The first post-war jazz flute on a 78 dates back to 1949, when Albert Socarras recorded with Babs Gonzales (and Sonny Rollins, J.J. Johnson and Wynton Kelly). The first recorded flute solo was by Jerome Richardson, with the Lionel Hampton Quintet in January 1950. Then came Sam Most in June 1952 (Herbie Mann's first was in April 1953 and Frank Wess's first came in 1954). Most's first four sides were released by Prestige on two 45s in a sleeve entitled Sam Most: Introducing a New Star.
Based in Los Angeles during the second half of his career, Most was credited by Leonard Feather as being "the first great jazz flutist." Classically trained at New York's City College and the Manhattan School of Music, he became a professional musician at 17, playing in multiple big bands of the period.
Most's jazz ensemble recording career began in June 1952 with the Sam Most Sextet. The four songs recorded included Chico O'Farrill's bebop composition Undercurrent Blues, which Herbie Mann later praised: “When I started playing jazz on flute, there was only one record out: Sam Most’s Undercurrent Blues."
Now, Most's early bop-influenced flute and clarinet recordings are captured on a remastered CD from Fresh Sound, Undercurrent Blues: Sam Most Sextettes (1952-1954). Sam Most had technique, sailing along fluidly on songs with long ribbons of improvisation and a warm tone.
The tracks:
Undercurrent Blues
First With the Most
Sometimes I’m Happy
Takin' A Chance on Love
Scooby Doo
I Hear A Rhapsody
The Night We Called it a Day
A Cuss Called Coss
Eullalia
There Will Never Be Another You
Notes to You
Skippy
Blues Junction
Just Tutshen
My OId Flame
You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
Open House
Give Me the Simple Live
Everything Happens to Me
Most was deliciously melodic and took to bop like a cat to milk. His playing was seamless on both the flute and the clarinet. This entire album is joyous listening. Sam Most died in 2013, at age 82.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Undercurrent Blues: Sam Most Sextettes (1952-1954)here. Be sure to get the JazzWax 8% discount on all Fresh Sound purchases by adding this code: JAZZWAX_DISCOUNT
JazzWax clips: Here's Undercurrent Blues, from June 1952, with Doug Mettome (tp), Sam Most (fl), Dick Hyman (p), Chuck Wayne (g), Clyde Lombardi (b) and Jackie Moffett (d), here...
Here's There Will Never Be Another You, from December 1953, with Doug Mettome (tp,arr), Urbie Green (tb), Sam Most (cl), Bob Dorough (p), Percy Heath (b) and Louie Bellson (d)...
Here's Skippy, from December 1954, with Sam Most (fl), Marty Flax (bar), Bill Triglia (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Aaron Bell (b) and Bobby Donaldson (d)...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed comedian and actress Chelsea Handler for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Chelsea has a new book out (here) as well as a new Netflix comedy special, The Feeling. [Photo above of Chelsea Handler, courtesy of Netflix]
Worthwhile future stuff that has started or will start soon...
Dark Winds S3 (now/AMC)
Long Bright River (now/Peacock)
Good American Family (now/Hulu)
Alto Knights (now/film)
The Better Sister (May 22/Prime)
Recommended series, films and documentaries...
TV series
TheAffair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
Black Doves (2024/Netflix)
The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
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)
The Dropout (2022/Hulu)
Elizabeth 1 (2005/Max)
Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
Enlightened—(2011-2013/Max)
Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/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)
Il Commissario Manara (Inspector Manara) (2009-2011/MHz)
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)
Lioness—(2023-current/Paramount+)
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)
My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current/Max)
The Night Agent—(2023-present/Netflix)
1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
The Old Man—(2022/Hulu)
On Call—2025/Amazon Prime)
Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
The Perfect Couple—(2024/Netflix)
Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
The Promised Life—(2018/MHz via Prime Video)
Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
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)
Web Therapy—(2011-2015/Fandango)
Wilder—(2017-current)
WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
Younger—(2015-2021K/Netflix)
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)
Enrico Piaggio - Un Sogno Italiano (An Italian Dream) (2019/MHz)
The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
The Family Man—(2000/Netflix)
Fury—(2014/Netflix)
God's Country—(2022/Hulu
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+)
Just My Luck (2006/Paramount+)
Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
Killers of the Flower Moon—(2023/Apple+)
La Palma (2024/Netflix)
Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
Lonely Planet—(2024)/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)
Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
Ordinary Angels—(2024/assorted platforms)
The Pledge—(2011/Peacock)
Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
The Queen—(2006/Paramount+)
The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix).
Sicario (2015/Netflix)
Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
Woman in Gold—(2015/Max)
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)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra—(2023/Netflix)
Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)
Tsunami: Race Against Time—(2024/Hulu)
Almost spring. Each year, I post the following clip on the first warm day of the year. For us New Yorkers, that day is on Saturday of this weekend, when the temperature will climb into the high 70s. Everyone in the city will be out on the streets and in the parks. Readers who love visiting New York and those who once lived here and now live elsewhere go nuts for this clip. Go here...
The Two Lonely People. Following my posted interview with Meredith d'Ambrosio on her new album's tracks, I heard from British jazz writer Brian Priestley, a JazzWax reader. My interview originally quoted Meredith as saying that Carol Hall wrote the lyrics to the song because Bill Evans wanted Tony Bennett to sing it on their second duet album. Brian pointed out that the lyrics were already in place and that this came up during his interview with Evans just after The Bill Evans Album (Columbia) came out in 1971. Here is my Editor's Note that now appears in the previously posted interview:
Editor's note: According to British jazz writer Brian Priestley, who interviewed Bill Evans, Carol Hall sent Evans the lyric in the form of a poem that he subsequently set to music. Brian also said that the poem was originally called The Man and the Woman, before the famous French movie, A Man and a Woman, came out in 1966. To avoid confusion, Bill and Carol changed the title phrase to The Two Lonely People. At the time, the song hadn't been recorded yet. Brian said the song came up during their interview because Evans's first Columbia album, The Bill Evans Album, was newly released in 1971 and included the first commercial release of The Two Lonely People.
Idrees Sulieman. Last week, Jim Eigo of Jazz Promo Services and owner of the store Original Vinyl Records sent along the following clip of the Idrees Sulieman Quartet live in Warsaw in 1960. Go here...
Bob Florence. Following my post on the Bob Florence Big Band last week, I heard from the great Canadian pianist, vibraphonist and bassist Don Thompson on his big band experience [photo above of Don Thompson]:
"Hi Marc. Paul Ruhland was sort of my idol on bass. He was by far the best bass player in Western Canada. When he decided to move to Los Angeles, I got a call from Dave Robbins to play bass in his Dave Robbins Big Band.
"We did that show every second week for a few years. Here's how we did it: We had an hour and a half rehearsal, took a break and then went live on the air for an hour without stopping. We'd play a tune, the announcer would introduce the next tune and we'd play it, and so on until the show was over. The engineer recorded live to full-track mono.
"Considering all of this, the tracks you posted sound amazingly good. Then again, these were the finest musicians in Canada west of Toronto. There was very little they couldn't play.
"Thanks for this and everything else you're doing for all of us. You give me hope for the future and that's something I really need these days."
More Bob Florence. If you've never heard Bob Florence play piano, here he is on the Fender Rhodes. Dig the beautiful chords here...
Imagining 1980. Once upon a time, the future was viewed optimistically, as a time of improved convenience, faster results and greater comfort. Now the future is something we dread as a society. At any rate, here'show the future of LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) looked in 1970 (thanks to Mark Rabin for sending along the video clip)...
Phil Norman Tentet. Last week, following my Bob Florence post, George Kahn reminded me of the Phil Norman Tentet, a Los Angeles-based band that recorded several albums using Florence's charts. Go here...
CDs of note...
Edison Machado—Edison Machado & Boa Nova (Far Out). Recorded in New York in 1978, Edison Machado & Boa Nova showcased the legendary Brazilian drummer's revolutionary playing. The sextet featured Paulinho Trompete (flgl horn,tp), Ion Muniz (ts), Steve Sacks (bs), Mozar Terra (p), Ricardo dos Santos (bass) and Edison Machado (drums). Finally back in print, the album is available to buy (here) or stream the entire album here...
Eli Roth—Red Light Disco (CAM Sugar/UMe). Italian disco had its own ornate sound. Instead of being infused with soul, it was more rococo in the Italian tradition. Actor and filmmaker Eli Roth assembled a terrific double-LP compilation of the 1970s genre—Eli Roth’s Red Light Disco: Dancefloor Seductions From Italian Sexploitation Cinema. You can buy (here and here) or stream at Spotify.
Lorraine Feather—The Green World. Singer-songwriter Lorraine Feather has a new album out. As she writes poetically in the recording's liner notes, "[As you] escape from the city to the ecstatic sights and scents of nature, 'the green world' is a metaphor for the journey that is love." An album that combines funk, rock and jazz and Lorraine's singular gift for originality, improvisation and beauty. You can listen and buy here or stream at Spotify and YouTube.
And finally, the majestic and marvelously theatrical Olga Guillot, queen of the Cuban bolero (a deeply romantic ballad). Here she is with Tito Rodriguez in the 1970s. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll instantly know that the subject matter is heavy, emotionally, and beautiful...
And here's Guillot at age 79 singing No sigas por favor, from her terrific album Faltaba yo, released in 2001. Do yourself a favor and buy her album of boleros (here)...
Zurich's Club Africana was a stronghold of modern Swiss jazz in the early 1960s, featuring musicians such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana. The club's program director, Remo Rau, a vibraphonist, also led a house-band quartet there that consisted of Remo Rau (vib), Renato Anselmi (p), Roger Dannhauer (b) and Alex Bally (d).
In May 1960, the quartet's performance at the club was recorded by Rau. Only 150 copies of the performance were printed on his RR label. The recording—The Remo Rau Quartet: An Evening at the Club Africana—gives us a rare listen to Swiss jazz at the start of a new decade and features an artist whose jazz approach was singular.
The recording is super rare. A copy is selling for $2,000 at eBay. For non-collectors, the music can be found streaming or as a download here or here, thanks to Sonorama, the German label that issued the recording using an LP on loan from a collector. To read the album's liner notes, go here.
Here's the Remo Rau Quartet's An Evening at the Cafe Africana, without ad interruptions...
Last week, I spoke with Meredith d'Ambrosio on her birthday, which also happened to be when I posted my review of her new album, Midnight Mood (Sunnyside). During our conversation, I asked about her art on the cover and her song choices. Here's what she told me:
JazzWax: Tell me about the cover art. When did you paint it and was it directly related to the album? Meredith d'Ambrosio: I began painting the oil on canvas some time after after the album was recorded at my Massachusetts home in April 2024. Probably around mid-autumn of last year. So yes, it was always related to the album.
I had the idea for the painting's subject after deciding that the title of the album would be Midnight Mood, Joe Zawinul's composition with my lyrics and storyline. After sketching the tops of a few white pine trees near my farmhouse, I used one of the sketches as my guide for the oil painting. One night a nearly full moon appeared through the treetop. The light glowed perfectly around the moon.
I used the sketch to complete the oil painting, though I typically would have photographed the subject to reference details such as the time of night and tone of the pine needle clusters. The painting took some time to complete due to the shaking of my hand from Parkinson's disease. That was the difficult part. It was a fight, and I would not allow myself to give up.
JW: In general, how did you go about choosing songs? Meaning, how did you sort through many, many songs before deciding which ones would make the cut? Do you keep a notebook? Md'A: I have hundreds of copies of sheet music at my home, so I spent time going through boxes of them. I'm sure the mice would like to get at them, since they're stored in my barn.
JW: Tell me about the decisions you made on each of your choices. Just take them one at a time and tell me what you love most about them. Md'A: OK. Here goes:
Prelude to a Kiss. I first sang the song publicly when I was 15, on the New England Farm and Food Hour, a morning TV show on Channel 5 in Boston. When I was finished, a 12-year-old kid called to tell me how much he liked my rendition. I never forgot his determination and emotional praise. The Ellington song really moves listeners.
The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me). This one by Irving Berlin has always been a favorite. I love playful songs. As I recall, it was one of the songs pianist Roger Kellaway and I performed when we were a duo, similar to Jackie and Roy, for a short time in 1959.
I remember being on the radio for a moment with Roger as a duo. Basically, we were preparing for possible gigs at that time. Life got in the way and interrupted our goal. Roger may not remember much about that time period, I imagine. We were 18, and Roger was always busy with gigs.
Beaucoup Kisses.Frédéric Loiseau, my accompanying guitarist on the album, sent along a beautiful melody that needed lyrics. All he had jotted down was A Song for Meredith. As I listened to Frédéric's music, I wrote a poem for Robert, my romantic partner. Or rather, I wrote it for the world to know that I had finally met somebody after years and years of no passion.
Initially, I had signed an email to Frédéric with "Beaucoup kisses." I think I was practicing my French. But Frédéric was amused and thought it would be a compelling title for my lyric rather than Song For Meredith, a title that for me would never inspire a lyric.
This Happy Madness. It's one of Antonio Carlos Jobim's most beautiful melancholy melodies. Gene Lees's lyrics are so sensitive. I love the song, but it's a hard one to sing, let me tell you. While I was recording it, I couldn't hit a specific note. So I laughed. They said, "Let's leave the laugh in." They liked that my laugh sounded so natural. Of course, I laughed because I was embarrassed by my inability to reach the high notes.
Midnight Mood. I learned Joe Zawinul's melody decades ago by listening to a live version of Bill Evans playing the song. I was enthralled. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. For years and years and years afterward, I kept playing it on the piano. There were no words to the song; I just loved the form.
Then in 2007, I wrote lyrics and sent them to Joe. He loved them and granted me permission to publish them. A week later, he died. In his rendition, Bill Evans added a key change, which is why I did the same on mine on the new album.
A Ship Without a Sail. It has always been one of my favorite songs. Ella Fitzgerald recorded it on Sings the Rodgers And Hart Song Book in 1956. Her rendition always makes me cry. I was 17 when I discovered it.
What's New? The composition by Bob Haggart and Johnny Burke is a very melancholy song, and it's about life.
You Keep Coming Back Like a Song. That's one of my all-time favorite tunes written by Irvin Berlin for the 1946 movie Blue Skies. I would play and sing this song nightly on solo gigs during the 1970s and '80s. I was in love—and still am—with most of Berlin's songs. He wrote the lyrics to nearly all of them.
The Two Lonely People. Carol Hall, the lyricist, was a friend of Bill Evans. The philosophy of that song is so close to home, you might say. Hall also wrote lyrics to Evans's Very Early, recorded by Mark Murphy on his album of the same name in 1993. I learned The Two Lonely People because of Tony's version. A strikingly sad song.
[Editor's note: According to British jazz writer Brian Priestley, who interviewed Bill Evans, Carol Hall sent Evans the lyric in the form of a poem that he subsequently set to music. Brian also said that the poem was originally called The Man and the Woman, before the famous French movie, A Man and a Woman, came out in 1966. To avoid confusion, Bill and Carol changed the title phrase to The Two Lonely People. At the time, the song hadn't been recorded yet. Brian said the song came up during their interview because Evans's first Columbia album, The Bill Evans Album, was newly released in 1971 and included the first commercial release of The Two Lonely People.]
Whenever Winds Blow. This song is a lesser-known one by lyricist Douglas Cross and composer George Cory, who also wrote I Left My Heart in San Francisco among others. Mabel Mercer recorded Whenever Winds Blow on her 1958 LP Once In A Blue Moon.
JW: Wonderful! Now, tell me about Frédéric Loiseau on guitar and Paul McWilliams on piano. Md'A: Frédéric's brilliant guitar playing is the kind that seems to go beautifully with the feeling that my singing projects. His playing is sensitive, thoughtful and hip. I discovered his playing through Claude Carrière, a former radio personality, producer, and leading Duke Ellington expert who died in 2021.
I discovered Paul McWilliams in 1987 playing piano and singing at a steady gig near Cape Cod. I could hear the influence of Bill Evans in his playing. What also impressed me was his comedic and unforgettable routines as he played. I was very fortunate to have these two gentlemen accompanying me on this album.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Meredith d'Ambrosio's Midnight Mood (Sunnyside) here or on streaming platforms.
JazzWax clips, part 2:Here's Paul McWilliams on piano in 2001, accompanying vocalist Rebecca Paris on Yesterday I Heard the Rain, with music by Armando Manzanero and English lyrics by Gene Lees...
Bob Florence was a meaningful arranger, composer and pianist whose big bands were on par with the best of them in the late 1950s and beyond. Unfortunately, he didn't have a high enough profile for household recognition. Nevertheless, Florence's charts had the kick of a mule and plenty of swing. [Photo above of Bob Florence]
On June 15, 2008, a month after he passed away, his band got together at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood to pay tribute to their late leader. Here's the band playing Florence's Carmelo's by the Freeway, with Steve Huffsteter on the trumpet solo...
And here's an hour of the Florence band at Howard Rumsey's Concerts by the Sea as part of a Los Angeles Jazz Institute event in 2015, just months before Howard's passing...
You'll find my JazzWax interview with Howard Rumsey, go here.
Last week, I heard from Peter Coppock, who came across a newly posted concert by Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd in 1977. As Peter rightly noted, "The late '70s Herds get overlooked. Woody is in a groovy mood here and using a cane because he had just survived a near fatal car accident. [Photo above of Woody Herman in 1977]
"I met him when I was 15 and studying trumpet. I told him it was my goal to someday play for him. Woody said, 'You better hurry up kid, I’m not getting any younger!' ” [Image above of a 1977 concert tour poster]
Bill Kirchner notes that the personnel includes Jeff Hamilton on drums, Pat Coil on piano and Marc Johnson on bass, with Frank Tiberi, Gary Anderson and Joe Lovano on tenor saxophones, Bruce Johnstone on baritone saxophone and vocal, and guest soloist, on baritone saxophone, Gerry Mulligan. Brett Gold says Birch Johnson is in the middle of the trombone section.
Another great big band album hit my desk a week or so ago: The Dave Robbins Big Band: Happy Faces (Reel to Real). At first I thought it was a new recording, since the cover design looked so contemporary. But the band and sound were so good, I figured it had to have been waxed decades ago. So I grabbed the CD cover and checked the back. I was right. The tracks were recorded in 1963 and 1965.
Who was Dave Robbins? Born in Greensburg, Ind., in 1923, Robbins studied music education at Sam Houston State University in Texas and at USC in Los Angeles. A trombonist, he joined the Marines in the mid-1940s and was stationed in San Diego. After his discharge in 1948, he played and recorded extensively with Harry James's band from 1948 to 1955. [Photo above of Dave Robbins]
Robbins (above) is on several remarkable James sessions, including the original Columbia Ultra recording in 1949 and the live broadcast of the U.S. Navy Presents show in Hollywood that same year, featuring spectacular arrangements by Neal Hefti and others. Robbins also recorded on James's soundtrack for Young Man With a Horn movie in 1949, and appears in a short film with James, Leave It to Harry (1954).
Leadership albums followed, including The Dave Robbins Group (1959), Dave Robbins Jazz Ensemble (1961) and others. Robbins moved to Vancouver in 1951, and became a Canadian citizen in 1965, working as a major force in jazz and classical symphonic groups. He also was an esteemed educator in western Canada.
Here are the album's 1963 tracks and band personnel:
March Winds Blow
Spring Is Here
Sixes & Sevens
Africa Lights
Jazz Workshop Theme (March Winds Blow)
Stew Barnett, Bobby Hales and Dick Forrest (tp); Dave Robbins (tb); Doug Kent (fhr); Dave Quarin (as); Fraser MacPherson (ts,fl); Wally Snider (bar,cl); Chris Gage (p); Paul Ruhland (b) and Al Johnson (d)
Atlantic Raes
Reflections
Canto de Oriole
Stew Barnett, Arnie Chycoski, Carse Sneddon and Don Clark (tp); Dave Robbins (tb); Doug Kent (fhr); Dave Quarin (as); Fraser MacPherson (ts,fl); Wally Snider (bar,cl); Chris Gage (p); Paul Ruhland (b) and Al Johnson (d)
Here are the 1965 tracks and band personnel:
Jazz Workshop Theme (March Winds Blow)
Happy Faces
Playa del Ray
Minority
Have Vine Will Swing
Westcoasting
Stew Barnett, Arnie Chycoski, Carse Sneddon and Don Clark (tp); Dave Robbins (tb); Doug Kent (fhr); Dave Quarin (as); Fraser MacPherson (ts,fl); Wally Snider (bar,cl); Chris Gage (p); Don Thompson (b) and Al Johnson (d)
Dave Robbins died in 2005, at age 82.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Dave Robbins Big Band: Happy Faces (Reel to Real) here or on streaming platforms.
Bonus:Here's the Harry James band in 1949 playing Neal Hefti's composition and arrangement of Except February Which Has 28 with Dave Robbins. The band: Harry James (tp); Nick Buono, Pinky Savitt, Ralph Osborn and Everett McDonald (tp); Ziggy Elmer, Dave Robbins and Lee O'Connor (tb); Juan Tizol (v-tb); Eddie Rosa (cl,as); Willie Smith (as); Corky Corcoran and Jimmy Cook (ts); Bob Poland (bar); Bruce MacDonald (p); Tony Rizzi (g); Joe Mondragon (b) / Artie Bernstein (b) and Don Lamond (d)...
And here's the nifty short film, Leave It to Harry (1954). The hip band number in the studio scene is Ultra. Looks like Dave Robbins is playing trombone with James in the last ensemble scene. A note from Bill Kirchner: “Ultra and Don’t Be That Way in the studio include trombonist Juan Tizol, alto saxophonist Willie Smith, drummer Louie Bellson and Dave Robbins on trombone. The Dixieland number is Jazz Me Blues”...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Jason Alexander for my House Call column in the Mansion section. Jason is best known for his roles in Pretty Woman and Seinfeld. He's currently in The Electric State (Netflix). [Photo above of Jason Alexander, courtesy of Boston University]
Also in the WSJ, my monthly Album@50 essay looked at Earth, Wind & Fire's That's the Way of the World, which turned 50 this month. Go here.
What I'm watching
My favorite streaming series, ranked...
Babylon Berlin
My Brilliant Friend
The Promised Life
Killing Eve
The Crown
Mad Men
The Americans
Younger
Fleabag
Band of Brothers
The Sopranos
Enlightened
Friday Night Lights
Justified
Feud: Bette and Joan
The Old Man
Downton Abbey
The Blacklist
Goliath
The Gentlemen
Turn: Washington's Spies
Unbelievable
Landman
Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)
Black Doves
Web Therapy
Worthwhile future stuff that has started or will start soon...
Dark Winds S3 (now/AMC)
Long Bright River (now/Peacock)
Good American Family (now/Hulu)
Alto Knights (now/film)
The Better Sister (May 22/Prime)
Recommended series, films and documentaries...
TV series
TheAffair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
Black Doves (2024/Netflix)
The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
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)
The Dropout (2022/Hulu)
Elizabeth 1 (2005/Max)
Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
Enlightend—(2011-2013/Max)
Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/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)
Il Commissario Manara (Inspector Manara) (2009-2011/MHz)
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)
Lioness—(2023-current/Paramount+)
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)
My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current/Max)
The Night Agent—(2023-present/Netflix)
1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
The Old Man—(2022/Hulu)
On Call—2025/Amazon Prime)
Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
The Perfect Couple—(2024/Netflix)
Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
The Promised Life—(2018/MHz via Prime Video)
Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
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)
Web Therapy—(2011-2015/Fandango)
Wilder—(2017-current)
WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
Younger—(2015-2021K/Netflix)
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)
Enrico Piaggio - Un Sogno Italiano (An Italian Dream) (2019/MHz)
The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
The Family Man—(2000/Netflix)
Fury—(2014/Netflix)
God's Country—(2022/Hulu
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+)
Just My Luck (2006/Paramount+)
Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
Killers of the Flower Moon—(2023/Apple+)
La Palma (2024/Netflix)
Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
Lonely Planet—(2024)/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)
Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
Ordinary Angels—(2024/assorted platforms)
The Pledge—(2011/Peacock)
Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
The Queen—(2006/Paramount+)
The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix).
Sicario (2015/Netflix)
Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
Woman in Gold—(2015/Max)
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)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra—(2023/Netflix)
Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)
Tsunami: Race Against Time—(2024/Hulu)
Lennie Tristano. Following my post on the Lennie Tristano Sextette's Wow, I heard from Carl Woideck [photo above of Lennie Tristano]:
"Marc, the studio version of Tristano’s Wow is indeed perfection. As you know, that’s in part because it was compact to fit on a 78. I’m sure you also know the low-fidelity, live version of Wow. Its expansive length (more than 8 minutes) is in stark contrast to the compression found in the studio version.
"The greatest contrast comes in the solos. Instead of musicians getting a partial chorus, each soloist gets multiple full choruses. Warne Marsh takes two, Billy Bauer gets two, Lee Konitz gets two and Tristano gets a lengthy four.
"Tristano takes full advantage of the added time, starting his solo with a full chorus of block-chords before launching into long single-note lines that sometimes cut across the eight-bar sectional divisions. Wow indeed."
Jazz in the movies.Here's the opening scene of I Want to Live (1958), featuring Johnny Mandel's Frisco Club, with (from left on the bandstand) Art Farmer on trumpet, Gerry Mulligan on baritone saxophone, Frank Rosolino on trombone and Bud Shank of alto saxophone, with Pete Jolly on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums...
Joe Pass. Following my post on guitarist Joe Pass, I heard from Mark Trank:
"Hi Marc, thanks for letting your fans know about the reissue of Joe Pass's album Virtuoso. I just placed my order. I have an original Pablo pressing, but I'm eagerly awaiting this one. Like you I really like his renditions of the Rolling Stones songs, several on a 12-string guitar.
"Are you also familiar with the record Pass made with Roy Clark doing Hank Williams songs (Joe Pass & Roy Clark Play Hank Williams)? That’s a great duet. Roy Clark was an accomplished player as well, and their disparate styles meshed well."
Here's a taste, playing Why Don't You Love Me, With Pass, Clark, John Pisano (rhythm guitar), Jim Hughart (bass) and Colin Bailey (drums)...
Horace Silver. Following my post on Horace Silver last week, I heard from Larry Daniels:
"Good morning, Marc. Re: pianist Horace Silver. He was from my home town, Norwalk, Ct., although I don’t recall him getting a lot of attention there. I met him once at a discount record store in lower Manhattan called J&R Music World. This was before CDs, when domestic albums cost $3.69 and Imports were $4.99. I was flipping through a record section when Mr. Silver popped up and faced me eye to eye as he was flipping through a record bin that faced mine. Mr. Silver was very pleasant to me that day. Oh, and J&R's records at that time were not top-quality discs. The domestic albums were often warped. The imports however were just fine."
Spring in Sicily. Last time Marti in Sicily wrote, it was summer of 2023 (go here and here). A week or so ago, a new robust email arrived [photo above of Serradifalco, Sicily]:
"Hi Marc. Finally putting virtual pen to virtual paper. Things are good in Sicily. Winter is over and we are moving into spring. The scirocco winds are bringing us a dose of dust, sand and warming temperatures. The vegetation is lush and the olive trees are wearing a fine crop of basal shoots. They cheer the arrival of spring, waving armloads of silvery foliage at each warming day. Most of the neighbor's almond trees have shed their white flowers. The pink blossoms of peach trees adorn some of the hills now.
"I found Enrico Piaggio - Un Sogno Italiano (An Italian Dream) (2019), the film you recommended about the founder of Vespa, online here. It prompted me to share a couple of local examples of Vespa's motorized products. Rosa Burgio, who owns the Antica Forneria Burgio in Serradifalco, Sicily, bought a Piaggio Ape six or more years ago and had it restored (above). She uses it for catering.
"Our other friend has a late 1970's Vespa (above) and also had it restored. It was among the first models that mixed the fuel and oil automatically.
"I was also struck by your post on the new Scott Lafaro box set (we bought a copy). In the post, you mentioned David Crosby losing his girlfriend, Christine Hinton, and the effect it had on his music and life. That triggered a memory for me.
"In the 1970s, I was living in Corvallis, Ore. There was a lot of folk music being played by friends. I remembered the music of Richard and Mimi Fariña and this song in particular: Reflections in a Crystal Wind. Richard had married Mimi Baez (Joan Baez's younger sister, who died in 2001). Sadly, he perished in a motorcycle accident in 1966 on the day of her 21st birthday. Go here...
"I only mention this because your post made me dig around for some memories that I hadn't thought about for a long time, so thanks for surfacing them. I imagine you are familiar with both of them and their music.
"Enjoy your spring in New York and I look forward to some pictures of that.
"PS: One more thing. I told Rosa that I had recalled her Ape, which made us think of this song, Vieni Via Con Me (Come Away With Me)."
Free live jazz. Last week I heard from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive, who put together links to live broadcasts by artists featured at JazzWax recently:
Joe Pass—is featured at the Blue Note Tokyo in a 1991 concert broadcast by NHK in Japan, Go here.
Ray Barretto & His Orchestra—appeared at the 1982 Chicago Jazz Festival in a WBEZ broadcast. Go here.
Gerry Mulligan—has three shows at the archive: a 1972 concert with Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond; Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz in 1987; and a 2008 Jazz Profiles episode with Nancy Wilson. Go here.
Roy Ayers—played with the Robert Glasper Experiment at the 2011 North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. Go here.
Wes Montgomery—has a 1965 European tour show and a 1966 broadcast on KING FM in Seattle. Go here. Who Elvis Idolized. On March 15, Chris Cowles at WRTC-FM in Hartford, Ct., hosted a show looking at the artists who inspired Elvis Presley. In addition to spinning records, Chris interviewed Preston Lauterbach, author of Before Elvis. You can listen to Chris's three-hour show in the archives by going here.
And finally,here are the French Barclay Stars playing Four Brothers in 1966...
Between bebop in the mid- and late-1940s and hard bop in the mid-1950s and beyond, an exciting but short-lived jazz style surfaced known as cool. The movement was a product of formally educated jazz musicians who, at the tail end of the '40s, integrated classical and jazz. The artists had started out in bop but chose to create a form that was independent of the blues. Cool-jazz saxophonists played without vibrato and in the upper register of their instruments for a drier sound.
In 1949, Miles Davis co-formed a cool-jazz nonet with songs arranged by Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis and Johnny Carisi. This group would become known later as the Birth of the Cool band. That same year, pianist Lennie Tristano pioneered a cool approach with a sextet. The group consisted of Lee Konitz (as), Warne Marsh (ts), Lennie Tristano (p), Billy Bauer (g), Arnold Fishkin (b) and Harold Granowsky (d).
Interestingly, Konitz was a member of both the Davis nonet and the Tristano sextet, and led his own quintet.
Recorded in March 1949, Wow was written by Tristano, ostensibly for his sextet recording session for Capitol, produced by Pete Rugolo. Wow is a nifty piece that features Konitz and Marsh playing portions in unison, like fluttering birds. Konitz solos, then Marsh and Bauer, followed by an extended liquid solo by Tristano before Konitz, Marsh and Bauer solo again —all in 3:26, the duration of one side of a 78.
Here's the Lennie Tristano Sextette playing Wow in 1949...
Other Perfection tracks in this ongoing series...
Paul Desmond and Jim Hall: Any Other Time,go here.
Meredith d'Ambrosio just released Midnight Mood (Sunnyside), her 18th studio album. She's accompanied by Frédéric Loiseau on guitar and Paul McWilliams on piano. Recording since 1978, Meredith has a singing style that is all her own. Her delivery is breezy and intimate and swinging, with a dash of Bill Evans intensity. Today is her birthday, and at 84, her voice is still knowing, distinct and joyously hip.
Meredith is one of the most complete and sensitive jazz artists I know. She's an accomplished singer, pianist, composer, painter, calligrapher and inventor of the eggshell mosaic. Her eggshell mosaic discovery was actually a happy accident. As Meredith told Jazz Improv in 2002, "I discovered the eggshell mosaic after wiping the kitchen counter. Some eggshells were swished into my porcelain sink and sounded like glass. A lightbulb went off in my head. I completed 45 eggshell mosaics from 1958 to 1977." [Photo above of Meredith d'Ambrosio]
How are they assembled? Here's what she told me in 2016: "On a thick wooden board, I make a sketch. After tearing the membrane from white eggshells, I paint the shells, crack them into small tessera [tiles], apply medium-rough mosaic cement in small areas to the board, and one by one, place each small painted eggshell onto the cement using a tweezer. Polyurethane is painted on the back to prevent warpage. The result is an image composed of painted eggshells." [Cover image above that features Meredith's eggshell mosaic]
All of Meredith's albums—except for her second one, Another Time (1981)—featured her paintings or mosaics on the cover. She has always selected superb songs and sidemen for her recordings ( and married one in 1988—pianist Eddie Higgins). In our many emails and phone calls, Meredith has always been transparent and emotionally honest on all subjects. She also is a faithful JazzWax reader and fan, which gives me great pleasure.
She reminds me of autumn in Boston, where I spent the 1970s in college. A New Englander, she was there at the same time I was, though we never met and I never saw her perform, unfortunately. Hence, I didn't discover her LPs until the mid-1980s. But when I heard her voice, I was immediately taken. Who knew that decades later we'd connect.
On Midnight Mood, Meredith's voice is limber and yearning, delivering songs effortlessly with her trademark girlish curiosity and wonderment in the upper register and maternal eloquence in the lower. Her vocals are about feeling, and her voice never comes across as mannered or an attempt to sound one way or another. Instead, they're pure personal expressions, like landscapes or the wind. The beauty of her voice is its all-natural sound and distinct jazz sensibility.
The tracks:
Prelude to a Kiss (Duke Ellington/Irving Gordon/Irving Mills)
The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me) (Irving Berlin)
Beaucoup Kisses (Frédéric Loiseau/Meredith d'Ambrosio)
This Happy Madness (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Gene Lees)
Midnight Mood (Joe Zawinul/Meredith d'Ambrosio)
A Ship Without a Sail (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)
What's New (Bob Haggart/Johnny Burke)
You Keep Coming Back Like a Song (Irving Berlin)
The Two Lonely People (Bill Evans/Carole Hall)
Whenever Winds Blow (Douglas Cross/George Cory)
Happy birthday, Meredith! Here's to Boston.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Meredith d'Ambrosio's Midnight Mood (Sunnyside) here or here.
To read some of my JazzWax interviews with Meredith, go here, here,here and here.
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.
