Eddie Daniels recorded Slipped Disc during a “Benny Rides Again” tribute to Benny Goodman in 1992. The group was made up of Gary Burton (vb), Makoto Ozone (p), Marc Johnson (b), Martin Richards (d) and of course Eddie Daniels (c).
Stompin’ At The Savoy was recorded in October of 2012 ‘upstairs’ at Vitello’s in LA. Joe La Barbera (d), Tom Warrington (b) and Tom Ranier (p) provided a familiar rhythm section since they often head East to perform with Daniels in NY.
This performance of Hot House is from a February 24, 1952 broadcast on the pioneering DuMont Television Network. Broadcasting on the Earl Wilson Show ‘Stage Entrance’, Charlie Parker plays with Dizzy Gillespie in the only footage capturing “Bird” in a true live performance … a historic TV broadcast of the founding fathers of bebop playing together. It is one of only two known sound films of Parker playing and the only one of him playing live, rather than synching to a prerecorded track.
The quintet playing on this rare video includes Parker on alto saxophone, Gillespie on trumpet, Sandy Block playing bass, Charlie Smith on drums and Dick Hyman at the piano.
Born in 1929, saxophonist Benny Golson is one of the last surviving links to the Golden Age of modern jazz, ushered in by the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke and others in the early 1940s. Benny is a multi-talented, internationally famous jazz legend whose talents include composer, arranger, lyricist, producer and world renowned tenor saxophonist.
The video is from the Ramsey Lewis Legends of Jazz T.V. series and features Benny Golson on sax, Willie Pickens at the piano, Larry Gray on bass and Leon Joyce Jr. on the drums playing Killer Joe, a jazz standard written by Golson himself. The audio track is another standard that is perfect for the season … Autumn Leaves. It features another quintet with Benny on tenor, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Ray Bryant at the piano, Tommy Bryant playing bass, and Al Harewood on drums.
God Bless The Child has been interpreted a thousand ways … but I’ll bet you never heard it quite like this (Above)! In 1991, at Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany, Freddie Hubbard and his quintet dazzled the audience with an arrangement that was both reverent and softly-swinging. Freddie was joined by Don Braden on tenor, Benny Green at the piano, Jeff Chambers on base and Louis Hayes playing drums. Earlier, in 1967 (Below), Hubbard teamed up with Kenny Drew (piano), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), and Alex Riel (drums) to perform an original tune named Birdlike at the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway. You can bet the ‘Bird’ referenced here had a horn but no feathers!
Jane Monheit and John Pizzarelli add their own smooth and swingin’ touch to George and Ira Gershwin’s You Can’t Take That Away From Me. In this performance they were featured on Ramsey Lewis’ “Legends Of Jazz” series in 2006 and, needless to say, stole the show!
Like so many great musicians, John Pizzarelli is a New Jersey Guy. The son of swing guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, John was born in Paterson, began playing guitar at the age of six and has been performing ever since. The topmost video, If I Had You, was recorded in 1992 during the Montreal Jazz Festival at the Club Soda Concert Hall and Music Venue in Canada, as was the lower-right video All Of Me. Pizzarelli’s consistent excellence through the years is obvious as you listen to the lower-left video of Baby All The Time recorded in 2007 at the Festival Internacional de Jazz San Javier in Spain. On Baby, he is joined by Larry Fuller at the piano, Martin Pizzarelli on bass, Tony Tedesco playing drums and Harry Allen on tenor sax.
Gene Harris had the unique ability of combining traditional jazz piano with the blues and creating an absolutely distinctive style that set him apart from every other pianist. Every time you hear Gene play is just like the first time! The old chestnut Sweet Georgia Brown is from a 1998 performance at The International Jazz Festival in Bern, Switzerland. The quartet combines Gene Harris with Jim Mullen on guitar, Andrew Clayndert on bass and Martin Drew at the drums.
This Masquerade was recorded at a live 1994 performance for PBS in San Diego. It features a quartet made up of Gene Harris at the piano, Ron Eschete on 7-string guitar, Luther Hughes playing bass, and Paul Humphrey on drums.
PLEASE NOTE: This will be the last new weekly posting on the site until mid to late September, at which time we expect to resume business as usual. In the meanwhile, please be sure to explore the many other features on our website, especially the more than 4 years of great PAST PERFORMANCES dating all the way back to February of 2017. Thank you for visiting and especially for following Mark Of Jazz.com.
In April 1966 Thelonious Monk and his quartet performed a live television concert in Oslo, Norway. The quartet included Monk playing piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gales playing bass and Ben Riley on drums. They performed a number of Monk standards including Blue Monk (Above) and Monk’s own ‘Round Midnight (Below). Monk’s playing style is positively unique, using sparse voicings and omitting notes to add dissonance. His music is almost its own genre, often seeming to inhabit its own musical universe. Thelonious is something of an acquired taste … one well worth acquiring!
In 2007 at Jazz Baltica, Bobby Hutcherson and his quartet introduced their exciting arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz to the audience in Salzau, Germany. The players were Bobby on vibes, Joe Gilman playing piano, Dwayne Burno on bass and Eddie Marshall at the drums. The complete 1 hour 25 minute concert is available on YouTube.
On Old Folks, Hutcherson added Joe Locke, also on vibes … rounding out a quintet with Don Friedman on piano, Martin Wind on bass, and Andi Haberl playing drums.
Dat Dere is from the 2016 Zipper Hall Concert. Hubert Laws plays piccolo on this one with David Budway (p), Rob Mullins (kb), John Leftwich (b) and Clayton Cameron (d).
At Jazzwoche Burghausen in 2010, Laws gently combines Duke’s Sophisticated Lady with Corcovado, to create a wonderfully comfortable, laid back feeling. Russell Malone is featured on guitar with Lan Doky on piano.
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