In 1947, vocalist Billy Eckstine became a solo performer, much the way Frank Sinatra had in 1942. Signing with MGM, Eckstine played to the young female market that dreamed of love. At first marketed to the Black urban market, Eckstine on MGM crossed over to the pop charts, racking up 18 hits between 1947 and '51. Lanky with movie-star looks and a bass-baritone voice, Eckstine specialized humid, romantic ballads that took Sinatra's sensitive male to a different level. Instead of playing the vulnerability card to charm female listeners, Eckstine left it all on the radio or in the recording studio with a deep and powerful operatic, crooning style. [Photo above of Billy Eckstine by William P. Gottlieb]
The photo above was taken by Martha Holmes for Life magazine and appeared in the April 25, 1950 issue. It showed Eckstine in New York surrounded by smitten white female fans. At the time, Holmes's image was considered so risque that an editor had to get Henry Luce, the magazine's publisher, to sign off on its publication. Luce gave the green light, insisting it run. Letters of protest followed its publication, and many Blacks, including Harry Belafonte, felt a barrier had been broken when the image appeared nationally. [Photo above by Martha Holmes, courtesy of the LIFE Picture Collection]
Here are 10 Eckstine ballads on MGM, many of which may be new to you, recorded between 1947 and 1951:
Hazel Scott was an enormously talented jazz and classical pianist whose popularity began to soar in the early 1940s. She appeared regularly at New York's Cafe Society in 1941, performed at Carnegie Hall in 1943, went to Hollywood, married Congressman Adam Clayton Powell in 1945 and was one of the first Black women to have her own TV show in 1950. But later that year, she was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee of being a Communist, which tanked her career overnight. She had a nervous breakdown, recovered, toured in the U.S. and Europe, and moved to Paris in 1957. She lived and performed there for 10 years before returning to the U.S. Back home, she performed occasionally and appeared in the soap opera One Life to Live. She died in 1981 of cancer at age 61.
Here's a clip that shows just what a virtuoso she was...
And here's a superb minidoc on Scott by Eve Goldberg entitled What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott?...
Jazz guitar pickers are in a class of their own. Sandwiched between Tiny Grimes in the mid-1940s and early '50s and Grant Green in the 1960s and '70s was Bill Jennings. Born in Indianapolis, Jennings began recording in 1946 as a sideman in the Stuff Smith Quartet and would become a hero to Indy native and guitarist Wes Montgomery. During the early part of his career, Jennings recorded extensively with Louis Jordan, whose band had a big influence on R&B as the genre widened at decade's end. In the early 1950s, Jennings recorded with organist Wild Bill Davis, and the pair became architects of the soul-jazz, organ-guitar sound that became popular in urban markets and on the so-called Chitlin' Circuit of Black clubs across the Midwest and South. [Photo above of Bill Jennings]
Starting in 1954, Jennings recorded extensively for King Records, the Cincinnati powerhouse R&B and blues label. By 1959, Jennings shifted to jazz-blues just as a market for the music emerged and Prestige invested in the form. On recordings as a sideman, Jennings retained his earthy flavor and pronounced picking style, applying them to a jazz feel. After recording behind Willis Jackson in 1957, Jennings recorded his only two jazz leadership albums, both extraordinary works for Prestige: Enough Said in August 1959 and Glide On in January 1960.
The first, Enough Said, featured Brother Jack McDuff (org), Jennings (g), Wendell Marshall (b) and Alvin Johnson (d). It leaned into the blues, with grooves and jazz elements coming largely from McDuff. As you listen to Jennings, you realize his stylistic guitar pecks must have influenced Grant Green. The loping title track features Jennings working a blues with relaxed intensity, like someone feverishly knitting a sweater. The song Tough Gain is an early example of Prestige's modern soul-jazz—plenty of improvisation but with a roadhouse sensibility. The two most interesting tracks are Dig Uncle Will, which has a running passage with traces of Neal Hefti's Repetition. The other is It's Alvin Again, a funky swinger that features Jennings and McDuff playing in unison.
Glide On featured McDuff (org) Jennings (g), Al Jennings (g, vib and no relation to Bill Jennings), Wendell Marshall (b) and Alvin Johnson (d). It's interesting how the vibraphone changed the sound of the group, giving it more of a jazzier, lounge feel. The tracks divide between jazz pieces such as There Will Never Be Another You and Azure-Te, and rich blues like Billin' and Bluin' and Cole Slaw. The last track, Hey Mrs. Jones, opens with a mambo feel as Jennings plays a blues over the top.
Jennings is a major guitar link between the electric blues and R&B and jazz, a combination that laid the foundation for soul-jazz to follow in the 1960s and '70s. He remains exceptional.
Bill Jennings died in 1978 at age 59.
JazzWax clips: You'll find both albums on The Complete Bill Jennings on Prestige, 1959-1960 (Fresh Sound) here.
JazzWax note: For my earlier post on Bill Jennings, go here.
One of the great pairings of piano and tenor saxophone was pianist Red Garland and saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Both artists were steeped in the blues and knew how to feed a blues, get it to roll over and coax it up on its hind legs. And yet, they only recorded one album together, and only four tracks for that album, one of which didn't even make the final cut. It was used later as filler on a Davis compilation album that's now out of print. In fact, so is the one I'm going to tell you about today. [Photo above of Red Garland]
Just one Garland-Davis collaboration can only be blamed on Prestige owner Bob Weinstock and the session supervisor Esmond Edwards. This is usually where Bob Porter would email me, coming to Weinstock's defense and then going on to say why it couldn't be done for legal reasons or that Garland and Davis were at each other's throats or something else behind the curtains. Sadly, Bob passed earlier in the month, so I won't be getting one of his illuminating after-post backstories. Miss you, Bob.
The album in question is The Red Garland Trio With Eddie Lockjaw Davis. Recorded in December 1959 for Prestige's Moodsville label, Weinstock's easy-listening line, the album featured Garland (p), Davis (ts), Sam Jones (b) and Art Taylor (d). Keep in mind, the album as it stands is sensational and gives Garland a chance to show off his gentle blues side. But Davis could easily have been featured throughout. I suppose he wasn't included on all tracks because then it would have cost more and no longer would have been a showcase for Garland. Even if that's so, why in heaven's name couldn't Esmond Edwards have begged Weinstock to record Garland and Davis together for stand-alone albums?
The songs are We'll Be Together Again (with Davis), Stella by Starlight, I Heard You Cried Last Night, Softly Baby (with Davis), When Your Lover Has Gone (with Davis), Wonder Why, Blue Room, The Red Blues and Untitled Blues (M-Squad Theme), with Davis. Apparently the last song wouldn't fit on the LP and wound up years later on a Davis two-fer compilation, Gentle Jaws. [Photo above of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis]
What's beautiful about the Moodsville album is the groove, whether it's the Red Garland Trio alone or with Davis joining in. It's dripping blues, with penetrating soul and deeply authentic flavor that's elegant and nuanced, especially on songs that crawl. One day, someone will find a bunch of unmarked tapes in a vault and they'll turn out to be material recorded during a series of "lost" Garland and Davis live midnight and studio sessions. One can dream.
JazzWax tracks: You'll have to look for The Red Garland Trio and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on eBay or Dicogs.com. It's unavailable across the board at Amazon or it's selling for three figures. To listen, it's at Apple Music.
Abstractionism in music is just over 100 years old. Largely a reaction to the artist's inner torment when coping with chaotic events, abstractionism dates to the summer of 1908 and the jilting of Arnold Schoenberg. Back then, his wife, Mathilde, left him in Vienna and spent several months with a young Austrian painter. The despair experienced by Schoenberg as his private life distorted was channeled into music. That summer, he composed Du lehnest wider eine Silberweide (You Lean Against a Silver Willow). It was the first key-less composition. That year, he also would compose his String Quartet No. 2, the last two movements of which are atonal. Schoenberg, of course, would go on to pioneer the atonal classical movement, composing notable dissonant works that include Pierrot Lunaire (1912). The shattering of Old Europe in World War I gave rise to an entire abstractionist classical movement led by Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Hanns Eisler.
Abstractionism came to jazz much later, after World War II. Up until then, jazz was a largely a dance enterprise that had to meet the commercial interests of of clubs, ballrooms and three domineering record labels. Not until the late 1940s and the rise of independent labels do we begin to hear the percussive dissonance of pianist Thelonious Monk, the pretzled counterpoint and harmony of pianist Lennie Tristano, the early free-jazz group recordings in 1949 by Tristano and Lee Konitz, and the Konitz-Miles Davis Ezz-thetic session in 1951 and Teddy Charles’s Edging Out date in '52. In the 1950s, Monk would continue to advance his own original abstractionism, but along the way, other Black pianists would take up their own approach, including Elmo Hope and Herbie Nichols. Included in this group was the lesser-known Hasaan Ibn Ali. [Photo above of Thelonious Monk in the late 1940s by William P. Gottlieb]
Born William Henry Lankford, Jr. in Philadelphia in 1931, Ali spent years playing locally, developing a reputation for defying traditional jazz forms. According to jazz writer, author and pianist Lewis Porter, Ali caught the attention of jazz's most sophisticated musicians, including drummer Max Roach, by playing fourths using "chord progressions that moved by seconds or thirds instead of fifths, and playing a variety of scales and arpeggios against each chord." Ali was said to have greatly influenced John Coltrane's "sheets of sound" approach, setting the tenor saxophonist on his emotive trajectory as early as 1952. [Photo above of Hasaan Ibn Ali by Larry Fink]
For decades, Ali's sole album was The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan, recorded in December 1964 and released in '65. We’ve had Atlantic Records' Nesuhi Ertegun to thank for that. A follow-up album was recorded in August and September 1965, but the tape sat on the shelf at Atlantic's New Jersey storage unit until 1978, when it was destroyed by a fire that turned to ash many released and unreleased taped jazz recordings. Ali, who died in 1980, never heard the music released.
Over the years, rumors made the rounds in jazz circles that a copy of the tape existed, but it never surfaced. Then in 2017, there was startling news. Lewis Porter picks up the story: "[That year], I played piano at the Clef Club in Philadelphia with Bobby Zankel's group, featuring Odean Pope and others. Odean is, of course, a wonderful player and a beloved person on the Philly scene. Soon after, I received a group email from my new Philly friends asking what I knew about an unissued Hasaan tape. This prompted l me to get in touch with Alan [Sukoenig]," a producer and friend of Ali. [Photo above of Lewis Porter by Bill May, courtesy of Lewis Porter]
Says Alan Sukoenig: "I first heard about an existing tape copy at a Hasaan-related chat forum on Organissimo.org. When Lewis contacted me in February 2017 and asked about any unreleased Hasaan tapes, I asked him if there was anything to the chat forum's rumor. Lewis suggested contact Patrick Milligan, who years before was at Rhino Records and worked alongside Joel Dorn on the Rhino/Atlantic Jazz catalog releases. So I did, and in two hours we had our answer. There was indeed a copy of the tape made between 1971 and '77 but it had been languishing in the Warner tape library for 46 years."
When the tape was exhumed from the Warner vaults in 2018, Patrick Milligan, Cheryl Pawelski of Omnivore Recordings, and Sukoenig went to work on it with engineer Michael Graves, readying the material for release. [Photo above of Cheryl Pawelski, courtesy of Omnivore Recordings]
The result is the astonishing new release, Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics—The Lost Atlantic Album. The album features Hasaan Ibn Ali (p), Odean Pope (ts), Art Davis (b) and Kalil Madi (d). By the summer of 1965, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman had become huge influences on a generation of tenor saxophonists, including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Clifford Jordan and Pope.
The music on this set may prove to be the most important historic jazz recording released this year. In addition to Ali's powerful abstractionist originals and commanding, fluid playing, the album presents thrilling performances by Pope, whose liberated and endearing expression sits somewhere between Coltrane and Charlie Rouse with Monk. Songs such as El Hasaan and the ballad Richard May Love Give Powell exude Mingus-like soul coupled with unsettled social anxiety. The title track is beautifully fractured, Epitome bears Monk's driving, sewing-machine attack and True Trane features Ali's remarkable way of simultaneously playing two completely different rhythmic ideas with his left and right hands, and Pope's take on Coltrane. [Photo above of Hasaan Ibn Ali by Larry Fink]
It's important to also understand the historical backdrop to this recording. By the time the album was recorded, the 1965, the Voting Rights Act had just become law—a year after the Civil Rights Act was passed and signed. Reflected in the music is hope, but not celebration or conviction. Black artists knew too much was stacked against them achieving legal justice, equal rights and integration nationwide as well as fair pay and equal treatment by record companies. As the Beatles and other white pop-rock bands soared to unheard of levels of financial success overnight, record companies began quickly diverting resources and looking for more pop bands like them. Black art in the form of jazz abstraction and expressionism was now a hard sell.
Listening to the music over the weekend, I could hear the times baked into the expression. Instead of a sense that American society was coming around, you hear the sound of dread that big money was shifting to a new form of pop rock and pop soul that appealed largely to white and Black kids. Thinking music by serious black jazz artists was simply too out there and unprofitable in the new youth-driven marketplace, especially if the artist was unwilling to tour.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics—The Lost Atlantic Album here.
In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Former President George W. and Laura Bush for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). As you can imagine, the Bushes were a great deal of fun as we talked about his paintings and her passion for reading and details about their childhoods growing up in Midland, Texas. In the 1950s, Midland was a magnet for young entrepreneurs just back from World War II who moved their families there to capitalize on the energy boom. The former president shared the pain of his mother and father losing a child and Mrs. Bush shared her own mother's difficulties with miscarriages and Mrs. Bush's wish for a sister. A touching love story that's peppered with the Former President's quips and talk about his portrait painting, which is remarkably excellent. [Photo above of former President Bush in his studio with his portrait of Roya Mahboob, CEO of an Afghan software company, by Trevor Paulhus for The Wall Street Journal]
Here's the cover of his new book of paintings—portraits of exceptional immigrants...
Natalia Lafourcade. Following my post on the Mexican pop singer, I received this from Brett Lehocky:
Marc, thank you so much for introducing Natalia Lafourcade to all of us. She is wonderful. What really caught my ear was Omara Portuondo. I had never heard of her so I looked her up. She's a Cuban national treasure. Here is a concert by her with a full orchestra when she was 78 years old that you might want to share. We do not often get to hear Cuban music with such authenticity. Omara owns the stage:
And while I have you, I have to pass along this great video performance of Sarah Vaughan with the Boston Pops in 1976...
More Picasso.Here's a four-minute video of Picasso creating a masterpiece in Le Mystère Picasso, for French director Henri-Georges Clouzot [Photo above of Picasso courtesy of Britannica]...
Zoot Sims Plays 4 Altos. Imagine if an entire reed section sounded like Zoot. The album was recorded In January 1957 for ABC-Paramount and produced by Creed Taylor. For more on this session, go here. Here's J'espere Enfin, with Zoot overdubbing alto parts on a George Handy arrangement backed by Handy (p), Nabil "Knobby" Totah (b) and Nick Stabulas (d)...
Ella Fitzgerald radio. WKCR-FM in New York will spin Ella's records for 24 hours in honor of her birthday on Sunday, April 25, starting at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
And Duke Ellington radio. WKCR-FM also will present its annual "Duke Ellington Birthday Broadcast" Thursday, April 29, playing his music on the radio for 24 hours (ET). To listen listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
And finally,here's Marvin Gaye performing What's Going On and What's Happening Brother in 1973 (we also get a bird's eye view of legendary bassist James Jamerson)...
If you're ever a contestant on TV's Jeopardy and the category is JazzWax, one of the board's clues may be "The only weekday date in 13 years when a post did not appear." The correct answer framed as a question would be, "What is April 22, 2021." Apologies to my readers. I was under the weather yesterday, and posting the night before was impossible. So you had two days of John Pizzarelli's tribute to Pat Metheny, which wasn't a bad thing.
Today, I in the spirit of jazz, I offer you a wonderful BBC documentary on Picasso and his women and art. Directed by Hughes Nancy, the hour-long doc aired in 2017, with narration by English actress Rebecca Gethings. Here'sPicasso Love, and Art...
This album shouldn't work. One superb artist recording the music of another usually happens many years after the subject has passed away. But John Pizzarelli's new album, Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny, works with tremendous success. It's as if John said to himself, "Why not?" And he's right. The idea of taking on Metheny's compositions and doing so solo is about as beautiful a tribute as one can imagine. Add the fact that John is a monster guitarist and you have an album that is pure splendor.
Metheny, of course, has always been a fascinating mix of styles and influences. Best known for his post-fusion albums Letter From Home, Still Life (Talking), Imaginary Day, Speaking of Now and The Way Up, the guitarist spent his early years listening to Wes Montgomery before heeding Ornette Coleman's musical call on his late 1960s albums to stand out by exploring new territory. Metheny lived in Brazil in the 1970s, a rhythmic and melodic experience that rubbed off. But you can also hear Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and many other Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters in the sailing quality of his music as well as rock influences. No wonder Metheny has 20 Grammys and is the only artist to have won Grammys in 10 different categories. [Photo above of Pat Metheny courtesy of Pat Metheny]
John Pizzarelli captures all of the poetry and moodiness of Metheny's music, from the smooth-jazz introspection to the samba-jazz fusion. But these aren't covers, per se. John interprets the music with the same textured mindset as Metheny. He understands Metheny's adventuresome passion and the complex chord voicings, contrapuntal tones and figures that make Metheny so special. In other words, he hears what Metheny heard when recording them. Best of all, John is gentle and lyrical and able to work inside the music with his electrified acoustic guitar, allowing the songs to breathe and flare. John chose Better Days Ahead, Spring Ain't Here, April Wind/Phase Dance, September Fifteenth, James, Antonia, (It's Just) Talk, Letter From Home, If I Could, Last Train Home, From This Place, The Bat and Farmer's Trust. [Photo above of John Pizzarelli courtesy of John Pizzarelli]
For me, Metheny (and John's interpretations) are transporting. I don't know why, but Metheny's songs have always reminded me of my college years in Boston. I'm not sure why, since I was there 10 years before Metheny's '80s albums. In John's hands, the music also makes me feel wistful, as if the semester is about to start and I have to head off to the bookstore.
Perhaps it's the music's mellow ease and ambition all rolled into one expression or John's brilliant channeling of Metheny's eager storytelling style. All I know is that after listening to the album for the 10th time yesterday, I had an urge to walk Boston's Commonwealth Avenue and hook into the Back Bay section to Charles Street and Beacon Hill. John's new album is precious and will certainly hit you in interesting places. And it's great to hear that Metheny's catalog still has legs so many years later.
JazzWax tracks:You'll find John Pizzarelli's Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny (Ghostlight) here.
JazzWax clips:Here's John Pizzarelli playing Better Days Ahead...
One night in Seattle in 1977, two guys named Bill Evans went out for dinner. One was the jazz pianist and the other the modern dancer. Bill Evans the dancer was prominent in the Northwest and making a name for his dance company nationwide. He first danced professionally in 1966 and formed the Bill Evans Solo Dance Repertory in 1970. Four years later he formed the Bill Evans Dance Company. Over the course of his career, he choreographed more than 250 works, a number of which with jazz musicians. Two of these works were with pianist Bill Evans.
Their little-known collaboration began after the pianist played a gig at Parnell's, a famously cozy Seattle jazz club founded by Roy Parnell. After the performance, the dancer went backstage and invited the pianist out for a meal. At the restaurant, the dancer told the pianist that people had often come to his "Bill Evans In Concert" shows in various cities expecting to hear the trio, not to see modern dance. [Photo above of Roy Parnell]
They laughed and then learned they both defined good technique as getting the biggest reward from the smallest expenditure of muscular energy. That evening, they decided to collaborate and did so twice—in 1978 and 1979. The first event, Double Bill, took place on March 17 and 18, 1978, at Meany Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle. According to notes from the dancer that appeared with the recent YouTube post of the performance, the work ran about 45 minutes and included several other Bill Evans compositions in addition to Waltz for Debby and Peace Piece. [Photo above of dancer Bill Evans]
The dancer continued:
I know that we danced to "Waltz for Debby." Bill brought bassist Michael Moore and drummer Philly Jo Jones. We performed together again in 1979, also at Meany Hall. This time, we repeated "Double Bill" and added another 45-minute piece called "Mixin' It Up." The new piece was choreographed to Bill's recordings of jazz classics by other composers, including "Nardis," "Sweet and Lovely," "How Deep Is The Ocean," "Hi-Lilli Hi-Lo "and other pieces, as well as an improvisation by his sidemen then—bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. Reviews for both shows were overwhelmingly positive. We sold out the theatre for all performances. Working with Bill was one of the highlights of my performing career.
Here's the video of the 1978 performance, which seems to have been taped by an audience member but still affords us a look at Bill Evans the pianist accompanying Bill Evans the dancer and his dance company, and how the pianist altered his playing to fit the dancers' needs...
A special thanks to Dave Thompson and Rob Rijneke in the Netherlands.
Parisians are crazy about three things: Food, love and syncopation. I've always felt that the city's fascination with the latter has much to do with a romanticized impression of the years before World War II. But Paris's history with syncopation goes back even further. European classical modernists came under its influence at the start of the 20th century. Ragtime was likely at the Paris Exposition of 1900, where march king John Philip Sousa made a tour stop. [Photo above of a Parisian flapper in the 1920s]
Antonín Dvořák was a ragtime and cakewalk nut, as was Claude Debussy. Erik Satie, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and other members of The Group of Six in Paris loved ragtime. Rags, New Orleans jazz, stride and hot jazz has always been at home in Paris just as it was in the 1920s. And let's not forget the Hot Club de France, a French organization founded in 1931 in Paris by jazz fans dedicated to traditional jazz, swing and blues. [Photo above of the the Hot Club of France Quintet]
Which is why Paris Washboard: Superswing is so marvelous. The quintet is wonderfully passionate about the music. Alain Marquet, clarinetist and owner of Paris's Jazz Museum store (see my recent post here), was kind enough to send the group's latest CD via Gilles D'Elia, who graciously mailed it along. The album swings like crazy and is wonderfully authentic and rich with syncopation.
The personnel features Michel Bonnet (tp), Alain Marquet (cl), Daniel Barda (tb), Louis Mazetier (p) and Charles Prévost (washboard), with arrangements by Daniel Barda and Louis Mazetier. The songs are Yacht Club Swing, Harlem Joys, The Mooche, In a Jam, Moonglow, Sweetie Dear, Streamline Gal, Crazy Rhythm, Sidewalk Blues, Undecided, If Dreams Come True, I'm Coming Virginia and Frolic Sam.
The entire album is alive and in love with early jazz. The group is all heart and heat. Magnifique! Merci beaucoup, Alain and Gilles!
JazzWax tracks: To inquire where to buy Paris Washboard: Superswing, go here here and click "send email."
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of 55 More Songs," "Anatomy of a Song," "Rock Concert: An Oral History" and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax has won three Jazz Journalists Association awards.
