JazzWax

William, Leroy and Jackie

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor William H. Macy for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Bill stars in the Showtime series Shameless, now in its 11th season, and we talked about what it was like growing up in Cumberland, Md. If it wasn't for his older brother coming home from college with a guitar and his willingness to teach Bill how to play it, life may have turned out very different for him. [Photo above of William H. Macy courtesy of YouTube]

Have something to say? Want to chime in with a comment about a JazzWax post, see what jazz stars and critics are saying about posts or just follow the comments? Join JazzWax at Facebook (Marc JazzWax Myers) and keep up with my posts at Twitter (Marc Myers@JazzWax).

Birdland update. Birdland Jazz Club was in jeopardy of shuttering due to the pandemic. Thanks to the GoFundMe Save Birdland page set up on January 2, the club has far surpassed its goal, thanks to the outpouring of support. To view the GoFundMe page, go here. 

Lee Konitz's keys. Want to own Lee Konitz's piano (above)? I received the following from George Schuller:

I've been quietly helping the family with Lee's rather extensive archive since last July. It's been an honor and an eye-opening experience to be exploring the various nooks and crannies of Lee's musical world. After much discussion with the Konitz family, they have decided to sell Lee’s Steinway piano. 

The piano has been with Lee in his apartment since 1978 and, as you can imagine, it has been an important component to many impromptu musical in-house gatherings along with a multitude of rehearsals, lessons and practice sessions. For instance, I’ve learned that Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Gil Evans, Dick Katz, of course Lee himself, and I’m sure countless others have played the piano.

As the family prepares to close the apartment, they would like to find a good home for Lee’s piano. Here are the details:

• Steinway New York Grand Piano Model L
• Ebony Finish
• 7¼ octaves (88 keys)
• Length - 5’ 10”
• Weight - 610 pounds

The family is asking for a price of $25,000 (negotiable). For more information about the piano, readers can reach me at (617) 513-0728.

New jazz documentary. Last week, director Cameron Washington wrote to let me know that his award-winning music documentary, A Man and His Trumpet: The Leroy Jones Story, is now available on streaming platforms. Cameron also is a writer, producer and filmmaker based in San Francisco and heads the creative lab Russian Hill Projects. [Photo of Leroy Jones above courtesy of Cameron Washington]

As for the film, it follows the life journey of Jones (above), a trumpeter who came up in the projects of New Orleans's 7th Ward. By the time he was 12, Leroy's talent was apparent. Along the way he catches the ear of Harry Connick Jr., who helped launch him from hometown virtuoso to world renowned player as he worked alongside Connick for the past 25 years. Filmed entirely in New Orleans and edited in San Francisco, this documentary celebrates the culture, history and music of New Orleans. Filmed over the past four years, the documentary features Leroy Jones, Harry Connick Jr., Terence Blanchard, Katja Toivola, Herlin Riley, Gregg Stafford and Brad Leali.

Here's the trailer...

CD you should know about:

Ethan Iverson and the Umbria Jazz Orchestra—Bud Powell in the 21st Century (Sunnyside). Pianist Ethan Iverson pays tribute to bop founding father and pianist Bud Powell by arranging 16 pieces for this superb Italian big band and his own rhythm section and horn soloists. Ethan composed half the tracks, one is by Monk and the rest belong to Powell. He augmented the Umbria Jazz Orchestra with Ingrid Jensen (tp), Dayna Stephens (ts), Iverson (p), Ben Street (b) and Lewis Nash (d). Ethan's Powell is quite good, capturing his dexterity on the keyboard as well as his lurching energy. You can almost hear Bud muttering as Ethan plays. The arrangements themselves are clean and neatly snapped together. One imagines they easily could have become too crowded and overly ambitious. Instead, Ethan writes in a measured way that allows for plenty of air, letting us hear the virtuosity of the group and soloists. Dig Ethan's nifty Nobile Paradiso, an original with a Bud gait. Listen at Spotify, go here to buy.

Here's Ethan's composition Nobile Paradiso...

Nobile Paradiso

Keystone Korner Baltimore. Last week, I received the following from Keystone Korner Baltimore owner Todd Barkan (above), who ran the legendary San Francisco Keystone Korner club from 1972 to 1983.

Dear Marc, I was deeply moved by your post about Don Patterson, one of my main teachers (in Columbus, Ohio), and his ballad epics. I am also a Patterson fanatic. By far, my favorite album is Hip Cake Walk. I, too, bought every Don Patterson album as soon as they were released, as well as all his sideman work with Sonny Stitt, Gene "Jug" Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Eric Kloss. As you undoubtedly know, Don also was a fine jazz pianist, deeply influenced by Erroll Garner. As I have mentioned before, you are a treasure.

I am still struggling to keep Keystone Korner Baltimore open during the pandemic. To lend assistance, we’ve launched a GoFundMe campaign and we're now doing a little better live and better with online broadcasts. KKB will be an integral part of a brand-new East Coast Virtual Jazz Festival on March 20 with three bands each for Blues Alley, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, Smalls, Birdland, Scullers & KKB.

For the GoFundMe page, go here.

Movies Til Dawn podcast. Director Raymond De Felitta writes that he's posted another podcast on film, this time with director Harold Becker (The Onion Field, Sea Of Love, Taps, Malice, etc.) Says Raymond: "Harold
is a wonderful interview—a tough, no-nonsense Bronx guy who made a major career for himself in Hollywood from the 1970s until the past decade." To listen, go here (click ‘Episodes’ on the upper right and select the interview). [Photo above of Harold Becker courtesy of IMDB]

Other interviews include Peter Bogdanovich, Andy Garcia, John Sayles, Griffin Dunne, Randal Kleiser, Mary Harron and more. 

And finally. Here's the late British pop singer Jackie Trent (above) singing It's Not Unusual as a power ballad...

Norwegian Charlie Parker Documentary

Last week, I shared with you a PBS documentary on Charlie Parker's years growing up in Kansas City. Today, I have another fabulous Parker documentary for you—this one directed by Jan Horne and produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp. in 1989. It runs 3 1/2 hours. A special thanks to Matt LeGroulx in Montreal for sharing the link with me.

Here are all four parts of The Bird: Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920-1955 combined...

8 Don Patterson Ballads

When I started collecting Don Patterson albums in the early 1970s, I'd buy them without hearing the music first on the radio. Always a daring move back then, since you couldn't return what you didn't like. If you sliced open the plastic, you owned it. The reason I made these purchases with such confidence is that Patterson nearly always included at least one ballad on his albums. That, for me, was where the action was. Patterson's intros on ballads raised the hairs on my arm. They were big, dramatic and juicy, as if he was using the Hammond organ to squeeze every last drop out of an orange. [Photo above of Don Patterson]

Here are seven Don Patterson ballads with knock-out openers, stuttering keyboard riffs and a real gone groove:

Here's It's Magic from Goin' Down Home (1963)...

It's Magic

Here's Trick Bag from Goin' Down Home (1963), with Paul Weeden on guitar...

Here's Theme for Dee from Patterson's People (1964)...

Theme for Dee

Here's The Good Life from Exciting New Organ (1964)...

The Good Life

Here's Love Letters from Soul Happening! (1966), with Vinnie Corrao on guitar...

Here's Embraceable You from Four Dimensions (1967)...

Embraceable You

Here's Stairway to the Stars from Opus DeDon (1968)...

Stairway to the Stars

And here's Starry Night from Donnybrook (1969)...

Teddy Charles and Two Bookers

Teddy Charles was a heavy hitter. A vibraphonist, composer, arranger and a producer, Teddy could swing as easily as he could explore modal territory with his groups. When I started this blog back in 2007, there were a number of musicians I wanted to interview first. Among them were Danny Bank, Hal McKusick, Sol Schlinger and Teddy Charles—cats who were largely unrecognized by the jazz media but were on the coolest records. All gave me great interviews that you'll find in the right-hand column of JazzWax. [Pictured above, from left: Lawrence Marable, Frank Morgan, Teddy Charles, Dick Nivison, Wardell Gray and Sonny Clark on the West Coast in February 1953]

Teddy was particularly hip. His lingo was with-it and naturally peppered with insider phrases. Best of all, he understood the importance of what I was doing—preserving jazz history. His door, so to speak, was always open. If I called him at 7 p.m. to ask about a particular session, he'd talk to me for a few minutes before suddenly realizing he had musicians over to jam , as if he'd completely forgotten. Rather than say goodbye, Teddy would say, "Stick around, ya gotta hear this. These guys are real swingers. I'm gonna put the phone down. Split when you want." And off he'd go, leaving me to witness by ear the scene happening at his home studio in Riverhead, on New York's Long Island.

One of my favorite albums led by Teddy is Jazz in the Garden: The Teddy Charles New Directions Quartet, featuring trumpeter Booker Little and tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin. Recorded live in the sculpture garden of New York's Museum of Modern Art in August 1960, the album featured Booker Little (tp), Booker Ervin (ts), Teddy Charles (vib), Mal Waldron (p), Addison Farmer (b) and Ed Shaughnessy (d). The tracks are Scoochie (Booker Ervin), Cycles (Mal Waldron), Embraceable You (George and Ira Gershwin) Blues de Tambour (Ed Shaughnessy), Take Three Parts Jazz—Route 4, Byriste and Father George (Teddy Charles) and The Confined Few (Booker Little).

The concert was the last in a series of 10 jazz events co-sponsored that summer by the museum and Metronome magazine. They were held each Thursday evening in MoMA's intimate modernist sculpture garden. The combination of modern jazz and modern art was a natural. As Metronome editor Bill Coss wrote in the liner notes, "there was a large audience, I recall, and the evening was balmy." When I told Teddy over the phone that I had pulled the CD in from abroad and how much I loved the music and why, in typical Teddy fashion he said, "I'm glad, man. It was a gas."

Booker Little would die just over a year later of uremia, a tragedy. The blistering trumpeter was 22 and on his way to jazz stardom. He also was driven and in demand. Between his album with Teddy and his passing, he recorded on Max Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, Pat Thomas's Jazz Patterns, Eric Dolphy's Far Cry, Abbey Lincoln's Straight Ahead, his own Out Front, John Coltrane's Africa Brass, Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, his own Booker Little and Friend, and Roach's Percussion Bitter Sweet. [Photo above of Booker Little in 1959 by Chuck Stewart]

I miss Teddy. Time flies. Teddy Charles died in 2012.

JazzWax tracks: Jazz In The Garden: Teddy Charles New Directions Quartet, featuring Booker Little and Booker Ervin is hard to find. Fresh Sound released it at one point, but it's now out of print. Try Discogs.com or eBay.

JazzWax clips: Here's Cycles...

Here's The Confined Few...

And here's Scoochie...

Scoochie

The Other Side of Benny Golson

Yesterday was Benny Golson's birthday. He turned 92, and he remains one of jazz's greatest tenor saxophonists and composers. Following his graduation from Howard University, Benny played with saxophonist-singer "Bull Moose" Jackson's R&B band. In the 1950s, he also played extensively with Tadd Dameron and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers before forming the Jazztet with Art Farmer in 1959. Along the way, Benny composed dozens of songs that became jazz standards, including I Remember Clifford, Stablemates and Along Came Betty. In the early 1960s, Benny relocated to Hollywood to compose and arrange for TV cop shows, sitcoms and the movies. In the mid-1970s, Benny returned to New York where he resumed playing and recording, winding up in the movies, in The Terminal with Tom Hanks in 2004. He's also one of the kindest cats in the business.

Benny has gorgeous taste. The sound of his horn is beautiful and his original compositions and melody lines are seductive. A great place to start listening to Benny is The Other Side of Benny Golson. Recorded in November 1958 for Riverside, the album features Curtis Fuller (tb), Benny Golson (ts), Barry Harris (p), Jymie Merritt (b) and Philly Joe Jones (d). The tracks include Benny's Strut Time, Are You Real? and Cry a Blue Tear, plus Junior Mance's Jubilation, Curtis Fuller's Symptoms and Richard Evans's This Night.

This is a perfect album, like many of Benny's recordings. The music on The Other Side of Benny Golson is relentlessly pretty, with stunning solos throughout. For example, dig Benny's solo on Symptoms. He blows a long, seamless and slippery line that takes your breath away. The same is true on Are You Real? Fuller, Benny's frequent album and Jazztet colleague, also stretches out with powdery solos. Dig him on This Night. Barry Harris is at his peak here, jumping in with dart-like lines (catch him on Cry a Blue Tear) combined with Merritt's straight-ahead bass and Jones's pots-and-pans attack on drums. [Photo above of Curtis Fuller by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]

Yesterday, I listened to this album a dozen times in a row. Each time, I was thunderstruck by something new. A remarkable recording and one of Benny's best. His tone is so rich, smokey and elegant. A giant. [Photo above of Benny Golson at 17 in 1946, courtesy of Benny Golson]

JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Other Side of Benny Golson here.

Or at Spotify.

JazzWax clips: Here's the full album...

Interview: Wendell Brunious

If the name Wendell Brunious is not familiar to you, I assure you that the sound of his trumpet will stick with you the moment you hear it. Wendell, 66, has spent much of his life in New Orleans, growing up in a musical family rich in the New Orleans jazz tradition. From 1987 into the 2010s, he led the city's Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and he has been recording since 1977. Wendell is a New Orleans treasure. [Photo above of Wendell Brunious courtesy of Karen Kennedy]

Last week, I had an opportunity to ask him a batch of questions:

JazzWax: Growing up, where in New Orleans did you live?
Wendell Brunious: I grew up in a close-knit Creole community in the 7th Ward. Our house was filled with music. I come from two of the most important families in the early development of jazz, particularly New Orleans jazz: the Brunious family and the Santiago family. My dad, John Brunious (above), was a great trumpet player. He went to the Juilliard School of Music in New York and wrote a lot of music for Billy Eckstein and Cab Calloway. He did an arrangement of Minnie the Moocher that I still play today as a tribute to him. He was followed by my brother, John, who was a great trumpet player for Preservation Hall Jazz Band for many years.

JW: What about the Santiago family?
WB: On my mother’s side, my great uncle Wilfredo Santiago was an early jazz guitar player. My mother’s brothers, Burnell and Lester Santiago, also were prominent piano players. This is what you get when you come to New Orleans—a whole lineage of families who pass this music down, generation to generation to generation. This music isn’t stuff you can find in a book. It’s not technical. It’s not a trumpet exercise. It’s the feeling in the music down here. I’m so lucky I was raised on it. [Photo above of Wendell Brunious]

JW: What influence did your family have on you?
WB: I had lots of older brothers and sisters, and everyone could play the trumpet to some degree. My dad would gather them around and jot out a little arrangement and say, “OK, you’re on the first line of music. You’re on the second, you’re on the third, and so on.” He’d have all those heavy chords written out with five or six trumpet players in our living room. I was one of the youngest kids so I would just watch and listen. As a little boy, I never thought I’d get to their level, but I kept a mouthpiece in my back pocket, and I would blow on it every day. I still do that today. [Photo above of Wendell Brunious courtesy of Preservation Hall]

JW: What about your mom?
WB: Any money I earned working as a teenager, I gave it to her. She could do more things with $5 to feed a large household than I could. She taught me a lot about money and being on a budget. She made us feel like we always had plenty even when we didn’t have much. She was very encouraging about my trumpet playing and pushed me to show my dad what I was capable of when I was too afraid to show him myself.

JW: For example?
WB: One day, I was at home practicing an old Savoy record of Dizzy Gillespie playing All the Things You Are. My dad gave me a look out of the corner of his eye like, “Hmmm.” He could tell I was hearing something. Something that is difficult to teach. So he called me into his bedroom and showed me this arrangement he had written for the song What’s New? with a beautiful introduction. He said, “Play this. But when you play it, I want you to really sing it out of your horn.” So I did, and he looked at me, very surprised and said, “That’s good, man. You played it the way I meant it to sound.” I impressed him. That moment changed my life.

JW: Who taught you to sing and which singers influenced you most?
WB: In New Orleans, there is so much music being played that you hear it all of the time. You hear instrumental music as well as vocal music. As a youngster, growing up in New Orleans, I heard singers like Fats Domino, Ernie K-Doe, Lloyd Price, Mardi Gras Indians and all the songs on the radio. It’s so beneficial for a young, aspiring musician to hear all of this. You don’t need a teacher for most of it, you just have to pay attention. Later on, in my teens, I gravitated more toward the style of Nat “King” Cole. I’ve always loved ballads, and he was one of the greatest ballad singers I ever heard.

JW: Was Southern University valuable for you?
WB: It was very beneficial to go to Southern University. I had gotten an associate degree from Delgado College in business when I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree. When I got there, I discovered students that were more advanced than I was scholastically in music. That made me take inventory of my own abilities. I played mostly by ear but realized there were rules for the sounds that I’d been playing. I had done some study by ear with my dad, but by the book seemed to be much stricter. I was a music minor, but I still had to operate under what the book said. A great awakening. [Photo above of Wendell Brunious courtesy of Tulane University]

JW: You decided to remain in New Orleans. Why?
WB: First, being a trumpet player from New Orleans is a great responsibility because it goes all the way back to Buddy Bolden, King Oliver and of course, Louis Armstrong, the greatest. We set a precedent for how the trumpet should be played, the melodic concept of the trumpet, having the element of the blues and playing the lead. Not just jazz but rhythm and blues and brass band music. When I perform on the road, of course, I’m representing my years of practice, study and experience, but I’m also representing New Orleans, and that’s very important to me. During my two decades traveling with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, I performed our music all over the world as an ambassador. I’ve lived in other places like Sweden and California for short periods, but I always come back home. I was born to be a trumpet player in New Orleans.

JW: For those who might be unfamiliar, what is so special about Preservation Hall?
WB: From an artist’s perspective, Preservation Hall is a great place for a young, aspiring musician to visit, listen and observe. The setting is very intimate, you’re really close to the musicians, and you can observe and hear them communicating with each other on the bandstand. You also get to hear some of the more simple forms of jazz music and how we take them to a different level. It’s a very beneficial visit if you pay attention.

JW: What do you love about the feel of New Orleans jazz that’s different than anything else?
WB: New Orleans music has an identity unlike any other. The feel of the blues is ever-present. The feel of gospel music is also apparent. It’s music that makes you participate. Whether it’s clapping your hands, stomping your feet, rocking from side to side, it demands something from you. We are there for the audience and they are there for us. This relationship makes New Orleans music so culturally special and based in feeling rather than technique and how many notes and scales you can put on a chord. We’re there to make the audience have fun, dance, intermingle and have a good time. I feel really lucky to have grown up in this environment.

JW: Which of your albums are favorites?
WB: Well, I don’t really sit around listening to my own recordings, but every now and then I’ll hear something that pleasantly surprises me. My most popular albums are: Mama Don’t Allow It and In the Tradition. But I also like how I sound on Witchcraft, from an album I did with Tom Hook called Where Do You Start? I also did a few cuts with Henri Smith. We did Walk On By, and I thought I played pretty well on there. I just try to be in the moment when I perform. That’s what I owe my audience and how I honor my forefathers who taught me everything I know. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to play When the Saints Go Marching In for tourists over the years. But I guarantee that if you hear me playing it in New Orleans, I’ll be playing it to the very best of my ability that day.

JazzWax note: For more on Wendell and Preservation Hall in New Orleans, go here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Wendell and pianist Tom Hook singing and playing All of Me at the Danny Barker Banjo & Guitar Festival in 2019...

Here's Wendell singing and playing Witchcraft...

Here's Wendell Brunious playing I Can't Believe That I'm in Love with You with the Louis Nelson New Orleans All Stars in 1988...

And here's Wendell on Buddy Bolden's Blues...

A special thanks to Karen Kennedy.

Colman, Esther and Paula

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor-producer Colman Domingo for my "House Call" section in the Mansion section (go here). Colman plays Cutler, the bandleader and trombonist, in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, now streaming on Netflix. We talked about Rainey, growing up in West Philadelphia and coming out to his parents and Colman wondering if they'd ever speak to him again. They did. His mother called him back in 20 minutes and put his father on: “Hey, Jay, we know you’re a good boy. We love you, and there’s nothing you could tell us that would make me stop loving you.” [Image above courtesy of YouTube]

Here's the Ma Rainey trailer...

Bassist Chuck Israels sent along the following clip of him playing Who Can I Turn To with trumpeter Charlie Porter and guitarist Dan Faehnle. Chuck tells me they're starting to work on a trio recording...

Pianist Jan Lundgren, last November, teamed up with the Gotenburg Orchestra to play arrangements of Swedish folk music. Ian Mackenzie in Canada sent along the video clip...

Singer Esther Bennett in London takes on Janis Ian's At Seventeen...

Antonio Carlos Jobim radio. This Monday, January 25, WKCR-FM in New York will feature its "Jobim Birthday Broadcast," spinning the Brazilian composer's music for 24 hours starting at midnight (ET). Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.

Roy Eldridge radio. Next Friday and Saturday, WKCR-FM will present its annual "Roy Eldridge Birthday Broadcast," celebrating the career of the legendary innovator and virtuoso of the jazz trumpet. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.

The Liner Notes Project. Steve Lieblich informs me that he's created The Liner Notes Project, an online resource for musicians, writers, DJs and music enthusiasts. There's no log-in or personal information or credit cards required. The retired software developer just created the site as a labor of love. You can search by featured artist, musician, producer, writer, song, album title or record label. Go here.

Here's Ahmad Jamal performing Poinciana in 2015...

Here's Paula Castle singing Why Can't I in 1955 backed by Sam Most (fl), Ronnie Selbey (p), Chet Amsterdam (b) and Herbie Wasserman (d). This was Selbey's only record date...

And here's something that will put a smile on your face...

Phil Spector (1939-2021)

Phil Spector, a record producer, songwriter and co-founder of Philles Records whose "wall of sound" studio formula launched a new, influential approach to pop-rock orchestration in the early 1960s, died at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton on January 16 at age 81. He was 11 years into a 19-year prison sentence for killing actress-model Lana Clarkson in 2003 with a gun in his home just hours after meeting her at a club.

Known for his eccentricity, cruelty, egomania and, later, severe paranoia, Spector was part of a new generation of producers to emerge after the 1959-'60 Congressional payola hearings who geared R&B and rock for a younger and more innocent generation. His R&B and pop-rock songs were less sexually explicit than those in the 1950s and his vision for instrumentation was more dense and sophisticated than anything that preceded him. He referred to his signature layered sound as "little symphonies for the kiddies."

In the early 1960s, he produced and co-wrote songs for a range of unknown artists, including the Righteous Brothers, the Ronettes, the Crystals, the Dixie Cups, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans and Darlene Love. Many of the songs on his label became hits thanks to the anxious arrangements, rocketing some of these artists to stardom.

Born in the Bronx in 1939, Spector moved to Los Angeles with his mother in 1951, returned briefly to New York in 1960 before returning to L.A. Despite his passion for L.A., Spector's singles on Philles had a distinctive New York urban vibe. His so-called "wall of sound" approach behind singers used a staggering number of musicians in a small studio space, a formula that was rather ingenious.

While Motown, Stax, Fame, American Sound and other R&B studios used house bands on the records produced there, Spector brought in a cavalry of young Hollywood studio musicians who were shunned by an older and more traditional generation of session players. These musicians were encouraged to be creative and invent the mood Spector was seeking. Spector's studio musicians came to be known as the Wrecking Crew, many of whom recorded on pop-rock hits of the 1960s and '70s, including singles and albums by the Beach Boys, the Carpenters and, eventually, Frank Sinatra. By the late 1960s and early '70s, Spector was producing the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison.

Here are 10 of my favorite Phil Spector productions:

Here are the Righteous Brothers singing Cynthia Weill, Barry Mann and Spector's You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'...

Here are the Ronettes singing Be My Baby...

Here are the Ronettes singing How Does It Feel?...

Here are the Ronettes singing Walking in the Rain...

Here are the Ronettes singing Do I Love You?...

Here's Darlene Love and the Crystals singing Gene Pitney's He's a Rebel...

Here are Ike and Tina Turner singing Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich's River Deep, Mountain High...

Here's the Beatles' The Long and Winding Road...

Here's John Lennon's Instant Karma!...

And here's John Lennon and Yoko Ono's masterpiece, Imagine...

Bonus: Here are takes 38 and 39 of the backing track (the basic instrumental) to You've Lost That Lovin Feelin' with the Wrecking Crew. And yes, it's great to pull up the lyrics and sing along as the track backs you...

Documentary: Bird in K.C.

Charlie Parker (above) was born in Kansas City, Kan., in 1920. When he was 7, his family moved to Kansas City, Mo. In fifth grade, Parker began playing the saxophone in school after the city put in force a music-education program. As he progressed, his mother bought him an alto saxophone in a pawn shop for $40. At the time, vice thrived in Kansas City. Despite Prohibition, the city's mayor and bosses allowed virtually everything that was illegal elsewhere to be plentiful and available at the many bars and clubs lining the streets. Where there's vice there's music, and dozens of bands found work in the city's dance halls and touring, regionally. As a result, there was abundant work to go around for dance-band musicians. At 15, Parker joined The 10 Chords of Rhythm and he was on his way to becoming a revolutionary alto saxophonist and a co-founder of bebop and post-war jazz.

Here's a terrific documentary from Kansas City PBS called Bird—Not Out of Nowhere: Charlie Parker's Kansas City Legacy. By the way, on the film's opening song from 1947, that's pianist Duke Jordan's pensive intro to Out of Nowhere...

A special thanks to Matt LeGroulx in Montreal.

A Day for 10 Jazz-Folk Clips

For some reason, today feels like we need some jazz-folk to remind us all what's most important—country, freedom, truth and respecting our differences. [Photo above by (c)Marc Myers].

Here are 10 jazz-folk clips:

Here's Brother John Sellers' Down By the Riverside in 1954, with Sir Charles Thompson (p), Freddie Green (g), Walter Page (b) and Jo Jones (d)...

Here's Kitty White singing Ten Thousand Miles in 1956...

Here's Fred Katz's Old Paint from Folk Songs for Far Out Folk in 1958, with Fred Katz (cello), John Towner Williams (p), Billy Bean (g), Mel Pollan (b) and Jerry Williams (d)...

Here's Bill Smith's Go Down Moses in 1959, from Folk Jazz, with Bill Smith (cl,arr) Jim Hall (g) Monty Budwig (b) Shelly Manne (d)...

Here's Johnny Griffin playing Hush-a-Bye from The Kerry Dancers and Other Swinging Folk in 1961, with Johnny Griffin (ts), Barry Harris (p), Ron Carter (b) and Ben Riley (d)...

Here's Harold Land playing Tom Dooley from Jazz Impressions of Folk Music in 1963, with Carmell Jones (tp), Harold Land (ts), John Houston (p), Jimmy Bond (b) and Mel Lee (d)...

Here's Paul Winter playing Waltzing Matilda in 1963, from Jazz Meets the Folk Song, with Dick Whitsell (tp), Paul Winter (sop,as), Jeremy Steig (fl), Jay Cameron (bar), Warren Bernhardt (p), Sam Brown (g), Cecil McBee (b), Freddie Waits (d) and Jose Cingo (perc)...

Here's Helen Merrill singing Motherless Child in 1966, from Helen Merrill Sings Folk, with Hozan Yamamoto (shakuhachi), recorded in Japan in 1966...

Here's Kenny Clarke playing Here the Good Wind Comes from Out of the Folk Bag in 1967, with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band...

And here's Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott playing Blowin' in the Wind in 1968 on Common Touch, with Stanley Turrentine (ts), Shirley Scott (org), Jimmy Ponder (g), Bob Cranshaw (el-b) and Idris Muhammad (d)...