JazzWax

Ray Crawford: Smooth Groove

In October 1960, composer-arranger Gil Evans took a large band into the Jazz Gallery, a New York club that had opened earlier in the year at 80 St. Marks Place. It would be a six-week run, culminating in Evans's November recording of Out of the Cool, one of the first six albums produced by Creed Taylor for his new Impulse! Records. Playing guitar in the Evans band at the club and on the Evans album was Ray Crawford.

Crawford had played with Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings in 1951 and then in the Ahmad Jamal Trio up until 1955. The early Jamal chamber-jazz recordings for Epic and Argo remain spectacular and tasty. In 1959, Crawford recorded with Evans on Great Jazz Standards for World Pacific.

One night during Evans's run at the Jazz Gallery in 1960, critic Nat Hentoff dropped by and heard Crawford play. At this point in his long career, Nat co-owned (with Archie Bleyer) Candid Records, a New York label started earlier in '60. Bleyer was the business side while Nat ran the A&R, scouting out talent. He was on the prowl for jazz artists who defined the moment rather than the past. Crawford had just enough soul and funk in his playing to qualify for Nat's vision of contemporary. Nat booked Crawford for a recording session at Nola Penthouse Studios for February 1961. [Photo above of Nat Hentoff]

After Evans's Out of the Cool recording session in November, Crawford set to work writing arrangements and assembling musicians for his first leadership date. The line-up featured Johnny Coles (tp), Cecil Payne (bar), Junior Mance (p), Ray Crawford (g), Ben Tucker (b) and Frankie Dunlop (d). Four of the five songs were original compositions: I Knew Prez, Smooth Groove, Miss April and The Compendium Suite. The fifth song was Steve Allen's Impossible.

According to Crawford in the liner notes, "I do a lot of things from a musical standpoint because I know what blends. I know the trombone will blend with the baritone, and the baritone will blend with the trumpet and guitar. And I know Cecil could play solos so I didn't need a tenor, you know, and everybody is playing tenor, and besides Cecil is underrated. He didn't get his chance to play like he should and he can play, man. Fantastic! And Frankie Dunlop!"

After the recording session, Crawford returned home to California and waited. And waited. And waited. But the album never came out. Candid had folded, lasting just eight months. The album came out on vinyl in 1977 in Japan as I Know Pres and then it was reissued as Smooth Groove in Europe in 1988 and on CD in 1997 in Japan.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1924, Crawford began his music career playing tenor saxophone in Fletcher Henderson's band from 1941 to '43. After recovering from tuberculosis, he switched to guitar. With Jamal, Crawford stood out by playing sensitive solos and fills, adding a signature bongo-like sound on his guitar. Guitarist Herb Ellis and others used it later in the '50s.

In Los Angeles in the 1960s, Crawford (above) drove a converted ice-cream truck and toured with Jimmy Smith and recorded with Tom Waits, Lou Rawls, Curtis Amy, Groove Holmes, Ray Charles and others. Candid's financial misfortunes notwithstanding, Crawford's first leadership album remains a tour de force in soul-jazz and an extension of the Ahmad Jamal Trio sound. He also had a singular picking attack that certainly must have influenced guitarist Grant Green.

All five tracks on Smooth Groove give the group a chance to stretch out. In addition to Crawford's spirited guitar, Junior Mance is a monster here. He's all over the piano with impeccable technique.

What a cruel blow Candid's collapse must have been for Crawford, leaving him to wonder for years what might have been had the album been released in '61.

In all, Crawford recorded three leadership albums. In addition to Smooth Groove, he released It's About Time (1977) and One Step at a Time (1978) with Ronnell Bright on piano. Ray Crawford died in December 1997.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Ray Crawford's Smooth Groove (Candid) here.

You'll find It's About Time here.

And you'll find One Step at a Time here.

Note: If you plan on buying the digital files of One Step at a Time at Amazon, download the mp3 files individually from the CD tab; the mp3 tab features only four tracks and the sound is unacceptable compared with the digital files under the CD tab.

JazzWax clips: Here's The Compendium Suite from Smooth Groove...

Here's the title track from It's About Time (also known as Doubletimes)...

And here's But Beautiful from One Step at a Time...

Bonus: Here's the Ahmad Jamal Trio playing New Rhumba in 1955 with Jamal on piano, Ray Crawford on guitar and Israel Crosby on bass. Note Crawford's bongo effect on the guitar...

For more, see Mark Weber's 1980 interview with Crawford here.

A special thanks to John Scofield.

Paul Desmond: Toronto Box

After all these years, I'm still not exactly sure why the sound of Paul Desmond's alto saxophone is so hypnotizing. Part of the reason, I suspect, is he played high on the instrument's register, and for some reason the ear favors that range. Another is that he was a wizard of lyrical improvisation, inventing new melodies that rivaled the song's original. A third is that his tone was impossibly pretty, again, hitting the ear just right. But I think there's a fourth reason. He's one of those players—like Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Stan Getz and Bill Evans among others—who loved hearing himself play. And self-joy makes a difference.

Long considered Desmond's finest live leadership albums are three recorded in Toronto in 1975: Like Someone in Love (Terlarc), recorded on March 29; Paul Desmond (Artists House), recorded on October 27, 28 and 29; and Live (A&M Horizon), recorded on the same dates. All three were captured at Toronto's Bourbon Street Jazz Club. The club's owner, Doug Cole, operated the establishment between 1971 and 1986, along with George's Spaghetti House.

Now Mosaic Records has released Paul Desmond: The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings. For the box, the label pulled together all of Desmond's live Toronto recordings in '75, a set that includes an extensive number of previously unreleased recordings. Of the 51 tracks on the 7-CD box, 31 were previously unreleased. And seven of these include Rob McConnell on valve trombone. The trio behind Desmond on all the dates are Ed Bickert (g), Don Thompson (b) and Jerry Fuller (d). The tasteful Canadian rhythm section was a perfect fit for Desmond's glorious sound and feel.

But don't think of this as a box set. Better to consider it a big fat album, since once you listen to the first track—Too Marvelous for Words—you'll wind up listening all the way through. The first batch of previously unreleased tracks were recorded on March 25, 26 and 28; the second on October 25, 26, 30 and 31.

Desmond, of course, had been a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet for 17 years, starting in 1950. His composition, Take Five, with Brubeck was a massive hit ever since its release in 1959. After Desmond's retirement in 1967, writes Desmond biographer Doug Ramsey of Rifftides in the new set's liner booklet, the saxophonist no longer toured at a marathon pace. Instead, he learned to put his feet up and enjoy vacations. But Desmond was hardly a slacker. He continued to play and perform (most notably with guitarist Jim Hall at New York's Half Note), reuniting from time to time with Brubeck and others.

When Desmond was invited in early 1975 to play in Toronto at Bourbon Street, he immediately asked Jim Hall, his musical soulmate. But Jim couldn't make it. As Jane Hall, Jim's wife recalled last night, he had his own tour lined up. "They always had fun together," Jane said. "Did you know Paul and I played Scrabble a lot? He was a really good writer, too. We had dinner every week when he and Jim were both in town. I miss them terribly." [Photo above of Jane Hall and Paul Desmond at the White House on April 29, 1969 to celebrate Duke Ellington's 70th birthday party; photo by Milt Hinton and courtesy of Jane Hall]

Jim recommended Ed Bickert in Toronto (who passed away last year). Bickert was a perfect fit, as was the light-handed Fuller on drums (who passed in 2002). Don Thompson (who continues to play and record on piano, bass and vibes) is superb here on bass. [Photo above of Don Thompson]

Box highlights include I Should Care, Meditation, Emily (all versions), Let's Get Away From It All and Wendy (with McConnell) and Tangerine. Throughout the box, Desmond blows around on songs like a November leaf, rising and falling and gracefully spinning with each gust.

The only tracks that fall short are the two takes of Take Five. They are surprisingly harsh and labored, as if Desmond was sick and tired of playing his song but knew he had to and chose to torture ears in the process. But that's just me.

Paul Desmond died in 1977.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Paul Desmond: The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's a previously unreleased Emily...

Emily

And here's a previously unreleased Line for Lyons...

Line For Lyons

Shea, Roger and Todd

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Shea Whigham for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Shea was in Boardwalk Empire, Modern Love, Homecoming with Julia Roberts and now Perry Mason. Shea talked about the childhood accident that broke his leg and isolated him for a stretch, making him more sensitive and empathetic. [Photo above of Shea Whigham as Peter Strickland in HBO's Perry Mason series by Merrick Morton, courtesy of HBO]

Here's Shea as enforcer Elias "Eli" Thompson and Steve Buscemi as brother, boss and bootlegger Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in HBO's Boardwalk Empire...

Halt autoplaying. Some JazzWax readers wrote me last week that when they open JazzWax, the embedded videos start playing automatically. They wanted to know why and how to stop it. That problem exists on your browser, on your end. I don't control when clips start. To resolve by changing the switches on your browser's preferences, go here.

Roger Kellaway. Last week, following my post on Stan Getz's movie and TV music, I heard from piano great Roger Kellaway (above, courtesy of Roger Kellaway):

Hi Marc, I played with Stan Getz on the soundtrack of Mickey One (1966). Clark Terry was supposed to be one of the trumpeters in the studio orchestra for all four recording sessions. When he arrived for the first and realized that Stan Getz was on the gig, he canceled the remaining three. I never knew why. I never wanted to ask him. Clark was such a beautiful human being.

The Mickey One session featured four days of large-orchestra sessions with maybe 60 pieces. Of course, Eddie Sauter was on the podium conducting his score. The whole experience was very exhilarating and quite energized. Eddie had a beautiful musical imagination.

I did at one point, on a break, find myself listening back to the music in the studio. Suddenly, the director, Arthur Penn asked me a question about the music. I didn’t answer him but excused myself. I didn’t think the director needed to be asking me any creative questions.

All in all it was a fabulous experience. Many of the great New York players: Al Block, Jimmy Buffington, Eddie Bert, Barry Galbraith, Mel Lewis and so many others.

Rob Pronk. Following my post last week on Dutch pianist and trumpeter Rob Pronk, I received the following from Justin Freed:

Marc, thank you. You are indispensable.
I never thought that I would get to hear Rob’s trumpet and piano playing from those days. He wintered in Sarasota/Long Boat Key, Fla., and we became friends. I also met his sister Babes. There was a piano bar on the Key where he would play hip tunes, like Little Willie Leaps. He liked to sing, but the owner discouraged that, unfairly.

Rob talked about his career at my jazz appreciation class on Long Boat Key. We played cuts from his many Metropole Orchestra albums, and he talked about his fascinating career. There was a photo of Marlene Dietrich on the wall and, yes, he had worked with her, too. A favorite track is It Never Entered My Mind from Saxophone Dreams with Lee Konitz. In it, Rob said, he used the harp motif from the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. It’s gorgeous.

Medical issues bedeviled Rob in the last years of his life, but he came through a major crisis. He returned for his final winter. The story he told about cheating death still inspires me at 84.

More on Rob Pronk from Roberta Arnold, who manages baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber...

Hi Marc. Thank you for writing and mentioning Rob Pronk. Ronnie loved him. We have so many lovely memories working with the Metropole and Rob in particular. Ronnie loved playing his arrangements on his first and second invitational with the Metropole. Rob was a very special talent and person. Take care and keep on doing great work!

Bill Evans.Once again, pianist Dave Thompson has found another wonderful Bill Evans clip. This time, a rehearsal tape that went up at SoundCloud....

More on Bill Evans from Todd Barkan, manager of Keystone Korner Baltimore and former manager of the legendary Keystone Korner San Francisco:

Dear Marc, as you undoubtedly know, I produced the last live recordings by Bill Evans, at Keystone Korner San Francisco in August and Sept 1980. They were box sets originally issued on Fantasy/Milestone Records in two 8-CD sets known as Consecration and The Last Waltz.

Much love from Keystone Korner Baltimore, which re-opened weeks ago with Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Jeff Reed and Eric Kennedy. Here's a link to a ABC's Nightline news segment from June 14 that features Sean Jones and Keystone Korner Baltimore and the healing power of the music we love.

And here's a link from our very first streamed concert from Keystone Korner Baltimore, with Warren Wolf and Joe Locke, performed on June 12.

For more information, go here.

Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. Global jazz fans, you're in luck! Itta Johnson of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival (July 30-August 2) informs me that all concerts held at the Ystads Teater and Ystad Saltsjöbad will be streamed online at the festival site here and here. For more information and tickets, go here.

What the heck. Here's Frank Sinatra singing Gone With the Wind. To skip over Sinatra's cigarette fetish, more the bar to 0:23..

Benny Green: Benny's Crib

The Fender Rhodes electric piano is like Aramis 900, Pierre Cardin's Pour Monsieur or Paco Rabanne's Pour Homme. The scents of these aftershaves are so distinctly '70s, one whiff takes you back in a flash to long sideburns, aviator glasses and bell-bottoms. [Photo above of Benny Green courtesy of Benny Green]

The same goes for the sound of the Fender Rhodes. It's a mellow, reverberating and wistful instrument that reminds me of 1970s autumnal melancholy. For the Rhodes to sound relevant now, it needs to be in the right hands. The player must feed into the instrument's '70s jazz personality while making it sound contemporary.

Benny Green is such a player. His new album, Benny's Crib (Sunnyside), released today, makes glorious use of the Rhodes. Green plays the electric instrument on all 11 tracks, adding the acoustic piano to two of them. In each case, he makes the Rhodes sound as soothing and introspective as the harp and as charismatic as the celeste. Green knows how lovely and sensual the Rhodes can be and lets notes ring beautifully.

Five of the tracks are originals—Central Park South, My Girl Bill, Harold Land, Did We Try? and Benny's Crib. The other song choices show off Green's great taste and are by the composers in parenthesis: Tivoli (Dexter Gordon), Coral Keys (Walter Bishop Jr.), Seascape (Kenny Barron), Something in Common (Cedar Walton) and For Tomorrow (McCoy Tyner). There's just one standard: My One and Only Love.

Green is joined on the album by bassist David Wong, drummer Aaron Kimmel, flutist Anne Drummond and Josh Jones on congas. Veronica Swift wrote the vocalese lyrics for Benny's Crib and sings them. This album is so lush. The songs are terrific picks, and Green's expansive chords and playing are soulful and warm. You'll find yourself listening to the album over and over, falling in love once again with the reverberating sound of the Rhodes. Just go easy on the Hai Karate. [Photo above of Veronica Swift courtesy of Veronica Swift]

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Benny Green's Benny's Crib (Sunnyside) here.

My earlier review of Benny Green's Then and Now is here.

JazzWax clips: Here's My Girl Bill...

My Girl Bill

And here's Harold Land...

Harold Land

YouTubers Dig Wes Montgomery

In 2019, I posted on YouTube clips I found of students playing transcriptions by guitarist Barry Galbraith (go here). In 2018, I did the same with piano students working out on Red Garland solos (go here). Yesterday, I stumbled onto videos of guitar students playing Wes Montgomery (above). Here are eight videos plus a cover by a professional trio of a Montgomery favorite:

Here's Audrey playing Four on Six...

Here's Dearly Beloved...

Here's Mr. Walker...

Here's Alex Baird signing a vocalese on Montgomery's recording of The Days of Wine and Roses...

Here's Gentle Rain...

Here's Cecil Alexander playing West Coast Blues...

Here's Sun Down (aptly played in a bathrobe!)...

And here's the bass line to So Do It!...

Bonus: Here's Gerard Cubillon on guitar, Patrick Villanueva on organ and Stepahne Germaud on drums playing So Do It!...

Stan Getz: The Movies and TV

By the mid-1950s, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz had become a sensation as a soloist and started to be featured in films. A few years later, Getz's horn could be heard in European films while he was abroad and then in American films upon his return to the U.S. in 1960. From the 1960s until his death in 1991, Getz was heard regularly on TV shows such as Ironside and The Courtship of Eddie's Father as well as in American and European movies. [Image above of Stan Getz from YouTube]

Here are 13 clips of Getz on the air and on the screen:

Here's Steve Allen visiting a sound stage at Universal-International in 1955 to prep for his title role in The Benny Goodman Story. The rehearsal clip features the Benny Goodman Trio (Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums), Stan Getz, Buck Clayton and Urbie Green...

Here's the main title for the French film, Les Tricheurs (Young Sinners)...

Here's Getz with Charlie Byrd on TV's The Perry Como Show in 1962 playing Desafinado...

Here's Getz and Astrud Gilberto, with Gary Burton on vibes, in the film, Get Yourself a College Girl in 1964...

Here's Getz with Gilberto performing The Girl From Ipanema in a club scene in the film The Hanged Man in 1964...

Here's Getz playing during the opening of the film Mickey One in1965...

Here's Getz and Edie Adams in a 1965 ad for Muriel Cigars...

Here's Getz and Gary playing The Telephone Song, with Ruth Price on Shindig! in 1965...

Here's Getz playing in Paris for a Lanvin fashion show broadcast on French TV...

Here's Getz playing on the soundtrack of the French film, Mort d'un Pourri (Death of a Corrupt Man), in 1977. Director Raymond De Felitta tells me the soundtrack is at Spotify. Type in Mort d'un Pourri...

Here's another track from the movie...

Here's Getz playing in the trailer of the Italian film La Storia di Piera in 1983...

And here's Getz soloing behind Kim Basinger in The Marrying Man in 1991...

Rob Pronk: Bebop Years

In the years immediately following World War II, shellac production for export resumed in Indonesia and American labels cranked out records for international distribution. American jazz records made their way into every major market and turned up on the radio in countries recovering from the misery of war and anxiety of brutal occupation. [Photo above of Rob Pronk]

Modern jazz's free spirit and exhilarating expression of individualism captivated the imaginations of millions of people worldwide. Among them were budding musicians eager to speak the same musical language they heard on the radio and on jukeboxes. One of these remote, curious artists was a trumpeter and pianist named Rob Pronk.

Born in Malang, Java, Indonesia, in 1928, during Dutch colonial rule, Pronk came to jazz early, probably a result of his father, who was a railway engineer and likely picked up records during his travels. Piano lessons began at age 8 and arranging soon followed. In 1947, Pronk sailed to Rotterdam, Holland, with his brother. The Netherlands had resumed colonial control of Indonesia after the war, so Indonesia and Holland resumed close ties.

There, Pronk studied economics but soon studied trumpet, piano and music theory at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. On a student-exchange program, he played his first gig on a ship in 1949. Also that year, he visited New York. When he returned to Holland, he formed the Rob Pronk Boptet. Through the 1950s and '60s, he performed on trumpet and piano in a range of Dutch jazz groups. He also arranged for a variety of artists, and later arranged and conducted for the Metropole Orchestra. Sadly, he didn't do too much small-group leadership recording.

Now, the Netherlands Jazz Archief label has released Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years, Studio Sessions (1950-1957). The collection is a captivating portrait of an artist with enormous talent. The collection includes Pronk's recordings with saxophonist Zoot Sims, trombonists Frank Rosolino and Bob Burgess, bassist Don Bagley and drummer Stan Levey while they were in Sweden touring with Stan Kenton in 1953. The set also includes top-notch recordings with a range of Dutch jazz musicians in the '50s.

Highlights include Pronk's recording of Boplicity just months after the song was first released by Capitol as part of the Miles Davis Nonet project (later known as Birth of the Cool). My guess is that since Pronk was in New York in '49, he likely picked up a copy of the 78 there (along with others, including by the George Shearing Quintet, which formed in '49) and brought them home to the Netherlands. Miraculous that Pronk would have heard it so soon and applied a Shearing touch to the piano. And there's a nifty cover of Corner Pocket recorded in the Netherlands in 1957. In truth, there isn't a bad track on this set.

This is an album of knockout jazz by an Indonesian artist who emigrated to the Netherlands and truly understood the modern jazz idiom and how to express it authentically. To the best of my knowledge, it's the first time the material has appeared on CD. Rob Pronk died in Germany in July 2012. He was 84.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years, Studio Sessions (1950-1957) here.

You can email the label to find out how to purchase the album. The email ([email protected]) and phone are at the bottom of the page linked above. I couldn't find this album for sale anywhere else.

JazzWax clips: Here's Boplicity (Miles Davis and Gil Evans), with Rob Pronk on piano playing gorgeous George Shearing-like improvisation as well as block chords late in the song...

Boplicity

Here's Pronk on trumpet playing Dizzy Gillespie and Gil Fuller's I Waited for You...

I Waited For You

And here's Jerry van Rooyen's Baby Doll, with Pronk on trumpet...

Baby Doll

Mike, Tessa and Carol

This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Mike Colter for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section. Mike played Lemond Bishop in TV's The Good Wife and The Good Fight as well as Luke Cage in Marvel's Luke Cage. He currently stars in CBS's Evil. Though Mike easily could have been a star athlete in high school, he balked at sports to devote all of his attention and energy to acting. [Photo above of Mike Colter by Myles Aronowitz, courtesy of Netflix]

Here's Mike on the Daily Show with host Trevor Noah (to read my "House Call" with Trevor, go here)...

And here's Mike as superhero in the Luke Cage trailer...

SiriusXM. Last week I was on Feedback with co-hosts Nik Carter and Lori Majewski to talk about my recent WSJ "Anatomy of a Song" column on the Youngbloods' Get Together. You can listen free here...

 
Tessa Souter last week sent along an email with a clip from the recent tour supporting her album, Picture in Black and White. Here she is with the Daniel Kramer Trio singing Margo Guryan and Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman and Eleanore Rigby in Novosibirsk, Russia. I love Tessa's voice...

Maynard Ferguson. Following my post on the trumpeter and bandleader, I received the following from Steven Waters:

Hi Marc. I thoroughly enjoyed the Maynard Ferguson videos you posted! When I was in college, a classmate played jazz trumpet. He had tickets to see Maynard and his band at Elizabethtown High School in Elizabethtown, Pa., and asked me to go with him. He told me that I was about to see and hear something amazing. It must have been 1971, because it was right after the release of M.F. Horn, Vol. 1. I distinctly remember him playing Eli’s Comin', MacArthur Park, and L-Dopa. I was blown away!

I recently bought a new turntable that works with my wireless sound system and have been listening to my old vinyl. The first album that I played was Maynard’s Carnival album from 1978. It still sounds so great.

Leigh Kamman, a long time fixture on Minnesota Public Radio promoting jazz, interviewed Maynard in 1976. Here's the interview...

Pete Neighbour is one of my favorite clarinetists. I love his round tone, jumping swing and tasteful solos. He's also a JazzWax reader, as are so many jazz greats. Here are two clips featuring Pete's playing:

Here's Pete in London with his trio in 2012 playing 'Deed I Do...

And here's Pete for an hour recently in Columbus, S.C....

Oh Canada. Following my post on a short film about the Toronto jazz scene in the early 1960s, I received the following from Bob Miller [photo above taken in The House of Hambourg]:

Hello again, Marc. In 1960, I was an 18-year-old freshman at Ryerson Institute of Technology, now Ryerson University, in downtown Toronto. On a Friday or Saturday night, my jazz-loving buddies and I would invest in a couple of flasks of rye whiskey or rum, and smuggle them into the unlicensed after-hours club, The House of Hambourg.

What an amazing place it was, and I see it front and center in the vintage National Film Board short on 60’s Toronto Jazz, which you just featured. The proprietor, Clem Hambourg, was a delightful, eccentric classical pianist who operated the place with his wife.
He was always kind enough to ignore and tolerate the young “brown baggers,” who would simply order Cokes or ginger ale for refreshments.

Whenever a top jazz player or group would play Toronto, they would invariably hit The House of Hambourg after their gigs. Consequently, we were exposed to some of the very best jam sessions one would ever hope to encounter! I remember one night, most of the Count Basie Band showed up.

The guy in the film, Don Francks, an actor and aspiring jazz vocalist, used to be there all the time. (The film spelled his name incorrectly as "Franks.") The statement you made that during this period, Toronto had a jazz scene on par with New York, Chicago and Los Angeles is absolutely true. Although there is a dearth of good jazz clubs these days, Toronto still features a plethora of top jazz players.

In any event, the quirky little film brought back some great memories and spotted in action were some guys I used to hear regularly, such as trombonist Butch Watanabe and drummer Archie Alleyne. As much as a student budget allowed, we were often at a number of the jazz clubs mentioned, in particular, George’s Spaghetti House, to hear Moe Koffman’s great bands.

Bill Evans. Pianist Dave Thompson sent along a YouTube link featuring two exquisite lost tracks from Bill Evans's Paris Concert in November 1979...

 

Chuck Israels, who was a member of the Bill Evans Trio in the 1960s, sent along an email and link to a recent Zoom performance of Five Spot After Dark by the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra:

Dear Marc, the only way we can produce ensemble music during this "year of living vicariously” is online. As you'll hear and see, everyone played well, and Charlie Porter did a yeoman job of editing and assembling this. It took us a lot of time and effort. Here it is...

Carol Sloane, an extraordinary singer, has been posting a series at her blog, SloaneView, she calls "What was it like to sing with..." Here's her most recent post about singing with Benny Goodman (go here).

Before the Beatles landed in America in February 1964, they were tireless performers at clubs in their native Liverpool. Carl Woideck sent along a nifty documentary of the Fab Four's Merseyside years...

Benny Carter: Whisper to One

Back in June 1995, Benny Carter recorded two albums of his own songs. Aptly titled Benny Carter: Songbook I and Benny Carter: Songbook II, the albums showcased the alto saxophonist and trumpeter accompanying vocalists singing his compositons. The albums were the brainchild of producers Danny Kapilian and Ed Berger. [Photo above of Benny Carter]

On the second volume was a song called Whisper to One. Carter wrote the music and Al Stillman wrote the words. At the time, I was mystified, since the song was completely new to me. Only when I recently watched Sammy Davis Jr. in A Man Called Adam (1966) did I realize that the song Carter and Stillman had written was for the film.

When I recently heard Davis sing the song in the movie, I thought it was nearly as good as Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen's One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) and Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life. Yet few knew the song or even recorded it, probably because the film disappeared, and the song never became a standard. Which is baffling, given how good it is.

Fortunately, I was able to find a clip at YouTube from the film of Davis singing the song (with Kai Winding on trombone and Nat Adderley dubbing the cornet). [Film still above, from the movie, of Davis and Cicely Tyson]...

Here's the full song from the film's soundtrack album)...

And here's Barbara Lea singing the song on Benny Carter: Songbook II, with Carter taking an alto saxophone solo mid-song and Chris Neville on the piano solo...

Lennie Best Quintet, 1984

A superb vibraphonist who was familiar to club-goers in the U.K. but virtually unknown in the U.S. was Lennie Best. Strangely, he didn't record as a leader and barely found his way onto records as sideman, preferring instead to play live. In this rare televised gig that was part of England's Bracknell Jazz Festival in 1984, the Lennie Best Quintet was captured live by the BBC. Their club set was edited down to a half hour. Best died in 2002.

Here's Best (vib), Kathy Stobart (ts, ss), Alan Berry (p), Tony Archer (b) and Tony Kinsey (d), with Ruth Allan on vocal...

A special thanks to Grumpy.