Milt Jackson, Benny Golson and Art Farmer teamed up at Jazzbaltica in Salzau Germany for an unforgettable concert during the summer of 1997. The familiar Bag’s Groove featured an unusual new sound with the addition of the fabulous Toots Thielemans‘ harmonica to the group. Rounding out the all star octet were Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (NHOP) on bass, Kenny Kirkland at the piano, the legendary Max Roach on drums, and Ulf Wakenius playing guitar.
Jane Monheit and John Pizzarelli add their own smooth and swingin’ touch to George and Ira Gershwin’s You Can’t Take That Away From Me. In this performance they were featured on Ramsey Lewis’ “Legends Of Jazz” series in 2006 and, needless to say, stole the show!
Like so many great musicians, John Pizzarelli is a New Jersey Guy. The son of swing guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, John was born in Paterson, began playing guitar at the age of six and has been performing ever since. The topmost video, If I Had You, was recorded in 1992 during the Montreal Jazz Festival at the Club Soda Concert Hall and Music Venue in Canada, as was the lower-right video All Of Me. Pizzarelli’s consistent excellence through the years is obvious as you listen to the lower-left video of Baby All The Time recorded in 2007 at the Festival Internacional de Jazz San Javier in Spain. On Baby, he is joined by Larry Fuller at the piano, Martin Pizzarelli on bass, Tony Tedesco playing drums and Harry Allen on tenor sax.
Gene Harris had the unique ability of combining traditional jazz piano with the blues and creating an absolutely distinctive style that set him apart from every other pianist. Every time you hear Gene play is just like the first time! The old chestnut Sweet Georgia Brown is from a 1998 performance at The International Jazz Festival in Bern, Switzerland. The quartet combines Gene Harris with Jim Mullen on guitar, Andrew Clayndert on bass and Martin Drew at the drums.
This Masquerade was recorded at a live 1994 performance for PBS in San Diego. It features a quartet made up of Gene Harris at the piano, Ron Eschete on 7-string guitar, Luther Hughes playing bass, and Paul Humphrey on drums.
PLEASE NOTE: This will be the last new weekly posting on the site until mid to late September, at which time we expect to resume business as usual. In the meanwhile, please be sure to explore the many other features on our website, especially the more than 4 years of great PAST PERFORMANCES dating all the way back to February of 2017. Thank you for visiting and especially for following Mark Of Jazz.com.
In April 1966 Thelonious Monk and his quartet performed a live television concert in Oslo, Norway. The quartet included Monk playing piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gales playing bass and Ben Riley on drums. They performed a number of Monk standards including Blue Monk (Above) and Monk’s own ‘Round Midnight (Below). Monk’s playing style is positively unique, using sparse voicings and omitting notes to add dissonance. His music is almost its own genre, often seeming to inhabit its own musical universe. Thelonious is something of an acquired taste … one well worth acquiring!
In 1967 Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim recorded a spectacular album together that was nominated for an album of the year Grammy, best male pop vocal and best vocal performance. The music was arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman, accompanied by a studio orchestra. Here is a medley from that album by the two artists in a wonderfully relaxed setting … exactly the way Bossa Nova is most naturally presented: Corcovado, Change Partners, I Concentrate On You, and Jobim’s own The Girl From Ipanema.
In 2007 at Jazz Baltica, Bobby Hutcherson and his quartet introduced their exciting arrangement of Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz to the audience in Salzau, Germany. The players were Bobby on vibes, Joe Gilman playing piano, Dwayne Burno on bass and Eddie Marshall at the drums. The complete 1 hour 25 minute concert is available on YouTube.
On Old Folks, Hutcherson added Joe Locke, also on vibes … rounding out a quintet with Don Friedman on piano, Martin Wind on bass, and Andi Haberl playing drums.
Here is an unprecedented pairing of two of our greatest living jazz singers and a Gershwin classic. Backed by Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington at the drums, They Can’t Take That Away From Me is a memorable moment that isn’t likely to fade for a mighty long time.
Dat Dere is from the 2016 Zipper Hall Concert. Hubert Laws plays piccolo on this one with David Budway (p), Rob Mullins (kb), John Leftwich (b) and Clayton Cameron (d).
At Jazzwoche Burghausen in 2010, Laws gently combines Duke’s Sophisticated Lady with Corcovado, to create a wonderfully comfortable, laid back feeling. Russell Malone is featured on guitar with Lan Doky on piano.
Igor Stravinsky’s controversial ballet “The Rite Of Spring” caused a near riot with its introduction in 1913. More recently, Hubert Laws’ jazz interpretation of the score has become synonymous with Laws himself and his willingness to innovate with classical music as well as more traditional jazz and even pop.. This performance was recorded at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles during November of 2016. The players were Hubert Laws on flute, David Budway at the piano, Rob Mullins on keyboards, John Leftwich on bass and Clayton Cameron playing drums. Next week we’ll feature a pair of more traditional tunes that also demonstrate Hubert’s ability to move around comfortably within the jazz idiom.
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