JazzWax

Betsy, Syd and Hank

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Betsy Brandt for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Betsy starred in TV's Breaking Bad and is now in Pearson, a spinoff of Suits. Growing up in Bay City, Mich., Betsy was first struck at age 8 by a TV movie called Broken Promises, specifically an early scene in which a callous mother and her angry new husband abandon her five children at a gas station en route to California. It was a scene, she said, that made her cry and want to become an actress. [Photo above of Betsy Brandt at her Los Angeles home by Alex Welsh for The Wall Street Journal]

Here's Broken Promises (1981)...

And here's Betsy in action...

Syd Finkelstein, Dartmouth's Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business and author of How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent (here), recently interviewed me for "The Sydcast," his fabulous, conversational podcast. Go here...

Erskine Hawkins. Following my post on Erskine Hawkins, photographer, producer, author and dear friend Hank O'Neal sent along the following email:

Hi Marc. Thanks for giving some ink to the Hawk. A really good guy. I got to know him in 1987 when I tracked him down at The Concord resort, in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., for my book, The Ghosts of Harlem. I got him to leave the safety of the resort a few times. Here is a cute story: We used him a number of times for our S.S. Norway cruises, either on the Floating Jazz Festival in the 1980s or Big Bands at Sea in the early 1990s. [Photo at top of Gerry Mulligan and Asa Harris by Hank O'Neal]

In the summer of 1993 we asked the Hawk to come back to the jazz festival aboard the Sovereign of the Seas and assembled a band for him to lead. His niece, Asa Harris, was to be the vocalist. We assembled a pretty good group, and he was happy. Then he died in November. The ship was set to sail in April 1994, but we didn't cancel the band. Asa had the book of arrangements and we had a band. It became a tribute to the Hawk.

When we got on board, it became clear that Asa, who could sing up a storm, couldn't really front the band and certainly couldn't rehearse it. So I asked Gerry Mulligan, who was on board with his quartet, if he'd rehearse the band. He was thrilled because he loved big bands, liked the Hawkins book of arrangements and did a great job. And he played with the band. So Hawk didn't make his last gig, but the band and his music did and everyone was happy about it.

Gerry liked seeing new arrangements of all sorts. I remember him showing me stock arrangements that he thought were interesting. Hawkins had quite a wonderful book. I was told by various "ghosts" when I was doing the Harlem book that Hawkins had one of the best dancing books of any of the bands who played the Savoy regularly. And the idea was to get people on the floor to dance. Most of the film clips show the Lindy Hoppers and Jitterbuggers, but my guess is that most folks were just ordinary dancers.

The band only played twice during that cruise, both in a dance band setting. They played once inside and once outside under the stars. This gave Asa a chance to sing more than she would have if Hawk had been there leading it. Hawk was on the S.S. Norway several times—in 1989 with the Shaw band and the Ray McKinley, Ray Anthony and Woody Herman ghost bands); in 1990 with the Tommy Dorsey-Buddy Morrow band, the Les Elgart band, and the Glenn Miller ghost band; and in 1992 with Buddy again, Larry Elgart and Ray McKinley. We were very lucky in that we had mostly real big-band leaders, and some of the bands were actually touring groups that played very well.

Billy Collins, the former two-time Poet Laureate of the United States and a dear friend, is teaching a master class on reading and writing poetry. The promo ad is priceless and gives you a feel for Billy's kindness, dazzling sense of humor and down-to-earth brilliance. Here's the promo...

Marshall Otwell. Following my post last week on Carmen McRae at Ratso's in Chicago and her accompanying pianist Marshall Otwell, many readers emailed asking about McRae's other albums with Otwell. So I put together a complete list...

• At Ratso's, Vols. 1 and 2 (1976).
• Carmen McRae at the Great American Music Hall (1976)
• Live at the Roxy (1976)
• Ronnie Scott's Presents Carmen McRae "Live" (1977)
• Blue Note Meets The L.A. Philharmonic (1977)
• Recorded Live At Bubba's (1981)
• Everything Happens to Me (1982)
• You're Lookin' At Me (A Collection Of Nat King Cole Songs) (1983)
• For Lady Day, Vols 1 and 2 (1983)

John Klopotowski. Following my post on the John Klopotowski Quartet's San Francisco Concert: Remembering Lennie Tristano (1919-1978) (the download here), Jonathan Horwich reminded me that the CD version of the album is available here. 

What the heck. Here's one of my favorite songs on the charts in 1966 by the Happenings; it reached #3 on Billboard's pop chart...

Oddball album cover of the week.

I suspect the original cover art was lost by a messenger and in a pinch, someone reached into their wallet for a family photo.

3 Films: Liverpool in the '60s

For me, Liverpool remains a intriguing place. Perhaps it was my Wall Street Journal assignment there in the winter of 2012, when I spent several days in the city with Mike McCartney. Or the used book store, where I bought an armful of poetry hardbacks. Or the wonderful teasing sense of humor I experienced at every turn.

But I suppose the real fascination is how this port city became a geyser of big-beat talent in the early 1960s, producing the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black, the Merseybeats, the Searchers, Rory Storm, the Chants, the Big Three and dozens of others. The reasons are both complex and quite simple: Liverpool was a grim place, economically, back then and music for teens was a jolt of optimism and civic pride, and a way out of poverty if you were in a band and had talent.

Below are three films that provide a loving look at the city that changed the sound of rock 'n' roll:

Here's Beat City from 1963...

Here's Liverpool Beat in 1965...

And here's Ferry Cross the Mersey with Gerry and the Pacemakers from 1965 in three parts:

Here's Part 1...

Here's Part 2...

And here's Part 3 (be sure to check out Cilla Black at 16:30 in what is a fabulous segment of her singing (or syncing) Is It Love?...

Jimmy Raney and Brookmeyer

Jimmy Raney was one of the finest East Coast jazz guitarists of the 1950s. He possessed a marvelously aggressive sense of swing, an urgent, lyrical technique and wonderful taste on solos. Two of his best albums at the start of the 12-inch album era were Jimmy Raney in Three Attitudes and Jimmy Raney Featuring Bob Brookmeyer. Recorded for ABC-Paramount in May, June and July of 1956, and produced by Creed Taylor, who had just joined the label from Bethlehem, the two Raney albums had it all.

In Three Attitudes was an interesting concept, featuring Raney teamed with three different major players. Attitude 1 tracks (So in Love, Last Night When We Were Young and Up in Quincy's Room) were with Bob Brookmeyer, Attitude 2 tracks (Fanfare and Passport to Pimlico) were with tenor saxophonist Al Cohn and Attitude 3 tracks (Indian Summer, On the Rocks and Strike Up the Band) were with pianist Hal Overton. On the tracks with Bob, the pair were backed by John Williams (p), Red Mitchell (b) and Osie Johnson (d).

One of Raney's most engaging band-mates was Brookmeyer, so it's no wonder that Featuring Bob Brookmeyer is the standout of the two albums. On Isn't It Romantic, How Long Has This Been Going On, Get Off That Roof and Jim's Tune, Bob and Raney were backed by Dick Katz (p),Teddy Kotick (b) and Osie Johnson (d). On No Male for Me, The Flag Is Up, No One But Me and Too Late Now, Hank Jones replaced Katz.

Bob and Raney's passion for harmony and brotherly improvisation was unbeatable. They weave in and out of each other's lines on intros and then solo with gusto, inventing new melodies along the way. Raney's attacks are perfect in terms of his precise time. On the guitar, he sounded like someone banging out a novel on a typewriter. Bob also has that impeccable exactness on his powdery valve trombone. In this regard, they sound like the Nicholas Brothers in a dance routine. [Photo above, from left, Bob Brookmeyer, Jim Hall and Jimmy Raney at The Street Swingers session]

If you like the sound of Raney and Bob together, here's a list of small-group albums where they are paired...

• Bob's The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer (1955)
• Raney's In Three Attitudes (1956)
• Raney's Featuring Bob Brookmeyer (1956)
• Bob's The Street Swingers (1957)
• David X. Young's Jazz Loft (two tracks) (1957)
• John Carisi The New Jazz Sound of 'Show Boat' (four tracks) (1959)
• Bob's Trombone Jazz Samba (1962)

Jimmy Raney died in 1995; Bob Brookmeyer died in 2011.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jimmy Raney in Three Attitudes and Jimmy Raney Featuring Bob Brookmeyer on one release from Fresh Sound here.

JazzWax note: For my 2009 interview with Bob Brookmeyer, you'll find Part 1 here. For subsequent parts, see the link above the red date on each post.

JazzWax clips: Here's So in Love from In Three Attitudes...

So In Love

And here's the full album of Featuring Bob Brookmeyer...

John Klopotowski: Live in S.F.

Between the fall of 1980 and late 1987, guitarist John Klopotowski (above) studied and performed with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. A cool-jazz founder in 1949 with pianist Lennie Tristano, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, guitarist Billy Bauer, bassist Arnold Fishkin and drummer Harold Granowsky, Marsh played high on the instrument's register and had a dry, vibrato-less tone. Like Boy Scout knots, smoke signals and bebop (which preceded cool), the music was a secret language based on Tristano's polymorphic approach to improvisation. To the naked ear, the music sounded like familiar melodies played in reverse.

A passionate student of Marsh and Tristano, Klopotowski has just released San Francisco Concert: Remembering Lennie Tristano (1919-1978). Recorded at Jazz Chez Hanny on February 10 of this year, the album features Klopotowski backed by a magnificent group—alto saxophonist Jacob Zimmerman, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Akira Tana. The album is superb from start to finish, capturing the arid essence and unison playfulness of Tristano's and Marsh's cool-jazz recordings.

Interestingly, while Klopotowski's motive was to celebrate the music of Tristano, he also rekindles interest in guitarist Billy Bauer's role in the original Lennie Tristano Quintet. Klopotowski's guitar playing is exemplary, combining Bauer's brooding swing and Marsh's sailing horn together in one entwined attack. Zimmerman's saxophone against Klopotowski's guitar rekindles the eager grace of both Konitz and Marsh, and he clearly has spent quality time absorbing and adapting Tristano's and Marsh's recordings. [Photo above of Billy Bauer]

The album's tracks are Klopotowski's Child's Play, Konitz's Subconscious Lee, the standard You Go to My Head, Tristano's 317 East 32nd St., Tristano's Lennie's Pennies, the standard Stardust, Marsh's Fishin' Around, Al Cohn's High on You and Charlie Parker's Billie's Bounce. John David Klopotowski, the guitarist's son, is on drums on the last track. All of the tracks embrace Tristano's controlled, geometric jazz feel. [Photo above of Lennie Tristano by William P. Gottlieb]

If you dig cool jazz, this album is pure joy and a must own. 

JazzWax tracks: You'll find the John Klopotowski Quartet's San Francisco Concert: Remembering Lennie Tristano (1919-1978) here. Or in the CD format here. 

The album also is available at Spotify.

JazzWax note: Klopotowski is the author of A Jazz Life, a memoir detailing his experiences studying and performing with Marsh throughout the 1980s. For a book preview, go here. The book features some of the most cogent explanations of Marsh's approach and why the music sounds the way it does. For the book, go here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Fishin' Around...

Here's Subconscious Lee...

And here's Child's Play...

Carmen McRae: At Ratso's

Ratso's was one of Chicago's leading jazz restaurant-clubs in the 1970s. It stood on Lincoln Avenue, between West Altgeld and West Montana streets. Bob Briggs owned the club from 1969 to 1977 and named the place after Ratso Rizzo, the Dustin Hoffman character in Midnight Cowboy (1969). By 1975, several major Chicago jazz clubs had folded, including Mr. Kelly's, the Happy Medium and the London House. Ratso's was among those that survived by diversifying. Rather than showcase just jazz, other music styles and acts favored by those who still went out to hear live music were featured.

In April 1976, Ratso's hosted vocalist Carmen McRae and her new trio—Marshall Otwell (p), Ed Bennett (b) and Joey Baron (d). Fortunately, someone had the good sense to record over two nights. The tape surfaced at the turn of this century and the music was released in 2002 as Carmen McRae: At Ratso's, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Hitchcock Media. Of particular note was McRae's pianist, whose accompaniment here and on all of his recordings with her between 1976 and 1983 was gorgeous. Otwell has been a well-kept secret, and his playing behind McRae suited her voice perfectly. It was inventive, lush, beautifully phrased and bold when set loose.

Otwell grew up in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio, in a household where nearly everyone knew their way around a keyboard. He played gigs in high school, and by the time he attended Princeton University, jazz was his passion. After a couple of years, Otwell flunked out after spending the bulk of his nights listening to pianists at New York jazz clubs. 

As Andrew Gilbert wrote about Otwell in the Monterey County Now in 2007:

When a friend suggested they head out to Southern California, Otwell jumped at the opportunity, and after settling in Laguna Beach, he slowly established himself on the Los Angeles scene. In 1975, his buddy, bassist Luther Hughes, got word that Carmen McRae was looking for a new band, and he called her up and asked for a tryout. McRae said she needed a pianist, not a bassist. Hughes convinced her to let him audition if he brought along a pianist, who turned out to be Otwell. They both got the gig, with drummer Joey Baron rounding out the rhythm section. It wasn’t a smooth transition for her new pianist, as McRae was famously tough on her sidemen.

“When I quit Carmen [in the early '80s], that’s when I should have moved to L.A. and started shaking hands,” says Otwell. "I probably should have moved to New York, but it was hard to face that, I don’t know why. Carmen was the thing that got my name out there. Even now I get calls from singers who saw me work with her, looking for an accompanist.”

Volume 1 of Carmen McRae: at Ratso's features You and I, Elusive Butterfly, Lost Up in Loving You, Hey John, All By Myself, A Letter for Anna-Lee, an Ellington medley, Would You Believe, Them There Eyes, Dindi and I Am Music.

Volume 2 included You Know Who You Are, Just A Little Lovin', Paint Your Pretty Picture With a Song, Haven't We Met?, My Old Flame, I Have The Feeling I've Been Here Before, The Ballad Of Thelonious Monk, Tain't Nobody's Business (If I Do), Like A Lover, Guess Who I Saw Today and For Once In My Life.

Today, it appears Otwell resides near San Luis Obispo, Calif., and recently accompanied singer Julie Kelly with his trio at the Solvang Festival Theater in Solvang, Calif. Hopefully he'll reach out to chat about his McRae years.

Carmen McRae died in 1994.

JazzWax tracks: Vol.1 of Carmen McRae: At Ratso's can be found here; Vol. 2 is here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Vol. 1 complete...

Here's Sunday from Vol. 2. For the others, type in the names of the album's songs at YouTube...

A special thanks to Ellie Becker.

Erskine Hawkins: At Midnight

In the mid-1930s, just as the jazz trumpet was becoming popular in the swing era, Erskine Hawkins formed his 'Bama State Collegians in Montgomery, Ala. The band would go on to create a new two-step swing that was more relaxed than the quickened tempos suitable for the Fox Trot and the Savoy Walk. Born in Birmingham, Ala., Hawkins started playing the drums and trombone as a child before switching to trumpet at age 13. In 1930, when he was 16, he graduated from Birmingham Industrial High School and relocated to Montgomery to attend Alabama State Teachers College on a tennis scholarship. He soon switched his major to music.

Hawkins's newly formed swing band traveled to New York in 1934, where he played many of Harlem's popular ballrooms, including the Savoy, where he alternated with Chick Webb as the house band.  In 1938, Hawkins signed with RCA Bluebird, the country's most prominent swing label at the time. No easy task for an African-American band. He also had the chops to be dubbed the "20th Century Gabriel" by RCA. Three of his records became sizable hits—Tuxedo Junction (1939), which he co-wrote; After Hours (1940), composed by Avery Parish; and Bobby Smith's Tippin' In (1945).

Tuxedo Junction was named for the intersection of Ensley Avenue and 19th Street in the Ensley suburb of Birmingham and the center of African-American nightlife there back in the 1930s. It also was the name of one of the neighborhood's clubs. The loping swing of Hawkins's band was flavored by his sidemen, most notably Wilbur "Dud" Bascomb on trumpet and his brother Paul, who played high on the register of his tenor saxophone. For example, it was Wilbur's opening trumpet solo on Tuxedo Junction that caught the ear of Glenn Miller. And Parish's piano opens After Hours.

Both the RCA contract and Hawkins's Gabriel moniker tell us his band was highly disciplined and superbly rehearsed, thanks in part to steady work at the Savoy. Further evidence of the band's sleek professionalism can be found on its first two recording sessions in 1938, which produced an impressive 12 masters, a challenge for any band. Arrangements for Hawkins's band jumped easy with a simmering two-step coolness. If you listen carefully to his recordings, you can hear the emergence of what would become the stroll in the 1950s.

Hawkins's unique approach to swing is neatly illustrated on The Hawk Blows at Midnight, a quintet album for Decca in 1960. The group featured Erskine Hawkins (tp), Bobby Smith (as), Ernie Hayes (p), Leroy Kirkland (g), Lloyd Trotman (b) and Shep Shepherd (d). Songs featured are Tuxedo Junction, Love Is Here to Stay, Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat, Midnight Stroll, Blue Embers, Things Ain't What They Used to Be, Cherry, The Birth of the Blues, Tippin' In, If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight), Deep Purple and Hawkin' Around.

As critic Leonard Featured wrote in the album's liner notes:

Summing up his feelings about the album, Erskine commented after listening to a playback: "After so many years of recording with a big band, I was a little concerned about how my first album with a small combo would turn out. I must admit I'm very happy."

For those unfamiliar with Hawkins, this album is a good starting place. It showcases the trumpeter, free from other trumpeters in his big bands and out in the open where we can hear his sound and articulation. Then you can jump back to 1936 and move forward with Hawkins's big-band recordings.

Erskine Hawkins died in 1993.

JazzWax tracks: Erskine Hawkins's The Hawk Blows at Midnight doesn't appear to be available as a digital download or CD. You'll find the vinyl LP at eBay.

You'll also find many Hawkins early collections at Spotify.

JazzWax clip: Here's the entire The Hawk Blows at Midnight at YouTube. Just let it play...

Henry, Gene and Brenda

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Henry Winkler for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Henry currently is starring in HBO's Barry series. He reflected on his childhood growing up on New York's Upper West Side and his early struggles with dyslexia. Henry's parents grounded him for months at a time, insisting that he sit at his desk and improve his grades while Henry didn't have a clue about how to get his brain to memorize what he read, nor could he write clealry. Dyslexia was largely unknown then. Then Henry discovered that when his emotions were involved, he had a razor sharp memory and could memorize lines flawlessly. Henry is a spectacular actor, and Barry makes full use of his talents as an acting coach to a hit man. [Photo above of Henry Winkler at his Santa Monica home by Jessica Sample for The Wall Street Journal]

Here's a montage of scenes with Henry Winkler in Barry...

Here's the trailer for Season 2; Season 3 is coming this winter...

SiriusXM. Here's my appearance on SiriusXM last week with Nik and Lori on Feedback. We talked about my recent interview with Linda Ronstadt and my "Anatomy of a Song" on Sheryl Crow and Jeff Trott's 1996 hit, If It Makes You Happy. Photo of Sheryl and Jeff above...

Gene Rodgers. Following my post last week on pianist Gene Rodgers, I received the following email from Peter Vacher...

Hello Marc. I was delighted to read your tribute to Gene Rodgers, and it was good to hear the recordings you cited. I came to know Gene quite well when he came to London, first with Al Vollmer’s rather marvelous Harlem Blues and Jazz Band and then as a soloist. He had been in London in the 1930s with the vaudevillian Frank Radcliffe and had recorded with King Oliver and Clarence Williams. I interviewed him for a piece that eventually came out in Jazz Times about his association with Coleman Hawkins and Body and Soul, and that piece is collected in my book Soloists and Sidemen: American Jazz Stories (Northway, London, 2004). It’s quite revealing and well worth your readers’ attention. My more complete account of his career appeared in the Mississippi Rag in 1983 and my obituary of him in Jazz Journal in in 1988. Howard Rye’s entry on Gene in Grove is comprehensive and accurate, as is John Chilton’s entry on Gene in his Who’s Who of Jazz. Of further note is Gene’s appearance, alongside the equally mercurial Dorothy Donegan, in "Sensations of 1945, "directed by Andrew Stone in 1944 for United Artists and also featuring the Woody Herman and Cab Calloway bands. Gene appeared in two other Hollywood movies and in in no less than three solo soundies. He had quite a run in Hollywood, also playing solo residencies in upmarket clubs. A physically imposing man and a formidable player in person, my impression of Gene was of a man who knew his own worth. We kept up a correspondence and I was sorry to of his death in 1987. I’ve attached a scan from my collection showing Rodgers and Donegan in "Sensations of 1945" (above). Keep up the good work. Greeting from sunny Surrey.

Here's another one from Jim Gerard...

Dear Mr. Myers: Thanks for devoting a column to Gene Rodgers, who, if he did nothing more than provide that luminous, incandescent opening on Hawkins's "Body and Soul," would rate a high place in the jazz pantheon. I'm not sure if you know this, but Rodgers spent some time in Europe in the 1930s. In fact, he's the pianist on another historic recording: Benny Carter's recording in Holland on "When Lights Are Low," which I think was made in 1936. Thanks again for all your hard work. If it makes any difference, I'm a writer myself, and I read and enjoyed your book "Why Jazz Happened."

Gap Mangione, the extraordinary jazz pianist, sent along a recent Wall Street Journal "Pepper... and Salt" cartoon that featured his brother, Chuck Mangione (above). A good intro to the Mangione Brothers can be found here.

What the heck: Here's Brenda Holloway in 1967 with the original version of You've Made Me So Very Happy, which was covered by Blood Sweat & Tears and David Clayton Thomas a year later...

Oddball album covers of the week.

The famous Jackie Cain and Roy Kral album cover below is from 1957. I'm not sure about the other one.

Doc: More Quincy Jones

Following my post this week on The Many Lives of Q,, a Quincy Jones documentary broadcast by the BBC, Eric Grinbaum sent along another one on the arranger-composer and trumpeter. Here's Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy (1990), directed by Ellen Weissbrod:

An Evening With Chet Baker, 1980

On February 29, 1980, Chet Baker performed at the Dreher Club in Paris. He was backed by Maurizio Gianmarco (ts), Dennis Luxion (p), Ricardo Del Fra (b) and Donny Donable (d). Fortunately, director Leon Terjanian was there with three cameramen to capture a set. The Dreher was located at Place du Châtelet, on the corner of Rue Saint-Denis, a few blocks from Île de la Cité and Notre-Dame cathedral. By the mid-1980s, the establishment ceased to be a jazz club.

Here's An Evening With Chet Baker...

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...