2021 Jazz Masters Virtual Concert

by | Apr 25, 2021 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

On April 22, 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, presented a virtual tribute concert celebrating the 2021 NEA Jazz Masters. Topsy, originally written for the Country Basie Orchestra is performed in the top video. It featured Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, Dan Nimmer playing piano, Vince Giordano on both guitar and bass, and Jason Marsalis playing drums.  For more background and the complete concert, click the link above.

Below is the Irving Berlin standard Cheek To Cheek, swung by Dee Dee Bridgewater, backed by the SFJAZZ High School All Stars Big Band. Yes, High School!

The Incomparable Joe Williams

by | Apr 17, 2021 | Big Band, Vocal

Above, Joe Williams sings Alright, Okay, You Win, an old chestnut from his Count Basie days at the Ella Awards in December of 1990.  Then, at the end of the evening in a wonderful mayhem, all the singers plus honoree Frank Sinatra join in a reprise of the tune … more fun than anyone ought to be allowed to have.  It sure must have been a blast to be in that room, that night!  Below, simply some down and dirty blues as Count Basie’s “number one son” Joe Williams [here in his prime] sings Five O’Clock In The Morning on television’s Judy Garland Show.

Straight, No Chaser / We’ll Be Together Again – Chick Corea – Pt. 2

by | Apr 12, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Chick Corea and his Freedom Band played a 2010 concert in Marciac, France.  Two weeks ago I posted Part 1 from that landmark concert with a performance so compelling that I had to offer two more attention getting tunes.  Add trumpeter Roy Hargrove and Straight, No Chaser is a Thelonious Monk composition that really allows The Freedom Band to stretch out … while the old standard We’ll Be Together Again takes on new meaning with a potent sax solo by the great Kenny Garrett.

Steppin’ Out With My Baby – Fred Astaire

by | Apr 4, 2021 | Big Band, Holiday, Soundtrack

Here’s a scene from the 1948 movie Easter Parade that is guaranteed to please any Fred Astaire fan and make a fan out of anyone who isn’t already!  Astaire was unquestionably one of the greatest entertainers of all time, but as you watch him perform you realize that, as a dancer, he also had to be an extremely well conditioned athlete. Along with Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps … Easter Parade, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland are musts for your Easter Holiday basket.  Though loosely defined as jazz, this bit of cinema magic demands that we toss away the dictionary, at least for one day every year!

Steps – Chick Corea Freedom Band – Pt. 1

by | Mar 27, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Christian McBride’s amazing opening bass solo flows into Chick Corea’s unmatched piano prowess on the tune called Steps.  Not to be outdone, Keith Jarrett’s sax soliloquy communicates the passion personified by drummer Roy Haynes, much to the delight of their audience and fellow musicians.  I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of jazz fusion but Chick and this 2010 concert in Marciac, France have captured enough of my attention to inspire a deeper dive into that genre.  Although Chick Corea left us in February (2021), his musical legacy has made an indelible mark on the international jazz scene.

Slow Freight – Junior Mance & Ray Bryant

by | Mar 19, 2021 | Quartet/Quintet

Very few things are as addictive as salted peanuts … betcha’ can’t eat just one!  That’s why they employed two pianos and twenty golden fingers to perform the super bluesy Ray Bryant composition, Slow Freight.  The tune was recorded in 1993 for a Japanese TV special and features both Junior Mance and Ray Bryant on pianos, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Alan Dawson playing drums.

Stan Kenton’s West Side Story

by | Mar 17, 2021 | Big Band, Soundtrack

In 1961 The Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded a spectacular jazz album of music from West Side Story that rivaled even the soundtrack of the movie and the Broadway play.  Kenton West Side Story was one of the first ‘mellophonium‘ albums, featuring the newly-developed trumpet/French horn hybrid instrument and won Stan his first Grammy Award in 1962 for Best sound track LP and Best large ensemble jazz LP. Here are three songs from that album:

Kenton’s beautifully mellow rendition of Maria is music from the album itself.  Prologue [on the left] and Cool [on the right] are videos recorded during a live 1961 performance of the album material.

Maria

by Stan Kenton | Kenton's West Side Story

Two Of A Kind / Dat Dere – Art Blakey

by | Mar 6, 2021 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

Drummer Art Blakey and the 1989 version of his Jazz Messengers (with trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, trombonist Frank Lacy, pianist Geoff Keezer and bassist Buster Williams) celebrated the leader’s 70th birthday by welcoming back several notable alumni: trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Terence Blanchard, altoists Jackie McLeanand Donald Harrison, tenors Wayne Shorter and Benny Golson, pianist Walter Davis Jr. and trombonist Curtis Fuller.  The opening song of that all star  performance was Two Of A Kind … and that set the tone for the next couple of hours.

The lower video features the original Jazz Messengers in 1961 with the slightly comedic Bobby Timmons tune Dat Dere … featuring Blakey on drums, the great Lee Morgan playing trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Bobby Timmons playing piano and Jymie Meritt on bass.

Now’s The Time – J.J. Johnson & The All Stars

by | Feb 27, 2021 | Big Band, Vocal

Many performances feature what they call All Stars but this 1994 Carnegie Hall Concert actually had the proof in the pudding … jazz legends one and all!  Imagine J.J. Johnson, Roy Hargrove, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Christian McBride, Kenny Washington, Betty Carter and Dee Dee Bridgewater all in the same place, at the same time, on the same stage!  Charlie Parker’s Now’s The Time was the perfect vehicle to deliver standout moments like Betty Carter trading fours with J.J. Johnson, Roy Hargrove, Jackie McLean and Joe Henderson!  Actually, you don’t have to imagine it.  Here is the grand slam finale of that concert!

You can hear the concert in its entirety on YouTube at https://youtu.be/PTPuhLp8fWM

Clark Terry & Red Mitchell Together

by | Feb 23, 2021 | Solo/Duo

In 1988 at the ZDF Jazz Club, two of Duke Ellington’s most popular compositions were performed by two of jazzdom’s most talented musicians … Clark Terry on flugelhorn and trumpet plus Red Mitchell playing double bass.  Separately, either one can help you forget your troubles for hours.  Together, they can make you forget the entire rest of the band for good!  Terry connects all the notes into a single string of melodic calisthenics on “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”  and you can almost hear Mitchell’s bass sing when the “Sophisticated Lady” and Red musically dance as one!  This is a dynamic duo you are going to enjoy.