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 Shearing Sound – Pt. 1

by | Aug 26, 2023 | Orchestral, Solo/Duo

George Shearing was a British born pianist who led a popular jazz group that took the country by storm for many years.  Born blind, the youngest of nine children, he started learning to play at the age of three … and went on to compose more than 300 titles during his illustrious career, including the jazz standard Lullaby of Birdland (Uppermost video).  He had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 60s, 80s, and even the 1990s.

Shearing emigrated to the U.S. and founded the first George Shearing Quintet in 1949, which saw a number of permutations over the years and finally led to solo and trio performances later in his career.  He drew upon classical music and the records of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller for his influences, eventually developing a harmonically complex style––mixing swing, bop and modern classical into his playing.  His technique became known as Shearing’s Voicing … a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower.  This style of playing is also known as Locked Hands.

Henry Mancini’s Dreamsville, like the video above, was recorded in 1992 at the Munich Philharmonie … with Neil Swainson on bass.

George goes solo with John Williams at the Boston Pops with his performance of Look At That Face.  The picture quality is a bit compromised, but the music is near perfect!

 

The Great Tony Bennett

by | Jul 28, 2023 | Vocal

Tony Bennett, the jazzy singer of the American Song Book, passed away last Friday, July 21st, at the age of 96.  There have been, and will continue to be, countless tributes honoring his decades of greatness … but, it seems to me, his work and his remarkable legacy speak most loudly for themselves.

Her Honey-Coated Voice

by | Mar 3, 2023 | Orchestral, Trio, Vocal

Nancy Wilson was a singer and occasional actress whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid-1950s until her retirement in early 2010.  During her performing career, she was called a singer, a consummate actress and “the complete entertainer.”  The title she preferred, however, was “song stylist”.  She received many nicknames including “Sweet Nancy”, “The Baby”, “Fancy Miss Nancy” and “The Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice.”  Proof positive of those laurels can be found in the performances below, as you listen to Nancy’s tender rendition of For Once In My Life and her energetic 1998 serenade of Quincy Jones at his 50th birthday tribute with the Ellington/Russell tune Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear From Me.

She walked into my studio wearing a floor length, white ermine coat.  It was real.  So was she.  Nancy Wilson was known as a singer’s singer, boasting more than 70 albums and 3 Grammy Awards.  While she has been recognized for her excellence in blues, jazz, R&B, pop and soul, for my money her greatest strength lies with jazz.  Nancy is “the complete entertainer”.  Here’s an interview from a few years back you can also find, along with many others, on our Jazz Scene Podcast page.

Meet Nancy Wilson

by Fred Masey | Podcast 005

Another Auld Lang Syne

by | Dec 30, 2022 | Audio, Holiday, Video, Vocal

Since our first posts back in 2017, Mark Of Jazz has treated entrance into the New Year nostalgically, even reverently.   With the current state of the world so uncertain and more than a little hectic, I thought we could all use a few gentler moments to ring in 2023.

In the video, Diana Krall quietly wonders What Are You Doing New Years Eve … while you can close your eyes and see the snowy evening and crackling fire as Ray Charles tries to make the case for Betty Carter to stick around because, Baby It’s Cold Outside. 

Baby It's Cold Outside

by Ray Charles & Betty Carter | Ray Charles and Betty Carter

Finally I have brought my Days Of Auld Lang Syne podcast forward from our Jazz Scene Podcast page. Auld Lang Syne is a song we all know and nearly always sing to say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new … but what do those words mean?  It’s a jazzy adventure that answers questions about the tune that has played with people’s heads for generations.  Speaking of generations, we even have a nostalgic visit with Fay Wray … the lady who monkeyed around with that big ape in the ORIGINAL 1933 classic King Kong!

Here’s wishing you a HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR … and hoping that you thoroughly enjoy our little MOJ celebration!

Days Of Auld Lang Syne

by Fred Masey | Jazz Scene Podcast

Dreams Of Christmas

by | Dec 24, 2021 | Holiday

Arguably, the greatest Christmas movie ever made is Irving Berlin’s star-studded White Christmas.  The topmost video is the grand finale from that motion picture, guaranteed to catapult you into the Christmas spirit … in case you’re not already there.  Below that are performances by young Joey Alexander and The Swingle Singers in a medley from one of their two spirit-inspiring Christmas albums.  Finally I have brought The Christmas Show forward from our Jazz Scene Podcast page.  May you enjoy every minute of this musical Christmas card and have the Merriest of all Christmases with the ones you love!

Joey Alexander was already an accomplished piano genius at the tender age of 14 in this performance of My Favorite Things.  Clearly, jazz is one of his favorite things … and his music is one of mine! 

The Incredible Swingle Singers take a step back from their usual jazz interpretations of classical music to perform a Christmas Medley in a more traditional fashion.

The Christmas Show

by Fred Masey | Jazz Scene Podcast

Locksley Wellington ‘Slide’ Hampton

by | Oct 30, 2021 | Big Band, Orchestral, Septet/Octet

If some of the video images look as though they were reversed, they weren’t.  It’s only that Slide Hampton has the trombone slung over his right shoulder instead of his left.  As a child, he acquired a trombone set up for left handed musicians and continued to play it for the rest of his life … even though he was right handed!  In 1971, Slide was invited to Italy by Franco Cerri, one of the greatest Italian jazz guitarists of the time.  He was featured on an episode of the Italian TV variety show “No Network” and the result was the topmost video Night Never Come, which also appeared on his 1975 album Jazz From Italy with the Slide Hampton Quartet.

The Lower video is Side’s Blues.  It’s part of an 85th birthday celebration for Slide on April 22, 2017 at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.  It’s a Slide Hampton Original featuring Slide Hampton (trombone) with: Sam Dillon (tenor saxophone); Frank Basile (baritone saxophone); Marshall Gilkes & Ryan Keberle (trombones); Tony Kadleck & Fabien Mary (trumpets); David Wong (bass) and Charles Ruggiero (drums).

The two audio cuts below are both from Hampton’s album “Something Sanctified” recorded in 1960. His Octet was comprised of Slide Hampton (tb, b-horn, arr), Charles Greenlee (tb, b-horn), Richard Williams & Hobart Dotson (tp), George Coleman (ts), Jay Cameron (bs,b-cl), Larry Ridley (b) and Pete La Roca (ds).  In 1962 a revised ensemble, maintaining the same full-throated sound, toured the U.S. and Europe featuring the horns of Booker Little, George Coleman and Freddie Hubbard.

On The Street Where You Live

by Slide Hampton Octet | Somethin' Sanctified

Milestones

by Slide Hampton Octet | Somethin' Sanctified

Bossa Nova – Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

by | Jul 9, 2021 | Orchestral, Vocal

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.

My Way – The Three Tenors

by | Jan 22, 2021 | Trio, Vocal Group

The Three Tenors?  Jazz?  Well, when you add Frank Sinatra to the mix and understand the musical reverence they have for him, it begins to make sense.  In July 1994, José Carreras, Plàcido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti, together with conductor Zubin Mehta and The L.A. Philhrmonic, performed “A Tribute to Hollywood” medley at their legendary concert at the Los Angeles Dodger Stadium.  Old Blue Eyes was in attendance and his reaction to the trio’s uniquely tender rendition of My Way demands that I share this with you.

A Backward Glance

by | Dec 31, 2020 | Smooth Jazz, Video

Every year, year after year, we sing the words but almost no one knows what they mean.  A bit of research indicates that Auld Lang Syne roughly translates to “Times gone by” or “Sake of old times.”   So, rather simply, when we raise our glasses on New Years Eve and drink to those thrilling days of yesteryear, the song actually fits!

While it’s okay to look back, be careful not to stare.  Remember we are celebrating “out with the old and in with the new” not the other way around.  Here, Kenny G and his soprano sax accompany an historical retrospective, to which I’ve added a look of time travel at the open, to welcome the changing of the calendar … and wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!