JazzWax

Rhoda Scott: Live in Hungary

Rhoda Scott is a marvelous organist who's still on the scene today. When I interviewed her in 2011 (go here), she talked about starting out "tickling the keys" of an organ at home and in church and falling in love with the instrument. In 1967, she moved to France and performed mostly in Europe, returning to the U.S. only intermittently. In 1972, she appeared behind the organ in Budapest on Hungarian television when the country was still behind the Iron Curtain. Here's her performance...

Backgrounder: 'Ella Swings Lightly'

One of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald albums is Ella Swings Lightly. Recorded for Verve in November 1958, the album was arranged by Marty Paich and features his Dek-tette backing Ella on a bright batch of songs outside the realm of her weary American songbook fare.

Paich's all-star Hollywood 10 included Don Fagerquist and Al Porcino (tp), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb, ts), Vincent DeRosa (frh), Bud Shank (as), Bill Holman (ts), Med Flory (bar), Lou Levy (p), Joe Mondragon (b) and Mel Lewis (d). Ella, for her part, is in fine form, and you can almost hear her joy being liberated from the dusty confines of Porter, Weill, Gershwin, Rodgers and the rest. [Photo above of Marty Paich]

Here's the complete Ella Swings Lightly without ad interruptions...

Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:

• Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
• Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
• Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
• Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
• Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
• Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
• Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
• Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
• Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
• Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
• Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.

Virgil Gonsalves: Sextet and Big Band

We tend to think of West Coast jazz as a style centered exclusively in Los Angeles. While much of the relaxed, contrapuntal music was inspired by the Southern California weather and lifestyle and evolved in the city's suburbs in the 1950s, San Francisco also had a West Coast sound that was slightly more intensive and a reflection of the city. Artists who emerged from the San Francisco jazz experience in the late 1940s and '50s included Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Cal Tjader, Dick Collins, David Van Kriedt, Bill Smith, Vince Guaraldi, Eddie Duran and Carson Smith. Add Virgil Gonsalves to the list. 

Many jazz fans are unfamiliar with Gonsalves. Paul Gonsalves, yes. But not Virgil. The two musicians were not related. Virgil was a baritone saxophonist who recorded only four jazz albums between 1954 and 1959. As the rock era emerged and jazz opportunities slowed in San Francisco, Gonsalves gigged and then played in rock horn bands such as the Electric Flag and Pacific Gas & Electric. In the 1970s and beyond, he gigged and taught in schools, a vocation he loved.

Now, Fresh Sound has released Virgil Gonsalves: Sextet and Big Band, a two-CD set that unites the musician's jazz output in the 1950s. These dates feature extraordinary music and sidemen. The Gonsalves albums included are Virgil Gonsalves Sextet (1954), Jazz San Francisco Style (1955), Intro to Jazz: Rudi Salvini Orchestra (1956) and Jazz At Monterey: Virgil Gonsalves Big Band Plus Six (1959). The 32 tracks are uniformly excellent.

The combo sessions are fabulous with towering players and the big band tracks are spectacular. For example, sextet session from 1954 features two great combos fused into one. Here, we have the horns of Bob Enevoldsen (v-tb), Buddy Wise (ts) and Virgil Gonsalves (bar), backed by a sterling rhythm section comprised of Lou Levy (p) Harry Babasin (b) and Larry Bunker (d).

The big band sessions are truly astonishing. One is Gonsalves with the Rudy Salvini Orchestra, a tiger outfit featuring Rudy Salvini, Allen Smith, Al Del Simone, Wayne Allen, Billy Catalano (tp) Van Hughes, Archie Lecoque, Chuck Etter, Ron Bertuccelli (tb) Charles Martin (as) Jerry Coker, Tom Hart, Howard Dudune (ts) Virgil Gonsalves (bar) John Marabuto (p) Dean Reilly (b) and John Markham (d), with Jerry Cournoyer, Jerry Mulvihill and Jerry Coker arranging.

The other features Gonsalves's sextet of Mike Downs (tp), Danny Pateris (ts), Virgil Gonsalves (bar), Merrill Hoover (p), Eddie Khan (b) and Al Randell (d) backed by Bill Cataligio, Jerry Cournoyer, John Coppola, Mike Downs and Dickie Mills (tp); Bob Davidson and Leo Wright (as); Danny Pateris and Chuck Peterson (ts); Virgil Gonsalves (bar); Merrill Hoover and Junior Mance (p); Eddie Khan (b) and Benny Barth (d).

If you're a big band head like me, you're in for quite a treat. And it's fair to say that Gonsalves is a joy to hear in all of his groups. Unlike the West Coasters who followed in Mulligan's shoes, Gonsalves has more Pepper Adams in his attack. This new set's extensive and excellent liner notes by Jordi Pujol and booklet will tell you all you need to know about the little-known baritone saxophonist.

Virgil Gonsalves died in 2008.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Virgil Gonsalves: Sextet and Big Band (Fresh Sound) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's the Virgil Gonsalves Sextet from 1954 playing It Might as Well Be Spring...

It Might As Well Be Spring

Here's one of the finest big band recordings of Benny Golson's Stablemates arranged by Jerry Cournoyer, who had the push of Oliver Nelson...

Stablemates

And here's a recording of John Coltrane's Moment's Notice arranged by Cournoyer...

Moment's Notice

Herb Geller: 1962 Paris Sessions

In late 1957, alto saxophonist Herb Geller was having a hard year that would only grow more difficult in the fall of '58 with a family tragedy. Up until the late 1950s, he had it all. Starting in 1949, Herb was an in-demand band and bop ensemble player. His big-band work in the late 1940s and very early 1950s included recordings with Earle Spencer, Billy May, Jerry Wald, Stan Kenton, Shorty Rogers and Claude Thornhill. Then he met pianist Lorraine Walsh in 1951 and the couple married and settled in Los Angeles. Lorraine Walsh became Lorraine Geller, and the pair began recording together in 1953. Over the next four years the Gellers had an amazing jazz run on the West Coast, together and separately.

In 1957, Lorraine gave birth to their first child, Lisa. According to Herb, Lorraine had come down with asthma, and Lisa's birth was difficult. Then skin didn't form on one of Lisa's legs at first and she had to remain in the hospital. Unfortunately, the Gellers' health insurance wouldn't cover their daughter's treatments. They were saddled with a massive hospital bill they couldn't pay immediately. To make this financial strain even more daunting, Lorraine's doctor insisted she take a year off to recuperate.

But the couple needed cash to pay their bills. So after six months, Lorraine went back to work accompanying singer Kay Starr against her doctor's wishes. Then in October 1958, while Herb was on tour with Benny Goodman, Lorraine collapsed at home in L.A. and died at age 28. She was found later under her overturned baby's crib in the couple's home in the Hollywood Hills. The cause, Herb told me, "was pulmonary edema, which is what happens when the lungs fill with fluid, leading to a shortness of breath. Add a terrible asthma attack on top of that and you have a disaster."

Herb tried to work through the grief and managed to power through. But by early 1962, he told me, he wanted to get away from the relentless work that had become joyless and escape the demons that lingered in Los Angeles after Lorraine's death. So in February 1962, he moved to Europe. In March of that year, he was at the San Remo Jazz Festival in Italy and then recorded for French radio in Paris from May through July.

Now, these 1962 recordings have surfaced for the first time and have been issued by Fresh Sound on an album entitled European Rebirth: Herb Geller, 1962 Paris Sessions. Herb was 38 at the time of these recordings and sounded rejuvenated. Europe agreed with him, especially the audience appreciation and soulful lifestyle, which included socializing, caring and beauty, all of which helped ease his depression and anxiety.

On the album's 17 tracks, Herb is backed by a wide range of French jazz musicians. Best of all, we hear him playing fluidly with his lyrical, West Coast bebop approach. There are standards, originals and bop pieces, but most of all, we have Herb in his prime, at a time just after all seemed lost and when possibilities and opportunities were beginning to emerge. It was the dawn of his second career and a new life. He would re-marry in Germany and start a new family. Talking about Lorraine was difficult for Herb, but he was ready to open up and share those memories with me.

Which brings us to Lisa. What happened to her when Herb moved abroad? From my interview:

JW: One last question that's been tugging at me: What happened to Lisa?
HG: My sister and her husband offered to take care of her while I was gone and then decided to adopt her. Lisa thought I was her uncle until her 16th birthday.

JW: What does Lisa do now?
HG: Lisa and her husband are lawyers. They are updating the state law books where they live.

JW: Do you stay in touch with her?
HG: Lisa, her husband and their daughter will be coming to Hamburg for a week in June. The last time I saw her was four years ago. However we talk on the phone and write emails all the time. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Herb Geller died in 2013. To read my five-part interview with him, go here for Part 1 (a link to subsequent parts can be found by scrolling above the red date at the top).

JazzWax tracks: You'll find European Rebirth: Herb Geller, 1962 Paris Sessions (Fresh Sound) here.

You'll find more Herb Geller albums here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Greta No. 1 with Herb Geller (as), Henri Renaud (p), Michel Gaudry (b) and Teddy Martin (d)...

Gretta No. 1

And here's I Should Care, with Herb Geller (as), Jack Dieval (p), Jacques Hess (b) and Franco Manzecchi (d), in which you can hear Herb's lingering grief coming through on the ballad...

I Should Care

Tom, Artie and Helen

In the Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Tom Blyth for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Tom plays Billy in the Epix drama series Billy the Kid. [Photo above of Tom Blyth by Chris Large, courtesy of Epix]

Here's the trailer...

Artie Kane (1929-2022), a distinctive West Coast studio pianist and organist who can be heard on dozens of recordings and who was a prolific TV and movie composer and arranger, died on June 21. He was 93.

Perhaps Kane's best known contribution was his opening organ part on Frank Sinatra's The Summer Wind in 1966. I interviewed Artie back in 2016 when I wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal arguing that Strangers in the Night is Sinatra's finest and most perfect Reprise album, thanks in great measure to Artie's witty organ throughout, except on the title track. [Photo above of Artie Kane with Henry Mancini]

Why the title track was recorded first with a different arranger and orchestra and how Sinatra beat Jack Jones onto the radio with the song even though Jones recorded the song first can be found in my WSJ essay here. My JazzWax posts on the 1966 album and my conversations with Artie are here and here.

In tribute to Artie, I decided on two clips. The first gives you a brief look at Artie at work on a song with the fastest tempo ever recorded by Sinatra. The second is my send-off to Artie, who was adored by singers for his hip and sophisticated musical playfulness. As Peggy Lee says in the following clip about Artie's organ fills mid-song while looking over at him, "I like that"...

Here's Sinatra singing The Most Beautiful Girl in the World from Strangers in the Night. As the boom camera swings off to the left and pans right, watch for Artie Kane on the right side of your screen on the organ and Nelson Riddle conducting...

And here's Peggy Lee singing So What's New, a song for which she wrote the lyrics to John Pisano's music, with Artie on organ...

Jerry Lewis was in his fair share of terrific comedy scenes, but this one takes the cake, from the film Who's Minding the Store (1963). A book could be written just on how exactly this scene was shot and reshot and reshot. I haven't a clue how they did it, but the scene is mind-blowing. Go here...

Jeff Beck has a new album coming with Johnny Depp on vocals (whoops). Here's Beck live with an instrumental of Brian Wilson's Caroline, No. A terrific rendition, leaving me surprised that someone didn't urge him to cover the entire Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album. Would have been spectacular. Go here...

Joan Chamorro is a jazz giant, a high-energy multi-instrumentalist, an arranger-composer and an inspiring jazz teacher beloved by his students in Barcelona, Spain. Here he is in May 2002 on baritone saxophone with Germany's WDR Big Band playing Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop...

And finally, here's Helen Reddy in 1972. No words are needed...

Recreating a Famed Bossa Rehearsal

As a Brazilian teenager and budding guitarist in the late 1950s, Nara Leão befriended many of the singer-songwriters pioneering the bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro. These artists included Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Bôscoli, João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Employed at hotels as musicians along the Copacabana beachfront, these soft-sound artists were often invited over to the nearby home of Leão's parents in 1958 to rehearse bossa songs and refine their style. Leão would become known as the "muse of the bossa nova" and a bossa star in her own right. [Photo above of Nara Leão, right, at her parents' apartment with Antonio Carlos Jobim, pointing, and other bossa nova artists in 1958]

Last week, Nelson Porto in Brazil sent along a YouTube video clip of leading bossa nova artists (and an English one) recreating what those rehearsals sounded like. I'm guessing the video is from 2011. Marcos Valle is in a rose T-shirt, Roberto Menescal (who was at the original rehearsals) is in white, famed Brazilian singer Leila Pinheiro is in black, Andy Summers (English guitarist with the Police) is in blue and popular bossa nova vocalist Pery Ribeiro is in the two-toned pink shirt. They are performing Marcos Valle's Samba de Verão, also known in English as Summer Samba. I spoke with Marcos earlier today. "We were all in the former Leão apartment. The current owner had allowed us all to come over and play and tape." By the way, behind Pinheiro is Marco's wife, Patricia, who also is an accomplished singer.

Here's the clip...

JazzWax notes: To read my post on Nara Leão, go here. To read my WSJ "House Call" with Marcos Valle at home, go here.

JazzWax bonus: Here's Leila Pinheiro's Isso é Bossa Nova from 1994. All of the album tracks, featuring Pinheiro's beautiful voice, follow this one at YouTube...

One of the Best Sassy Videos Ever

Last week, Nelson Porto in Brazil sent along a link to a Sarah Vaughan video that I hadn't seen before. To me, it's by far one of the finest live videos of Sassy on stage in the second half of her career. It's a duet with Wilson Simonal, who is little known outside of Brazil but who was one of that country's leading singing sensations in the 1960s and '70s. [Photo above of Sarah Vaughan]

Vaughan didn't speak a word of Portuguese and Simonal didn't speak a word of English, but they figured it all out, and the chemistry between them is what makes this clip so special. It didn't hurt that Vaughan was clearly smitten by Simonal looks, charm and talent. His English vocal was produced by memorizing words with little sense of their meaning. Same goes for Vaughan's Portuguese at the start. But how they felt about each other is evident and will put a smile on your face. [Photo above of Wilson Simonal]

PS: I have a majority of Wilson Simonal's albums in my collection, so I'll have a post on him soon, complete with clips.

Here's Simonal and Sassy in Rio singing The Shadow of Your Smile in September 1970...

Bonus: Here's Vaughan in March 1970 singing There Will Never Be Another You on Playboy After Dark. As you listen, count the number of uncomfortable characters in the audience, starting with the creepy pipe-smoking Hefner and the high-strung clapper in the front row. Poor Sarah. The entire room seems to be hyperventilating through their first cocaine experience. All of which is probably why her eyes remained closed for much of her sterling vocal performance...

Horace Silver on 'Soul!'

From 1968 to 1973, PBS aired Soul!, a performance and variety TV program that showcased Black music, dance and literature and was hosted by Ellis Haizlip. In January 1972, Soul! featured Horace Silver with vocalists Andy and Salome Bey, trumpeter Lee Morgan and flutist Bobbi Humphrey. Also included were Harold Mabern, Jymie Merritt, Billy Harper, Bob Cranshaw and Cecil Bridgewater.

Yesterday, Jay Glacy sent along a link to the entire episode. Go here...

For more, check out Mr. Soul, a documentary on the Soul! series and its host, Ellis Haizlip now streaming on HBO Max. Here's the trailer...

For full episodes of Soul!, go here.

Interview: Dave Stryker, 'As We Are'

If there was an up side to the pre-vaccine pandemic of 2020-2021, it's that creative artists had solitary time to think about the road forward. For guitarist Dave Stryker, that period of confinement resulted in As We Are (Strikezone), a fascinating new album recorded in June 2021, featuring a jazz quartet backed by an inventive string quartet. The album is availabe here and here. [Photo above of Dave Stryker]

The group includes Dave on guitar, Julian Shore on piano, John Patitucci on bass, Brian Blade on drums, Sara Caswell on violin (with solos on tracks 3 and 9), Monica K.Davis on violin, Benni von Gutzeit on viola and Marika Hughes on cello. The strings were arranged by Julian Shore. Seven of the nine tracks are by Dave, while One Thing at a Time is by Julian and River Man is by Nick Drake. It's one of the most fascinating jazz guitar albums of the year.

The music is moving, wistful and moody, with a fusion feel. Rather than simply provide a lush backdrop for the rhythm ensemble, the strings play a conversational role, not only setting the tone but also interacting as partners. And if you're in New York between July 5 and 9, all eight musicians on the album will be performing at Birdland on the 7th, 8th and 9th. Just one of the string players will be there for July 5 and 6 (for Birdland information, go here).

Before you read my interview with Dave below, here's Dave's Saudade from his new album. Absolutely gorgeous...

Recently, I caught up with Dave for an email interview:

JazzWax: What was it like growing up in Omaha in the late 1960s and '70s?
Dave Stryker: I grew up in West Omaha and loved childhood. I have a brother and two sisters, and I’m the second oldest. My father was an emergency room doctor in the local hospital. My mom was a homemaker who took care of us. [Photo above of Omaha in 1973]

JW: How did you become passionate about music?
DS: My family wasn’t that musical, though my dad sang in a barbershop quartet. My older sister, Cindy, had a turntable and would play 45s by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and other '60s groups. That’s how I was introduced to rock and the sound of the electric guitar. I started taking guitar lessons when I was 10. Impressed with my progress, my dad bought me a Fender Jazzmaster guitar when I was 12. I soon started a band, the Glass Menagerie. We rehearsed in our basement and garage. I learned hit songs off the records. I was hooked on music early on and just stayed with it. When I was 15, Dad bought me a black Les Paul Custom.

JW: When did you learn to play jazz?
DS: In high school, I played in a band first called Eclipse and then Bourbon Street. We worked a lot and covered songs by Santana and the Allman Brothers Band—the bluesier rock stuff. That led to stretching out and improvising a little more. One day I went to a jam session at the local musicians' union hall. The older musicians there were playing Horace Silver’s Song for My Father. I got up and started ripping my rock licks. One of the older guys said, “You can’t be playing that rock stuff. This is jazz!”

JW: What did you do?
DS: The next day I went to Homer's Music and asked for the jazz section. After spending some time running through the bins, I left with John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things and George Benson’s Beyond the Blue Horizon on CTI. After that I was hooked.

JW: How did you learn to play?
DS: A local sax player named Bobby Thompson took me under his wing, and I started learning standards. The guys in Bourbon Street and I would learn tunes and jam. We soon started a steady jazz gig at the local Hilton, playing six nights a week, four sets a night over a period of six weeks. We were a quintet featuring guitar, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums. The first two sets would be standards and the last two would be Top 40. So I was getting a lot of on-the-job experience. I also played on Tuesdays at a club called the Howard St. Tavern.

JW: How did you learn the feel?
DS: Mostly by listening to records. My guitar heroes were Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Pat Martino, George Benson and Jim Hall. Jazz heroes were Miles Davis, Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. I loved it all. I also went to a Jamey Aebersold camp when I was 18 at Wichita State University. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson was my combo teacher. Jamey has been running jazz camps every summer all over the U.S. and around the world since the early '70s. I’ve been teaching at the camps for the last 20 years at University of Louisville in Kentucky, where Jamey has lived for the last 30 years or so.

JW: When did you leave West Omaha?
DS: In 1978, I moved to Los Angeles. There were a couple of great musicians from Omaha living there then—guitarist Billy Rogers and piano/organist John Maller. I spent a couple years there. I went to the Monday night jam sessions at Jimmy Smith’s Supper Club in North Hollywood opened by the organist and his wife, Lola, in 1976. There, I met organist "Brother" Jack McDuff. He told me to look him up when I came to New York.

JW: When did you move to New York?
DS: In 1980. I sat in with Jack at the Lickity Split Lounge in Harlem and ended up playing with him for two years, from 1984 to 1985. When we weren’t on the road, Jack had a steady three-night gig at Dude’s Lounge in Harlem. A lot of great musicians came through there, like Jimmy Smith, George Benson, Lou Donaldson, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Stanley and Tommy Turrentine. That’s where I met Stanley. I wound up subbing on Stanley's gig. After, he offered me a job playing with him. I worked with Stanley for about 10 years, from 1986 to his last week at the Blue Note in 2000. After playing Saturday night of that week, he passed away the next day. [Photo above of "Brother" Jack McDuff]

JW: Did working with McDuff and Turrentine help shape you?
DS: It was a great learning experience playing with greats like Jack and Stanley. Having to follow their solos on the bandstand really forced you to up your game. You could tell it was Stanley in three notes, and his time and sound and soul were so heavy that it was inspiring to be on the bandstand with him. I recorded with him and his working band in 1995 on T Time. Kenny Drew Jr. was the pianist. What a great player he was.

JW: Once you decided you needed your own sound on the guitar, how did you go about developing it?
DS: I think one’s own sound is something that every musician has in them. Working with people like Stanley Turrentine made me realize how important it is to have your own sound. It’s something all musicians strive for. My sound is a result of listening to the greats when I was learning and the life experiences I’ve had, the dues paid, and the greats I’ve gotten to play with. I’ve also had a chance to record a lot of records and develop. So hopefully by this point, I have my own sound that people can recognize.

JW: How did your new album, As We Are, come about? Why a string quartet?
DS: It’s a project I’ve always wanted to do. When the pandemic hit in 2020, I had more alone time to think, since gigs and tours were cancelled. I called Julian Shore, a pianist I first met when he was a 14-year-old student of mine at the Litchfield Jazz Camp in Connecticut. I’d heard some string writing he’d done so I asked if he would like to collaborate. I started writing some new music and sent it to him, asking him to put his thing on it. He would demo his string arrangements and they were beautiful. I was so inspired I decided to call in two of the greatest for the album—bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. Julian, John, Brian and I recorded first because I wanted to get the interaction of the small group. Then we added the string quartet the following week. I feel it is one of the best things I’ve done, and I’m really proud of it. I look forward to playing at New York's Birdland from July 5 to 9 with the band and string players from the record. [Note: On July 5 and 6, Dave's rhythm quartet will be backed by violinist Sara Caswell. On July 7, 8 and 9, the rhythm quartet will be backed by the full string quartet] [Photo above of the rhythm and strings sections on Dave Stryker's new album]

JW: Excited about opening for Steely Dan’s upcoming tour? How did that come about?
DS: Of course. I’ve been a fan of Steely Dan for a long time. In fact, I heard them open for the Frank Zappa Big Band in Lincoln, Neb., in around 1975. My early bands used to play some of their music. Aja is one of my favorite albums. Donald Fagen’s manager reached out a few years ago and we opened for them at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Recently, Donald asked his manager to get in touch with me to open their tour this summer in the Northeast. We’re looking forward.

JW: For those who know little about you, what five albums would you suggest as an entry point?
DS: That’s a tough one. You're a better judge. But off the top of my head, I'd suggest:

• As We Are (Strikezone/2022) go here.
• All the Way (SteepleChase/2020) go here.
• Blue Soul (Strikezone/2020) go here.
• Eight Track III (Strikezone/2019) go here.
• Blue to the Bone (SteepleChase/2000) go here.

Gabe Baltazar (1929-2022)

Gabe Baltazar, a Hawaiian-born Asian-American clarinetist, flutist and alto saxophonist with a Charlie Parker sound who was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra starting in 1960, died on June 12. He was 92.

A clarinetist as a child, Baltazar later switched to alto saxophone as his main instrument. During a visit to New York in 1948 while studying music in Baltimore, Baltazar met Charlie Parker during a break in sets at the Royal Roost. Their conversation and Parker's kindness motivated Baltazar to play like his hero—fast, fluid and bluesy.

Baltazar grew up in Honolulu and learned to swing and play jazz by listening to his father, who was a saxophonist in dance bands in Hawaii. After serving in the military from 1950 to 1954, Baltazar moved to the U.S. mainland in 1956 and played in Los Angeles with Japanese-American jazz drummer Paul Togawa. [Photo above, from left, of Gabe Baltazar, Paul Togawa, Dick Johnston and Buddy Woodson, courtesy of the University of Hawaii Press]

Kenton heard Baltazar playing Stairway to the Stars in a college band on the G.I. Bill in 1960 and hired him immediately. After nine years of steady touring and studio recording with Kenton, Baltazar returned to Hawaii in 1969. There, he played with the prestigious Royal Hawaiian Band, founded in 1836, and played jazz at night at the Cavalier in Honolulu. He also taught students. [Photo above of Stan Kenton and Gabe Baltazar]

In tribute to the late Gabe Baltazar, here are 10 clips:

Here's a little bit about Baltazar...

Here's Baltazar's earliest studio recordings in 1957 with drummer Paul Togawa, playing Love for Sale...

Here's Baltazar soloing with Kenton on Bill Holman's arrangement of Stairway to the Stars, from the 1962 album Adventures in Jazz...

Here's Baltazar on flute in 1980 playing an original, Makaha Surf...

Here's Baltazar playing the Hank Levy arrangement of a Baltazar Named Gabe, from the Back to Balboa Vol. 2 album celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1991...

Here's Baltazar on clarinet playing Memories of You, from Birdology (1992)...

Here's Baltazar playing Birth of the Blues, from Back in Action (1992)...

Here's Baltazar in 1997 playing an ingenious original called Bop Suey...

Here's Dancing in the Dark from the same album...

And here's Baltazar in the 1990s playing Just One of Those Things, with Betty Loo Taylor on piano...

Bonus: In 1979, Stan Kenton recorded Stan Kenton Presents Gabe Baltazar for his Creative World label. It's a terrific album if you can track it down. Here's A Time for Love, arranged by Angel Pena and Chuck Hoover...

A Time for Love

And here's Love Song, arranged by Don Menza...

Love Song

JazzWax note: For further exploration, read Baltazar's memoir, with writer Theo Garneau, If It Swings, It's Music: The Autobiography of Hawai‘i’s Gabe Baltazar Jr. (University of Hawaii Press). Go here.