Red Garland - Red Alert!
Posted On: July 1, 2008 [Respond]
Until recently I had always associated Red Garland's piano playing with Miles Davis's rather stodgy attempts at hard bop, and his emphasis on block-chording in that context rather than single-note lines never really grabbed me. But my attitude toward Red changed when I picked up a copy of Phil Woods' Sugan. I already had a couple of Garland albums with John Coltrane, but they seemed a bit more subdued as well, tending toward slow, blues numbers. The set with Woods and trumpeter Ray Copeland is a no-frills Prestige blowing session, but seems to have nonetheless been an inspired date that surpasses the usual rote playing that figures into a lot of those kinds of sessions by both Woods and Garland.
Three of the tunes are by Charlie Parker and it's there where the stength of set lies--and also its superiority in comparison with similar dates. One in particular I'm thinking of is another Phil Woods bebop date produced by Leonard Feather entitled Bop!. Recorded only a month after Sugan, it seems especially tired and forced (in the way most Feather sessions were--this one featuring Parker's son shouting out an atonal "Salt pea-nuts! Salt pea-nuts!"). On the earlier session Woods seems bright and energetic on "Au Privave," [mp3] "Steplechase" and "Scrapple from the Apple." And, of course, Garland's spot-on accompaniment holds the proceedings together extremely well. One of the real treats, however, is Ray Copeland's trumpet work. Much more appropriate than Thad Jones' work on the Feather session, it nearly equals that of Carmel Jones on arguably the best of the post-bop retrospective albums ever recorded: Charles McPherson's Bebop Revisited. Finally, there are also three Woods-penned numbers that have more of a hard bop feel to them, the best being the title track.
Sparking a renewed interest in Red Garland, I have recently obtained several more discs of his and have been enjoying them all. And while I find his piano trios less interesting that say, Elmo Hope, or Ray Bryant's, many of his larger groups are quite good, the ones with Coltrane, of course, but also a terrific sextet date on Jazzland with Pepper Adams and Blue Mitchell called Red's Good Groove that contains his signature block-chord work rather than the more bopish lines of the Wood date, but does sound better than many Riverside sextet sessions from the same era. Way to go, Red.
Motown Jazz?
Posted On: June 26, 2008 [Respond]
Of course we all know that there was great Hard Bop in Detroit. The list of names speaks for itself, Barry Harris, Hank, Elvin, and Thad Jones, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd, Frank Foster, etc. But even as a die-hard-bop fan I was surprised to learn, on one of my forays through cyberspace, that Berry Gordy at Motown released eleven albums of jazz on one of his subsidiary labels. As Mr. Spock would say . . . fascinating.
To date I've listened to about eight of them and, while the musicianship is good, the recording quality is woefully inadequate, especially on the trio albums by pianist Johnny Griffith (not Griffin). Pianist Earl Washington fares a bit better on his albums. Trombonist George Bohanon's bossa nova album is far more bop than latin--a good thing IMHO--and there is a Jonah Jones LP that leans a bit too much in the Pete Fountain/Al Hirt faux jazz direction for my taste. But the real find is the set by alto/tenor saxophonist Lefty Edwards. Again, the recording is poorly done, but the music is fantastic. If only he'd been in New York with Rudy VanGelder, this one would probably have been a classic. On a set of mostly standards, Edwards shows a distinctive Frank Foster style, easily mixing swing and bop phrasing. The standout track for me is his interpretation of "Goodnight, My Love" [mp3], his double-time work on the alto bringing instantly to mind Sonny Stitt.
Evidently Berry Gordy was able to entice some of the remaining local jazz musicians in Detroit to come and play on Motown sessions by offering them recording sessions of their own on the Motown Jazz label. It would be nice to see if someone could take the master tapes--assuming they still exist--and clean them up for CD reissue. Until then you can find the LPs on the fullundie music blog. While maybe not keepers, worth a download or two.
Dinah Washington
Posted On: June 23, 2008 [Respond]
Though she'll always be know as the Queen of the Blues, I'm not shy about making the argument for Dinah Washington as one of the all-time great jazz singers. Certainly she's always been my favorite. Sure, she doesn't have the range and musicality of Sarah Vaughn, or the fragile intangible that is Billie Holiday. What she does possess, however, is a swaggering confidence in her own abilities that that threatens, at times, to overshadow the song itself. Rather than than finger-in-her-dimple ebullience of Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah isn't afraid to put one hand firmly on her hip and with the other to wag that finger right in your face.
The voice is really the thing, though. At once nasal and lacking in dynamics, it is also the most sublime of instruments, in the same way that blues shouters from Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams to soul-men like Lou Rawls and Ray Charles have been able to make incredibly fine jazz albums. While Dinah began her jazz in less than stellar form, beginning with risqué blues numbers backed by the Lucky Thompson and Illinois Jacquet orchestras, then working through dreary string and chorus-ladened Mitch Miller arrangements, she found her form on her mid-fifties EmArcy sessions.
The pinnacle of this era is easily her 1955 session For Those In Love. Joining her is an especially sympathetic group of musicians including Clark Terry, Jimmy Cleveland, Paul Quinchette, Cecil Payne, and Wynton Kelly. With arrangements by Quincy Jones it is a sterling performance. One jazz classic after another is reeled off by Washington with what are arguably definitive performances of Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You," and the Rodgers-Hart "I Could Write A Book." But the gem of the session is, without a doubt, her haunting performance of "You Don't Know What Love Is."
One year earlier Dinah was in the studio with an augmented Brown-Roach unit (Clifford Brown, Harold Land, Junior Mance, George Morrow and Max Roach) to record Dinah Jams, a live-in-the-studio LP for EmArcy that I have samples of to whet your appetite for my own personal "Queen of Jazz." The first is a classic example of her ballad delivery on "Come Rain or Come Shine" [mp3], wonderfully robust and vulnerable at the same time-with a gospel "hallelujah" middle chorus that elicits hollers and applause from the studio audience. The second is an equally explosive "There Is No Greater Love" [mp3], with a trumpet-like smear that turns the notion of a ballad being soft on its head. Check out some of her work on EmArcy and see if Dinah doesn't turn your head as well.
Max Roach
Posted On: August 16, 2007 [Respond]
One of the all-time greats passed away today, Max Roach, the brilliant drummer, composer, activist and educator. My first exposure to Max was on Charlie Parker's recordings. What struck me immediately was the incredible precision of his playing. Unlike other boppers like Bud Powell and even Dizzy Gillespie who could, at times, sound very sloppy, Max's playing always seemed crisp and precise--like Bird himself. But it was his recordings with Clifford Brown, and the introduction to Max's melodic style of drumming, that won me over.
In 1990 I had the good fortune to see the Max Roach Quartet with trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater and saxophonist Odean Pope at Seattle's Jazz Alley. Again, what impressed me the most was his melodic approach to the drums. Now, while the drums in bebop had been liberated from mere timekeeping since WWII, there were few drummers who took advantage of that fact in the way that Max did. Unlike most drum solos where musicians need to count measures in their head to know when to come back in, Max would always keep the melody in the forefront of his playing. Even when stretching out, in the same way you can hear the underlying chords in a melody instrument's solo, you could hear the melody amid his percussion improvisiation. Check out "Drum Conversation" [mp3] from 1953.
My favorite albums among Max's work are the the two albums with Clifford Brown titled Study In Brown and More Study In Brown. I also really enjoy his disc with Hank Mobley on Chess records simply titled Max, and of course the disc with Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham that he recorded shortly after Brownie's death, Max Roach Plus Four
Opening Pandora's Box!
Posted On: August 14, 2007 [Respond]
Over the past few years I've tried virtually every Internet radio station/setup/site there is and nothing has impressed me in the slightest. I'd much rather simply listen to my iPod rather than attempt to figure out to make some of these stations work--never mind finding something I actually don't hate listening to. Well, I was blown away yesterday evening when I logged on to Pandora Radio. I couldn't believe my ears. But before I get to the great sounds, let me back up a bit.
In monetizing my site I have recently decided to play host to Google ads via their AdSense program, and one of the things you promise not to do in their agreement is click on any of the links. Okay, no big deal. But some of them do look interesting. So every once in a while I open a new browser tab and punch in the URL. Well, Pandora Radio immediately blew me away. It simply asked me to type in a song or artist I liked--I chose Horace Silver--and away it went. It immediately began playing "Kiss Me Right" from Horace's Doin' the Thing album on Blue Note, then followed it up by another Blue Note cut from Jackie McLean's Capuchun Swing album, a disc I don't own. Soon I began adding other artists and before long I had my own radio station. Just like that!
Now, while this probably sounds like one of those online-blogger-promo-for-money posts . . . It's not. I was just so completely floored by the ease and the sound--the entire concept, really, that I just had to share my good fortune with anyone who might stumble upon this post. The site picks tunes that match up with what you like, and it does a really nice job. You can decide if you don't like a tune and not only will it not play any more like that but it stops playing it immediately. Best of all, Pandora is absolutely free. There are add ons you can get to download songs, etc., but for me I just like cranking up my own radio station while I work. I can't say enough good things about Pandora. If you haven't already . . . get it!
The End of the (Jazz) Message
Posted On: August 11, 2007 [Respond]
I've had a jazz DVD on my shelf for the better part of a year now, and I finally put it on last night and watched the whole thing in one glorious pass, stereo speakers blaring and a glass of wine at my elbow. The disc features taped performances of various European concerts from the 1970s with the likes of Kenny Drew, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Red Rodney and Dizzy Gillespie--though the addition of several songs by Willie Dixon also on the disc are an odd pairing with the rest. Sound and video limitations aside, it's about what you'd expect from aging boppers past their prime: wonderfully heart-warming, but nothing musically memorable. Nevertheless, there were some nice moments: a young Victor Lewis playing with Getz, outstanding trio work by Drew, and the Marsalis boys playing with Art Blakey.
The DVD is called Jazz Collection: The Legends Series, and as I watched Blakey and the other jazz giants it made me wonder again if there will ever be any jazz giants in the future. I know there have been numerous and frequent eulogies for jazz in recent years, so I'll resist going there, but the question remains. What will jazz be like in twenty years when everyone who ever played with Charlie Parker is dead? The "Young Lions" from the 80s--when the Marsalis boys were Jazz Messengers--never really panned out. Oh, there were some fantastic albums, Ralph Moore with the Ray Brown Trio, Mike Smith's second album for Delmark, and Christopher Hollyday's debut on Novus are still some of my favorite discs of all time. But that was twenty years ago!
Hollyday's brilliant Parker/McLean melange is now doing work in the service of Smooth Jazz (the acoustic jazz equivalent of Satanism), while Smith has disappeared almost completely, and Ralph Moore, god bless him, has taken refuge along with fellow Lion Kevin Eubanks in the Tonight Show band. With the end of the training ground for young musicians in the bands of greats like Blakey, Betty Carter, Ray Brown, and--for a short while--Horace Silver, it's doubtful that the great performing tradition of jazz groups crisscrossing the country will ever revive. Likely, things will revert to the way they were before recording came along, artists content to make a name for themselves locally--with, of course, the added 21st Century update of having their independent label recordings available world wide on the Internet.
The thing is, this is not like the passing of Arena Rock or Disco. Jazz has survived in the same basic combo form since Louis Armstrong, and so it's not the "style" that determines the music it's the intent of the musician. The willingness to learn an instrument so well as to be able to improvise should have more reward than the once-a-semester performance in a high school or college jazz band. So with the need to make an actual living coming face to face with the a black hole where once there were gigs to aspire to, it's no wonder that musicians decide not to pursue careers in jazz after college (not that I think college is a very good training ground for jazz . . . but that's another post.) Soon--if it hasn't already happened--the jazz message of Blakey, et al. will be nothing more than a faint echo and there will be no one left to take up the cry.
I'm Not Drinking Any #&%!$ Merlot!
Posted On: August 8, 2007
On my browser my Favorites link to Amazon points right to the jazz cd page. I'm sorry to say it's been quite a few years now that next to nothing I've seen there has been even remotely interesting. On the What's New page I have a bunch of local and Canadian artists that are well worth checking out. But by and large I'm forced to wait for the trickle of reissues of classic sessions that have never come out on CD (where is Sonny Criss At The Crossroads!!!), or try to find interesting jazz elsewhere.
It's in this last category that I write about one of the most enjoyable "jazz" albums that I've purchase in the past decade. The score to the motion picture Sideways is an absolute delight. Now, for a great many purists there will not be nearly enough actual jazz here to sustain interest, but I found Rolfe Kent's score to be infectious and ebulient, a pleasure to listen to over and over again. The thing is, it's a traditional acoustic orchestra, piano, bass, drums, horns and percussion, with Kent himself adding some tasty Melodica work to the tracks. All of the songs are relatively brief, being film cues, and there are no solos to speak of. Nonetheless, it is a varied and well-played set of material that brims with enthusiasm and soul. The cue "Picnic" [mp3] is a prime example.
As for the film itself, it certainly has earned all of the praise it's recieved. And it my book, any film that revives the career of the sadly neglected Virginia Madsen is something to cheer about. Unforgetable in the 1985 sleeper Creator, Madsen found herself mired in forgetable, low-budget films. Sideways is a film worthy of her prodigious talent. (If I was her I would want to hunt down every copy of Hot Spot in existence and destroy them all.) One final note. For those of you who have enjoyed the film but haven't yet listened to the audio commentary on the DVD you are in for a monumental treat. Giamatti and Haden Church's running dialog of self-deprecation is a masterpiece of humor and their uniform praise for everything else in the film is spot on. It is as funny--and at times funnier--than the film itself. If you haven't listened to this yet on your DVD you really owe it to yourself to give it a try.
