The Golden Striker is a tune by John Lewis of MJQ. This arrangement has Ron Carter on double bass, Mulgrew Miller on piano and Bobby Broom playing guitar. The trio was recorded at Jazz Sous Les Pommiers in Caen France, June 3, 2011..
Want to hear an amazing bass line? Here’s My Funny Valentine with Ron Carter performing the jaw-dropping bass chores, Art Farmer guesting on trumpet, Billy Higgins on drums and Cedar Walton playing piano at Sweet Basil in 1990.
The Modern Jazz Quartet performed and recorded jazz, off and on, for some 45 years between 1952 and 1997. As with any group of musicians there were occasional personnel changes but the core group remained for most of that time. The personnel probably most frequently identified with MJQ are John Lewis at the piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Percy Heath playing bass and Connie Kay on drums. These are the artists on both D&E Blues, written by John Lewis and Monterey Mist, a Milt Jackson composition.
D&E Blues, the tune on top, offers the texture and tempo we have become accustomed to with this group … easy going, smooth and relaxing. Monterey Mist, on the other hand, provides a seriously cooking contrast by MJQ that has the recipe to make even the casual jazz listener sit up and smile!
When you say the word “piano” you might as well say “Bill Evans” because they are one in the same. The only criticism I’ve heard of Bill is that he didn’t have “chops” … obviously uttered by someone who hadn’t heard Someday My Prince Will Come.
Forming the trio on Waltz For Debby, as well as on ‘Prince’ is Bill Evans playing piano, Larry Bunker on drums and Chuck Israels on bass. Waltz for Debby is one of those tunes almost as closely associated with Evans as the word “piano’!
Maynard Ferguson was the poster boy for musical evolution … from playing high notes that only dogs could hear with the Kenton Orchestra to his own big bands in the fifties and sixties, to popular tunes and disco stylings during the 1970s and beyond. Beneath it all was always a foundation of solid jazz but my favorite period was the Ferguson orchestra between 1959 and approximately 1965, featuring Willie Maiden with his untamed tenor solos and unusually creative arrangements that fit Maynard’s powerful ensemble to a tee! Then there were the compositions and occasional injection of Slide Hampton’s talents on the tuba and flugelhorn, along with his renowned prowess with the trombone. Rufus “Speedy” Jones on drums rounded out the band’s driving sound, as he did in the latter half of the decade with the Basie and Ellington orchestras.
Night Life is a low key Slide Hampton arrangement that features a more mellow Maynard on the uncommon valve trombone rather than playing dog-whistle notes on his trumpet. A Message From Birdland was the second jazz album I ever bought and the one that got me hooked on Ferguson big bands for life. Ol’ Man River is an arrangement that I suspect would make Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein proud. They would most certainly take notice right from the solo baritone sax lead-in by Frank Hittner. As the tune rolls on, you can almost hear the paddle wheel churning up the water!
This is an original Dizzy Gillespie composition recorded, in a rare performance with the great but unpredictable James Moody, on The French Rivieria in 1965.
And Then She Stopped features Dizzy on trumpet, Moody doubling with flute and sax, Christopher White on bass, Kenny Barron playing piano and Rudy Collins on drums.
To open we have three musical icons, Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughn teaming up to present the classic September Song. The third legendary artist is John Williams conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra … or is that four musical icons?
Next Wynton is in Marciac France with his Septet in another live performance. 2:19 Blues was recorded in 2015 and features Marsalis doubling on trumpet and handling vocals … together with Walter Blanding and Victor Goines playing saxophones, Sam Chess on trombone, Dan Nimmer at the piano, Carlos Henriquez with his bass, and Jason Marsalis on drums. It’s down and dirty blues at its best!
Lioness is a collective of six very jazzy ladies from New York City, whose mission is to inspire and educate by sharing music created by past and present women of jazz. Most members of the band have been headlining artists at Dizzy’s Club … saxophonists Lauren Sevian and Alexa Tarantino have also worked extensively with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Their music has been called “post-bop” but to me it’s just wonderfully surprising and needs no other label than cool!
While the exciting organist Akiko Tsuruga more or less drives the ensemble with her Hammond B-3, watching the most able Lauren Sevian deftly handle the huge baritone sax is a sight to see … and most especially to hear! Akiko is front and center in the second video in a live performance with a very funky quartet, which includes the incomparable Lou Donaldson on alto.
Funky Girl by Lioness features Akiko Tsuruga on organ, Lauren Sevian on the barry, Alexa Tarantino playing alto, Jenny Hill on tenor, Amanda Monaco, guitar and Sylvia Cuenca on drums,
On Alligator Bogaloo we hear Akiko Tsuruga at the Hammond, Randy Johnston on guitar, Fukushi Tainaka on drums and Lou Donaldson playing alto. The tune is from Lou’s 1967 album of the same name.
As one of the unsung heroes of the tenor sax, Houston Person’s role in life seems to be as a show stopper and spotlight stealer, whether performing live or recorded. Eric’s Gale is one of those occasions. His silk and cement style added to the likes of Lonnie Smith on organ, Ron Carter at the bass and Grady Tate on drums makes you want to say “Wow!” and play it again, just to make sure Houston really did that.
Moonlight In Vermont is a standard but Houston Person‘s incredible solo is anything but! It may be Joey’s album but, that evening, Person was once again a thief in the night. In 1993 at The Five Spot Cafe in New York, he joined Joey DeFrancesco at the organ, Paul Bollenback with his guitar and Byron “Wookie” Landham playing drums to make a statement that teases legendary status. Personally, I’ve always liked what Houston has had to say.
Thad Jones’ composition Three and One was recorded by The Czech National Symphony Orchestra as part of its “Trumpet Summit” program, with the St. Blaise’s Bigband. Featured soloists were Bobby Shew, Randy Brecker and Jan Hasenöhrl, as brass and reeds shook the usually classical foundations of the historic Municipal House in Prague. You might think of them as “The Three Tenors” of jazz … with trumpets!
Bud Powell once performed an entire set using only his left hand, after being criticized for relying too much on his right. In tribute to Bud’s influence, Phineas Newborn performs “Blues For The Left Hand Only”.
“The New Blues” is a laid back blues number also featuring Newborn’s trio, with Al McKibbon on bass and Kenny Dennis playing drums. Both videos are from the 1962 Jazz Scene TV series, with Oscar Brown, Jr.
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