The Genius of Gil Evans

by | Aug 18, 2024 | Big Band

Gil Evans (no relation to Bill) was a Canadian-born composer, arranger, and band leader who is considered to be one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz history. Evans had a long and productive career, but remains best known for his celebrated collaborations with trumpeter Miles Davis. Two prime examples of that collaboration can be heard in the videos below, recorded at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival. These performances also combined the talents of Gil and his orchestra with Quincy Jones, in addition to featuring Miles brooding solos.

The topmost video, My Ship is a popular tune written for the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark, with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The second video is Evans’ brilliant arrangement of Gershwin’s ever popular jazz standard, Summertime, from Porgy and Bess. Miles Davis soulful solo captures the essence of the song and the mood of the 1935 opera. The audio below, La Nevada, is from Gil Evans’ 1960 album Out of the Cool … one of Impulse!’s first four albums, released together.

La Nevada

by Gil Evans | Out of the Cool

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.

Gettin’ Dizzy

by | Jun 30, 2024 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

John Birks Gillespie got the name “Dizzy” because of his offhand manner and outlandish antics. He got the unusual-looking bent-bell trumpet in 1953, when someone accidentally fell on his trumpet stand backstage. Gillespie liked the sound of the altered instrument so much that his trumpets were specially made in that configuration from then on. More than a jazz trumpet virtuoso, bandleader, composer, educator and singer, he was a civil rights advocate who participated in marches and protests … and even ran for president as a write-in candidate in 1964!

No More Blues (top) was taken from a 1966 BBC television show, and features Dizzy on trumpet, James Moody on alto, Kenny Barron at the piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins playing drums. In the (middle) we have Dizzy with the United Nations Orchestra playing Tin Tin Deo in 1989 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Also included in the mix are such notables as trombonist Slide Hampton, saxophonists James Moody & Paquito D’Rivera, trumpet player Arturo Sandoval, and guitarist Ed Cherry. Finally (bottom) is a tune called Brother K. It was named by Gillespie in1968 as a response to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy that year.

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 Old and The New – Lionel Hampton

by | May 25, 2024 | Big Band, Orchestral

Lionel Leo Hampton was an iconic jazz musician and bandleader, known for the rhythmic vitality of his playing and his showmanship as a performer. Best known for his work on the vibraphone, Hampton was also a skilled drummer (his original instrument), pianist, and singer.  During a recording session in 1930, while accompanying Louis Armstrong, Satchmo asked Lionel to play a vibraphone that had been fortuitously left in the studio. The results were “Memories of You” and “Shine,” the first jazz recordings to feature improvised vibraphone solos. From that point on, the vibes became Hampton’s main instrument.  Above, you’ll hear an excitingly different treatment of In The Mood, –– like Glenn Miller never played it –– featuring the St. Petersburg State Orchestra and Lionel Hampton, still at his finest in 1994.

Midnight Sun was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947; it is now considered a jazz standard. This performance was around 1948.

This Kennedy Center performance of Air Mail Special is from a 1982 tribute to Benny Goodman.  You’ll probably recognize several well-known dignitaries in the audience.

SCJME Meets The NY Voices

by | May 12, 2024 | Big Band, Vocal Group

The South Carolina Jazz Masterworks Ensemble is a powerful 18 piece orchestra, comprised of the most outstanding jazz musicians, soloists, arrangers, and bandleaders from across the Carolinas. The group was created to perform the original American art form at the highest artistic level … and they consistently succeed in their mission, concert after amazing concert!  A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending yet another in their regular series of performances, as they were joined by the New York Voices.   Although the quality is marginal, having been recorded from the audience with my iPhone, I couldn’t help but share a few bits and pieces of that musical evening here at The Mark of Jazz. It was much too enjoyable to simply leave the echoes hanging in the air over row ‘G’ seat 15!

The top video is the 1936 Louis Prima tune, Sing, Sing, Sing, followed by 3 audio segments, including a SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble instrumental of a 1959 Frank Foster original, from the Count Basie album Chairman Of The Board.  The bottom video features everyone––including the audience––and closed the concert with the mildly raucous, Smack Dab in the Middle.

Avalon

by NY Voices | SCJME

Who Me?

by SCJME | Instrumental

Save Your Love for Me

by NY Voices | SCJME

Symphony In Black – Duke Ellington

by | Apr 5, 2024 | Big Band, Video

In September 1935, Paramount Pictures released a nine-minute movie that was particularly remarkable for the times … Symphony In Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life.  It was one of the earliest cinematic explorations of African-American culture made for a mass audience.  It features Duke Ellington and his orchestra performing ‘The Duke’s’ first extended composition, “A Rhapsody of Negro Life”.   Just as noteworthy, it stars Billie Holiday in her first filmed performance.

The film represents a landmark in musical, cultural, and entertainment history and is a member of the first generation of non-classically arranged orchestral scores.   Perhaps most significantly, Symphony In Black is one of the first films written by an African-American, describing African-American life, to achieve wide distribution.

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 Christmas Show

by | Dec 24, 2023 | Holiday

Apologies for a long absence of new posts on our website.  Other obligations have caused me to temporarily divert time and resources elsewhere, but I intend to resume regular music posts in the spring, if not before.  Meanwhile, in the spirit of the season, and with gratitude for your hanging in there with me at the Mark Of Jazz, I have brought The Christmas Show forward from our Jazz Scene Podcast page. I’ll try to be timely in re-posting our New Years program as well. May you enjoy every minute of this musical Christmas card and have the Merriest of all Christmases with the ones you love!

The Christmas Show

by Fred Masey | Jazz Scene Podcast 017

Sun Valley Serenade

by | Aug 19, 2023 | Big Band, Stuff, Vocal Group

The Glenn Miller Orchestra appeared in only two movies, the first of which was “Sun Valley Serenade” in 1941.  Chatanooga Choo-Choo (top) and a colorized version of In The Mood (lower) are both from that film.  “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” features a lot more than just the band, with performances by the Nicholas Brothers, The Modernaires, Dorothy Dandridge, and skating star Sonja Henie.  The song, which was nominated for a best song Oscar, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996, and was awarded the first Gold Record for sales of 1.2 million.

“In The Mood” was one of the best known tunes of the 1940s and was the biggest hit of Glenn Miller’s career … helping to make him the top bandleader in the world!  By the way, the other movie that featured the Miller Band was called “Orchestra Wives” the following year, in 1942.