Formed in 1984, the Real Group is a Swedish vocal harmony ensemble that specializes in jazz. The group has taken on other types of music, including Scandinavian folk and classical. And over the years, the group has seen many different members pass through its ranks. The Real Group is still going strong today, touring in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. If you're unfamiliar, let me share with you a bunch of videos [photo above of the Real Group today, from left, Johannes Rückert Becker, Axel Berntzon, Joanné Nugas, Daniele Dees and Clara Fornander]. A special thanks to Don Rice for reminding me of the group's terrific approach to jazz vocal harmonies:
By the way, here's the original arranged by Bill Evans and sung by Swedish singing star Monica Zetterlund during a rehearsal in Copenhagen in 1966, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Alex Riel on drums. I've always loved the ending, with Zetterlund rubbing her ear and Evans rubbing his eye at the same time, almost out of discomfort anticipating how the other is going to react...
On May 31 and June 1, 2005, Swedish jazz pianist Jan Lundgren was in New York to record In New York for Marshmallow Records, an independent Japanese label founded in 1978. Backing Jan were bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. The recording session took place at Nola's Penthouse Studio on 57th St., above the Steinway showroom (both now replaced by a zillion-story tower on what is known in New York as Billionaire's Row). Jim Czak, whom we all miss dearly, co-engineered, mixed and mastered.
Most of the songs were chosen by Jan, with three added by the album's producer and Marshmallow founder Mitsuo Johfu: Autumn in New York, Cherokee and The Gypsy. Jan included two originals—Negotiations and M.Z. The balance were standards Jan wanted to record—East of the Sun, Benny Golson's Stablemates, John Coltrane's Straight Street,I Can't Get Started and Wayne Shorter's This Is for Albert. Great choices all.
The reason I'm telling you about this album now is that after years of being out of print, In New York has just been reissued. It's part of a series of nine trio albums that Jan made for Marshmallow in the 2000s and 2010s. You'll find it on Spotify and at YouTube and on streaming services and for download on retail sites.
Jan doesn't get to New York as often as he used to. The pandemic changed a lot. This album is as close as we'll get unless you're in Stockholm and vicinity. In New York is exceptional. Listen to Jan on Autumn in New York and I Can't Get Started. Sheer elegance. There was gentle quality and swinging sophistication to Jan's playing then as is the case now, only more so. His level of taste is extraordinary, and his feel for American songbook standards is loving and respectful. Listen to Stablemates, one of the most statuesque trio renditions of the song I've ever heard and the most sensual, which is how Benny likes it played. Or listen to Jan's fabulous introduction to The Gypsy. [Photo above of Jan Lundgren by Steven Haberland]
Straight Street, which Coltrane recorded on Coltrane (Prestige) in 1957, is a knockout, with Jan giving the song the mink-glove treatment. And This Is for Albert, which can be heard on Art Blakey's Caravan (Riverside), twists and turns with grace. Jan's originals here have a distinctly Swedish moodiness and are terrific change-ups from the jazz and pop songbook. As for Peter Washington and Kenny Washington, they are the gold standard and continue to inspire everyone they play with.
This is an album you'll listen to over and over again. And, if I might add, a perfect album to play while on the sofa in front of the fireplace this season. The music will find its way all the way inside and make you very happy.
A special thanks to Guy Jones in Stockholm. And a big hi to Jan and all of my Swedish JazzWax readers. So glad this album and other Marshmallow releases are back in town or on their way.
JazzWax note: Here are the nine albums Jan recorded for Marshmallow, with their original release dates and their reissue dates. They will be available for streaming and downloading:
Lonely One (2002), released August 2021
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (2005), August 2021
In New York (2007), November 12, 2021
Plays Cole Porter Love Songs (2008), November 26, 2021
Blue Lights (2011), December 17, 2021
A Swinging Rendezvous (2008), January 21, 2022
Charade (2008), February 11, 2022
Perfidia (2008), March 4, 2022
Soft Summer Breeze (2009), April 15, 2022
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the Jan Lundgren Trio's In New York at Spotify and at YouTube here. You can download it here.
In January 1961, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers were on their first tour of Japan. That year, the Messengers consisted of a tough bunch of signature players—Lee Morgan (tp), Wayne Shorter (ts), Bobby Timmons (p), Jymie Merritt (b) and Blakey (d). This particular line-up of Messengers had been together since early 1960, when they recorded The Big Beat for Blue Note. The fact that Blakey was able to assemble and unify so much jazz firepower was a testament to his leadership skills and his taste in music. Blakey had his finger on the pulse of what foreign and young jazz listeners loved—energy and a solid beat. In Japan, the group toured several cities, receiving thunderous applause at each venue. [Photo above of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in Japan in 1961 by Hozumi Nakadaira, courtesy of Blue Note]
Tape of the Jazz Messengers' concert at Tokyo's Hibiya Public Hall (above) on January 13 and 14 surfaced only recently. Zev Feldman—whose very name has become synonymous with analog archeology and the exhuming of important rare jazz tapes that have never seen the light of day after they were made—found the Tokyo recording in the hands of a Japanese collector. Here's Zev writing in the liner notes about his discovery:
"I first heard about these lost Art Blakey recordings on a trip to Japan in 2017. I was told that a gentleman, Ryuichiro Nemoto, had in his possession never-before-released recordings of the Messengers’ first Japan tour in January of 1961... When we received the tapes, they had been assembled on five quarter-inch tape reels. There were a number of incomplete tunes among the recordings and my co-producer, David Weiss, and I decided to leave those off of this release. Given our decision not to include the incomplete tunes, plus our uncertainty about the actual order in which the tapes were labeled, we decided to sequence the release in a way that, to us, best enhanced the overall listening experience."
We're fortunate that Zev and his co-producer made that decision. Nothing is more annoying to the average jazz fan than the inclusion of partial songs. On the newly released Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: First Flight to Tokyo, the Lost 1961 Recordings (Blue Note), there's much to love. Blakey and the Messengers were tightly arranged on songs but freewheeling and hypnotic. The players also were more expressive, as the nine tracks featured show. Morgan is blistering but tender in places, such as 'Round Midnight. Shorter is thrashing but also introspective, especially on Now's the Time, Blues March and A Night in Tunisia. The high point for me is Timmons's Dat Dere, which features spectacular solos by Shorter and Morgan capped by a barrelling solo by Timmons. Throughout the recording we find Blakey's impatient and hectoring drums lovingly driving the musicians and keeping everyone on their toes with military precision. After this group recorded The Freedom Rider in the studio in May 1961, Freddie Hubbard replaced Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller was added and Cedar Walton replaced Timmons. And back on the road the Messengers went.
The reason this new album is so important is that it cleanly documents, with superb sound, a group made up of dynamic players who would soon go on to spectacular careers. In Japan in 1961, just days before John F. Kennedy was sworn in as president, the Jazz Messengers were abroad representing the best of America. They were guests in a country that just 16 years earlier had been ruled by a murderous, fascist regime during World War II. In Japan, audiences born under a brutal dictatorship were liberated and we hear them exhaling while enjoying a quintet that embraced improvisation, independence and freedom. They also recognized that the Messengers were exponents of a new sophisticated, optimistic sound that they had heard only on albums. A hopeful generation was emerging, and this music expressed how it felt to be free in Japan and almost free in the U.S. [Photo above of Lee Morgan by Shunji Ohkura, courtesy of Blue Note]
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: First Flight to Tokyo, the Lost 1961 Recordings (Blue Note) here.
In the 1960s, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson recorded on close to 30 Blue Note albums, only five of which were under his name. But most of those sideman sessions were just as significant, since Henderson was a powerful ingredient on anyone's recording date. For example, he is a dominant soloist on Kenny Dorham's Una Mas, Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder, Horace Silver's Song for My Father, Herbie Hancock's The Prisoner and others. What made Henderson special was his dry tone and delivery, his polished bursts of fluid ideas and a feel that seemed most influenced by the airiness of Lester Young and taut delivery of Sonny Rollins. [Photo above of Joe Henderson by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]
And yet Henderson sounded distinctly original and modern. While most other established Blue Note tenor saxophonists of the period were seasoned by session work in the 1950s, Henderson arrived on the scene in 1963, following his discharge from the Army. In New York, Dorham took him under his wing and showed him the ropes, eventually bringing him to the attention of Blue Note's Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff. Henderson's smokey sound and dashing agility were distinct. In the Blue Note stable, Hank Mobley was juicier, Shorter had more wail and Stanley Turrentine had more blues. Henderson's musical personality fit right in without overlap, especially when playing hard bop with a boogaloo rhythm or bossa nova feel, which was the emerging Blue Note trend in the early 1960s. [Photo above of Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]
You can hear all of this and more on the newly released box set from Mosaic—The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions. First a word about the title, which is a bit misleading. This five-CD set features Henderson's five studio albums—Page One (1963), Our Thing (1964), In 'n Out (1965), Inner Urge (1966) and Mode for Joe (1966). The set also includes material that producer Michael Cuscuna told me was important to include, such as Henderson's collaborative albums with Dorham—Una Mas (1963) and Trompeta Toccata (1965). There also are tracks from Silver's The Cape Verdean Blues, Blue Mitchell's Step Lightly, Johnny Coles's Little Johnny C, Larry Young's Unity and Bobby Hutcherson's The Kicker.
In other words, this set isn't really Henderson's "complete" Blue Note output as a leader and sideman, since that would have been a significantly larger box at a much higher price. It's really the Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Leadership Sessions, Plus Other Important Stuff. As Michael said to me in an email, after Mosaic scheduled Henderson's studio leadership releases, there was room for more music on the five CDs. To his credit, Michael's choices are superb, especially as you listen to the box from start to finish as one large work.
The title notwithstanding, this box is terrific for several reasons. For one, the sound is spectacular, capturing the warm round bark of Henderson's playing and letting all of the sidemen stand out with sonic distinction. As Mosaic explains, "[We] echoed something we did last year with our sold-out Hank Mobley set. We went back to Rudy Van Gelder’s original analog tapes and made new transfers with the highest-possible bit rate and today’s best A to D converters.The sound far surpasses any earlier [Henderson] CDs, removing any trace of muddiness, and rivals the original LPs in warmth, range and sound. This is as close to being in the studio listening to the original masters as one can get."
I'll second that. It sounds like the look of an expensive car's paint job. Listeners will love running their ear's hand over the curves with admiration. Overall, we have Michael to thank on the producer side of the sound and Malcolm Addey for the rich, high-impact re-mastering. Even if you already have these albums on CD or LP, the sound on this box is a cut above. The second reason for owing the box are Bob Blumenthal's liner notes, which are highly informative and fill in many blanks on Henderson and the recordings. [Photo above of Michael Cuscuna, courtesy of Getty]
Joe Henderson died in 2001 at age 64 after a long battle with emphysema.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions (Mosaic) here.
JazzWax clips: So you can hear how sterling the box's tracks sound, here's Recorda Me from Page One...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Tawny Cypress for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Tawny co-stars in the new Showtime drama series, Yellowjackets. Tawny talked about her parents' divorce, how the split left the family poor and how she and her mom and sister and brother moved 31 times in New Jersey before she was 18. [Photo above of Tawny Cypress byKailey Schwerman, courtesy of Showtime]
SiriusXM interview. Last week I was interviewed by Nik and Lori on their daily Feedback show on SiriusXM (Channel 106) about my new book, Rock Concert: An Oral History. You can listen to the entire interview by going here...
Dame Shirley Bassey. In the wake of my post on Dame Shirley Bassey, I heard from Claude Neuman. In reference to my statement that Dame Shirley was “a highly optimistic underdog, someone who had achieved and battled back despite the hurdles thrown up in front of her or the pitfalls of her own making,” Claude sent a clip of Dame Shirley singing this Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields song from 1985. Go here...
And Andrew Carroll in Ireland (and Kim Paris in the U.S.) sent this Dame Shirley clip (a tweaking of Jazz 625) with the Propellerheads...
Dick Farney. Following my post last week on Dick Farney, I received the following from Ruy in Colombia:
Hi Marc. The full name of the hotel you mentioned is Hotel Copacabana Palace. Although Farney's recordings for Elenco are excellent, Farney's greatest recordings, in my opinion, were on Continental in the 1940s and Odeon and RGE at the end of the '50s. Farney had two important rivals that your readers may want to check out—Lucio Alves and Agostinho dos Santos.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Last week, following my WSJ piece on ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition, I heard from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:
Marc, thanks for your JazzWax segment this week about Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I was still in high school when that album was released. I'd like to share two performances by ELP on FM Radio Archive with you and your readers. The first was recorded in 1977 and broadcast on the nationally syndicated King Biscuit Flower Hour. The second from New York in 1978 was on WLIR-FM, and includes a 15+ minute version of "Pictures at an Exhibition."
Studio rockers. Last year, famed rock studio guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel came together to form a band called the Immediate Family. In August, they released their first album Can't Stop Progress. Chris Cowles, on his WRTC-FM radio show Greasy Tracks, interviewed Russ, Leland and Waddy and played their music. To listen to Chris's hour-long show, go here.
In London?Check out the Blue Note Records pop-up store that just opened in Coal Drops Yard, in London's Kings Cross. It features exclusive Blue Note merchandise and limited-edition vinyl along with wall art, books, DVDs and CDs. But hurry. The store will remain open until Saturday, November 20. Here's the official address: Blue Note Records, Lower Stable Street (Kiosk 108), Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, N1C 4LW.
Vocalist Camille Thurman, who appears on Louis Hayes's new album, Crisis (I posted about it here), performed earlier this year with the Emmet Cohen Trio. Go here...
Hunting for an album? New or rare, ask Jim Eigo of Original Vinyl Records if he has it in stock. Drop into his two stores, send an email or call him up. They ship anywhere. Perfect holiday gift surprise for a friend who loves a particular artist or band and owns a turntable. Jim also carries sealed box sets no longer available at Amazon. Email: [email protected]. Phone: 845-987-3131. Site: Go here.
And finally, here's Laila Kinnunen, a little-known Finnish pop singer with a terrific voice, who died in 2000...
Most Americans know Shirley Bassey only from her three brassy James Bond film themes—Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker. In the U.K., Dame Shirley was enormously popular from the late 1950s on. She delivered on stage the way Judy Garland did, belted songs out the way Barbra Streisand did and was as coy and as intriguing as Nancy Wilson. Yet she never crossed over to the U.S. pop market. While she appeared occasionally in Las Vegas and on American TV variety shows, the youth culture had moved on to the British Invasion and singers like Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark and to Black singers such as Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick. Dame Shirley's adult, supper-club repertoire never made it onto the youth culture's radar here. [Photo above of Dame Shirley Bassey]
In the U.K. and much of Continental Europe, however, Dame Shirley was a sensation. Her stage shows in music halls and vast theaters like the Palladium brought down the house. There was a theatrical quality and dramatic sensuality to her delivery that entertained and enraptured audiences but seemed lost on American audiences, who found her over the top. As television grew in popularity in Europe in the 1960s, where many more young people lived at home and watched with parents, her presence and celebrity was much more widespread and well known across generations. As for the U.S. market, she didn't bother recording material that made it to the transistor radio charts.
A superstar in Britain, Dame Shirley was beloved for her ability to excite but also for the many blows she took due to bad luck and lousy personal decisions. Her ups and downs were constantly reported on in the papers and her vulnerability and ability to take it and move on became admirable. As a result, for many, she became a highly optimistic underdog, someone who had achieved and battled back despite the hurdles thrown up in front of her or the pitfalls of her own making. She was a tireless survivor whose pain and tears surfaced through her singing and then were instantly wiped away by her smile and grace.
Viewing her concert footage now and listening to her British album releases, Dame Shirley was an astonishing force, even if her performances seemed more at home abroad. Many of her songs were unknown here or uninspiring. For anyone who loves jazz-pop singing, however, Dame Shirley's contribution has been significant and important from a delivery and phrasing standpoint and is worth absorbing. Here's a documentary on her life and career...
Here's her fabled appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in 1961 at London's Prince of Wales Theatre...
Herb Geller moved to Germany in 1962, a few years after his wife, pianist Lorraine Geller died suddenly of heart failure at age 30. Her passing was a terrible blow. Ten years later, the Bill Evans Trio was on tour in Hamburg. The afternoon of February 12 before they were to perform in concert together that evening, Evans and his trio and Herb Geller gathered in a studio to rehearse. Evans was joined by Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums. Herb played C flute, piccolo and alto saxophone. What's fascinating about the rehearsal is that their discussions were clipped and will seem to be in a foreign language to the non-musician. It's almost like listening to the lingo among chefs in a restaurant kitchen or at an Indy 500 garage.
Here's 25 minutes of the rehearsal captured on tape. To access the video below, just click on the link in the black box that says "Watch on YouTube"...
There's much to say about the final Bill Evans Trio. Formed in early 1979, with Marc Johnson on bass and Joe La Barbera on drums, the trio was at times stormy, brooding and always deeply passionate. Many of their live recordings were strong and revealing, particularly performances in Buenos Aires and Paris and at Iowa's Maintenance Shop and New York's Village Vanguard. As Evans sailed slowly and purposefully toward his final days in September 1980, Marc and Joe were in sync with the pianist's many moods, but in their own creative spaces. Evans's playing at times was hard and frustrated and at others delicate, as if emulating the sound of a gentle rain. His piano following the suicide of his brother, Harry, in April '79, sounded like a cry for forgiveness, not help. There seemed to be a raging battle with Bill between the heart of the inner artist begging to survive and the weary, pained brain begging to check out. [Photo above of Joe La Barbera by Tony Levin, courtesy of Modern Drummer]
Joe La Barbera was both an eye-witness to Evans's last 21 months and a participant in the great music the trio produced. His new book, Times Remembered (University of North Texas Press), is out now and sheds light on the events that took place. Much of the narrative is from Joe's recollections of the music and travels, supplemented by interviews with Evans by journalists during this period to fill in the blanks.
I saw this trio on several nights in June 1980 at the Village Vanguard, as documented on the box set Turn Out the Stars. On one of those evenings, I sat at the table directly behind Evans, a foot or so from his back, allowing me to watch him play over several sets. It was a revelation. After Evans died on September 15, 1980, I went to his memorial at St. Paul's Church at the base of New York's Citicorp Building with a single rose. I placed it on the altar. That's how deeply I felt about Evans's music, which has long had an influence on the cadence of my writing style. Joe's drumming with Evans was always sensitive and firm, especially his brushwork, providing an eclectic rhythmic foundation for Evans to play off of and giving the listener sparkle and splash under Evans's keyboard.
I caught up with Joe last week. Here's our back and forth:
JazzWax: Tell me about your Bill Evans audition in late 1978. Guitarist Joe Puma had recommended you? Joe La Barbera: He did. In September 1978, Bill parted with his drummer, Philly Joe Jones. He was recording Affinity with jazz harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans. One night while I was playing with Toots at Hopper’s in New York, Bill came in with his manager Helen Keane, to hear the show. Toots greeted them warmly. Guitarist Joe Puma played with Bill back in the 1950s and had mentioned to Bill that he should check me out. [Photo above of Bill Evans in 1979 from YouTube]
JW: Were you looking to join the Bill Evans Trio? JLB: At the time, I really didn’t want another road gig since I had previously spent a year with Woody Herman and four years with Chuck Mangione. I was recently married and wanted to stay put in New York, picking up some session work and local jazz gigs. Since I had been listening to Bill from my early teens, I was confident that I could play his music.
JW: Bill and Helen must have been impressed, yes? JLB: In January 1979, Helen called and asked me to audition with the trio at the Village Vanguard. It was a thrill just to play a live set with him. A week or so after the set, I received a phone call from Helen asking me to make a two-week gig with him in Philadelphia. From then on, I was in.
JW: What did you notice early on that was unusual about Bill and how he played in a trio setting? JLB: First of all, there was never any pre-gig discussion of the music and never any rehearsals. Bill would just start playing and it was up to you to find a way to fit in. He expected that you were either familiar with his work or had good intuitive instincts. His command of the piano, full concentration and intensity were remarkable.
JW: What were your impressions of Helen Keane? JLB: I knew instantly that she was not to be messed with. She was tough and protective of her artist in every way. At the same time, personable and totally professional.
JW: Was touring with Bill good for your marriage? Did being away on the road cause stress? JLB: My wife and I had been married for a year when I joined Bill, so she was used to the away time that comes with being a jazz musician. Work with Bill was steady, so that went a long way to easing the pain of being apart, especially after my wife became pregnant.
JW: What specifically made your Bill Evans Trio different from earlier ones? JLB: I put it down to the personalities, really. Every one of Bill’s trios had some magic happening. But for some reason, Bill felt a very strong connection with bassist Marc Johnson and me. It not only came out in his playing but also in his passion for writing. He started to compose again. Right time, place and people.
JW: How many pianists subbed for Bill on gigs? Just Marc Copeland? JLB: Marc Copeland subbed for Bill in Washington, D.C., after Bill’s brother Harry committed suicide in April 1979. The audience was understandably disappointed about Bill’s absence but very appreciative of Marc’s playing. And near the very end of Bill’s life in September 1980, Andy LaVerne subbed for Bill at Fat Tuesday’s in New York. Once again, the audience stayed in their seats and were appreciative.
JW: Looking back, do you feel you really knew Bill Evans, the person? Or did his personal communication come solely through the music? JLB: I feel I did know Bill well because I spent more time with him off the bandstand. We shared a lot of common history, although a generation apart. We were both Boy Scouts as kids, both served in an Army band, both played with a big band and we enjoyed so many of the same artists. The most revealing conversation we had was about commitment to your art.
JW: What did you talk about? JLB: Bill could have done anything with music really, from studio work to musical director to professor. But he was committed to playing jazz. We talked about some current musicians who were branching out into more lucrative areas of the business and achieving great success. Bill was non-judgmental, simply saying that they made that choice. In 1955, he had turned down an offer from Tony Martin for $25,000 a year to play a 17-week commitment without batting an eye.
JW: Where did you talk—in clubs between gigs or on a plane during tours? JLB: I used to stay with Bill at his apartment in Fort Lee, N.J., whenever I worked in the city, whether it was a gig with him or someone else. I would cook for both of us so this was probably over breakfast or lunch. We had some great talks about his time with Miles too.
JW: What did you learn about yourself playing with Bill? JLB: I reaffirmed my commitment to jazz when I decided that I had to be in his trio after the gig in Philadelphia. The feeling the three of us had playing together was so strong that I simply could not turn it down. I believe I grew musically in every way with Bill. He gave you complete freedom to play his music the way you were hearing it.
JW: Were you constantly afraid Bill was going to get busted on tour? JLB: I wouldn't say constantly but there were two incidents that are in the book that came very close. I was truly more afraid of his health than a bust.
JW: All fans wonder the same thing: Why couldn’t anyone stop him from the self-destructive using? JLB: Miles Davis once said that you can’t talk someone out of a habit unless they want to quit. Bill and I had several short discussions about his habit, but he was reluctant to reveal much. He always referred to it as a “personal problem.” We all tried to get him to stop, starting with bassist Scott LaFaro at the dawn of the 1960s. But Bill was resolute. It must have given him something, but I can’t honestly say what that was. Drugs certainly did not improve his ability or his artistry. He earned those through hard work and dedication. The joy he was experiencing with Marc and me is what brought him out more. He started to announce tunes and was visibly elated on the stage at times. [Photo above of Joe La Barbera by Roberto Cifeaelli, courtesy of Gretsch Drums]
JazzWax pages: You'll find Joe La Barbera's Times Remembered (UNTP) here.
For more on Bill Evans during this period, see my 2009 interview with Laurie Verchomin, Evans's romantic partner. Go here for Part 1 (the link to subsequent parts can be found above the red date on top of each post).
JazzWax tracks:Here's an hour of the Bill Evans Trio with Marc Johnson on bass and Joe La Barbera on drums at the Maintenance Shop in Ames, Iowa, in January 1979...
Drummer Louis Hayes's first recording session was in 1956, on Horace Silver's Six Pieces of Silver (Blue Note). If that's all he had on his resume, you'd feel compelled to buy his new album, Crisis (Savant). But there was more, much more. From there, he weaved through jazz like a long vital thread traveling through a gorgeous suit. He appeared on dozens of the classic albums in the 1950s and beyond. [Photo above of Louis Hayes in the late 1950s at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, N.J., studio, by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]
In the 1950s and beyond, Louis recorded extensively with Silver (Silver's Stylings of Silver, Further Explorations, Finger Poppin' and Blowin' the Blues Away) and on John Coltrane's Lush Life, and albums with Cannonball Adderley, Grant Green, Oscar Peterson, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard and so many others. The beauty of Louis is that he has always been able to shift fluidly between hard bop and other styles. On hard-charging songs, he saturates the air with shimmering cymbal bashes, driving hi-hat time and polyrhythmic shots on the snare and toms. On ballads, he provides hushed, concentrated sensitivity. He knows what the ear likes and has always been conscious of the listener's heart, not just the players' needs.
The 84-year-old drummer's new album features Abraham Burton (ts), Steve Nelson (vib), David Hazeltine (p), Dezron Douglas (b) and Camille Thurman, a terrific vocalist on two tracks. By the way, Thurman is a composer, saxophonist and member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. On the album, Louis salutes many of his playing partners over the years. Arab Arab is by Joe Farrell, Roses Poses is by Bobby Hutcherson, I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over is a vocal track by Thurman, Desert Moonlight is by Lee Morgan, Where Are You? is another vocal track, Creeping Crud is an original by Louis, Alien Visitation is by vibraphonist Steven Nelson, Crisis is by Freddie Hubbard, Oxygen is by bassist Dezron Douglas, and the standard It's Only a Paper Moon was an Art Blakey hard-bop staple.
The album is so solid. Much has to do with the songs and players chosen. Nelson on vibes is absolutely wonderful, adding cool, metallic tones and a swinging feel. Hazeltine on piano has never sounded better. And Burton is warm and searing on tenor sax. Hats off to the producer and engineer, whose mix here places Louis on top so you can hear him, without his drums overshadowing everyone else. Award-winning mic placement and mixing. I can't recall the last time I raved about these roles on an album. The executive producer is Maxine Gordon, Dexter Gordon's wife. The engineer and mixer is David Stoller. And it was recorded in January at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Astoria, Queens.
To read my 2010 JazzWax interview with Louis, go here, here and here.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Louis Hayes's Crisis (Savant) here. It's out on Friday, but you can pre-order now.
Jazz pianist and singer Dick Farney (pronounced FAR-nay) had a big career in Brazil and recorded in the U.S. with bassist Slam Stewart and others, and yet he's barely known today. Farney's crooning voice was so smooth you'd think Bing Crosby had recorded pop records in Portuguese. Farney's jazz career began in the early 1940s and by the late 1940s he was in New York as a regular singer on Milton Berle's radio show on NBC. By the early 1950s, Farney had returned to Rio de Janeiro and shifted to pop with a jazz feel, continuing into the 1980s.
After his start as a singer in major Rio hotels and clubs, he was invited to the U.S. after meeting arranger Bill Hitchcock and lounge pianist Eddie Duchin at Rio's Hotel Copacabana. By the early 1960s, he was recording jazz-bossa albums and then more lavish and irresistible pop albums. Perhaps his best-known recording in the U.S. was Você in 1964 with Brazilian actress Norma Bengell. Farney died in 1987.
Here are clips and full albums that will introduce you to the ever-suave Farney, who had impeccable taste on the piano, as a vocalist, with orchestral arrangements and his entire polished presentation. If these recordings don't put you in a relaxed zone to start the week, nothing will:
Here's Farney singing Somebody Loves Me and playing piano backed by bassist Slam Stewart on a V-disc in 1947..
Here's Farney on Milton Berle's radio show in February 1948 singing But Beautiful...
Here's Farney back in Brazil in 1953 with Luiz Bonfá on guitar...
Here's the full Dick Farney Trio jazz album in 1956, with Farney on piano backed by Dinarte Rodrigues Filho on guitar and Eduardo Lincoln on bass...
Here's Farney with Brazilian actress Norma Bengell in 1964 singing Você ...
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.
