JazzWax

Video: Brew Moore, 1961

Many tenor saxophonists in the late 1940s and '50s played like Lester Young—once they figured out how to run alternate melody lines on the chord changes of standards and blues in the upper register. One of these Prez disciples was Brew Moore. He was so enamored of Young, he held his saxophone off to the side just as Young did. But rather than simply mimic his mentor's sound and swing, he combined the Young approach with Charlie Parker's ferocity. For more on Moore's life and strange death, read Steve Cerra's terrific post on the saxophonist at his Jazz Profiles blog here.

Brew Moore died in Copenhagen in 1973.

Here's a video of Moore at the Blue Note in Paris in the summer of 1961, with Lou Bennett on organ, Jimmy Gourley on guitar and Kenny Clarke on drums. They played Zonky, Satin Doll and Broadway. A special thanks to Danilo Morandi in Switzerland for sending along the following two links...

Bonus: Here's jazz historian and author Dan Morgenstern speaking about Moore in 2017...

Sonny Rollins: Soundtrack

With the coronavirus forcing most people around the globe indoors, the lockdown has given us a chance to listen to music with more care and gratitude. While writing yesterday, I pulled nine recordings by Sonny Rollins that, when assembled, become the thematic soundtrack for this new age of sheltering in place:

Here's Time on My Hands from 1951...

Here's The Scene Is Clean, featuring Sonny with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet in 1956...

Here's Sonny's Pent-up House in 1956 on his Plus 4 album...

Here's Sonny playing The House I Live In in 1956 from his album Plays for Bird...

Here's Kenny Dorham with Sonny Rollins playing La Villa in 1957 from Dorham's album Jazz Contrasts...

Here's Sonny playing The Blue Room in 1965 from his album On Imuplse!...

Here's Sonny playing Playin' in the Yard in 1972 from his album Next Album...

Here's Sonny playing A House Is Not a Home in 1974 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, recorded live on The Cutting Edge...

And here's Sonny playing Keep Hold of Yourself live in 1996 in Paris on Holding the Stage: Road Shows, Vol 4...

Oliver Nelson + Eric Dolphy

The blues were in Oliver Nelson's blood. Virtually everything he wrote and arranged had an indigo hue. But Nelson's original works weren't your average blues. They were blues cathedrals constructed with flying-buttress passages, gargoyle phrases and stained-glass voicings, not to mention his solo spires. When Nelson played the alto or tenor saxophone on these blues, there was a warm clarity to his tone and a moaning sweetness to how he dragged notes. [Photo above of Oliver Nelson]

Nelson recorded two head-to-head albums with Eric Dolphy, a blues master of another stripe. Dolphy's blues tended to be more elongated with spirited hollow tones. Whether Dolphy played the alto saxophone, bass clarinet or flute, his tone was akin to a car with squealing tires on curves vs. Nelson's thick syrup pouring from a pitcher. [Photo above of Eric Dolphy]

The two albums were Screamin' the Blues and Straight Ahead. The former was recorded in May 1960 while the latter was recorded in March 1961. The latter features Dolphy with a freer feel. Trumpeter Richard Williams joined on the former, and the rhythm section was the same on both—pianist Richard Wyands, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Roy Haynes. 

What's terrific about these albums is the contrast between Nelson's steady sound on his original blues and Dolphy's graffiti-like attack. You can hear this on songs like Ralph's New Blues and Straight Ahead, from the album Straight Ahead. And on The Drive and Alto-itis from Screamin' the Blues. Interestingly, in between the two albums was the Nelson masterpiece, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, recorded in February 1961. Dolphy also played on that one, a septet date.

Wyands is exceptional on both Nelson-Dolphy albums, creating elegant tension on the keyboard and framing both reed players with gorgeous chords. Williams on trumpet served as a shimmering punctuation mark. All of this music seems suitable for our times now—anxious and soulful. [Photo above of Richard Wyands]

Oliver Nelson died in 1975 and Eric Dolphy died in 1964.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find all four Oliver Nelson-Eric Dolphy albums on a two-CD release called Complete Recordings here. The set includes Screamin' the Blues, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis's Train Whistle, Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth and Straight Ahead.

Or you can find these albums individually.

JazzWax clips: Here's The Drive from Screamin' the Blues...

And here's Straight Ahead from Straight Ahead...

Don Burrows: 1928-2020

Don Burrows, a multi-instrumentalist known largely in Australia, where he spent much of his professional career and where he became a significant jazz performer and recording artist, died on March 12, 2020. He was 91.

Burrows recorded on nearly every reed and woodwind instrument and in many different jazz styles, from Dixieland to fusion. In Australia, he was often called upon to play in orchestras backing marquee pop singers on tour, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Cleo Lane. He also performed with touring jazz stars such as Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole and Oscar Peterson.

While hugely popular in Australia, where he became a fixture on televised variety shows and concerts, Burrows was little known in the U.S. That's largely because his records weren't widely distributed here, probably because labels required touring to support their release. Burrows didn't tour much outside of Australia. That decision was likely a practical one, since travel abroad would have taken him away from home for sums that didn't sufficiently offset the cost or inconvenience.

At home, Burrows was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1973 and Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1987.

Here's a sampling of Burrows' sound on alto saxphone and flute:

Here's Love Is For The Very Young (also known as The Bad and the Beautiful)...

Love Is for the Very Young

Here's Esa Cara, with a Bud Shank feel...

Esa Cara

Here's Ivory Moss...

Ivory Moss

Here's The Shade of the Mango Tree with Luiz Bonfá...

The Shade of the Mango Tree

And here's Burrows with the Australian jazz choir, Adelaide Connection, singing Stolen Moments...

Stolen Moments

A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.

Glennon, Don and Marty

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed memoirist Glennon Doyle for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Glennon talked about her childhood and the bulimia she struggled with. Then she married, but wound up having a tough time in the relationship. So Glennon and her husband amicably divorced. [Photo of Glennon Doyle by Amy Paulson, courtesy of Glennon Doyle]

Not until Glennon saw retired pro-soccer star Abby Wambach at a book reading in 2016 did she realize she was attracted to her. They married in 2017, and they now live happily in Naples, Fla. Glennon's new memoir, Untamed, is honest and moving.

Here's Glennon delivering a Ted Talk in 2013...

Don Payne. Following my post last week on Don Payne (above, with glasses), the mystery man in the photo from the Getz/Gilberto album recording session in March 1963, Jim Eigo of Jazz Promo Services sent along a link to quite a few videos of Payne in action. Go here.

Brazilian Jazz Quartet. Following my post last week on the Brazilian Jazz Quartet and the saxophonist who I thought sounded most like Art Pepper, I received the following from Ruy de Lima e Silva in Brazil...

Dear Marc, An utmost honor to disagree with you. I'm a Brazilian, you know, (alas!) and a jazz fan. This Casé-Peixoto tandem have always been universally known here in Brazil as two fanatical Paul Desmond-Dave Brubeck followers (not Pepper or Williamson). They were from São Paulo, but they would frequently show up in my native Rio where they had many fans. Casé, by the way, was considered the topnotch Brazilian alto-sax for many years and would only find some new and real competitors in the 1960s with my very missed friend Victor Assis Brasil, the excellent Jorginho, who you could hear very often in hits by our pioneer rockstars Celly Campelo ("Broto Legal") and Sergio Murilo ("Marcianita"). Cheers!

And this one from Neal in Singapore...

Marc, Luiz Alves is an outstanding bass player, has toured with Joao Donato for decades, and played with all the greats. But he's only in his mid-70's. I wonder if he's a relative.

As the album is on Spotify, I'll definitely listen through. Took a quick listen to one tune, and easily hear the Russ Freeman influence, though not yet sure it has any of Freeman's puckish phrasings.

Thanks for making me aware of this one, Marc, and enjoy the weekend.

Hope you're coping with the virus in New York. Sounds like Blade Runner over in the States. Here in Singapore, things are well under control. No panic, no mayhem, just lots of caution but otherwise OK.

My Voyage to Italy. One of the great documentaries on Italian cinema is Martin Scorsese's loving and captivating tribute, My Voyage to Italy (1999). And a wonderful introduction to post-war Italian realism, if you're unfamiliar. Just jot down the movies Scorsese mentions and you'll be all set. Here's the entire documentary in English. Just ignore the subtitles...

Bill Evans. Pianist Dave Thompson sent along the following audio clip of pianist Bill Evans playing with the San Jose Symphony Orchestra in 1975...

Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams radio. Sid Gribetz is hosting Jazz Profiles this weekend on New York's WKCR-FM. On Sunday (March 15), he explores the album collaborations of trumpeter Donald Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. Tune in from 2 to 5 p.m. (EST). You can listen from anywhere in the world on your iPad, phone or computer by going here.

What the heck. Here's Shalamar performing Take That to the Bank in 1982...

Oddball album cover of the week.

Goodness. I guess Fisher's contract didn't include cover approval rights. Or maybe it did.

Brazilian Jazz Quartet: Pepper Pot

Last week, I was listening to early Brazilian bossa nova albums from the late 1950s when I came across an obscure one from 1958. The album was by a Rio group known as the Brazilian Jazz Quartet. Recorded in 1958 for Columbia, Coffee and Jazz featured alto saxophonist José Ferreira Godinho Filho (better known as Casé), pianist Moacyr Peixoto, bassist Luiz Alves and drummer Rubens Alberto.

What sets this album apart is that Casé sounds an awful lot like Art Pepper and Peixoto sounds like a mix between Russ Freeman and Claude Williamson. So much so that after my first listen, I thought this album might have been recorded by Pepper and Freeman on the sly for a sub rosa payday while under contract to another label. [Photo above of Casé]

I even shared it with Todd Selbert, whose West Coast jazz ears I trust implicitly. Todd is the editor of The Art Pepper Companion: Writings on a Jazz Original (here). Todd was convinced it wasn't Pepper or Williamson but agreed that the musicians were clearly deeply influenced by them.

That's when I remembered what Bud Shank told me during an interview back in 2008 (go here). We talked about his friendship with early bossa nova pioneers in the 1950s and about their passion for the relaxed approach of Chet Baker and West Coast jazz in general. [Photo above of Bud Shank]

How did they know about the music? Direct flights from Los Angeles to Rio in the late 1950s meant people returning from visits to L.A. often came home with armfuls of West Coast jazz albums. Many of those albums were also sold in Rio.

Interestingly, this is similar to the way American jazz musicians found out about the bossa nova years later when musician friends on tour in South America returned to the U.S. with Brazilian albums. Amazing how West Coast jazz initially influenced the bossa nova in the 1950s and then the bossa nova influenced jazz starting in the 1960s. [Pictured above on the album cover, from left, Russ Freeman and Chet Baker]

Clearly, the Brazilian Jazz Quartet had spent hours listening to West Coast jazz albums. Casé surely played along with all of Pepper's recordings until he had figured out how to sound like him. Peixoto must have fallen in love with the sound of Freeman and Williamson. So much so that when Coffee and Jazz was recorded, these two musicians could have passed for audio clones of their American idols.

But enough history. You'll find Coffee and Jazz here. And here's the full album at YouTube. You be the judge...

Herbie Mann in 10 Tracks

Love him or hate him, flutist Herbie Mann was on top of just about every major music trend between the early 1950s and the 1980s and beyond and paved the way for World Music in the '60s. Admittedly, not all of his albums were great, but he did have enormous musical curiosity and a knack for being in the right place at the right time to catch a cultural wave.

Here are 10 Herbie Mann tracks through a wide range of music genres:

Here's Herbie Mann backing Sarah Vaughan in 1954 on Lullaby of Birdland, providing a short flute solo...

Here's Mann playing hip, swinging chamber jazz on Love Is a Simple Thing in 1955...

Here's Mann down with the beatnik scene on Comin' Home Baby at New York's Village Gate in 1961...

Here's Mann in Rio in early 1962 ahead of the bossa nova craze playing One Note Samba...

Here's Mann making the Latin scene in 1965 with the Oliver Nelson Orchestra, playing Manteca (co-written by Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller)...

Here's Mann taking on the Beatles early, in 1965, playing The Night Before...

Here's Mann with vocalist Tamiko Jones in a soundtrack bag playing A Man and a Woman in 1966...

Here's Mann playing the funk-soul Memphis Underground in 1969...

Here's Mann in a funky place with Duane Allman on Push Push in 1971...

And here's Mann's early entry into disco with his Latin-hustle hit Hi-Jack in 1975...

Bonus: Here's Mann looking back at Bill Evans with Peri's Scope in 1995...

Here's Mann in a group accompanying the fabulous Chris Connor singing a smashing rendition of I've Got Beginner's Luck in 1957...

And here's Mann being interviewed by Dick Clark on American Bandstand in 1975...

Art Pepper: Mucho Calor

When brothers John and Alex Siamas started Rex Productions in 1957, it was conceived as a holding company for several record labels that they launched the same year. Andex was Rex's jazz and gospel imprint but also released R&B and rock 'n' roll singles. Keen was primarily rock 'n' roll and R&B. The third was Ensign, which featured rock 'n' roll and gospel.

The reason for the category overlap among the labels was to avoid having one label played too frequently by radio stations, which would attract payola scrutiny. Different labels for singles wouldn't dominate on station playlists.

During Andex's two-year run, the label featured mostly West Coast jazz. The first album to be recorded for Andex was Mucho Calor, an octet album co-led by Art Pepper and trumpeter Conte Candoli. The album was an attempt to capitalize on the Latin-jazz craze exploding in New York and Los Angeles in the mid-1950s.

Recorded in October 1957, the album seems to have been the idea of Bill Holman or was given the project as producer-arranger. He scored five of the 10 songs and probably contracted the musicians for the date as well. The session featured Conte Candoli (tp), Art Pepper (as), Bill Perkins (ts), Russ Freeman (p), Ben Tucker (b), Chuck Flores (d) and Jack Costanzo and Mike Pachecco (perc). [Photo above of Conte Candoli]

What makes this album special are the arrangements and the solos. In addition to nifty scores by Holman, Pepper and Condoli arranged a pair and Johnny Mandel and Benny Carter contributed one each. [Photo above of Art Pepper]

Here are the songs and their arrangers:

• Mucho Calor (Holman)
• Autumn Leaves (Carter)
• Mambo De La Pinta (Pepper)
• I'll Remember April (Pepper)
• Vaya Hombre Vaya (Holman)
• I Love You (Holman)
• Mambo Jumbo (Condoli)
• Old Devil Moon (Holman)
• Pernod (Mandel)
• That Old Black Magic (Holman)

Surprisingly, Pepper's two arrangements are album standouts. Mandel's Pernod also has a smart snap and Holman's Old Devil Moon was wonderfully hip, as always. The rest were quite good, too. What I love most about this album is the airy feel. Though this wasn't the first time West Coast jazz musicians recorded Latin jazz (Shorty Rogers's Mambo Del Crow dates back to '53, and Stan Kenton recorded many Latin-jazz pieces, including Peanut Vendor, in the '40s), Mucho Calor has a relaxed Lighthouse All-Stars intensity. The solos also are in the pocket and swing. Through the music, you can feel the sand and the salty breeze off Hermosa and Santa Monica, with a little spice, of course. [Photo above of Johnny Mandel]

Art Pepper died in 1982 and Conte Candoli died in 2001.

JazzWax tracks: Art Pepper and Conte Candoli's Mucho Calor is available here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Johnny Mandel's Pernod...

Here's Art Pepper's arrangement of I'll Remember April...

And here's Bill Holman's priceless arrangement of Old Devil Moon...

Video: McCoy Tyner, 1986

Yesterday, Jimi Mentis sent along a link to a terrific concert video featuring pianist McCoy Tyner with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Louis Hayes. The concert took place at the Jazz Ost-West Festival in Nürmberg, Germany, in 1986. The songs were Birdlike, Just Feeling, As Me Now, Caravan and Inner Glimpse.

Here's where the songs fall along the time bar: Birdlike at 00:00 (full quintet), Just Feeling at 05:25 (just the trio), As Me Now at 17:00 (the trio and Henderson), Caravan at 26:26 (the trio and Hubbard) and Inner Glimpse at 44:25 (full quintet).

Here's the hour-long concert video...

McCoy Tyner (1938-2020)

McCoy Tyner, whose hypnotically thunderous piano behind John Coltrane's saxophone in the 1960s, starting with My Favorite Things in 1961, launched a keyboard revolution, died on March 6. He was 81. [Photo above of McCoy Tyner at Regattabar in Cambridge, Mass., on February 11, 2012, by Bruno Vasil]

Tyner's percussive, stampede-like attack and vast use of modal scales and chord changes broke with the modernists of the post-war period. His distinct, churning attack developed artfully across several dozen leadership albums recorded well into the 2000s, ranging from his delicate early recordings of standards to his more expressive works later on.

Tyner remained in the Coltrane Quartet until 1965, when the saxophonist's freewheeling expressionism and incorporation of horns drowned out the pianist's contribution. Following his departure from Coltrane's quartet, Tyner was in strong demand as a leader and as a sideman on tours and in the recording studio. In the 1960s, Tyner's stormy, influential approach was adapted by many other gifted pianists, most notably Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea as well as fusion players of the 1970s.

Growing up, Tyner studied at West Philadelphia Music School and later at the Granoff School of Music. Early on, he recorded with Curtis Fuller (Imagination and Images of Curtis Fuller), Art Farmer (Meet the Jazztet), Freddie Hubbard (Ready for Freddie), Joe Henderson (Page One), Art Blakey (A Jazz Message) and Elvin Jones (Illumination), among others.

But his most powerful work remains his adventurous recordings as a leader that embraced pan-African motifs and a spiritualism that surely was influenced by his religion and outlook. Tyner converted to Islam at age 17 through the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Here are 10 of my favorite Tyner tracks that illustrate his power and critical importance to the development of the jazz piano:

Here's Tyner on John Coltrane's famed cover of My Favorite Things, released in 1961...

Here's Wayne Shorter's House of Jade released on Juju in 1965...

Here's Tyner's Reaching Fourth from the album of same name, released in 1963...

Here's Passion Dance from Tyner's The Real McCoy, released in 1967...

Here's Ebony Queen from Sahara, released in 1972...

Here's Presence from Enlightenment, released in 1973...

Here's The Greeting from Supertrios, released in 1977...

Here's Uptown from Inner Voices, released in 1977...

Here's Latino Suite from Double Trios, released in 1986...

And here's Trane-Like from With Stanley Clarke and Al Foster, released in 1999...

JazzWax note: If you love McCoy Tyner as much as I do, you have a lot to collect. He recorded a considerably large number of albums over the years, particularly in the 1990s. A Tyner discography is here.