JazzWax

BBC Doc: Quincy Jones

Regardless of what you think about Quincy Jones, The Many Lives of Q will likely be a head-turner. The BBC documentary from 2008, directed by Deborah Perkin, tracks the composer-arranger's career from the very beginning in the late 1940s and provides an overview of the many music and film projects that bear his touch and textures. From Lionel Hampton to Dinah Washington, from Lesley Gore to Count Basie, from Paris to Hollywood, and from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, Jones has been at nearly every major turn in post-war jazz and pop music history:

Here's Part 1...

Here's episode 1 of Part 2....

Here's episode 2 of Part 2...

Here's episode 3 of Part 2...

Here's episode 4 of Part 2...

Episodes 5 and 6 seem to be blocked. Let me know if you find them and I'll add.

And here's episode 7 of Part 2...

Gene Rodgers: At the Astor

Gene Rodgers was the pianist on Coleman Hawkins's seminal recording of Body and Soul in 1939. But for some reason, Rodgers didn't record nearly as often as he should have given his gift. Perhaps he preferred playing live rather than sweating re-takes in the studio. Or he wasn't as outgoing as others when it came to networking and bonding with producers. Or maybe he slipped through the cracks and he became a secret. Or was pegged as a dated boogie-woogie player. It's impossible to say.

What is evident is that Rodgers had enormous talent. He had a fleet attack that was reminiscent of Art Tatum, but he also could sound delicate, like Ahmad Jamal. His first 78 was made in 1929 backing vocalist Mamie Smith for Columbia. His releases in the 1930s and '40s were mysteriously limited and included a session in 1931 with King Oliver when he was 16. Most of his too-few 1940s recordings were behind Hawkins. Remarkably, Rodgers's first 12-inch leadership album, Jazz Comes to the Astor, was offered to him when he was 44 in August 1958 by producer Jack Tracy at Mercury. Tommy Williams was on bass and Ben Riley was on drums. The trio had been playing at the Hotel Astor's newly opened Broadway Lounge in Times Square in 1958 before the hotel was torn down in 1967. Hence the title of the album.

The album's songs are a smart lineup of standards plus two original blues: There'll Never Be Another You, Rodgers's Minor Impressions, All the Things You Are, Where Are You, All God's Children Got Rhythm, Lullaby of the Leaves, Rodgers's Just Some More Blues, Whisper Not and Frankie and Johnny.

Rodgers's other leadership albums include Gene Rodgers Plays Richard Rodgers for Mercury in 1959, Gene Rodgers With Slam Stewart and Jo Jones in 1972 for Black & Blue, and It Might as Well Be...Gene!, recorded live at Jacklin', a club in Zurich, Switzerland. And that was it.

My guess is that Rodgers was simply under the radar and probably thought of as an out-of-fashion boogie-woogie player. According to Jack Tracy's liner notes:

I went to the New York's Composer's Club early last summer to hear another trio we were contemplating signing. They finished their first set, then Rodgers took the stand. From their first notes, it was apparent that this was a trio, not a pianist with a rhythm section playing together. By the second tune, the dinner audience had grown quiet and and was looking at the group with appreciation and smiles. They liked what they heard and they showed it. Some 30 minutes later, Gene agreed to join the Mercury roster and record this label. [Photo above of Jack Tracy by Chuck Stewart]

Why the relationship ended after two albums remains a mystery. I wish Jack were still around so I could ask him.

Gene Rodgers died in 1987.

JazzWax tracks: The Gene Rodgers Trio's Jazz Comes to the Astor sadly never made it to the digital format. There are plenty of vinyl copies at eBay and at Discog.com

You'll find Gene Rodgers' Black & White recordings at Spotify.

JazzWax tracks: Here's There'll Never Be Another You...

There'll Never Be Another You

Here's All God's Children Got Rhythm...

All God's Children Got Rhythm

And here's Whisper Not...

Whisper Not

Here's Gene Rodgers in action in 1944...

Here's Jukebox Boogie...

And here's Coleman Hawkins in 1939 recording Body and Soul with Rodgers on piano and his terrific keyboard opening...

A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.

Sheryl, Gordon and Bonnie

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, my "Anatomy of a Song" column was on Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy (go here). Sheryl co-wrote the song in 1996 with Jeff Trott when she was working on her second album. Jeff started the song in 1994 after breaking up with his girlfriend. Interestingly, the song has different personal meanings for Sheryl and Jeff.

For Sheryl, the song is about the struggles she endured after her first album was a huge success. Band members grew disgruntled that it was a solo album after she shared the publishing with the others. She told me she was supposed to be happy, so why was she so upset? As for Jeff, the song expressed his bafflement about his departing girlfriend. As he told me, "If the relationship made my girlfriend so happy, why did we split up?" As always, my column has a nifty twist at the end.

Here's Sheryl singing If It Makes You Happy in 2007...

Also in the WSJ, I interviewed Gordon Lightfoot for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section on growing up in Orillia, Ontario (go here). Readers may be surprised to learn that in the late 1950s, Gordon studied jazz composition and orchestration at the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles, Bill Holman's alma mater.

Here's Gordon's hit recording of If You Could Read My Mind in 1970...

SiriusXM. If you have access to SiriusXM next Thursday (August 22), tune in to Feedback (Ch. 106/VOLUME) at 9 a.m. (EDT). I'll be on for an hour with Nik and Lori taking about Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy and playing audio clips. Not to be missed.

Two books on Merseybeat. Too little is known about the Liverpool pop scene from 1960 to 1964. Beyond the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black, most people have little knowledge about the big beat's evolution in the port city. Anthony Hogan has written two that were published by the Amberley imprint—The Beat Makers: The Unsung Heroes of the Mersey Sound and From a Storm to a Hurricane: Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (go here and here). Fascinating to learn what a huge influence the music of Liverpool's black neighborhood had on the Beatles and all of the groups that emerged.

Who was Rory Storm? Back in the late 1950s, his cool intensity and steamy sexuality captivated the girls at clubs. Storm and the Hurricanes are credited with launching the Merseyside sound (Ringo Starr was the band's drummer, before he joined the Beatles in 1962). Poorly managed, the Hurricanes recorded only two singles.

Here's a clip of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in action...

And here's a promo for Anthony's book, The Unsung Heroes of the Mersey Sound...

Michael Wolff—Swirl (Sunnyside). Backed by bassist Ben Allison and drummer Allan Mednard, pianist Wolff released Swirl earlier this year. Wolff recorded six originals, two standards and one composition by Allison. There's a brooding storminess to Wolff's attack, giving fresh meaning to Angel Eyes and I Didn't Know What Time It Was, and his originals such as Metairie and the title track have thoughtfulness and plenty of edge. Go here. 

Bird/Prez birthday broadcast. WKCR-FM will present a 72-hour broadcast featuring the music of Lester Young and Charlie Parker (above). Starting Monday night, August 26 at 11:59 p.m. (EDT), the station will play their music around the clock on Tuesady, Wednesday and Thursday. To listen from anywhere in the world on your phone or computer, go here.

Bonnie Bowden, a former member of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77, will be singing with the Angel City Big Band this Sunday, August 18, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the San Fernando Valley Arts & Culture Center in Tarzana, Calif. Listen or dance, the admission is $15. Bonnie has a truly extraordinary voice. Photo above of Stevie Wonder and Bonnie. For more information, go here.

Here's Bonnie singing Put a Little Love Away with Sergio Mendes...

And here's Bonnie singing lead on Love City...

Bonus: To read my interview with Bonnie back in 2012, go here.

What the heck: Here's Jackie Wilson singing Whispers (Gettin' Louder) in 1966...

And here's Wilson in action on Shindig! in 1965...

Oddball album cover of the week.

When the hot rod craze of the late 1950s ran its course, car racing moved indoors on a miniature scale. Generically, it was called model road racing. For the rest of us in the mid-1960s, we called it slot-car racing. When I was a kid, two sounds stood out—the hushed explosion of a strike at a bowling alley and the whoosh of slot cars flying around a track in storefront raceways. On this album, the Phantom Surfers recorded what must have been a soundtrack meant to be played at home while racing slot cars...

Here's a clip on the mid-'60s slot-car craze...

10 Lionel Hampton Videos

Up until the late 1950s, vibraphonist, drummer and bandleader Lionel Hampton was on par with Count Basie. Hampton began his recording career in 1924, and played and recorded with Louis Armstrong before joining Benny Goodman in 1936. Through the late 1930s and into 1940, Hampton was a member of the Benny Goodman Quartet, which bravely introduced integrated jazz performance at the highest level during the swing era.

Throughout the 1940s, he led his own orchestra and helped pioneer rhythm & blues and jump blues. In the early and mid-1950s, he was a progenitor of rock 'n' roll and starred in Alan Freed's 1957 jukebox film Mr. Rock 'n' Roll. And at times, such as in 1951, Hampton employed a trombone section that would wind up working for Basie. Where Basie was quiet and reserved, Hampton was vocal and outgoing. By 1958, as 12-inch stereo albums caught on, Basie became more prominent thanks, in part, to the cool pop-swing of his collaborations with arranger-composer Neal Hefti.

To give you a sense of Hampton's longevity and influence on swing, R&B and rock 'n' roll, here are 10 clips of Hamp in action over four decades:

Here's Hampton with the Benny Goodman Quartet in the film Hollywood Hotel playing I Got A Heartful of Music in 1937...

Here's Hampton and his band in a 1951 short film playing Cobb's Idea, by tenor saxophonist Arnett Cobb, featuring Betty Carter, possibly trombonist Al Grey and tenor saxophonist Johnny Board...

Here's Hampton and his orchestra in a Universal short in 1949 playing a jump blues and more...

Here's Hampton with his orchestra in 1953 playing in a 33-minute Western Electric short film...

Here's Hampton and his band in 1955 playing a jam session with Milt Buckner on piano...

Here's singer Marti Barris joined by Johnny Otis and Lionel Hampton on The Johnny Otis Show on KTTV-Los Angeles in 1956 or '57...

Here's Otis and Hampton on the same show playing It's You...

Here's Hampton in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll, again chipping away at segregation in 1957...

And here's Hampton and his band with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams in 1964 playing Sophisticated Lady...

Here's Hampton and his big band on Chicago television in 1965 playing Neal Hefti's Cute...

JazzWax note: Lionel Hampton died in 2002.

Jazz Drummers Abroad: '75

In June 1975, Kongsberg, Norway, held its annual jazz festival. Fortunately, NRK Norwegian television sent a documentary team and a wonderful interviewer to cover it. The documentary focused on the drummers, including Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, Dannie Richmond and Ed Thigpen. Matt LeGroulx sent along a link to the film, which is highly illuminating and revealing.

Here's the documentary:

Four Wes Montgomery Videos

Wes Montgomery had a way with a song. There was swinging melody, cool harmony and his right thumb that strummed the guitar strings with the snapping force of a sling shot. Here are four videos that tell you all you need to know about what made Montgomery special and how he pioneered jazz-pop [photo above of Creed Taylor, left, with Wes Montgomery in the studio in the mid-1960s by Chuck Stewart]:

Here's Montgomery in London in 1965 on the BBC's Jazz 625...

Here's Goin' Out of My Head in 1967. The 1966 hit recording produced by Creed Taylor on Verve launched the jazz-pop revolution of the 1960s...

Here's California Nights and Windy in 1968...

And here's a clip sent along by Bill Pauluh of Montgomery synching to his Wives and Lovers recording on the Hollywood Palace in 1967...

Mary Kaye's Swing and Sway

Guitarist Mary Kaye led a popular trio from the 1940s through the 1960s that roosted in Las Vegas in 1953. There, she helped establish the lounge phenomenon that showcased small snappy singer-player ensembles in smaller, intimate rooms at emerging resorts. Of Hawaiian descent, Kaye played and sang while her two male counterparts sang and played, accompanyied and hammed it up a bit. In the 1950s, she also played a role in the history of the Fender Stratocaster, promoting the new model with a singular color scheme (blonde wood body and gold hardware), which became standard for the line. Kaye died in 2007.

Here are bunch of clips of the Mary Kaye Trio in action that Milt Cohen sent along:

Here's the trio in 1945...

Here's the trio in Las Vegas in the mid-1950s...

Here's Kaye and the trio singing Just One of Those Things...

Here's Kaye playing the very first Fender Stratocaster c. 1954...

Here's the trio in 1963, with Kaye singing I Left My Heart in San Francisco...

Bonus: Here's the trio's recording of I Should Care in the late 1950s...

Jazz Club U.S.A. Episodes

Jazz Club U.S.A. was a weekly radio show that aired between 1950 and 1952. Hosted by jazz critic and producer Leonard Feather, it was featured on the U.S. government-sponsored Voice of America network. In the early 1950s, VOA programming was beamed into countries under Communist rule so that residents there who picked up the VOA surreptitiously could equate the thrilling aspects of American music with the positive qualities of freedom and capitalism. The U.S. government hoped the music would help thwart the spread of Communism and that residents of such countries would overthrow Communist regimes. In 1954, Feather went out on a Jazz Club U.S.A. tour to Sweden. [Photo above of Leonard Feather]

Les Johnston in Australia passed along links to the shows as they aired back in the early 1950s:

Here's the first episode...

Here's Woody Herman in 1952...

Here's Stan Kenton in 1952...

Here's a show on the jazz keyboard in 1952...

And here's my favorite—a show of poll winners that includes recordings by Charlie Parker with strings, Count Basie, Serge Chaloff, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton with Maynard Ferguson, and more...

Eva, Craig and Francis

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Eva Longoria for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Eva's family in the 1700s helped settle what would become Texas, making her 9th generation American, which may come as a surprise to many. She has a wonderful sense of humor and is tireless when it comes to work and family. She says her mother is the same way. Growing up, Eva and two of her sisters looked after their older, developmentally challenged sister. The experience taught her a great deal about character. [Photo above of Eva Longoria at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., by Shayan Asgharnia for The Wall Street Journal; the pantsuit is from Australian designer Rebecca Vallance.

Here's Eva with Craig Ferguson about 10 years ago. Listen how fast she is and how she keeps the repartee going without a break. It's like listening to Tracy and Hepburn. Not easy...

SiriusXM. Last week I was on SiriusXM's Feedback (Ch. 106) with Nik and Lori to talk about the writing and recording of Killing Me Softly With His song, recorded first by Lori Lieberman and next by Roberta Flack. To listen to the broadcast, go here.

Francis Wolff site. Mosaic Records has set up a new site featuring the powerful jazz photos of Francis Wolff (above), a co-founder of Blue Note and its chief photographer. As Mosaic co-founder and producer Michael Cuscuna writes...

The Mosaic Images website is now operational, where the most famous Blue Note session photographs are available to the entire world. Over 2400 black & white images and over 300 color images are available for licensing in publications, album and book packaging, documentaries, films, and more. In addition, over 90 of the best and most famous images are available for sale as fine art prints in three sizes.

The site is full of features like the Mosaic Jazz Gazette, the history of Mosaic Records, Mosaic Images and a biography of Francis Wolff. There are also links to a number of video features on Blue Note’s graphics and Wolff’s photography as well as interviews about the history of the Blue Note label.

To visit the site, go here.

Amazon Prime. As a celebrity interviewer, I have to watch quite a bit of alt-TV—my term for the multi-episode series produced for streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. This medium is growing rapidly and fast replacing the movies. I have a fairly sizable new iMac, so it's easy to knock off a couple of episodes each night after writing. For Prime subscribers looking for stuff to watch, here are the series I've enjoyed most so far:

• The Americans
• Jack Ryan
• Goliath
• Widow
• Hannah
• Fleabag

Art Neville radio. The late Art Neville of Neville Brothers fame died on July 22. Chris "King" Cowles paid tribute to him recently on his WRTC-Hartford radio show—Greasy Tracks. The Neville show includes interviews with guitarist Leo Nocentelli, one of the founding members of the Meters; guitarist Brian Stoltz of the Neville Brothers and Funky Meters; and drummer Russell Batiste, Jr. of the Funky Meters. For best results, use Firefox or Safari. Go here. [Photo above of Art Neville courtesy of NPR]

What the heck. The Chants were a doo-wop group from Liverpool in the early 1960s whose music was a fascinating combination of vocal soul and the big Merseybeat. No city's population knew more about black and white music trends and the pop charts than Liverpudlian teens in the early 1960s. Well, maybe Philadelphia. At the time, Liverpool numbered upward of 300 bands. The Chants were on the U.K.'s Pye label, which meant they were distributed in the U.S. on Philadelphia's Cameo label.

Here are the Chants performing their 1964 hit, I Could Write a Book...

Oddball album cover of the week.

Here's a Brazilian bossa-nova bass and organ player who was moderately successful in Rio and desperately in need of a name change.

Five Summer Bossa Videos

I spent yesterday writing and listening to Sergio Mendes and the Brasil '66 and '77, as well as other vintage bossa albums. The music is always breezy and melodic and sets a fast work pace. The photo above shows singers Lani Hall, right, and Brazilian singer Bibi Vogel at a Sergio Mendes and the Brasil ‘66 recording session in 1967 at United Western Recorders in Los Angeles. Here are five videos for a summer Friday:

Here's the Italian bossa group Anima Nova, with singer Gabriella Cascella...

Here's Gilberto Gil and Marjorie Estiano...

Here's João Gilberto and daughter Bebel Gilberto...

Here's Anima Nova again...

And here's Sergio Mendes and the Brasil '66...

Bonus: It's not a bossa, but this video was too good to leave out. Here's Barcelona bassist and leader Joan Chamorro...