Summer Jazz with Carlos Santana

Tags

Carlos Santana, En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor, Joaquin Rodrigo, joy, melancholy, ocean, rock and jazz, Santana Brothers, summer project

Today’s post is about two different musical notables – Joaquin Rodrigo and Carlos Santana – and one notable composition – “Concierto de Aranjuez.” 

This classic guitar (and orchestra) composition by Rodrigo has been recorded in whole or in part by many guitarists and other musicians and was interpreted by Santana as “En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” for the 1994 Santana Brothers album.

Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” is considered one of the pinnacles of the guitar concerto repertoire. It was composed in 1939 and many stories circulated about the inspiration for it, including the tragedy of Guernica – also memorialized by Pablo Picasso.  Rodrigo and his wife eventually revealed that the Concierto had been written as a response to her miscarriage of their first baby.

It’s not hard to hear this in the movement from joy to melancholy in the music.

Although he was born in Mexico, Santana is recognized as one of America’s finest guitarists who made his name pioneering a rock/Latin American jazz sound.  Like several other rock musicians who came up in the 60s and 70s, Santana was influenced by earlier blues artists like B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker.

He earned his early chops playing with local bands on the “Tijuana Strip” (where there’s always some fine music) and eventually made his way to San Francisco in the 1960s after his family moved there.

On his 1960 Sketches of Spain album which featured the second movement of the Concierto, Miles Davis says, “That melody is so strong that the softer you play it the stronger it gets, and the stronger you play it, the weaker it gets.”

Jazz guitarist Jim Hall was influenced by Davis’s rendition and performed his own version of the Concierto on his 1975 album titled Concierto. The Modern Jazz Quartet also paid tribute to Rodrigo on several recordings.

As I continue my summer project to expand my personal definition of jazz – and maybe yours – here’s the talented Carlos Santana with “En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” against a background of the beautiful deep blue sea.  Haunting, relaxing, romantic…

Enjoy, JazzBabies

 

Saturday in the Park…Guess It Was Some Jazz for July

Tags

4th of July, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, horns, jazz, rock, Saturday in the Park

Full disclosure, JazzBabies.  Although jazz is nearest and dearest to my heart, there are times when I’m also the RockCookie, the PopCookie, the ClassicalCookie, the CountryCookie and, occasionally, the FolkCookie.  I love music.

A great old rock classic came to mind today, but this one is not entirely out of the jazz oeuvre.  Chicago, among other 70s rock groups, (think Blood Sweat & Tears), edged over into a jazz sound, in large part by adding horns to the mix.

Since we’re edging today toward our biggest national holiday, this old Chicago tune seems quite appropriate.  And here they are with drum, flugelhorn, trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, keyboards and no less than six credits for percussion on “Saturday in the Park.”  (I think it was the 4th of July.  Well, almost.)  This is from their 1972 Very Best of album:  Only the Beginning.

Dancing is encouraged.

Ciao,

JazzCookie

 

 

Lenny Breau, Hannibal Peterson, Old Blue Eyes, a Bank Heist and More!

Tags

7-string guitar, Bruce Willis, Cafe No, Danny Aiello, Frank Sinatra, Hannibal Peterson, Hudson Hawk, Lenny Breau, Maine, McCoy Tyner, Ralph Norris, Strawberry Moon, Tal Farlow, Tom Snow

JazzBabies, did you catch the full Strawberry moon this weekend? The skies in San Diego were too cloudy, but I know it was up there. A little investigating gives me this bit of trivia – the Strawberry moon was once also called the Honey moon from whence came the long tradition of June weddings and, yup, the honeymoons that theoretically followed.

The Blue moon shows up in jazz tunes often, but we won’t have one of those again until 2018. In the meantime, you can practice your licks and be ready to celebrate when it happens. The Blue moon is a kind of anomaly, the second full moon in any one month.

I ran onto a different kind of anomaly this week with Youtube as I researched tunes. I found a great version of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by Miles Davis and was already to post it when I read through the comments and learned that maybe this was not Miles at all. It did sound like him back in the day, but several commenters insisted it was someone else. So I looked up the someone else and those commenters were right. Unfortunately, our internet is filled with errors like this which often get compounded when one poster just copies something already up. Apparently this was the case, but thanks to sharp-eared jazz aficionados, we caught it in time. I love this old Jerome Kern tune and offer you the clip I originally found, but with the correct personnel – hella good Hannibal Peterson on trumpet, John Hicks on piano, Richard Davis on bass and Tatsuya Nakamura on drums. This is from Peterson’s 1992 Now’s the Time album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Wx-4c6i4Y

My college writing prof, a now well-published author told me once that it pained him to know that there were so many good writers in the world who were not getting published and would not make it in the big world of writing. The same is true of all the arts – excellent painters and sculptors who labor more or less in the backrooms of the art world, terrific dancers we’ll never know about and certainly plenty of talented musicians who are perhaps known locally but not far beyond that sphere. When I lived in Maine, a locale known more for folksy stuff than jazz, I met and heard Tom Snow, one of Maine’s best locally known jazz dudes. There’s actually more jazz than you’d think in that lovely but remote state. Branford Marsalis made his way up when I was living there, and I for a time lived over a jazz club in Portland, Café No, whose owner brought some of the best up from Boston and occasionally New York. A fellow named Don Doane was the godfather of a group of older musicians, and one of those was Ralph Norris. I found this clip of Snow and Norris at one of the many art galleries on the Maine Coast with a haunting version of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.” This tune was just made for a mellow sax and here it is. http://tomsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Tom-Snow-and-Ralph-Norris-play-Berkeley-Square-at-Mast-Cove-Galleries-SD.mp4?_=1

And here’s more from Maine. As Ethan Varian posted recently on Guitar World, “Chances are you’ve never heard of the late jazz guitarist Lenny Breau, but ask Pat Metheny or Tommy Emmanuel and they will surely tell he’s had a profound impact on nearly every guitarist who heard him play.”   Breau was a kid from Maine, child of musical parents more inclined to country music, but Breau loved jazz. He played with his folks until he was a teenager and his dad punished him for wanting to insert jazz licks into the country tunes. He loved the work of Tal Farlow and taught himself to play by slowing down Farlow’s records so he could hear how Farlow did it. Eventually they played together. Breau moved to Canada where he’s still considered one of their best ever, but life was hard and he was one of the unfortunate greats to meet an early demise. He did a few recordings, mostly out of print now, but was never a commercial success the way we think of commercial successes these days. Still, when I heard him, my jazz-guitar lovin’ heart nearly stopped. I couldn’t get enough. Here’s one of the recordings – a two-for-one with Breau on “It Could Happen to You” followed by his take on McCoy Tyner’s “Visions.” Breau played a 7-string and remarked often that he played it like a piano. Indeed. (Before he could have a custom 7-string made, he rigged one with a length of fish line – Maine ingenuity at its best.)  He also referenced wanting to play like the Impressionist artists and spoke of his interest in the colors and visual aspects of jazz. My kind of thinking, Lenny. There’s much more to the Lenny Breau story, but for now take a listen and rejoice.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLmpWzExBlg

I’m never sure what brings a certain tune to mind when I’m putting JazzCookie together, but this one wormed its way into my ear this week. It was popular many years ago when Bing Crosby sang it in a movie called Going My Way. Bing played a kindly young priest as I recall who had a voice like – well, like Bing Crosby. Frank Sinatra later recorded it on his album of Academy Award winning tunes and I’m going to turn it over to Frank today. It’s a song about learning to behave like the best person a person can be. If you happen to recognize any behavior coming out of the political scene these days, that’s completely and totally coincidental…she said. Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke’s happy “Swinging on a Star.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWKXU0ApF08

Sidebar on this one. In 1991, a bunch of actors and a director got together to make a heist movie with a great cast and a lousy story. The movie, Hudson Hawk got terrible reviews but there was a memorable scene in which the two thieves, Danny Aiello and Bruce Willis, demonstrated their method of timing the heist operations by using popular songs of the appropriate length. You just have to see this one. Danny and Bruce and a swingin’ soundtrack created and orchestrated by Michael Kamen and Robert Kraft.  Sometimes all it takes is one memorable scene and for my money, this one’s great. “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KvM3vZo0w

And that’s it for this week, JazzBabies.  I’ve already started booking the talent for next time, so don’t go too far away, y’hear me.  We’d miss ya if you weren’t with us.  Have a great week, don’t be a pig or a mule, and always carry a clean handkerchief.  Words from my old and dear Gram.  We get to pass them on.

Ciao,

JazzCookie

Jazz for Memorial Day – On a Wing and a Prayer

Tags

Charlie Parker, Chopin, Memorial Day, Oscar Peterson, pioneers, Rachmaninoff, Rosie the Riveter, Uncle Bud, Wallace Stevens, World War II

   

Hey, JazzBabies, it’s late Monday afternoon and the end of the long weekend. I’d planned to get this to you by now, but one thing and another changed my plans. Life, you know… I’m not too concerned since in my old-timey calendar, Memorial Day (aka Decoration Day) still comes on May 30.

I grew up with that and big bunches of lilacs and peonies and iris as my Gram led us all in decorating the many family graves in the local cemetery and then in the family cemetery a few miles out of town on her family’s old homestead. You might have guessed it – I’m a pioneer granddaughter and proud of it. Fourth generation Oregon girl.

Pioneer families have their own “aristocracy,” and one of the phrases I heard over the years went like this: “The cowards never started and the weak fell by the way.” Harsh. But I do know that nobody had an American Express or VISA card for the trip.

I’ve come to understand that phrase in different ways and one of them is the risktaking that artists, musicians and other creative folks are willing to engage in to make some kind of difference. Jazz is a perfect example.

I listen to a lot of music as I research tunes for each post. Sometimes I have a particular tune in mind and listen to the many ways different musicians have rendered it. It’s like poet Wallace Stevens’ wonderful poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Same tune, same basic notes, and ten or twelve or thirteen different ways of playing them. The musical cowards stick to the basics. The pioneers strike out on their own.

While I was looking for things this past week, I took a little break for some classical music and hit a rich vein of jazz versions of said tunes. JazzBabies, it was pure delight, and I grabbed a couple of them for you. Let us begin with this one by the European Jazz Trio, Chopin’s “Fantasie Impromptu in C-sharp minor.” From their website info, I’d definitely consider the European Jazz Trio pioneers, although they’re not arriving in covered wagons. The Trio comprises Marc van Roon on piano, Frans van der Hoeven on bass and Roy Dackus on drums. The EJT is no stranger to experimentation. They practice on each album by trying out new jazz interpretations on anything that strikes their fancy. No cowards in this group! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QAhvx_EFz8&list=RDMCQ01pNaAVo&index=16

Jazz cats know that jazz versions of the masters is part of a long tradition known as “ragging the classics.” And here’s the terrific Classical Jazz Quartet made up of Kenny Barron on piano, Stefon Harris on vibes and marimba, Ron Carter on bass and Lewis Nash on drums with a swingin’ take on Rachmaninov, “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.” This cut from the album is Movement 1, part 2. Roll over, Rocky…! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRCshntfyiA

Moving along, here are a couple of more familiar classics direct from the jazz masters themselves. The first is Charlie Parker’s own tune as performed and recorded by Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Curly Russell and Max Roach, back in November 1945. As one poet noted, it’s nice to remember a time when everyone you loved was still alive. This never-to-be-bested group qualifies for that sentiment in my book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuVWNv2kEkE

And if that’s not enough, JazzBabies, hold onto your hearts with this beautiful take on one of the most romantic tunes I know. I’m putting it in the skillful hands of Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grappelli ably abetted by Joe Pass on guitar, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. This one was recorded live at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen in July 1979. “That’s All.” Slow dancing is encouraged. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6-fK1PT0U

Since I’m still within the Memorial Day weekend deadline and the real Memorial Day is not until tomorrow, I’m closing out with a couple of tunes that got us through the hard time of World War II. I dedicate them to all the men and women who fought those battles and the ones before and after whether they came home again or not. I especially dedicate it to my dear Uncle Bud who was wounded twice in France, and to a couple of my aunts who worked as Rosies in defense plants building ships in Portland, Oregon.

First, the jazzy “Rosie the Riveter,” by the Four Vagabonds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2E613J9m0I

And then the one families all over America listened to as they thought of their sons and uncles, husbands and dads in harm’s way on places all over the map. “Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZo7TsFIQdw

For this time, JazzBabies, I wish us all love, peace and courage. Let’s not study war no more.

Ciao,

JazzCookie

Jazz Cookie Goes to the Library – and the Super Bowl!

Tags

Adolfo Carabelli Jazz Band, Beth Ross-Buckley, books, Celeste, cole porter, Coleman Hawkins, football, Jack Teagarden, Jazz on a Summer's Day, John Coltrane, Lady Gaga, libraries, Louis Armstrong, Mal Waldron, Marilyn Monroe, Newport Jazz Festival, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Sprague, Super Bowl, Tony Bennett, Tubby the Tuba

I often tell people I was raised by librarians. This is not far from the truth although neither of my parents worked in a library. My dad had a job that meant frequent transfers and one of the first things my mother always did was truck me off to the local library for my library card. It was something of a ritual for us.

Libraries and music have always been connected in my mind. My first memory of a public library was in Portland, Oregon, where I went at age 5 to get my library card and listen to a recording of “Peter and the Wolf.” In the next few years, in different places, I listened to recordings like “Tubby the Tuba,” and “The Story of Celeste.” Later still I haunted the music sections of various libraries for rock and classical and jazz albums I could listen to happily among the stacks. For me, books and music go together like ham and swiss, gin and tonic, Astaire and Rogers.

And on Wednesday evening this past week, jazz guitarist Peter Sprague with flautist Beth Ross-Buckley made beautiful music for a happy audience at the Mission Hills Library. It’s a neighborhood library in San Diego, and these were local folks, some who came just for the music and others who might have stopped to return a book or pick up something new and there it was – music! As I sat and listened to these terrific jazz musicians next to the children’s books and a big poster of the Cat in the Hat, I could only think to myself, We are still okay. All is not lost.

Now to get this week’s show on the road, I bring you a hip combination of Cole Porter, Mal Waldron and John Coltrane from Waldron’s second album, eponomously titled Mal/2. Waldron came to jazz through swing (his parents disapproved of jazz) but then joined the hard bop crowd and played with them all. He was Billie Holiday’s accompanist the last couple of years of her life and eventually segued to free jazz. In this early recording, 1957, he’s all bop. Give a listen to “From This Moment On,” with Waldron, Coltrane, Idrees Sulieman on trumpet, Sahib Shihab on alto and baritone sax, Julian Euell on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXF5AildD0A

Jazz on a Summer’s Day is a concert film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The list of performers is long and impressive, and the film was directed by photographer Bert Stern, who also did the last, devastating photo shoot of Marilyn Monroe. The stars were out that summer’s day and included Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Stitt, Anita O’Day, Thelonius Monk and Jimmy Guiffre. They also included Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden who teamed up for a happy vocal and instrumental duet on “Old Rockin’ Chair’s Got Me,” dedicated now to all the couch spuds tuned in to the Super Bowl from sofas, recliners, bar stools, and/or rockin’ chairs.  This one’s on me.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh9mereIx1o

Continuing the Super Bowl thread, here’s a swingy little jazz novelty from south of the border, down Argentina way. I have no idea how this one happened to come into being, but it gets me tapping my north of the border toes! This is the Adolfo Carabelli Jazz Band on the oh-so-lively “Football Mania,” from 1933. The original Victor recording information is apparently lost so I can only say, JazzBabies, have fun with this one.

Next up, a palate-cleansing tune with Mr. Coleman Hawkins in the lead. This one’s from 1962, a time when bossa nova was taking hold in the United States, and many jazz cats were giving it a try. Hawkins joined the ranks with his Desafinado album that year, but Hawkins and crew were a cut above the rest, and Harvey Pekar wrote for “Down Beat” magazine that, “There have been some gimmicky bossa nova albums issued recently, but this one features music of high and enduring quality.” This is not a bossa nova tune, JazzBabies; it’s Johnny Mercer’s “I Remember You,” but you can definitely get your samba groove going with it. Hawkins is here with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Howard Collins on guitar, Willie Rodrigues on percussion and half a dozen other fine fellows who know their way around a tune.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1njrNwA02k

In a couple of hours, as I write this, the famous/infamous Lady Gaga is going to be (a) delighting or (b) outraging the Super Bowl crowd. I’ll check the news later. She’s not often my cup of tea, but I gotta give her credit for the work she did with Tony Bennett, and today’s the day. Bennett named her “a real jazz lady.” That’s good enough for me. Here’s the original video of the two on a Rodgers and Hart classic from their Duets II album, “The Lady Is a Tramp.” Go, team!

 

So we roll along, JazzBabies, into chilly February though we know Spring is on the way.  As for the Super Bowl, it doesn’t matter who won or lost but who brought the best 7-layer dip!

Cheers and ciao!

JazzCookie

 

 

 

 

 

From Montreux to Manhattan, Jazz is the Thing

Tags

Billie Holiday, buddy rich, Come to Jazzus meeting, Count Basie, creativity, gardenias, Hemingway, Keith Jarrett, maple syrup, Montreux Jazz Festival, Picasso, Steve Marcus, Till Bronner, Tom Jobim, waffles, Woody Allen

Greetings and salutations, JazzBabies! It’s a glorious morning here in San Diego and I’m hoping it’s the same for you wherever you are. “Glorious” is a subjective term and I can guarantee that if you’re anyplace at all with somebody you love, it’s a glorious morning.

If you have waffles and maple syrup, it’s even better!

For me, Sunday mornings are meant for waffles and maple syrup, good coffee, and then just hangin’ around in my p.j.s listening to great music. I’ll poke my head out soon to water the flowers and check on the general condition of the neighborhood, howdy the neighbors, and then pull on some sweats for a walk through Old Town. Eventually I’ll head home with live Latin music in my head, cook up something simple for my supper and call it good. How about it, JazzBabies? What’s a happy Sunday for you?

I was happy when I ran across the Count a week or so ago on a tune from the 30s (and also from the soundtrack of Woody Allen’s Café Society), a solid groove of a tune that reminded me that the 30s were not all about romance and sentimental journeys. Swing came along and the rest is history. This tune by the Count is included on over a dozen of his albums so I won’t try to point you in any particular direction with it. But I will point out that this is one of the best with Count Basie and Lester Young hittin’ their musical stride. Give a listen to “Taxi War Dance,” a title that surely ranks in the realm of poetry with all those allusions in three little words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuORwNlNwF4

A few weeks back, I promised more Till Brönner and I always try to make good on my promises. When you put Brönner together with Tom Jobim, a certain kind of magic happens. This is one of Jobim’s tunes and is from Brönner’s 2008 album Rio (which also includes single vocals by both Annie Lennox and Kurt Elling). A little trivia about the song itself and the lyrics, which are a string of denials to a woman named Ligia: I’ve never dreamed of you, I’ve never gone to the movies, I don’t like samba, I don’t go to Ipanema, I don’t like rain, I don’t like sun, I’ve never called you up, why, if I knew?  Jobim and other songwriters cautioned about writing songs dedicated to any woman for obvious reasons, and he denied writing this one for the wife of a good friend. After his death, Ligia told the story, and it was indeed an innocent moment when Jobim was challenged in an interview to make up a song on the spot. Ligia happened to be with him, so he playfully wrote a song about her and said later he had written a song about a woman he never slept with. Isn’t the jazz world great? Now back to Till and his trumpet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cDE3RYeko

I had some difficulty finding a good recording of this next tune sans vocal. I guess that’s because the lyric is so beautifully sentimental, but I was interested in the music this time and not the words. Then I not only found an instrumental take on it, but a terrific musician, the late Steve Marcus, a sax man with a most interesting story. Marcus was a Berklee grad and was all over the musical map in so many good ways. It’s a longer story than I have room for here, but a few highlights include his work with guitarist Larry Coryell as early experimenters with rock/jazz combinations (eventually known as fusion), and his later return to straight-ahead jazz and a career as featured soloist with Buddy Rich from 1975 to 1987. He’s here with “My One and Only Love” from his 1993 Smile album with John Hicks on piano, Christian McBride on bass and Marvin “Smitty” Smith on drums. One reviewer noted Marcus here as “consistently brilliant within the bebop tradition.” You won’t hear me argue with that. “The very thought of you…” and all that jazz.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8noiW4fi8PQ

I’ve given you other versions of this next tune in the past, JazzBabies, because it’s one of my favorite musical melodies. This time I’m bringing you a live recording from the 2001 Montreux Jazz Festival and piano work that so often walks the line between jazz and classical, the work of Keith Jarrett. I was not initially a Keith Jarrett fan and had to walk out of a concert back in the day when his contortions at the piano were a real distraction for me. But over time, I’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy his work on jazz standards, including “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.” This tune comes from the Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn songbook, written for a 1944 stage show that never made it to Broadway. This time, Jarrett is backed by Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, and the three make beautiful music. I’m happy to say that Keith never once tries to climb into the piano. Good work, Mr. Jarrett! The great ovation at the end is testament to the musical talent here. The album is titled My Foolish Heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1OqCP7SZXQ

Now, let us wrap up today’s Come to Jazzus meeting with the first, second, last and always lady of the genre, Lady Day herself. Question: Do up and coming jazz vocalists try to imitate/emulate any other girl singer the way they try to capture Billie? No, I didn’t think so. And I’ve never heard a single one who could do it, any more than I’ve ever seen a painter who could paint like Picasso or read a writer who could write like Hemingway, though God knows, many have tried. Creativity, real creativity, no matter what it’s about comes from inside a person, not the outside – the person’s experiences, ups and downs, joys and sorrows. JazzBabies, “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” is more than a catchy phrase. It’s a metaphor for how the creative process works. And nobody singing today had Billie Holiday’s life. Ergo, no matter how much they want to look like Billie or how many gardenias they put in their hair, it don’t mean a thing, because it ain’t got her swing. Here’s the real deal, JazzBabies, with Gershwin’s great anthem for tough times and lost love. “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (although they sometimes sure as hell try!). I happen to love this particular version more than any other I know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehMx12dSF6w

Thanks for stopping by this morning.  I wish you all a great week listening to good music.  If the world gets to be too much, take two aspirin and put on your favorite album.  The music never whines, rants, accuses, or insults.  Lucky for us, JazzBabies!

Ciao,

JazzCookie

 

Caution: Great Jazz Ahead

Tags

Bill Evans, Black Hawk, Blossom Dearie, cal tjader, Charlie Byrd, John Coltrane, Kalman Olah, Pat O'Brien's, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Quarternote, rodgers and hammerstein, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Susannah McCorkle

You’ve been warned!

Welcome, JazzBabies, to the Quarternote, a quiet little club on the edge of downtown with no television sets, no newscasts of any kind and no newspapers delivered to our door. We can’t stay here forever, but for the next hour or so, we can take a break from the cacophony that’s passed for intelligent discussion these recent days to enjoy the quiet and the music. That’s all we’ve got here at the Q.

Cell phones and laptops will be checked at the door, so if you want to record the moment, bring a sketchpad and pen. And if you have a claim to fame, please leave it at the door, too. We’re here to listen to the tunes.  Thank you.

 

My late night winding down routine includes listening to a few favorite jazz artists before I hit the pillow. My selections vary from night to night, but some are more frequent than others.  Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Susannah McCorkle and Charlie Byrd, for instance, are among my go-to musicians for music that will wash away the cares of the day and any loud, angry voices as well.

Listening to Charlie Byrd this week, I came across this first tune which instantly reminded me why I love jazz. And art. And creative people who think and color and play way outside the box and can improvise with grace and ease. The ones who know, as John Steinbeck once wrote, that “Everything is part of everything else.” In this case, some of the coolest jazz I can imagine is part of Frederick Chopin’s classical brilliance when Charlie Byrd interprets Chopin’s “Prelude in E Minor, Opus 28, No. 4” as “Freddie’s Tune.” And he does it with a bossa nova beat.  I think Freddie would smile and this so much better than the news! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pItnKO3nUpc

You probably know by now that my little mind often takes hold of a thread and wants to follow it a little farther, so yes, I did see what else I could find in the “jazz meets classical” vein. And I found this next tune, among others, that caught my ear as worthy of the JazzBabies.   Kálmán Oláh is a noted Hungarian jazz pianist who’s won a lot of awards including the 2006 Grand Prize in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition. He’s another musician fearless about crossing the musical lines. Like me, he has gypsy blood (he likely has more than I do, but if you’ve got it, you’ve got it) and Jack deJohnette, who recorded with him, suggested this might be a reason why Oláh swings so authentically, “soulful and sophisticated.” In 2001, Oláh teamed with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra to record Bach’s Goldberg Variations with further variations and improvisations thanks to Oláh’s musical genius – and, might I add, playfulness. This was recorded for the Good label from South Korea but it’s better than good, it’s great! We’ll hear more of this talent, JazzBabies and others who’ve put musical 2 and 2 together and come up with something wonderful . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCQ01pNaAVo

Onward with good things to hear today. Our tour guide for the next stop is the one, the only, the amazing jazz soubrette, Blossom Dearie, as she takes on a Rodgers and Hammerstein hit from their 1947 musical, Allegro. Dearie is known not only for her inimitable voice but also for her stylish jazz piano chops. She puts it all together here in her own spirited way with “The Gentleman is a Dope.” (No offense intended to any gentlemen friends reading this. I think fondly of you all.) It’s from her 1960 Verve album, Soubrette Sings Broadway Hit Songs. The orchestra is conducted by arranger Russell Garcia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOA2VKKUwT8

Cal Tjader is in my personal jazz hall of fame. I was impressed early on with my blue vinyl Fantasy LP and then totally blown away when I went to see him live at the Black Hawk in old San Francisco. I say old, because SF was a different city back then. It’s really impossible to describe it to anyone who wasn’t there. But it was an amazing place for jazz and cool. Oh, the stories I could tell…Our memories keep us warm on cold winter nights. We can’t kid ourselves that the world will return to those days but it doesn’t mean we don’t miss them. So we’re grateful to have the recordings and to applaud the new cats coming into view. For old times’ sake, here’s Cal Tjader live at the Monterey Jazz Festival back in the day with “We’ll Be Together Again,” a tune written by Carl Fischer and Frankie Laine. In addition to Cal on vibes, you’ll hear Lonnie Hewitt on piano, Willie Bobo on percussion and drums, Mongo Santamaria on percussion, Al McKibbon on bass and an outstanding young Paul Horn on flute. Sweet.  Yes, from my blue vinyl LP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQLkDmOVf4

Now, if you need to really perk up your spirits, you can always take a trip south to New Orleans, which is not like any city in the world, let alone any southern city. A trip to New Orleans is a trip to a continental world of jazz. And here to take us out, to get us up and marching around the breakfast table, or around the block or, what the hell, through the city of your choice is the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Be sure to stop at Pat O’Brien’s for a hurricane in a tall glass as you go by.  And possibly a chorus of “Rocky Top,” which I remember hearing at least a dozen time one night.   “Ice Cream,” on the other hand, is a jazz standard that dates back to 1927. You can sing along to this one, and I hope you do! Everybody, all together now, from the top… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J5hZblkxck

Keep the jazz faith, JazzBabies…the music will see us through the rest.  And remember, you’re always welcome at the Quarternote. We never close.

Ciao,

JazzCookie

 

Holiday Jazz with a Few New Faces and a Couple You Know Well

Tags

Andre Previn, Balboa Theatre, Charles Aznavour, Columbia Record Club, Frank Sinatra, Mads Granum, Mary Stahl, Parker House Hotel, RC Haus, Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, San Diego Gay Men's Chorus, San Diego Padres, Steve Withers, Terry Waldo

Okay okay, JazzBabies, I give. ‘Tis the season without question, so with a merry ho ho ho, I give you today’s program of (mostly) holiday jazz and a couple of tunes I consider anytime numbers. I’ve co-opted them for the season and you’ll understand why.

For starters, I am compelled to send out a personal note of encouragement – well, a whole tune full of notes – to JazzBabies everywhere who have already felt the sting of winter with ice, snow, sleet, and temperatures well below normal. I thought at first that a run at “Sunny Side of the Street” might be good, but who knows when a sunny side of the street might appear again?

Instead, I found this happy but thoughtful bit of loving advice with San Francisco’s Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, “Button Up Your Overcoat,” from their A Sunny Disposish album. This group is recreating the 20s and 30s and doing a great job of it, too. With Don Neely in the lead and Carla Normand on vocals, this and a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream will warm you right up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGZdIxi7L9M

On my first trip to New England, I arrived just in time for one of their legendary blizzards. I was scheduled to fly from Boston to Hartford but as a pilot in the hotel where I was staying told us all, “Nothing is flying out of Boston, so have another drink and enjoy yourselves.” Pilots know and the drinks were free. So we all had another drink and ended up helping the staff at the Parker House Hotel decorate their big tree in the lobby. Fun and serendipity. The next morning I took a bus to Hartford through a lovely snowy landscape and imagined Currier & Ives. The jazz cats here led by Mads Granum know from snow. These fellows are Danish and this tune, “Sleigh Ride,” was recorded live at Alsion, Sønderborg, Denmark on December 16, 2012. Take a ride through a snowy landscape, JazzBabies, with Mads Granum, Thomas Ovesen and Martin Klausen. Don’t forget your mittens! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfF8Pdz15bs

Last week I attended the annual holiday bash known locally as “Jingle,” the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus concert at our historic Balboa Theatre. As I listened to them sing my favorite secular Christmas song I kept hoping it might be recorded somewhere and lo, it came to pass that I found it on Youtube and have it for you here. This is not the actual performance but it is the actual Gay Men’s Chorus singing with clips of the performance. The song is “We Need a Little Christmas” from Mame, and the guys do a slam-bang job on it. The Chorus is led by RC Haus, artistic director, and Steven Withers, associate artistic director and principal accompanist. They’re an amazing group of truly professional performers much-loved by San Diego. This year’s sell-out concerts were sponsored by the Padres baseball team. This is a great place and we love these guys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1kgAH_8so 

This next tune is a Christmas song completely new to me, but not new to the jazz world. As I said last time, we can’t know – or hear – everything, but I’m glad I know this one now. The song is “That Old Christmas Moon,” which was recorded by Leon Redbone who gets a lot of credit in various places for writing it. But those places are wrong. It was actually written by Terry Waldo who was, according to one reviewer, “One of the finest trad jazz pianists from the 1970s to the present and an interpreter who really brings new life to classic jazz and ragtime.” Let us be diligent in how we give credit. I went a little further and found a fine recording by jazz bird Mary Stahl from her 2004 album, I’d Like You for Christmas. Stahl is a jazz/cabaret singer who travels the eastern seaboard and has quite a following. She’s one of a kind, that’s for sure. I found a cut of her “Memories of You” on which she opens with the bridge – who does that? And makes it sound so great! I’ll bring that one another day, but here she is for Christmas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqqYPSUGwtE

With all his work on cinema soundtracks and classical music, it’s easy to forget that Andre Previn is a terrific jazz musician. I first knew Previn through his jazz and yet, and yet…Here he is with a group that needs no further introduction – Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne from their 1963 Columbia album, 4 To Go! on “No Moon at All.” For those dark and stormy winter nights. (Raise your hand if you remember the Columbia Record Club. Raise both hands if you belonged.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egEL6Fchmx4

Finally, I couldn’t resist pulling together Ol’ Blue Eyes and his French friend, Charles Aznavour, for a holiday duet. Nope, not another Christmas song but a reminder that during the holidays even Scrooge felt a little like a kid. I hope you’ll feel a little that way, JazzBabies, despite all the traffic and shopping and the many hectic moments of the season. From the movie Three Little Girls in Blue, “You Make Me Feel So Young.” Go ahead, be a kid again…just don’t run through the house! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YGsYFoecFw

And that’s a wrap for this time. Speaking of a wrap…I still have wrapping to do. Where does the time go?

Ciao, JazzBabies

JazzCookie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Enlightenment, the Jazz

Tags

Bill Evans, Bob Dylan, Brahms, Charlie Parker, Gene Krupa, Ilkka Kuusisto, Jim Hall, Santana, Susannah McCorkle

It’s been an interesting few days musically speaking, JazzBabies, what with Bob Dylan winning a Nobel prize and a symphony concert that rang a Santana bell and…but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

I started this on the Ides of October, but it’s taken a couple of days to get my act together and finish, what with family birthdays, a concert, and the usual more ordinary requirements of life.  As a Zen saying has it, “After enlightenment, the laundry.”

Enlightenment is a regular occurrence when I research the jazz world for each post.  And it didn’t fail me this time.  Sometimes, I think I know exactly what I’ll get if I click on a familiar jazz name or tune, but more often than not serendipity (aka enlightenment) prevails and I find something entirely different.

For instance, I was looking for some major drum work when I clicked on Gene Krupa and his “Jeepers Creepers” from 77 Hits: Gene Krupa Vol. 1.  Oh, it’s Gene Krupa, all right, and he’s workin’ the drums, but there’s so much more. The song was written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer for a 1938 movie, Going Places, in which a trumpeter named Gabriel (played by Louis Armstrong) plays the song for a racehorse by the name of Jeepers Creepers who will only let someone ride when he hears Gabriel blow his horn. On this recording, Krupa adds to the mix by doing the vocal as well as rappin’ those drums.  Big time serendipity, JazzBabies. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KNmzxINaaE

I got hooked on jazz guitar before I was old enough to walk into a jazz club.  First it was Charlie Byrd, then Wes Montgomery, more recently John Stowell and Peter Sprague.  There were many contenders for my jazz guitar heart along the way including Howard Alden, Larry Coryell and Jim Hall among many others.  Hall and his Modest Jazz Trio recorded one of my favorites in 1960 in Los Angeles for their Good Friday album.  I’m amused by the name of the trio, when I consider that in addition to the terrific Jim Hall, the trio includes the equally terrific Red Mitchell on piano and Red Kelly on bass. Give a listen to three remarkably talented “modest” guys on Gershwin’s “I Remember You.”  I’m back in San Francisco in a little jazz club…ah, yes…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eU_KZlIIRg

Okay, I’ll admit it, I always thought “Billie’s Bounce” was a tune written for Billie Holiday.  If you thought so, too, we’re both wrong.  “Billie’s Bounce” was written by Charlie Parker in 1945 and dedicated to musician Billy Shaw.  Now, Billy Shaw has a lot of cred as an avant-garde jazz musician but I’ll let you do the research yourselves on that one.  For now, I bring you Charlie and the Charlie Parker Reboppers from The Savoy Recordings with the bouncy (of course) “Billie’s Bounce.”  The Reboppers include, in addition to Bird, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Curly Russell and Max Roach.  A modest quintet if you will.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4mRaEzwTYo

This next tune and the video that goes with it are interesting on several levels.  First, the piano master Bill Evans is always interesting no matter where he is or what he’s playing.  That’s the way it is with masters of anything.  Second, this was recorded at the home of a Finnish composer and former manager of the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, reminding us that Bill Evans was a musician without borders.  And third, it’s a fine example of a house concert.  I mention this because you might want to host a house concert yourself sometime.  Musicians generally enjoy playing them as it’s an intimate way to connect musicians with the people who love their music.  The home is that of Ilkka Kuusisto in Helsinki; the players are Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell; the time is 1969; and the tune is “Emily.”  Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer wrote this for the movie The Americanization of Emily and it would likely have won an Academy Award, but the song was not actually sung in the movie and couldn’t be nominated.  Those Oscar people are so stuffy.  I say we give this great tune our Five Star Jazz Cookie prize anyway.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrWQndgX1QU

Finally, JazzBabies, I bring you the talented Susannah McCorkle with her always gentle touch on a lovely old standard, “This Is the End of a Beautiful Friendship,” from her 1992 album I’ll Take Romance.  McCorkle is backed by her usual suspects – Howard Alden on guitar, Frank Wess on flute and tenor sax, Allen Farnham on piano and Keith Copeland on drums.  Listen to this one with someone you love.  If you’re a resident of The Empty Arms Hotel at the moment, use your imagination and conjure somebody great!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-9vIHzO2Q4&index=17&list=PLUxw6Ta5lZyjiXfC_XQLkqF7iwZ7rrxWZ

About Bob Dylan and Santana…Congratulations to America’s musical poet on his Nobel win, and a note to Santana – you may owe Brahms a little royalty money for “Love of My Life.”  If you’re a Santana fan and don’t believe me, listen to the opening bars and theme of the Poco Allegretto, Symphony No. 3, Op. 90 here.  I was at the San Diego Symphony this afternoon when this one snapped me to attention. What goes around comes around musically like everything else, JazzBabies.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_DEczhSjY

That’s it for this time.  Remember that the musicians in your neighborhood would love to see you at a live venue sometime soon.  And as Sam Goldwyn once said, “When someone does something good, applaud. You’ll make two people happy.”

Oh, and the laundry? Go for enlightenment, the laundry will take care of itself.

Ciao,

Jazz Cookie

 

 

 

Summer Jazz with a Side of Soul

Tags

Bill Crow, Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, George Benson, Hilliard Ensemble, jazz seasons, Ken Peplowski, Lou Rawls, Miles Davis, Serge Merlaud, sumer is icumen in, well-dressed jazz musicians

                                                                         “Hit it, boys!”

Well, JazzBabies, sumer is not only icumen in, it’s icume!  We’re a week into it and things are warm just about everywhere.  I don’t know about you, but I find that jazz has a seasonal quality to it.  It’s a year-round pleasure, that’s true, but some tunes just feel “right” in certain seasons.  I don’t mean the titles or the lyrics, just the nature of melodies.  I’m guessing somebody’s done a study of this and there’s a 300-page dissertation gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.  Or possibly a research grant application in the works as I write.

It won’t be me working on that dissertation, JazzBabies.  I’ve got my hands full with the posts, the painting, life, and listening to the music just for the pleasure of it.  And that’s all right with me.

A few years back there was a push to identify what season a person was.  You took a quiz and learned that you were a summer, autumn, winter or spring.  This was then your guide to what colors you should wear.  Me, I wear whatever I find at the local consignment or thrift shop that fits and looks halfway decent.  It’s an old practice.  When I was young, my rich cousins who were a few years older and lived in another state, used to send a box of hand-me-downs a couple of times a year.  Opening those boxes was a lot more fun than pulling things off a rack of fifty more things that looked exactly the same.

In his book, Jazz Anecdotes, Bill Crow devotes a chapter to “The Well-Dressed Jazz Musician.”  One of my favorite stories is about Miles Davis, who was a sharp dresser in his day.  But on one occasion he and the Sextet were appearing at Birdland and manager Oscar Goodstein requested that the group appear in uniforms, not uncommon at the time.  Miles balked.  The next night when they went on wearing their usual disparate outfits, “…Miles pulled a rack of uniforms that he had obtained from a nearby clothing store onstage and told the audience:  ‘Oscar Goodstein wanted to see uniforms onstage so here they are. If that’s what you came for, to look at uniforms instead of music, that’s what you got. Now we’re going to leave so you can enjoy these uniforms.’ ”  Goodstein got it and the band played on – in their usual clothes.

I have no idea what Ken Peplowski was wearing when he recorded “Caroline, No” for his 2013 Capri Records album Maybe September, but he sounded damn fine when he did it. Peplowski played in Cleveland Polish polka bands as a kid and had his first professional gig in elementary school.  Quite a start for a young musician, but he knew right away this was his life’s work.  Peplowski turned to jazz while still a young player, studied with Sonny Stitt among others, and eventually collaborated with a long list of jazz greats from Mel Torme to George Shearing and Bill Charlap.  His philosophy about jazz is worthy of any creative artist:  “…first you learn the rules and then you break them.”  He’s won all kinds of awards and recognition in the world of jazz and beyond and he’s here now with his clarinet and tenor sax to play for you.  Ted Rosenthal’s on piano, Martin Wind on bass and Matt Wilson on drums.  This tune, by the way, comes from the Beach Boys and if that’s not summery enough for you, you’ve had too much sun.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgeeGqG9lfU

Since I’ve already segued so cleverly to the Beach Boys, which automatically takes us to sunny California, why not go all out with Bill Evans and his 1969 recording from the Jazzhouse album, “California, Here I Come.”  The album was recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen with Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums.  Al Jolson might have had a little trouble singing along with Bill’s arrangement, but don’t let that bother you.  All you have to do is sip something cool and listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8HujG-hiII

Without question, one of the biggest – perhaps the biggest – influence on jazz in the early 60s was that distinctive sound winging up from the south, Brazilian bossa nova.  By 1963 when Joe Henderson recorded his album Page One, Brazilian music was everywhere.  According to my best sources, the word “bossa” on its own means simply “trend.”  Word is that Kenny Dorham may have picked up on this trend when he visited the Rio Jazz Festival in 1961 and was inspired to write this next tune which I guess could be “translated” as Blue Trend.  But we’ll just go with Dorham’s name for it, “Blue Bossa.”  This tune has become a jazz standard that walks the line between bop and bossa nova.  And what a lovely walk it is.  Dexter Gordon has it for us now from his 1976 album, Biting the Apple.  Gordon is joined by Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Al Foster on drums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sr7BXinJMw

Some of us came up in the jazz world with a man who knew his way around jazz, rhythm & blues, pop, soul and more.  Frank Sinatra once said that Lou Rawls had “the classiest voice and silkiest chops in the singing game.” Rawls went beyond a music career to work as an actor on more than one screen  His life was a tapestry of music, acting, awards and charitable work.  Rawls: the Renaissance man.  He recorded this tune, “You Can’t Go Home No More,” on his 1989 album, At Last.  The other voice in the patter at the beginning belongs to Mr. George Benson who also, of course, does some great guitar work on this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxrj_msgv6E

Last, but definitely not least, JazzBabies, is a find that bolsters my faith in Serendipity.  I was looking for one thing and came across something even better.  Checking out a vocal by Tierney Sutton, I came across a guitarist new to me.  My apologies, Tierney, but Serge Merlaud turned out to be the one I wanted to hear and pass along to the JazzBabies.  Merlaud studied jazz and classical guitar and retains his passion for both.  He’s done more with jazz in recent years and is sought after as an accompanist extraordinaire, but in 1998 he recorded J.S. Bach’s Transcriptions Pour Guitare.  Nobody can say we don’t have breadth here.  In addition to playing and recording, this talented jazzman teaches and lectures.  But it’s the music that caught me.  Here’s one of Merlaud’s compositions, “Anaïta,” from his 2015 album Bear on a Tightrope recorded with Jean-Pierre Rebillard on bass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2asOTQFMc4

And that’s it for this post, JazzBabies.  We’ve traveled a fair distance from summer coming in to fashion notes to California, Rio and finally France.  And Lou Rawls reminded us once again what Thomas Wolfe noted so long ago – you can’t go home again.

Summer’s a great time to catch live jazz – indoors, outdoors, by lakes, rivers and beaches, at festivals or in classy cool bars from coast to coast. Don’t miss out on the fun.

Oh, and in case you want to hum along about summer comin’ in, here’s the Hilliard Ensemble in this chart-topper from the year 1260.  “Sumer is Icumen in.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo

Ciao, JazzBabies,

JazzCookie