Swingin’ Day In The Neighborhood

by | Sep 28, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

It’s always a beautiful day in this neighborhood when Wynton Marsalis is in town.  A young Wynton lends his trumpet to the mix as he joins the great jazz pianist Johnny Costa, guitarist Joe Negri and drummer Bobby Rawsthone for a memorable rendition of a Mister Rogers classic tune, “Its You I Like,” plus a straight ahead trumpet rendition of “Blue Monk”.  Few people realize that Fred Rogers was a hard core jazz buff, composer and actually played the drums quite well!

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.

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.

Blues Walk – Lou Donaldson

by | Jul 13, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

Blues Walk, from the album of the same name, is a Lou Donaldson original recorded at Town Hall in New York City on February 22, 1985. It features Lou Donaldson on alto sax, Jimmy Smith on the Hammond B-3, Kenny Burrell playing guitar, and Grady Tate on Drums.

Johnny Hartman – The Last Balladeer?

by | Jul 6, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

A live performance of Body and Soul by Johnny Hartman, applying his own very personal touch to that old standard.  Though not widely known to the public, it’s easy to see why he was known as a singer’s singer.

Lush Life

by Johnny Hartman | John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

Johnny Hartman performs the Duke Ellington classic Sophisticated Lady.  He spent most of his career recording solo albums but cemented his musical legacy with John Coltrane and their 1963 album “John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman”.

I Remember Clifford – Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

by | Jul 3, 2018 | Quartet/Quintet

When it comes to talent, it just doesn’t get any better than this.  Recorded in Belgium in 1958, this Benny Golson tribute to Clifford Brown features Lee Morgan (trumpet), Benny Golson (tenor sax), Bobby Timmons (piano), Jymie Merritt (bass), and of course Art Blakey (drums).  It was almost prophetic that Lee Morgan would perish only four years later at a very young age, like Brownie, with a dazzling career cut all too short by tragedy.  Still, both men left behind musical legacies that will live forever in the annals of jazz history.

Joy Spring / Laura – Clifford Brown

by | Jun 29, 2018 | Orchestral, Quartet/Quintet

Clifford Brown, also known as “Brownie”, is often regarded as the finest jazz trumpet player to ever perform on the American music scene. Certainly he is the benchmark against whom all others are judged.  Brownie died tragically at the age of 25 in a car accident on a rainy night in Pennsylvania, leaving behind a recorded legacy that spans a mere four years. He profoundly influenced later jazz trumpeters including Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and the great Lee Morgan.  He was also a composer of note, with two of his compositions, “Joy Spring” and “Daahoud” becoming jazz standards.

Joy Spring

by Clifford Brown | Jazz Immortal

Laura

by Clifford Brown | Brown With Strings