JazzWax

Thad Jones: Rehearsal Session

On February 27, 1978, Thad Jones as guest conductor rehearsed the Danish Radio Big Band in preparation for an evening performance with Dexter Gordon as guest soloist. Gordon had already moved back to the U.S. in 1976 after a long residency in Europe and signed with Columbia. His famed live Homecoming album for Columbia recorded at the Village Vanguard in December '76 had already been released in '77 to much acclaim.

But in February '78, he returned to Copenhagen to visit and to play with Jones and the orchestra. Werner Dahnz in Germany tells me the rehearsal took place there and that the concert in question was held at Danmarks Radio House in Copenhagen on Gordon's 55th birthday.

Last year, a home video surfaced of Jones leading that rehearsal on several songs. I threw it to saxophonist Bill Kirchner, who played with the band at the Vanguard. He had this to say about the pieces:

Marc, I don’t know the first piece. The second is Thank You, composed and arranged by Jerry Dodgion for the Jones/Lewis band on their New Life album. The third is Thad’s Fingers, from the Consummation album.

Likely personnel for the Danish Radio Big Band, which recorded on March 5, 1978, on By Jones, I Think We've Got It : The Danish Radio Big Band and Thad Jones: Thad Jones (cnt,cond) Palle Bolvig, Benny Rosenfeld, Idrees Sulieman, Allan Botschinsky, Perry Knudsen (tp,flhrn) Vincent Nilsson, Erling Kroner, Richard Boone, Ole Kurt Jensen (tb) Axel Windfeld (b-tb,tu) Jesper Thilo (sop,as,cl,fl) Per Carsten (as,fl,sop) Bent Jaedig (ts,fl) Uffe Karskov (ts,as,fl,cl) Flemming Madsen (bar,b-cl,cl) Ole Kock Hansen (p,el-p) Bo Sylven (g) Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (b,el-b) Bjarne Rostvold (d) Ethan Weisgard (perc,cga) and Ray Pitts (arr).

Here's the Thad Jones rehearsal and a surprise appearance at the end. Wait for it...

Videos: Art Farmer in the '60s

If we're evaluating jazz musicians on tone alone, Art Farmer was perhaps the prettiest trumpeter and flugelhornist to emerge in the 1950s. Distinguished by a warm, orchestral sound on his horn, Farmer was equally lyrical and spry as a composer and sideman. Virtually everything he played was elegantly seductive and serious, and touches your heart. If all he recorded was Work of Art in 1953, Wisteria and Soft Shoe in '54 and Farmer's Market in '56 (his second recording of the song), he'd be remarkable.

Here are five video clips of Art Farmer in action on the flugelhorn in the 1960s:

Here's Art Farmer in 1964 with guitarist Jim Hall...

Here's Farmer and Jim in 1964 on Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual...

Here's Farmer soloing in the Netherlands in 1966 along with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, trombonist Ake Persson and a group assembled by Oliver Nelson...

Here's Farmer in Norway in 1968...

Here's Farmer in Paris in 1969...

Bonus: Here's Work of Art...

Here's Wisteria...

Here's Soft Shoe with Sonny Rollins...

And here's Farmer's Market...

Two more: Here's Farmer's original recording of Farmer's Market with tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray in 1952...

And here's Annie Ross's vocalese of Farmer's Market in 1952...

Videos: Dexter Gordon

Yesterday I found myself listening to quite a bit of Dexter Gordon's Blue Note recordings from the 1960s. The cutting edge of his tenor saxophone and mournful quality of his blues sounded just right for the housebound. [Photo above of Dexter Gordon by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images]

Here are four videos plus a bonus:

Here's Dexter Gordon playing Tadd Dameron's Lady Bird in Belgium in 1964, with pianist George Gruntz, bassist Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair...

Here's Oscar Peterson and Gordon playing You Stepped Out of a Dream in 1969...

Here's Gordon in Denmark in 1967...

Here's Gordon playing Loose Walk in Holland in 1964, with George Gruntz, bassist Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair...

Bonus: And here's Joan Chamorro and his Barcelona big band playing a brilliant arrangement of Gordon's Le Coiffeur...

Videos: Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was one of the purest and most fascinating jazz artists and composers of the post-war period. Blinded as a toddler by a nurse, he was a soulful and experimental musician and a romantic multi-instrumentalist who energetically defied his own physical limitations to become the very essence of jazz in all its free but gifted glory. He looked like chaos, with all of his reed and woodwind instruments around his neck. In truth, Kirk was beautifully lyrical and artfully original.

Here are five clips of Kirk in action...

Here's Kirk playing Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour in Paris in 1972...

Here's Making Love After Hours in 1967, with pianist Ron Burton, bassist Niels Henning Ørsted-Pedersen and drummer Alex Riel in Norway...

Here's Sound?, a 1967 documentary of Kirk with avant-garde composer John Cage...

Here's Roland Kirk in Montreux in 1975 performing his song Bright Moments...

Here's Part II...

Bonus: Here's Vibration Society, a 1980s group founded by his widow, Dorthaan, and dedicated to Kirk's music. I remember seeing them perform at Barry Harris's Jazz Cultural Theater in 1986 just after this album came out. On this track, Bright Moments, singers Suzanne Klewan and Timmy Shepherd were joined by trumpeter Bill Hardman, saxophonist Junior Cook, trombonist Steve Turre, pianist Hilton Ruiz, bassist Paul Brown and drummer Leroy Williams...

Happy Birthday, Billy.

Bob Crosby and Marion Mann

Not long ago, I posted about jazz's dalliances with Shakespeare. Recently, I wrote about Maxine Sullivan's twirl with the Bard here. Over the weekend, Michel Weber in Switzerland hipped me to Bob Crosby's own Elizabethan foray. Back in April 1939, Crosby and his Bob Cats recorded four songs that were issued as Shakespeare in Swing, a Decca album featuring four sides on two 78s.

Bob, of course, was Bing's brother. Though his accomplishments as a vocalist and bandleader were overshadowed by his superstar sibling, he ran a top-notch Dixieland-swing band. But what hit me about these four sides wasn't the Crosby band, which was superb. Nor the Shakespearean tie-in, even though I'm a sucker for the genre's clever use of Old English lyrics (Dearest Darest I, Thou Swell, Were Thine That Special Face, To Keep My Love Alive, etc.). [Photo above of Bob Crosby]

What hooked me was Crosby's singer, Marion Mann. I was never a big Bob Crosby collector, so I wasn't fully familiar with Mann. So I began listening to her many sides with the band. Like her peers in the swing era, Mann had a strong, commanding voice. Her vocals for Crosby were fluid and lilting, effortlessly climbing into the upper register or dropping down, all while retaining its warmth. Who was Mann (above)? I did a little digging:

Mann was born Marion Bateson in Ohio, and as a teen sang in a girl's trio on a local radio station. She first sang professionally with Emerson Gill's regional band in the early and mid-1930s. Then she was hired away by Crosby and recorded with the band from 1938 to 1940. [Photo above of Marion Mann]

But Mann's singing career nearly ended before it began nationally. According to my newspaper research, Mann was seriously injured at age 19 in a car crash near Progress, Pa., in December 1933. At the time, she was Emerson Gill's top-billed vocalist. The car's driver, Milan Hartz, 24, also was in the band and was injured in the crash.

A half hour before the band was to appear on stage, Hartz's car skidded off an icy Jonestown Road and into a telephone pole. According to newspapers of the era, Mann suffered a serious scalp wound, fractured collar bone, fractured pelvis and dislocated left hip. The band was heading to Zembo Mosque of the Shrine (above) in Harrisburg, Pa., to perform for the Potentate's Ball, a holiday season affair.

The icy weather had delayed the band's trip, resulting in haste. Other members of the band whose cars were delayed reportedly drove past the accident site, unaware it held their star singer and two bandmates. In addition to Hartz, James Harry was in the car but was uninjured. According to Billboard, Hartz wound up becoming a Broadway pit musician and American Broadcasting Co. composer and conductor in the early 1950s. [Photo above of the Zembo Mosque's dance floor]

How long it took Mann to recover and rejoin Gill's band is unclear, but she remained with Gill for several additional years. She probably did not make the band's Boston opening the following week. Nevertheless, she must have remained on the payroll, which certainly says something about Gill.

When she joined Bob Crosby in '38, newspapers reported that she had been offered seven jobs with seven leading bandleaders but chose Crosby because "she likes the way the Dixieland band swings." [Photo above of Bob Crosby and Marion Mann in an ad for Sears Silvertone Lowboy radio.]

Crosby's band backing Mann during the Shakespeare in Swing session in 1939 included Billy Butterfield (tp), Warren Smith (tb), Irving Fazola (cl), Eddie Miller (ts), Floyd Bean (p), Nappy Lamare (g), Bob Haggart (b), Ray Bauduc (d) Marion Mann (vcl) and Bob Crosby (ldr). [Photo above of Billy Butterfield in 1947]

The four songs were Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind; It Was a Lover and His Lass; Oh Mistress Mine; and Sigh No More Ladies. According to From the Vaults, when Mann left Crosby, she joined radio's Breakfast Club on WMAQ for NBC from 1942 to 1947. In between, in 1945, she recorded Musicraft sides with Jose Bethancourt and his Orchestra, a Latin-flavored pop orchestra. [Photo above of Marion Mann]

Marion Mann died in 1966 and Bob Crosby died in 1993.

JazzWax tracks: Here are all four Shakespeare in Swing sides with Marion Mann on vocals:

Here's Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind...

Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind

Here's It Was a Lover and Her Lass...

It Was a Lover And His Lass

Here's Oh, Mistress Mine...

Oh, Mistress Mine

And here's Sigh No More, Ladies...

Sigh No More Ladies

To hear all of Bob Crosby's recordings of these songs, go here.

Katharina, Brew and Gato

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed artist Katharina Grosse for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Katharina uses a spray gun to develop abstract works on a massive scale. Her love of color and large-form works began when she was little, growing up in Germany. [Photo above of a fan in front of Katharina Grosse's Mural at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts]

Here's a video of Katharina painting her Rockaway piece in New York in 2016...

London. As the world continues to lock down, actor John Guerrasio in London early last week sent along an email and a photo (above):

Marc, this was London's Carnaby Street at noon yesterday. I was in Soho doing a few voiceover jobs. Shops and restaurants were open but empty. Some tube stations are now closed and all public venues will shut this weekend.

Later today, I’ll be making a TV commercial for the Wimbledon tennis tournament. The producer claims the event will happen in late June or perhaps a bit later. Of course, this could change. I think this will be my last gig for 5 or 6 weeks.

Meanwhile, I’m woodshedding on guitar much to my neighbor’s chagrin. I’m determined to learn Chitlins Con Carne and Midnight Blue note-for-note. Thanks for raising my spirits daily.

Sonny Rollins. Following my post last week on Sonny Rollins, saxophonist Bill Kirchner sent along the following email and clip:

Marc, here's Sonny at his most wildly inventive. And at times, very funny. Bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Kenny Clarke keep up with his every move. I've never heard Clarke sound better...

JazzWax note: Did you catch the tag of what sounds like Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (Here I am at, Camp Granada) at 10:00 and at 11:16? That was Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from his 1876 opera La Gioconda. It was the inspiration for Alan Sherman's hit four years after Sonny's recording. Special thanks to John Kettlewell and Michael Rose.

Brew Moore. Following my post on tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, I received the following from John Burks...

Marc: Big thank you for the Brew Moore post. Major player. I thought him the equal of Cohn, Sims, Eager, et al, and absolutely the most Pres-ish of them all, though never a copycat. I played four to five gigs with him during his San Francisco stopover—I was the drummer in a San Francisco State College kids jazz trio. What a thrill.

He used us (kiddies) when he had a low-paying engagement, like a reception or house party; I'd come home with $6.25 (at most) in my pocket. I would have played with Brew for free. Several times, fans approached Brew to say, "Y'know, you play a lot like Lester Young." He'd reply, "Anybody who doesn't is wrong."

Gato Barbieri. Following my post on videos of 1970s jazz hits, I received the following from Jaime Clay:

Hi Marc: Re your recent posting about Gato and the subsequent update you included concerning his time in Rome. I lived in Rome from 1965 to about 1973, when my father was working there for FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization).

In my later teen years, I discovered jazz and tried to glean as much as I could in the record shops and from live performances. We were allowed into nightclubs and other venues, so my best buddy, Eric, and I saw some pretty incredible music.

One in particular was Gato Barbieri. I was pretty excited to see him because, at the time, he had Lonnie Liston Smith on piano. He played a lot at many venues and it was easy to see him on stage and wandering the streets. Then the movie Last Tango in Paris came out, and Gato suddenly became a star.

Two things I remember. The first was the initial time I saw him perform at the small Folkstudio club in Trastevere, in the old part of Rome. Being kids, Eric and I arrived early so we could sit right up front, which we did. It was so early, none of the musicians had arrived, much less the rest of the audience.

At Folkstudio, there were always instruments piled in the back, to the left of the stage: basses, bits of drum kits, music stands, etc. On this night, Eric and I decided to "monkey around" on the instruments. We must’ve been at it for quite some time and in a zen state. As I played an upright bass (I was a sax and guitar player), a voice behind me said “Nice, nice!”

I knew it wasn’t Eric’s voice. I turned around and there was Gato, with his hat and soul patch. I almost dropped the bass right then and there. I thanked him and gingerly laid the bass to rest and slinked to my seat, passing all the other band members, who were grinning at me. A wonderful encounter for this 16 year old!

Second, I recorded one of his performances. Back in those days, it was cassette tape, of which I owned the first Phillips iteration. Alas, I no longer have that tape. I had made a copy for another friend. Several years ago, I asked if he still had it. Of course, he, too, had lost his copy.

Thanks for letting me revisit my youth and memories. And as always, love your blog!

Oliver Nelson/Eric Dolphy. Following my post on Oliver Nelson's two small-group albums with Eric Dolphy, William Lieske sent along the following [photo above of Oliver Nelson]:

Hey man, thank you for your excellent piece on Nelson and Dolphy. Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth album changed my life. My dad, a traveling salesman and a musician, was a member of a couple of mail-order record clubs. The albums would show up, and he had a month to send them back or pay the bill. The Blues and the Abstract Truth showed up when he was out of town. I opened it, and lights came on!

When he returned, my dad was pissed at me for opening the album because he didn’t like the music and wanted to return it. He came around later! By then, I had practically worn out the record. Another album that hit me hard like this was Miles Davis's Milestones. Keep up the good work!

Don Burrows. Following my post on the passing of Australian reed and woodwind player Don Burrows, I received the following from Les Johnston in Australia:

Nice one on Don Burrows, Marc! Good to see your worldwide readers finding out that we have some great jazzmen down here. Still with us is multi-instrumentalist James Morrison. Here he is...

Also the great Aussie guitar player Tommy Emmanuel here...

Randal Kleiser. This week at his podcast, Movies 'Til Dawn, director Raymond De Felitta interviews Randal Klesser, who directed Grease, The Blue Lagoon, White Fang, Honey I Blew Up the Kids and others. You can find the podcast here or at Apple Podcasts, Stictcher, YouTube, Tune In and SoundCloud. [Photo above of Randal Kleiser courtesy of IMDB]

Gap Mangione sent along a link and email that simply said, "Here's something Italian." It's Chuck Mangione and brother Gap (above) in 1982 playing Tarantella, with Steve Allen on the other piano...

What the heck. Here's Rosemary Clooney and Diana Krall singing The Boy From Ipanema in 2000...

Concert in Miniature. Pianist Dave Thompson last week wrote to tell me he has been playing quite a bit at home, revisiting Bill Evans's approach on Denny Zeitlin's Quiet Now...

And here's Dave playing Body and Soul, followed by a pair of Bill Evans medleys..

And finally, a video from Diana Panton's Facebook page that's a must...

Meredith d'Ambrosio in 10 Tracks

What I love most about vocalist Meredith d'Ambrosio is her ability to exude innocence and sophistication at the same time. Her first album, Lost in His Arms, was recorded in 1978 and from then on, Meredith has amazed me with her talent and artistry. She's a composer, an arranger, a painter (her paintings grace virtually all of her album covers), a mosaicist and a pianist. She's also a wonderful, warm friend. Happy birthday, Meredith!

Here are 10 favorite tracks by Meredith d'Ambrosio:

Here's I Got Lost in His Arms from the album of the same name, recorded in 1978 with Meredith accompanying herself on piano...

Here's Love Is a Simple Thing from Another Time recorded in 1981 with Meredith on piano...

Here's How Is Your Wife? from Little Jazz Bird in 1982 with Meredith on piano...

Here's Giant Steps in 1985, from It's Your Dance, with Harold Danko on piano and Kevin Eubanks on guitar...

Here's How Deep Is the Ocean from The Cove in 1987 backed by Lee Konitz (as), Fred Hersch (p), Michael Formanek (b) and Keith Copeland (d)...

Here's You Better Go Now from South to a Warmer Place, with her late husband and pianist Eddie Higgins on piano and Don Coffman on bass in 1989...

Here's a medley of You've Changed and You've Altered Your Attitude from Shadowland in 1992, backed by Blair Tindall (Eng. hrn, oboe), Ron Kozak (b-cl,fl), Eddie Higgins (p), Johnny Frigo (vln), Erik Friedlander (cello), Jay Leonhart (b) and Ben Riley (d)...

Here's Stoppin' the Clock from Out of Nowhere in 1998, backed by Lee Musiker (p), Jay Leonhart (b) and Terry Clarke (d)...

Here's Blame It All on Spring from Love Is for the Birds in 2001 backed by Lee Musiker (p), Jay Leonhart (b) and Joe Ascione (d)...

And here's Love Is Not a Game from the album of the same name in 1990, with Meredith accompanying herself on piano...

Bonus: Part 1 of my five-part 2009 JazzWax interview with Meredith is here. Additional parts can be found at the top of each post, above the red date.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Meredith's Sunnyside albums at online retailers. Visit her site for the liner notes here.

Video: Brew Moore, 1961

Many tenor saxophonists in the late 1940s and '50s played like Lester Young—once they figured out how to run alternate melody lines on the chord changes of standards and blues in the upper register. One of these Prez disciples was Brew Moore. He was so enamored of Young, he held his saxophone off to the side just as Young did. But rather than simply mimic his mentor's sound and swing, he combined the Young approach with Charlie Parker's ferocity. For more on Moore's life and strange death, read Steve Cerra's terrific post on the saxophonist at his Jazz Profiles blog here.

Brew Moore died in Copenhagen in 1973.

Here's a video of Moore at the Blue Note in Paris in the summer of 1961, with Lou Bennett on organ, Jimmy Gourley on guitar and Kenny Clarke on drums. They played Zonky, Satin Doll and Broadway. A special thanks to Danilo Morandi in Switzerland for sending along the following two links...

Bonus: Here's jazz historian and author Dan Morgenstern speaking about Moore in 2017...

Sonny Rollins: Soundtrack

With the coronavirus forcing most people around the globe indoors, the lockdown has given us a chance to listen to music with more care and gratitude. While writing yesterday, I pulled nine recordings by Sonny Rollins that, when assembled, become the thematic soundtrack for this new age of sheltering in place:

Here's Time on My Hands from 1951...

Here's The Scene Is Clean, featuring Sonny with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet in 1956...

Here's Sonny's Pent-up House in 1956 on his Plus 4 album...

Here's Sonny playing The House I Live In in 1956 from his album Plays for Bird...

Here's Kenny Dorham with Sonny Rollins playing La Villa in 1957 from Dorham's album Jazz Contrasts...

Here's Sonny playing The Blue Room in 1965 from his album On Imuplse!...

Here's Sonny playing Playin' in the Yard in 1972 from his album Next Album...

Here's Sonny playing A House Is Not a Home in 1974 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, recorded live on The Cutting Edge...

And here's Sonny playing Keep Hold of Yourself live in 1996 in Paris on Holding the Stage: Road Shows, Vol 4...

Oliver Nelson + Eric Dolphy

The blues were in Oliver Nelson's blood. Virtually everything he wrote and arranged had an indigo hue. But Nelson's original works weren't your average blues. They were blues cathedrals constructed with flying-buttress passages, gargoyle phrases and stained-glass voicings, not to mention his solo spires. When Nelson played the alto or tenor saxophone on these blues, there was a warm clarity to his tone and a moaning sweetness to how he dragged notes. [Photo above of Oliver Nelson]

Nelson recorded two head-to-head albums with Eric Dolphy, a blues master of another stripe. Dolphy's blues tended to be more elongated with spirited hollow tones. Whether Dolphy played the alto saxophone, bass clarinet or flute, his tone was akin to a car with squealing tires on curves vs. Nelson's thick syrup pouring from a pitcher. [Photo above of Eric Dolphy]

The two albums were Screamin' the Blues and Straight Ahead. The former was recorded in May 1960 while the latter was recorded in March 1961. The latter features Dolphy with a freer feel. Trumpeter Richard Williams joined on the former, and the rhythm section was the same on both—pianist Richard Wyands, bassist George Duvivier and drummer Roy Haynes. 

What's terrific about these albums is the contrast between Nelson's steady sound on his original blues and Dolphy's graffiti-like attack. You can hear this on songs like Ralph's New Blues and Straight Ahead, from the album Straight Ahead. And on The Drive and Alto-itis from Screamin' the Blues. Interestingly, in between the two albums was the Nelson masterpiece, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, recorded in February 1961. Dolphy also played on that one, a septet date.

Wyands is exceptional on both Nelson-Dolphy albums, creating elegant tension on the keyboard and framing both reed players with gorgeous chords. Williams on trumpet served as a shimmering punctuation mark. All of this music seems suitable for our times now—anxious and soulful. [Photo above of Richard Wyands]

Oliver Nelson died in 1975 and Eric Dolphy died in 1964.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find all four Oliver Nelson-Eric Dolphy albums on a two-CD release called Complete Recordings here. The set includes Screamin' the Blues, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis's Train Whistle, Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth and Straight Ahead.

Or you can find these albums individually.

JazzWax clips: Here's The Drive from Screamin' the Blues...

And here's Straight Ahead from Straight Ahead...