JazzWax

Perfection: Paul Desmond, 'Any Other Time' (1964)

Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond recorded six albums for RCA with guitarist Jim Hall between 1962 and 1965. One of the finest was Glad to Be Unhappy, recorded between July 1964 and early September. And on that album, the most exquisite track was Desmond's own composition Any Other Time, recorded on August 20, 1964, with Eugene Wright on bass and Connie Kay on drums. 

On this minimalist Thursday, the only track I want to play for you is the resplendent Any Other Time, so you can hear for yourself the very definition of jazz perfection. In addition to the beautiful melody and Desmond's hypnotizing tone, listen to what Jim plays—and when—not to mention the contributions of Wright and Kay.

Here's Any Other Time...

Here's my three-part JazzWax interview with Jim Hall in 2010, in which he talks about his pairing with Desmond..

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Jimmy Rowles: 'The Nocturne Session,' 1954

Nocturne Records was an interesting label. Co-founded in 1954 by drummer Roy Harte and bassist Harry Babasin, the company was based in Hollywood with a focus on West Coast jazz. Initially, it was a way for the two musicians to record jazz their way.

The house pianist early on was Jimmy Rowles, who teamed with Harte and Babasin to form the label's backing trio. Tearing a page from Norman Granz's approach at Clef and Norgran, they formed a top notch studio trio that provided ready-made accompaniment for artists who recorded. This meant three fewer musicians to worry about hiring for a session, and a steady team that could read and play anything with verve. It was highly efficient. [Photo above of Roy Harte courtesy of CTSImages.com]

Rowles was a superb pianist who could play in virtually any style and would become a celebrated studio musician hired for dozens of sessions in the 1950s. A year after forming, Nocturne merged with Liberty, and Babasin stayed on to supervise the Jazz in Hollywood series released under the Nocturne imprint. [Photo above of Harry Babasin]

One of the last to record a leadership album before the labels were united was Rowles, on Rare But Well Done, recorded in December 1954. He was joined by bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Art Mardigan. The album has just been remastered and re-issued by Fresh Sound along with a few bonus tracks. [Photo above of Red Mitchell]

Rowles was a seasoned natural with sophisticated taste and enormous sensitivity. All of those gifts led him to accompany many of the top pop singers of the 1950s. Rowles started recording in 1941 with Lee and Lester Young, moving on to the big bands of Benny Goodman and Woody Herman during World War II. By 1948, he was playing bebop with trombonist Bill Harris and landed in Georgie Auld's band in 1949 and Jerry Gray's in 1950. [Photo above of Art Mardigan]

Quitting the road and settling in Los Angeles, Rowles was the pianist Gerry Mulligan used when he began woodshedding his contrapuntal approach at Phil Turetsky's house in 1952. Rowles opted to team with Peggy Lee when Mulligan decided to go with a pianoless quartet. Rowles's first leadership session was Jimmy Rowles Plays Standards for Vantage in 1953.

For Nocturne in 1954, he played on Herbie Harper Quintet in February, featuring Harper on trombone and Bob Gordon on baritone saxophone, on Bud Shank/Shorty Rogers Quintet in March and the Harry Babasin Quintet in April. Rare But Well Done was recorded for Nocturne in December, with 10 of the 12 tracks appearing on a 12-inch LP in 1956 after the Liberty deal went through.

What we have here on the new Fresh Sound release is Rowles as an early leader. By then, he had proved himself as a first-call pianist with a wide assortment of big bands and small groups. He also was established as a vocalist's accompanist. On Rare But Well Done, Rowles is at the top of his game and clearly poised for much bigger opportunities.

Given that he plays in a variety of piano styles on the album, including swing, bop and lounge and uses a variety of attacks, from a light tingling tone to heavy block chords, the album almost seems like a Rowles album designed to entice record producers looking for a versatile pianist.

The three bonus tracks are strays from pianist compilation albums recorded in 1956 and 1957. Interestingly, the trio of Rowles, Mitchell and Mardigan was quite strong, with Rowles picking interesting songs and approaches. Mitchell's bass is big and fat, and Mardigan moves the rhythm around in a light, feathery style. Elegant music from an artist who would soon be considered one of Los Angeles's greats.

Jimmy Rowles died in 1996.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jimmy Rowles: The Nocturne Session (Fresh Sound)  with 24-bit remastering here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Remember Me...

Remember Me

Here's Serenade in Blue...

Serenade in Blue

And here's Sonny Berman's Sonny Speaks...

Sonny Speaks

James Moody Septet: 1951-1955

From its start in the mid-1940s, bebop was a jazz form that celebrated individualism, speed and daring. But bop was also a romantic expression. Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron, J.J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Gigi Gryce and others explored the music's feminine side, if you will, the side that seduced listeners with bluesy beauty. Perhaps the artist who best exemplified this approach, with his saxophone, arrangements and wily sense of humor, was James Moody, whose very name meant feelings and emotions.

Moody began recording with Dizzy Gillespie's bebop big band in 1946. His first small group recording was as a member of the Howard McGhee Sextet in 1947 that recorded for Dial in New York. In 1948, Moody led his first session, for Blue Note. From 1949 until mid 1951, Moody relocated to Europe and recorded there, mostly in Paris and Stockholm.

After the summer of 1951, Moody returned to the States, and a new phase of his recording career began, working largely with a septet for Mercury and Prestige. A new spectacular 48-track box set—James Moody Septet: 1951-1955 (Fresh Sound)—documents this fruitful period. [Photo above of James Moody]

Not only was Moody a beautiful and fluid bebop player, he had a way of inventing new, rich melodies on nearly every solo taken. This is evident on much of the material here. And because a septet is large enough to take on the characteristics of a big band in its most modified form, Moody's music during this recording period had more drama and urgency than if he had chosen a quartet or quintet.

Moody could play smooth or fast with elegance and a blues articulation. As the box evolves over the five-year period, Moody's music becomes tighter, more cohesive and more interesting. By 1955, nearly all of his recordings are tight, fresh and stellar, and hold up remarkably well today. There's a ballet quality to these recordings that sweeps you away. 

Standouts abound and include baritone saxophonist Pee Wee Moore, and now-forgotten players like trumpeter Dave Burns and pianist Jimmy Boyd. Vocals by Eddie Jefferson and Babs Gonzales remind us how bop vocalese evolved over time and became more sophisticated. Riding atop all of these great artists is Moody on tenor and alto saxophone—weaving and double-timing on ballads and skating around deftly on faster numbers, always eager to create a new pretty melody and make the listener feel warm and loving. [Photo above of Dizzy Gillespie, left, and James Moody in 1947 by William P. Gottlieb]

The new box is a reminder of how special Moody was during this period and how, with his septet, he pressed the blues through a bop filter and wound up with music that today is as bright and glorious as it was then.

Moody was a teddy bear. I still remember taking my 11-year-old daughter backstage to meet Moody after a gig at the Blue Note and how generous and playful he and his wife, Linda, were with her. My daughter still remembers that evening today. So do I. [Photo above of James and Linda Moody]

James Moody died in 2010.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find James Moody Septet: 1951-1955 (Fresh Sound), a three-CD box with fabulous notes and photos, here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Feelin' Low in June 1953 with Dave Burns (tp), Donald Cole (tb) James Moody (aa), Pee Wee Moore (bar), Sadik Hakim (p), unknown (b) and Teddy Stewart (d)...

Feelin' Low

Here's Keepin' Up with Jonesy in January 1954 with Dave Burns (tp), William Shepherd (tb), James Moody (ts), Pee Wee Moore (bar), Sadik Hakim (p), John Latham (b) and Joe Harris (d)...

Keepin' Up With Jonesy

Here's Blue Walk in January 1955 with Dave Burns (tp), William Shepherd (tb), James Moody (ts), Pee Wee Moore (bar), Jimmy Boyd (p), John Latham (b) and Joe Harris (d)...

Blue Walk

Here's Disappointed (based on the chord changes to Lady Be Good) with lyrics set to Charlie Parker's alto saxophone solo; recorded in August 1955 with Dave Burns (tp), William Shepherd (tb), James Moody (ts), Pee Wee Moore (bar), Jimmy Boyd (p), John Latham (b), Clarence Johnston (d) and Eddie Jefferson (vcl)...

Disappointed

And here's Hard to Get in August 1955 with same personnel...

Hard to Get

Duke Ellington: 125 Years Young

April 29 marked the 125th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth in 1899. Catching the Ellington bug over the weekend, I figured what better way to kick off the week than with seven celebratory video clips and a bonus album [photo above of Duke Ellington in London in 1963 by John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins]:

Here's Ellington conducting the Dick Cavett band on August 8, 1969. Bill Kirchner sent this one along. The band included Duke Ellington (p);  George Duvivier (b); Bobby Rosengarden (d,leader); Joe Wilder and Ernie Royal (tp); Boomie Richman (b-cl,ts); Harvey Estrin (lead as). One guitar, three other reeds, two other trumpets and three trombones unidentified...

Here's an hour and a half documentary on Ellington from 1991...

Here's another, A Duke Named Ellington, from PBS in 1988...

Here's a 23-minute Twentieth Century episode hosted by Walter Cronkite on Duke Ellington's 1964 trip to Japan...

Here's Ellington and Louis Armstrong on The Ed Sullivan Show in December 1961...

Here's the 1967 documentary On the Road With Duke Ellington, directed by Robert Drew...

And here's Ralph J. Gleason's Love You Madly, an hour-long TV documentary from 1965...

Bonus: Here's one of my favorite Ellington albums, Unknown Session. It was recorded in 1960 but not released by Columbia until 1979...

The ensemble:

• Duke Ellington – piano
• Ray Nance - trumpet
• Lawrence Brown - trombone
• Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone
• Paul Gonsalves - tenor saxophone
• Harry Carney - baritone saxophone
• Aaron Bell - bass
• Sam Woodyard - drums

The tracks:

1. Everything But You"
2. Black Beauty
3. All Too Soon
4. Something to Live For
5. Mood Indigo
6. Creole Blues
7. Don't You Know I Care (Or Don't You Care to Know)
8. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing
9. Mighty Like the Blues
10. Tonight I Shall Sleep (With a Smile on My Face)
11. Dual Highway
12. Blues

Jonathan, Gil and Dorothy

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed painter Jonathan Yeo for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jonathan's controversial red portrait of King Charles was unveiled on May 14 to much praise and criticism. I loved the portrait the moment I saw it. It's exciting, dynamic, courageous and radically different. [Photo above of Jonathan Yeo on May 14, 2024 at Buckingham Palace by Aaron Chown/AFP]

The miracle and magic of my job is that I can wake up one morning, see someone in the news who fascinates me, huddle with my editor, get the green light, reach out and interview a subject for a column that has 8 million readers. It's a joy and a privilege to provide readers with the private childhood recollections of the celebrated people I speak with each week.

Here's the unveiling at Buckingham Palace in London on May 14...

Also in the WSJ, my "Album@50" column this month takes a fresh look at Gil Scott-Heron's Winter in America, which was released 50 years ago in May (go here). The album is stunning for Brian Jackson's music and Fender Rhodes and flute, for Scott-Heron's vocals and lyrics, for the socially conscious message of each song and for influencing soul and hip-hip rolling forward.

Here's The Bottle from the album...

What I'm watching.

Killing Eve (2018-2022)—Now on Season 2. Dark, comedic British spy thriller starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. I don't know how I missed this during the pandemic, but I did. Spectacular series. (Netflix)

The Veil (2024)—Just finished the miniseries. Wow, what a final episode. Spectacular spy thriller miniseries starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, The Handmaid's Tale) about a deadly game of truth, lies and a looming terrorist threat. (Hulu/FX)

Previously watched and recommended...

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
• Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
• Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix) 
• The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
• Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
• Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
• Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
• Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
• The Crown—(2016-2023/Netflix)
• Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
• Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
• The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
• Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
• Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
• Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
• Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
• The Gentlemen—(2024/Netflix)
• Godless—(2017/Netflix)
• Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
• The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
• High Water—(2022/Netflix)
• Homeland—(2011-2020/Showtime)
• Jane Eyre—(2006/Britbox)
• Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
• Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
• Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
• Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
• MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
• Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
• Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
• 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
• 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
• Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
• Pieces of Her—(2022/Netflix)
• Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
• Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
• Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
• Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
• Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
• Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
• Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
• The Watcher—(2022/Netflix)
• The Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
• Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
• The Woman in the Wall—(2024/Showtime)
• WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
• Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)

Films

• The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
• American Gangster—(2007/Max).
• Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
• The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
• Blackout (2022/Netflix) 
• The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
• The Commuter (2018/Netflix)
• The Dig—(2021/Netflix)
• Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
• Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
• The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
• Fury—(2014/Netflix)
• God's Country—(2022/Hulu)
• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
• Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+) 
• Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
• Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
• Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
• Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
• The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
• Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
• Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
• MI-5—(2015/Max)
• The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
• The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
• Nobody—(2021/Prime)
• Ordinary Angels—(2024)
• Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
• The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
• Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
• Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
• The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix)
• Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
• Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
• Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
• The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
• Spy(les)—(2009/Prime)
• The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
• Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
• The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
• Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)

Documentaries

• Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
• The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
• Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
• The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
• Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
• Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
• Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
• Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
• Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
• 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here

Dizzy Gillespie. In 1990, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and the CTI All-Stars recorded Rhythmstick, an album and video that became one of the last CTI projects produced by Creed Taylor before his label was absorbed by Columbia. Tom Fine alerted me that the album and videodisc were originally recorded in analog HD for the Japanese market and that both have now been uploaded at YouTube. Go here...

Dorothy Donegan. In 1965, pianist Dorothy Donegan (above) appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to play a medley featuring Rhapsody In Blue and The Man I Love. Go here...

Hazel Scott. Here's Hazel Scott (above) in 1943...

And here's Mary Lou Williams (above) in 1974...

Eva Swiderski. Here's guitarist Eva Swiderski playing and singing a João Bosco-Aldir Blanc song, with Simon Bräumer on pandeiro...

Florian Hutter. Here's Floria Hutter playing Walter Wanderley's cover of Marcos Valle's Summer Samba (So Nice)...

Ernest Ranglin. Courtesy of Gilles D'Elia in Paris, here's an hour of Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin (above) in 2002, recorded live in Paris...

Calling all tape nerds. Mark Rabin sent along this 21-minute promotional film, The Miracles of Magnetic Recording, from 1970 and made for Ampex. The music is by Vince Guaraldi, the film was produced by Lee Mendelson (the Charlie Brown TV specials) and it was narrated by Jim Lange, host of The Dating Game. As Mark notes, all three were San Francisco Bay Area residents, and Ampex was based there. Go here...

What was Ampex? To learn all about the company that made magnetic tape recorders, this 1955 promotional film sent by Mark Rabin explains how the machines were made and why we all owe Bing Crosby a debt of gratitude. Go here...

Paul Weston. Here's Paul Weston's sublime arrangement of September in the Rain from Music for the Fireside (1955), one of his many mood albums...

And finally, here's Jo Stafford backed by husband Paul Weston's orchestra. in 1958 on Swingin' Down Broadway...