JazzWax

Doc: The Other '60s Soul Label

I'm still surprised when people ask me what Stax was all about. They know Motown's story and hits, but somehow Stax seems to draw a blank. The Memphis label was founded as Satellite Records in 1957. Four years later, it became Stax when the last names of co-owners Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton were combined. Stax was responsible for recording Southern soul found in the region surrounding Memphis in the 1960s.

It's really a two-part story—from the label's inception to the death of Otis Redding, and from Redding's passing to the funky music that was recorded after.

To fill in the Stax story, here's a terrific documentary on the label, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story...

JazzWax note: You can buy the documentary as a DVD here.

Five Guitarists With the Blues

In 1969, my family moved out of Manhattan for the northern reaches of Westchester County. I wasn't happy about being there, but it was still better than dealing with the city's overcrowded classrooms and the threat of muggings in school stairways. The good news was that by age 15, two years later, I could access New York by taking the train. So on Saturdays, I began traveling alone to the city to spend hours at large record stores, returning with four or five jazz albums paid for with lawn-mowing money. Jazz was my refuge and, in the rural suburbs, my own private music genre no one else knew about. That's how albums were then. You discovered music you loved that no one else was familiar with and that corner of the world became your best friend. [Photo above of Albert King]

By '71, many of my rock-loving friends in Westchester had grown weary of British blues-rock guitarists. Solos weren't long enough or sufficiently soulful. They were looking for the real thing and were eager to hear more by the names they saw in music-magazine articles. Unfortunately, records by Albert King, Freddie King and other electric blues players weren't available at our local mall. My friends had never been to New York and didn't plan to go. They were frightened of making the trip and the dangers they'd heard about on the news. [Photo above of Magic Sam]

So they cut a deal with me. If I bought them albums by these blues guitarists while I was in the city, they'd pay for two of my jazz albums. I took them up on their offer. Even though I had given up on rock (a little too druggy and long-winded for me), I became intrigued by the blues players and the originality of their sound. Their albums made it onto my shopping list as well. [Photo above of Freddie King]

Here are five blues guitarists who caught my ear nearly 50 years ago and still do now:

Here's Albert King at the Fillmore East in 1970...

Here's Freddie King in Europe...

Here's Magic Sam in 1969...

Here's John Lee Hooker in 1969...

And here's Otis Rush...

B.B. King at Sing Sing, 1973

On Thanksgiving Day in 1973, filmmaker David Hoffman brought B.B. King, Joan Baez and other artists to New York's Sing Sing Prison to perform. By then, the penitentiary was known as the Ossining Correctional Facility. Hoffman was given permission to film them performing. To read my WSJ interview with B.B. in 2011, go here.

Here's the the entire B.B. King performance...

René Thomas: Rare and New

Born in Liège, Belgium, guitarist René Thomas moved to Paris in the early 1950s and became part of the active jazz scene there. Paris back then was similar to 52nd Street in New York, where musicians could find steady gigs with leading musicians from Europe and Americans on tour. What most of the European jazz musicians in Paris had in common was a pronounced sense of melody, swing and beauty, something they all picked up from each other. In the case of Thomas, he had a marvelous way of picking that instantly engaged the ear. [Photo above of René Thomas]

All of Thomas's qualities are on display in Fresh Sound's recently released Remembering René Thomas: Rare and Unreleased Performances by the Legendary Jazz Guitarist. The two-CD set features a wide range of live and studio tracks recorded between 1955 and 1962. Some were recorded in Brussels, some in Montreal and the rest in France. All are tasty and hip. A majority of the recordings were made with French or Belgian musicians. Just one track, Blues, features Jimmy Smith on organ and Donald Bailey on drums.

A 1955 session includes alto saxophonist Jack Pelzer, whose cool-school approach shows he had early exposure to the recordings of Lee Konitz. Other standouts include groups in 1961 and '62 with Bobby Jaspar on flute and others with Jaspar on tenor saxophone. Thomas's main influence was guitarist Jimmy Raney, who spent part of 1954 in Paris.

Among the off-beat tracks is a cover of John Coltrane's Blue Train, Miles Davis's Milestones (the one Davis recorded with Charlie Parker in 1947), two different takes of Jimmy Raney's Motion (which Raney first recorded on Jimmy Raney Plays with Stan Getz in 1953), Red Garland's All Mornin' Long, Thomas's I Remember Sonny, a terrific chord-heavy Our Delight, a jaunty version of Moonlight in Vermont and a skippy rendition of Stardust. [Photo above of Jimmy Raney]

Thomas is among my top-five guitarists, along with Wes Montgomery, Raney, Grant Green and Billy Bauer. If you dig him, too, this new album thoroughly satisfies. The set is worthwhile alone for Jordi Pujol's excellent liner notes, which run 20 pages.

René Thomas died in 1975 at age 47.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Remembering René Thomas (Fresh Sound) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Thomas playing Jimmy Raney's Motion...

Here's Stella by Starlight...

And here's Milestones...

Neil Swainson: 49th Parallel

In 1987, Neil Swainson wanted to record six original compositions he had been performing at Toronto clubs. At the time, the bassist was playing with Canadian drummer Jerry Fuller and pianist Gary Williamson. When Woody Shaw came to town earlier that year, the trio backed him, as they had with many other touring American headliners. Swainson also played with Shaw a couple of years earlier and recorded on Shaw's Solid album in 1986 and on Shaw's In My Own Sweet Way in February '87. [Photo above of Neil Swainson]

Swainson mentioned his album idea to his business-minded friend, Kate Roach. When she asked who else he envisioned on the date, Swainson said Shaw and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. So Roach, who was well-networked in jazz circles, reached out to both artists, negotiated the deal and brought them on board.

Shaw and Henderson made perfect sense. They recorded together on Horace Silver's The Cape Verdean Blues (1965), Larry Young's Unity (1965), Henderson's Jazz Patterns (1970), Henderson's If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Problem (1970), Shaw's Rosewood (1977) and the Paris Reunion Band's For Klook (1986). 

Roach also raised the money needed for the recording, and Pat Coleman agreed to produce the sessions. Days before the May '87 recording dates, Shaw came to Toronto alone. By then, he was blind, a result of retinitis pigmentosa. Swainson took him through each of the songs on his piano at home until Shaw had the material locked in. But when Swainson, Shaw, Fuller and Williamson arrived at Toronto's Studio 306 to record on May 2, Henderson didn't show. So just the quartet recorded Port of Spain, On the Lam and Labyrinth. [Photo above of Woody Shaw]

The following day, Henderson arrived (there had been a scheduling mix-up on his end) and the quintet recorded 49th Parallel, Southern Exposure, Don't Hurt Yourself (with Shaw out) and Homestretch, a Henderson original first recorded on his album Page One, in 1963. [Photo above, from left, of Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw]

The session tapes were played for Concord Records in 1988. Concord bought them and released the album in the U.S. later that year as Neil Swainson Quintet. In recent years, the significant album has become scarce, which led saxophonist and club owner Cory Weeds to co-executive produce a reissue with Kate Roach entitled Neil Swainson Quintet: 49th Parallel on his Real to Reel label. Labyrinth appears on this new release for the first time.

The music recorded on both dates is top notch. There's a special energy and strength to Henderson's and Shaw's playing. Swainson's originals are earthy and powerful, and the trio feeds the heat like a bellows. Shaw would record two more studio albums before his death in 1989—his Imagination, for Muse in June 1987, and on Carlos Ward's Lito in July 1988, on the U.K.'s Leo label. There were a few live Shaw recordings as well during this final period.

Kudos to Cory Weeds, Kate Roach and Neil Swainson for reissuing the album, a hard-bop masterpiece that has been difficult to find at a reasonable price until now. Essential listening.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Neil Swainson's 49th Parallel (Real to Reel) here.

For more information about Cory Weeds, go here. For more information about his Cellar and Real to Reel labels, go here.

JazzWax clips: You can hear the album at YouTube here...

Cynthia, Cleo and Ronald

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Cynthia Nixon for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Cynthia, of course, played Miranda on Sex and the City, the wildly popular comedy-drama series on HBO. Now she's in a new series, Ratched (Netflix), based on the fictitious and despicable life of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. [Photo above of Cynthia Nixon courtesy of Netflix]

Cynthia's mother coached contestants on TV's To Tell the Truth game show in the '70s so they'd seem like the person who had the accomplishment and not the actual anonymous guest. As Cynthia notes, her mom was both supportive and loving and functioned as her acting coach from an early age. By the time she reached college at Barnard, she was in two Broadway shows simultaneously, both directed by Mike Nichols. [Photo above of Cynthia Nixon, center, on the game show To Tell the Truth, courtesy of Cynthia Nixon]

Here's the Ratched trailer....

And here's Cynthia as Eleanor Roosevelt in the trailer for Warm Springs (2005), a terrific and moving film...

Virtual studio pros. If you're a professional singer, musician or songwriter and you're looking for a backup band, lyricist or other musicians to jam with online, check out AirGigs.com, a site I came acorss last week. It provides you with access to professional musicians, producers and studio technicians who can help you continue to develop and record without leaving home during the pandemic. Go here.

Dick Bank, a California jazz producer who supervised the recording of 28 Fresh Sound releases and the announcer who broke protocol during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics when he spotted a surge by the American runner who won, died in February. Here's an obit by the Associated Press. And here, Fresh Sound producer Jordi Pujol remembers his friend in the U.K.'s Jazz Journal. [Photo above of Dick Bank]

Here's Bank jumping in with enthusiasm at the end of the 10,000-meter race as American runner Billy Mills surges to win the race. Bank was fired by NBC for expressing his excitement back when announcers were expected to call Olympic races with the same passion as landscapers mowing a lawn. The main announcer was Bud Palmer. Bank's decision to jump in was a result of Palmer missing Mills's rapid advancement, most likely because Palmer was calling the race from a TV monitor, which didn't show Mills coming on strong...

Here's Cleo Laine with Henry Mancini in 1980...

And here's Kool & the Gang on Soul Train performing Hollywood Swinging, with saxophonist Ronald Khalis Bell (center in video), who died last week...

Pop Doc: Synth Britannia

Why did synthesizer pop come of age in Europe in the 1970s? And how did U.K. artists come to adapt the electronic instrument in the early 1980s so their music would have sex appeal and top the charts in Britain and the U.S.? Here's a terrific BBC documentary, Synth Britannia, that provides insights...

Jazz Doc: Stéphane Grappelli

European jazz starts with Stéphane Grappelli and the Hot Club of France Quintet. The violinist and guitarist Django Reinhardt added Louis Vola on bass and Joseph Reinhardt and Roger Chaput on guitars. The group ended its run in 1939 with the onset of World War II. Grappelli was in London when war broke out and remained there for the duration. Reinhardt was in Paris. They would reunite after the war. [Photo above, from left, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli]

Grappelli is one of the jazz violin's most beautiful players and singularly important for his pronounced sense of swing and his soft, seductive tone. Here's a documentary on Grappelli in his twilight years...

Motown Invades the U.K.

When the Beatles were here, they weren't there. The same goes for the many other British pop-rock bands that abandoned the U.K. for America in the mid-1960s in search of fame and fortune. Which left Britain with something of an excitement gap. The first American groups to fill the void in the U.K. recorded for Motown. First came the Tamla singles from America, then the albums and finally, in 1965, the tour. But Britain's yen for Motown was a bit oversold.

The Tamla-Motown revue snaking through England, Scotland and Wales from March 20 to April 12, 1965 was a box-office flop. But a strange thing happened. The music captivated English artists, who in turn had been covering Tamla-Motown songs without the public being aware of the music's origins. At the tail end of the tour, Dusty Springfield extended a helping hand and pulled the revue onto British television's Ready, Steady Go for a special, which helped ignite Motownmania in Britain. Singles by Motown artists then flooded the British charts in 1966, starting with the Supremes and the rest is history. [Photo above of Motown artists arriving at London Airport in March 1965]

Here's a wonderful BBC documentary on Motown's invasion of Britain in 1965 just as the Beatles and other British bands were winning hearts and inducing screams in North America...

Miles: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Known in English as Elevator to the Gallows, this 1958 French crime film is notable for three reasons: The movie, directed by Louis Malle, launched French new wave cinema. It stars Jeanne Moreau, one of France's finest actresses and a personal favorite. And best of all, Miles Davis improvises throughout.

In a nutshell, the film is about two lovers who become involved in a murder plot and are foiled when an elevator's power is cut. The rest is too complicated to detail and the film doesn't really hold up well. What is still remarkable is Moreau's face, the film's overall mood and Davis's horn.

Here's Miles Davis improvising to rushes of the film in 1958...

And here's the entire film. It's in French, which is the way I prefer it. Now that you know what the film is about, forget about what's going on. You'll figure it out. Or you won't. Just dig the mood, Jeanne Moreau's acting and Miles Davis's trumpet...