Haruka Kikuchi – Girl with a Horn

by | Mar 29, 2025 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal

Jazz may be “America’s Classical Music” but it has a strong, worldwide appeal. Trombonist Haruka Kikuchi is a native of Tokyo, Japan, who always had a knack and a love for music, listening to as much of it as she could at a young age, as well as picking up instruments like piano and violin. It wasn’t until she heard an old recording of the Original Dixieland Jass Band that she decided to pick up a trombone, a decision that would inspire her to move the 7,000 miles to New Orleans in 2014, where she has been “making her bones” ever since. You first heard Haruka –– also known as Queen of Tailgate because she continues the tailgate style trombone, which is a tradition of New Orleans Jazz –– on Mark of Jazz a few weeks ago performing with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I was floored by her playing and felt compelled to feature her this week.

The tune (above) is Wabash Blues, presented live in 2020 from the studios of WWOZ, with Haruka Kikuchi on trombone, Z2 at the piano, Nobu Ozaki on bass, Mishi playing trumpet and Gerald French on drums. (Left upper) they cut loose on Hold That Tiger … in 2015, also live from WWOZ in New Orleans. (Left bottom) is the old favorite Margie, recorded at the Jazz and Heritage Center in 2023, with a Satchmo style vocal by the drummer.

Maynard Ferguson with Sid Mark

by | Mar 22, 2025 | Audio, Big Band, Vocal

What’s in a name?  Well, The Mark Of Jazz is more than just a name it was an actual, living person.  It was also an upbeat song and a highly successful 1950’s radio show.  Specifically, the person’s name is Sid Mark and the song, written as a tribute to him, just happens to be called The Mark Of Jazz.  You can hear some of the Slide Hampton arrangement, performed by the Maynard Ferguson orchestra, in the podcast below. The (top) video offers a bit of banter between Mark and Ferguson before launching into I Can’t Get Started, with Maynard actually attempting a vocal!

Sid’s long running Mark of Jazz radio show was heard locally in Philadelphia, where he established himself as a popular disc jockey, before coming into widespread prominence with his nationally syndicated Sounds of Sinatra … a program which has run for more than half a century! He developed a close friendship with both Frank and Maynard that spanned nearly half-a-century. This website is intended as a salute, not only to jazz music, but to the man … The Mark Of Jazz..

Thanks to Sid Mark, the music of Francis Albert Sinatra has become an integral part of our lives.  I believe he is the only disc jockey with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  A button on his studio wall pretty much said it all: “It’s Sinatra’s world.  We just live in it”. But the videos above are pure Maynard Ferguson.  On The (left) is a nearly signature Ferguson song––the theme from Rocky––Gonna Fly Now. To me, Maynard owns the definitive version of it. On the (right) the big band cuts lose on a tune called Got It … and below I’ve brought my Whydat Podcast forward from our Podcast Page, to explain why we named our website as we did, and what my own connection was to the man and the legend.

Whydat?

by Fred Masey | Podcast #002

Jam Session

by | Jan 5, 2025 | Big Band, Quartet/Quintet

Unlike most performances that have a fixed group –– like Duke Ellington and his Orchestra or the Oscar Petersen Trio –– with a jam session, jazz musicians improvise and do something different each time they play a tune.  Producer Norman Granz loved jam sessions, and in his Jazz At The Philharmonic shows during 1944-60, he presented the greatest of the swing and bop soloists, together onstage, in both the US and Europe.

In 1967, Granz had a brief revival of JATP, including a concert for television presented by the BBC in England … the videos below are from that concert.  The all-star lineup speaks for itself: trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, flugelhornist Clark Terry, tenors Zoot Sims, James Moody and Coleman Hawkins (past his prime but worth seeing), altoist Benny Carter, pianist Teddy Wilson, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Louie Bellson.  Topmost is a 1947 Dizzy Gillespie composition called Ow.  Below that is Benny Carter with Duke and Gershwin’s I Can’t Get Started, seguing into Coleman Hawkins’ wistful solo of Body and Soul.

Four Songs – Four Freshmen II

by | Nov 30, 2024 | Quartet/Quintet, Vocal Group

In 1948, four young men, at Butler University in Indianapolis, created a sound that forever changed the way vocal harmony was sung. Their style embraced the Barbershop Quartet tradition, but took it a giant step further, adding Jazz influences and ultimately even exerting an influence on Rock and Roll. Known as The Four Freshmen, the group started with two brothers … Don and Ross Barbour, their cousin Bob Flanigan, and friend Hal Kratzsch.  With a soaring, true tenor in Bob Flanigan, the group created a sound that has endured for over 6 decades.  This is the second iteration of The Freshmen, circa 1956 through 1972.  Performing are Bob Flanigan, Ross Barbour, Don Barbour and Ken Albers, who replaced Hal.

(See MOJ Post of October 26, 2017 for more Four Freshmen)

Day In Day Out was originally recorded by The Four Freshmen on the 1972 Stan Kenton “Live At Butler University” LP. This version, also a live performance, may actually be even better than the original!

Shangrila is a love song from their 1962 Capitol LP “Stars in Our Eyes” … an album tip of the cap to other vocal groups. The Four Coins had the original hit on this tune, but nobody does it quite like The Freshman!

You Stepped Out Of A Dream was a television spoof, with the foursome in a “Let me take you away from all this” mode. The Stan Kenton Orchestra backs their efforts, creating the classic Kenton-Freshman sound!

Angel Eyes was recorded on their 1964 tour in Japan. As with the other videos in this group, visual quality is not the best … but the audio and the Freshmen’s sound are second to none. (Bill Comstock replaced Don Barbour here).

Cobb Salad

by | Oct 26, 2024 | Quartet/Quintet

Arnett Cobb was a stompin’ Texas tenor player, in the tradition of Illinois Jacquet … robust and sometimes raw.  He mixed the musical vocabularies of swing, bebop, blues and R&B, and originated the “Open Prairie” tone and “Southern Preacher” style of playing. There was always excitement in Cobb’s uninhibited, blaring style, which earned him the label “Wild Man of the Tenor Sax.” His rendition of Deep Purple (above), as well as the two tunes (below) are typical examples of the sound-salad that made him so popular, even with other jazz musicians.

Just Like That was recorded at the Grand Théâtre de Limoges, in France during March of 1980. It features Arnett Cobb on tenor, Roland Hanna playing piano, Eddie Locke drums, and Jimmy Woode on bass.

In 1987,  Arnett Cobb recorded this video of The Nearness of You … once again proving how a simple ballad can be turned into a masterpiece through the gift of improvisation and soulful sensitivity.

Precision Piano By Drew

by | Oct 20, 2024 | Trio

America’s loss was Europe’s gain. Kenny Drew’s move to Paris in 1961, and then to Copenhagen in 1964 proved to be permanent. Although he sacrificed much of the interest of an American jazz audience, he gained a wide following across Europe. Drew was a well-known figure on the Copenhagen jazz scene, but always remained somewhat underrated as a jazz pianist in the USA because of his absence.

His touch was described in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz as “precise,” and his playing as “a combination of bebop-influenced melodic improvisation and block chords, that included refreshingly subtle harmonizations”. You’ll hear typical examples of this (below) in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s It Might As Well Be Spring and (below that) in Sonny Rollins’ St. Thomas. Both were recorded in 1992 at the Brewhouse Theater in the UK. Kenny’s trio includes Alvin Queen on drums and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (NHOP) playing the double bass.

 

The Most Happy Piano

by | Aug 2, 2024 | Trio

“One of the most distinctive of all pianists” is just one of the descriptions accorded to Erroll Garner. His style has rendered him nearly immortal among jazz pianists. He says, “I just play what I feel. Suddenly I hit a groove that moves me, and then I take off.” Erroll even composes––you may remember a little tune called “Misty”––no easy feat, considering he never learned to read music! In fact, Misty is featured below with a rousing rendition of the perennial favorite I Get a Kick Out of You just above it … both from a 1963 concert filmed in Belgium for television broadcast. The classic Garner trio is rounded out, in both performances, by bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin.

Jarrett Gyrations

by | Jul 27, 2024 | Trio

Keith Jarrett is probably the most animated piano player I’ve ever seen! If you’re not familiar with him, you’ll know what I mean from the very first note. Once you settle in with, arguably, one of the finest trios ever put together, Keith’s musical prowess will quickly prevail over any extracurricular exuberance you may witness at the keyboard.  The trio is rounded out by Jack DeJohnette on drums and Gary Peacock on bass.  The uppermost video is a slightly funky rendition of Billy Holiday’s God Bless the Child from Jarret’s Standards Live album.  Below that, It Could Happen to You, recorded live in 1996 at Tokyo’s Hitomi Memorial Hall.

The Very Classic Carmen

by | Jul 14, 2023 | Vocal

With her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics, Carmen McRae is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century.  Her heartfelt rendition of Monk’s ‘Round Midnight in 1962 (above) was only a precursor of the greatness to come.  Carmen is joined here by pianist Norman Simmons, bassist Victor Sproles, and drummer Walter Perkins. 

Nearing the end of her career in 1990, she performed one of my personal favorites –– On Green Dolphin Street –– in Tokyo (below left) at the Good Day Club, together with Eric Gunnison (p), Scott Colley (b), and Mark Pulice (d). 

In 1980, during what some say was her “prime” (never figured how anyone can determine that, especially with the great ones), McRae paints some vivid word pictures (below right) with Miss Otis Regrets; she makes you feel like you personally missed a lunch date, but fortunately, we don’t have to miss Carmen’s impassioned performance of the Cole Porter tune.

Chelsea Bridge – Joe Henderson & Kenny Drew

by | Jun 30, 2023 | Quartet/Quintet

Chelsea Bridge is yet another jazz standard written by the wonderfully prolific Billy Strayhorn.  The tune was originally recorded by Duke Ellington in 1941 –– fast forward to 1968 and the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway, and an impressionistic interpretation of the impressionistic song by Joe Henderson and the Kenny Drew Trio.  Sometimes soft, sometimes swinging, this most creative arrangement features Joe on tenor, Kenny Drew at the piano, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (NHOP) on bass, and Albert “Tootie” Heath playing drums.