Teacher, Musician, Legend – Barry Harris

by | May 27, 2023 | Trio

Barry Harris is part of an exceptional group of Detroit-bred jazz musicians, including Tommy Flanagan and Donald Byrd, who rose through the extraordinary arts education program in the public school system during the 1930s and 1940s.  He took piano lessons from his mother at the age of four––a church pianist, she asked him if he was interested in playing church music or jazz.  Fortunately for us, he chose jazz.

In his teens, he learned bebop largely by ear, imitating solos by Bud Powell, who along with Thelonious Monk was a strong influence on his playing.  Early on, he developed an interest in passing the torch through education.  Barry began teaching his musical theories as early as 1956, tutoring young, promising talent––all the while performing professionally with the likes of Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Lee Konitz. He has carried on the teaching tradition throughout his life.

Still going strong in 2017 at the age of 88, his arrangement of A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square at Dizzy’s in New York is as unique as Barry Harris himself.

Also at Dizzy’s, Blues In Bb features the trio of Barry on piano, Leroy Williams on drums and Ray Drummond playing bass.

Fiddlin’ Around – Jean Luc Ponty

by | Apr 23, 2023 | Quartet/Quintet, Trio

It isn’t everyday we have the opportunity to see Jean Luc Ponty together with the likes of guitarist Al DiMeola and bassist Stanley Clarke, but the stars aligned in 1994 at The Montreux Jazz Festival.  The video below featuring their performance of Renaissance is merely one example.  Their landmark appearance was eventually made into both a CD and a DVD.

Here is Ponty with Dr. L. Subramaniam in 2003, live at The Gateway of India. Billy Cobham is on drums and the tune is called Conversations.  Whether labeled jazz-rock or fusion, their music is frantic and it’s fun!

Betty Carter Unplugged

by | Apr 8, 2023 | Trio, Vocal

Versatility abounds at The 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival with “What A Little Moonlight Can Do.”  As Carmen McRae once said, “”There’s really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter.”

Betty Carter is something of an acquired taste, largely owing to her fondness for ‘scat singing’ … which is also an acquired taste.  Most folks either end up loving scat or hating it, but if you love it no one did it better, not even Ella.  Well-l-l, maybe it’s a tie because each is so unique.  Where Ella scat sings like a horn player, Carter thinks like a rhythm section and scats more like a bass player.  (Below left)  “Blue Moon” takes us back to France in 1968 and a younger Betty heading up The Betty Carter Trio with The Boy Edgar Orchestra.  Cees Slinger played piano, Jacques Schols bass, and John Engels was on drums.  (Below right) “What’s New” is another stellar performance from The 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival, featuring a most memorable Betty Carter bringing the lyrics to life, Khalid Moss on piano, Lewis Nash playing drums and Curtis Lundy on the bass.

In 1998, Betty Carter wowed The Nice Jazz Festival with her inimitable style and the Rodgers and Hart standard, “Isn’t It Romantic.”  The festival was held in July and she left us merely two months later in September.

The Torme Touch

by | Mar 10, 2023 | Trio, Vocal

Although Mel Torme spent most of his career as a singer, he was also a drummer, pianist, arranger, author and prolific song writer.  Since the age of 4, when he made his first stage appearance, and for the next 60 years, he entertained worldwide audiences with a unique, finely tuned voice that earned him the nickname of “The Velvet Fog” … much to his chagrin.  As you listen to his renditions of A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (L) and When Sunny Gets Blue (R) you’ll have to form your own opinion about smoooth.

Sorry, no scat singing this time. If you want to hear ‘scat’ just follow this link to our March 31, 2017 post with Mel Torme and Buddy Rich as they blow the lid off the place!  I’ve moved my 1989 interview with Mel from our Jazz Scene Podcasts page to this week’s post so you can enjoy it below.

Presenting Mel Torme

by Fred Masey | Podcast #009

Her Honey-Coated Voice

by | Mar 3, 2023 | Orchestral, Trio, Vocal

Nancy Wilson was a singer and occasional actress whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid-1950s until her retirement in early 2010.  During her performing career, she was called a singer, a consummate actress and “the complete entertainer.”  The title she preferred, however, was “song stylist”.  She received many nicknames including “Sweet Nancy”, “The Baby”, “Fancy Miss Nancy” and “The Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice.”  Proof positive of those laurels can be found in the performances below, as you listen to Nancy’s tender rendition of For Once In My Life and her energetic 1998 serenade of Quincy Jones at his 50th birthday tribute with the Ellington/Russell tune Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear From Me.

She walked into my studio wearing a floor length, white ermine coat.  It was real.  So was she.  Nancy Wilson was known as a singer’s singer, boasting more than 70 albums and 3 Grammy Awards.  While she has been recognized for her excellence in blues, jazz, R&B, pop and soul, for my money her greatest strength lies with jazz.  Nancy is “the complete entertainer”.  Here’s an interview from a few years back you can also find, along with many others, on our Jazz Scene Podcast page.

Meet Nancy Wilson

by Fred Masey | Podcast 005

Not Easy Being Green

by | Jan 29, 2022 | Trio

I had never really listened to Benny Green until I came across some old Art Blakey Jazz Messenger’s recordings and focused my ears past the drums.  It has been said that that “those who can’t do teach” … well, Benny Green teaches but is equally gifted as a performer, evidenced by the videos below.  Topmost, Tempus Fugit is an uptempo Bud Powell composition, recorded at New York’s Lincoln Center, that features a trio of Green at the piano, David Wong on bass and Aaron Kimmel playing drums.  Lower left is Me And My Baby.   Lower right something called Cupcake.  Both offer the trio of Benny playing piano, Ben Wolfe on bass and Carl Allen on drums.

This is Me And My Baby, a comfortably toe-tapping tune that takes Benny Green’s trio out of the concert hall and into a more relaxed clublike atmosphere.

Cupcake is a more laidback piece than the first two, keeping you in that same easy going setting.  It’s a clever arrangement that is sure to capture your attention.

The Genius Of Bill Evans

by | Jan 7, 2022 | Trio

The legendary pianist Bill Evans is a great way to begin any New Year!  “Re: Person I Knew” is an original composition, recorded at the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway during August 1980, and was Evans’ last performance before his passing only five weeks later. It was also his last trio, and consisted of Bill Evans (p) Marc Johnson (b) and Joe La Barbera (dr).

On March 19, 1965, a much earlier version of the Bill Evans Trio stopped by the BBC studios in London to play a couple of sets on Jazz 625, a popular TV program hosted by the British trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton. From that performance, the second video features an obviously younger Evans along with Chuck Israels (b) and Larry Bunker (dr) playing the Victor Young standard “My Foolish Heart”.

A Touch Of Burrell

by | Feb 13, 2021 | Trio

In A Mellow Tone is a Duke Ellington classic performed by the incomparable guitarist Kenny Burrell, bassist Marcus McLaurine and drummer Sherman Ferguson.  The tune was recorded in 1990 at The Subway Musikbar in Cologne, to the delight of a packed house of German jazz fans.

Lower left, George and Ira Gershwin’s Summertime was recorded live at the Town Hall in New York City on February 22, 1985.  Grover Washington Jr. added his soprano sax sounds to Kenny’s trio, which included Reggie Workman (b) and Grady Tate (d).  Lower right, the uniquely uptempo Jennine was performed in 1990 at a Japanese Club Date for TV … with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Bob Magnuson on bass and Sherman Ferguson playing drums.

My Way – The Three Tenors

by | Jan 22, 2021 | Trio, Vocal Group

The Three Tenors?  Jazz?  Well, when you add Frank Sinatra to the mix and understand the musical reverence they have for him, it begins to make sense.  In July 1994, José Carreras, Plàcido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti, together with conductor Zubin Mehta and The L.A. Philhrmonic, performed “A Tribute to Hollywood” medley at their legendary concert at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium.  Old Blue Eyes was in attendance and his reaction to the trio’s uniquely tender rendition of My Way demands that I share this with you.

Freddie Freeloader

by | Dec 11, 2020 | Quartet/Quintet, Trio

Freddie Freeloader

by Miles Davis | Kind Of Blue

Landmark album, stellar players … Miles Davis on trumpet, “Cannonball” Adderley on alto sax, Jimmy Cobb plays drums, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly at the piano and Paul Chambers bass.

Freddie Freeloader

by Wes Montgomery | Profiles

Freddie gets a more uptempo treatment here with a trio consisting of Wes Montgomery on guitar, Melvin Rhyne playing organ and George Brown on drums.

Freddie Freeloader

by Bill Evans | You Must Believe In Spring

Here is a more intimate version of the Miles Davis tune, featuring Bill Evans on Piano, the amazing Eddie Gomez playing bass and Elliott Zigmund at the drums.

Freddie Freeloader

by Jon Hendricks and Friends | Freddie Freeloader

It’s Miles Davis’ classic tune with lyrics by Hendricks, featuring Bobby McFerrin singing Wynton Kelly’s piano solo, Al Jarreau singing Davis’ solo, Hendricks singing Coltrane’s tenor solo and George Benson singing Cannonball Adderley’s alto solo. One amazing track.