Whenever conversations turn to West Coast jazz, the talk usually centers on the style's major influences, which includes tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Woody Herman's Four Brothers band and Gerry Mulligan's quartet and arrangements. Among the missing names is one of the most significant—Count Basie.
Many of the leading West Coast arrangers of the day cited Basie as a major inspiration, among them Bill Holman, Gerry Mulligan and Shorty Rogers. What they found particularly radical at the time was Basie's minimalism on the piano and the band's call-and-response style. A Basie composer or arranger might develop a riff or figure for the saxophones then have the trumpets and trombones echo them in harmony, a conversational back-and-forth born in the black church.
Rogers was particularly taken with Basie. So much so that in February and March of 1954, he recorded Shorty Rogers Courts the Count for RCA. The album was a tribute to the Basie approach but the sound was pure Shorty. In many regards, it's equal parts Shorty and Basie in one recording.
Keep in mind that this album was recorded in 1954, so Basie's New Testament band was less than two years old. Which means that Rogers was drawn not only to Basie's architecture but also Neal Hefti's arrangements, which dominated the Basie book then.
The collective band personnel: Shorty Rogers (tp,arr); Pete Candoli, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Maynard Ferguson, Conrad Gozzo and Clyde Reasinger (tp); Milt Bernhart and Harry Betts (tb); Bob Enevoldsen (v-tb); John Graas (Fr horn); Paul Sarmento (tuba); Jimmy Giuffre (cl,ts); Herb Geller and Bud Shank (as); Bob Cooper, Bill Holman, Zoot Sims (ts); Bob Gordon (bs); Marty Paich (p); Curtis Counce (b) and Shelly Manne (d).
Here's the complete Shorty Rogers Courts the Count without ad interruptions...
The telling of a story is always more authentic and compelling when it's told by a storyteller who was actually there. This is certainly the case with drummer Louis Hayes, who had the most to do with shaping the rhythm of Horace Silver's all-important hard-bop quintet from 1956 to 1959.
As I pointed out in my multipart interview with Louis in 2010, he wasn't the first drummer with Silver. That would have been Kenny Clarke and Art Taylor. But he was there for the quintet's dramatic rise and success.
Now, Louis has just released a new album—Artform Revisited (Savant). That artform would be bebop pressed through a hard-bop filter. With Louis at the helm, you can hear instantly that the music is a step above and led by a long-time pro. So many jazz albums that feature musicians taking a shot at bop or hard bop sound good but are missing the true-flavor ingredient.
Louis's latest album is the real deal, and he clearly worked with the band to deliver just the right energy and phrasing. He's joined by Abraham Burton on tenor saxophone, Steve Nelson on vibes, David Hazeltine on piano and Dezron Douglas on bass.
The tracks:
Tour de Force (Dizzy Gillespie)
Milestones (John Lewis)
My Little Suede Shoes (Charlie Parker)
You're Looking at Me (Bobby Troup)
Ruby (Louis Hayes)
Cheryl (Parker)
Ray's Idea (Ray Brown)
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn)
Dewey Square (Parker)
G (Hayes)
This album is a clear reminder of how critically important the drums were to the sound and spirit of bop and hard bop in the 1940s and '50s. Louis is the polyrhythmic straw that stirs the music—throwing out cymbal bashes, landing a snare shot here and there, and hitting the bass drum in uneven places. He's 87 now and one of the last of his generation still recording. Thank goodness for that.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Louis Hayes's Artform Revisited (Savant) here or at major streaming platforms.
JazzWax note:To read my interview with Louis Hayes in 2010, go here. Links to subsequent parts can be found at the top of the linked page, above the red date.
On October 20, 21 and 22 of 1958, drummer Gene Krupa assembled a crack New York big band to record Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements for Verve. The idea was brilliant. Krupa, of course, had a long history with Mulligan dating back to 1946.
One of the most interesting songs out of the 12 recorded was Mulligan Stew, a sexy bop chart. The material is terrific—from the song's opening to solos by Phil Woods, Urbie Green and Eddie Wasserman; from the call and response by the different sections and sassy swing. Mulligan Stew is credited to Krupa and Mulligan, and Mulligan's arrangement is ingenious.
The personnel on this track: Al DeRisi, Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen, Al Stewart and Marky Markowitz (tp); Willie Dennis, Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland and Kai Winding (tb); unknown (tu); Sam Marowitz and Phil Woods (as); Frank Socolow and Eddie Wasserman (ts); Danny Bank (bar); Hank Jones (p); Barry Galbraith (g); Jimmy Gannon (b); Gene Krupa (d) and Gerry Mulligan (arr,cond).
All of the charts on the album are tight and spectacular, with an electrifying freshness and a crisp snap by Krupa's drums where needed. To hear such a large piece of machinery like this big band shift effortlessly and move spryly through the parts is remarkable.
An interesting Coleman Hawkins album that's unavailable and virtually unknown today is Coleman Hawkins Meets the Big Sax Section. Originally entitled The Saxophone Section, Featuring Coleman Hawkins, it was recorded in April 1958 for the World Wide label. When Savoy re-issued the album, the label changed the title.
The LP featured 4/5 of Count Basie's sax section plus pianist Nat Pierce (one of the best Basie imitators), Basie's guitarist Freddie Green, Basie's bassist Eddy Jones, and drummer Bobby Donaldson. who likely was pulled in by the album's arranger, Billy VerPlanck.
The sax section included Marshal Royal and Frank Wess (as), Coleman Hawkins (ts solos,ldr), Frank Foster (ts) and Charlie Fowlkes (bar). Tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell sat out this recording session. Songs were mostly swaggering blues with a rolling Basie feel. Two show tunes were tossed in with fabulous arrangements by VerPlanck.
The tracks:
An Evening at Papa Joe's
There Is Nothing Like a Dame
Ooga Dooga
Thanks for the Misery
I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face
Thanks for the Misery (take 1)
It's interesting to hear how Hawkins sounds soloing on Basie-ish material. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis clearly filled those shoes, with a bit of showmanship. Hawkins was recorded three times with Basie. In 1940, Hawk played three songs with a stunning list of top jazz musicians on the radio; in 1941, Hawk was a Metronome All Star and so was Basie. The third time they played together was in 1957 on CBS's The Sound of Jazz. [Publicity still above of Coleman Hawkins]
Listening to the album again yesterday, it's clear why Basie steered clear. Hawk overshadows everyone else with power and intricate and inventive improvisational lines. He's like the pool player who clears the table. Not much fun for the other players. These tracks are the only ones that provide a sense of how he would have sounded had he been a member of the New Testament band. Pretty darn exciting. [Photo above of Billy VerPlanck and his wife, singer Marlene VerPlanck]
JazzWax clips:Though the album hasn't been re-issued, a few of the album's tracks turn up on Hawkins compilations. Just type the tracks into YouTube.
With World War II over at the end of August 1945, Dave Brubeck returned home from Europe and was discharged from the Army. He returned to California and immediately began studying at Mills College with Darius Milhaud, the famed French modern-classical composer and conductor who had a great reverence for jazz. [Photo above of Dave Brubeck, courtesy of the Brubeck estate]
That year, Milhaud (above) asked Dave and his newly formed octet to play concerts for the college. Dave's group called themselves Les Eight, in tribute to Milhaud's classical group, Les Six. But Dave's group was too far-out and too inside to get gigs on other campuses. So he renamed the group the Dave Brubeck Octet.
That didn't stop Fantasy Records in San Francisco. In 1946, they caught wind of Dave's octet and agreed to record them. The octet included Dick Collins (tp), Bob Collins (tb), Bill Smith (cl,bar), Bob Cummings (as), Dave Van Kriedt (ts), Dave Brubeck (p), Jack Weeks (b) and Dick Saltzman (d). Sales of the 78s weren't amazing, so Dave turned to a trio, which did get campus bookings with help of his new wife, Iola. Recordings for Fantasy followed before Dave resurrected the octet in late 1949.
Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond replaced Cummings, and Cal Tjader replaced Saltzman on drums. Sales of the 10-inch album again fell flat, so Dave formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Desmond. And the rest is history.
Now, alto saxophonist Jon De Lucia has picked up the torch with his wonderful new album The Brubeck Octet Project (Musaeum Clausum) (go here or stream here). For the album, Jon assembled eight musicians and recorded 12 of the Brubeck Octet's challenging arrangements, with a few modifications. His octet includes Brandon Lee (tp), Becca Patterson (tb), Jon De Lucia (as) Scott Robinson (ts) Jay Rattman (bar,cl) Glenn Zaleski (p) Daniel Duke (b) Keith Balla (d)
For a taste of this marvelous group, here they are playing IPCA...
Recently, I caught up with Jon for a Q&A interview...
JazzWax: What was it like growing up in Quincy, Mass.? Jon De Lucia: It was a fairly working-class town, with some rich parts and some poor. I think the best part was that it was close enough to Boston to be on the city’s subway system. From sixth grade on, I could ride into town with my friends and go to record stores, vintage clothing stores and concerts. There was so much more to check out in Boston back then. Many shops have long since been turned into bank ATMs and hotels. [Photo above of Jon De Lucia, courtesy of Jon De Lucia]
JW: What about your parents? JDL: My dad came from Italy at 18 and worked, and still works, in the restaurant business as a host and general manager. Back then he managed the Ritz Carlton dining room right in the middle of town. My first paid job was working there as the Easter Bunny, and my first gig was playing a set with the hotel's resident pianist. My mom stayed at home and was, and still is, an avid Ebay seller of antiques, taking after her mom who worked in antiques. Mom certainly influenced my interest in old collectible things. I can’t keep up with Scott Robinson there, but I’ve always loved weird old instruments, whatever I can get my hands on.
JW: Were you parents musical? JDL: Not particularly. On my dad’s side, one of his uncles in Italy plays organ for church services, and that’s it. My mom’s half-brother is bassist John Crooks. He doesn’t play much anymore, but he was on the New York jazz scene and then in Los Angeles. He certainly was an influence on me. Probably the biggest musical influence in the family was his dad, my grandfather, Tom Crooks. Not a musician per se, but as Director of Summer Programs at Harvard in the 1960s and ‘70s, he helped put on summer jazz concerts there, featuring artists such as Jaki Byard, John Lewis, Marian McPartland, Lee Konitz and others. He died when I was 17.
JW: Did you get to talk about music with your grandfather, Tom? Siblings? JDL: Sadly, I didn’t get to talk to him about jazz nearly as much as I would have liked. I just wasn’t there yet, musically. He did take me to see drummer Max Roach, and through him I met pianist James Williams, who played at Max’s memorial and passed away a couple of years later. I have four younger siblings, all in different fields: an anthropologist in Italy, and in the Boston area, an electrician, carpenter and real estate manager.
JW: How did your interest in jazz start? JDL: I was drawn to the saxophone in fourth grade, when we all had an opportunity to choose instruments. The sax was my first choice. I played it through school, but from middle school on I was more interested in playing guitar and drums in various rock bands. My musician friends and I formed a band when I was in sixth grade, under a teacher named Rich Kenneally. He had gone to Boston’s Berklee College of Music in the 1970s and played with Buddy Rich. He was our teacher through high school. He took us on trips to visit Berklee. I think we all were convinced from a young age we'd wind up there.
JW: When did you break from the rock track? JDL: As I got closer to attending college, I decided I didn’t want to be another rock guitarist at Berklee who couldn’t read music. Instead, I decided to return to the saxophone. Through Rich, I started taking lessons with Dino Govoni, who still teaches at Berklee, two years before I applied to colleges.
JW: What were you listening to? JDL: At that time, I was listening to all the old Blue Note records and other CD reissues that were coming out at the time and getting into the music. My favorites were Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. At the same time, I played baritone saxophone in marching band and was one of the lead singers and sax players in a ska band called the Rockets. We played big venues in town, like the Middle East and Aerosmith’s club, Mama Kin’s.
JW: At Berklee, why did you major in music production? JDL: The school also offered a film-scoring major, but I liked the idea of being able to do everything in a home studio, not writing for orchestras. Music production back then meant music video games, which were having a bit of a moment in 1998, with the release of games like Final Fantasy VII. Video-game sounds were getting better, the themes longer and you could even include real instruments on the soundtracks.
JW: What was the appeal? JDL: I was drawn to the romanticism of it, creating lush orchestral themes for role-playing games. This was before video-game music was being addressed at all by schools. Now many schools offer such programs. I gradually fell out of video-game music because it often felt like the kid with the best gear made the best music, and I was getting more artistic and less commercial in my music. I was influenced by people like George Garzone, Bill Pierce, Joe Lovano and all the great teachers I had at Berklee.
JW: Why did you move to Brooklyn in 2005? JDL: A whole batch of us moved down around the same time from Boston: Nir Felder, Garth Stevenson, Leo Genovese, Ziv Ravitz, all of whom were on my first album, Face No Face, which was recorded that year. I got a place in Kensington, south of Prospect Park, with bassist Bryan Ladd. It was a two bedroom for $1,100 a month.
JW: Why Park Slope? JDL: Park Slope was most appealing because that’s where many of the musical happenings were at the time. Artists such as Jim Black, Chris Speed, Trevor Dunn, Oscar Noriega, Tim Berne and that whole scene performed and lived around there. Not long after, it started to get too expensive.
JW: So you winged it, hoping for the best? JDL: I didn’t have the best of plans, and I struggled a bit for a few years. To make ends meet, I worked at a Barnes & Noble in Midtown, then I got a job translating and editing subtitles for Japanese TV shows. I was fairly fluent in Japanese then. The best part of the job was meeting my wife there. She had just graduated from Amherst and was working her first job. We both quit, and I worked in a wine store in Park Slope. I also was teaching privately, playing gigs, learning the clarinet and slowly writing and releasing music. I didn’t have the money to record.
JW: What did you do? JDL: Eventually I made a change and went back to school at age 34. I got a master’s at City College and became an adjunct lecturer there. After five years, a full-time position opened up at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in Manhattan’s Tribeca section and I was hired two years ago. I’m now able to focus more on my music while helping to build up the college’s program.
JW: How and when did you discover Dave Brubeck? JDL: Through Paul Desmond’s sound. I remember playing on WGBH in Boston in 2006 to promote my first album. The late DJs Ron Della Chiesa and Steve Schwartz both compared my sound to Desmond’s. I wanted to be modern and sound like Kenny Garrett or Greg Osby, but to the DJs, it still sounded like Desmond. But as time went on and I studied with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz for a while, I got more into playing standard jazz repertoire. I also became more obsessed with Desmond’s work. I’ve checked out nearly everything he’s done, and the Brubeck Octet Project was part of that.
JW: Were you up to speed on the Octet? JDL: I didn’t know much about the different eras of the Octet then, but I knew I liked the David Van Kriedt arrangements the most, though I didn’t know they were his then. I thought September in the Rain was lovely, and Fugue on Bop Themes, along with Love Walked in and Let’s Fall in Love. I wasn’t as interested in the wind quintet-type pieces, though I might like to take a crack at the Octet's Schizophrenic Scherzo. Mike McGinnis, a friend and a Bill Smith expert, recently gave me the original score. My interest in writing for large ensembles leans towards the quirky and weird.
JW: You transcribed just one of the 1946 recordings, yes? Dave told me in an interview that the entire book of arrangements was lost in an Australian flood. JDL: I’m still a little confused on the details of the flood. I got to sit down with Chris and Darius Brubeck last week and asked them about it, but they are hazy on it as well. The one transcription I had to do off the album was The Way You Look Tonight. This song is the hardest arrangement in the entire book, so it was a real challenge. I wonder if that score and the other 1946 scores were lost in the flood while the original individual parts—which is what I have—were preserved elsewhere.
JW: Not too much from the 1946 Octet on your album? JDL: The only thing we recorded from the early Octet material is I Hear a Rhapsody. This one is interesting, as it is a fairly straightforward bopper with a unison shout chorus. Van Kriedt arranged it, but as trumpeter Dick Collins said, Van Kriedt was never fully comfortable in the bebop idiom. The later stuff from the early 1950s, is much more lush and layered, and Bill Smith’s arranged tunes IPCA and What Is This Thing Called Love? pull from modernism, bop and the Lenny Tristano school.
JW: Which musicians in the Octet do you admire most? JDL: I’m currently in the early stages of a musicology PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center. If I end up writing about the Brubeck Octet for my dissertation, I will certainly go much deeper on each member’s bio. I am intrigued by Smith, and really love the1960 album he recorded with Brubeck called The Riddle. I’ve loved Jimmy Giuffre for some time as well, and Smith achieves some similar things, musically. He was an amazing clarinetist.
JW: What sort of research did you do? JDL: I’ve enjoyed putting a timeline together for the Octet, and seeing where the various musicians overlap. Smith was the only member of the Octet to spend time in New York, at the jazz clubs on 52nd St, before the group formed in 1946. If we’re trying to draw connections to Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool nonet, there are only a few examples of an East Coast and West Coast overlap between these two scenes. Interestingly, arranger-producer Pete Rugolo also attended Mills College and studied with Milhaud along with Howard Brubeck, Dave’s older brother. He certainly would have heard the original Octet before becoming a jazz producer at Capitol Records and signing Miles’s nonet a couple of years later.
JW: Looking forward to researching? JDL: I am. I hope to dig into that a bit more. I found it interesting, in your interview with Dick Collins on Jack Weeks and Van Kriedt’s time in Paris playing with Kenny Clarke and recording with Hubert Fol before coming back and writing and recording with the Octet in 1949-‘50. And finally, what did the Octet sounded like from 1950-1953, after Dave Brubeck's departure, They apparently played regularly at the Blackhawk, and many of the unrecorded charts are dated after their last official recording session in 1950. I believe there has to be a bootleg out there somewhere.
JW: Tell me about the new album. When did you conceive the idea and how did you get the charts? JDL: In 2015 or so, I formed an octet to play the music recorded on the album Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre. I was in touch with Konitz and Ted Brown, who recorded the original 1959 session. I wanted to see if I could get them in a room together to replay that music. This was my first time trying to do research of any kind, reaching out to everyone I could to find the charts and transcribing others. We did end up doing one session, an open rehearsal at City College, with Lee, Ted and the great Ellington drummer Steve Little. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
JW: How so? JDL: We recorded some of that music live with Ted a couple of years later. So around this time, the octet—then all woodwinds—became a weekly reading band. I was on the lookout for more charts, and stumbled across the Van Kriedt papers at Mills and requested a scan. From 2016 on we pulled the parts out the session, since there were no scores, and tried to read through them. They were full of mistakes and scribbles, and you could tell that these parts had really been used. I always wanted an excuse to put them into Sibelius software and clean up the forms so they could actually be fun to read. Lewis Porter gave me the idea to reach out to Darius Brubeck, and the Brubecks liked the idea.
JW: What happened? JDL: Finding time became hard, as I was working on my Bach Shapes book series then. Then I finally got a grant from CUNY in 2022 to prepare the Brubeck Octet scores and record a new album. The Brubecks have been supportive throughout, culminating in a performance at the Brubeck Archive in Wilton, Ct., recently to a sold-out crowd that included Darius, Chris and their wives. It was a beautiful way to re-introduce this music.
JW: A few of the album’s tracks weren’t recorded by the Brubeck Octet, correct? JDL: Yes, but they were all for the Octet. Previously I had played these charts conservatively. But for the album, I knew I wanted to open up things a bit more and get some small-group energy into the music. This is why I added an improvised intro to Let’s Fall In Love, an extended free solo for tenor saxophonist Scott Robinson on Fugue and generally opened up more solo sections, including solos for the rhythm section, which weren’t present in the originals.
JW: Scott sounds great on tenor. JDL: Scott was the perfect choice to be our featured guest here. We’ve played together in little snippets at Manhattan’s Ear Inn on Sunday nights, but this has been a great opportunity to play with him at length. I also think pianist Glenn Zaleski, who I hadn’t worked with before, really adds an element of surprise to the music.
JW: How so? JDL: He came up under the mentorship of Dave, so I knew he was the right choice. I had a lot of fun combining people I knew from lots of different scenes for this project. Love Me or Leave Me was never recorded by the Octet, but it was in the Mills papers. I think it’s an amazing take on that tune. On this note, we have won a grant to make another album of the Octet's music next year. It will feature exclusively unrecorded material from the archive. Much of this material is head charts and segments of things, so I will likely be adding more of my own writing and rearranging this time around. Very much looking forward to starting that project this fall.
JW: What else did you add to the original music? JDL: There are sometimes backgrounds and shouts and things in the parts that weren’t on the original recordings. The backgrounds under Scott’s solo on What is this Thing?, for example. We dealt with these on a case-by-case basis.
JW: What did you learn about Brubeck by crawling inside this material? JDL: I spent one full day poring over the Brubeck Collection in Wilton, Ct., and I'm about to schedule another. There are numerous letters of interest, I remember one from Van Kriedt in 1953 to Dave, saying he would do whatever is necessary to make the Octet a success. I think at this point, the group knew the Dave Brubeck Quartet was going to be special.
JW: Was the Octet abandoned? JDL: Not at all. Even Dave hoped to return to the Octet. He was persuaded by his management to leave it behind, however. I think Dave found his way back to some of it with his large-scale orchestral works later on and with his brief revival of some of the Octet’s music in the early 2000s. I didn’t know about this revival when I started the project. They were working off of transcriptions by Jeff Lindberg, as the parts were presumed lost at the time.
JW: Where did they play them? JDL: They would play four or five of the Octet charts per concert, but they never made a commercial recording, just live recordings that can be found in the archive in Wilton and the New York Public Library. Bill Smith is a guest soloist and sounds amazing in his 80s.
JW: What’s most fascinating about the music from your perspetive? JDL: I think of it as a collective in its inception, with each member bringing out a different element of Milhaud’s teachings, which continued on with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. So Van Kriedt is counterpoint, canon and fugue; Bill Smith is odd meters and harmonic tension; Brubeck is polytonality and odd meters; Dick Collins is the best improviser in the group at the time; and Desmond is sound. I’ve learned a lot from this quirky music and find it endlessly fascinating as a bridge from some of the “novelty” groups of the 1930s—such as John Kirby, Alec Wilder and Raymond Scott—to the jazz-classical Third Stream of the 1950s and ‘60s.
JazzWax tracks:You'll find Jon De Lucia's The Brubeck Octet Project (Musaeum Clausum) here or stream here.
Two weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal, I interviewed Kelsey Grammer for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Kelsey opened up about his harrowing childhood—the death of his grandfather, who was a father figure to him after his parents' divorce; his father's murder in St. Thomas and his sister's ghastly murder at age 18 in 1975. Kelsey currently stars in Murder Company, a film set in World War II. [Image above of Kelsey Grammer courtesy of YouTube]
This past week I interviewed Anthony Michael Hall for House Call (go here). His mom, Mercedes Hall, is a jazz and R&B singer. His parents divorced early and he spent his early years "watching my mother sing for our supper." Anthony currently co-stars in Trigger Warning. [Photo above of Anthony Michael Hall courtesy of Wikipedia]
What I'm watching.
Babylon Berlin (2017-2024). If Killing Eve was my favorite series watched this year, this one is a close second. The action thriller with German actors (the dialogue is in subtitles) takes place in Berlin between the wars, when communists were clashing with fascists and the city was a bevy of decadence, hedonism and cabaret. The period is splendidly recreated, and the acting and writing are superb. I'm up to Season 2, and Season 4 just came out (MHz via Prime Video)
Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music even has a sweet-and-sour cameo as a club singer. Go here...
Wilder (2017). This contemporary Swiss detective-suspense drama takes place in a small town in the German Alps, ensuring amazing cinematography. Intriguing and captivating. (MHz via Prime Video)
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)
Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
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)
Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
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)
The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
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)
TheBricklayer—(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)
Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
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
Worth reading
Escape Artist, by David Denby. In his 2010 essay for The New Yorker, Denby retrospectively evaluates the shortcomings and triumphs of actress Joan Crawford, who came from nothing to become a star with the advent of talking pictures. Masterfully written and smartly engaging, if even if you couldn't care less about Crawford. Go here.
When Your Identical Twin Wins a Grammy, by Callie Holtermann. In The New York Times, a fascinating look at Laufey and Junia Jonsdottir, identical twins from Iceland who now live in New York. The former is an American pop star and the latter is her fascinating fashion and design guru. Go here.
The Kidnapping I Can't Escape, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Another New York Times gem. As the subhed reads: "Fifty years ago, my father’s friend was taken at gunpoint on Long Island. Then he went on with his life — and that’s the part that haunts me." Go here.
Joan Chamorro. Last week, I heard from Gary Berman, who recently wrote about the great Barcelona jazz educator for Medium. To read, go here. [Photo above of Joan Chamorro]
Miles Davis.Here's the trumpeter in 1967 with Wayne Shorter (ts), Herbie Hancock (p), Ron Carter (b) and Tony Williams (d) playing 'Round Midnight in Sweden on October 31 1967...
Gary Bivona. Last week I head from Steve Schindler [photo above of Gus Bivona]:
Hi Marc. Gary Bivona, son of the late clarinetist, saxophonist and flutist Gus Bivona, hosts weekly professional musician sessions at his home in Los Angeles. I thought you might find it of interest. I worked with Gary at NBC for many years. Go here...
Phineas Newborn Jr. After my post on Phineas Newborn Jr (above)., Alan Broadbent sent along a note:
Thanks for this, Marc. Now might be the time to remind new fans that his name, Phineas, rhymes with dryness. Yours pedantically, Alan.
More Newborn, from Ken Deifik:
Hi Marc. I got to see Phineas Newborn at the Exit/Inn in Nashville in 1976. Every good musician in town was there. One of the guys who had brought Newborn in from Memphis told me he lived in a care facility of some sort. He was a tiny guy and he spoke with a tiny voice. He barely seemed present. And yet the music thundered out of the Steinway. Amazing. Almost as amazing was that the opener guitarist was Lenny Breau. What a night. Everybody left feeling uplifted and completely inadequate.
By the way, Lenny couldn't have been a sweeter guy. He used to play at a tiny club near Vanderbilt University. When he saw me at a table, he'd start up a blues in A and invite me up. He knew I didn't play jazz but that I always carried a D harmonica. That's the one that plays in A. Beautiful cat.
Rasmus Sørensen. Don Frese sent along a note [photo above of Rasmus Sørensen by Erik Barden]:
Marc, a while back, you posted on a new CD by Rasmus Sørensen. I just found a YouTube clip featuring two sets by his trio. Go here...
Lobster roll. If you dig the New England sandwich, you'll dig Jacques Pepin with Julia Child. Go here...
Foamy. Following my post on shaving razors, C. Claiborne Ray sent along the following:
Marc, one of the earliest radio jingles I remember began:
"Just twist that dial and you”re all set / With the adjustable razor from Gillette.”
It was sung to “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe."
Kirby Stone Four. Following my post on Charlie Parker With Strings, the Master Takes, I heard from Larry Pluth:
Hello Marc. Thanks for acknowledging the accomplished arranger Jimmy Carroll and his musical association with Charlie Parker. He was also an arranger for the Kirby Stone Four. New York City native Kirby Stone founded his group after World War II, signed a recording contract with Columbia and the group was a frequent guest on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the 1950s.
I truly enjoyed the group's upbeat swinging jazz-pop sound. Jimmy Carroll helped create what was once called the "Go Sound of the Kirby Stone Four." Per the YouTube link, I fondly recall their swinging and breezy version of the classic Broadway standard "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." Go here...
Vinyl releases...
Ellington Indigos.Impex, the audiophile company based in Indiana, recently released a 65th anniversary pressing of Ellington Indigos. It sounds fantastic. The album originally came out on Columbia in 1958, and the new 180-gram release is the stereo version. The two-LP Impex set plays at 45rpm, which maximizes fidelity and sonic detail. There are four bonus tracks, and it's available on black and purple vinyl. The format lets you hear Ellington's orchestra in all its romantic glory and comes with a 16-page booklet with new liner notes. The black vinyl version is limited to 3,000 copies; the purple vinyl version is limited to 1,000 copies. For more on the LP, go here. For the 24K Gold CD, go here.
Louis in London. Verve has just released Louis in London on vinyl, CD and digital download. It was Louis Armstrong's last live performance. Recorded by BBC-TV on July 2, 1968 and aired on September 22, all of Pops's big hits are here, including When It's Sleepy Time Down South, What a Wonderful World and Hello Dolly! Accompanying Armstrong are Tyree Glenn (tb), Joe Muranyi (clar), Marty Napoleon (p), Buddy Catlett (b) and Danny Barcelona (d). Go here.
Joe Zawinul interview. Bret Primack has posted his on-camera interview with the jazz and fusion pianist and composer Joe Zawinul. Go here.
I Want to Live. Last week I heard from Mark Cathcart:
Marc, I know you touched on this in your Johnny Mandel interview, but I actually watched "I Want to Live" the other day for the first time. Despite the controversy over the factual aspects of the story, it was great! I loved seeing both a young(ish) Art Farmer and Gerry Mulligan. An HD restoration is on the Tubi TV streaming platform with ads and it's available on Amazon Prime Video for a fee. I had no idea about the film until I picked up a copy of the soundtrack album a few weeks ago. You will certainly enjoy my four-page post on the real Barbara Graham and her treatment as published in the San Francisco Examiner. Go here.
In New York today and tomorrow? The Django Festival All-Stars are at New York's Dizzy's Club, located in Jazz at Lincoln Center. The All-Stars include Samson Schmitt, Ludovic Beier, Pierre Blanchard, Antonio Licusati and Francko Mehrstein. For information and reservations, go here.
FM Radio Archive. Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive put together a bunch of free live radio concert based on my recent posts:
Eliane Elias—is featured in a 2014 France TV performance from Jazz a in Vienne at the Théâtre Antique de Vienne, France. Go here.
The Beatles—have two broadcast recordings in the archive. The first is from a Nippon TV broadcast in Japan in 1966, and the second is from the WBCN broadcast of the "Get Back" acetate in 1969. Go here.
Clark Terry—performed in the Jazz Members Big Band with Louie Bellson at the 1981 Chicago Jazz Festival. They were featured in an NPR Jazz Alive! broadcast tht Mark Rabin shared. Go here.
Charlie Parker—was celebrated at the 1980 Chicago Jazz Festival by the Charlie Parker All Stars, in an NPR Jazz Alive! broadcast from Mark Rabin. Go here.
Harold Land—is featured in three Timeless All Stars broadcast recordings between 1982 to 1989, and also with Bobby Hutcherson at the 1969 Festival International du Jazz in Antibes, France. Go here.
And finally,here's Chet Baker on flugelhorn in Belgium in 1964 singing and playing Time After Time. He's backed by Jacques Pelzer (as,fl), Rene Urtreger (p), Luigi Trussardi (b) and Franco Manzecchi (d)...
The first songs trumpeter Chet Baker recorded on which he sings were I Fall in Love Too Easily and The Thrill is Gone, in October 1953. What struck listeners then and now was his vulnerable articulation, the humid romanticism and relaxed androgyny of his voice. Previously, no male singer had approached vocalizing this way.
What made many of these vocal tracks especially precious was his tender trumpet or flugelhorn solo that followed his vocal. After listening, one realizes that his singing voice was an extension of his horn—spare and lyrical rather than a full-throated execution. Adding to the languid mood and feeling in the early days was Russ Freeman's piano, which was served as both a sympathetic frame and a collaborative antagonist. [Photo above of Russ Freeman]
Hollywood, of course, would pick up on the popularity of Baker's early 1950s look and personality by elevating actors James Dean and Montgomery Clift. All three were viewed as handsome, misunderstood and withdrawn.
In all, Baker recorded more than 60 tracks with vocals. Rather than post just one of the set's three albums, I'm giving you all three. Here's Chet Baker Sings: The Complete 1953-'62 Vocal Studio Recordings (Valentine)—without ad interruptions:
On June 7, 1955, Miles Davis recorded Musings of Miles for Prestige. One of the tracks for the album was A Gal in Calico, composed by Arthur Schwartz. It was introduced in the 1946 film The Time, the Place and the Girl.
Musings of Miles was the trumpeter's first 12-inch LP (earlier ones were 10 inches). The musicians were Miles Davis (tp), Red Garland (p), Oscar Pettiford (b) and Philly Joe Jones (d). Garland and Jones would go on to join Davis's first great quintet later that year when they began to record for Columbia after Davis signed with the label.
What's special about this track is the thinness of Davis's trumpet lines. Instead of blaring, which was in vogue then with Clifford Brown and other hard bop trumpeters, Davis sounded as if he was talking to himself about weighing options and not being able to make up his mind. The sound was both fragile and confident, not to mention lyrical.
The other element that makes this track sublime is Red Garland's piano. He opens the song with a modified swinging fanfare, shifting to block chords halfway into his solo. Garland was elegantly bluesy and ideal for Davis.
Like Petula Clark in the U.K., Sweden's Alice Babs got her professional start early, at age 15. Her recording career began in 1939 followed by her film appearances in Swedish films in 1940. She always played the country's goodhearted Patty Duke-type. [Photo above of Alice Babs]
Babs in films quickly became a thing with Swedish teens, much to the chagrin of the older, more staid generation who found the youthful mania that grew up around her distasteful. Largely known as a jazz singer outside of Sweden, she sang folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera in her native country.
Babs is probably best known in the U.S. for her collaborations with Duke Ellington, which began in 1963 (11 Years Later). There were seven in all. His Second and Third Sacred Concert were written for her three-octave range. [Photo above of Duke Ellington and Alice Babs]
A few weeks ago, Alan Matheson in Finland hipped me to her album Don't Be Blue, with Nils Lindberg's Third Saxes Galore. On the record, Babs is backed by a convoy of swinging reeds—soloing and playing together. And there are lots of sax section solos, for those who dig them.
Recorded in May 2001, the album would be her last before her death in 2009. The musicians on the album were Alice Babs (vcl), Anders Paulsson (sop,ts), Hans Akesson (as), Krister Andersson and Joakim Milder (ts), Peter Gullin (bar), Nils Lindberg (p,arr), Jan Adefelt (b) and Bengt Stark (d).
The tracks:
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
If I Were Eve
Portrait of Django
Song for the Dreamer
Baroque Stomp
As You Are
Takin' a Chance on Love
Marit's Song
I Could Write a Book
Vocalise
Prophonem
In a Mellow Tone
Thank You for Everything (Lotus Blossom)
Babs had a lovely voice that always held its pitch, no matter what risks she took on songs. Also of note is Lindberg's piano, which is gorgeous, and the superb soprano saxophone of Anders Paulsson.
There's much to explore with Alice Babs, a pro at every stage of her career. A benefit of starting early. The fact that Ellington took to her is all you need to know, but her albums with Lindberg (there are quite a few) also are superb. This album is a fabulous introduction to the singer and Swedish jazz.
JazzWax tracks: Alice Babs's Don't Be Blue can be found as a digital download here.
JazzWax clips: Here's I Didn't Know What Time It Was (dig the saxes!)...
Most jazz fans know pianist Alan Broadbent best as a trio leader, composer, arranger and accompanist. But he has also had an extraordinary career as a songwriter and conductor of big bands and orchestras. [Photo above of Alan Broadbent]
Back in April 1973, Woody Herman and His Orchestra recorded Alan's marvelous song and arrangement of Be-bop and Roses. The album was Giant Steps, and I wore it out. On drums was Ed Soph, whose wife at the time was my English teacher in 12th grade. They lived in the area, and she turned me on to the LP.
Last week, I heard from Alan:
Hi Marc. Your weekend clips and post on Joan Chamorro and the San Andreu Jazz Band is inspiring and gives me hope for young people who are moved by jazz and who have a great teacher to guide them. No “modern” twists, just a focus on the all-important feeling. You can see it when they play together.
I hope you don’t mind, but I see myself there with them and I was moved to send you a few recent links to a concert I did with the great WDR Big Band two months ago. I'm not one for self-promotion, as you know, so I hope you’ll take it in the spirit of my having empathy with these young people and my own efforts to express something worthwhile over the years.
Included is a piece I wrote for Woody 50(!) years ago—"Be-bop and Roses." Another is "Nirvana Blues," which I wrote 40 years ago for a big band but It wasn't recorded until I chose the song for my 2005 album "Every Time I Think of You," with a quartet. The WDR's version was polished up a bit by a wiser, more experienced, orchestrator.
With your days filled with all kinds of music, I hope you can squeeze in a little moment or two with me.
Alan is conducting on all three of these:
Here'sBe-bop and Roses. What I love about Germany's WDR Big Band is they don't mess around...
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.
