Have You Met Mr. Jones?

by | Sep 21, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

Henry Jones Jr.(You probably know him as Hank) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer. He has been described by critics and musicians alike as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. Hank recorded more than 60 albums under his own name and countless others as a sideman. Few realize that he was the pianist on May 19, 1962 who played as actress Marilyn Monroe sang her famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President“ song to President John F. Kennedy.

At the Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2006, he featured fantastic live performances of both old and new stars, including Sadao Watanabe, Chick Corea, Hiromi Uehara, and Austin Peralta, who joined Hank’s trio in a ‘perfect storm’ of past, present and potential future legends of jazz.

On Some Day My Prince Will Come, The Hank Jones Trio consists of John Patitucci on bass and Omar Hakim on drums, with Hank, of course, coaxing the warmth of the piano’s tones from the keyboard.

The addition of Hiromi Uehara, Austin Peralta, Chick Corea and Sadao Watanabe provides a new dimension to Blue Monk, one of Thelonious Monk’s most popular and enduring tunes.

A Dynamic Duo from Charles Mingus

by | Sep 14, 2018 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

Charles Mingus was an American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader, and truly one of the most creative musicians in the business, right down to the titles of his tunes!  Who else could have come up with names like “Don’t Be Afraid, The Clown’s Afraid Too” or “The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers”?  The latter composition is featured in this post.  A major proponent of collective improvisation, Mingus was a man ahead of his time.  Whether big band or small, one listen to his orchestrations and arrangements is all the proof anyone needs.

Celia is a Mingus original from his quintet’s live 1972 performance in Berlin.  It features Charles Mingus on bass, Joe Gardner on trumpet, Hamiet Bluiett playing barry, John Foster at the piano, and Roy Brooks on drums.

The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers

by Charles Mingus | Let My Children Hear Music

Sweet Georgia Brown – Gene Harris

by | Sep 7, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

Pianist Gene Harris (Remember The Three Sounds?) delivers a slightly different treatment of the jazz classic, “Sweet Georgia Brown”.  Along with guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist Andrew Clayndert and drummer Martin Drew, Gene infuses a touch of his early boogie-woogie background into the music at the 1998 Berne Jazz Festival resulting in a very crowd pleasing effect.

A Count Basie Trilogy

by | Aug 31, 2018 | Big Band

This trilogy is from the Show Of The Week T.V. series, recorded in London.  The Count Basie Orchestra for this session consists of Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons, Wallace Davenport, Phil Guilbeau, trumpet; Al Grey, Henderson Chambers, Grover Mitchell, trombone; Bill Hughes, bass trombone; Marshall Royal, Bobby Plater, Eric Dixon, reeds; Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, tenor sax; Charlie Fowlkes, baritone sax; Count Basie, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Norman Keenan, acoustic double bass; Rufus ‘Speedy’ Jones, drums.

April In Paris

Count Basie and His Orchestra in a live 1965 performance of this classic tune.  It’s exciting to hear his signature arrangement one more once, just as he recorded it on Verve in 1955.

 

Li’l Darlin’

Here’s a jazz standard written by Neal Hefti for The Count Basie Orchestra.  Introduced as an instrumental by The Basie Band in 1957, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross added lyrics a year later.

Jumpin’ At The Woodside

Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis delivers an outrageous solo in this 1965 live performance … also featuring Rufus Jones on drums, Freddie Green on guitar and the rest of the Basie Band in its prime!

Oasis – Dave Grusin & Dave Valentin

by | Aug 24, 2018 | Big Band, Smooth Jazz

Jazz flutist Dave Valentin and pianist Dave Grusin join forces for this session videotaped in 1985, live at the famous Record Plant recording studio in Los Angeles, California.  Grusin and Valentin are joined by Lee Ritenour on guitar, Larry Williams at the sax and keyboards, Carlos Vega as the drummer man and Abraham Laboriel playing bass.

The Great Jam Session 1958

by | Aug 17, 2018 | Septet/Octet, Vocal

A  jam session in jazz is a completely spontaneous moment in time that occurs only once. The music never happened before and will never happen again … not exactly the same way. After the crowd is gone and it’s only the musicians, maybe a few staff, that’s when the blowin’ really begins. It’s strictly from the heart. Here, Cozy Cole, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Guamieri, Barry Galbraith, Milt Hinton and Carol Stevens stretch out after hours.

Legendary New York DJ William B. Williams narrates the festivities. Thanks to Drummerworld.com for the video.

Queen Latifah Jazz

by | Aug 3, 2018 | Audio, Vocal

A “Queen” of rap and hip-hop featured on a jazz website?  What’s wrong with this picture?  Not a thing if she really can sing … and not only has a voice but impeccable phrasing!  Whether soft or swinging, Queen Latifah is a pleasant surprise when she turns her attention toward more standard fare.  She is another wonderfully talented musician from that magical [Newark] New Jersey corridor of spectacular performers, and a shining example of tunes and talent crossing over between jazz and other musical genres.

Close Your Eyes

by Queen Latifah | The Dana Owens Album

Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars

by Queen Latifah | Trav'lin' Light

Baroque Jazz – Claude Bolling & Jean-Pierre Rampal

by | Jul 27, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

On my “What About Dat?” page, I talk about the development of jazz and its shared influences with other types of music.  Pianist Claude Bolling and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal provide classic — or should I say classical — examples of just such a blending of genres in these two ‘grab your socks’ pieces.  Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano was Rampal’s first non-classical recording, although he had been an avid jazz enthusiast for years. The two friends’ intricate performances raised a few eyebrows at CBS records at first, but the result was a popular album with universal appeal.

Baroque and Blue

by C. Bolling & J.P. Rampal | Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano

Fugace

by C. Bolling & J.P. Rampal | Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano

Fantan – Shelly Manne and His Men

by | Jul 20, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet, Video

Fantan is a Russ Freeman composition … light ‘n easy bebop for lovers of “The West Coast Sound” during the1950s and early 60s. When talking about creative drummers, you have to put Shelly Manne at the top of the list. He was born in New York but after honing his chops with jazz giants from Stan Kenton to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in 1952 Shelly left the New York scene for Los Angeles. It was there that he really came into his own, as a pioneer and lynchpin of the West Coast “cool jazz” sound. Here he is featured with Russ Freeman on piano, Conte Candoli on trumpet, Ritchie Kamuca doing tenor sax duty and Monte Budwig keeping time on bass.