Blog-O-Jazz

Campaign for Cootie

2011-07-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

My last post was about the centennial of Cootie Williams' birth. Duke Ellington wrote "Concerto for Cootie" and "Tutti for Cootie" for Williams. In that spirit, I would like to start "Campaign for Cootie."

The results were just announced for this year's Critics Poll. Abbey Lincoln and Paul Chambers were voted into the Hall of Fame. Surprisingly, Cootie Williams is not in the Down Beat Magazine Hall of Fame! I'd like to solicit your help - Vote for Cootie today, using the instructions from DB's website:

Since this poll is for DownBeat readers only, you do need to be a subscriber — either to our magazine or our e-Newsletter (click here for sample) — to vote.

If you do subscribe, simply fill out all of the categories, or just the ones that interest you. Please vote only once. Any multiple votes will be disqualified.

If you are not a subscriber, sign up today. Just go to downbeat.com and hit the “subscribe” button to get the magazine.

Or you can subscribe to DownBeat's eHeadlines newsletter for free. Sign up for our free e-Newsletter here. It's quick and easy to subscribe. Without having your e-mail on file, your vote won't count!

That's all it takes. To get started on the poll, just enter your name and e-mail address, then follow the prompts. You can select one choice from the list for each category, or write in your choice, if it doesn't appear on the list.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR JAZZ FRIENDS !!!!

Cootie Williams Centennial

2011-07-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of trumpet great Charles Melvin Williams, better known as "Cootie." He was most famous for his skill with the plunger, but as can seen below, he was a master of the open horn, too.

Actually, he may have been born 103 years ago, 102 or 101 years ago. There are several dates of birth given for him and the truth may have been that he didn't know when he was born. The only things the various birthdates have in common is the month of July, even the day could have been the 10th, 14th or 24th!

That said, did you know no one has written a biography of Williams? He had a very interesting career - two stints with Duke Ellington, and a year with Benny Goodman before embarking on a period as a big band leader. His band boasted people like Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Pearl Bailey, Bud Powell and Charlie Parker. He was the first to record Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight and Epistrophy. For a time, 'Round Midnight was the band's theme song!

I've spent the past few months collecting reference materials and conducting interviews, all towards writing a biography of the great and underrated Cootie Williams.

Finally, check out Cootie's plunger work from a 1966 performance filmed in France..

Happy Birthday, Cootie!

Giant Steps

2011-06-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

John Coltrane's solo on his 1959 recording of Giant Steps is an acknowledged classic. Here are three different homages via YouTube.

First, a scroll through the transcribed solo as the recording plays.

Second, a robot programmed to play the solo.

Lastly, a virtuoso performance of a gentleman playing along with Trane's recording on piano and bass guitar simulataneously!

New Coltrane

2011-05-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news. The good news - there's some "new" Coltrane on the market. The bad news - you have to buy a box set in order to get it.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Impulse, they're releasing a 4-CD set entitled Impulse! @50: First Impulse - The Creed Taylor Collection. John Coltrane's previously unreleased demo recording for his Africa/Brass big band album is included, plus some alternate takes from the session. Albums like Gil Evans' La Nevada, Ray Charles' Genius + Soul = Jazz, and Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments are part of the set, but who doesn't have those already?

New Smithsonian Jazz Collection

2011-04-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

During my high school years, the local public library was one of the resources I would use to hear jazz recordings. One I vividly remember was the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. It was a multi-record set that included items from Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, etc.

Last week, a new edition was released. It's six CDs and 111 tracks! (I think the original was 8 LPs.) It's been updated to reflect the changes that have occurred since its original 1973 release. But all the great classics (West End Blues, Hawk's Body and Soul, Duke's Ko-Ko) are still there. It would be a great investment to fill in those gaps in your jazz knowledge or collection.

As a taste, there's a link to a Mary Lou Williams recorded of Virgo, part of her Zodiac Suite. By coincidence, that happens to be my sign: http://soundcloud.com/smithsonian-folkways/virgo-mary-lou-williams-jazz

And if you're feeling brave, take their jazz quiz while you're there: http://www.sporcle.com/games/Smithsonian_Folk/JazzChallenge25

Stritch Beer!

2011-03-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

Michael Bowe has relocated his Angel City Brewery from Torrance to downtown Los Angeles. He was recently featured in articles in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Downtown News.

The brewery is not too far from our bookstore, Metropolis Books. We share quite a few similarities: There's only one letter difference in our surnames, we have LA's City Hall in our business logos, and he's a saxophone player who loves jazz. Mr. Bowe has even named beers after Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The prize winning Kirk brew is called "Rahsaan Roland Kirk Stritch Stout."

I wandered over to buy some beer, along with a T-shirt. The website describes it thusly: "Rahsaan Roland Kirk Stritch Stout, 10% ABV is our Biggest and most Luscious Beer! Made with Lager Yeast, this beer will surprise you how drinkable it is! Complex, Dark, Malty and Warm. No wonder why Stritch Stout won a Gold Medal in the Los Angeles International Beer Competition."

I can't tell you how it tastes since I can't bring myself to open the bottle!

Registering for World War I

2011-02-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

At the rather ripe age of 41, at least in military terms, my great grandfather, John Bowie, registered for the World War I draft. By 1918, the US government required men between the ages of 18 to 45 to register, so he wasn’t quite at the top of the age pool.

In browsing these records, I also came across the records for Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. Only Armstrong described himself as a musician at the time. Ellington was a government messenger in Washington, DC, while Ferdinand Joseph Morton gave his occupation as actor. According to Morton biographies, in his early years he travelled the country as part of a vaudeville troop.

On this form, he gave his date of birth as September 13, 1884. As far as I can tell, this date hasn’t been reported anywhere else. I’ve seen dates of September 20, 1885 and October 20, 1890. His tombstone has 1890 for the year of his birth. (He died here in Los Angeles in 1941.) Morton was also known to stretch the truth quite a bit. Some of these dates may have been due to vanity or in support of his claim of inventing jazz in 1902. Or course, it may have been simpler than that – in the days of home births and non-recorded births, he might not have known when he was born!

The Sincerest Form of Flattery....

2011-02-17T04:16:00.000-08:00

A few minutes of Soprano Saxophone

2011-02-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

The soprano sax is a very difficult instrument to control. In the wrong hands, it can make for a painful listening experience. Fortunately, there are some great masters.

National Public Radio recently did a feature entitled on the instrument entitled Soprano Sax: The Story of a Skinny Horn. They mentioned the main practitioners of the instrument, Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane. But the soprano sax was not unrepresented in the swing era, the time between the heydays of Bechet and Coltrane. I’d like to add Johnny Hodges and Charlie Barnet.

Johnny Hodges was a Bechet protege . He can be seen playing soprano sax in this clip from “Check and Double Check”, a truly horrible Amos and Andy movie. In 1940, Hodges decided he should be paid extra to double on soprano. Ellington refused and Hodges abandoned the instrument.

Charlie Barnet was a big band leader who had a few big hits in the Swing Era, but is unfairly neglected these days.

A man walks down the beach and finds a bottle on the shore. He picks it up and rubs it. A Genie appears and grants him one wish. Since the man is a humanitarian, he asks the Genie to solve the conflicts in the Middle East. The Genie asks for a map and studies it for a while. The Genie apologizes and says that he can’t grant the wish because the problems are too complicated and started even before he was put in the bottle….

So, the man is granted another wish. Well, since the man is a musician as well as a humanitarian, he asks for a soprano sax that plays in tune. The Genie pauses for a minute and asks….”Uh, can I see that map again???”

Jazz Stamp

2011-02-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I suggested it was time for some more postage stamps honoring jazz artists. That hasn’t come to pass yet, but next month will see a stamp that honors the art form itself. Please go out and buy them & use them. The powers that be love to use sales figures as a reason to do (or not do) projects. Since this is a ‘forever’ stamp, you can hoard them and still use one for first class postage ten, twenty, a hundred years from now!

Appropriately, it will be launched in New Orleans in March. This great looking piece of art was designed by Paul Rogers; you can get the story behind the stamp at his website.

Barrie Lee Hall, Jr. (1949-2011)

2011-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

I sent an email to Ellington trumpet virtuoso Barrie Lee Hall, Jr. in early September of last year in the hopes of talking with him about an Ellington related project (details to follow soon). I didn’t hear anything, so I re-sent the email at the beginning of this year. This time I received a reply and we set a time to talk. I was a little nervous about the impending talk since his emails were rather terse. After talking with him, I found I couldn’t have been more wrong; he was a very warm and open person in conversation. (What I took for reluctance was probably just someone who just didn’t like to type!)

Part of our talk was on the Super Bowl IX half-time show in the previous blog entry. I had sent him a link to the video the day before I spoke to him. His simple reply was:
“Man, that made me happy! Thank you!”

If you’re over 40, you remember the days where if you weren’t in front of a TV to watch a televised sports show, it was gone forever. The summer, of course, was for reruns of regular shows, but not of things like ’live’ events. Since Mr. Hall was an active participant in the half-time show, he had never seen it. (He’s the tall trumpet player in the back, second from the left.) He had forgotten that Grambling was there, but he vividly recalled that the Ellington band’s white dinner jackets provided little protection from the cold on the field.

He thought he would be in the LA area in the near future; he’d give me advance notice and we would meet up for dinner or something. That was on Saturday, January 8th. This morning, I was saddened to find out that he passed away at age 61 on Monday, January 24th.

RIP, Barrie Lee Hall and “Thank you!”

Jazz at the Super Bowl

2011-01-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

It’s a fair bet that there won’t be any jazz during the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl. But once upon a time, they not only used the whole halftime show to pay tribute to recently deceased jazz legend; they didn’t even cut away to commentators or commercials! (Duke Ellington had died a little over seven months prior to this event. The death of Satchmo inspired a similar gesture in 1972.)

Super Bowl IX was supposed to be played indoors at the newly constructed New Orleans Superdome, but it wasn’t completed in time. Instead, the January 12, 1975 game was played outside in Tulane Stadium.

At halftime, the Pittsburgh Steelers led the Minnesota Vikings by the score of 2-0. The temperature on the field was in the mid-40s. Anyone who has played a musical instrument can tell you that it’s hard to stay in tune when the weather is cold. As the Grambling band marches onto the field, you can hear the effect it has on their intonation.

After Grambling’s overture, the Duke Ellington band, under the direction of son Mercer Ellington, takes over. (Dig Mercer’s jacket!) Fortunately, they don’t fall prey to the same intonation problems.

The band is crowded onto a relatively small float. As they play, Ellington themed cupcakes surreally swirl around the field. The last of the old guard, Cootie Williams, gets a significant amount of solo time on Take the “A” Train and “C-Jam Blues.” He’s in fine spirits, even though increasing health problems would make this his last year with the band.

The halftime show is spread between these two video clips. It starts about 3 minutes in on the first one and concludes on the second one.

The King of American Jazz

2010-10-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

While browsing through Amazon a few days ago, I came across a DVD title I was unfamiliar with. The release, Duke Ellington et son orchestre, had no accompanying information – date of recording, personnel, location, nothing. Since I didn’t want to buy a pig in a poke, I decided to Google the title. The full title turned out to be Le Roi du Jazz Americain – Duke Ellington et son Orchestre (The King of American Jazz – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra). Lo and behold, the source of the recording was the National Archives and Records Administration. Best of all, the video is in the public domain and can be downloaded legally and for FREE! Thanks, Uncle Sam! [There are other interesting videos on the site - Jack Teagarden with Hoagy Carmichael, Bobby Hackett, John Scofield, a cartoon featuring the voice of Dizzy Gillespie – (The Hole).]

In September of 1963, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra embarked on a goodwill tour of the Middle East sponsored by the US State Department. The stops included Damascus, Amman, Kabul, New Delhi and Tehran. Ellington was out of commission for some of the dates due to hospitalization for a virus.

Fortunately, Ellington is back by the time of this recording. The source of this film might be from a concert on November 14, 1963 in Khuld Hall, Baghdad, Iraq. According to Ken Vail’s Ellington diary book “This concert is televised live.” It definitely seems to be from a television broadcast, since Ellington is periodically checking to see if he needs to insert a break in the proceedings. A few days later, the tour was canceled upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The sound and video have a few blemishes here and there, but overall, it’s a great concert. Cootie Williams is an audience favorite with his showcase Tutti for Cootie. Billy Strayhorn gets a solo spot on his famous composition Lush Life and then takes things out with Take the “A” Train.

The songs are: Afro-Bossa; Stompin' at the Savoy; Guitar Amour; Perdido; Honeysuckle Rose; Tutti for Cootie; Kinda Dukish /Rockin' in Rhythm; I Got It Bad; Things Ain't What They Used To Be; The Eighth Veil; Hits Medley [Satin Doll, Solitude, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Mood Indigo, I'm Beginning To See the Light, Sophisticated Lady, Caravan, Do Nothin’ 'Till You Hear from Me, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart & Don't Get Around Much Anymore]; Diminuendo in Blue/Blow by Blow; Lush Life; Take the "A" Train .

The personnel is: Cootie Williams, Rolf Ericson, Herbie Jones, Cat Anderson – trumpets, Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors, Buster Cooper – trombones; Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney – reeds; Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn – piano; Ernie Shepard –bass; Sam Woodyard – drums.

Harry Carney at 100

2010-04-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

Harry Howell Carney was born on April 1, 1910 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Earlier, I had written about how Benny Goodman inspired me to take up the clarinet. Not too long afterwards, my musical horizons expanded to include the great Duke Ellington. There were a lot of unique sounds in the band, but the one that stood out most for me was the deep baritone saxophone sound of Harry Carney.

Carney was an integral part of the Ellington sound, not only as a tonal foundation, but also as a nearly constant presence. He joined the band at age 16 in 1926 and was there until 1974. He was heavily featured, and even when he wasn’t, you knew he was there. One musician has remarked that Ellington had two sax sections – Harry Carney and the other guys.

Last year, I blogged about La Plus Belle Africaine. This version features Victor Gaskin - bass, Russell Procope –clarinet, Rufus Jones –drums, and the birthday boy.

When our high school jazz band needed a baritone sax player, I jumped at the opportunity. (At the time, the instrument and I were about the same size, so it should have been carrying me instead of vice versa.) I played it up until I graduated from college in 1981 .

Harry Carney was one of the first jazz musicians to use circular breathing. Rahsaan Roland Kirk learned it from him and it became one of his trademark concepts. (In a sense, Carney taught me circular breathing, too. The night Ellington died, they showed a video of him holding a long note in a concert performance of Sophisticated Lady. Until I had a visual image of what was going on, I couldn’t get the concept down.) This isn’t the same performance I saw back then, but it is of about the same vintage.

I never got a chance to see Ellington in person and was crushed when he passed away in May of 1974. When I heard that his son Mercer was continuing the band, I consoled myself with the thought that I could see Harry Carney. I’ll never forget one of my bandmates telling me that “that saxophone player you like” died; it was less than 5 months after Ellington. I guess he didn’t think I believe him, so he presented me with the newspaper clipping.

Happy 100th Birthday to Harry Carney!

Presidential Centennial

2009-08-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

One hundred years ago today, Lester Willis Young was born in Woodville, Missisippi. Happy Birthday, Prez!

1959 - The Year Everything Changed

2009-08-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, 1959 The Year Everything Changed arrived at our bookstore. Things like the Cuban revolution, a couple of new states, amongst many others, make up the thesis of this book. From a jazz standpoint, the author covers the changes that occurred in jazz with albums like Miles' Kind of Blue, Coltrane's Giant Steps, Brubeck's Time Out, Mingus' Ah Um and Ornette's The Shape of Jazz to Come.

And another reason I liked this book: yours truly was born 50 years ago on this date. You know you're old when your baby pictures are sepia toned. There's no truth to the rumor that this photo was taken by Matthew Brady.....

Dues and the Abstract Truth

2009-08-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

I've had a few people in the arts (music, acting) tell me they're tired of paying dues. Unfortunately, you don't get to decide when you're done.
At least there is a sort of perverted meritocracy to the world of sports. If you make the statistics and help win games, you get the big contract. Winners sell more tickets, which makes the owners more money. Terrell Owens and now Michael Vick have shown that much can be overlooked in the pursuit of the gold. And how many lifetime bans did the late Steve Howe get in baseball?

Pianist Herbie Nichols is one of the countless talented and nearly invisible musicians out there. One of the phrases you'll see in reference to Herbie Nichols is that he played Dixieland/Traditional Jazz gigs "to pay the bills." (One of the many forms of paying dues.) I accidentally ran across one of these stints when I bought a Rex Stewart album (Dixieland Free-for-all) on eBay. Listen to Herbie's solo on Original Dixieland One-Step and compare it with a sample of his playing as a leader . This was a truly versatile and complete musician!

Sadly, it doesn't take much to collect most of his output as a leader. As a start, check out his Blue Note sessions. Besides Herbie's original compositions and playing style, you get either Max Roach or Art Blakey on drums.

He wasn't sidelined by the substance abuse problems that have plagued many musicians. For him, it was leukemia. He died in 1963 at only 44 years old.

There's no telling when (or if) you'll ever stop paying dues.

Happy Birthday, Satchmo!

2009-08-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

Louis Armstrong was born on this date in 1901. During his lifetime, he used July 4, 1900 because he didn't know his true date of birth. Many years after his death, critic Gary Giddens a Catholic baptismal record that showed when he truly arrived into the world.

If you're looking for some great Satchmo recordings, try the new Mosaic Records box set. I got it last month and have been listening to it like crazy!

By the way, if you look at the 1910 census, it implies that someone in the household knew young Louis' true age! (Click on the image to make it larger; Louis is on the last line.) As a side note, the Mosaic set contains three takes of a Armstrong composition called Old Man Mose, the tale of someone who's checking to see if the title subject is living or dead. Maybe Louis was inspired to write the tale based on his neighbor, Mose Smith (enumerated just ahead of Satchmo's household.)

A couple of jazz photo galleries from "Life"

2009-07-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm still here, sorry for the gap in postings!

Benny Goodman

2009-05-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

When I was 10 years old, I wanted to play the tenor sax. I just loved the music of Jr. Walker and the All Stars at that time. I asked my parents if we could rent one, but I was told that the family finances wouldn't allow it. Plus I was told that it would be doubtful if I'd stick with it. But, if I wanted to try the clarinet, I could use the one my mother played when she was in grade school. Clarinet? That's a girl's instrument! No thanks!

Well, a few months later, I happened to see The Benny Goodman Story on one of those television Saturday matinees. Wow, all those horns! Sing, Sing, Sing! Maybe clarinet wouldn't be so bad after all. With that, I joined the beginner's class mid-year. (To catch up on the fingering, I wrote a number system under every note. Unfortunately, it became a crutch for me and I didn't stop until my 7th grade band director saw it and gave me grief for it.)

My grandmother had some big band records. In addition to Benny Goodman, she had Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller, to name a few. I would listen to these like crazy and I also listened to the radio to get more of this music. Besides the FM jazz station, KFI 640 used to play big band music. (The host was Chuck Cecil, who is still at it, although now on KJAZ 88.1. )

Eventually, I was able to discover so many other artists after the initial discovery of Benny Goodman. You can see where the ensuing 40 years have led me from the entries in this blog. Occasionally, I still like to remind my mother that she said I'd never stick with the horn!

I never got to see Benny in person. He didn't play in LA much, but I remember he played at the Hollywood Bowl at the 1979 Playboy Jazz Festival. As a college student, it didn't work out dough-wise.

Benny Goodman was born 100 years ago today. Thanks for everything, Benny!

Duke Ellington plays the Beatles! (reposted)

2009-05-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

File this under things that jazz musicians had to do to survive during the rock and roll era. Those sleeves!!!

I had identified most of the personnel in the above video. A reader [Idiom59] left a comment that added the full list. His illuminating comment has been moved to the post:

"Great Sleeves. The personnel is:

Cootie Williams, Mercer Ellington, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson tpts.

Booty Wood, Chuck Connors, Julian Preister tmbs

Paul Gonsalves, Harold Asby, Norris Turney, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope saxes

[Wild Bill Davis - organ] Victor Gaskin e-bass Joe Benjamin bass Tiny Grimes guitar Rufus Jones drums

Harry Carney was present for the pre-recordings on the 22/2/70 but his Father died on that day so he was missing for the actual telecast on the 23rd.What we see is Russell Procope miming Harry's part! I think that this was also Johnny Hodges final TV appearance as he died the following May. "

Sidney Bechet: May 14, 1897 - May 14, 1959

2009-05-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

I was in high school when I first heard soprano saxophonist/clarinetist Sidney Bechet on the local radio station. Back then (the mid-70s), the Los Angeles Jazz Station, KBCA 105.1 used to feature a traditional jazz program on Sunday afternoons. It was called "Strictly From Dixie" and was hosted by Benson Curtis. The great thing about his show was he told you background information about the recordings and the players. (Now, it seems like you don't even get the names of the sidemen.) Although Bechet's wide vibrato takes some getting used to, his inventive and powerful improvisations don't.
(Many of the Bechet songs that I recorded off the radio years ago were recently reissued on CD by Mosaic.)
Sidney Bechet was born on May 14, 1897 in New Orleans. He died on May 14, 1959 in France, 50 years ago today.

This video of Bechet features Teddy Buckner on trumpet. For many years, Buckner led the trad jazz band that played at Disneyland's New Orleans Square. Every time we'd go, it was always fun to listen to his group. (Also, the drummer on this is Roy Eldridge, usually heard on trumpet. He was definitely no slouch on la batterie, either!)

The Cat Who Went To Heaven

2009-05-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

A Jazz Opera! Starting next week (May 13th), you can see some jazz greats in an unusual setting.

Jazz singer and songwriter Nancy Harrow has teamed up with the Culture Project, to present a jazz puppet show based on the Newbery Award-winning book, The Cat Who Went To Heaven, by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Harrow is best known for recording jazz albums inspired by literary subjects; her album The Lost Lady was dubbed one of the best jazz albums of the year by both the Village Voice and Boston Globe. In this live production of her children’s book-inspired album, she tells the story through 26 contemporary jazz tracks and the traditional Japanese art of Bunraku puppetry. The all-star ensemble includes Nancy Harrow, notable instrumentalists Clark Terry, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, George Mraz and the voice of Grady Tate.

Suggested donation is $10. For more information, go to www.cultureproject.org or www.harlemschoolofthearts.org. Reservations can be made at 212-479-0829. The six performances will take place at The Harlem School of the Arts Theater, 647 St. Nicholas Avenue between West 145th and 141st Streets, New York, NY 10030 as follows:

· Wednesday, May 13 at 7 p.m.
· Saturday, May 16 at 11a.m.
· Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m.
· Wednesday, May 27 at 7 p.m.
· Saturday, May 30 at 5 p.m.
· Wednesday, June 3 at 7 p.m.

If you're in the area, check it out!

Duke Ellingon, Jazz Genius

2009-04-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

Continue the celebration! I was informed by the good people at Life Magazine that they've put up a photo gallery commemorating Ellington (see above).

Happy Birthday, Duke!

2009-04-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

On this date, 110 years ago, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington, DC.

La Plus Belle Africaine is a mid-60s composition Duke Ellington wrote in commemoration of "the First Annual Festival of Negro Arts, after writing African music for 35 years."

Playing along with recordings is good ear training and can be both fun and frustrating. In working on this particular piece, I discovered something that (to my knowledge, at least) no one has written about before. It appears that Duke was trying to use only the black keys to form the main motif of the piece and tie into the title of the work. (He didn't quite succeed - two notes, E natural and F natural were used. )

Blogging about Twitter

2009-04-26T13:19:00.001-07:00

Resistance is futile...

I've decided to join Twitter. If you're on Twitter, look for Blog O Jazz.

So far, after only a short search, I've found some pretty interesting jazz related items.

Also, I've added some new blogs to the left. Be sure to check them out!

Charles Mingus

2009-04-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

Composer-bassist-pianist Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona on this date in 1922.
He was featured on a US postage stamp in 1995. Now, the place of his birth is looking to finally honor their native son:

Nogales finally gets around to honoring jazz great Mingus
by Richard Ruelas - Apr. 17, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Charles Mingus, lauded as one of the most influential and best American jazz composers, was an Arizonan, born in the border town of Nogales, a city that until recently wasn't very aware of its most famous son.
"I have lived all my life here in Nogales, and I didn't know anything about him," said Olivia Ainza-Kramer, president of the city's Chamber of Commerce.
Ainza-Kramer is the vice-chairwoman of the Mingus Project, a group that organizes a music festival in Mingus' honor and is looking to mark the place of his birth. The second annual Mingus festival is being held this weekend.
The city already has become a pilgrimage for Mingus fans, said Ken Tittlebaugh, president of the non-profit Mingus Project. "People come from all over the world knowing he was born here and (they) say, 'There's nothing here.' There's not a street named after him. There's not a plaque. And that's what we're trying to correct."
Mingus didn't stay in his hometown very long. He was 18 months old when his family moved to the Watts section of Los Angeles, where he grew up.
But Tittlebaugh, a retired music teacher, doesn't dwell on the short duration of Mingus' stay.
"He was born here," Tittlebaugh said, laughing, "so we're claiming him."
Mingus' father, Charles Sr., was stationed at Camp Stephen Little in Nogales as part of a Buffalo Soldier unit sent to monitor the Mexican border during that country's revolution. Mingus' mother lived in the camp as well.
There was no hospital, Tittlebaugh said, so Mingus was born on the campgrounds in April 1922.
The grounds now are a park called Camp Little, but there's nothing left of the Army structures. Tittlebaugh said he wants to put a marker at the park to acknowledge Mingus' birthplace.
It's not clear how much of a connection Mingus had with Nogales after he left. Rumor has it that Mingus occasionally played in Nogales, Sonora, the twin city on the other side of "the line," Tittlebaugh said.
Mingus did title one of his albums "Tijuana Moods," but that wasn't out of a yearning for a return to the borderlands of his infancy. Instead, according to a review in Planet Jazz, it came from some debauchery-filled days that Mingus and his drummer spent in Tijuana, Baja California.
Mingus died in 1979 in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he had visited a healer in a futile attempt to cure his Lou Gehrig's disease.
Coincidentally, Mingus' last concert was in Phoenix in 1977. A few days later, his wife wrote in her book, "Tonight at Noon," he was diagnosed with the degenerative muscular disease that made him unable to hold his upright bass and eventually took his life.
Nogales had a Mingus festival in 1993, Tittlebaugh said.
"From then on, there were sporadic little things done," he said, but nothing permanent.
Tittlebaugh has committed himself to the Mingus Foundation, aimed at putting on the cross-border festival.Tittlebaugh said he's not sure why Nogales took so long to honor Mingus.
"Some things just get lost," he said. "And the community isn't heavy on jazz."

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Call

2009-04-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

Rahsaan Roland Kirk used to refer to his two horn feats as "splitting the mind into two parts." This transcription is a 1960 two horn (manzello and tenor saxophone) self-duet that [Rahsaan] Roland Kirk played 1:05 from the beginning of The Call. It's from his [second] debut album, Introducing Roland Kirk. (Here's the mp3 of the excerpt.)

Free Duke Ellington Tribute Concerts at UCLA

2009-03-27T05:50:00.000-07:00

The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Department of Ethnomusicology and The UCLA Friends of Jazz present

Duke Ellington's 110th Birthday Anniversary Festival of Music

April 4 – 5, 2009

Schoenberg Hall, UCLA

SATURDAY, APRIL 4
2-5 pm
UCLA Jazz Student Combos play Ellingtonia, directed by Kenny Burrell, George Bohanon, Clayton Cameron, Charles Owens, Michele Weir, and Charley Harrison.
7 pm
UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra, Neal Stulberg, conductor. Performing specially selected Ellington extended works. Special guest: renowned vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Jens Lindemann,t rumpeter and director of a new student brass ensemble, playing Ellington compositions. Ellington’s Music for String Quartet arranged by Paul Chihara. Solo guest artists: pianist Tom Ranier, vocalist Bill Henderson, percussionist Clayton Cameron, and guitarist and Jazz Studies Director, Kenny Burrell.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5
1-2 pm
Ellington's folk opera Queenie Pie (excerpts), (Southern California Premiere), featuring some of UCLA’s finest vocalists and instrumentalists, conducted by Marc Bolin.
2:30-3:30 pm
Ellington's Sacred Music Concert(excerpts). Featuring Dwight Trible and Chester Whitmore, with Kalil Wilson, Lauren Michelle, and Joseph Buchanan, conducted by Charles Owens.
7 pm
UCLA Jazz Orchestra directed by Charley Harrison, UCLA Contemporary Jazz Orchestra directed by Kenny Burrell and James Newton, UCLA Latin Jazz Ensemble directed by Bobby Rodriguez. UCLA Jazz Faculty soloists with Kenny Burrell, Charles Owens, Barbara Morrison, Clayton Cameron, Roberto Miranda, and others. Special guests: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ernie Andrews, Dwight Trible, Herb Jeffries, Chester Whitmore, and Gerald Wilson.

Open to the public and free of charge

Parking in Lot 2 — $9 (Hilgard and Westholme Avenues)

Information: (310) 206-3033

http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/

http://www.friendsofjazz.ucla.edu/

Herb Jeffries sang with the Ellington band from 1940-1942. He's 95!

Attention! Songwriters Wanted

2009-03-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Second only to the blues, the backbone of the jazz tradition is the popular song. Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) wrote a lot of 'em. You've probably heard of some them. He contributed music and/or lyrics to things like Blues In The Night, Satin Doll, One for My Baby (And One for the Road), Jeepers Creepers, Autumn Leaves, etc. He's credited with over 1500 compositions!

The Johnny Mercer Foundation and the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University are encouraging songwriters and writing teams from all music genres to apply for the fourth annual Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project this June in Evanston, IL. The weeklong workshop is no-fee for participants, and will be led by Tony and Grammy award-winning composers.

Last year's program featured emerging songwriters from across the country in the fields of pop, music theatre, hip-hop, folk, Latin and country. To qualify, writers must be between the ages of 18 to 30. (That excludes me!) For writing teams, at least one member must meet this criterion. Through the generosity of The Johnny Mercer Foundation, there is no fee for this workshop for the writers and writing teams selected, and a stipend will be offered to cover a portion of travel and boarding expenses. All 2009 applications must be postmarked by April 13th.

The Day The Music Died, Jazz Edition (Part I)

2009-03-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Last month, there was a lot of media hoopla over the 50th anniversary of “the day the music died.”
Tomorrow on this date in 1959, Lester Young died just a few months short of his 50th birthday. Like the rockers, Pres’ passing was memorialized in song, most notably Goodbye Porkpie Hat by Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter’s Lester Left Town.
Pres is/was a highly influential voice on the saxophone. Amongst just a few of the many, you could name saxophonists like Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Art Pepper, Wardell Gray, Stan Getz, Paul Desmond, Paul Quinichette, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims.
A few months before the UCLA Freddie Hubbard concert, I had picked up a used copy of the double LP Complete Savoy Recordings of Lester Young. In the song Crazy Over J-Z, the band uses a riff based on the standard Louise. Since I was playing the album to death at that time, that phrase became the opening of my baritone sax solo.
Even though Paul Gonsalves was primarily influenced by Ben Webster, he was able to dig Pres, too. In his famous 1956 Newport Jazz Festival solo on Diminuendo In Blue and Crescendo In Blue, he starts chorus 13 with a quote from Lester Young’s Up ‘n’ Adam:

Gone, but not forgotten. Where’s that Lester Young postage stamp?

RAHSAAN ON TV - 37 years ago....

2009-03-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

From 1968-1973, there was a black themed television show called Soul. In 1972, they featured an hour of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The link can be found here . While you're there, check out shows featuring Tito Puente and Max Roach, amongst others. (Thanks to the Rahsaan Roland Kirk yahoo group for finding this.)

Louis Bellson 1924-2009

2009-02-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

Another great one gone...

Since he was an LA resident, Louis Bellson performed often in the area, usually with his big band. Bellson was a rare type of drummer - he was also an extremely talented composer and arranger.

Despite all his talent, he was, on top of it all, simply a nice guy. When I obtained the autograph reproduced here, he introduced himself to me! "Hi, I'm Louie." He was gracious to all who approached him.

YouTube, of course, has a video of Bellson playing his composition The Hawk Talks with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the early 50s.

JANUARY 20, 2009

2009-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Kind of Blue, Redux

2009-01-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is being reissued yet again, this time in a special 50th anniversary edition.

This prompted a friend to ask me what recordings have I bought more than once. Well, let's start with Kind of Blue. My first copy was a used copy from a swapmeet when I was in high school. It wasn't in great shape and I think I paid 50 cents for it. Later a bought a new vinyl copy and then the first CD issue. A couple of years ago, they reissued it with some alternate takes, so I had to get that. Then Columbia came out with the Complete Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, a five disk set that includes you-know-what.

Then there's Duke Ellington's Far East Suite. I owned the LP and of course had to get it on CD. Then came the "Special Mix"version with alternate takes and lastly (or maybe I should say only lately) came the "First Edition" with even more alternate takes (where were these hiding?). I could go on in this manner about several other recordings in my collection.

Kind of Blue again for me? Thanks, but no thanks.....

Freddie Hubbard 1938-2008

2008-12-31T18:27:00.001-08:00

Over the years, I've been privileged to see many greats perform in concert. However, I've only had the honor of actually playing with one of those artists. That would be the great Freddie Hubbard who, sadly, left us earlier this week. I posted my account of that evening early on in my blog here.

Here's an mp3 of one of the songs we played that night, Blues for NKWE. Besides Freddie, the featured players are Frank Silva (tenor sax), Steve Bowie (baritone sax), Alex Iles (trombone) and Washington Rucker (drums).

THE FUTURE......

2008-11-05T05:01:00.000-08:00

VOTE TODAY !!!!!!

2008-11-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Bugle Jazz

2008-10-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

It's been proven by example that you can play jazz on just about any instrument. But as far as I know, there has only been one person who played jazz on the bugle. That's right, "an Army regulation bugle." He was known as "Buglin' Sam" Dukemel. He was born Mathew Antoine Desire' Dekemel on January 15, 1903 in New Orleans. Dekemel used his bugle to hawk waffles from a cart on the streets on NOLA. He died on January 6, 1967.

[....mmmm, street waffles...]

In essence, a bugle is a trumpet without the valves, so it's got an extremely limited note pallet:
In converting some of my LPs to mp3s via my USB turntable, I came across an album I had forgotten about; a recording of a 1954 Dixieland Jubilee. In addition to Dekemel, it features musicians like Johnny St. Cyr, a member of Louis Armstrong's early ensembles.
Here's Dekemel's introduction to his feature.
And here's Bugle Call Rag.
By bending the series of available notes, especially the E natural (flatted 3rd in the key of C), Dekemel is able to expand beyond the obvious.
It's amazing what you can find in your own collection!

Paul Newman 1925-2008

2008-09-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Grand Avenue Festival

2008-09-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, downtown Los Angeles will host the annual Grand Avenue Festival. It's all about the arts- it will feature dance, flutes, guitars, and saxophones, etc.

At 3:15, the sax ensemble will be presenting what is called an "open rehearsal." We will be performing a variety of musical styles. (Yours truly did a basic arrangement of "In the Mood" for the group.) Look for me; I'll be the guy with the semi-curved soprano sax.

The Monterey Jazz Festival

2008-09-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

The 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival was held this past weekend. Once again, I was unable to attend. The last time I went was documented by the souvenir on the left. Time flies! The only acts I can recall right now are Billy Eckstine and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, but even that might not be correct.

At least recordings from the past few decades are being released. The latest batch showcases:

The Giants of Jazz, 1972 (Roy Eldridge(!), Clark Terry, Thelonious Monk, Al McKibbon & Art Blakey)

Jimmy Witherspoon, 1972, backed by the Robben Ford band

Cal Tjader, (The Best of, various years)

Tito Puente, 1977

Dave Brubeck, 1958-2007

Shirley Horn, 1994

Where in the world is....

2008-09-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

......Eddie Henderson? England!

At least he was at the time of this recording. One of the banes of a musician's existence is the constant travel necessary to make a living. But it does give their fans in far away places a chance to see their favorite artists. I recently got a CD by a UK quintet called Ambulance (it's led by bassist Arnie Somogyi.) It was a pleasant surprise to see that California musician Eddie Henderson was a special guest, augmenting them into a sextet. I don't have as much Eddie Henderson as I should, so this was a pleasant surprise. [If you haven't had a chance, check out his work with Pharoah Sanders (Journey to the One) and Billy Hart (Enchance).] The Ambulance CD is entitled Accident and Insurgency (Linn Records ). The program is all original material and the group is tight. The two front line reedists double extensively, so there are a lot of variety in the textures. One of the things I like about the group is that they bring something back to jazz that isn't present too much anymore - a sense of humor!

Happy Birthday, Prez!

2008-08-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

On this date in 1909, Lester Young was born. If not for a few unfortunate lifestyle choices, he would have been 99 years old. (This isn’t extremely far-fetched, his brother Lee Young, a drummer, passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.)

Hopefully, there are some Lester Young centennial tributes in the works!

Guitar Heroics vs. Bass Reality

2008-08-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go into one of the big chain electronics stores, there’s always a bunch of kids vying to take turns at the Guitar Hero game. This whole phenomena makes me ill. It’s such a perfect illustration of instant gratification; why take lessons or practice scales and chords? When I see these kids, I think of Quick Draw McGraw’s alter ego, El Kabong. (If you don’t know what El Kabong did with his guitar, find a baby boomer and ask them.)

On August 10th, the New York Times ran a story about a 17 year old who is poised to make Tony Hawk-like deals (i.e., lucrative) due to his prowess on his “guitar.” The next day, the Los Angeles Times ran the story of a 39 year bass player's struggles as a talented and versatile musician. The title speaks volumes – When Music Barely Pays the Bills.

When you compare the rewards of pantomiming music against the realities of a skilled musician, there’s only one thing to say: KABONG!!!

Vinyl Edition

2008-08-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, one of the participants in the Anthony Braxton online group bought a double album and he was certain that it was a mislabeled product. He told us that one album had side 1 and 4, while the other one had sides 2 and 4. It was rather amusing to watch the replies explain to the (obviously) young man that he didn’t possess a misprint, the layout was very deliberate. Even more fun was him trying to grasp the concept of the automatic record changer and stacking albums. Youth isn’t always an advantage…

They’re still making LPs and best all, they're not just for audiophiles. The Concord Music Group’s Collector’s Corner has vinyl! I have new pressings of John Coltrane (Soultrane), John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans (Waltz for Debbie), Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus), & Yusef Lateef (Eastern Sounds). I imagine that the original pressings of these albums would fetch quite a sum on eBay. But now, here they are again. There is really quite a difference in the sonic presence you get from the vinyl albums that’s missing from CDs. Another advantage – full sized text and photos for us baby boomers! ;>) Since I have a couple of these sessions in both formats, the comparison was not hard to make. Sadly, I only have one place to listen to albums (thinking about it, that’s always been true). With digital music, I can hear my music pretty much anywhere. Still, it’s worthwhile to treat yourself to a dedicated listening session with some first class vinyl sounds!

Johnny Griffin

2008-07-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

Another of the great ones has left us....

Johnny Griffin passed away this weekend at the age of 80. He had been living in Europe for quite a while. His obituary mentioned that he didn't make it back here to the US too often. I only had the pleasure of seeing him play once. It was about 1983 at Hop Singh's, a now-defunct jazz club in Los Angeles' Marina del Rey area. He played the pads off of his sax!

Pictured: the autograph I obtained that night.

Free Jazz

2008-06-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Free Jazz, in this case, is not the classic Ornette Coleman album or the style pioneered in the 60s. I wanted to blog about the jazz that was free, as in no cost. Specifically, podcasts.

As a commuter (146 miles round trip), myiPod has been indispensable to my sanity. It helps drown out the mixture of traffic noise, conversation and snoring one gets in a vanpool setting. In addition to the songs I've condensed from my CDs, LPs and iTunes (18,415 and counting), there is a large variety of FREE podcasts available.
On previous blog entries, I mentioned the Sonny Rollins Podcast and the John Coltrane Traneumentary. Additionally, NPR has been running a series entitled Jazz Profiles. Hosted by singer Nancy Wilson, it's featured artists like Charles Mingus, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Gil Evans, Bessie Smith and Count Basie. It's both informative and entertaining.

Marian McPartland's long running Piano Jazz is another source of great music. Guests like Stephane Grappelli, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans are featured.

Last, but certainly not least, Riverside records founder Orrin Keepnews is the focus of Orrin Keepnews, Producer. He recorded folks like Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery back in the 50s.

Although it doesn't fall into the free category (but certainly highly recommended none the less), the latest of some landmark Keepnews-produced recordings have been released as part of the Concord Music Group's continuing reissue of his distinguished oeuvre. The new series highlights Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Flies High, Sonny Rollins - Freedom Suite, Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar, Nat Adderley - Work Song, and McCoy Tyner - Fly With The Wind. After a half-century plus career, fortunately, Mr. Keepnews is still very much with us. I belong to the Thelonious Monk Yahoo! group and he is also a member and a very active participant. His emails to the group are very much in keeping with the personality he shows on the podcasts. Happy commuting!

Money Jungle

2008-06-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

I recently found out that the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia will be included in the 2009 continuation of the state quarter program. The people of Washington, D.C. chose native son Edward Kennedy Ellington for their design!

The Cult of Rahsaan Roland Kirk

2008-06-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

This month’s issue of Jazz Times has a cover story on Rahsaan Roland Kirk with the title shown above. ‘Cult’ has such a negative connotation that I’m surprised with that choice. How about ‘Legacy’? But otherwise, it’s a nice article that helps perpetuate his memory. Another thing that helps is more available video of his performances; today’s audiences are much more visually oriented. Fortunately, Jazz Icons has a release planned for September!

I didn’t get a chance to write about it at the time, but the January 2008 issue of Down Beat magazine featured a transcription of Rahsaan’s dual horn improvisation on Moon Ray. (It’s from Roy Haynes’ Out of the Afternoon album.) The transcription was done by yours truly. There was an error in the chord progression that was caught by no less than the author of Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker, Lawrence Koch: "The basic progression in the A-section should be: Em C#m7b5 / F#m7b5 B7b9 /. Leaving out the b5 designation completely destroys the minortonality and confuses anyone trying to study the transcription analytically. Further, the bridge prorgession moves basically like this: Bm7b5 / Bm7b5/ E7 / E7 / C#m7b5 / F#7 / B7b9 / B7b9 /. Again, forgetting the b5chords obliterates the minor key." Oops!!

1918

2008-06-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

1918 was quite a year: the "war to end all wars" came to a close. It also saw one of the great disease outbreaks of modern times - influenza.

On a jazz note, it saw the birth of two giants who are still very much with us and very active - Gerald Wilson and Hank Jones. They're celebrating together at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, July 30th.

On the personal side, on this date 90 years ago, John Weary and Beulah Buckhalter Weary gave birth to their third child, a daughter they named Amanda Artilean. That's her on her mother's lap and also pictured as a young woman. She's my grandmother. Happy 90th! (The party's on Saturday!)

Not the "usual suspects"......

2008-05-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Duke Ellington Society has adopted the term "usual suspects" to describe the more common of Ellington songs ("Mood Indigo", "Take the 'A' Train", "Solitude", etc.) used in the various covers and tributes that have taken place over the years. Fortunately, there are those that venture beyond the obvious.
Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton's new release is entitled Across the Tracks. His Ellingtonian connection on this disk is "Cop Out", a minor-keyed theme that featured the great Paul Gonsalves. The remainder of the program consists of Hamilton's mainstream stylings on standards like "Memories of You," "Intermission Riff," and "Blue Turning Grey Over You." Swinging stuff!

French multi-reedist Frederic Couderc is inspired by Duke and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. On his latest album, Kirkophonie, he plays "Black and Tan Fantasy" as a simultaneous reed duet. He also plays the rarely covered "Oclupaca" (from the "Latin American Suite") on the rarely used bass sax.

On a future entry, I'll go into the Kirk aspects of this recording and other Kirk related news...

The President

2008-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

With Presidential politics in the air, let's talk about one of the greatest to ever hold the office - Lester Young. (OK, so he was President... of the Saxophone.)

My favorite record label, Mosaic, has released a 4 CD set of the most influential segment of his work - his days with Count Basie. Like most Mosaic sets, these are limited editions. I ordered fairly early and got set #760 out of 5000. When they're gone, they're gone! Then your only option is to pay 3 times the price (or more) on eBay.

Ornette Coleman

2007-03-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ornette Coleman continues to enjoy many honors. It's all well deserved and overdue, especially considering all the scorn he suffered during the early years of his career. Who would have thought the he would have recieved a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys?
A friend of ours, Leroy Downs (aka The Jazz Cat), was able to hang out with Ornette at his New York loft and conduct an interview. When he told me about his afternoon with Ornette Coleman, I became extremely envious....

March 9th is Ornette's 77th birthday. WGBH 89.7 FM's Jazz from Studio Four host Steve Schwartz will pay tribute to jazz visionary Ornette Coleman. Ornette-ology, a career retrospective of the legendary alto-saxophonist, will air Friday, March 9th at 8pm in New England on WGBH 89.7 and will stream worldwide at http://www.wgbh.org/jazz. Listen!

Visit www.OrnetteColeman.com !

Soundies, a new PBS special

2007-03-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to post a notice about the Billy Strayhorn special before it aired, so I hope all those interested in Ellingtonia got a chance to see it. It was nice to see anything about jazz on television. My complaint, (and it's one I always seem to have to state ) is that Strayhorn is always built up at the expense of Ellington. Somehow, it doesn't matter that Ellington was able to build and lead a group into international prominence and that this organization existed a dozen years before Strayhorn joined.

But here's an advance notice of another PBS special that will be of interest to us: a fun documentary called Soundies: A Musical History. Before MTV and YouTube, there were Soundies. They were short (3-5 minute) music videos that were viewed on video-jukeboxes called "Panoram" (see picture of Nat "King" Cole).

It's airing here in Los Angeles in the evening on Saturday, March 3rd. As they say, check your local listings or go to www.pbs.org

And, just like today, they featured dancers to add to the experience.

Black History Month

2007-02-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, back at Metropolis Books, we decided to salute Black History month with a little bit of jazz. (Gee, what a stretch!)

Tenor Madness!

2007-02-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

“Tenor Madness” is the name of the only recording Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane made together. I thought I’d link them again because they’re both the subject of this entry and music service offerings.

Sonny Rollins (see www.sonnyrollins.com to subscribe to his newsletter entitled “Newk’s Time”) is the subject of a new interview on MTV’s Urge network. In it, he discusses his new record label Doxy and colleagues like Miles Davis and Don Cherry. Click here to access.

John Coltrane is the subject of a weekly series of podcasts entitled “The Traneumentary.” There are some audio interviews from him, past collaborators like Jimmy Cobb and McCoy Tyner and people he’s influenced (Terrence Blanchard, Joe Lovano, amongst others). There’s also an associated blog; see www.traneumentary.blogspot.com for information.

All of this is free, so enjoy!

Ella Fitzgerald

2007-02-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, I wrote an entry that said it was time for some more jazz-themed stamps. Well, I guess there was one in the pipeline while I was writing that. A stamp featuring the great Ella Fitzgerald debuted a couple of weeks ago. When I went to the post office shortly after they were released to pick up a couple of sheets, they told me they had quickly sold out them! A tribute to the continuing popularity of the First Lady of Song….

Speaking of tributes, there is a new Verve CD featuring music associated with Ella Fitzgerald. The cast of singers is pretty diverse. But rather than list them, see the video and find out for yourself.

New Music !

2007-02-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about the Internet is the ease it allows for finding new information. This is especially cool when it comes to finding out about new releases or reissues. My favorite record company (Mosaic Records – www.mosaicrecords.com) announced a new set of Prestige CDs in their latest newsletter.

They’re part of the Rudy Van Gelder series of recordings remastered by the man himself. It’s amazing to think that the earliest of these recordings date from 1956 and RVG is still active. Although the sound was never bad on these, the new series sounds great.

The titles – "Traneing In" (John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio), "4, 5 and 6" (Jackie McLean), "Cookin’" (Miles Davis Quintet), "El Hombre" (Pat Martino), and "Plus Four" (Sonny Rollins). Quite a lineup; great music by great musicians!

Alice Coltrane

2007-01-26T16:43:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going in the last few months. Work (reviews!) and the new book store have kept me really busy. Hence, the lack of a post since December 4th.

Unfortunately, since I last posted, we lost Alice Coltrane. I had planned to use this poster from a 1982 concert some time ago, but it fell victim to the hiatus.

This concert featured the three sons of John and Alice Coltrane - John, Jr. on bass and Ravi and Oran on saxes. They were all just teenagers at the time, so their playing wasn't quite mature yet. John, Jr. stole the show (maybe because he was the eldest). Tragically, just one week after this concert, he was killed in an automobile accident. He was two weeks shy of his 18th birthday. Oran and especially Ravi have since gone on to great heights in music.

Alice Coltrane, another giant of music, gone from the scene but represented by a great legacy.

Metropolis Books

2006-12-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

A totally self-serving non-jazz related blog entry: After lots of sweat equity, Metropolis Books opened its doors for the first time on Friday, December 1st. Already, we’ve received press from the Downtown News, with more ready to follow. It all looks very promising. Visit us in person at 440 S. Main Street or at our website at www.MetropolisBooksLA.com. Thanks!

‘Tis the Season

2006-12-01T04:43:00.000-08:00

...to break out the Christmas jazz CDs! This is the time of year when we pull out the CDs from storage that are geared for the holidays. Our favorites include:

Blue Yule – Sometimes the blues and Christmas go together like grits and eggs. Lightnin’ Hopkins and Sonny Boy Williamson (singing about "Santy Claw") are some of the folks who provide a look at a non-Hallmark view of Christmas.

A Concord Christmas – We bought this one for Rosemary Clooney’s version of "Christmas Time is Here." It’ll have you crying in your eggnog.

Jingle Bell Jazz – this is one I owned in LP form for many years. My favorites are Duke Ellington’s "Jingle Bells" and Dexter Gordon’s "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." But not to be missed is Miles Davis and Bob Dorough’s "Blue Xmas." To say it’s a cynical view of the holiday season would be an understatement.

What a Wonderful Christmas – It’s Satchmo. What else needs to be said?

A Charlie Brown Christmas – this is the soundtrack from what is now a holiday tradition. (I remember when it first aired!) The original music was composed by pianist Vince Guaraldi and played by his trio. This year, there’s a newly remastered version out, with four new bonus tracks. "Christmas Time is Here" has since become a holiday standard and "Linus and Lucy" an all-around favorite.

Kenny Burrell's 75th Birthday Celebration

2006-11-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

Guitar legend and educator Kenny Burrell turned 75 on July 31st of this year. He’s had a nearly 30 year association with UCLA as a performing artist, professor and now, head of the jazz studies program. (The photos were taken at a concert on May 19, 1979 in front on UCLA’s Janss Steps. In addition to Kenny, the group featured Teddy Edwards-tenor sax, Ernie Andrews-vocals, Art Hillary-piano, John B. Williams-bass, and Sherman Ferguson-drums.)

This Saturday, December 2nd, Kenny’s 75th birthday is being celebrated at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus with a concert. Featured artists include Pat Metheny, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, The Jazz Heritage All-Stars, The Kenny Burrell Trio, Russell Malone, Lalo Schifrin, Jeff Clayton, Hubert Laws and some very special surprise guests! Go to http://www.uclalive.org/event.asp?Event_ID=366 for more information.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KENNY !!!!

Sonny Rollins/Metropolis Books!

2006-11-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

I’ve been busy lately trying to get our bookstore put together (see the next paragraph). While Julie and I were putting together bookcases, I happened to hear a Sonny Rollins song on local radio station KKJZ that was new to me. The announcer confirmed what I had suspected; Sonny has a new CD out! It’s entitled Sonny, Please. A couple of days later, I went to Tower Records and then Borders to find it; no luck. Then I tried to get it online at Amazon. Again, no luck. It took going to Sonny’s website to find out that he had started his own record label, Doxy Records. The album, his first studio recording in five years, is only available through his website. I think it’s great when an artist takes control of their business like that. Please support them! (I can’t wait for it to arrive!)

A Shameless Plug: My wife and I are in the process of opening an independent bookstore that will serve downtown Los Angeles (440 S. Main, between 4th and 5th). Oddly enough, no one else is serving this market. It will be called Metropolis Books. I have a place marker of a website here. We’re hoping to open early in December. Wish us luck!

Art Tatum 1909-1956

2006-11-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

One of the things that made Phil Woods celebration of 75 years of life so notable is that so many jazz musicians don’t get to log that many years. 50 years ago on this date, Art Tatum passed away in Los Angeles at age 47. Some would say he was the greatest pianist ever, without including the qualifier "jazz." Classical greats like Rubinstein and Horowitz were fans. Unfortunately, there are not very many visual examples of Tatum in action. But through the magic of You Tube, you can watch him play Humoresque and Yesterdays. (Notice the economy of movement; he’s very efficient.)

The picture is from one of my favorite Tatum albums. It features him with the great Ben Webster in a sublime program of standards. If you don’t have it, you should get it!

Phil Woods Celebrates his Diamond Anniversary

2006-10-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

Why the internet is a truly wonderful thing: "WGBH 89.7FM's Jazz From Studio Four host Steve Schwartz celebrates the 75th birthday of alto saxophonist Phil Woods (born Nov. 2, 1931) with a four-hour retrospective of his ongoing career, which began more than 50 years ago. One of the true masters of the bop vocabulary, Woods has played with an impressive array of artists—touring and recording with jazz legends Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, and Benny Goodman and playing on pop albums by Billy Joel, Carly Simon and Steely Dan."

When is this thing happening?
Friday, November 3, 8pm—Midnight (EST)

How can I hear it, I'm not in Boston?
Streaming LIVE worldwide from WGBH Studios in Boston at wgbh.org/jazz.

The picture on the left is a screen capture of Mr. Woods with David Sanborn and his band from the Night Music show. It was a great show that aired in the late 80s at an ungodly hour. The time slot and the music ensured that it was seen by no one. It featured interesting groupings (one performance had Carla Bley and Bootsy Collins) and I still have some of the videotapes I made from it. When I get the time, I’m going to upload them to YouTube. I’ll post a note when I get there.

Happy Birthday, Phil !!

The Elements of Jazz

2006-10-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this article a couple of days ago. The author is unknown. (If anyone knows who wrote this, let me know and I’ll add an attribution.)

The Elements of Jazz

Piano:
Pianists are intellectuals and know-it-alls. They studied theory, harmony and composition in college. Most are riddled with self-doubt. They are usually bald. They should have big hands, but often don't. They were social rejects as adolescents. They go home after the gig and play with toy soldiers. Pianists have a special love-hate relationship with singers. If you talk to the piano player during a break, he will condescend.Bass:Bassists are not terribly smart. The best bassists come to terms with their limitations by playing simple lines and rarely soloing. During the better musical moments, a bassist will pull his strings hard and grunt like an animal. Bass players are built big, with paws for hands, and they are always bent over awkwardly. If you talk to the bassist during a break, you will not be able to tell whether or not he's listening.

Drums:
Drummers are radical. Specific personalities vary, but are always extreme. A drummer might be the funniest person in the world, or the most psychotic, or the smelliest. Drummers are uneasy because of the many jokes about them, most of which stem from the fact that they aren't really musicians. Pianists are particularly successful at making drummers feel bad. Most drummers are highly excitable; when excited, they play louder. If you decide to talk to the drummer during a break, always be careful not to sneak up on him.

Saxophone:
Saxophonists think they are the most important players on stage. Consequently, they are temperamental and territorial. They know all the Coltrane and Bird licks but have their own sound, a mixture of Coltrane and Bird. They take exceptionally long solos, which reach a peak half way through and then just don't stop. They practice quietly but audibly while other people are trying to play. They are obsessed. Saxophonists sleep with their instruments, forget to shower, and are mangy. If you talk to a saxophonist during a break, you will hear a lot of excuses about his reeds.

Trumpet:
Trumpet players are image-conscious and walk with a swagger. They are often former college linebackers. Trumpet players are very attractive to women, despite the strange indentation on their lips. Many of them sing; misguided critics then compare them to either Louis Armstrong or Chet Baker depending whether they're black or white. Arrive at the session early, and you may get to witness the special trumpet game. The rules are: play as loud and as high as possible. The winner is the one who plays loudest and highest. If you talk to a trumpet player during a break, he might confess that his favorite player is Maynard Ferguson, the merciless God of loud-high trumpeting.

Guitar:
Jazz guitarists are never very happy. Deep inside they want to be rock stars, but they're old and overweight. In protest, they wear their hair long, prowl for groupies, drink a lot, and play too loud. Guitarists hate piano players because they can hit ten notes at once, but guitarists make up for it by playing as fast as they can. The more a guitarist drinks, the higher he turns his amp. Then the drummer starts to play harder, and the trumpeter dips into his loud/high arsenal. Suddenly, the saxophonist's universe crumbles, because he is no longer the most important player on stage. He packs up his horn, nicks his best reed in haste, and storms out of the room. The pianist struggles to suppress a laugh. If you talk to a guitarist during the break he'll ask intimate questions about your 14-year-old sister.

Vocals:
Vocalists are whimsical creations of the all-powerful jazz gods. They are placed in sessions to test musicians' capacity for suffering. They are not of the jazz world, but enter it surreptitiously. Example: A young woman is playing minor roles in college musical theater. One day, a misguided campus newspaper critic describes her singing as "...jazzy." Viola! A star is born! Quickly she learns "My Funny Valentine," "Summertime," and "Route 66." Her training complete, she embarks on a campaign of musical terrorism. Musicians flee from the bandstand as she approaches. Those who must remain feel the full fury of the jazz universe. The vocalist will try to seduce you and the rest of the audience by making eye contact, acknowledging your presence, even talking to you between tunes. DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP! Look away, make your distaste obvious. Otherwise the musicians will avoid you during their breaks. Incidentally, if you talk to a vocalist during a break, she will introduce you to her "manager."

Trombone:
The trombone is known for its pleading, voice-like quality. "Listen," it seems to say in the male tenor range, "Why won't anybody hire me for a gig?" Trombonists like to play fast, because their notes become indistinguishable and thus immune to criticism. Most trombonists played trumpet in their early years, then decided they didn't want to walk around with a strange indentation on their lips. Now they hate trumpet players, who somehow get all the women despite this disfigurement. Trombonists are usually tall and lean, with forlorn faces. They don't eat much. They have to be very friendly, because nobody really needs a trombonist. Talk to a trombonist during a break and he'll ask you for a gig, try to sell you insurance, or offer to mow your lawn.

Picking the Tune
Every time a tune ends, someone has to pick a new one. That's a fundamental concept that, unfortunately, runs at odds with jazz group processes. Tune selection makes a huge difference to the musicians. They love to show off on tunes that feel comfortable, and they tremble at the threat of the unknown. But to pick a tune is to invite close scrutiny: "So this is how you sound at your best. Hmm..." It's a complex issue with unpredictable outcomes. Sometimes no one wants to pick a tune, and sometimes everyone wants to pick a tune. The resulting disagreements lead to faction-building and under extreme conditions even impromptu elections. The politics of tune selection makes for some of the session's best entertainment.
Example 1: No one wants to pick a tune (previous tune ends) (silence) trumpet player: "What the f..@*? Is someone gonna to pick a tune?" (silence) trumpet player: "This s%!* is lame. I'm outta here." (Storms out of room, forgetting to pay tab). rest of band (in unison): "Yes!!!" (Band takes extended break, puts drinks on trumpet player's tab).
Example 2: Everyone wants to pick a tune, resulting in impromptu election and eventual tune selection (previous tune ends) (pianist and guitarist simultaneously): "Beautiful Love!"/"Donna Lee!" guitarist to pianist: "You just want to play your fat, stupid ten-note chords!" pianist to guitarist: "You just want to play a lot of notes really fast!" saxophonist: "'Giant Steps'." (a treacherous Coltrane tune practiced obsessively by saxophonists.) guitarist and pianist (together): "Go ahead, a$%^hole." trumpet player: "This sh^%& is lame. 'Night in Tunisia'." (a Dizzy Gillespie tune offering bounteous opportunities for loud, high playing.) saxophonist: "Sorry, forgot my earplugs, Maynard." (long, awkward silence) pianist, guitarist, saxophonist, trumpet player all turn to drummer: "Your turn, Skinhead." (drummer pauses to think of hardest possible tune; a time-tested drummer ploy to punish real musicians who play actual notes.) drummer: "Stablemates." trumpet player: F..@* this! I'm outta here." (Storms out of room. Bartender chases after him.) ("Stablemates") trombonist: "Did someone forget to turn off the CD player?"
-- Not only are these disagreements fun to watch; they create tensions that will last all through the night. (As an educated audience member, you might want to keep a flow chart diagramming the shifting alliances. You can also keep statistics on individual tune-calling. Under no circumstances, though, should you take sides or yell out song titles. Things are complicated enough already.)

Alice Coltrane

2006-10-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

Some reminiscing in tempo: Last week, I got to be a recruiter as part of a career fair held at my alma mater, UCLA. As I was driving home, the iPod was playing Charlie Parker’s version of "Laura." The composer, David Raksin, was on the staff of the UCLA music department back when I was a student there. (I used to see him occasionally at Schoenberg Hall) This in turn reminded of a poster I recently came across from a concert at Schoenberg Hall from way back in 1978. One of the things that tell you it was ‘way back’ was the ticket price - $2.50! Now, that doesn’t even cover the fees on a ticket.

Alice Coltrane had Reggie Workman on bass and Roy Haynes on drums backing her. Quite a crew! They played some challenging stuff and it’s still that way today. How do I remember? Because this was one of the few concerts I’ve ever been to that was recorded (legally, at least) for posterity. It became a double album called "Transfiguration." She didn’t come out with another new recording for 26 years!

Time for some new jazz stamps!!!

2006-10-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

With each postage increase, the previous set of commemorative stamps becomes obsolete. It was way back in 1995 when the stamps you see at the left were released. Other honorees over the years have included Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday.

There’s criteria that an honoree must meet to grace a stamp. For one thing, unless they’re a former president, they must be dead at least ten years. Here are the complete rules. (Anyone know somebody on the selection committee?)

If I were to choose the next series, I would pick (in alphabetical order):

Sidney Bechet (1897-1959)
Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931)
Art Blakey (1919-1990)
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
Stan Getz (1927-1991)
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)
Dexter Gordon (1923-1990)
Woody Herman (1913-1987)
Earl Hines (1903-1983)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977)
Lee Morgan (1938-1972)
Sun Ra (1914-1993)
Lester Young (1909-1959)

Any thoughts on this out there? (How cool would a Sun Ra stamp be?)

Stephane Grappelli

2006-10-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

One of the best features on the iPod is the shuffle function. I have almost 12,000 songs on mine, and it can lead to some interesting transitions. It can be a little jarring to go from Bessie Smith to Anthony Braxton. But still, it makes for some interesting listening.

A couple of days ago, three songs in a row by the Quintet of the Hot Club of France played sequentially. Besides guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), the group featured violinist Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997).

I had the pleasure of seeing Grappelli in the mid-90s at the Hollywood Bowl. I saw him taken backstage in his wheelchair before the concert. He looked extremely frail and weak and I had serious doubts that this concert would be worthwhile. I got him to sign my book (reproduced above). I even got to talk to him a little bit. His English wasn’t very good, but it was better than my French!

When it came time for his concert segment, Grappelli was walked very slowly to his seat by his nephew. The entire Bowl was silent at the sight of this man who looked like he should be in a hospital instead of center stage. He picked up his bow and started the first number. It was as if we all had been transported back 60 years! Miraculously, Grappelli had lost nothing of his technique – there were no blurred runs, no intonation problems - nothing. It was as if the music had the power to melt the years from him. I know it sounds odd, but at the start of the first number, you could hear the entire audience smile.

What's new on my 'turntable'

2006-09-25T04:44:00.000-07:00

Like Saxophones? Well, Max Roach alumnus Odean Pope has a group with 9 of them teamed with a rhythm section. If that weren’t enough, he adds 3 guest tenor saxophonists – Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and James Carter! This is great Coltrane influenced music. It’s called Locked and Loaded: Live at the Blue Note and is on the Artist label. (Ornette Coleman provides liner notes. Saxophones aplenty!)

For the collectors, a classic Charles Mingus recording is released on CD for the first time. It was recorded at UCLA (my alma mater). I own the limited edition LP version that was released in the mid-80s. (I could have made a lot of money if I had sold it on eBay!). It’s called Music written for Monterey 1965, played in its entirety at UCLA. Quite a mouthful, but it’s a typical Mingus statement. One of the compositions on the album is called "Once Upon a Time, There Was a Holding Corporation Called Old America" which was later known as "The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive-ass Slippers"!

Happy Birthday, John Coltrane!!!!

2006-09-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

On this date 80 years ago, John Coltrane was born. Sadly, he made just a little over half of that time. But he accomplished so much in such a short time – stints with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk before leading a quartet that redefined small group improvisation.

For those who are looking for a place to start listening to his music, I would recommend the 2 –disc set on Rhino appropriately entitled The Last Giant. It starts with a homemade recording as a 19 year old in the Navy and covers his development up until his Impulse! Records stint. (The Impulse! recordings can be the most daunting to the uninitiated.)

For the musicians out there:

There are 25 John Coltrane solos available at http://www.saxsolos.com/ The cool thing about this website is that you can place your order via email and they’re emailed back to you as a pdf file. Very fast! (He has a current catalog of over 800 transcriptions, ranging from Sidney Bechet to David Sanborn. He also does transcriptions by commission.)

Andrew White has transcribed EVERY John Coltrane solo ever recorded! (He also has a large library of Charlie Parker and Eric Dolphy solos available.) I’ve bought several of his transcriptions over the years. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play Transition or Ogunde, but I had to buy them just to see what the performances looked like! I can’t remember how much his catalog costs, but you can write to him at: Andrew’s Music, 4830 South Dakota Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20017.

Jazz and The Simpsons

2006-09-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Great Simpsons episode last night!

In order to calm Bart’s antisocial tendancies, he’s given a drum set. Much to hard core jazz fan Lisa’s chagrin, Bart has a natural affinity for jazz drumming. (In an episode a few years ago, Bart thought the animation was American’s greatest art form – he didn’t count jazz "because it sucks.") But what galled Lisa the most was that Bart was given a jazz nickname ("Tick Tock" Simpson – for his steady time). To quiet her, the musicians give her the name "Downbeat" Simpson since she’s such a downer. (Personally, I think all the cool jazz nicknames are already taken.)

Lots of cool jazz references. One of my favorites was the sign outside the for the "8 hour jazz benefit – 2 songs will be played!"

Ornette is back !!!!

2006-09-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

At the end of 2004, we saw the Ornette Coleman Quartet at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. It was one of the most memorable concerts I’ve ever seen. About the only people who didn’t think so were the blue-haired subscribers who left in droves after the first number.

Yesterday, Ornette released a new live album called Sound Grammar with the same quartet we saw two years ago – Ornette on alto, trumpet and violin, his son Denardo on drums and two basses played by Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen. It’s his first album in ten years.

The idea of two basses apparently goes back to Duke Ellington, who started using that configuration back in the mid-1930s and used it off and on until the end of his career. But there is not that much similarity in how the two composers use this set up. Ornette uses one bass playing counter melodies, primarily arco (with bow) and the other bassist in a more tradition, pizzicato (plucked) role.

It’s great music and is another great addition to my Ornette collection. While it probably won’t get much play on the radio, I’d highly recommend it. The album comes full circle (pun intended) by featuring a new version of Turnaround, a composition he featured on his 1959 Contemporary album Tomorrow is the Question! (Hey, as a 47 year old, that wasn’t that long ago!)

9/11 - New York and Sonny Rollins

2006-09-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

After a long absence, I’m back with another entry...

Work has been really keeping me busy lately and has also entailed more travel than usual. One of the places I got to go was New York City. It was the first time I had ever been. As a native of the Los Angeles area, I’ve tended to take all of the New York propaganda with a grain of salt, but once I was there, I can see why they feel the way they do about their city.

I was given a car tour of the city and one of the places we stopped was the hole that used to be the World Trade Center. The footprint of the area was smaller than what I would have expected. However, the height is where the center had its area. Amongst all the tall buildings nearby, it was hard to imagine them being dwarfed by what was no longer there.

Shortly after the attacks in 2001, Sonny Rollins played a concert in New York City. It was recorded and released in 2004 as “Without A Song: The 9/11 Concert.” Great playing by one of the legends of the tenor saxophone. If you don’t have it, get it. It’ll help you put things in perspective. (As a side note, there’s some video of Sonny at www. sonny Rollins.com/birthday.php)

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

JATP Video

2006-06-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

After a long absense....
Hey! A friend told me about a Jazz at the Philharmonic video that's available for viewing. It features Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and many others.
Check it out at http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/video/53031

Jackie McLean [1932-2006]

2006-04-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

Alto sax great Jackie McLean passed away last week at the age of 73. Unfortunately, I only had one opportunity to see him play in person. It was in the mid-80s at the famous San Francisco club called the Keystone Corner. The pictures are on the dark side because, like most clubs, they didn't allow flash photography. (One of my favorite albums of all time, Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s Bright Moments was recorded live at the Keystone.)

On this particular occasion, McLean co-led a quintet with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. This quintet alternated with another quintet led by tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, featuring trumpeter Woody Shaw. What a double bill!

Johnny Griffin

2006-03-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

After a two month absence, another entry!!!

I saw Johnny Griffin at a now defunct Marina del Rey jazz club called Hop Singh’s in the mid- 80’s. Nice place, and it didn’t last very long, but it did manage to have groups like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra.
Griffin was featured last week in the Los Angeles Times on expatriate musicians. Griffin didn’t play in the US very often and his visit to the West Coast was a very rare event. [The autograph reads ‘John Griffin III.’]

Ornette Coleman

2006-01-22T10:59:00.000-08:00

I thought I’d go with the great Ornette Coleman for my next entry. The autographs shown above are on Ornette’s Crisis! album. The album is a fairly rare Impulse! recording from 1969. The cover seems appropriate for today's times.

Old and New Dreams was an Ornette Coleman alumni band consisting of Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. They played UCLA and I got their autographs. I found out that Crisis! was so rare that Don Cherry remarked that even he didn’t have a copy of it! (A few months after this encounter, I went to see him at a gig at McCabe’s and gave him a cassette of it. He greatly appreciated it.) My copy is signed by all six of the participants, plus Ed Blackwell.

(Ornette Coleman and his son Denardo signed at a later gig.)

My Jazzy Christmas Presents

2006-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings
An 8 CD collection of Jelly Roll! The sound is kind of rough, but if you’re into the roots music, it’s a must have. (It’s only the second jazz item in my collection with an explicit lyrics warning label!)

Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo
I saw this book several years ago at the Grove in LA and had never seen it anywhere else since then. A really good book!

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

2005-12-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

For my last post of 2005, I have another entry dedicated to the sadly underrated and neglected (you didn’t see him on Ken Burns’ Jazz, did you?) Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977). As I mentioned in one of my early blog entries, I saw him 6 months before he passed away on December 5, 1977. It’s hard to believe it’s been 28 years! So in honor of Rahsaan, I thought I’d post another page from the prospective book of Kirk transcriptions. This one is from the "Introducing Roland Kirk" album and this excerpt is his unaccompanied manzello/tenor sax duet near the beginning of the blues entitled "The Call."

!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Miles Davis

2005-12-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Back in the mid-80s, they used to hold various incarnations of the Kool Jazz Festival.

For the San Diego version, my friend Ellen got me a job driving the artists from their dressing areas (behind the dugout) to the stage in center field in a electric cart.

Most were nice (especially Patti LaBelle), but there was one jerk (his name rhymes with Joe Sample).

I approached Miles Davis before I gave him a ride to the stage. He signed it, but said nothing the whole time. Honestly, I would have been surprised if he had spoken!

I always feel like somebody’s watching me…..

2005-11-07T04:13:00.000-08:00

Under the Freedom of Information Act, you can obtain information on:

an organization, business, investigation, historical event, or incident.
a third party.
a deceased person.
yourself.

At the FBI website (www.fbi.gov), they have published some of the most popular FOIA requests. From a jazz standpoint, these include Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Charles Mingus amongst others. An interesting peek into an interesting period of time…..

Benny Carter

2005-10-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

Benny Carter's autograph

I’m back, after a too long absence. I hope I didn’t lose too many of my dozen readers! My time has been spent on getting my genealogy website online. It’s at www.jamesbowiefmc.com, dedicated to my great-great-great-great grandfather, James Bowie, free man of color and his descendants. The web site is still in the formative stages, but I’ll be trying to get back to weekly entries here at Blog-O-Jazz.

Back to the music….

One of the cool things about Los Angeles is that you can run into celebrities without really trying. For me, those of movie and TV fame don’t impress me that much and I would never care enough to ask one of them for their autograph. But as you know, a jazz musician is a totally different matter.

Back in 1979, at an Ellington tribute concert, I happened to turn around to find the great Benny Carter [1907-2003] seated directly behind me. Benny Carter was a great arranger and composer and pretty much played every instrument. His specialties were alto sax and trumpet. He was an amazing musician with an amazingly long career, with recordings from the 1920s to the 1990s!

Diz, Bird, Monk & Trane

2005-10-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Diz, Bird, Monk & Trane

There are two newly discovered, previously unknown, never before issued live concerts that you MUST own. Get them today!!!

The first is by Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker, recorded in June of 1945. The ‘be-bop’ movement was in its infancy. The songs they played were new, each one destined to become a standard. The group even has trouble recalling the title of ‘that Tadd Dameron tune’ (Hot House).

The sound is great for a 1945 live session. Most importantly, the group really gets to stretch out – the average song is 7 minutes, twice that available on the 78 rpm records of the time. Bird does things here that you don’t hear on the studio recordings. He even makes several excursions into the altissimo register. The rhythm section is Al Haig, Curly Russell and Max Roach. Tenor saxophonist Don Byas and drummer Big Sid Catlett guest on a song each.
The second captures the Thelonious Monk quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall in 1957. This group burns! This concert is extra significant because of the limited amount of material documenting the Monk/Coltrane collaboration. Supporting cast: Ahmed Adbul-Malik on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums.

On Tuesday, 11 October, our local jazz radio station KKJZ (88.1 FM) will present a one hour program on the Monk/Coltrane connection at 7:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time). For those of you outside the area, go to http://www.kkjz.org for their stream broadcast.

A New Orleans Memory

2005-09-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

Autographs of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 1983

For obvious reasons, here’s another entry about New Orleans:

My first trip to New Orleans occurred in August, 1983. Being a southern California native, my attention was immediately seized by the overwhelming humidity. I was glad my grandparents had left the South before I was born!

As a jazz fanatic, I needed to make the pilgrimage to Preservation Hall, home of traditional (don’t call it Dixieland) music. It’s small un-air-conditioned room, and on that hot humid night was completely filled with tourists like me. The band consisted of Raymond Burke (1904-1986) on clarinet, Emanuel Paul (1904-1988) on tenor sax, Emanuel Sayles (1907-1986) on banjo. Leading the band was trumpeter ‘Kid’ Thomas Valentine (1896-1987). Kid Thomas was OLD – I’m not sure that he wasn’t a conductor on the Underground Railroad! ;>)

It seemed Kid Thomas had a range of about an octave and a half. But he was still able to provide a punchy and quirky lead for the band. It was interesting to hear a trumpeter whose style owed more to King Oliver than Louis Armstrong.

A friend of ours was recently lamenting the many artists she had missed seeing (Tito Puente amongst them) and the city of New Orleans due to procrastination. If someone is playing nearby, go see them! As you can see by the dates of death for the Preservation Hall band members, I barely made it in time to see these gentlemen. But New Orleans will be back!

Jam Session!

2005-09-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Jam Sessions at the Vintage Cafe!

Well, last night, I performed in public for the first time in two years and only the second time in about 12 years!

The occasion was the weekly Tuesday night jam session at the Vintage Café in Pasadena. The hardest part was making myself get out of the car. There was no ego tripping or endless solos; and everyone was cool. The host of the jam, drummer Tony DiGiovanni, went out of his way to make everyone feel welcome. House bassist Al Gruskoff was also a big help in easing my nerves.

All told, at varying times, there were two alto saxophonists, two flutists, two vocalists and one each on harmonica, trumpet, trombone, clarinet and tenor sax.

There was a variety of abilities amongst the horns – I wasn’t the best (that honor would have to have to go to a clarinetist(!) named John), but I wasn’t the worst either. There were things I wish I would/could have done better, but I did manage to surprise myself on how well I did when they called a funk blues in E (C# on the alto)! Considering the long hiatus, I can hold my head up.

New Orleans Suite

2005-09-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Suite

One of my favorite Duke Ellington albums is 1970’s "New Orleans Suite." It features the last recordings of Johnny Hodges. The first track, the appropriately titled "Blues for New Orleans" features him for the last time with the band.

New Orleans is (present tense) one of the great cities of the world. They’ll eventually come back with your help. If you can spare anything, think about www.redcross.org.

The title of the fourth track says it all - "Thanks For The Beautiful Land On The Delta."

The Kool Jazz Festival

2005-08-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Air - Henry Threadgill (reeds, b. 1944), Fred Hopkins (bass, 1947-1999), and Steve McCall (drums, 1933-1989) [photo by Steve Bowie]

The more adventurous types of jazz don’t make it out to LA very often. Unfortunately, the city is more receptive to smooth jazz (or as I prefer to call it, "snooze jazz").

One of the most notable exceptions was the 1982 Kool Jazz Festival. Held at various venues through the city, it featured the World Saxophone Quartet, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Air, Lester Bowie’s Root to the Source, and Anthony Braxton. It didn’t sell a lot of tickets, so this was the last time we saw such an assemblage in Los Angeles.

2005-08-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

Paul Gonsalves "in action"

Duke Ellington and Paul Gonsalves

2005-08-24T04:31:00.000-07:00

Ellington in Copenhagen, 1965

For my birthday yesterday, I got a Duke Ellington [1899-1974] DVD entitled "Copenhagen Concert, Parts I and II." It just came out in June and I would highly recommend it.

It was filmed in 1965 and has a lot of the great stars of the Ellington band on hand. The shows were originally broadcast on Danish TV. It’s in a very crisp black and white with great sound. The camera work/direction is just OK since there are times when the correct soloist or sections aren’t in the frame.

About the music – what can you say? This was an Ellington band that still had Cat Anderson, Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges, et al.

One of the things Ellington was known for was his refusal to fire anyone. (Although there was one exception - a young Charles Mingus got fired for getting into a knife fight with valve trombonist Juan Tizol.) Ellington’s preferred method of discipline was to embarrass the offender.

This DVD captures such an incident. During the second number of the first set, "Ad Lib on Nippon", Paul Gonsalves [1920-1974] is sound asleep! (Maybe it was jetlag, too much cough syrup, etc.?)
The next three numbers called feature Gonsalves, but you would never know he was "impaired" as he proceeds to blow the stuffing out of the songs.

But by the time we get to the second set, Jimmy Hamilton quickly steps into Gonsalves’ usual solo spot on "Perdido." Why? Because Gonsalves is out cold, with his saxophone in his mouth!

The Fifty Greatest Jazz Pianists

2005-08-08T04:32:00.000-07:00

Normally, I try to keep things positive here at Blog-O-Jazz, but sometime exceptions have to be made. Last week, I was browsing through the bookstore and saw a new book entitled “The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis and Photos.” It’s by Gene Rizzo and published by Hal Leonard Publishing.

From the Hal Leonard website: “Spanning players from eighty years of history, this bold book steps forward and claims who are the greatest. Compiled from an extensive survey conducted with the best jazz minds in the education, publishing and entertainment worlds, noted jazz journalist Gene Rizzo summarized the chosen and presents a concise bio on the essence of these jazz giants.”

“Choices were made on the basis of chops, originality, creativity, and degree of influence. This book will either confirm some readers' opinions or open debate with others, but ultimately the book provides an impressive summary of the greatest jazz piano players of all time.”

If they had called the book “Gene Rizzo’s Favorite Piano Player’s of All Time” I wouldn’t have been perturbed. To purport to rank the ‘greatest’, in order, is an exercise in futility. But I’ve never seen a list this far off the mark:

1. Oscar Peterson
2. Bill Evans
3. Bud Powell
4. Art Tatum
5. Monty Alexander
6. Benny Green
7. Andre Previn
8. Tommy Flanagan
9. George Shearing
10. Red Garland
11. McCoy Tyner
12. Gene Harris
13. Kenny Drew
14. Hampton Hawes
15. Thelonious Monk
16. Ahmad Jamal
17. Billy Taylor
18. Horace Silver
19. Hank Jones
20. Chick Corea
21. Tete Montoliu
22. Phineas Newborn, Jr.
23. Teddy Wilson
24. Nat “King” Cole
25. Erroll Garner
26. Cedar Walton
27. Count Basie
28. Dave Brubeck
29. Cyrus Chestnut
30. Lennie Tristano
31. Fats Waller
32. Dick Hyman
33. Wynton Kelly
34. Dave McKenna
35. John Bunch
36. Kenny Barron
37. Bobby Timmons
38. Duke Ellington
39. Earl Hines
40. Jimmy Rowles
41. Ray Bryant
42. Herbie Hancock
43. Jelly Roll Morton
44. Al Haig
45. Derek Smith
46. Ralph Sharon
47. Mary Lou Williams
48. Willie “The Lion” Smith
49. Sir Roland Hanna
50. Keith Jarrett

Normally, there is room for debate in any list like this, but this one is flat-out WRONG! Imagine, Cecil Taylor isn’t even included! Cyrus Chestnut over Herbie Hancock ?! Andre Previn at NUMBER 7 ?!! Has he even recorded any jazz in the last 40 years????

Duke Ellington is #38 and John Bunch is 35 ??!! How does John Bunch even make the list? How does Earl Hines not make the Top Ten? Ralph Sharon BUT NO JAMES P. JOHNSON??? Where’s Herbie Nichols??? You get my point…………

Save yourself $20 that this book costs and spend it on an Art Tatum CD. I imagine that their book of the Top Fifty Reed Players of All Time would include Mezz Mezzrow and Kenny G in the Top Ten!!

2005-08-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Birth certificate of Ronald Theodore Krik aka Rahsaan Roland Kirk

As you’ve seen so far in this blog, Rahsaan Roland Kirk ranks high amongst my favorite musicians.

If he were alive, today he would have reached the biblical three score and ten (that’s 70 years). He died of a stroke at the age of 42 in 1977. There seems to be some controversy about when he was born, fueled by Kirk himself, since he claimed he was born in 1936. Even the recently published biography of Kirk uses the 1936 date. This is easily settled when one orders a copy of his birth certificate, like I did in 2000. (The same date was used on his Social Security card application below.) He was born Ronald Theodore Kirk. (Roland is an anagram of Ronald.) He added Rahsaan in 1970, claiming the name came to him in a dream.

When I ordered the birth certificate, coincidentally, it happened to be stamped on the 65th anniversary of his birth. Happy 70th Birthday, Rahsaan!

Rahsaan's Social Security Number Application

2005-08-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Rahsaan Roland Kirk's 1952 application for a Social Security number

Art Pepper

2005-08-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Art Pepper's autograph

Another entry from "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz"…..

Up until about 1979, Art Pepper was someone I deliberately ignored. Why? Because I knew he played with Stan Kenton and have never (even today!) cared for Kenton’s music.

Fortunately for me, one of my friends, Laurence McFalls, educated me. Laurence also didn’t care for Kenton and explained to me what Pepper’s playing was all about. It didn’t fit into the mold that I had pre-conceived. His playing was swinging, interesting, full of surprises and continued to evolve through his life.

If you read his interviews or his autobiography "Straight Life," sometimes Pepper comes across as cocky. This is what I expected when I asked him for his autograph. But like many others, he was unfamiliar with the book and was flattered to find himself included in it. He wrote "My best, be cool and enjoy, Art Pepper."

In a music with many tragic figures, Art Pepper certainly stood out. Just when he had put addiction and prison behind him, with a successful career looming ahead, Art Pepper succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 56 in 1982.

Miles Davis and Gil Evans

2005-07-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Miles Davis and Gil Evans Hollywood Bowl Concert Program, July 20th, 1983

Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the Miles Davis [1926-1991] and Gil Evans [1912-1988] concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Davis and Evans were celebrated for their earlier collaborations like "Sketches of Spain" and "Porgy and Bess." Although they were on the same bill, it was stressed that they would not be playing together.

Evans’ group played first, followed by Miles. But the set-up for Evans’ group still remained on the stage. Could Miles be going against expectations again?

After Miles played his set and an encore to an enthusiastic crowd, the audience lingered. And lingered some more. It wasn’t until the house lights came up and an announcement was made on the PA that everyone dispersed into the night. We had hoped in vain….

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz

2005-07-20T04:26:00.001-07:00

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz

Zoot Sims

2005-07-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

Zoot Sims

Aside from album covers, most of the autographs I’ve collected over the years have been in a book called "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz." It’s by two British writers, Brian Case and Stan Britt. As a British book, it has musicians that a lot of us Americans are not familiar with, like Bruce Thompson and Mike Westbrook. But it also had the advantage that nearly all the musicians I had sign in it were unfamiliar with it. Most read their entries very carefully and a few flipped through the book to see the rest.

The illustrations in the book are largely album cover reproductions with a few photos thrown in. It’s out of print now, but I’ve seen it in some used bookstores (and Borders.com has a few copies).

I thought the honor of the first entry reproduction should go the John Haley "Zoot" Sims [1925 –1985] since he had the best comment. Besides cool nicknames, musicians generally have a good sense of humor. When he looked at his picture, he said: "Hey, I’m wearing the same clothes!"

Freddie Hubbard and the UCLA Jazz Ensemble

2005-07-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

Freddie Hubbard and the UCLA Jazz Ensemble, 1980

I’ve only had the pleasure of playing with one major jazz artist in my career. (To be hopeful, I should add ‘so far.’) That artist was Freddie Hubbard.

The director of the UCLA Jazz Ensembles at that time was Gary Gray. He was able to work some magic and get the great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard as our guest soloist! To put this in perspective, Freddie was still in his early 40s and about at the peak of his popularity and technical prowess. This was a guy who had played with John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Ornette Coleman (amongst many) and now he was playing with us!!

The night before the concert, we had our only dress rehearsal with Freddie. There were a few bumps and glitches, but we thought we had them nailed down by the time the evening was done. The concert itself took place on Wednesday, April 16th, 1980 at UCLA’s venerable Royce Hall. The second jazz ensemble opened the show and then the first ensemble played a short set of four numbers before Freddie joined us. He played 6 numbers with us and each one managed to show how nervous us young players were! The opening number, "Blues for NKWE" featured a very shaky introduction, but we recovered. After all, it’s pretty hard to mess up the blues! This number had my only solo of the evening – two choruses on the baritone sax. (In addition to baritone, I played tenor sax, bass clarinet and flute for the evening). A one chorus interlude followed my solo and then Freddie played 10 choruses. It was surreal to hear such great playing being done just 10 feet away from you!

Next followed his original composition (now a jazz standard) "Little Sunflower", "The Summer Knows", "The Love Connection" (it was originally scheduled to be last per the program, but it was switched to the penultimate spot). We finished with "The Intrepid Fox", a fast and tricky tune. After that, the audience wanted more, but we didn’t have anything else! So, we played "The Love Connection" again. Actually, it was good that we did since we messed it up pretty badly the first time we played it. (The band got lost during Freddie’s solo and he had to revert to the melody to show us where we should be.)

Some of the band members have gone on to great careers in music. Trombonist Alex Iles keeps busy playing with groups like Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, in addition to teaching low brass at Cal Arts. Drummer Washington Rucker in active in the scene by not only leading his own groups, but also acting and teaching.

Because of my class schedule, I changed to the number two jazz band for my senior year, playing lead alto sax. During my last quarter, the second alto was a guy named Dave Koz. I wonder what happened to him?

Sun Ra and Ron Wilson

2005-06-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

Sun Ra and tenor saxophonist Ron Wilson. Perhaps some sort of telepathy is being worked here? (photo by Steve Bowie)