In 1949, Gerry Mulligan arranged a song he wrote called Venus de Milo for the Miles Davis Nonet, better known now as the Birth of the Cool Band. The group recorded the song in April of that year. Eight years later, the song was recorded again in December of 1957 by an octet. The album was The Gerry Mulligan Songbook Vol.1 and featured a killer lineup of players: Lee Konitz (as); Allen Eager (ts); Zoot Sims (as,ts); Al Cohn (bar,ts); Gerry Mulligan (bar); Freddie Green (g); Henry Grimes (b) and Dave Bailey (d). Bill Holman wrote the arrangements.
Who came up with the idea to record some of the top section reed players playing Mulligan songs (it could have been World Pacific's Dick Bock), who decided to call Bill Holman to write the octet arrangements (it might have been Mulligan or Bock) and why the album was recorded in New York rather than Los Angeles remains a mystery. What we do know is that Bill wrote sensational arrangements and the blowing is stellar, particularly on Venus de Milo. [Photo above, from left, of Lee Konitz, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn in the studio]
In 2008, I asked Bill about the session:
JazzWax: In late 1957, you wrote all of the arrangements for The Gerry Mulligan Songbook Vol. 1. Those are breathtaking by any measure. Bill Holman: Originally that album was supposed to be recorded in 1956, with the usual West Coast guys—probably Bob Cooper, Bob Gordon, me, Herb Geller and Art Pepper—but we never got that far. Something happened with Gerry's scheduling and he couldn't make it out to California. So he put the session aside for a year. Which turned out great, considering the players he got to record with him in New York—Lee Konitz, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. [Photo above of Gerry Mulligan]
JW: Did you enjoy writing those arrangements? BH: Very much so. I always felt a kinship with Gerry and felt that I would be giving him a tribute if I did the tunes my way.
JW: Were you at the session? BH: No. Since they recorded it in New York. I was never in the studio.
JW: Were you happy with the result? BH: Oh, sure. My only complaint was that they added Freddie Green on guitar. I love Freddie, but the feeling I wanted when I wrote the arrangements was not a guitar thing. A guitar playing a steady four-four rhythm nails down the rhythm section a little too tightly. The sound worked well for [Count] Basie for years, but I had a different feel in my writing. It's really a sax soli album, and the guitar makes the trio behind the saxes sound too rigid instead of the looser feel I wanted. [Photo above, from left, Dave Bailey, Freddie Green and Henry Grimes]
Why the album had "Vol. 1" in its title can only mean a "Vol. 2" was planned. One can also assume that Bill and the saxophonists on the date didn't have the time for another. [Photo of Bill Holman courtesy of Bill Holman]
Here's Bill Holman's arrangement of Gerry Mulligan's Venus de Milo, with solos, in order, by Mulligan, Konitz, Cohn and Grimes. Dig Mulligan's huge anchor on the bottom with Lee loud on top...
One of my favorite West Coast jazz arrangers is saxophonist Bill Holman. His work for ensembles of all sizes, from quintets to big bands, is gorgeous. While listening to Richie Kamuca's albums yesterday from 1956 and '57, I was thunderstruck by an octet session Bill played on and arranged. Which made me think about how superb all of Bill's many octet sessions are from the 1950s—whether he's playing in one, arranging or both. [Photo above of Bill Holman in the 1950s]
So I dipped into Tom Lord's online Jazz Discography to count off Bill's octet dates during that decade:
Kenton Presents Jazz: The Bill Holman Octet (1954)
Duane Tatro's Jazz for Moderns (1954)
Lennie Niehaus, Vol. 3: The Octet #2 (1955)
The Compositions of Bobby Scott, Vol. 2 (1955)
Shorty Rogers's Clickin' With Clax (1956)
Shorty Rogers and the Giants (1957)
Richie Kamuca's Jazz Erotica (1957)
Art Pepper's Mucho Calor (1957)
Gerry Mulligan Song Book Vol. 1 (1957)
Mark Murphy's This Could Be the Start of Something (1958)
The one I wasn't familiar with were the octet tracks on Kamuca's Jazz Erotica (Hi-Fi Jazz) recorded in May 1957. The musicians were Ed Leddy and Conte Candoli (tp), Frank Rosolino (tb), Richie Kamuca (ts), Bill Holman (bar,arr), Vince Guaraldi (p), Monty Budwig (b) and Stan Levey (d). The octet songs are 'Way Down Under, Angel Eyes, Star Eyes, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, The Things We Did Last Summer and Indiana. [Photo above of Richie Kamuca]
Bill's arrangements for 1950s octets miniaturized his swinging and sunny, harmony-rich sound for Stan Kenton mid-decade. The arrangements on these Kamuca-led tracks are spectacular, particularly 'Way Down Under, Angel Eyes, Star Eyes and The Things We Did Last Summer. What's more, Kamuca's solos are earthy, swinging and right on the money. A shame an entire octet album wasn't recorded. Or two.
Richie Kamuca died in 1977.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jazz Erotica paired with Richie Kamuca Quartet on Tenor Ahead (Fresh Sound) here.
In 1962, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon moved his base of operations to Copenhagen, Denmark, and moved back in 1976. Shortly after his move abroad, Gordon was recorded live at the Modern Jazz Club Persepolis in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on January 20, 1963. And shortly after his move back to the States in 1976, he was recorded at Espace Cardin, in Paris, on September 25, 1977. Both recordings have just been released and both are superb, capturing Gordon at the start of two new chapters. [Photo of Dexter Gordon above in Copenhagen in 1964 courtesy of Jan Persson/CTSImages.com]
Gordon's appearance at Persepolis was his first live recording after moving to Europe. The recording was initiated by Dutch jazz promoter Jaap van de Klomp, who at 22 was a Persepolis board member. He wrote to Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, where Gordon had a regular gig. Jaap followed up with a phone call, promising Gordon the very best sidemen: Rob Madna (p), Ruud Jacobs (b) and Cees See (d). Gordon agreed to come to Utrecht and perform two nights at Persepolis. Jaap called colleagues at Holland's VARA Radio, who recorded the second concert for a show. The original tapes were preserved and are now out as Dexter Gordon: In the Cave on the Nederlands Jazz Archief label.
As you might imagine with radio tape, the sound is clean and dynamic. The songs are Stanley the Steamer, Yesterdays, Benny Green's I Wanna Blow Now, Body and Soul (dig Madna's glorious piano solo and how Gordon backs into Nancy With the Laughing Face after the piano solo—genius!), Dexter's Deck and In the Cave. Hats off to Jaap!
In 1977, Gordon performed at Espace Cardin in the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris arts complex. The concert was recorded, and it was just released on Dexter Gordon Quartet, Espace Cardin 1977 (Elemental Music). Backing Gordon were Al Haig (p), Pierre Michelot (b) and Kenny Clarke (d), whose drums for some reason were mixed bombastically loud. On the other hand, it's pretty nifty to hear Clarke in action, not just keeping time.
The songs are Gordon's Sticky Wicket and A La Modal, Body and Soul, Gordon's Antabus, Sonny Rollins's Oleo and Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight, which features just Haig and the trio. On A La Modal, Gordon plays the soprano saxophone and works in tags from My Favorite Things, A Stranger in Paradise and Dearly Beloved while Haig appears to be playing chords from Miles Davis's So What.
It's interesting to listen to these two albums, one after the other. We get to hear how Gordon matured as an artist in the 14 years between them. We also hear him with two excellent trios. Especially interesting are the differences between Body and Soul, which appears on both albums. Gordon, of course, was extraordinary no matter where or when he was blowing.
Dexter Gordon died in 1990.
JazzWax note: Maxine Gordon's Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon (University of California Press), a memoir-biography, was just published. You'll find it here.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Dexter Gordon: In the Cave (Nederlands Jazz Archief) here.
At the end of July 1977, Art Pepper went into New York's Village Vanguard. Recordings of nine sets over three days at the club would be released years later as a nine-CD boxed set called the Complete Village Vanguard Sessions. It has been heralded as some of Pepper's finest late-career playing, and rightly so. But a month before his Vanguard run, Pepper was in Toronto at Bourbon Street with a different pickup trio—Bernie Senensky (p) Gene Perla and Dave Piltch (b), and Terry Clarke (d).
Long available in bits only on bootlegs like the one directly above and below, the Toronto gig has just been officially issued as Unreleased Art Pepper Vol. 10: Toronto. The new three-CD set has been issued with previously unreleased tracks and produced with brilliant sound by Laurie Pepper, the late saxophonist's wife, on her Widow's Taste Records. As Laurie writes in the set's notes about 1977, "The talent, nerve and luck that propelled [Art that year] were stronger than the self-destructive impulses that stymied him."
In essence, in Toronto, Pepper planted his feet in two decades at once—the frothy West Coast jazz of the 1950s that he helped create and the more wandering abstraction popular in the 1970s. But to be honest, this boxed set seems more like a Pepper visit 20 years back in time to 1957. Maybe his journey back was motivated by nostalgia or perhaps it's because he was straight that night, as Laurie points out in her notes. Or perhaps he just felt like taking his young trio on that trip.
The boxed set is dominated by familiar standards—Long Ago and Far Away, Here's That Rainy Day, What Is This Thing Called Love, All the Things You Are, The Summer Knows, I'll Remember April and Star Eyes . All have that late-'50s West Coast optimism, with an avant-garde touch here and there.
The balance of the set consists of trumpeter Joe Gordon's A Song for Richard, an original blues by Pepper called Blues for Heard (named for bassist John Heard); and Samba Mom-Mom, which Pepper wrote for Laurie ("Mom-Mom"), her "nom de honey-pie," as Laurie wonderfully put it in her notes. But this last song also is reminiscent of some of the Latin-flavored songs on Pepper's Mucho Calor album in 1957. There's also a worthy 33-minute interview with Hal Hill, a Toronto jazz radio show host, a local record store owner and promoter of Canadian jazz concerts. [Photo of Laurie and Art Pepper above courtesy of Laurie Pepper]
To quote Laurie: "In a month, Art would conquer the world at the Vanguard. Then he'd go home, and from boredom (or from inertia—he'd been at such a fever pitch), he would nearly kill himself with drugs. He'd wind up in the hospital. He'd even go to jail. But after that, he'd tour the world with his own bands, record dozens of albums, write a hundred tunes, perform a hundred concerts, all of which were great, some of which were just magnificent."
Just how magnificent is debatable, depending on one's favorite Pepper period. What I do know is that in Toronto, Pepper sounded a lot like he did decades earlier—frisky and soulful, surfing the cresting tops of songs with melodic freedom. All of this will be welcome news to Art Pepper fans who treasure his 1950s recordings and music imbued with the open sky. [Photo of Art Pepper above in 1957 courtesy of Laurie Pepper]
Art Pepper died in 1982.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Unreleased Art Pepper Vol. 10: Torontohere (CD) and here (download).
JazzWax clip: Here's Long Ago and Far Away from the new set...
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Blondie's Chris Stein for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). We talked about growing up an only child in Brooklyn, his tough time in school and how he became interested in photography. Chris is a fantastic photographer who documented the 1970s and '80s in New York in all of its dangerous, broken-down and freakish glory. The guitarist's latest book of photographs from the period, Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene (Rizzoli), is a must. It knocked me out.
Also in the WSJ, I wrote about the new Charles Mingus boxed set Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden (BBE), which also is a must if you love Mingus (go here). You'll hear saxophonist John Stubblefield, trumpeter Joe Gardner and pianist Don Pullen along with drummer Roy Brooks and bassist Mingus. The music on the box set the stage for Mingus masterpieces Changes One and Changes Two for Atlantic a year later.
SiriusXM. If you missed my hour-long appearance last week on SiriusXM's Feedback (Channel 106), hosted by the great Lori Majewski and Nik Carter, we talked about Barry White and played some of his early music and his hits. I went into his biography, why his music was important, and how he altered the music scene in the 1970s and redefined masculine sensitivity. To listen, go here.
Birdland, in three volumes! Fascinated by the old Birdland club on Broadway and 52nd Street? Love old photos of jazz musicians playing at the club? Looking for a unique gift for yourself or a loved one? Wow, are you in luck.
Producer Milan Simich has assembled the definitive Birldland photo collection. The images wouldn't all fit in one book. So A Night at Birdland and Other Places: The Golden Age of Modern Jazz in New York 1949-1959 is a three volume set. Each volume is 8" by 8 3/4." The first two run more than 500 pages and the third is more than 300 pages. No long-winded text. Just page after page of crisply reproduced images, many of which I've never seen before, with informative captions. It's gotta be Prez, Bird, Shearing or the Basie—and way more. Chapters are divided simply by year. There also are up-close photos of pamphlets about the club, newspaper clippings and more. One look through and I found myself listening to music of artists from the images. Love the one of Doug Watkins, Horace Silver and Hank Mobley with their jackets off in '54 lounging on a sofa between sets.
The three volumes aren't cheap. Only 200 editions were printed and they're going fast. All three volumes sell as a set for $300 plus $30 for shipping. For questions or to order, send an email to Milan here: nightatbirdland@gmail.com. A great way to spend the winter while listening to the music. Think of it as three meals out.
Booker Ervin. Barrie Walker in Paris sent along a link to a clip of saxophonist Booker Ervin playing Eerie Dearie from Ervin's The Blues Book (1964) as a backdrop to a video of a French-Italian film. Fabulous combination. Go here...
Dizzy Gillespie radio. This Sunday (November 11), "Symphony Sid" Gribetz will present a five-hour radio program celebrating early Dizzy Gillespie on his “Jazz Profiles” from 2 to 7 p.m. (EST) on WKCR-FM in New York. You can tune in from anywhere in the world on your computer or phone by going here.
Money radio. WRTC in Hartford, Ct., is into its annual fundraising season. So Chris "King" Cowles put together a two-hour Greasy Tracks show recently with R&B songs with the word "money" in its title. You can listen to the taped show by going here. The themed playlist is posted at the landing page.
Champian Fulton—The Stylings of Champian. This is the pianist-singer's 10th album and it's loaded with coy treatments of jazz standards. Champian sings and plays piano and is backed by bassist Hide Tanaka, drummer Fukushi Tainaka and flugelhornist Stephen Fulton. There's a lot of experience in her voice, which is flecked with Blossom Dearie's casual sophistication and hip intimacy. A bit of Billie Holiday and Betty Carter note-bending as well. Curious, I asked Champian how her name is pronounced: "It's pronounced the same as Champion and it's my given name. My parents thought of it, thinking they would have a boy. Their little 'Champ.' Then I was a little girl, but they were already in love with the name, so they just changed the "o" to "a." I don't have a nickname; nobody ever calls me "champ" or anything—just Champian." Well, Champian it is. And she's quite a jazz pianist, as you'll hear. You'll find the album here.
Here's Champtian's treatment of Lollipops and Roses off the new album...
Teri Roiger, a superb jazz singer, will be In New York on Thursday, November 29, at Kitano singing selections from the Billy Strayhorn songbook on the 103rd anniversary of Strayhorn's birth. Teri will be backed by pianist James Weidman, bassist John Menegon and drummer Steve Williams. There are two sets—at 8 and 10 p.m. For more information, go here or call (212) 885-7119.
Stately Ghosts of England. In 1965, NBC aired a documentary on English ghosts produced, directed and written by Frank De Felitta (above). His son and director Raymond De Felitta ('Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris, City Island, Madoff) sent along links to the color broadcast. .Mind you, I'm not a ghost guy. But when I started watching part 1, the writing and direction were so good, I couldn't stop. Seriously. Frank De Felitta was amazing as NBC's leading documentarian back when TV was intelligent.
What the heck:Here's the late, great Teddy Pendergrass singing The Whole Town's Laughing at Me in 1982...
Oddball album cover of the week.
At first glance, it looks as if this 1963 cover was appealing to smart, discriminating women with sophisticated taste in music. Until, of course, you look carefully and realize that the idiot art director made the woman in the photo one of the chess pieces (note the chess-piece base at the bottom of her photo).
Recently over a weekend, I posted a few video clips of Julie London singing and appearing on the TV game show What's My Line? After viewing them, many of you previously unfamiliar with London wrote to me fully understanding why I would write that she's my favorite female vocalist of the 1950s and '60s. As I noted, London's voice is the hippest, the coolest and the most detached and nocturnal. Forget her cinema looks. More important was her artistic integrity, her humility and her rejection of the conformist mainstream. She had her own scene and didn't care a bit if she never fit in. Even now, when London sings, it's 2 a.m. the entire time her recordings are on. That's what I love most about her voice. It's far off in the night, intimate and resigned.
Last week, Joe Lang sent along a link to a BBC documentary on the singer. While it struggles at times to stay on point—her talent—and dwells too often on her looks, the film's flaws can be excused given all the footage and smart commentary packed into an hour. For those new to London, this documentary sheds light on the artist and her art.
In March 1954, a year before his death, Charlie Parker recorded a Cole Porter songbook album for Norman Granz's new 12-inch Verve label. Charlie Parker Plays Cole Porter would be Bird's final release.
On March 31, 1954, Parker recorded I Get a Kick Out of You. There were two complete takes, one with Jerome Darr on guitar and the other with Darr sitting out. The take Granz used as the master was the one without Darr, probably because Darr's solo was so halting and unsure. But the Darr track was included as "Take 2" on the original Verve release.
I've always loved the Darr version best, precisely because his solo was halting and unsure. Sometimes imperfections are more interesting than flawlessness. The group on this session included Charlie Parker (as), Walter Bishop, Jr. (p), Jerome Darr (g), Teddy Kotick (b) and Roy Haynes (d).
Here's Take 2 of I Get a Kick Out of You with Darr's guitar solo...
Charles Mingus's discography in the first half of 1973 has long been a dead zone. Months earlier in late 1972, the bassist and bandleader returned from a European tour and then headed out in January on a U.S. swing with new band members, including saxophonist John Stubblefield and pianist Don Pullen. That January, the new Charles Mingus Quintet teamed up with Dizzy Gillespie at Carnegie Hall. Sadly, there is no recording of the concert. The quintet also played in Boston that month at the Jazz Workshop. There's a Japanese bootleg of that performance but it's impossible to find. [Photo above of Charles Mingus at Detroit's Strata Concert Gallery in February 1973]
The next stop in the Mingus discography came in July 1973, at New York's Apollo Theatre. The result has been a six-month gap with no accessible studio-quality recordings documenting Stubblefield's months with the quintet or Pullen's early days. That is, until now. As I wrote in my review yesterday in The Wall Street Journal (go here), a new five-CD boxed set will be released on Monday, November 12, by the U.K.'s BBE Records—Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden. The Strata was a funky, informal jazz club that didn't serve alcohol and changed its lighting and decor based on the artists playing there. And 46 Selden was the street address.
The newly issued boxed set of previously unreleased material at the Strata is spectacular for many reasons. Saxophonist Stubblefield (above) is showcased and turns in an incredible performance. The same goes for pianist Pullen and trumpeter Joe Gardner. Drummer Roy Brooks is a driving force and Mingus is, well, Mingus.
The source material for the recordings are five two-track tapes recorded by WDET-FM during its live broadcast of the quintet at the club on February 13, 1973. Amir Abdullah (above), a DJ and music historian, found the tapes in the care of Roy Brooks's widow. She made them available to BBE with the cooperation of Sue Mingus and the Mingus estate.
The music is plentiful and wonderful. Many of the songs run 20 minutes or longer, and they are hypnotizing. Solos are rich and strong, and the sound is crystal clear and well-mixed. As I noted in my WSJ review, Mingus at this point in time was at war with everyone—avant-garde musicians, the musicians in his own band, jazz critics and even his wife, Sue. Mingus felt deeply underappreciated and, to be honest, he was right. Not long after this gig was recorded, Mingus along with other major acoustic jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans were dropped from Columbia Records in favor of jazz-rock fusion artists such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Later that summer, Hancock would record Headhunters and Davis would record part of Get Up With It, featuring Stubblefield. Mingus signed with Atlantic. [Cover photo above of Don Pullen]
As a result, Mingus's Jazz in Detroit is a landmark release that fills in a large blank and provides a clearly defined picture of how superb this Mingus quintet was. You have to hear the 25-minute Pithecanthropus Erectus, the 18-minute-plus Peggy's Blue Skylight, the rare Dizzy Profile (it would never be performed or recorded again) and Noddin' Ya Head Blues, which wouldn't be recorded again until 1977 among others. Plus there are alternate takes of most songs from the next set. It's a bountiful box. If you love Mingus the way I do, the set is a treasure trove of fascinating music. As Jazz in Detroit demonstrates, Mingus was right. The guy was a an acoustic giant whose kingdom was being eclipsed in 1973 by the commercial interests of jazz fusion. [Photo above of Charles Mingus courtesy of YouTube]
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the Charles Mingus Quintet's Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden here.
The album is already available at Spotify.
JazzWax clip: Sit back with a cup of coffee or tea and take in this live Pithecanthropus Erectus. What a spectacular work of modern art and a miraculous find by DJ Amir. And dig Roy Brooks's drum solo...
At its finest, jazz is music of miraculous combinations. The best jazz recordings are a result of two or more artists working together with spectacular results—Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Lee Morgan and Benny Golson, Sonny Rollins and Jim Hall, Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons, and Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian. Pianist Benny Green and vocalist Veronica Swift are just such a pair.
On Green's new album, Then and Now (Sunnyside), the bop pianist and bop vocalist sound sumptuously hip together on 5 of the 12 tracks. Personally, I wish the entire album featured them together, but I'll take what I can get. Green has impeccable chops and enormous taste while Swift has a voice way beyond her years. I last heard her at Birdland earlier this year scatting with the Django All-Stars. She blew my mind. And Joe Lang tells me that she was out-of-sight at Ken Poston's Los Angeles Jazz Institute's "Something Cool" festival recently, where she sang selections from Anita O'Day's big-band songbook.
For those not in the know, Swift is the 20-something daughter of late pianist Hod O'Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian, who sang the June Christy songbook at the "Something Cool" festival. I could listen to Swift all day. She knows the material, is deep into the artists, and understands how to deliver interpretations that satisfy those in the know and those new to the songs. I also love how she overdubbed her voice on the new album to create vocal harmony.
Then and Now was perfectly produced by Green. In addition to Swift and Green's collaborations on Dexter Gordon's For Regulars Only, Green's Naturally and Humphrey, Horace Silver's Split Kick and the standard Something I Dreamed Last Night, the album features the gorgeous flutist Anne Drummond, bassist David Wong, percussionist Josh Jones and the ever-exciting drummer Kenny Washington.
The album's songs are Green's Donny Hath a Way,Naturally, Enchanted Forest, Humphrey and Wiggin', plus For Regulars Only, Cedar Walton's Latin America, Hank Jones's Minor Contention,Split Kick, Duke Pearson's Say You're Mine, Hank Mobley's Hipsippy Blues andSomething I Dreamed Last Night.
Great sleeper song choices (the "then" part of the album), terrific Green originals (the "now" part), a smart move spreading out Swift's songs, and great album opener and finish written by Green, who always has a keen understanding of material off the beaten path, is a terrific songwriter in his own right and is a captivating player.
JazzWax track: You'll find Benny Green's Then and Now (Sunnyside) here.
Roy Hargrove, a trumpeter whose chance encounter with Wynton Marsalis in the 11th grade catapulted him from Fort Worth, Texas, to jazz stardom at age 20 in 1990 after tours with Marsalis and a year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, died November 2. He was 49.
Here are five favorite clips that illustrate Hargrove's measured tone and gorgeous taste:
Here's Hargrove soloing in 1988 on I Remember Clifford with Don Sickler (tp,arr), Frank "Ku-umba" Lacy (tb), Bobby Watson (as,arr), Billy Pierce (ts), Mulgrew Miller (p), Robert Hurst (b) and Kenny Washington (d)...
Here's Hargrove in 1990 on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, with Antonio Hart (as), Stephen Scott (p), Christian McBride (b) and Billy Higgins (d)...
Here's a lovely rendition Neal Hefti's Repetition by Hargrove on flugelhorn in 1995, with Stephen Scott (p) and Christian McBride (b)...
Here's Hargrove playing flugelhorn on Always and Forever in 1999, with Sherman Irby (as), Larry Willis (p,arr), Gerald Cannon (b), Willie Jones III (d), Gil Goldstein and Cedar Walton (arr), and the Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra...
And here's Hargrove playing Mister Magic in 2001...
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's best blog award, including 2018.
