One night in Seattle, pianist Bill Evans had dinner with dancer Bill Evans. The dancer, at the time, was prominent in the Northwest and was 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 Co. 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 the pianist Bill Evans—Double Bill (1978) and Mixin' It Up (1979).
Their little-known collaboration began after the pianist played a gig at Parnell's, a famously comfortable 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 in 1978 and 1979. The first event 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, which seemed to be taken by the audience member but still affords us a look at Bill Evans the pianist accompanying Bill Evans the dancer with 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."
In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed actor-comedian David Alan Grier for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). David appeared in the 1984 film version of A Solder's Story and the 2020 Broadway revival of A Soldier's Play. He also starred on TV's In Living Color in the early 1990s and currently co-stars in the Netflix sitcom Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! His father was William H. Grier, co-author of the 1968 bestseller Black Rage: Two Black Psychiatrists Reveal the Full Dimensions of the Inner Conflicts and the Desperation of Black Life in the United States (go here). [Photo above of David Alan Grier, left, and Jamie Foxx, courtesy of Netflix]
Up for two awards. Nominees for the annual awards handed out by the Jazz Journalists Association were announced this week. I'm among the six writers nominated for this year's Lifetime Achievement Award, the winner to be announced in May. JazzWax also is a nominee for the JJA's Blog of the Year. I'm honored and humbled. For more information, go here.
SiriusXM. This Wednesday, April 21, I'll be on Feedback (Channel 106) with Nik and Lori to talk about Al Stewart's 1976 hit Year of the Cat. Be there at 9 a.m. (ET). Don't miss it. The show will be fun as I break down this yacht-rock classic and spin my Hot 10 related songs.
Ronnie Scott. Soon after my post on the documentary, Ronnie's, last week, it was pulled down. I reached out to the director-writer Oliver Murray, thinking he had uploaded the film on YouTube. In fact, he hadn't, and his representative in the U.S. had pulled it down. My apologies to Oliver and JazzWax readers. Here's what he said regarding the documentary:
Hi Marc, That’s OK. We have someone stateside watching for uploads because a distributor bought the rights to a cinema release and is waiting for theaters to open. Currently, it's available to stream on the BBC and also through Hotdocs in Canada. U.S. fans will have to wait a few months for Greenwich Entertainment to announce a date. I’ll make sure they alert you to their plans. If you're in Canada, go here.
Bob Porter, a record producer whose name appears on a long list of superb soul-jazz albums in the 1960s and '70s and who went on to become a leading blues and R&B DJ on WBGO starting in 1981, died on April 10. He was 80. [Photo above of Bob Porter by Jim Eigo]
Bob was a great friend of JazzWax, emailing often to commend, amend or debate positions in my posts. He produced many great albums on the Prestige label, including those by Charles Earland, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Jimmy McGriff, Pat Martino, Hank Crawford, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Leon Spencer Jr. and dozens of others. Many developed the 1970s soul-jazz feel with organ trio and horns. In fact, among my first jazz albums at the dawn of the '70s—Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons's You Talk That Talk and Leon Spencer Jr.'s Louisiana Slim—were produced by Bob. My posts on Bob are here and here. Bob will always be in my thoughts. I'll miss those "Portergrams."
Dance Along With Basie. Last week, following my post on Count Basie's Dance Along With Basie (1959), I received an email from Hans Doerrscheidt, who pointed out that while Thad Jones arranged much of the album, Frank Foster was responsible for Secret Love, Misty and Back to the Apple. I've fixed the original post. Thanks, Hans! [Photo above of Frank Foster, left, with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis in 1957 by Chuck Stewart]
Bill Evans in Rochester, N.Y. In the wake of my post on the Bill Evans Trio's performance at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. on April 12, 1977, I received the following from Brett Gold...
Marc, a belated thanks for your Bill Evans post. I was a student at the University of Rochester at the time and regularly went to jazz concerts at the Eastman Theatre. I'm surprised I didn't remember the concert, but apparently I had a conflict that night, an orchestra rehearsal, so couldn’t make it. The title of the TV show "At the Top" refers to an occasional PBS show that was taped at a high-end restaurant near Eastman called Top of the Plaza, which regularly featured jazz groups. I went to a couple of shows there during my time in Rochester. I think I saw Maynard Ferguson’s band and Bill Watrous’s Manhattan Wildlife Refuge. Top of the Plaza was located on the top floor of Midtown Plaza (photo above), which apparently was the second indoor mall in the U.S. and the first in a downtown area. It has since been partially torn down and repurposed as condos. For more information on Midtown Plaza and Top of the Plaza, go here, here and here.
And here’s a PBS show from 1973 that was actually taped at Top of the Plaza, featuring the Buddy Rich big band. The only non-Rich band member I recognize is the second alto, a very young Ray Ricker, who was a long-time saxophone professor at Eastman and is now retired...
Baden Powell. Last week, Paris photographer Gilles D'Elia sent along the following video of Brazilian guitarist-singer and songwriter Baden Powell...
CD you should know about:
David Thompson—Waiting (DBT). You may recognize Dave's name from the Soundcloud clips I include in my weekend posts from time to time featuring Dave playing piano in the style of Bill Evans. Dave's new solo album features 14 tracks—three originals and many songs that Evans recorded, including the original ballad Laurie that Evans wrote for his romantic companion, Laurie Verchomin. As Dave writes in his liner notes: "Bill Evans's music continues to be a great source of inspiration to me, and a singular source of remarkable beauty in my life unlike any other." To listen to audio clips and buy, go here.
Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jazz saxophonist, arranger, composer and New School educator Bill Kirchner (above) has been busy. Now into his third semester of online teaching via Zoom, Bill and his jazz ensemble recorded Jobim's If You Never Come to Me. Bill says it was accomplished by layering a track at a time through a software program called Soundtrap. The quartet was truly global—the trombonist was in Israel; the guitarist in Seattle; the bassist in Austin, Texas; and the drummer in New York. The musicians: Dor Asaf (tb), Ravi Sharma (g), Daniel Foose (b) and Zan Babar (d).
Benny Golson radio. On Sunday, April 18, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), "Symphony Sid" Gribetz on WKCR-FM in New York will present a five-hour radio broadcast celebrating the career of composer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson on “Jazz Profiles.” To listen from anywhere in the world, go here. [Photo above of Benny Golson courtesy of Benny Golson]
And congrats to Sid. He has been nominated for the JJA's Marian McPartland-Willis Conover Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting. Fingers crossed.
Charles Mingus radio. The bass player's birthday broadcast will be held on WKCR-FM on Thursday, April 22, when Mingus's recorded music will be played on the air for 24 hours. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
Natalia Lafourcade. Take a seat. You're about to fall in love with a voice. Natalia is a Mexican pop-rock and folk singer and songwriter who, since her debut in 2002, has been one of the most successful singers in Latin America. Here are three examples of the 37-year-old's stunning vocals and passion singing romantic boleros [Photo above of Natalia Lafourcade courtesy of LA Phil]:
Here's Natalia with the legendary Cuban singer-dancer Omara Portuondo...
If Martians turned up at my front door and asked for a single example of jazz that would make them understand and feel what all the fuss was about, I'd invite the green visitors from the red planet to sit in front of my iMac. Then I'd show them this 50-minute video from 1974 in the Netherlands:
Today you're about to take a trip, and you're in for a treat. Cuba's filin movement began in the late 1940s and lasted into the 1960s. It was a particular way of singing a ballad so that it sounded extra romantic and passionate, what we'd call crooning. Filin (pronounced FEEL-in) came out of the steamy bolero and canción and the 19th century trova, short for trovadors or troubadours—traveling artists who sang ballads and accompanied themselves on guitar. Today, David Oquendo is one of the finest singers of Cuban bolero filin. Once you hear him, you'll fall in love with this music genre as I did in the late 1990s, when my friend Ivan Acosta took me to New Jersey to meet David and hear him perform. [Photo above of David Oquendo singing and playing]
A native of Havana, Cuba, David is an astonishing interpreter of many diverse styles of Cuban music. In Cuba, he emerged as a guitarist and singer with Elena Bourke and Compay Segundo. He moved from the island to New Jersey in 1991 and began appearing at La Esquina Habanera in Union City. Since then, David has won a Grammy for Tropicana’s Nights with Paquito D’Rivera and received Grammy nominations for Bebop Timba with Raphael Cruz and three Latin Grammy nominations for Raices Habaneras, 50 Years of Mambo and Paquito D’Rivera Presenta Las Hermanas Marquez.
Now that you have David's background and a brief history of the singular Cuban ballad style, here's a newly posted, hour-long video of David singing and playing bolero filin with a fine percussionist and bassist whose names aren't cited...
Follow David on Facebook here. Want more David Oquendo? Here's David with trombonist Roswell Rudd...
You won't find one of my favorite Thad Jones albums listed under his name. It's Dance Along With Basie, recorded for Roulette at the tail end of the 1950s. Cut over four sessions during the December holiday season in 1959, the album features mostly Jones's swinging arrangements of mid-tempo standards. They're all strikes, and perfect for a mental twirl around the dance floor. [Photo above of Thad Jones near Times Square by Francis Wolf (c)Mosaic Images]
Despite the updated swing of Basie's New Testament band in the 1950s, the band had always been a dance band, first and foremost. His first Kansas City band, in 1936 (after leading Benny Moten's ghost band), was the nine-piece Barons of Rhythm. Basie then formed a big band and moved to Chicago in the fall of that year for an extended engagement at the Grand Terrace Ballroom and to record for John Hammond at Columbia. The magic of early Basie was the rhythm section and the band's driving swing. For the next five decades, Basie's bands were all primarily dance bands, featuring call-and-response sectional arrangements and soloists with distinct instrumental personalities. [Photo above of Count Basie]
Dance Along With Basie was largely arranged by Thad Jones (Back to the Apple, Secret Love and Misty were by Frank Foster). At the time of release the album was aimed at buyers looking for music to dance to in the living room. I'm sure it also was designed to show off the newly emerging stereo format, with Harry "Sweets" Edison and the horns coming through the right speaker and the reeds and rhythm section sailing away in the left. Above all, a dance feel was always the primary mission of the Basie band, no matter who was arranging—Neal Hefti, Ernie Wilkins, Thad Jones, Quincy Jones or Frank Foster. Even if you didn't dance at home, Basie made you feel you could if you wanted to.
The band on the album is the classic '50s lineup: Joe Newman, John Anderson, Snooky Young and Thad Jones; Al Grey, Benny Powell and Henry Coker (tb), Marshall Royal (as); Billy Mitchell and Frank Foster (ts); Frank Wess (ts,fl); Charlie Fowlkes (bs); Count Basie (p), Freddie Green (g); Ed Jones (b); and Sonny Payne (dr). [Photo above of Count Basie]
Standout arrangements by Jones are Give Me the Simple Life, It's a Pity to Say Goodnight, It Had to Be You, Fools Rush In, Makin' Whoopee, Easy Living, Can't We Be Friends and How Am I to Know? Foster's charts are fabulous, too. Misty features Frank Wess and Charlie Fowlkes soloing on flute and baritone saxophone. Jones's arrangements may not be as adventurous as his pen work in the 1960s and '70s but they breathe well, have perfect pacing and come with that special twinkle.
Thad Jones died in 1986, Frank Foster died in 2011.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Dance Along With Basie (Roulette) here.
JazzWax clips:Here's the entire album in tracks...
JazzWax note: If you love this period of Basie's band as much as I do, treat yourself to the out-of-print Mosaic box of The Complete Roulette Live Recordings of Count Basie and His Orchestra (1959-1962). Copies here. Mosaic's out-of-print Roulette studio recordings box is here. Highly satisfying. Think what you will of Teddy Reig's reputation. That cat could produce an album.
In June 1972, Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez were at Club Thalamus in the Schaerbeek section of Brussels, Belgium. On drums for the tour, Evans hired Tony Oxley, an English avant-garde player and co-founder of Incus Records. The gig was taped by Belgian TV. Evans and Gomez's European tour came just weeks after Evans recorded Living Time with George Russell, his last album for Columbia. Commentary in Dutch was by Belgian composer François Glorieux. Here's the video that went up about three weeks ago...
You may not have played Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club as a musician or had the pleasure of hearing jazz artists perform there. And even if you have, who knows when you'll be back given the pandemic in Europe. For now, here's a solid documentary, Ronnie Scott and His World Famous Jazz Club, written and directed by Oliver Murray, about the tenor saxophonist and the nightclub he opened in London in 1959...
Last week in The Wall Street Journal, my "Anatomy of a Song" column was on Al Stewart's Year of the Cat, a mystifying soft-rock hit in 1976 with nine influences (go here). Al and I talked about the roles that the following played in the song's creation: Bob Dylan (two influences), the films Casablanca and Last Tango in Paris, English comedian Tony Hancock, a piano riff played during sound checks, a book on Vietnamese astrology, novelist W. Somerset Maugham and Queen Anne's horse. Here's the hit, but I warn you, Year of the Cat is a ferocious earworm...
Also in the WSJ, I interviewed actress Elizabeth Perkins for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Elizabeth is precious and as fine a dramatic actress as she is a comedian. You probably remember her in Big (1988), as Tom Hanks's girlfriend. She's currently in The Moodys, a Fox TV comedy. Much of her childhood was spent isolated, which worked wonders on her imagination. First her parents divorced, then her mother remarried and they moved to a remote Vermont farm 4 1/2 miles from the main road and 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. Then her two older sisters left for boarding school. She was left at home with her youngest stepbrother to deal with alcoholic parents. She coped by compartmentalizing. [Photo above of Elizabeth Perkins courtesy of Elizabeth Perkins]
Here's Elizabeth in Big. She a master of facial expressions and gets to use a lot of them in this film...
Here she is in Curb Your Enthusiasm at the head of the table, bringing just the right level of tension and controlled disgust...
Bill Evans. Following my post on Bill Evans at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. in April 1977, I heard from writer Tonino Vantaggiato in Italy. Tonino writes on Evans and pointed out that there weren't two concerts, just one, on April 12. He reminded me that Evans's mother, Mary Soroka Evans, died on April 5, 1977. As a result, the April 8 concert and the classroom time the trio planned to spend with Eastman professor Bill Dobbins had to be cancelled and rescheduled. While bassist Eddie Gomez fully expected to make the April 8 concert date, he was already obligated to record with Jack De Johnette on April 11 and 12 in Berkeley, Calif., on McCoy Tyner's album Supertrios. So Bill asked if Chuck Israels could make it. He could.
On April 12, the concert was videotaped for At the Top, a series of jazz concerts produced for Rochester's WXXI, a PBS TV station. In addition to the video being broadcast on TV on Thursday, July 21, 1977. Tonino notes, the music also aired on WXXI-FM. In addition, he said there were two sets at the concert separated by an intermission. The video is likely the first set. I've updated the post to incorporate all of this new information. Thank you Tonino. Stay safe!
Lucy Yeghiazaryan. If you weren't able to catch Emmet's Place on Monday night, with the Emmet Cohen Trio and vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan and tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, you missed one swinging scene. The gig was so hot it lasted nearly two hours and was sensational. As close to going out to hear music as it gets. But you're in luck. Here it is in full on YouTube (remember, Emmet's Place can be viewed every Monday, worldwide, starting at 7:30 p.m. (ET) or on YouTube days after...
Buddy Deppenscmidt died on March 20. He was 85. Deppenschmidt was the drummer on Jazz Samba, the first Grammy-winning bossa nova session in 1962 featuring Stan Getz (ts), Charlie Byrd (g), Gene Byrd (g,b), Keter Betts (b) and Deppenschmidt on drums. Matt Schudel of the Washington Post wrote a beautiful obit. To read, go here.
Virginia MacDonald. Cruising through Facebook before signing off last week, I came across clarinetist Virginia MacDonald playing along with Charlie Parker and his reinterpretation of Embraceable You. Here she is...
Tina Brooks radio. On Sunday, April 11, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), Sid Gribetz will be spinning Tina Brooks and talking about the tenor saxophonist for five full hours. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
Dreaming of an album? A boxed set of CDs? Jim Eigo's Original Vinyl Records in Warwick, N.Y., likely has it. He has a ton of mint jazz plus rock, pop, soul, you name it. Email him to see if he has what you want at OriginalVinylRecords@gmail.com. Or call him at 917-755-8960.
WNEW. Each spring I play this seasonal jinglefrom the '70s for the now-defunct WNEW-AM. Even if you're not from New York, you'll feel like you are after you listen to it...
The miracle of spring has arrived in New York and Paris. In New York, during my walk this morning through Central Park, I snapped a few photos on my iPhone 12 Pro Max that caught the explosive season unaware...
Over in Paris, my dear friend, photographer Gilles D'Elia, also has been busy snapping images of spring. Here is a wonderful series by Gilles, who has such a poetic eye...
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's best blog award.
