The Grasso’s Always Greener

by | Nov 9, 2024 | Quartet/Quintet, Trio, Vocal

Pasquale Grasso is an Italian-born jazz guitarist now based in New York City. He is known for a pianistic approach to jazz guitar, largely influenced by Bud Powell’s style; he has somehow managed to transfer the essence of piano language onto guitar. Grasso’s innovative blend of classical-guitar and bebop influences have helped him create a sound that’s completely his own, setting him apart as a one-of-a-kind jazz guitarist … in 2016 Pat Metheny told Vintage Guitar magazine that Grasso was “the best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life.” Recently, he has been getting more public exposure with several of his own recordings released by Sony Masterworks, and teaming up with super-vocalist Samara Joy on two of her recent hit albums.

(Below upper left) Pasquale Grasso adds his personal touch to the American Songbook Standard, Just One of Those Things, live at The Cutting Room in NYC. Pasquale is on guitar, Phil Stewart plays drums, and Ari Roland is on double bass. Charlie Christian’s Seven Come Eleven (Below upper right) was recorded at Birdland,also in NYC, and features the guitars of Pasquale Grasso, Frank Vignola, and Olli Soikkeli … with Gary Mazzaroppi on bass, and Vince Cherico playing drums. Finally a video (Bottom) with Grasso’s guitar and Samara Joy singing Ellington’s In My Solitude, from his Pasquale Plays Duke album.

Swift Jazz

by | Jul 21, 2024 | Big Band, Orchestral, Vocal

Veronica Swift (no relation to the popular diva) is an amazing 23-year-old jazz and bebop chanteuse, who has already appeared with some of the biggest names in the idiom.  From a family of musicians, she cut her first album, Veronica’s House of Jazz, at the age of 9 and her second at 13! She has a most amazing voice and exciting style … as evidenced by the topmost video with Chris Botti and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, There Will Never Be Another You.  Bottom left, she appears with the Steven Feifke Big Band, rehearsing an unusual treatment of On The Street Where You Live, while bottom right Veronica stretches out with the Feifke band on the time honored standard, Until the Real Thing Comes Along.

Shades of Mahogany

by | Jul 14, 2024 | Trio, Vocal

Since I Fell For You

by Kevin Mahogany | Double Rainbow

Kevin Mahogany became prominent in the 1990s and became particularly known for his scat singing. His singing style has sometimes been compared with that of Billy Eckstine, and Joe Williams, with many of his more mellow tones containing a touch of Johnny Hartman. Since I Fell For You (above) is from Kevin’s first album Double Rainbow in 1993, where his vocals were paired with the piano of Kenny Barron, sax of Ralph Moore, drums of Lewis Nash and bass from Ray Drummond.

[On] Green Dolphin Street features Kevin Mahogany with the vocal chores, Larry Fuller playing piano, Ray Brown on bass, and George Fludas on drums.

Like Green Dolphin Street, My Foolish Heart was recorded with The Ray Brown Trio at Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen 2001 in Germany.

Billie’s Blues

by | Jun 1, 2024 | Big Band, Vocal

The perfect musical storm descended upon at CBS Studio 58 in New York City, on December 8, 1957. The chemistry among the musicians––between each other and with the vocalist––radiated a rare magic that occurs only when the stars are in utopian alignment. And the incredible Billie Holiday was at her bluesy best!

She was backed by a band featuring such legends as Doc Cheatham, Roy Eldridge, and Joe Newman on trumpets; Bob Brookmeyer on trombone; Jimmy Giuffre playing clarinet; Earle Warren on alto; Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young playing tenors; Gerry Mulligan was on baritone; Freddie Green and Jim Hall played guitars; Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Nat Pierce, and Mal Waldron played pianos for the session; Milt Hinton, was on bass; Papa Jo Jones and Osie Johnson alternated on drums.

Billie Holiday was Fine and Mellow (My Man Don’t Love Me).

The Hot Sardines

by | Feb 23, 2024 | Septet/Octet, Vocal

The Hot Sardines is not a typical name for a serious jazz group so, even though they’ve been around since 2007, I’ve overlooked them until recently when a friend strongly suggested I check them out. My mistake. A bit glitzy, and more than a little offbeat, their main musical mission is to make old sounds new again … and whether recording on a moving New York City subway or adding a tap dancer to their rhythm section, they’re succeeding.

There have been several permutations of The Sardines, with band members too numerous to mention here, but their music remains timeless and their performances always a feast for your soul as well as your senses.  Take the topmost video rendition of Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen –– the group’s official video –– or the bottom-most video of After You’ve Gone as examples: refreshing and energetic in “let your hair down” settings, bound to bring together people with a common love for just plain good music!

With a hint of nostalgia and a touch of New Orleans jazz in their sound, The Hot Sardines add their own flavor to Duke Ellington’s 1936, Caravan … recorded at WFUV (Fordham Univ).

The sound is infectious, the tune is After You’ve Gone, recorded at The Shanghai Mermaid in Brooklyn, New York. It features Elizabeth Bougerol with vocals and Evan Palazzo on piano.

The Irresistible Peggy Lee – Pt. 2

by | Feb 16, 2024 | Big Band, Vocal

(Upper left) is an early Peggy Lee, in 1943 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra offering a classic rendition of Why Don’t You Do Right? She joined the Goodman band in August 1941 and made her first recording, singing “Elmer’s Tune.”  Peggy stayed with Benny for two years, having replaced Helen Forrest … she left in ’43 to become a housewife and mother, but fate and her talent told her the best was yet to come. (Upper right) finds Peggy Lee on the Frank Sinatra Show in 1957, singing a duet with Frank … Nice Work If You Can Get It. See if you notice a little ‘spark’ between them, just a touch beyond mere performance.

(Below) Peggy’s eventual trademark –– the original 1958 version of –– Fever.  I took the liberty of adding some video from several of her incarnations as a legendary performer … singer, songwriter, actress, and composer.

The Irresistible Peggy Lee – PT. 1

by | Feb 11, 2024 | Vocal

Born Norma Deloris Engstrom, Peggy Lee recorded over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs during her career, which spanned seven decades as a jazz and pop singer, songwriter, composer, and actress.  Once they’ve heard it, her gentle yet compelling voice and inimitable style, will forever be instantly recognizable to any music fan.

(Upper left) Peggy flexes her womanly muscles with I’m A Woman on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1962.  In 1973 (Upper right) she’s on a man-hunt with I’m Gonna Go Fishin’.  Finally (Below), she demonstrates a rather blasé attitude toward life’s rollercoaster in a captivating 1969 performance of Is That All There Is?

Dancin’, Drummin’, & Swingin’

by | Jan 19, 2024 | Solo/Duo, Stuff, Vocal

Combine four of the top drummers in jazz: Louis Bellson, Philly Jo Jones, Shelly Manne, and Irv Cottler –– with the flying feet of the multi-talented Caterina Valente –– and you have the formula for a truly unique performance on 1964’s popular Hollywood Palace television show (top).  Then (bottom), Caterina and Ella Fitzgerald are joined by (believe it or not) Perry Como, in a spirited scat version of Al Jolson’s 1920’s swinging hit Avalon.  Vintage television!

One Part Chivas, One Part Cement

by | Jan 12, 2024 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

Roy Hargrove was known as one of the premier players in jazz for the past quarter-century.  As an incisive trumpeter, doubling on flugelhorn, Roy was discovered by Wynton Marsalis in the 1980s.  He embodied the brightest promise of his jazz generation, both as a young steward of the hard bop tradition and a savvy bridge to both hip-hop and R&B.  His assertive sound embodied a tone that could evoke either burnished steel or silk and satin.  Here we have both.

The topmost video I’m Not So Sure, recorded in 2007 at the New Morning in Paris, features Roy Hargrove on trumpet, Justin Robinson on alto sax, Gerald Clayton playing piano, Danton Boller at the bass, and Montez Coleman on drums.  It’s funky beat is guaranteed to treat your feet!  Below that to the left, Top of My Head moves all your parts with some straight ahead bop and features Roy adding a bit of vocal.  The performance was for a public radio gig … and along with Hargrove on trumpet and Robinson on alto, Tadataka Unno played piano, Ameen Saleem played bass, and Quincy Phillips was at the drums.  Finally, at the lower right, silk and satin are served well as flugelhorn replaces trumpet and Chivas replaces cement in the very mellow What a Wonderful World, recorded by the quartet in 1999.  Roy Hargrove takes up the flugel, Mulgrew Miller is on piano, Pierre Boussaguet plays bass, and Alvin Queen is at the drums.

The Joy of Samara

by | Jan 5, 2024 | Video, Vocal

I have only two words for you … Samara Joy.  Samara is a marvelous young jazz singer from a musical family in the Bronx New York, who has an incredibly bright future and might even out-Ella Ella one of these days!  Samara’s album “Linger Awhile,” was released in September 2022, winning the award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and she also won Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

The first tune (top) is the Billy Strayhorn tune Lush life … one of my perennial favorites.  Next (middle left) listen to her impeccable phrasing on Can’t Get Out of This Mood, followed by Lady Be Good (middle right) as she channels Ella and adds a few ear-popping twists of her own.  Finally Samara’s poignant video of Guess Who I Saw Today (bottom), a song originally composed for the Broadway musical revue New Faces of 1952.  She was a new face on the jazz scene in 2021, now at the tender age of 24, if she stays on the straight-and-narrow this chanteuse is going places!  Currently, she is touring the globe.