Potrzebie
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Ray Smith, host of The Jazz Decades, tells his life story. Smith died February 26, 2010 at the age of 87. He first produced The Jazz Decades in 1958 for WKOX in Framingham, Massachusetts. He joined WGBH Boston in 1972 and over the next 38 years, he produced more than 1900 programs. Some can be heard here.
¶ 1:54 PM 0 comments
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
1959 Newport Jazz Festival
Streaming of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival begins today with Joe Williams, Count Basie, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross! For previous LH&R posts here, click on "vocalese" in the labels below.
Just as the Basie set had built to an ecstatic peak, Williams introduces special guests Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, who leapt into the limelight just the previous year with their astonishing debut, Sing a Song of Basie on ABC-Paramount (later reissued on Impulse). Comprised of vocalese pioneers Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross, this invigorating trio specialized in setting lyrics (primarily penned by Hendricks) to existing and particularly memorable instrumental jazz solos. Ross was actually one of the first to successfully venture into vocalese with her 1952 hit "Twisted" (based on a famous Wardell Gray tenor sax solo). Her early experiments, along with those of fellow vocalese pioneers King Pleasure and Eddie Jefferson, marked her as a true innovator in vocal jazz. And when Ross joined forces in 1957 with Lambert and Hendricks - each of whom had been making notable strides on their own in the same vocalese direction - a powerhouse act was born. Their appearance at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival came hot on the heels of their second triumphant release, The Swingers on the Pacific Jazz label (later reissued on EMI/Manhattan).
They enter with the jivey "It's Sand, Man" before tackling Basie's "Let Me See," Horace Silver's "Doodlin'" and the invigorating "Taps Miller." Williams joins them for a rousing rendition of Louis Jordan's "Rusty Dusty Blues," with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross providing backing vocal harmony and simulated horn pads. They deliver a soulful reading of Milt Jackson's "The Spirit-Feel," a tune that was also covered by Ray Charles the previous year at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. And they wrap it up with a swinging "Avenue C," a Basie staple chockfull of clever Hendricks lyrics, before segueing to Basie's closing theme, "One O'Clock Jump," putting the capper on what was easily one of the most invigorating and memorable sets of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival.
Usin' the phone booth,
Makin' a few calls,
Doodlin' weird things,
Usin' the booth walls.
Got me a big date,
Waitin' for my chick,
Puttin' my face on,
So she could look slick,
I enjoy procrastinating
'Cause I'm busy while I'm waiting,
Doodlin' away, doodlin away
Sittin' and dinin'
Dinner beginnin',
Started designin'
Usin' the linen
Streaming of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival begins today with Joe Williams, Count Basie, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross! For previous LH&R posts here, click on "vocalese" in the labels below.Just as the Basie set had built to an ecstatic peak, Williams introduces special guests Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, who leapt into the limelight just the previous year with their astonishing debut, Sing a Song of Basie on ABC-Paramount (later reissued on Impulse). Comprised of vocalese pioneers Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross, this invigorating trio specialized in setting lyrics (primarily penned by Hendricks) to existing and particularly memorable instrumental jazz solos. Ross was actually one of the first to successfully venture into vocalese with her 1952 hit "Twisted" (based on a famous Wardell Gray tenor sax solo). Her early experiments, along with those of fellow vocalese pioneers King Pleasure and Eddie Jefferson, marked her as a true innovator in vocal jazz. And when Ross joined forces in 1957 with Lambert and Hendricks - each of whom had been making notable strides on their own in the same vocalese direction - a powerhouse act was born. Their appearance at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival came hot on the heels of their second triumphant release, The Swingers on the Pacific Jazz label (later reissued on EMI/Manhattan).
They enter with the jivey "It's Sand, Man" before tackling Basie's "Let Me See," Horace Silver's "Doodlin'" and the invigorating "Taps Miller." Williams joins them for a rousing rendition of Louis Jordan's "Rusty Dusty Blues," with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross providing backing vocal harmony and simulated horn pads. They deliver a soulful reading of Milt Jackson's "The Spirit-Feel," a tune that was also covered by Ray Charles the previous year at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. And they wrap it up with a swinging "Avenue C," a Basie staple chockfull of clever Hendricks lyrics, before segueing to Basie's closing theme, "One O'Clock Jump," putting the capper on what was easily one of the most invigorating and memorable sets of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival.
--Excerpt from Wolfgang's Vault notes
Usin' the phone booth,
Makin' a few calls,
Doodlin' weird things,
Usin' the booth walls.
Got me a big date,
Waitin' for my chick,
Puttin' my face on,
So she could look slick,
I enjoy procrastinating
'Cause I'm busy while I'm waiting,
Doodlin' away, doodlin away
Sittin' and dinin'
Dinner beginnin',
Started designin'
Usin' the linen
Photo: Charles O'Neal
At age 83, Annie Ross is still performing. Here she is in August 2009 after an outdoor Jammin’ on the Hudson at Harlem's Riverbank State Park with the park’s cultural director, Ruth Thomas (l.), and public relations person, Pat Vitucci (r.). Her current solo act includes "Twisted" and "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime". Also at Riverbank State Park is Milo Mottola and Maria Reidelbach's Totally Kid Carousel, the "first carousel in the world designed by kids."Labels: count basie, dave lambert, hendricks, jazz, lambert hendricks and ross, mottola, newport jazz festival, reidelbach, totally kid carousel, vocalese
¶ 9:17 AM 0 comments
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Rocco rocks
In 1976 someone told me they had just purchased a 16mm reel of Soundies musical shorts from the 1940s. When we looked at the reel the next day, I was struck by the dynamic performance of the boogie-woogie pianist Maurice Rocco, someone I had never heard of or read about. A week or so later, I was reading Variety and saw the obituary for Rocco. On the day I learned of his existence by watching the film, Rocco was murdered in Thailand where he lived and performed.
I wanted to learn more about Rocco. On one of her Piano Jazz shows, Marian McPartland had Paul Shaffer as a guest, and she asked him if he knew of Maurice Rocco. Surprisingly, Shaffer said, "No," so whatever she was about to say about Rocco went unsaid.
Finally, at the Museum of Television & Radio (now renamed as the Paley Center for Media), I typed Rocco's name into one of their computers and struck gold, a TV guest appearance in which Rocco not only played boogie-woogie standing up, he moved the piano around, spinning it about the stage while he played it. In 1948, he appeared with Milton Berle on the Texaco Star Theater, and he was a semi-regular on the Dumont Network's Cavalcade of Stars (1949-1952).
Which raises the question: Did Jerry Lee Lewis see Rocco on TV and get a few ideas?
Rocco performed in several films. In 1937, he was seen in 52nd Street and Vogues of 1938 (above clip). In 1945, he appeared in Duffy's Tavern and Incendiary Blonde. Born Maurice Rockhold in Oxford, Ohio, he studied at Oxford's Miami University. After performing on Cincinnati radio stations, he worked with Noble Sissle and Duke Ellington, changed his name and launched his own group, Maurice Rocco and his Rockin' Rhythm Boys, playing in New York and Chicago night clubs, theaters and radio.
Maurice Rocco (1915-1976) in Thailand
In 1976 someone told me they had just purchased a 16mm reel of Soundies musical shorts from the 1940s. When we looked at the reel the next day, I was struck by the dynamic performance of the boogie-woogie pianist Maurice Rocco, someone I had never heard of or read about. A week or so later, I was reading Variety and saw the obituary for Rocco. On the day I learned of his existence by watching the film, Rocco was murdered in Thailand where he lived and performed.
I wanted to learn more about Rocco. On one of her Piano Jazz shows, Marian McPartland had Paul Shaffer as a guest, and she asked him if he knew of Maurice Rocco. Surprisingly, Shaffer said, "No," so whatever she was about to say about Rocco went unsaid.
Finally, at the Museum of Television & Radio (now renamed as the Paley Center for Media), I typed Rocco's name into one of their computers and struck gold, a TV guest appearance in which Rocco not only played boogie-woogie standing up, he moved the piano around, spinning it about the stage while he played it. In 1948, he appeared with Milton Berle on the Texaco Star Theater, and he was a semi-regular on the Dumont Network's Cavalcade of Stars (1949-1952).
Which raises the question: Did Jerry Lee Lewis see Rocco on TV and get a few ideas?
Rocco on jazz and swing: "Jazz, and that's what we're talking about when you mention swing, is just a matter of personal opinion. It depends on the guy in the audience and how he responds. Now Duke Ellington - his music is so distinctive that everyone accepts it as jazz, which it always is. Jazz is music with feeling, and if the listener has that same feeling, he calls it jazz."
Rocco performed in several films. In 1937, he was seen in 52nd Street and Vogues of 1938 (above clip). In 1945, he appeared in Duffy's Tavern and Incendiary Blonde. Born Maurice Rockhold in Oxford, Ohio, he studied at Oxford's Miami University. After performing on Cincinnati radio stations, he worked with Noble Sissle and Duke Ellington, changed his name and launched his own group, Maurice Rocco and his Rockin' Rhythm Boys, playing in New York and Chicago night clubs, theaters and radio.
Labels: berle, boogie woogie, duke ellington, dumont, jazz, noble sissle, rocco, thailand
¶ 7:17 AM 2 comments
Friday, August 15, 2008
O'Day in the Life
Anita O'Day (1919-2006) was born Anita Belle Colton and took her professional surname from the Pig Latin word for "dough," which she need to support her drug habit. She said she could not read her autobiography, High Times Hard Times (1981), because it made her cry. Her appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, captured in Bert Stern's Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), was one of the peak moments of the 1950s. She was not only a soloist, she blended in as an instrument with the musicians onstage. In the Newport clip below she sings "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Tea for Two." Does the musical quote in "Tea for Two" sound familiar? It's from the 1950s Marlboro commercials with the lyrics "You get a lot to like in a Marlboro: filter, flavor, flip-top box."
The jazz critic Martin Williams once told me that some scenes in Jazz on a Summer's Day were fake. Stern explained to Williams that he did not have enough shots of the Newport audience. Williams arrived at Stern's studio and joined an invited group sitting in folding chairs on artificial green turf. Stern then projected a rough cut, filmed everyone while they watched and later spliced that studio footage into his documentary.
However, nothing fake about the wondrous Anita O'Day, wide-brimming over as she channeled the harmonic reverberations of the universe.
Click heading for NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross interviewing Anita O'Day (November 29, 2006).
Opening today in New York and Los Angeles is the 92-minute documentary, Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, directed, photographed and edited by Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden. Cavolina is her former manager.
Anita O'Day (1919-2006) was born Anita Belle Colton and took her professional surname from the Pig Latin word for "dough," which she need to support her drug habit. She said she could not read her autobiography, High Times Hard Times (1981), because it made her cry. Her appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, captured in Bert Stern's Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), was one of the peak moments of the 1950s. She was not only a soloist, she blended in as an instrument with the musicians onstage. In the Newport clip below she sings "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Tea for Two." Does the musical quote in "Tea for Two" sound familiar? It's from the 1950s Marlboro commercials with the lyrics "You get a lot to like in a Marlboro: filter, flavor, flip-top box."The jazz critic Martin Williams once told me that some scenes in Jazz on a Summer's Day were fake. Stern explained to Williams that he did not have enough shots of the Newport audience. Williams arrived at Stern's studio and joined an invited group sitting in folding chairs on artificial green turf. Stern then projected a rough cut, filmed everyone while they watched and later spliced that studio footage into his documentary.
However, nothing fake about the wondrous Anita O'Day, wide-brimming over as she channeled the harmonic reverberations of the universe.
Labels: bert stern, jazz, newport, o'day
¶ 10:15 AM 1 comments
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Sound of a Dry Martini
Click for NPR Jazz Profiles: Paul Desmond, a 52-minute program hosted by vocalist Nancy Wilson. Takes 90 seconds to download, but then comes up fine in iTunes. It's worth the wait, since this January 2, 2008 radio documentary captures the essence of Paul Desmond.
"Koto Song" in Berlin, 1966, Brubeck, Desmond also with
"This is how the world ends... not with a whim but a banker."
--Paul Desmond
Click for NPR Jazz Profiles: Paul Desmond, a 52-minute program hosted by vocalist Nancy Wilson. Takes 90 seconds to download, but then comes up fine in iTunes. It's worth the wait, since this January 2, 2008 radio documentary captures the essence of Paul Desmond.In addition to his abilities as an acclaimed alto saxophonist and composer, Desmond was also a skilled punster. Seeing a newspaper photo of Aristotle Onassis planning to purchase Buster Keaton's house, Desmond remarked, "Hm. Aristotle contemplating the home of Buster."
I was fortunate to see Brubeck and Desmond when they were at their peak, performing before a huge, totally tuned-in audience absorbed in every unpredictable permutation, with much laughter and applause when drummer Joe Morello's cymbal flew off the rod and went rolling in a straight path from stage left to stage right. It was an unforgettable evening, long ago in the 1950s, but this NPR show brings it all back for me. NPR's intro:
Known as "the swinging introvert," Paul Desmond once described his sound as "like a dry martini." With his darkly lilting approach, Desmond rose to fame while soloing in the crook of Dave Brubeck's piano, teaming with the bandleader to help form one of the most heralded groups in jazz history. Desmond also penned one of the most successful jazz classics of all time, "Take Five."
Paul Desmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld on Nov. 25, 1924, in San Francisco, where his father played organ and arranged music for the Golden Gate Theater. After playing both the violin and the clarinet in high school, Desmond switched to alto saxophone in 1943 — the same year the Army drafted him. He eventually changed his surname to Desmond, claiming with a straight face that Breitenfeld sounded too "Irish." Such witticisms typified his demeanor.
Paul Desmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld on Nov. 25, 1924, in San Francisco, where his father played organ and arranged music for the Golden Gate Theater. After playing both the violin and the clarinet in high school, Desmond switched to alto saxophone in 1943 — the same year the Army drafted him. He eventually changed his surname to Desmond, claiming with a straight face that Breitenfeld sounded too "Irish." Such witticisms typified his demeanor.
Desmond first encountered Brubeck while playing in an Army band stationed at San Francisco's Presidio army base. Brubeck's attempt to join the group as a piano player failed, but his playing had a profound impact on Desmond, who noted that Brubeck "would be in 15 different keys on an 'out-of-tune piano.'" After WWII, the two crossed paths again. While attending San Francisco State University, Desmond joined an innovative group headed by Brubeck, who was studying at Mills College in Oakland. They formed a pioneering octet and created music that placed heavy emphasis on the European classical elements in modern jazz
Go to NPR to read the rest.
"Koto Song" in Berlin, 1966, Brubeck, Desmond also with
Eugene Wright (bass) and Joe Morello (drums).
Labels: brubeck, desmond, jazz
¶ 6:46 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Johnny Hartman
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!) featured perhaps the greatest rendition of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." Notice the word "distingué" in "Lush Life" comes out as "distant gay" in some printed lyrics. The Coltrane/Hartman section is about two-thirds into this 54-minute NPR Jazz Profiles radio documentary on Hartman.
Hear "Lush Life" in right column link of this NPR page, "Johnny Hartman: The Romantic Balladeer." ¶ 5:26 PM 0 comments
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!) featured perhaps the greatest rendition of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." Notice the word "distingué" in "Lush Life" comes out as "distant gay" in some printed lyrics. The Coltrane/Hartman section is about two-thirds into this 54-minute NPR Jazz Profiles radio documentary on Hartman.
Hear "Lush Life" in right column link of this NPR page, "Johnny Hartman: The Romantic Balladeer." ¶ 5:26 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
