Warm, Rhythm Hot! with the Brazilian Trio featuring Maucha Adnet, vocals / Helio Alves, piano / Nilson Matta, bass / Duduka Da Fonseca, drums and Cubop! with Zaccai Curtis, piano / Luques Curtis, bass / Willie Martinez, timbales / Camilo Molina, congas / Reinaldo De Jesus, bongos.

July 18, 7:30 p.m.—Cécile McLorin Salvant Meets the Bill Charlap Trio with Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocals / Bill Charlap, piano / Peter Washington, bass / Kenny Washington, drums.

July 23, 7:30 p.m.—The Melodic Genius of Clifford Brown with Tom Harrell, trumpet / Warren Vaché, trumpet / Joe Magnarelli, trumpet / Veronica Swift, vocals / Bill Charlap, piano / Peter Washington, bass / Kenny Washington, drums.

July 24, 7:30 p.m.—Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap in the Key of Us with Renee Rosnes, piano / Bill Charlap, piano / Ken Peplowski, clarinet / Peter Bernstein, guitar / Sean Smith, bass / Bill Stewart, drums.

July 25, 7:30 p.m.—Old Devil Moon: Swingin' Through the Songs of Burton Lane with Steve Wilson, alto sax / Roxy Coss, tenor sax / Michael Dease, trombone / Sandy Stewart, vocals / Bill Charlap, piano / Peter Washington, bass / Carl Allen, drums.

For more Jazz in July information and tickets, go here.

Dorsey days. In my post on Billy VerPlanck's Jazz for Playgirls, I included the cover of VerPlanck's album Dancing Jazz. This prompted the following note from Steve Brauner:

Hi Marc. I enjoy your JazzWax blog immensely. My dad was Buzz Brauner was featured as the tenor sax soloist on several of the cuts. My dad met Billy when they were both in the last Dorsey Brothers band. After Tommy and Jimmy passed, he remained friends with Billy and his wife and vocalist Marlene VerPlanck. Dad appeared on several of her records. I recently created a Facebook tribute page for my dad that has many photos from the last Dorsey band. The profile picture on the page was taken by his childhood friend and lead trumpeter Al Stewart backstage at Hello Dolly in 1964 during the run. Go here.

Mosaic Records is holding an open house for just the third time in the record label's 35-year history. The open house will run from July 11 to 13 at Mosaic's Stamford, CT, headquarters. The label will be offering out-of-print CD sets, partial sets, over 125 Mosaic booklets and more than 30 Mosaic cover slicks. There also will be framed photos and jazz art as well as other rarities and collectibles at special prices. Of note are the Francis Wolff prints in various sizes. First come, first served. Cash, checks credit cards and Paypal are accepted. Hours: July 11, 12 and 13 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Location: Mosaic Records, 425 Fairfield Avenue, Suite 421 (second floor), Stamford, CT (exit 6 on I-95). 

What the heck: Here's Freddie Mercury of Queen singing a previously unreleased version of Time Waits for No One in 1986...

Oddball album cover of the week.

Hard to know why she's on a magic picnic blanket, why she has a suitcase and make-up case, and why, with all that space, she's all by herself. Also tough to tell which city she's soaring over.

Documentary: Lennie Tristano

In 1983, NRK—the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp.—produced Manhattan Studio, a documentary on jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. All the major Tristano students are here, from Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh to Connie Crothers and others. A special thanks to Matt LeGroulx for sending along the links [photo above of Lennie Tristano by William P. Gottlieb]:

Here's Part 1...

Here's Part 2...

Documentary: John Philip Sousa

Today being July 4th and all, what better way to celebrate America's birthday than to look at the life and music of John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). Known as the "March King," the composer and conductor of brassy, dramatic patriotic songs in the 1800s also inadvertently laid track for jazz. By the turn of the 20th century, ragtime players were interpreting on the keyboard in saloons what Sousa had accomplished with a large band, uniforms and equipment.

Here's the well-written Sousa documentary, The Man, the Music, and the Marine: John Philip Sousa Marches to Greatness (1986). Happy 4th of July!...

Pre-War Jazz Piano Explained

On Monday, I posted on the 20 jazz pianists who had the biggest influence on changing the direction of jazz between 1900 and 1975. Today, piano masters explain and illustrate in videos different pre-war styles [photo above of Teddy Wilson]:

Here's Terry Waldo discussing and playing ragtime...

Here's Terry Waldo discussing and playing Jelly Roll Morton...

Here's Dick Hyman on the early jazz piano...

Here's Dick Hyman on stride piano...

And here's Billy Taylor illustrating the difference between swing and bebop...

Bonus: Here's Meade Lux Lewis illustrating the boogie-woogie...

Stanley Clarke: Halston

Jazz and the movies have a long history. Many silent films were accompanied by live ragtime, and jazz in movies increased with the advent of talkies in 1929—both in terms of background music and plots. Entire movie scores by jazz artists is a different matter. That started in the late 1950s with I Want to Live (1958/Johnny Mandel) and continued with Anatomy of a Murder (1959/Duke Ellington), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959/John Lewis), The Subterraneans (1960/Andre Previn), Paris Blues (1961/Duke Ellington) and Blow-Up (1966/Herbie Hancock) to name just a handful of the early ones. [Photo above of Stanley Clarke by Olga Karpova, courtesy of Stanley Clarke)

Recently I had an opportunity to see an advance stream of Halston, a fascinating new documentary directed by Frédéric Tcheng. The film tracks the rise and fall of the designer who changed women's fashion in the 1970s and early '80s, and whose name became the industry's first wildly successful brand. Halston started out in the late 1950s as a hat designer at New York's Bergdorf Goodman, which at the time was society's walk-in closet. His big break came when he created Jackie Kennedy's cream pillbox hat that she wore at the January 1961 inauguration of her husband. Soon, Bergdorf began promoting Halston in ads, a first for the prestigious store. In 1966, Halston had penetrated society sufficiently that he made more than 100 elaborate masks for Truman Capote's famed Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel. [Photo above of Halston with his fragrance bottle designed by Elsa Peretti]

In 1968, Halston left Bergdorf Goodman to start Halston Limited just off Madison Ave. He gave Elsa Peretti her start, transforming her into a jewelry-designer superstar who would create his off-center fragrance bottle. He launched the careers of models Pat Cleveland, Nancy North, Karen Bjornson among others. By the early '70s, Halston had created a clean, simple look for the soft decade, designs that flowed and exuded elegance and ease, femininity and freedom, and power without being masculine. As Fred Rottman, Halston's workroom supervisor, notes in the film, "Halston took concepts developed by designer Charles James and relaxed them." Along the way, he invented hot pants and was the first to tap into celebrities such as Liza Minnelli and Elizabeth Taylor to sell an image.

But by 1983, Halston's sky-high ambitions put him on a collision course with ruin. That year, he signed a six-year licensing deal worth $1 billion with J.C. Penny. Overnight, the Halston name became mass market and accessible to anyone who could pay between $24 and $200 for his Halston III clothes. His shift from class to mass compelled Berdorf Goodman to drop his high-end lines. When Halston III was poorly received, J.C. Penney in 1983, the line wound up with Norton Simon Inc., which was acquired by Esmark Inc.

In 1984, Halston's fussiness caused delays in delivering his mass-market concepts, compelling the new owners to bring in others to continue his lines without his input or permission. Tragically, Halston had sold away all rights to his name in an era when conglomerates were becoming expert at turning art into trash for every last dime.

In 1988, the designer tested positive for HIV, and in 1990 he died of an AIDS-related illness.

The Halston documentary is fascinating for its look back at an era before designers understood the perils of being bought out. Before his move to the mass market, Halston's designs were breathtaking and bold, defining relaxed, female chic when Studio 54 was the rage and celebrity, fashion, music and art all intersected in New York.

The documentary's original music was composed by jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and is a fascinating, eclectic listen. Clarke's compositions are acoustic and electronic, and as loose-fitting and liberating as Halston's designs. Throughout the soundtrack, there are musical references to disco, catwalks, soul and the glittery, narcissistic world of the 1970s and early '80s. What I love about Clarke's soundtrack is that it isn't trying to be a part of an era nor is it trying to nostalgically surface the essence. Instead, Clarke's score is an impression of Halston's fashion revolution and the entire era. The music frames the film's scenes but remains vibrant, sympathetic and contemporary. It's a silhouette of Halston and his contribution to fashion.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Stanley Clarke's Halston: (Original Motion Pictures Soundtrack) here.

You'll also find the album at Spotify.

JazzWax clips: Here's the film's trailer...

Here's Stanley Clarke's The Beautiful Models...

Here's Where Is Halston...

Here's 2 a.m. at Studio 54...

Here's 52 W. 54th St...

And here's Walking the Runway...

History of the Jazz Piano

The history of the jazz piano starts in roughly 1899. By my count, 20 pianists influenced the direction of jazz over the course of 75 years, between 1900 and 1975. Here are 20 sample tracks of those pianists in chronological order. Listen for how the the piano evolves over time—the right hand, the left hand, the feel and the bounce. These tracks will give newer listeners a starting point to explore each artist [photo above of Earl "Fatha" Hines]:

Here's Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. Registered in 1899 as the Original Rag, Joplin's playing was preserved on a player-piano roll. With the popularity of "March King" John Philip Sousa in the late 1800s, piano rags emulated the 2/4 tempo of marching bands, with the left hand assuming the role of the Sousaphone...

Here's Jelly Roll Morton's Jelly Roll Blues. It was published in 1915 and is considered the first published jazz composition. With this song, the piano began to emulate the jazz orchestra...

Here's James P. Johnson playing his Harlem Strut in 1921, which illustrates the New York stride sound. With the rise of dance at the start of the "Roaring Twenties," the left hand began jumping around prominently in the bass clef with a swagger or stride...

Here's Fats Waller's masterful stride piano in 1922 on Birmingham Blues. The bass notes here don't jump nearly as far as Johnson's and instead operate almost like an upright bass...

Here's Clarence "Pine Top" Smith's Pine Top's Boogie Woogie in 1928, popularizing a more syncopated train-like left hand that first developed in East Texas in the 1920s. The boogie-woogie would become the basis of R&B and rock 'n' roll in the 1940s and '50s...

Here's the spectacular Art Tatum, a blind solo pianist who treated the keyboard almost like a harp, loading in as many notes and conversational elements as possible. This is Tiger Rag in 1932...

Here's Teddy Wilson, who was the first to start playing the piano with a modern flair. Rather than deploying a rigid stride or stride-influenced left hand, his right hand did much of the work with the left hand functioning in single notes and in chords almost as a bass player. This is Somebody Loves Me in 1934...

Here's Count Basie in 1936 on his first record date playing Lady Be Good with his sextet, which included tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Basie was the master of keyboard minimalism and the king of Kansas City swing. With the advent of the swing era, the piano began to play a more prominent role in keeping dancers on the floor...

Here's Earl "Fatha" Hines in 1939. Hines's style was loaded with modern harmony and complex voicings of chords and their notes. The dexterity of his fingers is simply extraordinary. Even today, he is considered one of jazz's most influential players. This is The Father's Getaway...

Here's Thelonious Monk playing April in Paris in 1947. Monk's fractured approach to the keyboard combined Cubist abstraction and bebop. With the dance era over, Monk set the pace for modernism, approaching the piano almost as a guitar, plucking and strumming the keyboard and leaving gaps of space while dropping in sly references to earlier piano styles...

Here's Bud Powell in 1949 playing his composition Celia. Powell was the godfather of bop piano, and his impeccable time, spirited improvisational runs and flourishes resulted in a style that was a huge influence on virtually every jazz pianist who followed...

Here's Horace Silver in 1952 playing his composition Horace-scope. Silver was influenced by Powell but he brought a new jaunty funk to his playing while his compositions, like this one, were distinctly fresh and original, and influenced by gospel...

Here's Ahmad Jamal in 1952 playing Gal in Calico. Jamal's spare bass lines and twinkling right hand in the upper register was enormously engaging and easy on the ear. Most important, he was a huge influence in the 1950s on Miles Davis's minimalism. Davis urged his pianist Red Garland to play like Jamal. Though Davis was well away of how exceptional Jamal was, the pianist was largely overlooked because critics found him too light. A rare instance in jazz history when virtually all of the jazz writers were wrong...

Here's Sonny Clark playing Tadd Dameron's Tadd's Delight in 1957. Clark's classic trio sound and rich sensitivity in his attack not to mention his conversational approach with his bass players and drummers had a profound influence on Bill Evans...

Here's Bobby Timmons in 1960 playing his composition Dat Dere. Timmons's church-infused approach all but launched soul jazz...

Here's Bill Evans in 1961 live at the Village Vanguard playing his own Waltz for Debby with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Evans's hyper-sensitivity and arranger's mindset when choosing and improvising on songs revolutionized the piano's role. Not only did the piano, bass and drums interact as equals but Evans also combined swing and bop with classical elements to create a poetic melancholy that resulted in chord voicings that still resonate with fans...

Here's McCoy Tyner in 1962 playing his own Inception. Best known as John Colrane's pianist, Tyner brought a muscular storminess to the piano through the use of modal chords and scales. Tyner's roiling approach makes you feel as if you're in a canoe being rocked front to back...

Here's Cecil Taylor in 1966 playing Conquistador. Taylor influenced a generation of players by exploring abstraction and free jazz. Thought his approach takes some getting used to, once you hear what he's doing and how he's building his songs, it all clicks into place...

As beautiful as Herbie Hancock's acoustic piano was as a leader, sideman and composer in the 1960s, it wasn't until his electric-band leadership albums in the 1970s and '80s that he became a major force with a new, younger generation of players. Here's Sly in 1973, with Hancock on multiple keyboards...

And here's Chick Corea in 1975 on No Mystery. Corea's playing on electronic keyboards could be bombastic and delicate, and the result often translated as curtains of sonic expression. His playing in his band, Return to Forever, helped launch psychedelic jazz fusion in the 1970s...